Fakes?

[KSB - Ken Smith]

Matusmoko is the factory you are referring to Ken? They built the Aria stuff for Shiro Arai. They even made a line called 'Shiro'. Morris was one of their products, that was a std. copy line that made Gibson, Fender and Rick copies. Also later they made very good martin copies. I think they had a line called ' moridaira' as well; and yes they are one of the biggest contracting factories, or were until Young Chang came on.

No, not at all. The Morris Factory itself is in Nagano but they also used other factories to make brands they had contracts with. I was in the Morris factory back in 1989 for a few days myself. I don't know what was made where but I do know Moridaira owns the factory and contracted other shops to build for them as they had 10x the work they could produce in-house.

I don't think Morris/Moridaira had much to do with Aria if at all. They just know each other. Aria is a trading company and does not have their own Factory. The same goes for Ibanez as did for Yamaha before they built the factory in Taiwan. Feel free to correct me if I am wrong but this is what I have learned in this business thus far. Young Chang I believe was set-up and worked directly for Moridaira/Morris. I met the Young-Chang people at one of Moridaira's dinners many years ago. They opened the invitation to me if I would need anything from Korea, but ofcourse, Moridaira would be the 'Liaison'. That was well understood and did not have to be mentioned.

 

[KSB - Ken Smith]

On the main Topic of Fakes, I got a reply from him when he relisted my name as well as other just before being shut down by Ebay once again. I though it would be nice to share with you EXACTLY what he said back to me so you know what a Pompas ASS this guy hole really is.

Here it is in qoutes from my Ebay Email back from him on,
______________________________________________________
"Saturday, September 30, 2006 12:34 AM"; "Item: MAGNIFIC 4 STG EXOTIC TOP CUSTOM MADE KEN SMITH BASS L3 (170033813702)
This message was sent while the listing was active.
mastersbasses is the seller.

impact in the name brand market. On the other hand, if you want to sabotage our business by stocking us on Ebay, keep up the work. We will list and re-list our products a thousand times, even if our accounts last just 7 days. We make our living by building instruments, and that is the way we will continue making our living. You may need an army of people to monitor our listings connected 24/7 just to keep up with us. As I have said before, this is the way we make our living, and I advise you to stop messing with us. Have a nice day."
______________________________________________________
So now maybe you know what I am dealing with here.. Enjoy reading it..

I know he was well educated and has a degree from "Rip-Off 101" college.

 

[69nites]

On the main Topic of Fakes, I got a reply from him when he relisted my name as well as other just before being shut down by Ebay once again. I though it would be nice to share with you EXACTLY what he said back to me so you know what a Pompas ASS this guy hole really is.

Here it is in qoutes from my Ebay Email back from him on,
______________________________________________________
"Saturday, September 30, 2006 12:34 AM"; "Item: MAGNIFIC 4 STG EXOTIC TOP CUSTOM MADE KEN SMITH BASS L3 (170033813702)
This message was sent while the listing was active.
mastersbasses is the seller.

impact in the name brand market. On the other hand, if you want to sabotage our business by stocking us on Ebay, keep up the work. We will list and re-list our products a thousand times, even if our accounts last just 7 days. We make our living by building instruments, and that is the way we will continue making our living. You may need an army of people to monitor our listings connected 24/7 just to keep up with us. As I have said before, this is the way we make our living, and I advise you to stop messing with us. Have a nice day."
______________________________________________________
So now maybe you know what I am dealing with here.. Enjoy reading it..

I know he was well educated and has a degree from "Rip-Off 101" college.

what a douche

see if you can get ebay to ban his IP

I know I would

 

[grygrx]

I did notice that when I searched for "Ken Smith" on ebay I didn't see his crap today. That makes me happy

 

[war_n_peace]

Link Removed

 

[KSB - Ken Smith]

Link Removed

Like last week, he started out like this and then after he listed the Basses, he CHANGED the listing putting all the famous names he was ripping off on the Basses that did not have any bids yet.

This is the kind of guy that falls down the steps in his house or gets run over by a Horse or eaten by an Anaconda while taking a leak in the woods behind the shop..

 

[lbpark]

Is there any way Ebay can stop this person from making accounts by blocking his ip address? Something like that? I don't know much about computers but it seems like this could somewhat help.

 

[The Penguin]

Okay, the basses being branded Tokai were later branded Fender. 1 assembly line 2 brands.

I don't see the words from your attributed quote in mine.

 

[ggunn]

Is there any way Ebay can stop this person from making accounts by blocking his ip address? Something like that? I don't know much about computers but it seems like this could somewhat help.

He probably has a dynamic IP, which means (I'm pretty sure) that he gets a new one assigned to him by his ISP whenever he logs in.

