Hi all.

Anyone played one of the Chinese replicas (Fender, Gibson etc) available on ebay? What are they like?

Bean.

Ive heard alot of bad stories about em.

A good friend of mine bought one of those Chinese Ibanez Jems a while back . It cost £1.99 , plus £179 post and packing !!!!! . He has an original Ibanez Jem Steve Via , and he ordered this copy out of both curiosity and the need for something else to practice with .
The guitar arrived 5 days after he sent payment ( Ebay) . I took a series of photos and wrote a complete review on 101 2 maybe 3 months ago , but in a nutshell the Chinese Ibanez scored 7 outa 10 . It looks identical on paper but they are differences . No scalloped fret work , differing routing around monkey grip . but i must say the pick ups kick ass !!!!!! , and the overall finish is top drawer , the inlays are superb , and the action is unreal .
Would i buy one , well yes i would , i believe these guitars are about to become collect able as law suits begin . My advice is get one if you can , they are that good !!!!!!!!!!!!!

what!!
the "chibanez" jems don't even have a trussrod for god sake
the pickups are worse than a westfield strats
I played a "chibanez" floral jem and it was incredibly bad;
buzzing everywhere and complete fret outs
also looked funny