• Ernie Ball
  • MusicMan
  • Sterling by MusicMan

pillowhead4000

New member
Joined
Jul 9, 2025
Messages
1
Location
Somerset, UK
Hi there,

I recently had the privilege of playing my friends MusicMan Albert Lee which was just a lovely guitar so decided to look at getting something in the used market to scratch the itch until I can afford a Bea Sabre down the line so I bought a guitar on eBay and afterwards started to feel suspicious about its legitimacy and was just wondering if anyone here can vouch for it. I'm pretty certain it is not real now but any confirmation you can all help with should help my case getting a refund through eBay. Obviously the fake guitar market is on the rise and we need to be more and more vigilant.

It is sold as an Employee Build with no serial number, is this something MM actually do? It says Brand: MusicMan Model: Axis.

What's your thoughts on it, I feel dumb for falling for it to be honest but I am just not hugely familiar with the MusicMan guitars but I am certainly going to be buying one in the future. Any help you guys can give me and things to look out for in the future would be greatly appreciated.

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beej

Moderator
Joined
Aug 16, 2004
Messages
12,302
Location
Toronto, Canada
Hi there- good idea to check first! It's a total fake. Full of red flags. There are a ton, but the most obvious ones to me are:

- The headstock shape is wrong and the logo looks like a decal (not silkscreened).
- The fretboard is cut out after the last fret for the truss rod (not how MM do it).
- The body shape isn't right (hard to tell if you're not familiar with these guitars, I know).
- The routing around the pickups is wrong (shouldn't be square like that around the tabs).
- The toggle switch is the wrong type.
- The binding around the top looks too thin.
- On the back, the neck heel is all wrong.
- The compartment covers on the back are the wrong size/shape/locations.

Anyhow, I'd run away from that one!
 

tbonesullivan

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 24, 2012
Messages
2,422
Location
New Jersey
OMG. What IS that wood the neck is made out of?

 
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