That's a big if. Unless it's a high $$ vintage instrument, how many buyers ask to have the neck removed?
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Replica build, decals, and morality
- Thread starter Plectrum72
- Start date
That's a big if. Unless it's a high $$ vintage instrument, how many buyers ask to have the neck removed?
As long as you are doing it for yourself and not for resale.. I say do what you want. If you want that Fender logo on the front for audience to see, go for it.
I say do what you want.
as mentioned, if I did a custom, I prolly do my own cool design, and steal the fender "font and look"
BUT, on the plus side, if you do use fender logo, and play live, you would avoid being called out by all the "your not using a real bass, cuz it doesn't say fender" crowd
YMMV..etc..
as mentioned, if I did a custom, I prolly do my own cool design, and steal the fender "font and look"
BUT, on the plus side, if you do use fender logo, and play live, you would avoid being called out by all the "your not using a real bass, cuz it doesn't say fender" crowd
YMMV..etc..
If it's just for you, putting a decal on the headstock is being a poser - kinda like me wearing a Corvette t-shirt and I've never even driven a Corvette. But if you try to sell the bass later with the Fender decal on it, that's when things get touchy. Even if you tell the next person that it's a Faker, there is no telling what they may do when they sell the bass to someone else. You can go one of two routes - 1) I sold it and I wash my hands of all responsibility or 2) I made the counterfeit in the first place and bear some responsibility for putting another fake on the market. I know what I would do, but what you do is up to you.
If you made one Star Wars tee shirt and wore it yourself they wouldn't care. Selling multiple shirts isn't the same as fan art. You're just making the same tired slippery slope argument that leads to commerce.
Wow, I had no idea that you have to drive a certain car to wear the logo. That makes a whole lotta NASCAR posers out there. Not to mention, the wearers of the theoretical Star Wars t-shirt who have never even been in space.
We're all posers to a certain extent. Don't read too much into it.
I make no judgement on the morality or practicality or whatever.....but I could never understand why someone would pay a little extra (buy a decal) in order to put a company's advertisement onto an item they own. Doubly so if the item wasn't even manufactured by that company. I mean I do understand why...tribalism...but personally I usually go through a little effort to REMOVE those ads once I bought the item, be it taking off a car dealer's license plate frame or putting electrical tape over the "Sony" on my alarm clock so it's not the first thing I see every day or removing the badge from a speaker grille.
I spend my day working as a buyer for an ad agency, where my clients pay big money to put their name on things. To have people intentionally put a free ad/logo on an item that was blank before....that's our fantasy.
I spend my day working as a buyer for an ad agency, where my clients pay big money to put their name on things. To have people intentionally put a free ad/logo on an item that was blank before....that's our fantasy.
Hopkins
Commercial User
No, I am not. The seller of these logos is definitely profiting from the production and sale of counterfeit Fender logos that are very often applied to cheap guitars for no other reason than to rip people off. There is no slippery slope argument, what that seller is doing is absolutely illegal, and whoever buys from him is supporting a criminal and scam artist.
When I speed I'm putting lives at risk and become a merchant of death.
- Aug 3, 2007
- 1,678
- 2,146
- Disclosures
- Current: Blackstar, DR strings, Nady. Previous endorsements with: GK, Rotosound, Ernie Ball, Cleartone, EMG, Dean, Dava Picks, Rebel Straps, Dickies
I do chuckle when i see the "custom" logos utilizing the Fender font. Most can't tell the difference at 10 ft whether it's a Fender, F***er, Friender, or any other cheesy spin on it. It's your personal branding using a font exclusive to another company's trademark. If I see a goofy logo that resembles Fender, for all intents and purposes- that is a Fender, more so if I never got close enough to authenticate it, which really is the underlying issue.
It's Fender advertising none-the-less, as is the body shape, pickguard shape, headstock shape, and pickup style and orientation. String together the most comprehensive, lucid argument ever to justify a unique perspective, but a tip of the cap has already went to Fender based on shape and likeness alone.
It's Fender advertising none-the-less, as is the body shape, pickguard shape, headstock shape, and pickup style and orientation. String together the most comprehensive, lucid argument ever to justify a unique perspective, but a tip of the cap has already went to Fender based on shape and likeness alone.
People here on TB make some incredible logos with their home printers and metallic pens. I am talking about building one bass for yourself and applying a logo to it. I am not talking about mass producing logos and selling them. You again are shifting the conversation away because it suits your purpose.
I think it's funny to build a somewhat custom bass and put a commercial logo on it. Why not make a custom logo? I think it's cooler to lay claim to your creation vs signing it off to a large company that only inspired the build.
Just as a point, because this has been a long thread, did the OP say he was making his own? Not arguing for either side here, just curious.
Hopkins
Commercial User
Nobody here is producing counterfeit Fender logos with a ink jet printer and paint pens. 99.9% of the people who apply counterfeit Fender logos are buying them from counterfeit producers on Ebay. I am not shifting the conversation at all.
Hopkins
Commercial User
You have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. Fender does not sell water slide decals, the only way to get a logo from Fender is to have an authorized Fender repair man send in the serial numbers, and body and neck codes along with proof that the stock decal was damaged and the replacement is for repair of the instrument in question.
They do not allow anyone to reproduce their trademarked logo, and applying a counterfeit logo on a non Fender bass is absolutely counterfeiting, and it is absolutely fraud.
My point isn't about an anecdote. There are two separate things we are talking about. I could procure a logo legally by buying a Fender neck and then attach it to a Warmoth body. None of this has any bearing on what it means for a person to build what they want and label it as they choose. How many people who create Star Wars fan art draw the logo themselves versus copying and pasting from a copyrighted source?
