Official Luthiers Forum!

I bought some sandpapers labeled as 3M Fre Cut paper (or 3M 216U papers). They were cheap, something like 10 cents a paper. I didn't lose a whole lot since shipping from China was cheap. But I think you guys should be aware if someone sells 3M Fre Cut sandpaper on Ebay that there are fakes out there!!



Fake on the left, real on the right (the real one came in a package of 3 papers, labeled "sandblaster sandpaper").



they look identical in the back.



The difference becomes clear when you use them. 3M Fre cut lasts a LONG time and never clogs and takes quite a while before it loses its sharpness. The fake fre cut paper however were dull out of the box and after 2 seconds of using it by hand, it cuts about as well as a piece of kraft paper. If anyone buys fre cut paper and wonder why their quality have slipped, it's just you. You bought fake ones.

Taobao is great for some things but anything branded is 90% fake. Another thing is, fake fre cut papers have a lighter yellow shade than real ones (that almost look school bus yellow especially the coarser grits)

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

report the seller
I have gotten a few removed for counterfeit items

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

I'm not sure if Taobao has this function... I can try...

Edit: Taobao doesn't allow me the function to report. Basically once you confirmed you have the item the sale is over. They hold the money in escrow in the meantime.

I will probably go to the item page and report it this way, but knowing China I seriously doubt Taobao cares about counterfeit items. China's not known for respecting intellectual property.

I'm putting this up in case some enterprising individual buys these cheap Taobao "fre cut paper" and put them on ebay and try to pass it off as real. One difference I noticed is that the real stuff has a barcode in the back and says "made in Canada". The fake one does not. If you see it for sale on ebay ask to see the back of the sandpaper before you buy. The fake stuff cuts about as well as roughened kraft paper and I'm not exaggerating, it's vastly inferior than even the stuff I buy at the hardware store for 30 cents a sheet! That hardware store sells some white sandpaper made by a German company, it's superior than most papers I find in Taiwan but still not as good as Fre Cut. Cost was still 30 cents a sheet.

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

10 cents a sheet!
If the price looks too good to be true...…..
Like Elixir string sets for $5 a pop....

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

I guess 'buyer beware' applies more now than ever in this international market.

Timely report Tai!

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

3M might like to know about it, I think you should reach out to them.

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Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

If you buy sandpaper from StewMac or Lee Valley instead of Taobao, you don't have to worry about it being fake...

Those guys charge almost 2 dollars for a sheet. If I can find it here in Taiwan it's considerably cheaper (not Taobao cheap but cheaper) however the grits available is somewhat limited...

Then you have shipping and customs to worry about...

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Interesting, I bought some rolls of 3m freecut gold psa on eBay. All good except the 80 grit is a lighter color yellow. Seems to sand okay but the adhesive us not as good.

Pat

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Pat

The lighter color stuff I got on eBay or Amazon and the other from stewmac. Fake?

Pat

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Pat

Hard to say... use it and see how it sands. The fake stuff is basically dull out of the box.

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

I'd guess fake. The 3M website lists 236U as being a roll of PSA sanding discs for ROS.

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Mike Lindstrom

236u also comes as rolls, not just discs.
Which roll is considered lighter? The one that is yellower or the one that is more beige?
236u should have a heavier paper (C wt.) than 216u (A wt.) but otherwise pretty similar. I have run across color differences in sandpapers but never considered one might be fake.

The one on the left that is more yellow is the one I got from stewmac. The adhesive is much better. The other one barely stays down. I haven't used it enough to see about the durability.

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Pat