EXPERIMENT--WILL I GET CHUMPED???

[kenposurf]

This is a really interesting thread!

[johnallg]

After dressing the frets on my Chinese SX Jazz bass clone it fares better than the Squires, and plays and sounds as good as a MIM Fender. Loses out to the MIM on finish.

Oh, it was $109.

[johnhall]

Supporting the builders of fake Rickenbackers = bad...

...but supporting builders of fake Fenders = ok?

That's right--my conscience is clear on this count. I'm not aware of any IP protection involving Fender Strats.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but both the headstock and Fender name/logo are still covered by trademark and should have caused customs to seize the package at entry . . . if they didn't have a few more serious things to be spending their time with.

It is true that the body shape is now in the public domain. Of course, if they make no move to police their name and logo, they'll lose that as well. This post could well be used as a supporting document in such a trademark action.

[jingle_jangle]

OK, John, you've pushed this thread ahead a few days. I've also been PMing another respected RRF member on this same topic.

My intent is, not to keep this as a FCS copy, with the silly Fender add-ons,but to recreate it as the original Jimi guitar, retaining only the Chinese body. All the other parts will be Fender-licensed.

So, we'll see a Fender neck, CS '59 pickups, American harness, an American Vintage NOS bridge, vintage Kluson tuners. Many of these parts have been procured already.

The paint will be a redone quickie; no backstage pass label, more accurate color on the white, handpainted guard and body, using the Chinese graphics as an underlay.

The point is an upgrade, not a scratchbuild. And some fun, of course...

[johnhall]

So, essentially you're keeping only the body, which is as I said public domain. Maybe that's the new Fender business plan: let the copyists build the bodies and then supply only the mostly outsourced, high markup items! No wear and tear on their factory, just reship goods or collect the royalties.

[jingle_jangle]

That's the plan. I originally thought, when I saw the listing (I was Googling "Fender Custom Shop" to see if the LH white lefty Jimi Strat that I bought for $300.00 had any predecessors in the FCS...and this Monterey Strat listing popped up) that the small photo in the listing was of an actual FCS guitar. Part of my motivation was to see how close the product I would receive (IF I even received it), was to the photo. Now, of course, it's obvious that the photo was of the actual product, they had it in stock, and the intent was to sell FCS replicas. These don't interest me. Although I appreciate "limited edition" projects for their craft and concept, and this is where my own affinities lie, I find little appeal of adding all sorts on non-related nonsense and jacking the price to unreal levels.

Fender apparently learned this, too, as they charged more money for Jeff Beck Tele relics which have little more than a certificate.

So, bottom line, for $402.59 I got a body and some Asian parts that won't be used, at least on this replica.

BTW I'm not sure if people are aware of how Fender recently dodged the bullet on the headstock/decal protection issue. Bill Nash, who turns out hundreds of relic Fenders each month in his plant in the Pacific Northwest, had been using Allparts necks and bodies to build these, but had been sourcing his own very accurate headstock decals. I've heard it said that he silk-screened these himself; also that he procured them in quantity from a third party decal manufacturer in Southern California.

Obviously, we're talking about potentially tens of thousands of counterfeit decals being placed on Fender-lookalike instruments that are often sold side-by-side with genuine Fenders on dealers' walls, but at lower price points...Fender filed against Nash, but it was settled out of court with Fender licensing the headstock and decals to Nash! It's common knowledge that Mike Eldred of the FCS and Bill Nash, are not exactly the best of friends, so it would seem that Fender weighed their options and decided it would be better to compromise to avoid having the matter come up in a court of law.

Back to this project...economically, it makes little sense when considered as a big picture. I could have gotten an Allparts or Warmoth (or any other licensed) body and painted it myself for less than $402.59. But I'll be the first to admit that impulse and curiosity took over for awhile, and I decided to make adjustments as things unfolded. Since so much of what I do is planned and circumscribed, there's an obvious appeal in the spontaneity of this "other" approach.