Results 1 to 27 of 27

Thread: Is it a clone when...

  1. #1
    Forum Member
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Location
    NYC
    Posts
    455

    Is it a clone when...

    So seriously what makes a guitar a clone? These days, there's so many parts available online - new parts, old parts, repro parts, licensed parts...

    I'm building a Strat with a MIM 60's Roadworn neck, a MIJ 68 body, a warmoth guard, some humbuckers and a floyd. Is it a parts-o-caster, a clone, a tribute?

    Should I just call it a hot rodded Fender Strat and be done with it?

  2. #2
    Forum Member
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Posts
    5,201

    Re: Is it a clone when...

    It's a FRANKENCASTER! Grab the torches and pitchforks!

    I guess if the two biggest hunks of the guitar -- neck and body -- are genuine Fender, you'd be justified in calling it a customized Fender Strat. Highly customized, maybe....
    "I haven't slept for ten days...because that would be too long." -- Mitch Hedberg

  3. #3
    Forum Member Don's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Location
    Massachusetts
    Posts
    11,288

    Re: Is it a clone when...

    It's a Parts-O-Caster, Frankencaster, highly modified Strat or whatever you'd like to call it.

    I consider my USACG T-Style a clone. It's a Parts-O-Caster (though it's not a highly modified Tele- it's not a Tele at all), though I call it a "USACG T-Style" because it has their neck and body wearing their logo on the headstock.

    My Hwy1 Strat with USACG neck, Fralin pickups and Callaham bridge isn't really a clone (barely), it's a Parts-O-Caster or a Frankencaster.

    In the end, it really doesn't matter what you call it as long as it's properly described if you sell it.

  4. #4
    Forum Member phantomman's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Location
    Ten miles from the Mexican Frontier, in Arizona
    Posts
    7,297

    Re: Is it a clone when...

    I guess all mine are "franken-clones" even though they are, for the most part, all made from authentic Fender components (I just "re-arrange" them differently from the configurations that FMIC sells).
    "When injustice becomes law then rebellion becomes duty."

  5. #5
    Forum Member Don's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Location
    Massachusetts
    Posts
    11,288

    Re: Is it a clone when...

    The Parts-O-Caster is the beauty of Fender guitars! Some of the best have been hobbled together!

  6. #6
    Forum Member
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Posts
    77

    Re: Is it a clone when...

    Then I've got a ral conundrum for you. I'm mainly a bass player. My main fretless Jazz got to boring me after twenty or so years. So I decided to make some changes.

    I got a Geddy Lee Signature Jazz and took it apart for the neck. I put that neck on the Oly white body of my (formerly) fretless Jazz. Then I swapped out all the hardware for black Hipshots and a black BadAssII bridge and EMG J's.

    The fretless neck I then placed on a new sunburst body from USACG. To this I added Nordtrand NJ4SE p'ups, an Audere preamp, Hipshot tuners and a BadAssII bridge.

    So neither is truly a Fender anymore. Both still say Fender on the headstocks. But only three quarters of the wooden parts are actually Fender.

    So is one a clone and one is a FrankenJazz? How would you say it?

  7. #7
    Forum Member Skip's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Location
    South Florida
    Posts
    2,832

    Re: Is it a clone when...

    Bard2dbone I am thinking it is a darwinianjazzaactivefenderneckbass


  8. #8
    Forum Member chuckocaster's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2003
    Location
    spanish for lard.
    Posts
    8,605

    Re: Is it a clone when...

    i don't worry about it, i just play them. every guitar i own has been modified, i think of them as a carpenter thinks of his hammer, as a tool. make some sweet music on them man!
    "don't worry, i'm a professional!"

  9. #9
    Forum Member sting7777's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Posts
    695

    Re: Is it a clone when...

    Is Blackie a clone?


    "Oh, Mister D.J.,
    I keep wondering why you don't play much blues anymore
    I don't know what you got against me
    Whatever it is, I sure would like to know"

  10. #10

    Re: Is it a clone when...

    My personal criteria is that if the neck and body are both original Fender parts, then it's not a clone.

  11. #11
    Forum Member Don's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Location
    Massachusetts
    Posts
    11,288

    Re: Is it a clone when...

    Quote Originally Posted by sting7777 View Post
    Is Blackie a clone?
    Blackie would be a partsocaster.

    A clone is a partsocaster made out of non Fender parts. Back when Clapton assembled Blackie he didn't have access to non-Fender parts.

  12. #12
    Gravity Jim
    Guest

    Re: Is it a clone when...

    Since the concept of a "real Fender" is meaningless to me, I just think of them as guitars. Over 90 percent of the Fender-style instruments I've ever played (outside of a store) were modified, moderately to heavily, by their owners... I would say that "real Fender" is a mental construct at this point. "Stratocaster" and "Telecaster" and "Precision Bass" are now words describing ideas about guitars.

  13. #13
    Forum Member curtisstetka's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    Boyertown PA
    Posts
    5,050

    Re: Is it a clone when...

    I guess I'd say that only Fender can make a Stratocaster. If some other company were to build a guitar with 3 sc pickups, whammy bar, the body shape, etc that we all recognize as a strat, I'd call that a strat clone.

    As for a personally assembled guitar - I only have one electric that hasn't been modded or assembled - I'd say they fall in the realm of part-o-casters.



    I do agree with Grav. "Stratocaster" definitely describes an iconic design.
    s'all goof.

  14. #14
    Forum Member sting7777's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Posts
    695

    Re: Is it a clone when...

    Quote Originally Posted by Don View Post
    Blackie would be a partsocaster.

