The Bassist and Guitarist thread

[Richard A Thackeray]

Alice Cooper, & the oft quoted phrase about Eddie VanHalen asking for guitar lessons from Glen Campbell
@ 00:25 - 00:55


View: https://youtu.be/B6q2hsdXenQ?si=zWHiRui-6ikmsE35

 

[DRM]

So, after Fender sued an obscure Chinese company in a German court for building/selling Strat style guitars, and getting the win by default as nobody showed up from China, they've now issued Cease & Desist letters to suppliers in the E.U, with, Quelle Surprise, a massive online backlash, once again litigious corporate American greed has the opposite effect, by getting the purchasing public to not buy a Fender product, & look at the competition, one comment under a You Tube video pointed out that Thomann in Germany, probably one of the biggest musical instrument suppliers in the world, are indeed bigger then Fender, & is family owned, with enough money behind them that could possibly bring Fender down if they felt so inclined, whatsoever betting Fender end up with egg on their faces over this, just like Specialized did over the "Roubaix" farce they instigated.

View: https://youtu.be/0oOwvgMcmxU?si=JIxwlyRSmU94NIoN


View: https://youtu.be/CQdqNTb9BKY?si=-TVMAnuexuK3FvpE

 

[MontyVeda]

So, after Fender sued an obscure Chinese company in a German court for building/selling Strat style guitars, and getting the win by default as nobody showed up from China, they've now issued Cease & Desist letters to suppliers in the E.U, with, Quelle Surprise, a massive online backlash, once again litigious corporate American greed has the opposite effect, by getting the purchasing public to not buy a Fender product, & look at the competition, one comment under a You Tube video pointed out that Thomann in Germany, probably one of the biggest musical instrument suppliers in the world, are indeed bigger then Fender, & is family owned, with enough money behind them that could possibly bring Fender down if they felt so inclined, whatsoever betting Fender end up with egg on their faces over this, just like Specialized did over the "Roubaix" farce they instigated.

View: https://youtu.be/0oOwvgMcmxU?si=JIxwlyRSmU94NIoN


View: https://youtu.be/CQdqNTb9BKY?si=-TVMAnuexuK3FvpE

Countless companies ripping off Fender and Gibson's original designs. I'm not sure how they get away with it. There have been lawsuits in the past but it still goes on. They don't appear to be making Strats and SG's under licence, like they do with Jaffa Cakes. It's an odd one.

 

[DCBassman]

Fender and Gibson were very lax at patenting their wares back in the day. Had they done better, there would never have been a copy market. The Big Boys are simply trying to get some extra cash back. This also, historically, means they're short of a bob or two...

 

[DRM]

Fender and Gibson were very lax at patenting their wares back in the day. Had they done better, there would never have been a copy market. The Big Boys are simply trying to get some extra cash back. This also, historically, means they're short of a bob or two...

This is the gist of it, they only protected the headstock design, not the body shape, however historically it looks like Fender ripped off Bigsby's headstock design, nowadays it seems the best Strats out there aren't Fenders, but the online backlash seems to be gathering pace, this could possibly be a blunder of epic proportions, if they struggle to sell current Fender/Squier models due to this litigious attitude.

 

[winjim]

I'm sympathetic but it should have been sorted out 40 - 50 - 60 years ago. Fender should have protected it and other brands should have been less reliant on ripping it off. At the end of the day it's a plank of wood with some strings attached to it but somehow this specific shape plank of wood has been elevated to quasi-religious status. Make a different shape, play a different shape, who cares?

It's public domain in the USA...