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Paul McCartney signed Hofner Guitars w/ JSA & PSA - BUYER BEWARE

Hi everyone - I know that this was a previous topic last week in regards to a Paul McCartney signed Hofner guitar with a JSA cert that was identical to a particular High In the Clouds book signature.

http://live.autographmagazine.com/forum/topics/macca-signed-hofner-...

Just wanted to let everyone know that there seems to be a serious scam going on as I have been given a picture to another 'signed' Hofner, equipped with a different High In the Clouds signature.

My questions for the AML group is:

1. Has anyone noticed any other artists with this copied signature issue on pick guards or any other item?

2. Do you believe this to be live ink? Doesn't look like an autopen to me.

To me, this is a huge issue because (1) the replicas are being certed (2) no one knows where these are coming from and (3) without matches, most would have accepted it as real.

Lets get to the bottom of this. A scam like this can ruin our hobby

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Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on March 28, 2017 at 7:08pm

Could be I suppose, there is a table-sized dry mount press that would be a good size for this. Regular "old school" dry mounting would be manual and hard to accomplish I think.

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Permalink Reply by BallroomDays67 on March 28, 2017 at 7:54pm

I looked at the one from Iconic and it sure looks like the paper is peeking out beneath a thin layer of plastic. Maybe it's just an optical illusion. Lamination, dry mounting or coating it would be crazy.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on March 28, 2017 at 8:11pm

Crazy in what way?

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Permalink Reply by BallroomDays67 on March 28, 2017 at 8:34pm

Crazy as far as altering the signature and greatly reducing its value. If you place it under plastic, you would still have an nice, unaltered and genuine Macca signature on paper shaped like a pick guard.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on March 28, 2017 at 8:42pm

They'd still have to adhere the plastic to the paper. Perhaps they're using a heat-sensitive, very thin, clear plastic that can adhere to the paper.

I don't think they're too worried about decreasing the value of the autograph.

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Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on March 28, 2017 at 8:32pm

Is it possible Faber and Faber have some proprietary marker or additive for their papers?

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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on March 28, 2017 at 8:38pm

Here's a large Hofner pickguard front/back. Again, the front of the guard is either pearlized or tortoise shell, and the back is plain white with no coating. I have searched and searched and I haven't been able to find any plain white Hofner bass pickguards.

Notice how polished the inset screw holes are on the front. A reason the holes on the ones we've been looking at are so rough looking is probably because they had to drill insets for them, because the backs don't have them.

And why do the edges look rougher around the pickguards? If the pickguard edges look beveled to the front, so the bevel has to be removed or reversed.

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Permalink Reply by marc e on March 28, 2017 at 8:41pm

steve thats the same thing i found when doing my reasearch and what i posted.

there also 3 ply which the fakes and real ones are.

but one way to see is the angle one the real it would be slanted one one way and the opposite on the other

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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on March 28, 2017 at 8:51pm

Sorry, John, you did.

So neither you nor I have been able to find blank white front pickguards.

And yes, the pickguards appear to be beveled from the front, which they'd probably have to file off or fill in.

Here's a question: Did IP collectors present McCartney with the back of pickguards so he couldn't see the pattern?

In any case, the autograph on ANY Hofner bass pickguard that is plain white need to be examined carefully before purchasing.

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Permalink Reply by marc e on March 28, 2017 at 9:02pm

as i said i spent 25 years do in person guitars ,i had over 4000 done on the body not counting pick guards so ive study guitars and the deciline off the pick guards.

but i posted a link to the cheapest lefty hofner thats officaly from hofner and its the flashy white tortuse checker one and if u go up higher its would be off white or vintage tourtouse. so no

so no looking at how they come from hofner no.the best i can tell is they cut them wich can be done as ive had to do it for very rare guitars or flip them but i unless i see it in person i cant tell.

now if there flipping them the angle on the outer edge would be a dead give away as it would be slopped in the wrong direction. THATS A BIG CLUE TO LOOK FOR. UNLIT THEY CHANGE IT AFTER READING THIS THREAD

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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on March 28, 2017 at 9:11pm

It's easy: any signed plain white Hofner bass pickguard should be examined carefully, in person.

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Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on March 28, 2017 at 9:16pm

I mentioned the three ply as well but - if you flip one and rebevel won't you lose some size? Yes, the holes and cuts look very rough. Does the original paper (if that is what is here) have any "weave" or anything that could show in extreme raking light?