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Author
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Topic: fender look-a-like
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Ron Victoria
Member From: Metuchen, New Jersey, USA
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posted 29 May 2005 06:23 AM
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http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=33039&item=7326482506&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW This is the first time seeing this. How was the company able to pull this off w/o a lawsuit. The similarity is incredible. Did they make any other models? Ron |
Brad Bechtel
Moderator From: San Francisco, CA
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posted 29 May 2005 07:59 AM
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I have seen other Japanese steel guitars by Guyatone and Teisco that are also very similar in design to the Fender steel guitar line. The lawsuits didn't start until companies like Ibanez started making copies of the Les Paul and making a better guitar than Gibson was making at the time.------------------
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A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars |
Les Anderson
Member From: Rossland, British Columbia, Canada
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posted 29 May 2005 08:45 AM
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Correct me if I am wrong here; didn't Fender start building steels in Japan in the 50s that ended up being called Guyatone or Guya?I have a D8 Guya that sounds very much like the Fenders of the 60s.  ------------------
(I am not right all of the time but I sure like to think I am!)
[This message was edited by Les Anderson on 29 May 2005 at 11:49 AM.] [This message was edited by Les Anderson on 29 May 2005 at 11:53 AM.] |
Don Kona Woods
Member From: Vancouver, Washington, USA
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posted 29 May 2005 03:59 PM
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I noticed that on this guitar, it has a Fender label.I bought an identical used Arai guitar in Honolulu Hawaii in 1965 for $75. However the label on my guitar was "Diamond Arai." This Japanese copy-cat of Fender guitar has been around along time. I do not understand why there was not a suit back then in the 60's by Fender. |
Jody Carver
Member From: The Knight Of Fender Tweed. Dodger Blue Forever
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posted 29 May 2005 05:26 PM
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quote.I do not understand why there was not a suit back then in the 60's by Fender. There was lidigation by Fender,but it was dropped by the defense attorneys. The production was "nill" so Fender dropped the case. |
Brad Bechtel
Moderator From: San Francisco, CA
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posted 29 May 2005 05:28 PM
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I don't believe Fender started building guitars in Japan until the 1980s. There were many "Fender-like" guitars built in Japan prior to that time, but never any steel guitars.
Many of the steel guitars I've seen that were built in Japan during the 1950s and 1960s were of obviously inferior construction.
This particular steel guitar has been upgraded with new electronics, pickups, and a Fender decal. It still doesn't make it a Fender. |
Denny Turner
Member From: Northshore Oahu, Hawaii USA
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posted 29 May 2005 06:10 PM
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The american PX's in Japan during the vietnam war had any number of Fender guitar and amp counterfeits complete with Fender logos ... along with Arai guitars as the "B" line. Close inspection showed them rather inferior to Fender in quality and their tones were thinner, ...leaning to the treble tone common in japanese music industry to play better on their car radios which was the vast majority of their music audience / market along with the japanese auto industry just coming online as a competitor in the USA and international automobile markets (ie cheaper radios that didn't produce bass tones well). Just like China now counterfeits even american automobiles with impunity from the U.S. Govt money mogels, ...Japan did allot of counterfeiting until after the vietnam war era when law suits began (to be "allowed?).Shortly after the vietnam war, Arai changed it's name to Aria. The lawsuits followed. I have always assumed large-scale counterfeiting and outside USA marketing of same by foreign countries is a matter of international politics ...payola between the fat cat legal criminals no small part of it. Aloha,
DT~
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Bill Creller
Member From: Saginaw, Michigan, USA
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posted 30 May 2005 10:50 AM
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A Japanese lady played a single neck Japan-built Fender at the HSGA convention in April.
I looked it over, and it had a great finish on it..sort of deep yellow. The lady is a student, and the guitar sounded OK to me. She said it cost $3000. in Japan. It appeared to be new .[This message was edited by Bill Creller on 30 May 2005 at 10:51 AM.] |
Wayne Cox
Member From: Chatham, Louisiana, USA
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posted 30 May 2005 10:51 PM
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Referring to LES's picture;the steel in the picture looks like a "Conqueror" distributed years ago by "Bruno", an import company. If that is the case, the body is a plywood laminate,which is very dense and has good acoustical properties. The main complaint among owners is that the pickup switches are located in a very awkward place and get in the way a lot. I own an older model.
~~W.C.~~[This message was edited by Wayne Cox on 05 June 2005 at 07:49 AM.] |
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