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Boutique knock-offs on eBay

Mound of Sound

Mound of Sound

Jul 15, 2006
810
27
Brookline, NH
#1
So I'm seeing for the first time these boutique (Alembic, Smith, Warrior) knockoffs on the Bay. Here's a link to the "Warrior" auction:

http://cgi.ebay.com/NECK-THRU-BASS-5-STRING-CUSTOM-EXOTIC-HANDMADE_W0QQitemZ120019970718QQihZ002QQcategoryZ4713QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

...and here's a "Warwick" :

http://cgi.ebay.com/NECK-THRU-BASS-5-STRING-CUSTOM-EXOTIC-HANDMADE_W0QQitemZ120019960226QQihZ002QQcategoryZ4713QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

They look nice, he leaves the pickups and pre's to you, and the prices are dirt cheap. I'm wondering if I should go for it. He also claims to customize, although his only website is photobucket. Maybe I should go for it before he gets busted.
 
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#12
I don't know. There's something about them and I can't put my finger on it, but they just don't look right. I'm not trying to compare them as exact knock-offs, but something just doesn't look right. Dare we pitch in and buy one to check out the quality?
 
#15
Wolfehollow said:
those are two different names... same person?
Click to expand...

I PMed the Kingluthier guy two weeks ago and got a reply from Luthierextreme. The King guy had posted another Bass with my name on it and I told him he had to stop his old tricks using my name. Then the Extreme guy answers the message saying it's not him. How did he get the message then?

I got a PM from someone either on TB or an Email off TB (can't recall), but the guy had bought one of these and thought I might be involved with them only to find out for one I wasn't and second, it was a piece of junk.

Anyone in the world can glue wood together but making a fine and playable instrument is by far not as easy as it looks.

Buyers beware. If you buy this copy junk from Brazil, you deserve what you get.

If it looks too good to be true, it probably is!
 
#16
KSB - Ken Smith said:
I PMed the Kingluthier guy two weeks ago and got a reply from Luthierextreme. The King guy had posted another Bass with my name on it and I told him he had to stop his old tricks using my name. Then the Extreme guy answers the message saying it's not him. How did he get the message then?

I got a PM from someone either on TB or an Email off TB (can't recall), but the guy had bought one of these and thought I might be involved with them only to find out for one I wasn't and second, it was a piece of junk.

Anyone in the world can glue wood together but making a fine and playable instrument is by far not as easy as it looks.

Buyers beware. If you buy this copy junk from Brazil, you deserve what you get.

If it looks too good to be true, it probably is!
Click to expand...

Though it would be nice to put together a sweet bass on the cheap, a couple things to concider. 1- It probably IS junk 2-This guy is stealing designs from people that spent years perfecting thier craft. Obviously he doesn't have permission and doesn't pay any licencing fees to the designers he steals from. We should not support these thieves, bad carma IMO.
Peace
 
#18
i have no problem with people making basses on other luthiers design, IF its a custom bass and not intended for commercial sale, these basses is intended for him to make a profit on selling them and making them like the original... or else he wouldnt have put them on ebay would he?

that i have no respect for..
 
#19
The pickup routes on the Jazz clone look waaaaaaay too close to the neck (or rather the bridge pickup looks miles away from where the bridge would be). Passing them off as someone else's instruments (eg Smith) is seriously bad form, it'd be quite easy for someone to get the wrong idea.
 
#20
KSB - Ken Smith said:
I PMed the Kingluthier guy two weeks ago and got a reply from Luthierextreme. The King guy had posted another Bass with my name on it and I told him he had to stop his old tricks using my name. Then the Extreme guy answers the message saying it's not him. How did he get the message then?

I got a PM from someone either on TB or an Email off TB (can't recall), but the guy had bought one of these and thought I might be involved with them only to find out for one I wasn't and second, it was a piece of junk.

Anyone in the world can glue wood together but making a fine and playable instrument is by far not as easy as it looks.

Buyers beware. If you buy this copy junk from Brazil, you deserve what you get.

If it looks too good to be true, it probably is!
Click to expand...
I agree with Ken on this one. I've read a post on another forum (IIRC it was HCBF) from someone who bought one of this guys copies and said that the quality of it made Wish look like Alembic. Apparently the body that he was sent had issues with gaps in the glued in spaces between laminates and serious neck warpage. The poster ended by saying he was going to make a coffee table out of it.
 

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