Show your LAWSUIT guitars!!!

For guitars of the straight waisted variety (or reverse offset).
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HorseyBoy
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Re: Show your LAWSUIT guitars!!!

Post by HorseyBoy » Fri May 24, 2013 1:11 pm

There's a nice 67 Greco up on eBay at the moment, looks like a Tele with a Rickenbacker neck and headstock: http://www.ebay.com/itm/c-1967-Greco-S- ... 0801373517" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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preservation
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Re: Show your LAWSUIT guitars!!!

Post by preservation » Fri May 24, 2013 3:58 pm

thanks for the heads up- gonna watch that Greco

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Re: Show your LAWSUIT guitars!!!

Post by cmatthes » Fri May 24, 2013 9:49 pm

sumlin wrote:That's right - got it the wrong way round. Gibson forced the change away from the 'open book' design but they also changed the Fender type headstocks as well. I'm pretty sure no actual lawsuit reached a conclusion though - just that the companies being prosecuted decided to back down. Because 'open book' Les Paul copies (and Fender type guitars) were made by other companies right through the 80s - Fernandes being an example - unless, by that point, those factories were owned by Gibson (for Epiphone) and Fender (for Squier)?
By the time the Norlin v. Elger documentation was filed, Ibanez had already stopped making the copies and modified their designs. Things never evolved past that complaint, except for the chilling effect it had on the copy manufacturers selling their wares in the US.

Again, "Lawsuit" IS a specific term in the vintage/collectible guitar world - it refers to near exact copies made by a handful of Japanese companies in the '70s - that particular era ONLY.

Calling an '80s, '90s or newer copy, a "Lawsuit" guitar is just not accurate, and it DOES matter. You wouldn't refer to a 1983 Strat as "Pre-CBS", right?

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Re: Show your LAWSUIT guitars!!!

Post by cmatthes » Fri May 24, 2013 9:51 pm

chordbuster wrote:
cmatthes wrote:This is clearly a thread about "COPY" guitars, not "Lawsuit" guitars.

There are only a very small number of guitars that would even begin to fit the "Lawsuit" category here.

Cool thread, but let's call it what it is...
This one is

Image

EXACTLY.

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Re: Show your LAWSUIT guitars!!!

Post by chordbuster » Sun May 26, 2013 11:07 am

Here is an interesting article from Vintage Guitar Magazine The First Golden Age of Ibanez 1973-1982

You can see how Jeff Hasselberger changed the design of the Ibanez Les Paul neck from this

Image

To this

Image

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chordbuster
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Re: Show your LAWSUIT guitars!!!

Post by chordbuster » Sun May 26, 2013 11:15 am

chordbuster wrote:Here is an interesting article from Vintage Guitar Magazine The First Golden Age of Ibanez 1973-1982

You can see how Jeff Hasselberger(Ibanez's 1st american employee) persuaded Ibanez to change the neck on their Les Paul copies

From this (1970-72)

Image

To this (1973-1975)

Image

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sumlin
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Re: Show your LAWSUIT guitars!!!

Post by sumlin » Tue May 28, 2013 3:00 am

Remind me to party with you guys sometime.

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22danielp
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Re: Show your LAWSUIT guitars!!!

Post by 22danielp » Sat Jun 01, 2013 4:20 am

sumlin wrote: Image
everytime I see that I get so happy..
Crucify the insincere, Tonight, Tonight...

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Re: Show your LAWSUIT guitars!!!

Post by sumlin » Sun Jun 02, 2013 8:07 am

22danielp wrote:
sumlin wrote: Image
everytime I see that I get so happy..
Alas, the Silver Jubilee half stack wasn't mine, I was selling it for a friend. It sounded incredible.

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Sinuata
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Re: Show your LAWSUIT guitars!!!

Post by Sinuata » Wed Jun 19, 2013 9:28 pm

Not mine, but check out this 80s Greco JM copy on Yahoo Auctions (Japan):
http://page10.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/a ... m109937994

Image

Image

Image

I've never seen one of these before... It appears to have the rhythm circuit, trem lock (actually, looks like it's just a bump)... somehow the only part they couldn't get right are the knobs. The bids are already above real Fender Japan prices...

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Re: Show your LAWSUIT guitars!!!

Post by debudavid » Thu Jun 20, 2013 2:14 am

that greco jm looks sweet.

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Re: Show your LAWSUIT guitars!!!

Post by cmatthes » Fri Jun 21, 2013 12:24 pm

I've got pics of that model (same color scheme and everything) in an older Japanese book on Greco copies. First time I've seen one outside of that book though. They also did it in Vintage White.

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Re: Show your LAWSUIT guitars!!!

Post by JaguarTech » Fri Jul 26, 2013 3:35 pm

All of these "Law Suit" guitars look like the real thing and yet they sound better than the real thing ...... fanatic. One looked like it had a hockey stick for a machine head, never saw one of those before. The Greco 330 looks so cool with what looks like a burl belly. Has any one come up with a "Rocoman" Strat? (a koby, Japan. company) I saw a few of those in the 80's. There catalog had every color and combo you could think of. There drum were cheesey, like playing cardboard boxes. :k

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Re: Show your LAWSUIT guitars!!!

Post by dfriedl » Sun Aug 11, 2013 6:54 pm

Image
70's (some say earlier) Univox LP Deluxe.

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Re: Show your LAWSUIT guitars!!!

Post by serial » Fri Aug 16, 2013 3:40 pm

Image
1980 Tokai Silver Star

Photo by Cmatthes!

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