Mercury guitars anyone? (Original Fender Venus?)

Discussion of newer designs, copies and reissue offset-waist instruments.
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mrrazorblade227
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Re: Mercury guitars anyone? (Original Fender Venus?)

Post by mrrazorblade227 » Thu Nov 28, 2013 10:31 am

Weird and sexy, just the way I like it!

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Re: Mercury guitars anyone? (Original Fender Venus?)

Post by clickeye » Sun Jan 05, 2014 11:13 pm

Sorry for the lack of updates. here's the latest. Maple necks are glued and all truss rod materials are purchased. I had problems laser cutting pickups but might have them water jet cut. Other than that, life has brought me a terrible family tragedy and my life was put on hold for a month. New Years marked a new beginning for us.

-Tim

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Re: Mercury guitars anyone? (Original Fender Venus?)

Post by paulitik » Mon Jan 06, 2014 11:11 am

Sorry to hear about your family tragedy.

We know when you are done it will be worth the wait. Looking forward to seeing the final product!
Great buying/selling experiences with therizzla, blake480, will.

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Re: Mercury guitars anyone? (Original Fender Venus?)

Post by SignoftheDragon » Mon Jan 06, 2014 2:51 pm

Best to you and your family, Tim.

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Re: Mercury guitars anyone? (Original Fender Venus?)

Post by clickeye » Fri Feb 07, 2014 7:39 pm

Some more progress. Seriously looking into a CNC router. A local company makes a 5 foot x 5 foot one. Also just got some awesome clamps for the wood lams. Working a ton at my job. A 60 hour week is a short one. On my way to Hawaii for a month to do an install. It's been super cold here and hard to get anything done. Also , the shop I might use for the Paint work is in the middle of a move. Things are a little up in the air timing wise since Danny just finished a two month repair on his 18 wheeler. More later. -Tim

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Re: Mercury guitars anyone? (Original Fender Venus?)

Post by HNB » Fri Feb 07, 2014 10:00 pm

Sounds like fun progress. :D
Christopher
Lilith Guitars

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b bender
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Re: Mercury guitars anyone? (Original Fender Venus?)

Post by b bender » Sat Feb 08, 2014 4:38 am

Hawai'i is my fave place to be (but to long a trip these days) take some time for yourself while you are there ;D ;D
"Sent from my Sinclair ZX81"

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Re: Mercury guitars anyone? (Original Fender Venus?)

Post by Fiddy » Sat Feb 08, 2014 5:34 am

So... Maybe sometime in 2019-20? :freako:

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Re: Mercury guitars anyone? (Original Fender Venus?)

Post by live-i-evil » Wed Apr 23, 2014 2:14 pm

tribi9 wrote:So... Maybe sometime in 2019-20?
I know it won't take that long, but even if it did it'd be worth it. Love my Mercury and am looking forward to another one. Whenever you see this, I hope things are well, Tim!

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Re: Mercury guitars anyone? (Original Fender Venus?)

Post by rkharper » Wed Apr 23, 2014 9:11 pm

better slow progress than no progress, looking forward to it.

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Re: Mercury guitars anyone? (Original Fender Venus?)

Post by cincinnatiharry » Sat Apr 26, 2014 11:41 pm

Thanks for your hard work Tim. I am so excited about Mercury Guitars.

I just want to reiterate that 1.) I want one, definitely. 2.) I am happy to pay a deposit/pre-order if it will help things along.

I would also think this would make a great story, and I am sure that any number of guitar magazines would be interested in it. You have everything you need, a hero, villains, and a triumph! If anyone knows any guitar magazine writers out there they should email them! Would be great press for Mercury Guitars.

Lastly, I would like to suggest one last thing: once you do get up and running please allow direct ordering through your website. For example, buying a Mosrite from Dana Moseley's site is impossible. You have to call, my calls have never been answered and my emails have never been returned. A shopping cart on your website would be great. If you don't want to setup a website yourself I would suggest working with Chris Clayton at http://www.pickofthericks.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;, I bought a lovely Rickenbacker 330 from him and he was a pleasure to deal with. He always replied to emails and even has a chat button on his website.

Can't wait for more news!
"some misguided Marin county hot-tubber"

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Re: Mercury guitars anyone? (Original Fender Venus?)

Post by TUNEYOURSOUND » Wed May 14, 2014 4:01 am

I'm new to the OSG group. I am a private collector of unusual guitars-many of which are "offset". I will start adding some photos once I learn how to do that. As to Mercury guitars, I'm curious as to why the builders did not take some sort of legal action against Fender? The "theft" is so evident. I've been looking to buy a Mercury for many years and hope to find one which I could buy or trade for. I don't know how that is handled in this group, i.e., is that a buy/sell section? And I also see a thread about a new Mercury guitar being built, does anyone have details? Thanks.

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Re: Mercury guitars anyone? (Original Fender Venus?)

Post by croatan » Fri May 16, 2014 12:08 pm

the buy sell section only becomes available after you have reached 50 posts. Most are going to hang onto their mercuries with their lives, but you might be able to swing a venus or two off the market.

As for new mercuries being built, go back and read the whole thread for updates.
"To you whose souls are lured by noise to every treacherous abyss, for you do not feel for a rope like cowards, and where you can guess you hate to calculate. And where others would poison, you dismember." -Nietzche/Nation of Ulysses

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Re: Mercury guitars anyone? (Original Fender Venus?)

Post by sumlin » Wed Jun 18, 2014 6:53 am

Just stumbled across this - awesome thread. I saw that green Mercury hit the stage and fly through the air a few times in the 1990s and always wondered what it was. I wonder where it is now? (I'm guessing in a storage lock-up somewhere).
Tim - do you have any photos of the original run of guitars? I'd love to see the black you mentioned Guy Picciotto buying.

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Re: Mercury guitars anyone? (Original Fender Venus?)

Post by arkivel » Wed Jun 18, 2014 2:44 pm

A trademark is only worth anything if there's a battery of lawyers behind it. Mercury guitars is a small little company that made a rare little instrument that's been forgotten for decades. They likely didn't get any kind of trademark for their guitar and even if they did they haven't enforced their claim so it's too late now. It's essentially the same thing that happened to Fender when they trademarked their headstock shapes and not their bodies. Anyone can legally produce a Fender style body. If you manufacture a Fender trademarked headstock without a license however their lawyers will come after you.

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