I had a 2005 for a few minutes in my life and don't remember it looking like that. The rest of the guitar looks legit. It's on sale here in Santiago, Chile. I just posted the last 3 the guy had on his listing. Well, the Jury's out on this one!!
It just looks so badly placed or cut I couldn't believe it would make it out of the Gibson factory. Well, it wouldn't surprise me if it's a fake as there are tons of them here in Chile.
It’s really difficult to make any kind of call from the pics you sent. Separation around the headstock inlays is extremely common. Is what we’re seeing separation from nitro shrinking? If so? Then it looks legit. But again. More pics are needed. The inlays look right for a late 90’s - mid 2000’s gibson. There appears to be binding nibs at the fret edges. Id say more and better pics are needed before making any accurate call. From the pics you posted, The only thing that screams “questionable” to me is the serial number. What is this guitar supposed to be? As in year etc?
My only Gibson SG with the pineapple on the headstock is my old '70/'71 Standard. I just took 3 pics with different angles of the headstock:
I've seen a half dozen fake Les Pauls with nibs in the last year. I agree that the inlay separation is pretty common as are overlay replacements, so I wouldn't disqualify it for that and the tuners look like the real OEM stamping. It is hard to tell how much of the headstock strangeness (look at the 'Gibson' logo's shadows) is light artifact from the photos.
It does use the correct “1” in the serial number, which most fakes do not. I am leaning towards real.
Exactly. What really makes it look legit to me is the pinkish tint to the binding. That is something no one’s going to fake.
Totally real. Just Google 2005 SG Standard and there's tons of pics of them and they look just like that.
all right, all right... I said fake because the inlays look like they have a white outline. Maybe that's just the way the pictures look in the available light. Gibsons don't have a white outline, unless the inlay has separated like youse guys have shown, and the light reflects from the edge. My Gibsons don't look like that, because mine are so special. (and also because mine are only decals, or maybe silkscreen if ya want to get fancy).
Looks legit to me. From what I have seen... 1961-1964 SG Standards and the SG 61 Reissue have the "pineapple" placed where the baseline is close to being even with the center tuning posts. 1965-present SG Standards have the "pineapple" placed where the baseline is below the center tuning posts. The SG Standard '61 2019 has the "pineapple" placed at the same location as the recent regular SG Standards instead of the "historically correct" location for 1961-1964 SG Standards and SG 61 Reissues from previous years. See below... Ageing and temperature changes can cause the clear coat to shrink creating an outline around headstock logo inlay and "pineapple" aka crown inlay. The presence of "pineapple" inlays on headstocks accompanied by those large trapezoid inlays on the neck is going to add some extra weight to the equation and possibly contribute to the phenomenon known as neck dive. That’s one of the reasons why I rock the SG Classic with dots and no fruit on the headstock.
I've never really noticed this before. Something to keep an eye out for on the older ones I guess. These 2 pics are from my different 2005s. If you zoom in you will see the outline. It does not do this on my 2016s, 2017s or 2018s... yet. 2016: 2017: 2018:
