Newbie as well, LS-75Q fake or real?

Hi all! The name is Hawkan

Stumbled across this beutiful Tokai, however I have a few questions
Ser no ,stamped on the back of the headstock, is 9803347
In oen of the pup cavities there is a marking 4-29, below that is LS-75Q
Pups are GOTOH MIJ

What concerns me is that the front of the headstock has the silk screen Gibson & the Les Paul Model
The trussrod cover has Standard engraved
Any info about this guitar :roll:

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120030668118&sspagename=ADME:B:RTQ:AU:1

heresa link to the guitar
Cheers

I would never ever buy a Tokai which is "tuned" and modified with a Gibson logo. Even a low budget MIJ Tokai does have better specs. as every Gibson Les Paul Standard. That's fact. If anybody have doubts, it would be a pleasure for me to enlighten him.

Forget it.
Don't go for it.

It certainly looks like a tokai - a 1998 LS85Q in HDC to be exact - but the gibson thing is sneaky and suspicious, not to mention downright immoral.

I'd let this one pass and look out for one that hasn't been tampered with.

Don't know if if can be safetly removed, but it is not uncommon to find Gibson headstock overlays on top of the regular Tokai (or other company) logo. If the other markings, and serial number are correct, there is probably the real headstock logo underneath the Gib bit.

Ebay routinely has decals for sale that look pretty authentic. The Gib ones cover the entire headstock, and people put a layer of laquer over them. Sometimes they look real. Of course Fender, and even Tokai waterslide decals are regularly available.

When Fender refused to give me another decal when I had to have my severaly checked neck refinished at the time of refret (I bought it new, and had the original dealer make the request for me), I had no other choice but to look for an after market decal. I understand companies not wanting to release stuff like this, but when they won't take care of a legit request, it creates the very forgeries they are trying to avoid in the first place.

In my mind, if I really liked a guitar, I'd buy it even if it had been refinished, whole body, headstock, what have you. Some people won't. I don't know that I would buy a guitar on the web that had that kind of mod, but had I played it and loved it, I would look into removing the mod, or putting a new acurate overlay on it.