I just received a 1997 Korean Epiphone Les Paul. Is it fake? Please help.

Hi,

I recently ordered a 1997 Korean made Epiphone Les Paul from eBay. It plays great and visually does not set off any alarm bells. I have watched a few videos on how to spot fakes and everything seems fine. The only problem is that it feels so heavy compared to my first 2008 Epiphone Gothic Les Paul it is making me suspicious. My original 2008 is glued/solid neck and this 1997 Korean model is bolt on. Not sure if that would make a difference but just want to add more info.
If anyone has any tips for me to try and figure out if this guitar is real or not. It would be much appreciated. I can provide images if needed but like I said earlier. It is the weight of the body that has my concern.

Thanks for reading.

Ryan.

Some pics would help.
However, I doubty many people would counterfeit an Epiphone - if anything, they'd do a USA Gibson.
I sold Gibsons and Epiphones for a while around then and I remember them both being fairly heavy, though not as bad as the 70's Gibsons - you'd be lucky to find one of those under 10 - 11 pounds.
Also, The Epi Gothics were all Mahogany guitars; they don't hav ethe maple top that the regular Les Pauls do, so that would result in a heavier guitar anyway.
Guessing sight unseen that your guitar is real.
You might want to contact Gibson (or |Epiphone|) with the serial # to verify.

Here are the images from the eBay listing. I've noticed one of the screws holding the neck on looks quite worn out.

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/BLMAAOSw8WlfqA9d/s-l1600.jpg

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/qjcAAOSwy41fqA9h/s-l1600.jpg

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/5D0AAOSw0axfqA9k/s-l1600.jpg

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/Zz0AAOSw6DBfqA9n/s-l1600.jpg

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/0cYAAOSwq1FfqA9r/s-l1600.jpg

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/DU8AAOSw9IZfqA9u/s-l1600.jpg

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/Oz4AAOSwjGxfqA9x/s-l1600.jpg

Ryan9000 said:

Here are the images from the eBay listing. I've noticed one of the screws holding the neck on looks quite worn out.

Click to expand...

That in itself doesn't mean much - just that someone took the nexk off (or tried to) and stripped the screw. I've seen dozens if not hundreds of neck bolts with some amount of strip.

Bolts and a neck plate weigh more than glue. I would say it was made at the FINE factory in November of 1997, the 20th guitar made that month, so probably Nov 1. That model is a Les Paul-300 Standard http://www.epiphonewiki.org/index/All_Les_Paul_Models.php#Les_Paul-300