Stratocaster vs. Telecaster

I was wrong: Gibson did file a suit in the late '70s, but limited it to headstock design for some reason, as you pointed out (from the reverb link):

In the 1970s, Japanese manufacturers began producing guitars and basses that were on par, and sometimes at higher quality than, instruments made by America’s biggest brands. Famously, these were generally exact clones of the products offered by these brands.

Sometimes, like in Martin's case, that was the result of an outsourcing partnership. Sometimes it was just outright copycatting.

The instruments built in this era tend to be referred to as “lawsuit” guitars, based on the widely held misconception that these American companies went after Ibanez, Greco, Univox and others for cloning their designs. The truth is that most companies didn’t bother chasing down these companies on account of the difficulties of enforcing copyright overseas.

But in 1978, Gibson found a way to fight back and took the Elger Company to court in Philadelphia. Elger was initially a distributor who imported Japanese–made guitars from the Hoshino Gakki manufacturer to the states. This is where those Ibanez clones came from. Eventually, Hoshino bought Elger, which kept its base in Pennsylvania. That’s how Gibson was able to take Hoshino head on.

Gibson didn’t fight to stop Hoshino from producing or importing the clones, but simply from cloning the exact “open book” or “mustache” design of its headstocks. The idea was that consumers might confuse those Japanese imports with the real deal, and the judge ruled in Gibson’s favor.

until recently gibson was operated by some of the stupidest and worst people alive

Cf. CBS Fender

Greco made a Rickenbacker clone called the Rockinbetter, last one I saw for sale was a bit over $1k so only a few hundred off a real used 330, seemed kind of pointless.

er wait Tokai was the Rockinbetter IIRC, Greco just used numbers

Rogue made a fake Rickenbacker 330 in the mid ‘90s. I saw it once in a Musicians Friend or American Music Supply catalog, and then it disappeared.

Walnut and maple Rickenbacker is wrong but also v. v. right

https://i.imgur.com/IneXhXp.jpg?1
https://i.imgur.com/cWE1qh2.png?1

I often think that if I had to own one Rick, it would be the 340 mapleglo as played by Peter Buck on the Rockpalast show in ‘85

I'm smitten with these Rivolta Combinata line guitars that are obvs inspired by Ric but not direct copies. If the inlays didn't go from edge to edge on the fretboard (which seems a little much), they'd be an absolutely perfect match with my tastes.

https://i.imgur.com/GtWLiXz.jpg

ugh yes that inlay is awful

So bad. Rest looks cool. Do we have a general gear show n tell and want list thread?

that is a good idea

I Make Music has a couple of threads where folks have shared their stuff.

(also that Rickenbacker bass is $1900 and I just received a credit card that's 0% interest for the first year and $300 back after I spend x dollars and it's real tempting to make a poor life choice)

DO IT

this has been on Craigslist, Melody Maker with what looks to be Gretsch Filter'tron type pickups, would love to get this and put a Bigsby on it

https://minneapolis.craigslist.org/ram/msg/d/saint-paul-anniversary-edition-gibson/7303242274.html

yeah that’s dying for a bigsby

(also asking price looks a little steep based on a quick search)

I thought so, the big attraction is the color and I love those Gretsch/TV Jones style pickups but feels at least a couple hundred high

Why do I dislike painted necks so much? It’s not like there is any material difference to a clear coat.

late to thread but yeah I love the look of the combinata and could live with the headstock but the inlays absolutely kill it for me.

xpost It's a '61 reissue with '57 classic PAFs, have to check the actual year of reissue (I think '99?). The guy I got it from had an active Duncan pickup put in the bridge and Sperzel tuners, but I had the original reissue stuff put back in. Still have all that extra stuff though.

― Josh in Chicago, Friday, April 9, 2021 5:47 PM (three days ago) bookmarkflaglink

oh nice. let me know when you want to sell i may be interested.

Spottie - what's your opinion on the Telecaster Cabronita (MIM) w/the Filtertron style pickups?

those are awesome imo. i remember them a/b testing the custom shop one vs the mim one and it was pretty close. those fidelitron pickups are good. visually i liked the thinline version a bit more. they even did a squier one with a bigsby that people were into.

cool, they are nice looking. i love filter'trons, had a gretsch electromatic i really regret trading

lol i'm having such g.a.s. that i'm looking at a brian may guitar

well shit...thank you to everyone for getting me all tele nuts bought something I don't really need....however this is EXACTLY the guitar I've wanted, tele with a bigsby and filtertron at the neck...big thing was it has a Mastery bridge AND a replacement Lindy Fralin bridge pickup and locking tuners

https://reverb.com/item/39853390-squire-vintage-modified-cabronita-telecaster

That guitar is rad.

