| Author | Message | ||
| hydrargyrum
Member Username: hydrargyrum Post Number: 90 Registered: 3-2004 |
Check out this ebay add: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=7266&item=7310192286&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW This add really looks like it is implying that Alembic uses these. | ||
| davehouck
Moderator Username: davehouck Post Number: 1537 Registered: 5-2002 |
I'm wondering if he received permission to use all those pictures. | ||
| hydrargyrum
Member Username: hydrargyrum Post Number: 91 Registered: 3-2004 |
Are some of those pictures from the showcase section? That would be particularly tasteless. | ||
| alembic76407
Advanced Member Username: alembic76407 Post Number: 357 Registered: 5-2002 |
I have HotDotz on my Alembic Epic and I love them. it's a great way to have L.E.D. if you can't afford to retrofit a bass that didn't have them, and now, I know that my next Alembic will have L.E.D.s David T (Message edited by alembic76407 on March 22, 2005) | ||
| hydrargyrum
Member Username: hydrargyrum Post Number: 92 Registered: 3-2004 |
The idea seems neat, but they should sell it on its own merits, and not imply that it is the same product as those used by alembic, which are inherently of higher quality. | ||
| lbpesq
Advanced Member Username: lbpesq Post Number: 379 Registered: 7-2004 |
I read the ad, and I've seen Hotdotz before (and they've been discussed on this site before). I don't think it implies that Alembic uses them. To the contrary, my reading is it says they were only availabale as expensive options on custom type instruments, like Alembic, but now Hotdotz offers relatively cheap aftermarket add-ons. The language from the ad is as follows: "LEDs have long been commonly ordered upgrades on magnificent Alembic Guitars and Basses, as well as a select few other manufacturer's instruments. These helpful fret markers have always been expensive options due to the need to embed them and their associated wiring/power supply into the woodwork of the neck and body, so most musicians are not familiar with seeing them on factory built guitars." I don't find this confusing at all. My in vitro Further will have built-in LEDS, while the Fernandes Masterhand that is still at the luthier will most likely get Hotdotz added when I get it back. Bill, tgo | ||
| essencetimestwo
Member Username: essencetimestwo Post Number: 88 Registered: 8-2003 |
I saw these when they were on Ebay last September. I contacted the company directly to try and order them but never got any response. I emailed them several times and even submitted an online order form. I never received a product or response. Shortly after that they vanished from Ebay too. I am still interested in getting them for a couple of my basses but am a little leary. I would suggest to anyone interested that they contact the company directly before ordering. Another reason is that they were about 5.00 cheaper ordering direct rather than Ebay. | ||
| rraymond
Intermediate Member Username: rraymond Post Number: 168 Registered: 6-2002 |
This is interesting to me for two reasons: I own a 5 string Elan with HotDotz (they are very nice), and I own one of the instruments used in the HotDotz ad. The fan peghead is my "Pinot." For grins and giggles I reprinted the battery pack template and held it to the back of Pinot's headstock - while it would barely fit, the switch would be visible from the front and it wouldn't look as clean as my Elan - the pack is totally hidden except for the wire. Man, I'm having a slow day! LOL | ||
| flaxattack
Advanced Member Username: flaxattack Post Number: 400 Registered: 4-2004 |
listing was ended early | ||
| hydrargyrum
Member Username: hydrargyrum Post Number: 93 Registered: 3-2004 |
Listing is back, minus many of the alembic photos. Someone must have been lurking around here . . . | ||
| 0vid
Junior Username: 0vid Post Number: 14 Registered: 4-2003 |
I use hotdotz on my lefty epic 4 (battery back on headstock) , my homemade Headless with status neck (battery pack in body and wired to neck); and a lefty fly bass copy (homemade - with modified coin cell battery pack). They work Ok, are not as elegant as the inset leds, but work for these axes of mine which have no dots and dark fingerboards. Useful when I play dark dives.... | ||
| stoney
Advanced Member Username: stoney Post Number: 382 Registered: 7-2002 |
I don't think that this ad implies anything of the sort. There are several club members who have the LED's (I just ordered a set but don't have them yet) The owner is putting a gallery together and probably has had some Alembic customers submit photos. Now, if you had your choice of pics, what would you rather post....a pic of an Alembic or "another" bass? | ||
| hydrargyrum
Member Username: hydrargyrum Post Number: 94 Registered: 3-2004 |
I originally hadn't noticed the quote Bill, tgo, mentioned. I should have read more closely before I titled the thread, and I do regret it. However, I still think the original content of the add (not the current form) was highly questionable. Why do they include alembic in the name of the add at all? They weren't selling any alembics. The add is titled "Hotdotz Fret Markers for Alembic Bass Guitar." Obviously they were making a comparison between the products, and hoping to draw in fans of Alembic led's. Apparently they were a little worried about their content too, because they changed the add. All of the photos were alembics, and as Dave mentioned, taken without permisssion. These were not photos that were submitted by proud owners. As I previously said, the idea is cool, if that is your thing. But sell it for its own merits, and don't piggyback on someone else's work. BTW, I much prefer to see quality instruments of any sort, and would have been delighted if I had opened an add titled "Hotdotz Fretmarkers for Bass/Guitar" and happened across an alembic or two. I can't help feeling that this current add is something akin to the "KAWAI Bass, As Good as Alembic" adds everyone hates. Similar products, but clearly not the same (by a long shot). | ||
| mica
Moderator Username: mica Post Number: 2364 Registered: 6-2000 |
I saw the original listing too. While I appreciate that several of my customers are satisfied Hot Dotz customers, the original listing was titled "Alembic side position markers" and had more than a dozen photos lifted from our website (I also noticed a couple from Bass NW and a couple of others of unknown origin). I wrote them a nice email to invite a relisting where the name of their product was actually part of the title to avoid potentional confusion. I didn't get a direct reply, but the listing title was changed and the photos omitted. | ||
| davehouck
Moderator Username: davehouck Post Number: 1558 Registered: 5-2002 |
Hi Mica; thanks for clearing up the confusion! | ||
| southpaw
Junior Username: southpaw Post Number: 21 Registered: 12-2004 |
There was a discussion about using trademark names on another website and it was pointed out that the rules of EBay (I never read them either...) say that a seller can not use a trademarked name in the subject line of an ad unless that is the product being offered,(not an exact quote), but in the body of the ad a seller can use trademark names... Example: ABC Bridge for sale: will fit Alembic, Fender, Gibson. In this case the seller should not say which brands the bridge fits, that is allowed in the actual body of the ad. The ad should read ABC Bridge for sale: will fit many brands. We have all seen ads for a bass with several brand names listed in the subject, obviously that is gain more viewers via the search option. Someday I will get around to reading the rules. Way to go Mica, keep 'em honest! |
