Keep a hold of your strat copy, as it is destined to become a rarity.
Fender have won the right to ban the sale of strat copies in the EU for the next 35 years.
they’ve actually achieved this on the grounds, not on a trademark basis, but of the strat shape being an artistic expression (like a song or a movie), achieving copyright up to 70 years after the artists death.
The fretboard are unconvinced that it will be that sweeping.
I'll hold onto my se silver sky just incase 😁
https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/293744/fender-lawsuit-win/p1
I anticipate those Ibanez Strat copies with the multiple pickup configurations will become prized.
I struggle to think of any guitars I've ever seen that aren't based on some kind of fender or gibson. Probably a prs, a few odd ball options like rickenbacker etc..
Seems daft to me. Realistically if you want a fender and can afford a fender you'll buy a fender.if you can't afford one or want something like a super strat you aren't a potential customer anyway
I suspect it'll get challenged and thrown out fairly quickly, and hopefully so.
if you can't afford one or want something like a super strat you aren't a potential customer anyway
Fender make the cheaper Squire versions as well though so getting rid of the low end competition still works for them.
Fender make the cheaper Squire versions as well though so getting rid of the low end competition still works for them.
Fair Point..
If they really wanted to eliminate the competition at the low end for strat replicas the best thing they could do is just get rid of the squire name. The classic vibe guitars are amazing instruments, however I bet a ton of folks look to their competition as they don't want 'squire' on the headstock.
As several people have picked up in the KDH comments, its a 'procedural' win only against a small company that didn't even turn up to contest so lost by default. Now I'm sure the Fender lawyers knew this would happen and they also know that against any of the big boys (ESP, Schecter etc) this wouldn't be the case, hence this lawsuit. I doubt whether they would really want to go up against a big player and I can't see the point. The negative publicity would be massive, the cost huge and they probably wouldn't win. It also wouldn't make sense from a business perspective. If you want a Fender, you want a Fender - there are decades of heritage to compensate for the price/possible lack of quality. Nobody who really wants a strat is going to buy anything else but a Fender. However, Squire well, they must have been knocked by all the cheap copies so it makes sense to protect that brand.
They did get rid of the Squire name. They expunged it. It's like it never existed
however I bet a ton of folks look to their competition as they don't want 'squire' on the headstock.
You certain? I’ve seen more than a few artists playing Squire guitars - sometimes I think because, once set up by a guitar tech for personal preferences, they make an ideal touring instrument.
Also, there’s more than a few touring musicians who favour cheap old instruments that have quirky sounds.
I'm assuming when people say Squire that they mean Squier and there's not some confusing other brand I'm not aware of. They're very much in production (again) after having been a string supplier to Fender in the past. That bit was retired and then brought back some years later so the Squier name could enable Fender to launch a budget line without having a budget Fender.
It's an interesting one, I have a 'high end' Squier bass (£380); I'd have loved to afford the Fender version but that was almost £1000 and as a beginner I couldn't justify it. Maybe the hardware's not as good and the paint job not as fancy, but in terms of playability and sound I took it to the LGS for a set up and they professed to being very impressed. But....it's a Squier, not a Fender.
That said, there's a few very decent guitarists that do play Squiers so it's not totally unheard of https://mixdownmag.com.au/features/the-most-famous-guitarists-to-play-a-squier/
So what about Gibson - Epiphone? Does the same problem exist there?
I'm assuming when people say Squire that they mean Squier and there's not some confusing other brand I'm not aware of. They're very much in production (again) after having been a string supplier to Fender in the past. That bit was retired and then brought back some years later so the Squier name could enable Fender to launch a budget line without having a budget Fender.
It's an interesting one, I have a 'high end' Squier bass (£380); I'd have loved to afford the Fender version but that was almost £1000 and as a beginner I couldn't justify it. Maybe the hardware's not as good and the paint job not as fancy, but in terms of playability and sound I took it to the LGS for a set up and they professed to being very impressed. But....it's a Squier, not a Fender.
That said, there's a few very decent guitarists that do play Squiers so it's not totally unheard of https://mixdownmag.com.au/features/the-most-famous-guitarists-to-play-a-squier/
So what about Gibson - Epiphone? Does the same problem exist there?
I think in the case of squire and epiphone they are essentially licenced so they can look the same aside from the name on the headstock as thier equivalent models with Fender and Gibson.
I have a Washburn MG40 'super strat' and I cant see styles like them being affected, as whilst the body shape is certainly strat 'inspired' the angles are obviously more aggressive and the headstock is totally different, plus it has a Floyd rose and different pickup layout, and it has more frets so it's clearly not a strat to anyone who knows what a strat looks like.
For example https://www.guitarcenter.com/Used/Washburn/Used-Washburn-MG-40-Red-Solid-Body-Electric-Guitar.gc
Just to add, it would be like Martin acoustic guitars trying to copyright the 'dreadnought' body shape... It's just not possible anymore than apple can copyright 'the rectangle' because thier phones are rectangular.
I'm assuming when people say Squire that they mean Squier and there's not some confusing other brand I'm not aware of.
Every days a school day, I've never noticed its spelt that way.
I'm assuming when people say Squire that they mean Squier and there's not some confusing other brand I'm not aware of.
Every days a school day, I've never noticed its spelt that way.
