Fulltone OCD, a fake?

[strat68]

Was perusing Aliexpress looking for enclosures and this popped up:

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Free-Shipping-Guitar-Effect-Pedal-Ultimate-Drive-True-Bypass/947755892.html?s=p

It appears to be a new  Fulltone OCD for $38 from China.  Not that I'm buying (I'm building one at the moment) but this has to be a fake.  The real ones are made in California, according to their web site.

[stevie1556]

Loads of fake stuff on there. I saw a Kramer pacer with the EVH stripes for £150 with free delivery on it. It did look rather good quality in the pictures though. I've got some cycling tops off it, they are fake but I can't tell the difference.

[midwayfair]

Here's the real one:


There are any number of things wrong on the one you linked to, but astoundingly they do seem to have gotten the font correct .... though that part really just leads me to believe that Fulltone used a stock font in Acrobat or Illustrator or something ...

[kothoma]

Clear case of product piracy. This thing should not pass through customs control. But probably does.

[Leevibe]

Clear case of product piracy. This thing should not pass through customs control. But probably does.

As do a tide of Les Paul forgeries.

[pickdropper]

Clear case of product piracy. This thing should not pass through customs control. But probably does.

As do a tide of Les Paul forgeries.

Indeed, although they caught a bunch of them recently:

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2014/04/185_counterfeit_guitars_seized_at_bulk_mail_center_in_jersey_city_feds.html

They really need to stop putting the real logos on these.  Lots of these end up on Craigslist.

[Leevibe]

Clear case of product piracy. This thing should not pass through customs control. But probably does.

As do a tide of Les Paul forgeries.

Indeed, although they caught a bunch of them recently:

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2014/04/185_counterfeit_guitars_seized_at_bulk_mail_center_in_jersey_city_feds.html

They really need to stop putting the real logos on these.  Lots of these end up on Craigslist.

I'm glad to know that they're catching some of these. As much as Gibson's inflated pricing sucks, the propagation of counterfeit guitars is infinitely worse. I've heard a few horror stories of these getting resold on CL for big money by unsuspecting buyers. Gibson has released info on how to spot counterfeits, but that just becomes useful to the forgers to be more detailed in producing more accurate fakes.

Personally, if I buy an LP, it will probably be one of the excellent Agiles that Rondo Music is putting out. They have some in the $500 range that are serious contenders, with thick maple caps, high quality components etc. It seems to me that the only thing they lack is the Gibson logo/headstock and a real lacquer finish.

[strat68]

I reported it Fulltone via email.  It's up to them to take care of it.  Anyone with half a brain would know it's fake.  I wonder what's really inside.

[midwayfair]

I wonder what's really inside.

My bet is a clone of the Voodoo Labs Overdrive with MOSFET clipping.

[mgwhit]

I wonder what's really inside.

My bet is a clone of the Voodoo Labs Overdrive with MOSFET clipping.

  I keep looking for a "Like" button on this board.

[GermanCdn]

I wonder what's really inside.

My bet is a clone of the Voodoo Labs Overdrive with MOSFET clipping.

Awesomesauce.  This place is filled with comedic gold today.

[dont-tase-me-bro]

I remember Analogman posted an article awhile ago that had a bunch of fake pedals from China.  Side to side, they looked very similar, but definitely had some stuff that was different

[Guitarmageddon]

I wonder what's really inside.

My bet is a clone of the Voodoo Labs Overdrive with MOSFET clipping.

  I keep looking for a "Like" button on this board.

Me too.
It's funny, you know, to my mind, an object is what it is. If it has sufficient intrinsic value that's my measure of it. I'm an unashamed player of several cheep Chinese guitars. I don't ever pretend they aren't, a couple were pretty crappy, but a few are really great, and two are my main guitars- sure I gave them a little DIY work, but I've done that to the "real" ones I own too. Now these are superior to some of the "real" ones I own and many I've played.
The name never matters to me, (geez, the way Gibson is treating y'all, maybe you should be glad!) nor am I ever going to try to pass one off as a brand name instrument, a cardinal sin apparently.... But if you do drop 18k on a $150 copy- I'm guessing you're not buying it to play it anyway. Or you just don't deserve one anyhow because you can't tell the difference.
Guitars should be played. There's far too many beautiful sounding instruments locked away from players in humidifiers and glass display cabinets at Hard Rock Cafes for my liking.
Does it work, does it sound good to you? For most of us I think that's what should matter.

Oh, and to keep on topic. No, of course that won't be a real Fulltone OCD at aliexpress for $30 clams...but I'll bet you could twiddle the knobs and sound pretty much like one, or by  tuning up, PRACTICING, playing with feeling....(I could go on)... sound way better than a guitarist who has a real one.

Oh, and Dave (you know I respect and love you, right?) -but what's really wrong if a counterfeit becomes indistinguishable from the original? Is there really a difference- (It's that tree falling in the forest thing perhaps.)
The only real argument I hear is Fender or Gibbo will suffer...but, well, it'll be millions, if not billions of dollars before they do. Fender sold to CBS, makes guitars in north America's China (Mexico) I don't know where Gibbo does.
Leo's dead, Les Paul is dead...I actually believe those two giants would care more about Accessibility and the MUSIC being made, and  frankly I think we all should. There's far too much money being horded by far too few, we're being tricked into "brand loyalty"

[strat68]

[/quote]
Me too.
...
Guitars should be played. There's far too many beautiful sounding instruments locked away from players in humidifiers and glass display cabinets at Hard Rock Cafes for my liking.
Does it work, does it sound good to you? For most of us I think that's what should matter.
[/quote]

If you really want to get depressed go to the RnR Hall of Fame.  There are so many historic instruments locked up behind glass it's a crying shame. 

