darren wilson

Copyright, patents and trademarks are different things. Please don't use them interchangeably. By registering the Les Paul body design as a trademark, Gibson declared that its shape is as much a part of the Gibson identity as the Gibson name or logo. When someone says "Guitarist [x] plays a Gibson," 9 times out of 10, people will think of the Les Paul. And when someone says "Guitarist [x] plays a Les Paul," you should automatically think "Gibson," but with so many Les Paul copies on the market, that's not automatically the case. This is Gibson's argument, and it's well within their rights to defend their identity that they have built up over decades. Another key distinction is that copyright and patents both expire after a period of time. Trademarks can remain in effect indefinitely, as long as the trademark is still used in commerce. So trademark registration gives the company a lot more protection. If i designed a unique instrument shape that became a cultural icon and was exclusively associated with my company, there's no doubt that i would trademark it and vigourously defend it from being ripped off. What i question is why Gibson didn't go after Tokai or some of the huge Korean manufacturers that are cranking out carbon copies of Les Pauls by the thousands, for anyone who will pay to have their logo stamped on the headstock. Personally, i think the PRS design is different enough that it shouldn't have been seen as an infringement. But clearly Gibson's lawyers were more convincing that PRS's. Here's another example: Shortly after the iMac made its début, numerous copycat Wintel machines were put out on the market. Apple filed "trade dress" infringement suits against companies like Future Power and e-Machines because their designs were clearly trying to capitalize on the iMac's distinctive design and the image it projected in the marketplace. Apple won.

Herc Fede used to do really good Donnie replicas, but i don't think he's taking on new more work any more.

Can you say, "money pyramid"? Now, can you say, "illegal"?

Looks awesome, Jer!

Nice work, Drak! I agree... that flamed myrtle does look an awful lot like flamed Koa... and that's a GOOD thing! Sweet job on the control cavity cover, too. Wood covers are great. Wood covers that are cut right from the body so the grain matches perfectly are even better. Definitely go for the piezo saddles... i bet that baby will resonate beautifully.

Just to clarify... Godin bodies and necks are actually made in Canada. They're only assembled in New Hampshire. I'm curious that no official statement has been released directly either from Gibson or PRS. You'd think they'd both be trying to spin some positive PR on this.

Wow. That's huge news. Personally, i think the PRS singlecut is different enough from the Les Paul that it shouldn't have been found as an infringement. There are plenty of others that are more direct ripoffs. (Tokai Love Rock, anyone?) What about other guitars like Dean's EVO series? The Hamer Monaco? If they trademark the double-cutaway Les Paul Special shape, you can say goodbye to PRS altogether, along with dozens of copycat boutique builders. I guess it's a good time to buy a PRS Singlecut.

That's the best acrylic-bodied guitar i've seen since the original Dan Armstrong models. They went the extra step and buffed out all of the cavities to eliminate the "haze" you get when routing out the acrylic. Pretty damn cool. Just make sure you wear pants.

RGs are relatively large for a superStrat style body to begin with, so a wider neck doesn't look out of proportion. A smaller body i'd be tempted to just add a few mm to the centre line just to keep things in proportion visually and weight-wise.

Height-adjustable nuts are a great idea. Say you get your frets perfectly leveled and your neck relief perfectly set... no matter what, temperature and humidity changes will cause your neck to flex ever so slightly, and truss rods don't have much effect at the extreme ends of the fretboard. With an adjustable nut, you can fine tune the action a bit better in the lower register. This is especially important for fretless basses, where you want uniformly low action to get a nice even "buzz" across the entire fingerboard.

It's not his signature guitar. It's an import guitar with a licensed body and headstock style. Not even in the same league as the true signature model, but probably a decent guitar for the money if other OLP guitars are anything to judge by.

Wow. Somehow, anything i could say would be an understatement. Beautiful work!

Maybe they survived a house or workshop fire?

Canuck: Music123 has them on their catalog already. http://www.music123.com/Item/?itemno=128826 US$349. Expected in stock March 25.

What you don't see very well in the photos is that the maple veneer is absent from the inside "carves" of the cutaways, which looks kinda cheezy in my opinion. I've seen Korean-made Dillion PRS knockoffs that were the same way. I think they definitely look better with an opaque finish on them, but that's my opinion.

Very cool. I might have to pick up one of those PRS-type ones to experiment with. Too bad the headstocks have the tuner holes pre-drilled... i prefer straight string pull and a more compact headstock. But i suppose they could be filled and the whole thing re-cut. I'd probably convert the body to take the strings through the body instead of a stop tailpiece, too.

I think it looks great! Good job, BeAR! I'm not a huge fan of classic three-colour sunbursts, but i think that's one of the best colour choices for the OLP Axis. What's the circular indentation in the bridge pickup cavity?

You'd be better to close the "book" and cut/joint the two sides together, wouldn't you?

You can get Kramer Focus models at MusicYo for less than $100.

Why is the filler applied so unevenly?

A spokeshave isn't really the right tool to carve a top with, unless you're doing really flat, planar carves. (They're great for necks, forearm cuts and tummy cuts.) What you probably want are finger planes.

Wow... very nice!

Brian, do your 7-string rings come in colours other than black?

Or if you don't want to make a permanent change to your guitar, you could shim the neck up a couple of millimetres and raise your bridge a touch so the strings clear the pickup.

Uh, no. No magnets involved at all with acoustic transducer-type pickups. Synthetic materials are used to approximate the density and tone of ivory or bone in a cheaper, more ecologically-minded way. Just yank the saddle next time you've got the strings off and see what's under there and it should be fairly obvious how to proceed.