how to spot a fake taylor guitar

How To Spot A Fake Taylor Guitar? Counterfeit Taylor Guitars

If you’re in the market for a new Taylor guitar, you’re probably ready to fork over a good amount of money for the purchase.

Therefore, you’ll want to know how to spot a fake Taylor guitar, and verify that it isn’t a spotty counterfeit.

The good news is that Taylor guitars take this VERY seriously, as they don’t want counterfeit fakes to ruin their reputation.

You can visit their page here, which goes into detail on how to check for a fake guitar.

They also provide a phone number you may call them, with any questions or to verify a serial number.

Are there fake Taylor Guitars?

Yes, Taylor is a brand that is a known target of guitar copycats and counterfeiters.

The good news is that the fakes aren’t very good, and you’ll be able to spot problems with the fake Taylor guitars, fairly easily.

Because counterfeiters want to get the most profit from their fake guitars, they often target the mid-ranges of Taylors’ products.

If they go too high-end, prospective buyers will be too knowledgeable to fool, but if they go too cheap, they won’t make enough profit.

Therefore, you should be most cautious with the mid ranges of Taylor products, however, you should still be diligent with any level of guitar you’re purchasing.

Some fakes might not even be terrible guitars, they might play decently, and pass as legitimate.

However, of course if you buy a Taylor, you want a REAL Taylor.

Fake Taylors on Ebay

While it isn’t as bad as it’s been in the past, Ebay is a marketplace used by many counterfeiters.

Because it’s difficult to spot fakes with pictures alone, it makes it easy to pass off a cheap fake guitar, as something more valuable.

If you’re spending a good amount of money on a guitar, have a third party verify the purchase, prior to completion of the sale, or avoid marketplaces like Ebay all together.

Fake Chinese Taylor guitars

Unsurprisingly, most of the fake Taylors are coming out of China. 

While it is frustrating that there are fake guitars out there to fool prospective buyers, there’s also a bright side.

China isn’t known for producing high quality Western instruments making fakes easier to spot.

Sure they may produce high end Eastern instruments, but those are not the ones we’re talking about here.

Counterfeiters are aiming to make the guitar just good enough to pass as legitimate, while still being cheap enough to produce.

They could probably make a guitar that would pass most counterfeit tests, however, it would cost much more to produce.

If it costs too much to produce, then they may as well make legit guitars.

In short, counterfeit guitars often have many imperfections, issues or missing details, as a result of cost cutting measures.

So if you know what to look for you can spot a fake Taylor with ease.

Here’s a video of a fake Taylor copycat. While the brand name doesn’t say Taylor, these are the types of fakes to expect. Counterfeiters simply change the name during production.

Method of Spotting a fake Taylor Guitar

Here’s a few ways to spot a fake counterfeit Taylor guitar:

  • Verify the serial number with Taylor Guitars (it’s free)
  • Compare the guitar to Taylor’s product catalog
  • Check the inlays for imperfections
  • Examine the joinery of the wood

Every real Taylor guitar has to meet certain standards that far exceed those of counterfeiters.

Any kind of odd gaps, imperfections in the inlays, wood grain or overall build structure may indicate you have a fake on your hands.

Even with a few indicators, the absolute best way to verify a Taylor guitar is to call the hotline and give them the serial number.

They’ll let you know if the serial number is a match, and they’ll even be able to tell you what to look for on that particular model of Taylor.

Taylor is just as invested in spotting fakes as you are. 

Fakes hurt your wallet, but it also hurts their brand.

That’s one thing I love about Taylor, they’re invested in their brand, even in the secondhand market, where they don’t make a direct profit.

Hopefully this points you in the right direction, so you know how to spot a fake taylor guitar.

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