# MGH Guitars - (Custom Headless Strandberg Copies)



## huhngott (Oct 26, 2014)

Why can't I find people with these guitars?
Anyone had any experience with them?

show me your vids/demos!

MGH Guitars

btw this badgirl is coming home soon....


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## DancingCloseToU (Oct 26, 2014)

This just doesn't look right... the straight frets and all


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## Skin Coffin (Oct 26, 2014)

This is the first time I see a headless guitar with a headstock


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## MetalBuddah (Oct 26, 2014)

DancingCloseToU said:


> This just doesn't look right... the straight frets and all



Strandberg has done it before


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## DancingCloseToU (Oct 26, 2014)

MetalBuddah said:


> Strandberg has done it before



Oh, I'm aware... and I don't think they look right either


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## awesomeaustin (Oct 27, 2014)

I like seeing these in a single scale. Multi-scale guitars never appealed to me.


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## Hollowway (Oct 27, 2014)

How do you say Cease and Desist in German?


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## Pat_tct (Oct 27, 2014)

those just don't look right^^
something about the upper horn and the headless "headstock" thingy. it just doesn't look as smooth as a strandberg


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## downburst82 (Oct 27, 2014)

Hollowway said:


> How do you say Cease and Desist in German?



looks like they _might_ have tweaked the design enough to stay out of trouble...(although I think Darren was able to get Blackhart to stop using there ripoff of the javelin that was tweaked a similar way..)










Basically copies changing as little as necessary to (they hope) get away with it...that always leaves a bad taste in my mouth 

ps: build quality does look pretty solid so OP i'm sure your incoming guitar will be a really nice instrument.


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## thrashmetal85 (Oct 27, 2014)

Most guitars fitted with the Floyd speed loader kept the headstock.

K. K. Downing even put tuners on his custom KxK


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## Thesius (Oct 27, 2014)

How much do they usually go for? These look interesting.


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## Skin Coffin (Oct 27, 2014)

MetalBuddah said:


> Strandberg has done it before



I partially agree. I think the MGH one looks a lot worse


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## huhngott (Oct 27, 2014)

Thesius said:


> How much do they usually go for? These look interesting.


this is a model from 2012 and it was around £1599 +- 2000
2014 prices dropped because of the use of lower quality woods, as I've been told.
6 string - 900
7 string - 1000
8 string - 1200


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## huhngott (Oct 27, 2014)

you can see the full photo-shoot here 

https://www.dropbox.com/sc/z0c7vstc46zniq0/AAA4cO6d7yuakbiG4W5T9b_wa#lh:0-2014-10-19 10.05.07.jpg


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## frahmans (Oct 27, 2014)

Man, they look like Strandberg. I wonder if Creative Commons offers any sort of protection. Because it would require permission to be given by Ola, wonder if I'd he can do anything about it.

Even I did not pursue a Strandberg design for my next build because Ola did not give permission.


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## asher (Oct 27, 2014)

The upper horn does not fit well when bent like that.

The rest of his designs are mostly knockoffs and categorically bad.


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## huhngott (Oct 27, 2014)

I think Ola has sorted this out already, seen a post where a guy knew the owner and gave him the phone number to talk about it.


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## StevenC (Oct 27, 2014)

Ola told me he's been trying to contact this guy for years and he has never replied.

Sketchy.

Also, these are ugly.


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## Hollowway (Oct 28, 2014)

I'm speaking out of my ass here, but changing a percent of the design of something applies to things like drug patents and other things that aren't as visual. For designs of objects, my understanding is that if it's reasonable to assume that a consumer could mistakenly confuse the original design with the knockoff then it is an infringement. In this case I could DEFINITELY see someone making that mistake. I have never held a strandy, so if I were to walk into my local music store and see one if these for sale (say, as a used guitar) I'm not convinced I would know this wasn't a strandberg. I might think if was an earlier generation of Ola's design or something.

Bottom line is I think this is a pretty shitty thing to do for this company. They're clearly riding Ola's coat tails with this design ripoff. IMO no one should buy one. Sure, people will complain that an actual strandy is expensive, but you're not entitled to own whatever you want. I'd like a Lamborghini too, but the fact that I can't afford one doesn't give a green light to a company to rip off the Gallardo design and make one I can afford. This is wrong, and if there is no law to stop it then at least we the consumers can starve them out of existence.


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## asher (Oct 28, 2014)

Well, it was hashed out in US courts that you could legally be stupid derivative as long as the headstock was different, right? That was the defining thing?

What happens with a headless guitar?


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## Pikka Bird (Oct 28, 2014)

Hollowway said:


> I'd like a Lamborghini too, but the fact that I can't afford one doesn't give a green light to a company to rip off the Gallardo design and make one I can afford.



Someone did that with the Countach.

I do agree with everyone on this, by the way. It's especially shitty since Ola has been more generous with his licensing in the past than basically any other builder I ever heard of.


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## Andromalia (Oct 28, 2014)

I thought bodies were exempt from this ? Lots of companies make strats without issues, Ibanez got away with very minor mods to the destroyer, etc.


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## Hollowway (Oct 28, 2014)

Andromalia said:


> I thought bodies were exempt from this ? Lots of companies make strats without issues, Ibanez got away with very minor mods to the destroyer, etc.



I think that technically they couldn't have done that with the strat, but now it's considered normal. Just like the old school landline phone is a stock design at this point, but you can't make a blackberry keypad or an iphone clone. (Supposedly, anyway.)


And I did see that with the Countach. That story is so awesome! But that was a home build, so I would think Lamborghini would be impressed more than mad. But if he started making and selling them I bet they'd flip.


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## Andromalia (Oct 28, 2014)

At one model per 17 years I doubt they'd care ^^


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