 

[synaesthesia]

No, not at all. The Morris Factory itself is in Nagano but they also used other factories to make brands they had contracts with. I was in the Morris factory back in 1989 for a few days myself. I don't know what was made where but I do know Moridaira owns the factory and contracted other shops to build for them as they had 10x the work they could produce in-house.

These are the Morris electrics I referred to. I think they were in the branding business as well, as these were not the acoustics that made their reputation. Whilst decent, they were not in the same class of the better Japanese slab electrics. Whilst Ibanez pushed their original designs, a lesser line of Ibanez copies were manufactured in the Cimar name. Cimar also had the std. fender/gibson copy range, and these Morris guitars were the same level. The acoustics, though, were on a different level.

I am not sure these were from the Nagano factory. A company I was involved with in the 70/80's imported these, the acoustics, Shiro electrics, Washburns etc. Matusmoko ended by the time the 80s ended (circa 88, 89) and sold the business before tragedy befell them.

 

[KSB - Ken Smith]

No, not at all. The Morris Factory itself is in Nagano but they also used other factories to make brands they had contracts with. I was in the Morris factory back in 1989 for a few days myself. I don't know what was made where but I do know Moridaira owns the factory and contracted other shops to build for them as they had 10x the work they could produce in-house.

These are the Morris electrics I referred to. I think they were in the branding business as well, as these were not the acoustics that made their reputation. Whilst decent, they were not in the same class of the better Japanese slab electrics. Whilst Ibanez pushed their original designs, a lesser line of Ibanez copies were manufactured in the Cimar name. Cimar also had the std. fender/gibson copy range, and these Morris guitars were the same level. The acoustics, though, were on a different level.

I am not sure these were from the Nagano factory. A company I was involved with in the 70/80's imported these, the acoustics, Shiro electrics, Washburns etc. Matusmoko ended by the time the 80s ended (circa 88, 89) and sold the business before tragedy befell them.

Yes, that is Morris but I have no idea if they made all of there brands in-house or farmed out the lower cost products which is very possible. I believe they may have made the 'Hurricane' line in Korea as they had many higher end orders to occupy their shop time. The lower cost Morris Electric slabs may be subbed out as well.

 

[Eric Perry]

That guy has a bunch of basses listed today.

 

[Rano Bass]

That guy has a bunch of basses listed today.

Well... this guy needs a good spanking with his own crappy "project" basses. Who's with me?

 

[Crazykiwi]

This guys been advertising on Ebay for the last 2 years plus. He changes nicks when he gets shut down by Ebay. He's even tried trading through a US seller in the past.

I did ask him once about whether these woods were sustainably logged given that he's using Swietana macrophylla in some of those bodies but got no response. Make of that what you will.

I know some people who have bought from him and they say the body is generally OK, but very roughly finished. They haven't hung on to the basses they've made with those bodies for very long afterwards either.

You'd have to be an idiot to buy a "ken smith style" body and expect a ken smith sound out of it. I'm pretty confident that none of those bodies would ever form part of an instrument that would be 'a keeper'.

 

[Eric Killinger]

So, I assume he made these bodies and carved them.


So because they're modeled after a [insert brand name here] bass, they're a fake?

 

[Rano Bass]

So, I assume he made these bodies and carved them.


So because they're modeled after a [insert brand name here] bass, they're a fake?

Pretty much... yes, you've figured it out.

 

[The Mule]

No, it's because he sometimes (not always) advertises them as unfinished [insert brand name here] basses, instead of [insert brand name here] STYLE basses they could be considered fakes. It's false advertising. People with just enough brain cells to keep them breathing might think that they buy an unfinished Ken Smith bass that was actually made by mr. Smith, for only a fraction of the cost. If this luthier was selling (almost) the same products under his own name, it wouldn't really be a problem...

 

[lamarjones]

Lets open fake accounts and bid the mess out of all his stuff!!!

 

[KSB - Ken Smith]

that is my point... i never sold any bass as original, and all that buy them, know they are not original because all say STYLE.. PLUSSSSSS... who doesnt know that a $300 dollars body, is not the original???

First, FILL OUT YOUR Profile so you are not banned here like you were on Ebay so many many times.

Second, You advertised "Ken Smith Bass" in your Ebay titles and NOT in the description so much. That is the problem. Make what you like but don't use my name in the title of your Ads.

Third, we make over 200 Basses a year completly by hand in our Perkasie Pa. shop (over 5,000 to date). We do not make or have ANY Basses made in Korea. The KSD Bass is a product of 'Brooklyn Gear' for which we did some desigh work and licensed the name Ken Smith "DESIGN".

I hope you can see the difference. If you want respect in this world, EARN it, don't steal it!!

 

[Eric Perry]

...But I would suggest that you just design your own body shapes and sell them under your own brand name. Maybe sell them as complete basses with electronics and stuff. I bet you would make a killing if you kept your prices low like they are now...

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