Alembic Guitars Club
Connecting => Swap Shop and Wish Lists => Seen on craigslist, eBay, and elsewhere => Topic started by: lbpesq on March 22, 2021, 10:40:24 AM
-
Eastwood guitars is taking deposits for a copy of a Series I long scale guitar that looks like Carlos Alomar’s Alembic with the 6-in-line headstock. Not surprisingly, they aren’t even trying to replicate the pickups/electronics.
https://eastwoodguitars.com/collections/custom-projects-list/products/eastwood-sp-i#features-specs (https://eastwoodguitars.com/collections/custom-projects-list/products/eastwood-sp-i#features-specs)
Bill, tgo
-
I have no idea as to what the law says about this but if this doesn’t violate some aspect of it, I can’t imagine what would. With all three of their “Alembic” models they are essentially indicating an attempt to copy the original in just about every way other than the electronics. Which brings up the question, What makes an Alembic and Alembic and is their anything proprietary about being “Alembic.”
PS For the attorneys out there a layman’s oriented response would be appreciated.
-
Co-incidentally I watched a David Bowie concert on TV this weekend where Carlos Amor was playing guitar and his series I alembic.
-
They make some interesting copies. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery!
-
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery!
unless of course, you're the imitate-ee.
-
With all three of their “Alembic” models they are essentially indicating an attempt to copy the original in just about every way other than the electronics.
They do a Wolf copy and now this. I don't believe they copied any other Alembics, unless you are referring to their Tiger copy. That's not an Alembic. Irwin built it after he had left Alembic so, if anything, Alembic copied Irwin. I'm not an intellectual property lawyer, but my understanding is that body shapes are hard to protect - look at the hundreds of manufacturers who have made "Strats" and "Teles" over the years. Most of the "lawsuit guitar" stories are urban legend. Gibson did prevail in protecting their design of the open book head-stock. And I doubt anyone is going to confuse the Eastwood $1500 guitar with an actual Alembic Series guitar. And what's with the slanted bridge on the Eastwood?
Bill, tgo
-
And what's with the slanted bridge on the Eastwood?
There are a few early Alembics with slanted bridges. Best guess is they're using a picture of the original guitar, photoshopped some knobs, as it is they're looking for enough people to put up an advance to actually start production.
-
I was just thinking, that looks like the actual Alomar Alembic guitar, just with a different control cluster. The grain pattern on the upper body wing gives it away.
-
This appears to be the picture they used for the photoshop. It's a copyrighted image belonging to Heritage Auctions.
https://dyn1.heritagestatic.com/lf?set=path%5B2%2F0%2F3%2F203526%5D&call=url%5Bfile%3Aproduct.chain%5D (https://dyn1.heritagestatic.com/lf?set=path%5B2%2F0%2F3%2F203526%5D&call=url%5Bfile%3Aproduct.chain%5D)
-
INFO from their Facebook page:
For years, our customers have been asking us to release a tribute based on one of Alembic's incredible designs of the past. So, we thought if we're going to do one, we may as well go way back to where it all began!
The Standard Point was the first guitar design that Alembic offered, and its shape can best be described as nothing short of iconic. If you had the good fortune of seeing David Bowie live between the 70's and 2000, chances are you would have seen one of these guitars in the very capable hands of Carlos Alomar.
Our SP-I Guitar will pay tribute to the original in great detail, although we have decided to update the electronics to the exceedingly popular on-board effects loop as seen on our Wolf and Tiger guitars. The guitar will be manufactured in our top Korean factory and has a true neck-thru design, not a bolt-on or set neck. You will NOT be disappointed in the quality!
Not as bold as those early rip-off versions we saw made by Fernandes
-
Sorry but that's more effed up than a soup sandwich!
-
Beyond good and evil , be thine beckon !
Approve I do not ,of such copy work !
Collective manifestations of minds,shall indeed tip the scale of Karma.
The Mystic Law of Cause and Effect ,saves .
A reciprocal force may indeed rule .
Of such , the balance of the Universe :)
-
My son's first fretless was an Eastwood Ampeg copy. It's an OK bass, but its resemblance to the real deal is strictly cosmetic. Meh.
-
my clone used to sleep alone, these days not so much...
https://www.ebay.com/itm/In-The-World-Domestic-Guitar-Manufacturers-Prototype-Alembic-Alenvik-Fujigen/143987801096?hash=item2186577c08:g:BMgAAOSwebNgXAeZ
-
KR, did you have that speal planned, or have you been doing this sooooo long its just natural?
Niko
-
I believe he was quoting from the Eastwood site.
