Largest Bust In History: US Border Protection Seizes $18 Million In Fake Gibson Guitars At Los Angeles Seaport

Score one for the good guys. Anyone who's travelled out of the country knows what an absolute pain the customs process can be. I've only been to Cancun but just so happened to be "randomly" selected three times during my one trip out of the United States; one resulted in my entire suitcase being dumped out on a search table and then getting yelled at for 5 minutes while I tried to repack what took me a full day to fold. But there's a reason for these procedures and that was proved by the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) just the other day in Los Angeles, California.

Gibson Guitars

Gibson is one of the iconic American guitar brands. Alongside Martin, Fender, and Taylor, it's almost a guarantee that your favorite artist plays one of these (I'm a Martin man myself) but the story of Gibson has been troubled of late. Gibson was founded in Kalamazoo, Michigan in 1894 by Orville Gibson, who first found commercial success with a durable single-piece mandolin. They were sold out of a one-room work shop and the product line was expanded to feature other stringed orchestra instruments. After Orville's death in 1918, they brought on other designers and began rolling out a line-up of guitars. In 1936, they introduced their first ever electric guitar and forever changed the landscape of American guitar makers. While they rolled out a number of products, some now looked back on as defining instruments of the time, they struck gold in 1952 with the Les Paul, a model that's still revered by nearly all guitar players and is one of the best selling models of all-time. They moved their headquarters and bulk of manufacturing to Nashville in the 70's and 80's while another plant located in Bozeman, Montana was opened in 2022. Unfortunately for this stalwart of the American music scene, they've long been plagued by financial issues and were forced to declare bankruptcy in 2018 after being sold many times to various companies. They eventually worked their way out of bankruptcy after spinning down unprofitable portions of the company but are still struggling financially, with long time customers are turning their back on the brand after listening to dumb ideas from Private Equity types which resulted in a number of exorbitantly priced "Signature" items that were really just cheap guitars with some dude's name on it. Still, Gibson remains a giant in the world of musical instruments and just the other day US Customs and Border Protection uncovered a load of knock-off guitars that were set to flood the market and do even more damage to the reputation of a somewhat struggling brand.

The Largest Bust In History

According to a press release, US Customs and Border Protection, in conjunction with US Homeland Security Investigations, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, and Gibson officials, intercepted a large shipment of counterfeit Gibson guitars on a cargo ship arriving from Asia. Over 3,000 fake models were collected at the Los Angeles/Long Beach Seaport, with a total value (assuming they're sold at MSRP) of $18,742,820, the largest musical instrument seizure in recorded history. Gibson was able to confirm these models were inauthentic and stressed that, regardless of anything else, all of their guitars are still made in the United States. Cheryl Davies, CBP Director of Field Operations in Los Angeles, California said the following: "These fraudulent guitars may look and feel legitimate for unsuspecting consumers buying them from third party online sources, street markets, unauthorized retailers, and person-to-person transactions. As we approach the busy Holiday shopping season, consumers should pay attention to where they are buying these goods and how much they are paying, and if is too good to be true it probably is." Gibson CEO Cesar Gueikian added: "We are grateful for the hard work that our U.S. CBP officers, HSI special agents, and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department investigators are doing to stop counterfeiting. Our partnership is designed to help every agency work together to protect consumers and our fans from being misled into counterfeits. Today’s announcement gives us hope that we are on the right track, working together as partners. To our music lovers and customers, no matter which American brand you decide buy, always buy direct from the source, or from authorized dealers. Our pledge is to protect the consumer and give them the tools to make the journey of playing guitar and making music the most amazing experience." Big shoutout to US Customs and Border Protection, along with everyone else involved in taking these counterfeits off the street. Sure, it's not as important as keeping drugs or weapons or even some people out of the country, but these guitars would have absolutely been sold to some well-meaning but completely unaware parent or aunt or grandparent trying to do something cool for a family member or friend. It lets them keep their hard earned money and not send it overseas and into the pockets of some very unscrupulous people, which is a win-win all around. I've always thought a cherry red Gibson SG was the best looking guitar on the planet, but it would be a disservice for me to own one and play it like a 5th grader just starting lessons, so let's just look at this one in all it's glory, shall we? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gY0u2yBlQU