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I’m a big guitar guy, so I’ve never had a photo of contraband make me drool all over myself like I did when I saw the photos of what would be $18 million worth of counterfeit Gibson guitars that were recently seized by US Customs And Border Protection officers in California.

According to the US CBP, 3,000 guitars were seized in Los Angeles with the help of U.S. Homeland Security Investigations Special Agents, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Investigators and Gibson representatives.

The guitars that were seized were mostly phony Gibsons — although they snuck a dual-humbucker Fender Jazzmaster in there because, at that point, why not? — and the company estimates that the retail value of these axes (assuming they were legit) would be more than $18 million.

Just a few of the thousands of fake Gibson guitars (with one fake Fender Jaguar thrown in on the end) seized by US Customs and Border Protection officials. (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

I’m a guitar nerd — not kidding, I have a Fender Stratocaster sitting behind me right now, and I’ll turn around and noodle on it when I need to take a minute or two break from writing kick-ass articles — and it looks like some of these guitars were being passed off as some really collectible instruments.

That black and white bullseye Les Paul Custom? That’s a knockoff of Zakk Wylde’s old signature model that they don’t make anymore. There’s also a Pelham blue DG-335 in there — the signature model belonging to Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl — and the Gibson version of those guitars is very expensive.

Gibson noted that genuine Gibson guitars are only made in the United States, so “new” ones coming into the country would raise suspicions right away.

“This is really emotional and personal for us not only because of the protection of our players, but because of our Gibson team at large, including the artisans at our craftories in Nashville, TN and Bozeman, MT, who are generations of American families that have dedicated their entire lives to handcrafting Gibson instruments,” said Gibson’s Chief Marketing Officer Beth Heidt.

That’s true. A lot of people put in hard work to make those beautiful guitars — the real ones — and you hate to see their work cheapened by phony knockoffs.