I don't get the whole putting a Fender decal on a non Fender bass thing

[nash]

Can anyone enlighten me?

I see it often, Squiers, bitsa, Nash, Lime Light and some that have a headstock shape that's not even close.

I Squier rebadge for example. I think so what if it's a Squier, big deal. If it plays and sounds nice then that's all that matters and then credit where credit is due if it's a good bass.

I just don't understand it.

[markstuk]

It's to make people think it's a fender. I don't get it either 😁

[kodiakblair]

Not a thing I'd do myself but I imagine a decal saves answering the " Why haven't you got a Fender ?" question. Some folks do listen with their eyes and who wants to spend time defending their choice in gear.

[Mykesbass]

[quote name='kodiakblair' timestamp='1491982661' post='3276863']
Not a thing I'd do myself but I imagine a decal saves answering the " Why haven't you got a Fender ?" question. Some folks do listen with their eyes and who wants to spend time defending their choice in gear.
[/quote]
Yep, gear snobbery, not necessarily from the owner.

[nash]

[quote name='kodiakblair' timestamp='1491982661' post='3276863']
Not a thing I'd do myself but I imagine a decal saves answering the " Why haven't you got a Fender ?" question. Some folks do listen with their eyes and who wants to spend time defending their choice in gear.
[/quote]

I bet the same people who would swap out a Squier badge for a Fender wouldn't dare do it to a MIJ Squier that's worth something. They'd happily defend it.

If someone stopped watching my band because one of us was using a Fender shaped non Fender then that's cool. They're entitled to be morons.

[skej21]

[quote name='nash' timestamp='1491982186' post='3276861']
Can anyone enlighten me?

I see it often, Squiers, bitsa, Nash, Lime Light and some that have a headstock shape that's not even close.

I Squier rebadge for example. I think so what if it's a Squier, big deal. If it plays and sounds nice then that's all that matters and then credit where credit is due if it's a good bass.

I just don't understand it.
[/quote]

I think if you're intentionally trying to recreate something that is above and beyond your budget, sticking a Fender decal on it when it's an intentional Fender repro (like a Nash or Limelight) is just good attention to detail and keeping the style correct. If you don't want a Fender repro but want a jazz/pj/Precision at a similar price then new Fenders (MIM/MIJ etc) or Maruszczyk are in that prt of the market, so just get what YOU want (it's your money after all). It's just another option on the table and if doesn't interest you, then it shouldn't bother you either.

If you were making a spitfire airfix model, you make it look as close to a spitfire as possible. You're not doing it to deceive anyone because everyone who actually knows anything about it knows it's not an ACTUAL spitfire and you wouldn't ever try to sell it on gumtree etc as an actual spitfire.

I much prefer that to when people put on a decal that is styled just like a Fender decal but incorporates some tenuous dad-joke like "pretender gaz bass" or someone's surname etc. It makes me cringe like hell (sorry if that's you but it's just really not my thing!).

Edited April 12, 2017 by skej21

[markstuk]

[quote name='skej21' timestamp='1491983897' post='3276875']
I think if you're intentionally trying to recreate something that is above and beyond your budget, sticking a Fender decal on it when it's an intentional Fender repro (like a Nash or Limelight) is just good attention to detail and keeping the style correct. If you were making a spitfire airfix model, you make it look as close to a spitfire as possible. You're not doing it to deceive anyone because everyone who actually knows anything about it knows it's not an ACTUAL spitfire and you wouldn't ever try to sell it on gumtree etc as an actual spitfire.

I much prefer that to when people put on a decal that is styled just like a Fender decal but incorporates some tenuous dad-joke like "pretender gaz bass" or someone's surname etc. It makes me cringe like hell (sorry if that's you but it's just really not my thing!).
[/quote]

I strongly suspect it's usually because the player in question wants people to think it is a Fender.. And 99.99% of the audience/other musicians either can't tell a Limelight from a Fender or more usually, don't care...

[Hobbayne]

Yes its gear snobbery. I,m afraid I'm guilty of this, as I have an old Korean Squier with a Fender logo. Although, in my defence it was on it when I bought it.

[PaulWarning]

just showing off, like a personalised number plate, a flash car or having designer clothes, we all have a seeking approval gene, in some folk it's a lot stronger than others.

[BrunoBass]

[quote name='markstuk' timestamp='1491984174' post='3276878']
99.99% of the audience/other musicians either can't tell a Limelight from a Fender or more usually, don't care...
[/quote]

Totally this. It's only other musicians who notice.

I've never understood how the likes of Limelight can legally sell an instrument with another companies logo, but that's another thread.

[grahamd]

I imagine it makes folks feel better about their bass. That's a good thing right?

[chris_b]

IMO, if you can feel good about a deception then that really isn't much of a good thing at all.

If a bass is good enough for me to buy and play I'd be proudly displaying it's real identity.

[4 Strings]

Isn't this just a less extreme version of the 'relicing' (sic) process? Pretending to yourself that your bass is something other than what it is.

[nash]

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1491985881' post='3276894']
IMO, if you can feel good about a deception then that really isn't much of a good thing at all.

If a bass is good enough for me to buy and play I'd be proudly displaying it's real identity.
[/quote]

Absolutely spot on.

For me the Air Fix analogy above doesn't work. It's a model vs a working real machine. We're talking about two things that perform the same task. It's like when people buy fake Louis Vuitton handbags or fake Stone Island jackets. It's wrong. It's not attention to detail, it's robbing someone else's credit.

[King Tut]

Each to their own. I have real Fenders, a 'Trigger's Broom' jazz bass with a Fender decal, and Bitsa P with a custom 'Isabelle' Vision Bass' decal. Don't really give a toss about what anyone else thinks and it's no one else's business to cast opinions on other's taste (or lack thereof). Looks like i got out the wrong side of bed!!

[nash]

[quote name='4 Strings' timestamp='1491986078' post='3276900']
Isn't this just a less extreme version of the 'relicing' (sic) process? Pretending to yourself that your bass is something other than what it is.
[/quote]

I'm not too sure. It's a good question for sure. But at the end of the day you still have to do the wearing down (albeit much faster). Where as a logo can just be applied to anything but it doesn't make it what the logo says.

[PaulWarning]

[quote name='King Tut' timestamp='1491986369' post='3276903']
Don't really give a toss about what anyone else thinks
[/quote]ah, but you do

[King Tut]

[quote name='PaulWarning' timestamp='1491987685' post='3276914']
ah, but you do
[/quote]

Yeah i obviously do but it's still no one else's business. I usually stay away from threads like this cos it's they screw with my mental well-being but sadly took the bait today.

But hey! I'm on my hols in Portugal in full sun, about 23 degrees and about to head off to the sea so shan't be thinking about headstock decals much more today ;-)

[PaulWarning]

[quote name='King Tut' timestamp='1491988902' post='3276926']
Yeah i obviously do but it's still no one else's business. I usually stay away from threads like this cos it's they screw with my mental well-being but sadly took the bait today.

But hey! I'm on my hols in Portugal in full sun, about 23 degrees and about to head off to the sea so shan't be thinking about headstock decals much more today ;-)
[/quote]enjoy, now am jealous

[Lw.]

Shall we just go ahead & change the forum name to BassBitch.com? So much of this random moaning going around at the moment!

So you don't like something other people do that has zero impact on your life, big deal - don't do it to your bass.

[inthedoghouse]

Misplaced vanity - as if anybody cares
I gigged for a while with a pro band in the 80s using a nice Squier and nobody said a word or gave me a funny look

[Muzz]

As long as no-one's trying to sell something as something it isn't, I look at it as just dressing up their bass, very much like relicing. Not something that appeals to me, but hey.

[Jus Lukin]

-

Edited February 24, 2022 by Jus Lukin

[chris_b]

[quote name='inthedoghouse' timestamp='1491989512' post='3276940']
I gigged for a while with a pro band in the 80s using a nice Squier and nobody said a word or gave me a funny look
[/quote]

This is almost totally a subject that interests the non-pro world. The only things that interest a pro band. . . . how well you get on with the band and how well you play.

[Beer of the Bass]

I have a bitsa guitar with a strat shaped headstock which is blank. I've got so used to seeing headstock logos that it looks oddly incomplete with nothing there, but I think those jokey decals (Fecker et.al) are a bit naff and I don't want to stick my name on there since I only assembled it. I can see how that thought process could lead some people to stick a Fender decal on. It's often more about a familiar aesthetic than any attempt to deceive.