Official Luthiers Forum!

So, I am designing (in my head) a the motif for a guitar I have started.

It's going to have a vine in the fretboard.

I was settled on a "traditional" one that is sold by one of the supply houses UNTIL I saw one on a guitar that I absolutely fell in love with.

It is on a factory guitar, (custom shop division) but I feel weird just copying it....

Should I?

My first inclination is to use the basic concept, but change it.

Is it the same as using the Manzer wedge? or Bennedettos tailpiece (or as many people do ,his whole guitar)? or Ryans arm bevel?

If it’s the exact same as the one you saw then whoever built the factory guitar probably got it from the same place. I’m not sure it would be wrong to use the vine. I mean everyone uses pearl dots.... a vibe is just a super elaborate dot I guess???
But, it wouldn’t be completely unique to your build either.
As you know those prefab vines come
In sections... you may be able to change it up considerably


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That sort of thing has bothered me since the start of my building days. It really is hard to avoid the issue entirely. Just about everything about guitar construction has been done by someone before us. That includes most everything from body shape size, materials, construction technique, inlays head and neck shape, etc, etc. Doesn't everyone's guitar look basically like a Martin, Gibson, Taylor or whatever?

Still when I see a unique inlay I would love to use it causes me pause. On my current build I am using a mermaid inlay on the headstock. I saw several very nice ones. it would have been easier if I printed off a picture and copied it, but I drew my own.

I'm okay with copies but I prefer to 'make it my own', at least as much as I can.

But there are times when I just copy when I can't come up with anything as good. I think as long as there is no copywrite mark anywhere it just might be legal. But then it is very difficult to make an exact copy anyhow.

_________________
Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

Not a problem but you can make it personal by adding something. If there are flowers cut a heart in the middle or just find something that can make it yours

_________________
John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

People copy the "art" elements when making copies of Martin style guitars and don't think a thing of it. The more exact they can copy them the happier they are. I sometimes use commercially made rosettes on my instruments. It can save a lot of rather fiddly work and time I'd rather spend elsewhere.
The down side to buying premade parts is you can't claim it as your own work, and if taken to an extreme you might appear to be a "kit" builder.
One of the fun projects I have been doing lately is building cigar box ukuleles. Someone gave me a number of nice wooden cigar boxes to which I have been adding necks and fingerboards and bridges and tuners. The first couple I made all those parts, but looking online I found I could buy those parts cheaper than I could make them. The parts still require some modification and additional work but much of the work is done. So now I am more of an "assembler" who adds a few personal touches and less a "maker". It is still a fun project and they sound just as good, and require much less time to complete. I can say I "made" a cigar box uke, just not the "box" or the neck or the fingerboard or the bridge. And the cigar part went up in smoke long ago!
People will often ask if I made the rosette on an instrument, and I can sometimes answer "yes" and sometimes answer "no". Even the founder of the Martin guitar company often bought the lines and purfles for his instruments, and when he couldn't get them modified his production to use something he could get.

Ah, the torment of artistic jealousy Personally I would say don't do it. It's one thing to come up with a design and then discover something very similar has been done before (any kind of creative/innovative work is a minefield of this these days), but when you had no idea such a glorious thing could exist until after you'd seen it, you just have to accept that the other guy is better than you, and go draw a bunch of mediocre junk in a futile attempt to catch up. Chances are someone else will be jealous of that mediocre junk and wonder why you're not satisfied with it... and then look at what you claim to be your greatest masterpiece and wonder why you're so satisfied with that mediocre junk

This the direction I would go. Finding inspiration around us and allowing it to influence our work, while adding elements that make it unique, is part of the creative process.

_________________
George :-)

Anything generic, including Martin's headstock shape should be basically trademark proof. You really can't trademark those things unless there's something that sets it apart. It's kinda like barbed wire tattoos, too generic to say you're copying someone.

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com