Branding - Opinions wanted... - GuitarTalk Community

Branding - Opinions wanted...

djpauw

Hi Guys

QUICK HISTORY:
Bought a Hohner Rockwood LX250G made in Korea a few years ago. Good body, neck etc. Some good hardware, some cheap. Modifications and experimentation ensued and resulted in the following (from top to bottom)
1) replaced cheap no-name tuners with Grover Rotomatics
2) replaced plastic nut with Graph Tech Tusq nut
3) replaced no-name (quick wearing!) tune-o-matic bridge with high quality roller bridge
4) replaced wiring completely incl upgrade to "full boat" configuration with 4x push-pull pots
5) installed copper shielding
6) Seymour Duncan JB and Jazz pups to be installed soon (currently has Epiphone pups installed as interim solution)

THE BURNING QUESTION:
Once all the technical tinkering and messing about has been completed, I intend to do a full and proper repaint, probably in a different colour and/or with graphics etc to better suit my personal style and taste. For a number of reasons, I am thinking about re-branding the guitar to something else... So my options as I currently see them are something like this, please let me know what you think:

1) Leave it as it is "Rockwood by Hohner, LX250G"
2) Brand it as a Gibson-knockoff, humorous, something like "Gibsum Les Paul"
3) Brand it as a Epiphone-knockoff, humorous, something like "Epiphany Les Paul"
4) Create my own brand name... Pauw Guitars or something, suggestions welcome

Any and all thoughts welcome!

FenderBender

Some nics mods there man! I'm sure the new pickups will make the world of difference and complete the package.
My suggestion is, seeing that it's not any of the first three on your list of choices as a rebranded name, go for the 4th option and think of a new name.

chris77

How about keeping the Hohner and changing the second part to Les Pauw....

[deleted]

chris77 wrote: How about keeping the Hohner and changing the second part to Les Pauw....

Hahahahaha. Good one, Chris.

AlanRatcliffe

chris77 wrote: How about keeping the Hohner and changing the second part to Les Pauw....

? - good one! I knew someone who had a "Venter Stratocaster" and I think of my own guitars as "Ratocasters".

I think keep the new brand name for when you are building from scratch or assembling from parts. A modded Hohner is still a Hohner at heart IMO.
My Sanox is a completely different animal from when I first found it, with all hardware from the frets up changed multiple times - and even large pieces of wood are not original. But it's still my Sanox... I think it's down to the neck - the neck is the heart of the guitar.

Squonk

Reminds me of an 'Only Fools and Horses' sketch where Trigger wins anaward for having his broom for 20 years(he is a street sweeper).

Delboy ask him about it, and Trigger replies "I've changed the brush 15 times and the handle 10 times, but it's still the same broom"

I reckon it's almost your own work now, give it a name!

djpauw

lol

there are some real good replies here, some containing good advice too!

i like what you guys are saying both about a new name as well as retaining Hohner since that is what it was. as you can see this is why i was slightly torn in two about it...

but i am thinking perhaps i should create my own brand name (and model) and then have like a subscript (smaller) saying like "wood by Hohner" or something

more thoughts?

Bob-Dubery

What you do is simply have no names and logos on it.

Then if somebody asks you what it is you say something like "the manufacturer and I could not agree on the value of the endorsement."

JoEllis

X-rated Bob wrote: What you do is simply have no names and logos on it.

+1

Honestly, I've found that the mystery of not having a name your guitar drives people who see you play it nuts and I love screwing with people that way. ?

Sean

chris77 wrote: How about keeping the Hohner and changing the second part to Les Pauw....

Nice one. I like it ?