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

[ahpook]

[quote name='nash' timestamp='1491982186' post='3276861']
I just don't understand it.
[/quote]

Good, I say.

Edited April 12, 2017 by ahpook

[nash]

[quote name='Lw.' timestamp='1491989474' post='3276936']
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.
[/quote]

Trying to understand a point of view and expressing one isn't bitching.

[Number6]

I gigged my Squier Friday night and i'm not affraid to say it.....so there!

[chris_b]

[quote name='Number6' timestamp='1491992006' post='3276972']
I gigged my Squier Friday night and i'm not affraid to say it.....so there!
[/quote]
Good job I was sitting down for that!!

[markstuk]

[quote name='Number6' timestamp='1491992006' post='3276972']
I gigged my Squier Friday night and i'm not affraid to say it.....so there!
[/quote]

I'm not familiar with that particular model of Squier :-)

Edited April 12, 2017 by markstuk

[Geek99]

[quote name='PaulGibsonBass' timestamp='1491984891' post='3276885']
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.
[/quote]
they dont - limelight dont put fender decals on. They may make replicas but they are surely wary of being accused of passing off

[RhysP]

[quote name='Geek99' timestamp='1491992844' post='3276980']
they dont - limelight dont put fender decals on.
[/quote]

They certainly used to.
Do a search for "Limelight" on here & see how many of them have Fender decals

Edited April 12, 2017 by RhysP

[Bassassin]

Interesting, this. Just did a quick headcount - mostly from memory, so I will have forgotten a few - and I've owned 35 Fender-shaped basses & guitars, none of which had a Fender logo. Out of these, 22 were basses so I will have gigged with most of those. I've never owned a "real" Fender and it's pretty likely I never will.

I suppose I can understand why people who aspire to "big" brands would fake-up budget copies, but this recent trend for eye-wateringly expensive knockoffs (Limelight etc) utterly mystifies me - particularly with a shonky sticker on the end.

[Thunderbird]

[quote name='PaulGibsonBass' timestamp='1491984891' post='3276885']


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.
[/quote]I don't understand this either its not as if limelight or the likes are cheaper than proper Fenders really but hey ho each to there own

[SH73]

I own Fender an Squier and they both sound the way I want them to sound.

[Dan Dare]

My bitsa P bass has a Dinky Toys decal on the headstock. Much more fun.

[Nicko]

[quote name='Number6' timestamp='1491992006' post='3276972']
I gigged my Squier Friday night and i'm not affraid to say it.....so there!
[/quote]

I do this all the time. It actually sounds better than my US Fender. Our guitarist however makes his own guitars (LP copies) from scratch and always badges them Gibson. He gets a lot of stick for it in the band.

[Geek99]

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1491993544' post='3276988']
They certainly used to.
Do a search for "Limelight" on here & see how many of them have Fender decals
[/quote]
sure - but who added them ? I dont see any on their site with them

[rushbo]

A lot of the "rebadging" is to do with association. Squiers are (generally) associated with beginners or novice players. Fenders are big boys toys. Therefore, the easy way to jump up a rung on the ladder is to change the decal to be "associated" with the next tier of player. This thinking runs pretty deep - we do a lot of listening with our eyes. I saw one of my favourite bands a few years ago (The Posies, if you're taking notes). Their bassist was rocking a lovely Squier, which made me think "Why is he playing one of those?" The simple reason was, it sounded ace. I have a lot of love for Squiers (and cheapie basses in general), but that thought still popped into my head.

Most of my main gigging basses are bitsas, cobbled together from whatever parts I have handy. I love them. All the bits are good quality and I set them up to suit my playing style. I have had the occasional tyrekicker comment favourably on my sound and complimenting me on my "Fender" - it's only when I point out, it's a mongrel instrument and that logo actually says "Fedner Prescription Bass" (yeah, I'm one of THOSE people...) that they start to add caveats to their previous praise.

People rebadge for many reasons - some do it to make their project as accurate as possible, others do it as they feel they won't be taken seriously if they don't have a "name" brand. I do it because when I put my Frankenstein instruments together, I think the headstock looks better with something on it - even if it is a cringey dadjoke. The issue is when chancers whack on a dodgy decal to turn a perfectly lovely £200 quid Squier into a £1000 pretend Fender to catch out a punter who's not that clued up.

[A.G.E.N.T.E.]