    A clone is a partsocaster made out of non Fender parts. Back when Clapton assembled Blackie he didn't have access to non-Fender parts.
    It was a a rhetorical question.

    I would say Blackie is as much a Strat as anything that left the factory. I agree - Fender neck and body = Fender guitar. The rest of the labels are kind of silly.


    "Oh, Mister D.J.,
    I keep wondering why you don't play much blues anymore
    I don't know what you got against me
    Whatever it is, I sure would like to know"

  15. #15
    Forum Member
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Posts
    658

    Re: Is it a clone when...

    hmm .. well, the majority of our DNA is shared with an ape, thus we are frakenapes, right?
    P e a c e KYC


    Strat or Tele out of a 5E3 .

  16. #16
    Forum Member Kap'n's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    Where phony hippies meet
    Posts
    19,769

    Re: Is it a clone when...

    Quote Originally Posted by silent j. View Post
    I would say that "real Fender" is a mental construct at this point.
    Actually, it's a legal construct.

    I sort of stay out of these things. I know what a strat is. I know what a tele is. I know 90% of what Fender makes isn't either of them. Most of what exists is some relatively easily quantifiable abstraction of
    • Strat
    • Tele
    • Les Paul
    • ES-335
    • L5CES or whatever two pickup hollowbody you prefer
    Several guitars in different colors
    Things to make them fuzzy
    Things to make them louder
    orange picks

  17. #17
    Forum Member refin's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Posts
    4,753

    Re: Is it a clone when...

    The worse thing you could do is put me in a room with three strats and a screwdriver.
    "My flesh and my heart fail...but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."
    PS. 73:26

    MY JAMS--
    http://www.soundclick.com/bands/defa...&content=music

  18. #18
    Forum Member thegeezer's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Location
    Madtown
    Posts
    1,407

    Re: Is it a clone when...

    I have a clone with a fender neck, I love the guitar.

  19. #19
    Forum Member
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Posts
    23

    Re: Is it a clone when...

    Wouldn't a clone be a guitar that is built or assembled to the specs of an existing guitar where as a parts-o-caster would be a one off built to whatever the builder wants? Would that be right or am I way off?

  20. #20
    Forum Member NeoFauve's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2003
    Location
    in interesting times
    Posts
    12,530

    Re: Is it a clone when...

    Quote Originally Posted by Kap'n View Post

    Most of what exists is some relatively easily quantifiable abstraction of
    • Strat
    • Tele
    • Les Paul
    • ES-335
    • L5CES or whatever two pickup hollowbody you prefer
    The pop-culture, and tone totem associations people have with the very sight of them are just about impossible for new ideas to compete with, no matter how well they might work.
    Those basic electic guitar shapes are accepted standards, like dreadnaughts, jumbos, grand concert and auditorium are for acoustics.
    "Well, I used to be disgusted, now I try to be amused..."
    Elvis Costello

  21. #21
    Forum Member Kap'n's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    Where phony hippies meet
    Posts
    19,769

    Re: Is it a clone when...

    Quote Originally Posted by NeoFauve View Post
    The pop-culture, and tone totem associations people have with the very sight of them are just about impossible for new ideas to compete with, no matter how well they might work.
    Those basic electic guitar shapes are accepted standards, like dreadnaughts, jumbos, grand concert and auditorium are for acoustics.
    Which is why some mutant like my Kay is so much fun to play. It doesn't sound like any of the aforementioned instruments.
    Several guitars in different colors
    Things to make them fuzzy
    Things to make them louder
    orange picks

  22. #22
    Forum Member NeoFauve's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2003
    Location
    in interesting times
    Posts
    12,530

    Re: Is it a clone when...

    Quote Originally Posted by Kap'n View Post
    Which is why some mutant like my Kay is so much fun to play. It doesn't sound like any of the aforementioned instruments.
    Better yet, many people have no expectations upon seeing it.
    "Well, I used to be disgusted, now I try to be amused..."
    Elvis Costello

  23. #23
    Forum Member Kap'n's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    Where phony hippies meet
    Posts
    19,769

    Re: Is it a clone when...

    Unless I'm wearing the kimono and hat.

    Several guitars in different colors
    Things to make them fuzzy
    Things to make them louder
    orange picks

  24. #24
    Forum Member NeoFauve's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2003
    Location
    in interesting times
    Posts
    12,530

    Re: Is it a clone when...

    Quote Originally Posted by Kap'n View Post
    Unless I'm wearing the kimono and hat.

    Oh. Oh NO! Oxford shirts??!!
    I... I... I don't know WHAT this is going to sound like!!!!
    "Well, I used to be disgusted, now I try to be amused..."
    Elvis Costello

  25. #25
    Forum Member Don's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Location
    Massachusetts
    Posts
    11,288

    Re: Is it a clone when...

    Quote Originally Posted by Kap'n View Post
    Unless I'm wearing the kimono and hat.

    Too funny! I'd like to hear this. I bet it would sound familiar!

  26. #26
    Gravity Jim
    Guest

    Re: Is it a clone when...

    I thought I knew what it would sound like until I saw the fringed vest.

  27. #27
    Forum Member NeoFauve's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2003
    Location
    in interesting times
    Posts
    12,530

    Re: Is it a clone when...

    Quote Originally Posted by silent j. View Post
    I thought I knew what it would sound like until I saw the fringed vest.
    Fringed vest? Oxford shirts?
    Those kids liable to do anything.
    "Well, I used to be disgusted, now I try to be amused..."
    Elvis Costello

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •