Notes_Norton Posted April 16, 2009 Share Posted April 16, 2009 Somebody refresh me on the details about the Broadcaster' date=' NoCaster, Telecaster thing... who/what was the other culprit that caused the name swappages? Wedgie[/quote'] It was Broadcaster, but I think it was Gretsch who used Broadcaster for a model of their drums. So Fender was threatened with a lawsuit, and took the Broadcaster decal off the headstock leaving it with no name at all, which in retrospect, we call Nocaster Then they got a new name and decals and started putting telecaster on them. If someone has better information, please correct/add/refine this. Notes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Notes_Norton Posted April 16, 2009 Share Posted April 16, 2009 Somebody refresh me on the details about the Broadcaster' date=' NoCaster, Telecaster thing... who/what was the other culprit that caused the name swappages? Wedgie[/quote'] It was Broadcaster, but I think it was Gretsch who used Broadcaster for a model of their drums. So Fender was threatened with a lawsuit, and took the Broadcaster decal off the headstock leaving it with no name at all, which in retrospect, we call Nocaster Then they got a new name and decals and started putting telecaster on them. If someone has better information, please correct/add/refine this. Notes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Summerisle Posted April 16, 2009 Share Posted April 16, 2009 What would be interesting of course is know the decision process that eventually gave those famous guitars their name. Broadcasting is a term used in radio and telivision Telecasting is a term used in television to distribute a signal Stratocasting is a term used in weather forcasting...stratus (strato) is a cloud formation and a name given to a second layer of atmosphere surrounding the earth (stratosphere) I've always suspected that the names are just really evocative of the 1950s (which is perfectly logical' date=' given the 'birth' dates of the Stratocaster and Telecaster). Because I'm a geeky librarian, I just ran a search through the New York Times historical database. The word "stratosphere" turns up in nearly 700 articles between the dates 1950-1962 (mostly related to that era's fascination with space). The word "telecast" generates an incredible 5100 results when applied to the same date range. I think Leo just looked around for contemporary "buzz" words that he hoped would reflect the ground-breaking modernity of his new instruments. Perhaps if he made guitars today we'd be enjoying the Fender [i']Wiiiii[/i] (or the Fender Bailout). I'm still interested in the paradox of "Jazzmaster" (generally shunned by jazz players). I don't know about the origins of "Jaguar" either, unless, well, it does look a little automotive I suppose...? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DizzyFingers Posted April 16, 2009 Share Posted April 16, 2009 Just to put a twist into this thread the original design of Fender guitars was not from "Leo", but from a man named "Merle Travis"... This should get a response or two... :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grant Posted April 16, 2009 Share Posted April 16, 2009 The following from "Guitar Facts" by Dave Hunter and others: "It is difficult to judge whether the design of Fender's first solidbody electric guitar was influenced very much by those earlier instruments of Bigsby's. George Fullerton says that he and Leo knew Paul Bigsby and had seen Merle Travis playing his Bigsby guitar. On the other hand, it is possible that Fender and Bigsby just made something similar at the same time. The guitar, originally named the Fender Esquire and then the Fender Broadcaster, first went into production in 1950." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DizzyFingers Posted April 16, 2009 Share Posted April 16, 2009 I had read somewhere that Merle claimed that Leo developed his guitar from Merle's input... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DizzyFingers Posted April 16, 2009 Share Posted April 16, 2009 Coincidence...? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carverman Posted April 17, 2009 Share Posted April 17, 2009 It was Broadcaster' date=' but I think it was Gretsch who used Broadcaster for a model of their drums. So Fender was threatened with a lawsuit, and took the Broadcaster decal off the headstock leaving it with no name at all, which in retrospect, we call Nocaster Then they got a new name and decals and started putting telecaster on them. If someone has better information, please correct/add/refine this. Notes[/quote'] Basically it's the way I read it. Notes. I might add that since the instrument lines were different, Leo might have won his day in court (similar to the Gibson-PRS lawsuit) where PRS came out on top, but probably in those days, he didn't have the coin to challenge Fred Gretsch, who was well established, and perhaps wasn't that tenacious (bent) on retaining the model name (Broadcaster) on his first guitar back then. The synopsis of the Gibson-PRS courtcase was that Gibson only had a case if the PRS could be confused by the buying public as some kind of Gibson model..which it wasn't. The "Broadkaster" name (note the "k") on the Gretsch drums and "Broadcaster" on a Fender guitar would not have been a difficult cast to sort out..the buying public should know the difference between a set of drums and an electric guitar. http://www.gretschdrums.com/?fa=discontinued&sid=586 I remember back in the late 60s, a line of guitars that were being sold and distributed called "Gilson"., these were not as good as Gibsons, and either a shameless exploitation of the Gibson name or one of those weird co-incidences of somebody's name (ie: John Gilson) that happened to be in the guitar business. Another case of name/trademark coincidence was when Microsoft didn't go out and secure all the internet domains that could have "microsoft" in the domain name. Some kid in Alberta (I believe) registered his name first and later on Microsoft went after him threatning to sue..but eventually had to back down and pay the kid a sum of money to transfer the ownership of the registered name to them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianh Posted April 17, 2009 Author Share Posted April 17, 2009 Just to put a twist into this thread the original design of Fender guitars was not from "Leo"' date=' but from a man named "Merle Travis"...This should get a response or two... [/quote'] Yeah, we covered all that on page one of this tread. Class starts promptly at 9:00... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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