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Ebay Bongo. Real or Fake?

#4
I told him it was a fake and got this back:

I appreciate your input but I bought it and it is custom made to my specifications. Literally the body and every single aspect about the bass was made to my request. So in kindness, you sir are wrong. I bought it straight from the warehouse. So if you think it's a fraud just go to the next listing please don't insult me.

He's as dumb as he is stupid.
 
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#7
Aight... I don't want to sound like a Bongo playing idiot, but I'm really curious. What are the things you guys are saying make this so obvious? I know the heel of the neck in the back is wrong, it looks like 2 not 4 band EQ (though I can't really tell from the picture)... the headstock shape is wrong. What else though? Not challenging you guys. Just curious, and feeling not worthy of having owned a bunch of these :).

Oh yeah... almost forgot the battery compartment. But it was custom made for him :).
 
#8
I have a Chinese copy and the things that stand out the most are tuners, knobs, bridge and pickguard shape. This has the same defects only better quality. I wasn't 100% positive because the cutouts on back and headstock shape was different than mine. I thought maybe it was new model. He does state its brand new, but dinged and seldomly used.
 
#9
Logo is wrong.
Tuners are wrong (no MM logo)
Bridge is wrong (no MM logo)
Pickups are wrong (wrong shape, and those are $20 Wilkinson pickups)
Pickguard is wrong.
Cavity cover is in the wrong place, and is the wrong shape.
Body shape is wrong.
No compensated nut
Battery box is for one battery (should be two) and is in the wrong place.
Neck heel has a flat spot.
No neck plate (so no serial number)
 
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#10
Fake from Ebay:

s-l1600 (1).jpg



Real Bongo:

DSCF0041.jpg
 
#13
toiletbaby said:
I have a Chinese copy and the things that stand out the most are tuners, knobs, bridge and pickguard shape. This has the same defects only better quality. I wasn't 100% positive because the cutouts on back and headstock shape was different than mine. I thought maybe it was new model. He does state its brand new, but dinged and seldomly used.
Click to expand...

There is a second possibility. A while back there were offered bongo "kits" on Ebay. I seriously considered one for a while. Like this one they were far from perfect copies but had the advantage over the Chinese copies of being parts made from some decent tone wood (which is what interested me) and had a bit higher quality parts. It's possible that this is one of those kits that someone finished off.
 
#14
bassbenj said:
There is a second possibility. A while back there were offered bongo "kits" on Ebay. I seriously considered one for a while. Like this one they were far from perfect copies but had the advantage over the Chinese copies of being parts made from some decent tone wood (which is what interested me) and had a bit higher quality parts. It's possible that this is one of those kits that someone finished off.
Click to expand...
I also had one but I bought it from china. It was pretty cheap so i gave it away. I'd like to find a decent bongo body because I have a new legacy pickup and a MM moses neck I'd like to install on a bongo body.

DIY Electric Bass Guitar Kit Bolt On Solid Mahogany Body Canadian maple neck MX 036-in Guitar from Sports & Entertainment on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group
 
#15
Yeah, that looks like a fake. Alot of things look off about that bass. Decent looking bass, but a bad copy.:cool:
Make some observations. Look up some pictures of a REAL bongo bass, then put this thing right beside it. This bass doesn't look right. Even the tuners are done wrong! Ignoring the colour differences, the fakes are far too stretched out to look like legit tuners on a legit bongo. Also, note that thick bar thing down the middle of the tuner. The big piece of the tuner (the part you grab when you tune the bass) is much closer to that bar and overall, much closer to the headstock. The fakes' part you grab on to is much farther off of that bar and farther from the headstock.
The moral of this story: Be careful of what you buy on eBay and always ask your buddies on TB if you aren't sure if it's a copy. ;)
 
#18

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