• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join freeLog in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Fender decals on not-really-Fender basses

Funny thing about putting a Fender logo on a Squier is that you're basically faking a MIM. I don't know of any Squier with a truss rod screw in the back of the neck. So you turned your $200 bass into a $500 bass, ohhh i'm impressed. :D

My Squier's already say "by Fender" no need to fake it, it already is a Fender. ;)
 
Duuuuuuuuuude said:
Amen. I don't know why so many people around here seem to think they have a say in what other people do with their basses.

Mark me down on that list as "It's nobody's business but the owner of the bass."

Read the OP post...

"Should I have a problem with this?"

"First of all, why would you do something like that unless you were trying to convince people it's a Fender?"

"I'm not trying to get anyone in trouble here; this is more of a philosophical question I had that I thought I'd put to my TB colleagues."

So the OP stirs the pot, people give their opinions, and then blasts all posters because their arguments lacked logic...

I think "real Fender" owners have every right to be upset about this because the practice of slapping a Fender decal on a non-original "dilutes" the brand, sort of. Why don't they put "Sadowsky" or any other logo?

Yea, people can do whatever they want... it's their money.

How many "Fenders" have I seen recently on Craigslist that I have passed on just because I don't want to be bothered with trying to find out what's genuine and what isn't?

I think the comment about if Squiers are so good (and I own two) then why people have to scrape off the decal is spot-on. It's a placebo. It's a counterfeit, a fake. But some folks like to do this to themselves. This is my opinion.

And no, I ain't selling anyone either of my Fenderettes... those two stay with me. ;)
 
its kills me, you read over and over how Squiers are every bit as good as Fenders.........

so tell me then if so why you gotta scrape of the logo and replace it with a Fender one??? just wondering?

I actually tried out a VM yesterday at GC, been GASSIN for one for quite sometime, and the set up was pretty spot on even for GC...ha ha, i would buy one of these in a heart beat without a doubt! i just wish i could it just would get the playing time to justify the purchase, even at 274 bucks! and i do have to admit, if i did purchase one the last, very last thing i would do is slap a Fender decal on it......thats just me.
 
That's the point man. The future kids and neophytes being duped. So great it isn't you, it's going to be someone. Yeah a fool and his money are soon parted; that makes it all ok for you to belittle those that have morals around this matter.

Just go and search all the threads here about Chinese knockoff instruments and how incensed people are by it. But it's ok if you did it in your basement. Cool.

So if someone else takes something that I have modified uses it to commit a crime, I'm somehow responsible? If I soup up a vehicle and then sell it and someone uses it as a getaway car in a crime? By your standards that's the exact same thing - I'm a bad person for pursuing a legitimate hobby.

I should like to add that there's nothing stopping someone from taking a legit Fender neck (let's say MIM), sanding off the MIM identifiers and mating it to a knockoff body and selling it as an American Fender to the same neophytes. A blanket "caveat emptor" is better than hoping that enforcing headstock fidelity will somehow keep the frauds away.
 
DanGouge said:
So if someone else takes something that I have modified uses it to commit a crime, I'm somehow responsible? If I soup up a vehicle and then sell it and someone uses it as a getaway car in a crime? By your standards that's the exact same thing - I'm a bad person for pursuing a legitimate hobby.

I should like to add that there's nothing stopping someone from taking a legit Fender neck (let's say MIM), sanding off the MIM identifiers and mating it to a knockoff body and selling it as an American Fender to the same neophytes. A blanket "caveat emptor" is better than hoping that enforcing headstock fidelity will somehow keep the frauds away.

Jeez I'm talking about a bass and fraud, not violent crimes. I really appreciate your attempts to justify your immorality though.

Edit. BTW, it's not MY standards, it's the law. Fraud is illegal. Counterfeiting is illegal. What part of that are you not getting?
 
So seriously, what about my MIM Fender P that I removed the decal and left the headstock blank? Y'all have a problem with that?

The fact is my daughter has a Squier P that smokes the MIM and my old man's MIA. Personally, I can't stand any of them. The old man has a seriously bad ass American Deluxe J, but other than that I'd just as soon leave all the Fenders for youse guys. lol
 
I've posted this same concept in the other myriad decal threads, but I think it at least bears consideration.

Fender didn't do a good job defending all of their designs, but they at least have maintained ownership of their trademark (decal). Buying a fake (pirated) decal only serves to support a counterfietor and present the possibility of fraud in the future. Nobody wins. Its not illegal to mod your own instrument in this way, but just consider the above.

Fender isn't only a bunch of suits in an office. It's hundreds of hourly employees counting on their brand and trademarks to mean something so they can put food on the table. I, personally, think that means something.
 
Some of the Fender reactionaries crack me up.

They give the impression that a fake decal is like lying about serving in Vietnam when you were never even in the service.

One particular member acts like it's trying to infiltrate an exclusive country club or something.

Imo, it's more like sticking a Hooker Headers sticker on a car that doesn't have them.
Squirrely? Perhaps, but certainly no major crime against society.
 
Imo, it's more like sticking a Hooker Headers sticker on a car that doesn't have them.

So, you know people who would buy a car because they thought it was a "Hooker Header" car?

Would you be concerned if you put out a good product and someone else was using your logo on a second-rate product?

Do you like to deceive others?

You must know it's wrong or why would you try to justify it.
 
So, you know people who would buy a car because they thought it was a "Hooker Header" car?

Would you be concerned if you put out a good product and someone else was using your logo on a second-rate product?

Do you like to deceive others?

You must know it's wrong or why would you try to justify it.

1) Don't be fatuous.

2) Concerned? Fender is one of the least concerned companies I can imagine. It was Fender who allowed others to rip off/copy their designs for decades through their own negligence.

3) See #1.

4) Of course it's "wrong", but I was putting the severity of the crime into perspective instead of trying to justify it.

Edit: I must confess. Once I altered a Jay Turser logo to Jay Burner.
 
If you have a Squier and replace the logo with a Fender decal, not to sell it as a scam, but rather for personal enjoyment... you possibly have unresolved mental health issues. It's like stuffing a tube sock down your pants and then staying home, admiring your new look.

Whatever gets you through the day I guess.
 
So if someone else takes something that I have modified uses it to commit a crime, I'm somehow responsible? If I soup up a vehicle and then sell it and someone uses it as a getaway car in a crime? By your standards that's the exact same thing - I'm a bad person for pursuing a legitimate hobby.

Apples to oranges comparison. If you legally modify and use a car and down the line somebody uses it illegally you are not liable. However, counterfeiting and fraud is a crime both in the creation and any future selling. You can't print copies of legal tender at home for run even if you promise never to use it. If somebody else gets ahold of it and uses it you are still liable and the maker. The making is a crime.

Sure, disclosing to a future buyer that it is not a real Fender might excuse you from fraud, but making it in the firstplace is technically counterfeitting.