As for clone pedals, I'm all for them regardless of whose design they were.  Since getting back into building in March I've probably built close to ~$2000+ (retail) worth of pedals. Some of the pedals I liked, some I'm selling or cannibalizing.  I've bought a couple "real" ones and the Deluxe BMP is probably getting sold (should have kept my 1970's BMP) and the other one is back at the factory because of some really nasty hissing noise. 

[pickdropper]

It's funny, you know, to my mind, an object is what it is. If it has sufficient intrinsic value that's my measure of it. I'm an unashamed player of several cheep Chinese guitars. I don't ever pretend they aren't, a couple were pretty crappy, but a few are really great, and two are my main guitars- sure I gave them a little DIY work, but I've done that to the "real" ones I own too. Now these are superior to some of the "real" ones I own and many I've played.
The name never matters to me, (geez, the way Gibson is treating y'all, maybe you should be glad!) nor am I ever going to try to pass one off as a brand name instrument, a cardinal sin apparently.... But if you do drop 18k on a $150 copy- I'm guessing you're not buying it to play it anyway. Or you just don't deserve one anyhow because you can't tell the difference.
Guitars should be played. There's far too many beautiful sounding instruments locked away from players in humidifiers and glass display cabinets at Hard Rock Cafes for my liking.
Does it work, does it sound good to you? For most of us I think that's what should matter.

Oh, and to keep on topic. No, of course that won't be a real Fulltone OCD at aliexpress for $30 clams...but I'll bet you could twiddle the knobs and sound pretty much like one, or by  tuning up, PRACTICING, playing with feeling....(I could go on)... sound way better than a guitarist who has a real one.

Oh, and Dave (you know I respect and love you, right?) -but what's really wrong if a counterfeit becomes indistinguishable from the original? Is there really a difference- (It's that tree falling in the forest thing perhaps.)
The only real argument I hear is Fender or Gibbo will suffer...but, well, it'll be millions, if not billions of dollars before they do. Fender sold to CBS, makes guitars in north America's China (Mexico) I don't know where Gibbo does.
Leo's dead, Les Paul is dead...I actually believe those two giants would care more about Accessibility and the MUSIC being made, and  frankly I think we all should. There's far too much money being horded by far too few, we're being tricked into "brand loyalty"

I actually think now is the best time to be a buyer of guitars.  For the most part, the quality from the top to the bottom is better than it ever has been.  Some of the guitars that come out of China are very nice quality.  Some are lousy quality too, but the options are there if you can find them.  I actually have a Walden acoustic that was given to me by a friend.  It sounds and plays great and uses solid sides and back at a price far below what you'd have to pay from an American guitar maker.  There's definite value there.

My complaint about using forged names on the headstocks is that it does affect people, both the customers and the manufacturers.

Customers:  Since a lot of these are passed off as real on places like eBay and Craigslist, many less knowledgeable folks buy them and then find that they take a huge financial hit later when they try and resell them.  It's kind of like buying a fake Rolex.  If you know it's fake and  you pay $20 for it, you don't care.  If you pay thousands of dollars for it and it turns out to be fake, you are really bummed.  Many folks argue caveat emptor and that people should know what they are buying, but I don't believe that's totally realistic (or fair) for the buyer.  I'd prefer if they didn't have to slog their way through it.  And since the quality often is less than the real thing, the buyer would be better off buying a cheaper guitar with a different name to achieve that level of quality.

Manufacturers: I can't speak to the exact amount of damage this causes companies like Fender, Gibson or PRS, but I wouldn't be surprised if it does have some effect.  What I can speak to is how it can have an effect on a small company.  As many know, I design earphones as part of my day gig.  We've found that some companies in China are knocking them off and selling them online.  Most start at Alibaba, some even have shown up on the Amazon Marketplace (not sold by Amazon directly).  I can say definitively that they are nowhere near the quality of the real thing.  They (somewhat amazingly) tooled up all their own plastic parts and skipped a lot of the details that make them sound good in the first place.  They are also built poorly so they fall apart rather quickly.  So what happens when they break?  The unsuspecting customer sends them back to us for a warranty replacement.  This costs the company money in handling the RMA as it usually requires a phone call of a number of back and forth emails explaining it to the customer.  Often, the customer (who often doesn't know it's fake) is quite upset that they have been taken.

All of that can be avoided by putting a different name on the product.  To go back to my Walden acoustic; it says Walden on it, not Gibson, Martin, Taylor, etc.  It's a nice guitar worthy of being owned and played.  No problem with it being a Chinese guitar at all.

And yes, I know you have no issues with me.  This is just an interesting (and very reasonable discussion).  I quite enjoy the discourse.

And totally agree about guitars being played.  A lot of guitar collectors griped when Kirk Hammett bought the Peter Green/Gary Moore burst, but hell the guy gigs it.  Good for him.