Maybe people are making fake squiers too? who knew? it's not like the fender licenced squires are expensive in the first place if you want a cheap strat-a-like that's still a decent guitar for the beginnner or someone who's on a budget.
Squier is just a sort of weird thing, sometimes they do brilliant instruments (mine is as good a tele as I've ever played, and it's not even anything fancy like a MIJ or silver series, it's a boggo '91 Samick korean) and a bunch of more recent ones like the vintage series are excellent. There's been big swathes of time where you'd be better with a good Squier than a bad mexi Fender. Like, my '00 P bass special is just simply a better instrument than the mexi standard it replaced imo, the electronics are cheaper but everything else is better.
But the affinities and starter boxes and other bottom end stuff always has an effect on perception. For a long time there an affinity squier was just probably not a good idea, the funamentals weren't brilliant and they were way too expensive but they were the ones that people just naturally drifted to.
Brand perception 😛 Epi have a bit of the same but I think less so just because they're generally priced a bit further up. But, I mean I'm about to sell an epi genesis and if it said gibson on the headstock it'd be worth probably 4 times as much, and I really don't think it's much different to a gibson usa of the same age.
In the end, of everything I ever played and owned the two absolute keepers are a 90s Fender and a bog standard '00 Squier and electronics aside they are of pretty much exact equivalent quality.
Squier is just a sort of weird thing, sometimes they do brilliant instruments (mine is as good a tele as I've ever played, and it's not even anything fancy like a MIJ or silver series, it's a boggo Samick korean) and a bunch of more recent ones like the vintage series are excellent. There's been big swathes of time where you'd be better with a good Squier than a bad mexi Fender. Like, my '00 P bass special is just simply a better instrument than the mexi standard it replaced imo, the electronics are cheaper but everything else is better.
But the affinities and starter boxes and other bottom end stuff always has an effect on perception. For a long time there an affinity squier was just probably not a good idea, the funamentals weren't brilliant and they were way too expensive but they were the ones that people just naturally drifted to.
Brand perception 😛 Epi have a bit of the same but I think less so just because they're generally priced a bit further up. But, I mean I'm about to sell an epi genesis and if it said gibson on the headstock it'd be worth probably 4 times as much, and I really don't think it's much different to a gibson usa of the same age.
My epi acoustic has a 'gibson' truss rod cover..they are licenced to make 'copies', that's the difference. When they are licenced, 'gibson' in this case has some control over what 'epi' do, if they want to put the 'gibson' name on it.
As opposed so some random guitar manufacturing company making an outright 'fake'.
Epiphone is kind of a strange one, though, as they make a lot of good guitars in thier own right, but some are 'gibsons' by licence.
If definitely argue a squier CV is a better guitar than the latest fender standard, which is a couple of hundred quid more expensive
But it's brand perception, squiers make great guitars, but back in the day they made some awful stuff. And let's face it, as good as they are, you don't see keith Richards playing a squier telecaster.
Im in the market for a new cheapish telecaster. Not going to buy the bottom of the range fender, it's overpriced fir what it is just because it's got the right headstock logo. Conversely however, I'm not sure I really want to add a 'squire' to my collection. As good as they are they just don't excite me. If the squire CV had a fender logo on it, for 400 quid I'd already have one
As for epiphones..I have a les paul standard. A studio, and an epiphone standard. They all play and sound exactly the same to me!!
Electric guitars are a funny one, because (IMO) as long as they play and feel decent, your gonna be overdriving them and running effects on them etc.. so IMO it doesn't really matter that much, what really matters is it plays and feels well, as in the fretboard and the action and the neck profile feels good and easy to play.
A common complaint with les pauls, for example, it they weigh a lot, so if your playing stood up, gigging etc, they can become tiresome to play.
My epi acoustic has a 'gibson' truss rod cover..they are licenced to make 'copies', that's the difference. When they are licenced, 'gibson' in this case has some control over what 'epi' do, if they want to put the 'gibson' name on it.
As opposed so some random guitar manufacturing company making an outright 'fake'.
It's not really licencing, Gibson own Epiphone and operate them as the budget brand just to keep the Gibson name premium, since 1957 IIRC. Squier is the same, Fender bought out the Squier company and then basically closed them down completely and revived the brand in the 80s for budget guitars. There's been times when they were made in the same factories, often they've shared parts.
Sometimes it got really incestuous, like my MIJ Fender has a body that was nicked from a preexisting Squier and made on the exact same line, it was just pot luck whether that part got directed to the Fender or Squier line and got the nicer neck and parts.
But no doubt "audiophiles" could tell the difference that adding the logo stamp made 😉
That's exactly what I'm saying, they are basically authorised copies.
That's a different kettle of fish to a 3rd party fake/counterfeit.
3rd party fakes can actually be better sometimes depending on what you want though.
But when it comes to things like 'super strats' they are not copies or fakes at all, they are their own thing. They took inspiration from Fender, and 'hot roded' it for want of a better term.
It’s a bit rich Fender trying to copyright the “artist or style” of the Strat. One of the most iconic copies is Eddie Van Halen’s Frankenstrat. It’s a bitsa from Charvel.
Ironically Charvel, and Jackson, were later bought by Fender. Fender have made an exact copy of EVH’s Charvel, charging stupid amounts for a signature model. So and copy of a copy of a copy!
Fender can go sue themselves.