Bill, tgo
-
Guitar Center just listed a used Wolf on their Center Southfield site
https://www.guitarcenter.com/Used/Eastwood/Wolf-Solid-Body-Electric-Guitar.gc
-
The casual guest wonders; "What in the world do you need with a used Wolf?!" ;D
*edited for the mysterious 78% verdana font that happens whenever I backspace a paragraph. ::)
-
I was a "Used Wolf"when I met my wife in an Antique shop . There was a sign on the outside of the shop that read ;" We Buy Junk and Sell Antiques " 8)
-
Quote: I believe he was quoting from the Eastwood site. Bill, tgo
Thanks Bill, I appreciate it.
Keith
-
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery!
unless of course, you're the imitate-ee.
I’m sorry...but I don’t have the slightest problem with these Eastwood guitars. I take great issue with certain replicas built to such exact specifications as the originals (including logos) that they can be passed off as originals. This is especially troublesome in the vintage guitar market. In this case, no one is going to confuse Eastwood’s product with an original Alembic. By the same token, no one truly interested in a Series I Alembic would settle for the Eastwood. There are plenty of folks out there who need their guitar to closely resemble the original, either because they’re in tribute bands or just devout fans of a particular artist. If they have relative financial limitations, companies like Eastwood are a wonderful alternative. Now, if a particular element is copyrighted/proprietary/patented or whatever the correct legal phrasing is, then the replica manufacturers should be paying a licensing fee to the original creators.
-
I agree. I don't really see them cutting into the Alembic market and in fact by increasing brand recognition may well be helping them. I have worked in large marketing departments for decades and exposure and brand recognition are worth millions to those companies.
-
+1.
And always nice to see you hanging around here, Doc.
Bill, tgo
-
Thank you, Counselor.
-
This is a travesty. Eastwood should just stick to making exploding junk like they always have. Half of what they make does not survive the first year without major cracks, de-lams, and failures. 100% of their stuff has the worst fretwork in history. Most are so uneven that they can not be made to play correctly with massive amounts of leveling etc. I just hate to see them get their mitts on an instrument that is the absolute polar opposite of their quality. Makes me sick. Besides, in my opinion, Eastwood's "imitation" is the most underhanded form of forgery.
-
I had an Eastwood Sidejack baritone several years ago that was a very good, reasonably priced, instrument. I only sold it because I acquired an Alembic Orion baritone (which I sold a few years later as I found myself rarely playing it).
Bill, tgo
-
The folks over at RUkind who have the Wolf replicas have been very happy with them.
-
This is a travesty. Eastwood should just stick to making exploding junk like they always have.
so i'll take that as a -1
-
The square root of -1 shall be known as i ,or the imaginary number . 8)
(LOL)
-
Dumbfounding. For the forthcoming release of their version of the 80's Aria SB1000, they have a picture of the real thing:
**NOTE** Images shown are of an original SB-1000. They are shown only as a reference point for this new release.
Bearing in mind that Aria themselves have done a crummy job with US distribution over these many years, still, this just seems like a little much, or maybe it's just me. I know guitar designs are copied ad nauseum (look how many Jazz Basses are out there from every builder you can think of), but somehow that's a little too in-my-face for me.
-
Speaking of Aria ,
A few years ago I purchased an Aria bass that has Alembic pickups and Electronics . I was told that they were installed by Aria .
-
Speaking of Aria ,
A few years ago I purchased an Aria bass that has Alembic pickups and Electronics . I was told that they were installed by Aria .
Yes, they did do a run of Alembic-equipped basses.
-
New e-mail from Eastwood today; next they're copying the Martin EM-18.
Peter (who would be more interested if it was the F-55)
-
New e-mail from Eastwood today; next they're copying the Martin EM-18.
Peter (who would be more interested if it was the F-55)
April Fools' was last month there, Grand-dude. ;)
Of all things, why the ham-sandwich copy those... maybe because even Martin doesn't care? ???
~Gregory (who would also dig an F-55, but still be okay with a C-1)
-
I had a Martin F-50. The only thing “Martin” about it was the neck. The rest was made by someone else in upstate New York, as I recall. Amazingly uninspiring guitar. I traded it for a motorcycle.
Bill, tgo
-
Curiosity strikes Bill, because I have never seen one in the wild or held one, I have zero experience, so I'm relying 100% on my Longworth Bible... which lists F body electrics style 50, 55, and 65 cataloged in 1962 after having built 15 prototypes of each in 1961.
The GT-70, and 75 electrics superceded the F series in 1965, (after a couple prototypes) and were equally short-lived, but I don't see any footnote saying that either line was built anywhere other than the Nazareth, Pennsylvania factory. I'm wondering where you may have seen or heard this?
