Fender issuing cease & desists everywhere

Cig35

Bluebeard said:

crunchman said:

Beato is not the only one saying that new Fenders aren't very good.  In his video, Tim Pierce said it in a more measured way in his video, but he still said that he has six S style guitars from other manufacturers, and they are all better than what is coming out of the Fender factories.

I doubt Beato will be caught criticising Gibson though, as he has an endorsement deal with them as far as I know.

The first time I came across Rick Beato was a video of him, Rhett Schull and Dave Onorato criticising Gibson but that was made a long time before his endorsement. 
His Fender video is a bit odd - his rant about about Alan Holdsworth insinuates they are suing artists 

I have looked at a number of German IP lawyers’ sites and interviews and if Fender’s copyright claim would be approved in future legal court cases and finally approved by the German Supreme Court, one of the lawyers said that Fender would at least theoretically have the right to sue artists who have monetized videos/pictures/performances in Germany where the Stratocaster is being displayed. But he added that it was in theory and he could not see it happening in reality…

jca74

I expect Rick Beato to get a letter of his own having owned up to faking a Strat with a non-Fender neck and a Fender logo

ICBM

Plectrum said:

My first decent electric was an Aria bought in 1985. They'd done a few things on it do differentiate it from the Strat. It didn't have a scratch-plate and the middle pickup was angled instead of the bridge pickup. I can't remember much about the control layout. Aria did have a reputation for building quality guitars in those days and it was significantly cheaper than a Strat. Fender at the time didn't have the greatest reputation for quality.

Aha... the RS Esprit, also famously used by Alan Murphy and (allegedly - he was pictured in an ad with one) Yngwie Malmsteen.

Mine is the much plainer RS Standard, which is essentially a 50s Strat copy but with the RS shape and only two controls, and (I'm sure @Revolutions will approve of this!) no teardrop jackplate - quite likely an idea borrowed from the then-current first version of the USA Standard Strat.

 

The question is whether Fender would consider this a copy - personally I don't, because although the overall design is the same as a Strat, no parts other than the bridge, pickups and knobs are identical to a Fender - but it is clearly a derivative.

snowblind

I thought Phil McKnight's comment was interesting. He is suggesting that the whole thing is more about PRS taking Fender's middle market (£500-£1500 price range) than about actual copyright issues. As he points out Fender is competing with 70 years of its own back catalog in the legacy markets but in the newer growth areas there isn't a lot of old stock floating about so that middle ground sweet spot is much more competitive. This is exactly where the Silver Sky lives and Fender doesn't want PRS eating their lunch. 

Revolutions

That’s a nice looking s-type @ICBM. I don’t hate hate the Strat plug, but happy to say the Dan Smith era was pretty cool 

ElectricXII

Philly_Q said:

Shit... has anyone got any Fender stuff they were thinking of selling before all this kicked off?  Looks like we might as well chop it up and save it for the wood burner.

I've been thinking for a while about moving on my Fender Alternate Reality Electric XII, as I don't gig it any longer, and it's just hanging on the wall.

I should probably hold off for a bit under the circumstances. Money's a bit tight though.

ICBM

Revolutions said:

That’s a nice looking s-type @ICBM. I don’t hate hate the Strat plug, but happy to say the Dan Smith era was pretty cool 

That's one's OK, because it's a hardtail - albeit a top-loader, with crap saddles - and not the FreeShyte trem version... of which the only saving grace is that it's possible to replace it with a Kahler 2300 and not have an unused trem cavity in the back .

Musicman20

Yorkie said:

I recently tested >20 off-the-shelf Fenders, a mixed bag of Mexican, Japanese and USA Strats and Jaguars, and one Tele. Not one of them had a bad neck. Sure, some were set up a bit nicer than the others, but to say that they have rubbish necks... I mean, what?

The only one I would trust out the box is Fender Japan. I'd actually also trust one of the higher end MIM guitars over MIA.

Litterick

Cig35 said:

Bluebeard said:

crunchman said:

Beato is not the only one saying that new Fenders aren't very good.  In his video, Tim Pierce said it in a more measured way in his video, but he still said that he has six S style guitars from other manufacturers, and they are all better than what is coming out of the Fender factories.

I doubt Beato will be caught criticising Gibson though, as he has an endorsement deal with them as far as I know.

The first time I came across Rick Beato was a video of him, Rhett Schull and Dave Onorato criticising Gibson but that was made a long time before his endorsement. 
His Fender video is a bit odd - his rant about about Alan Holdsworth insinuates they are suing artists 

I have looked at a number of German IP lawyers’ sites and interviews and if Fender’s copyright claim would be approved in future legal court cases and finally approved by the German Supreme Court, one of the lawyers said that Fender would at least theoretically have the right to sue artists who have monetized videos/pictures/performances in Germany where the Stratocaster is being displayed. But he added that it was in theory and he could not see it happening in reality…

I find that hard to believe. Copyright does not work like that. Do you have a link?

ICBM

Philly_Q said:

Shit... has anyone got any Fender stuff they were thinking of selling before all this kicked off?  Looks like we might as well chop it up and save it for the wood burner.

That reminds me... if anyone has a Bass VI that they can't bear the sight of any more, I would be open to making an offer for it .