[quote name='grahamd' timestamp='1491985748' post='3276892']
I imagine it makes folks feel better about their bass. That's a good thing right?
[/quote]
Well...i guess so! This might be a mather of self confidence, or the lack of it. Somehow the bass player who "rebrands" his instrument belives the small part of the musicians in the audience will perceived him as a better players because of the brand he´s playing. The truth is musicians love instruments and allways look for that. The question is...are we so critical about other players habilities before they even start to play, based on the brands they´re using?
"hey..that´s a squire ...that guy is a beginer ... or ... the vintage fender... must be a top level pro.

[skankdelvar]

[quote name='Geek99' timestamp='1492001191' post='3277058']
sure - but who added them ? I dont see any on their site with them
[/quote]

When Limelight (Mark Richards) first started selling his clones they were supplied with Fender decals. Limelight ceased offering the option after a shouty thread here on BC about fake decals and issues of legality. They now sell them with a bare headstock.

[inthedoghouse]

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1491990080' post='3276950']
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.
[/quote]
I couldn't agree more, Chris. I sometimes come across photos of that bass and wish I still had it. Now I've got a few Warwicks and a vintage 4001 but my favourite is a 90s Jap PB62 (with a good old Wizard Thumper fitted) and I couldn't be happier with it. It does have a real F logo on it though, ha ha But if I ever get around to building a bitsa it certainly won't be wearing that famous logo.

Edited April 12, 2017 by inthedoghouse

[Geek99]

[quote name='skankdelvar' timestamp='1492003343' post='3277081']
When Limelight (Mark Richards) first started selling his clones they were supplied with Fender decals. Limelight ceased offering the option after a shouty thread here on BC about fake decals and issues of legality. They now sell them with a bare headstock.
[/quote]
I do vaguely recall that, but the poster seemed to be saying that it still happens, when what I think he is seeing is post-sale owner changes

[Dave Vader]

I put one on my Sunn Mustang P-copy years ago. Simply because it is my favourite bass and I do lots of dep work and jump from band to band.

If you want to not have to talk about gear endlessly with some boring dickhead then take a fairly average-looking Fender Precision.

Back when it was a Mustang, I had to spend hours justifying why I was playing a cheap piece of crap from an Argos catalogue to people who thought I should be wildly grateful to them for offering me a £40 a night gig in a shithole pub. Or explaining what it is to a well-meaning enquirer.

Since it has been pretending to be a fender nobody has asked me about it (apart from the odd nerdy gear-spotter at a gig, who gets told very quickly what it is and loses interest when it isn't an ancient Fender) it has saved me hours of dull conversation with guitar geeks.

That is why (see also my crappy old Jap Strat that I use just as much).

If I were doing them now, I would just write my name on the headstock in marker pen like I did to my fretless P, but I did them about 10 years ago and I can't be buggered to refinish them again.

[nash]

[quote name='Nicko' timestamp='1492000704' post='3277054']


I do this all the time. It actually sounds better than my US Fender. Our guitarist however makes his own guitars (LP copies) from scratch and always badges them Gibson. He gets a lot of stick for it in the band.
[/quote]

Your guitarist baffles me. I'd 100% put my own name on a guitar I've built myself. Even if it's a bitsa. I mean Nash basses are glorified bitsa basses or at least used to be to my knowledge and he has his name on them. Still waiting on namesake discount/endorsement haha

[RhysP]

[quote name='Geek99' timestamp='1492004012' post='3277084']
I do vaguely recall that, but the poster seemed to be saying that it still happens...
[/quote]

Not to me he doesn't.

[skankdelvar]

[quote name='Dave Vader' timestamp='1492004687' post='3277091']
... it has saved me hours of dull conversation with guitar geeks.
[/quote]

Likewise. Explaining that mine is a cheap Brandoni kit-built Jazz with an inexpertly applied coat of beige floor paint is an undertaking I am no longer prepared to make.

[darkandrew]

Has anybody put an Audi badge on their Skoda?

[Geek99]

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1492006042' post='3277112']


Not to me he doesn't.
[/quote]
He's using the present tense.. I'm basing my assertion on that : can, not "used to"

[Dave Vader]

[quote name='skankdelvar' timestamp='1492010488' post='3277175']
Likewise. Explaining that mine is a cheap Brandoni kit-built Jazz with an inexpertly applied coat of beige floor paint is an undertaking I am no longer prepared to make.
[/quote]

I did enjoy the punter who thought my cosmetically unaltered Sue Ryder tele might be some kind of luthier made thing as he had never heard of Ryder before. I put him straight, but it shows how stupidly good the thing sounds and why I can't get rid of it.