Author Topic: Fernandes "Masterhand" it looked the part but did it sound the part too? (Read 960 times)

blazer · « **on:** July 02, 2006, 05:23:58 PM »

A clip for those who wonder how close those Lawsuit Fernandes Masterhand basses came to the real alembic sound.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G78NaWntdeE

This is dutch master guitarist Jan Akkerman with his band sometime in the eighties (dig that synth guitar he's using) with the Bassplayer playing a Fernandes Alembic copy (identifyable by not having the brass logo and by having cream covered pickups.)

So my question here is how Alembic does it sound compared to the real thing?

blazer · « **Reply #1 on:** July 02, 2006, 05:28:11 PM »

Whoops, wrong link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNg5VfP9n4A

olieoliver · « **Reply #2 on:** July 02, 2006, 05:44:10 PM »

My dad used to have a guitar just like the on in the first link. I don't remeber what brand it was though.

lbpesq · « **Reply #3 on:** July 02, 2006, 05:54:10 PM »

Everything I've read about the Masterhands and other Fernandes Alembic copies was that they got the wood part down pretty well, but came up short on the electronics. When I found my Masterhand guitar the electronics didn't work. I pulled it all out and dropped in Alembic electronics with RMC piezo bridge saddles. You can see it here:

http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/27907.html?1151871041

Bill, tgo

paulman · « **Reply #4 on:** July 06, 2006, 08:38:54 AM »

The guitar on the first link is the 2nd generation of Roland synth guitars.

mica · « **Reply #5 on:** July 06, 2006, 11:43:11 AM »

I've heard the Fernandes Masterhands many times. They don't sound bad, but they also don't sound particularly special either. They don't sound like Alembics to me.

BTW, cream pickups have been on many Alembics, you can even still special order that way. Also, while it may be fun to refer to these as Lawsuit Fernandes there was no lawsuit over these instruments.

blazer · « **Reply #6 on:** July 06, 2006, 12:02:20 PM »

Well Mica, I guess I call them lawsuit because they hail from the era of when Japanese factories such as Kanda Shokai (Tokai, Fernandes) Matsumoku (Aria, univox) and Fuji-gen (Ibanez, Greco) were making copies of such quality that the companies they copied from were losing sales. So Fender, Gibson and Rickenbacker filed lawsuits to make the copying stop.

Because Fernandes has also stopped making Alembic copies I figured that you guys also took action against them copying your basses.

Bradley Young · « **Reply #7 on:** July 06, 2006, 08:13:54 PM »

So, if I order cream pickups will I sound like Jack Bruce?

jacko · « **Reply #8 on:** July 07, 2006, 05:20:04 AM »

Brad, You need years of alcohol abuse and a glaswegian accent to sound like Jack Bruce;-)

Graeme

keavin · « **Reply #9 on:** July 07, 2006, 07:10:24 AM »

I recall Mica stating in a (previous thread somewhere) that the feds Raided a music store somewhere & comphiscated all of those Fernendes alembic copys and DESTROYED them all in the parking lot by Breaking off all of their Head stocks!.....by the way those Basses don't sound all that bad & they look Stunning!

(Message edited by keavin on July 07, 2006)

FC Bass · « **Reply #10 on:** July 07, 2006, 08:13:48 AM »

Found these on the net

I wonder how many Fernandes owners there are thinking they have an Alembic... (Message edited by fc_spoiler on July 07, 2006)

olieoliver · « **Reply #11 on:** July 07, 2006, 08:41:24 AM »

This is one of those odd legal battles that I don't fully understand. I mean this bass is obviously meant to copy an Alembic, which IMHO is wrong. But how many brands of basses and guitars are copies of P-basses, Jazz?s, Strats, Teles and so on. So how do you punish the manufacturer of this bass but not the Fender copycats? I guess as long as they don?t actually put the Alembic or Fender names on them they feel it?s OK.

lbpesq · « **Reply #12 on:** July 07, 2006, 08:43:46 AM »

I've also heard the "broke all the heads off in a guitar center parking lot in Denver" story. I don't think it was from Mica, though. As I recall, I read it in another forum while I was researching Masterhands after buying mine two years ago. I believe the concensus was that this was an urban myth. Another urban myth is the whole "lawsuit guitars" thing. IIRC there really was never a big lawsuit, America v. Japan. There was only one or two actions regarding headstock shape. Notice that many companies in countries all over the world still manufature strat/tele/Les Paul/SG/335 look-a-likes. The headstock shapes, though, are different. Here's a previous thread discussing Fernandes: http://club.alembic.com/Images/393/7109.html#POST11708 By the way, not all Fernandes Alembic copies are "Masterhands", in fact, most aren't. The top picture in the above post is an FAB180, while the bottom pics are an FAB170. Here's a Masterhand Bass:

And here's a Fernandes copy of an Alembicized Fender Precision!:

Bill, tgo

adriaan · « **Reply #13 on:** July 07, 2006, 09:23:18 AM »

Olie,

Not odd at all. When you're a small company like Alembic, you have a reputation at stake, with a large-scale company that marketed the Fernandes brand, with a large-scale budget, cutting into your small-scale earnings.

For corporate America, the Gibson or Fender product is a market commodity. Copies mean slightly less turnaround, plus an aura of 'the real thing' attached to the originals, which helps marketing.

Plus pre-corporate Fender and Gibson forgot to patent body shapes. Since most models had the same peghead shape, those were considered a distinguishing mark for the Fender or Gibson brand, and these could not be used on copies.

olieoliver · « **Reply #14 on:** July 07, 2006, 09:38:13 AM »

I think I may have been misunderstood in my last post. I am NOT condoning Fernandes making copies of Alembics. I think any copy, whether it is of an Alembic, Fender, Gibson, Elvis or whatever is just that, a COPY of the real thing, which can never be as good. I personally think Fernandes was coat-tailing on Alembics success and awe. This shows a lack of originality to me.