Philly_Q

ICBM said:

Philly_Q said:

Shit... has anyone got any Fender stuff they were thinking of selling before all this kicked off?  Looks like we might as well chop it up and save it for the wood burner.

That reminds me... if anyone has a Bass VI that they can't bear the sight of any more, I would be open to making an offer for it .

Shameless.

steamabacus

ICBM said:

Revolutions said:

That’s a nice looking s-type @ICBM. I don’t hate hate the Strat plug, but happy to say the Dan Smith era was pretty cool 

That's one's OK, because it's a hardtail - albeit a top-loader, with crap saddles - and not the FreeShyte trem version... of which the only saving grace is that it's possible to replace it with a Kahler 2300 and not have an unused trem cavity in the back .

I did a setup on one of them once (the trem version). It had replaced saddles - graphtech style block saddles that were a smidge too wide and so had started splitting around the intonation screws. I managed to find a cheapo hardtail with similar saddles which were only slightly too wide. A bit of filing of the inside edges (just removing the chrome plating basically) and they fitted a treat.

Cig35

Litterick said:

Cig35 said:

Bluebeard said:

crunchman said:

Beato is not the only one saying that new Fenders aren't very good.  In his video, Tim Pierce said it in a more measured way in his video, but he still said that he has six S style guitars from other manufacturers, and they are all better than what is coming out of the Fender factories.

I doubt Beato will be caught criticising Gibson though, as he has an endorsement deal with them as far as I know.

The first time I came across Rick Beato was a video of him, Rhett Schull and Dave Onorato criticising Gibson but that was made a long time before his endorsement. 
His Fender video is a bit odd - his rant about about Alan Holdsworth insinuates they are suing artists 

I have looked at a number of German IP lawyers’ sites and interviews and if Fender’s copyright claim would be approved in future legal court cases and finally approved by the German Supreme Court, one of the lawyers said that Fender would at least theoretically have the right to sue artists who have monetized videos/pictures/performances in Germany where the Stratocaster is being displayed. But he added that it was in theory and he could not see it happening in reality…

I find that hard to believe. Copyright does not work like that. Do you have a link?

Think it was towards the end of this one:

stickyfiddle

Zilla is a legend  

Seziertisch

ICBM said:

Seziertisch said:

I’m sure there are basket case guitars/necks out there but how many second hand Fenders do you come across that have replacement necks? Very few. 

A friend had a Mexican Thinline Tele a while ago where the original neck was duff - it wouldn't straighten fully even with the truss rod cranked as tight as physically possible, and it had a weird uncomfortable profile. We changed it for an official Fender replacement neck, and when that arrived it was clearly a factory reject since the nut had been levered out - taking not only finish but a tiny piece of the wood with it - and an appalling quality cheap one "fitted" (it didn't). Definitely from the factory since it was in packaging taped up with Fender-logo'ed tape. It was actually fine once I'd replaced the nut and touched up the damage, but... hmmmm.

I have come across a very few more as a repairer, but probably only about half a dozen in nearly forty years - including ones made before I started working.

Now that I think of it, a friend of mine had a Japanese Jazzmaster which was refretted a number of times but never came good. 

Every time the guy doing the work would complain that the previous guy hadn’t seated the frets or filed the ends properly but that wasn’t the case as when the previous guy did the work it came back perfect at the time. The neck never seemed to stabilise. 

Seziertisch

Cig35 said:

Litterick said:

Cig35 said:

Bluebeard said:

crunchman said:

Beato is not the only one saying that new Fenders aren't very good.  In his video, Tim Pierce said it in a more measured way in his video, but he still said that he has six S style guitars from other manufacturers, and they are all better than what is coming out of the Fender factories.

I doubt Beato will be caught criticising Gibson though, as he has an endorsement deal with them as far as I know.

The first time I came across Rick Beato was a video of him, Rhett Schull and Dave Onorato criticising Gibson but that was made a long time before his endorsement. 
His Fender video is a bit odd - his rant about about Alan Holdsworth insinuates they are suing artists 

I have looked at a number of German IP lawyers’ sites and interviews and if Fender’s copyright claim would be approved in future legal court cases and finally approved by the German Supreme Court, one of the lawyers said that Fender would at least theoretically have the right to sue artists who have monetized videos/pictures/performances in Germany where the Stratocaster is being displayed. But he added that it was in theory and he could not see it happening in reality…

I find that hard to believe. Copyright does not work like that. Do you have a link?

Think it was towards the end of this one:

Thanks for sharing. The guy knows his stuff. The only video you really need to watch on the issue.

Philly_Q

Seziertisch said:

Thanks for sharing. The guy knows his stuff. The only video you really need to watch on the issue.

If you can speak or understand German.

Cig35

I checked now and you can get automated subtitles in English for the video, but they may not be that reliable…

Offset

Philly_Q said:

Shit... has anyone got any Fender stuff they were thinking of selling before all this kicked off?  Looks like we might as well chop it up and save it for the wood burner.

I'm blatantly shameless and immoral  - just give to me.

Axe_meister

I do love my Fender Hendrix strat (MiM), but I built myself a Warmth bling strat, which a) Fender just don't do (curly maple top), b) was cheaper than a Suhr.
I also have a Pete Thorn Suhr model, again nothing in Fenders lineup comes close.
And of course I have a bitsa strat.