wow man thats super nice

i'd been looking at cabronitas, but still wanted the trad telecaster sound too. this one, i figured buying the pickup, tuners and bridge and getting them professionally installed would be getting close to the price he's selling it for

spottie - be curious on your opinion but i don't detect a ton of different between the higher end squier stuff (classic vibe, vintage modified, etc) and the MIM stuff anymore

looks great! big fan of buying stuff with the mods you want already done so you can get right down to enjoying the guitar.

the good squier stuff is really good. loads of pros use squier and just mod them like what you're doing. that one you got will hold value, if not increase (if you care about such things). the mim stuff is really great. there was always this unspoken competition between the corona factory and ensenada factory. the mexico factory had a ton of pride in their work and wanted to show they could make guitars better or at least as good. they would take on some pretty cool projects (like the troy van luween jazzmaster). the main issue you'll find with mim stuff is like fret sprout. tonal differences and playability are minimal between mim/squier and if you're putting new pickups in and coloring it with pedals/fx then it doesnt matter. classic vibe/VM squiers are almost too good, there was rumblings of making them worse to not eat into the fender line but in the end i think they just raised the prices.

that's interesting, love all the inside baseball stuff like that

shit that blows my mind is the custom shop stuff people pay so much money for something that still like 90% a stock American strat with a cool color and a couple interesting wiring gimmicks

https://www.chicagomusicexchange.com/products/fender-custom-shop-1960-stratocaster-chicago-special-1026985?variant=39299360161927

custom shop is mostly all prestige collectibles for rich boomers, not really much more to it. they sell like CRAZY tho believe it or not. even inside a lot of the people roll eyes at the relic stuff but when they do their showcase at namm that stuff sells to dealers really fast. the master builders are mostly all super nice though and they really love what they and they do some incredible work (yuriy shishkov's stuff is insane and super gaudy but if that's your thing and you have unlimited funds then there's no one better). it's not unlike the sneaker head market really, most people dont get it but it's not for most people. the custom shop calendars are hilarious, just so much nonsense made for people with zero taste. having said all that i own a (non-relic'd) master built strat :)

there was pretty big drama when we got this one new ceo and he wanted to create a regular fender line (fender select) with like all snazzy appointments and figured woods and what not and it was basically just a custom shop guitar for a few hundred less. so much dumb leadership in my tenure but they seem to be in a really great place right now. he was trying to take them public but luckily it fell through at the last minute.

lol at 9.5" radius being "a modern upgrade" as if it wasn't possible in the 60s.
7.25 til I die baby, except of course for acoustics and my wonderful Casino.

xxxposts congrats on going with it ums. that looks like a glorious ride.

look at this murderer

https://reverb.com/shop/douglas-re-imagined-instruments

https://reverb.com/item/33582205-telecaster-style-douglas-usa-electric-guitar-fender-usa-pickups-and-saddles-partscaster

like renovating a kitchen by leaving all functional equipment the same but replacing the floor with rope netting

Here at Douglas Renovated Instrument Co., I take in and evaluate less than perfect or perhaps otherwise lackluster guitars from famous makers . I then begin the process of fixing, upgrading, crafting and reshaping them into affordable, treasured, comfortable, quality instruments for years to come. Through this process I squeeze out the absolute best instrument possible for an affordable price

Always impressed by/jealous of the self-confidence of these people - he didn’t just take a chance on ruining one guitar to see how people would respond, he ruined perhaps dozens of them just knowing in his heart people would love them.

when you're torn between being a vintage fender enthusiast but also really love steinberger basses

"mostly I squeeze the guitar body through a somewhat H-shaped hole. this is an upgrade to the old guitar shape, which was not looking like an H at all."

i ... don't hate the body shape. it's mostly the body shape combined with the standard strat/tele pickups and pickguards that looks dumb

bizarrely reminiscent of those no-headstock steinbergers

it's like an 8th grade shop class tried to make an Ovation Breadwinner

https://reverb.com/item/39403721-ovation-modified-rat-rod-electric-guitar-rebuilt-breadwinner-1970s-black

One of the best threads on Offset Guitars details the "un-Voxing" of a 1961 Jazzmaster.
https://www.offsetguitars.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=111273

the "butchering of a classic" aspect of that reminds me that somewhere in the woods next to my parent's old house is my uncle's original late 60s dallas arbiter fuzz face (Reverb Estimated Used Price $1,340 — $3,035) that my cousin and I buried because it looked like a land mine

hahaha wow

lmao incredible