Who designs copies?

[apa]

Sitting here looking at my Sue Ryder and how the headstock actually looks quit nice. A recurring question recures in my mind. Who actually designs these copies? Im talking about the cheaper far eastern ones. Do these mass production factories have their own in house designers or do the western commissioners seek out western design houses?
I just imagine some guy sitting on the Clapham Omnibus turning to the little old lady next to him and saying. "You know that Sue Ryder P bass that everyone was raving over a couple of years ago? Well I designed that you know".

Anyone know?

A

[BigRedX]

The Sue Ryder headstock is copied from [url=http://www.reverendguitars.com]Reverend[/url] so the answer to your specific question is probably Joe Naylor.

[apa]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1380455193' post='2225428']
The Sue Ryder headstock is copied from [url="http://www.reverendguitars.com"]Reverend[/url] so the answer to your specific question is probably Joe Naylor.
[/quote]

Well I didnt know that!! But thats not quit the answer. Yes Joe Naylor designed the original but there must have been some one somewhere who decided to copy that then 'design' the SR. Before you can make anything you have to design it other wise the answer to my question would be Leo!

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[Musky]

I think the Sue Ryder basses were designed by someone from the Shadows.

Edit: Mark Griffiths apparently.

Edited September 29, 2013 by Musky

[discreet]

[size=4][color=#444444][font=arial, sans-serif]León Fendera, of Mexico. [/font][/color][/size]

Edited September 29, 2013 by discreet

[Beer of the Bass]

The one that really bends my brain is the "Duncan Designed" pickups in Squiers. These are pretty much copies of Fender pickups, so it appears that Fender is paying a royalty to Duncan for making a Fender style pickup.

[Lowender]

[quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1380465179' post='2225643']
The one that really bends my brain is the "Duncan Designed" pickups in Squiers. These are pretty much copies of Fender pickups, so it appears that Fender is paying a royalty to Duncan for making a Fender style pickup.
[/quote]

I think it's the other way around. SD agrees to make lower priced pups for Fender to sell.

[BigRedX]

Copy guitars and basses aren't really designed. If the manufacturers could get away with it, they would be identical to the thing they were copying. However some design aspects are IP protected, so those elements have to be changed just enough so they no longer infringe. Also some parts may be uneconomical to copy exactly, so an existing generic part will be used instead and the "design" modified to allow this.

It's all about practicality.

[apa]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1380468459' post='2225705'] Copy guitars and basses aren't really designed. If the manufacturers could get away with it, they would be identical to the thing they were copying. However some design aspects are IP protected, so those elements have to be changed just enough so they no longer infringe. Also some parts may be uneconomical to copy exactly, so an existing generic part will be used instead and the "design" modified to allow this. It's all about practicality. [/quote]

I totally agree with you. I work in product design and in my field its a very small pond we (The designers) are working in and copy each other quit a bit while changing just enough to avoid legal action. Therefore I understand the processes here. However, and you said so yourself, those little details still need to be 'designed', still need to be calculated, modelled, drawn, CNC programed etc etc. While a far eastern manufacturer can take a standard Fender design and reverse engineer it and needs no external input to do that there will need to be an input from the customer (Western reseller such as Sue Ryder) regarding details such as the 'R' logo and headstock shape. Who puts all that together? Im only using Ryder as an example. Perhaps Ryder are big enough to have their own marketing dept who can sub this sort of thing to a design agency but you get the general idea of the question. The far east isnt renowned for its style and design. Its usually the West that designs things then has them made in the far east for the western market.

A