I wouldn't be totally shocked if the bodies were outsourced, but Mike was working there around that time, and it seems like he'd have mentioned that. They were after all, offering a line of amplifiers and cabinetry too... no idea who was manufacturing those. I've never seen one of them either. Just curious... been a Martin geek my whole life, well... almost. :D
-
Here's a link to what Coz mentions. https://eastwoodguitars.com/products/eastwood-em-18-deposit
As usual, it looks like Eastwood 'borrowed' a picture of a real one, and is trying to get enough deposits to build a few. If you want a real one, you don't need to wait. https://reverb.com/item/32122701-martin-em-18-1980-natural-electric-guitar
I have played one of these... they're okay. Heavy. Bright. I like the basses better. I'd like them better still if they had shorter scales.
-
My F-50 experience was back in 1977 or ‘78. I don’t remember where I obtained the info, (though I’m pretty sure it wasn’t google), but I seem to remember finding an article on the Martin electrics in some guitar magazine or book. As I recall it used a DeArmond pickup (my F-50 had but a single pickup).
Bill, tgo
-
So interesting. Martin made quite a few instruments for other firms as an outsourcing agent, but at that time, I am not aware of who they'd have used for these. I thought of Vega, but that deal wasn't until 1970.
In the pictures they do look like DeArmond pickups though Mike's book doesn't specify that. I know later on they used DiMarzio electronics on the EM lineup.
I'd love to see one and play it just to say I had. I just posted a thread over on the UMGF to see if anyone knows any more about them. https://umgf.com/martin-electrics-f-series-styles-50-55-65-t212687.html (I figured best not to troll those guys over the Eastwood thing, just for mean-ness... ;D )
-
So interesting. Martin made quite a few instruments for other firms as an outsourcing agent, but at that time, I am not aware of who they'd have used for these. I thought of Vega, but that deal wasn't until 1970.
In the pictures they do look like DeArmond pickups though Mike's book doesn't specify that. I know later on they used DiMarzio electronics on the EM lineup.
I'd love to see one and play it just to say I had. I just posted a thread over on the UMGF to see if anyone knows any more about them. https://umgf.com/martin-electrics-f-series-styles-50-55-65-t212687.html (I figured best not to troll those guys over the Eastwood thing, just for mean-ness... ;D )
Do you use the same handle over there? I haven't seen you.
A friend had the 2-p/up F-55 when we were in high school; I do seem to recall it having DeArmonds - but don't quote me on that. Granted this was before I took to actually trying to play much, but I thought it felt pretty good, and he made it sound good, too.
Peter (who also liked his Gretsch Atkins Super Axe)
-
Yep, same Ed of H everywhere. I don't post very often at UMGF, just read along, occasionally comment. There are a couple luthiers whose opinions I value. I keep a WTB thread trying to find my first Martin guitar, D-16H #518842... so far, no dice. I have seen you there a time or two. ;)
-
OK, after some discussion over on the UMGF thread Greg started, followed by some time with my close personal friend Google Images, I am now of the opinion that I disremembered some details, and my friend had not an F-55, but rather a GT-70; it looked sorta like a Gretsch 6120 with some Tele-like DNA in the upper bass bout. The F-50 & F-55 were shaped like an F-model acoustic archtop, but with a sort-of-almost-Macceferrian cutaway, while the F-65 & GT-75 shared a symmetrical body, with said cutaway doubled on the bass side. GTs, I have learned, superseded the F models (and were almost as quickly decataloged). Unlike the Fs they had an adjustable truss rod & colors other than sunburst (my buddy's was black). GTs had one of 2 different headstocks (one a snakehead, one a splay-sided, concave-top, 2-pointed thing), while the F used the classic Martin headstock we all know and love. Electronics were the same on all but the F-50 - which, as Bill noted above, was a single-p/up model; all the others were 2-p/up (All DeArmonds I do believe).
And I will cease my ramblage now.
Peter
-
https://eastwoodguitars.com/collections/custom-projects-list/products/eastwood-sp-i#features-specs (https://eastwoodguitars.com/collections/custom-projects-list/products/eastwood-sp-i#features-specs)
Bill, tgo
That link is giving 404 errors now.
-
That's pretty funny. I mean, as far as 404 pages go. ;D Then, I'm kinda' havin' one of those days where I think- yeah... being a hood ornament would get me outta' here faster. ::)
-
Here's the current link for the proposed Eastwood Carlos Alomar copy.
Bill, tgo
https://eastwoodguitars.com/collections/custom-projects-list/products/eastwood-sp-i-1 (https://eastwoodguitars.com/collections/custom-projects-list/products/eastwood-sp-i-1)