Im purchasing a Guitar off e-bay thats meant to have been jammed on by Brian May at live8, Also it is meant to have a genuine autograph of Brian May's on it.

Im paying quite a substantial amount of money for it but im worried!, If its not genuine is there anything i caqn do about it or is it just the risk that i have to take, win or lose?

It's one of those worrying scenarios Matt that you have to go on trust.

To get it authenticated may cost extra valuable time & money.


I have heard that 'fake' autographs are big business in ebay but an autographed guitar?

You could always contact the Live8 agent/organisers & ask if they know of such an item or autograph request before you part with your cash?

Do i have any legal rights in purchasing it, if i find out its not authentic then what do i do?

Originally posted by matt1889
Im purchasing a Guitar off e-bay thats meant to have been jammed on by Brian May at live8, Also it is meant to have a genuine autograph of Brian May's on it.

Im paying quite a substantial amount of money for it but im worried!, If its not genuine is there anything i caqn do about it or is it just the risk that i have to take, win or lose?


If there is no certificate of authentication (as would be expected from an event such as Live8, especially as the item was (allegedly) used in the show) I'd stear well clear.

but if i go through with buying it do i have any legal rights afterwards???????

I've never understood the whole certificate of authentication thing. How do you know that's not fake too?

Unsure about your legal rights but has the seller offered any ebay protection on it (usually tells you below the sellers details). If so and it doesn't match the listing you can claim through this although i dont know how reliable it is.

Have you asked for pics anfd full details of where he/she obtained it from. Also if he/she has 100% positive feedback and plenty of it i'd feel a litte better

Have a look see if this page (http://answercentre.ebay.co.uk/forum.jsp?forum=8002) holds your answer, Matt.
There's several pages of Q&A's at the link.

Taken from here (http://pages.ebay.co.uk/community/answercenter/index.html)

Is the seller registered & have good feedback?

Are they in UK?

I mistrust sellers from abroad personally, especially USA.

If it states on the Ebay description that is in a Genuine signed guitar and it turns out not to be then you are NOT under any legal agreement to buy it as the seller misled you in the desciption

could you post the ebay item number on here so we can have a look & give you a better guess at our impressions?

Yep, of course i can! Two mins!

I steer well clear of this one.

if you can verify its authenticity by emailing Brian Mays managers then fine, but there are just too many scammers on ebay and once you've paid, although in theory you can get your money back, in practice it can be difficult.

I tried to buy two guitars this year. one became the subject of disputed ownership, and one was not as described. managed to walk away from both deals fortunately.

having said that I've also bought and sold successfully on ebay.

I'd never buy something where the value is based on something easily faked, like a signature.

John

Originally posted by matt1889
Yep, of course i can! Two mins!

Thats the longest 2 minutes ive ever head of :D

This looks like it, on the list on this page:

http://music.search.ebay.co.uk/guitar-brian-may_Music-Memorabilia_W0QQcatrefZC12QQfromZR40QQfsooZ1QQfsop Z1QQsacatZ2329

QUEEN Brian May signed guitar. Autograph

"Buy now £499"

Seller kindly, but strangely, offers to transfer the signed scratchplate to another colour guitar if you want!

And only £2.75 postage for a guitar?! Bet its a cardboard cutout.

Autografica (the seller) does have a UK website here:

http://www.autografica.co.uk/ with no physical contact details on it but there is a link and a UK address and phone number here:

http://www.uacc.org/dealers/autografica.html

Originally posted by cgksheff
This looks like it, on the list on this page:

http://music.search.ebay.co.uk/guitar-brian-may_Music-Memorabilia_W0QQcatrefZC12QQfromZR40QQfsooZ1QQfsop Z1QQsacatZ2329

QUEEN Brian May signed guitar. Autograph

"Buy now £499"

Seller kindly, but strangely, offers to transfer the signed scratchplate to another colour guitar if you want!

I am no expert but 499 sounds pretty damn cheap for an autographed guitar. So it sounds a bit fishy

And only £2.75 postage for a guitar?! Bet its a cardboard cutout.

It does actually say "Ask for postage details for this item as standard postage rates do not apply". It looks pretty genuine to me. You're covered by PayPal because of the cost of the item anyway I think.

I think this may need looking at from the listing:

"All signed items are supplied with our own combined shipping invoice/COA and lifetime guarantee, which carries our full name and contact details. We do not sell pre-printed, secretarial, Autopen, facsimile or fake signatures. If a listing says obtained in person, it means that I obtained the signature myself in person, and not via a third party or similar!"

It doesn't say he obtained it in person (where you can usually ask for photographic evidence) and the fact that he can change the colour of the guitar parts is a bit silly really. I'm sure that would decrease the value of the original item if it was genuine.

If I read it correctly, the scratchplate was signed by Brian May and not the guitar. If that's the case then the guitar can't have been played at the Live 8 concert. Did I miss something?

He also has a BB king one signed that is identical. It seems as though he buys the guitars and adds the signed plate afterwards. So you might as well buy a signed photograph.

If I read it correctly, the scratchplate was signed by Brian May and not the guitar. If that's the case then the guitar can't have been played at the Live 8 concert. Did I miss something?

No, you didn't.

It doesn't say he played it at live 8. and he wouldn't have. it's a strat copy. why would brian may play that? It's a cheap nasty guitar, someone's taken the scratchplate and possibly got it signed by brian may. That's a lot of money for a crap guitar and possibly a hairy man's signature.

AVOID IT!

Probably a bit late given that the original thread was a year ago...

Probably a bit late given that the original thread was a year ago...

HA HA HA! I never noticed! DOH! And it's still available too ....... or maybe it's just yet another one that has turned up .......

Im purchasing a Guitar off e-bay thats meant to have been jammed on by Brian May at live8, Also it is meant to have a genuine autograph of Brian May's on it.

Im paying quite a substantial amount of money for it but im worried!, If its not genuine is there anything i caqn do about it or is it just the risk that i have to take, win or lose?

if you pay by pay pal then you can cliam your money back, as it's a fake. read the Rules & Regs pay pal will ask you to send it back via carrier, then you have proof this has arrived and pay-pal will just give you the money and demand it back from the seller!!

LOL - blame Kimmie for re-activating the thread

OMG! I hope he didn't buy it in the end, because a) that's a lot of money for a crap guitar and b) I'm 95% sure that's not Brian's signature. And now, having seen there's another one for sale I'm even more convinced it's a fake. Brian's a bit hot on these "signing things for sale on e-bay" stuff and I don't see how these people could have got him to sign a load of scratch plates without alarm bells ringing!