The "John Hall Question" thread yanked?

spike · Post by **spike** » Sun Jun 27, 2004 12:12 pm

I've been away and I've come back to find the topic missing. I'm interested in knowing what caused it to
get pulled.

soundmasterg · Post by **soundmasterg** » Sun Jun 27, 2004 2:06 pm

Yes I noticed it was yanked too. I have no idea what caused it to get pulled. I woke up the other day and it was gone.

rickfan60 · Post by **rickfan60** » Sun Jun 27, 2004 5:18 pm

I think this is best left un-explored. Suffice it to say it was contrary to the spirit of this great forum and no good was going to come from it. The cancellation was partially my fault but I can't take all of the blame.

admin · Post by **admin** » Mon Jun 28, 2004 6:27 am

Fair questions. Please see the discussion under the Rickenbacker Basses topic.

tonewerks · Post by **tonewerks** » Tue Jun 29, 2004 8:39 am

was this the what's on order thread?

spike · Post by **spike** » Tue Jun 29, 2004 10:49 am

No, it was a now deleted thread regarding the availability of horseshoe pickups.

shamustwin · Post by **shamustwin** » Tue Jun 29, 2004 1:33 pm

I tried not to say anything wrong. Was it me?

rickfan60 · Post by **rickfan60** » Tue Jun 29, 2004 3:59 pm

No, I don't think so Jerry. It was just a whirlwind of nonsense that swept up several of us. Me included.

greg_mitchell · Post by **greg_mitchell** » Sun Nov 21, 2004 3:15 pm

Same thing happened last week on the Fender page on a question about Carol Kaye.

simer4001 · Post by **simer4001** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 4:05 pm

What did you guys do? What did I miss?

cheyenne · Post by **cheyenne** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 4:37 pm

Its been awhile, but If I remember correctly, there was an issue of specific RIC parts being discontinued. Particularly, the re-issue horseshoe pickup. Then someone came along with a non RIC replacement, people got crazy, the forum started choosing sides, Peter pulled the post to try to difuse the situation, and,,,basicaly JH got tired of trying to defend the company name and went home.

There may have been more to it than that, but thats my take on the situation.

He still comes back once in a while. But is missed as a full time contributer.

Sigh,,,,,its just like everything else in life, you dont know what you got until its gone.

simer4001 · Post by **simer4001** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 7:36 pm

Thanks for the info. I do remember seeing that series of posts. If RIC didn't have the replacement part was JH upset because others were advising on how to get a non-RIC part for replacement, or because he was being called to task by some?

Anyway, I hope he comes back. His input is one of the strengths of this forum.

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 8:34 pm

Ric doesn't seem to want to sell spare parts ... and then they seem to shut down some of the people making spare parts ... Ric is concerned with their copyrights and trademarks ... but us end users are more concerned with getting parts ...

dave4004 · Post by **dave4004** » Mon Jan 03, 2005 6:32 am

Unless a part is protected by a patent, it can be made. AFAIK they have no unexpired patents at present.

Of course, in making the part you can't violate a Rickenbacker trademark. You can make a six-pole Alnico pickup and wind it to 7.4Kohms using #44AWG. But you can't call it a toaster or toaster-top because those names belong to RIC. You can make a pickup cover for it, but you can't duplicate the toaster-top style cover because that is trademarked "trade dress". You can make an original style pickup with a horseshoe magnet, but you can't call it a "horseshoe pickup" because that name is trademarked by RIC.

I don't see how RIC is preventing anyone from getting parts or shutting anyone down other than people who violate their trademarks.

soundmasterg · Post by **soundmasterg** » Tue Jan 04, 2005 11:03 pm

Dave, has RIC in fact trademarked the name "horseshoe pickup?" I wouldn't think you can trademark something that basically describes what type of pickup it is. That would be like trying to trademark "humbucking pickup" or something....although if they haven't already, I wouldn't put it past Gibson to try.