Covering up the names of manufacturers on musical insturments using tape or other marking device

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On some concerts i watch, I notice that some artists/groups cover up the names of the manufactures of their musical insturments especially their keyboards. Why do musicians make such feeble attempts to cover up names of insturments we already know about? Do the manufacturers ask them to do this or do the musicians do it under their own discrection?

― The Startrekman (Startrekman), Tuesday, 20 June 2006 04:27 (seventeen years ago) link

POLAND

― electric sound of jim (and why not) (electricsound), Tuesday, 20 June 2006 04:29 (seventeen years ago) link

it's to stop people from making databases of what instruments they play

― jäxøñ (jaxon), Tuesday, 20 June 2006 04:29 (seventeen years ago) link

The only band that has ever done this properly is Sparks. (Ron regularly alters "Roland" to read "Ronald," as he has done for about twenty years now.)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 20 June 2006 04:31 (seventeen years ago) link

http://guitargeek.com/

― gbx (skowly), Tuesday, 20 June 2006 04:39 (seventeen years ago) link

ORG

― electric sound of jim (and why not) (electricsound), Tuesday, 20 June 2006 04:41 (seventeen years ago) link

Marsha

― San Diva Gyna (and a Masala DOsaNUT on the side) (donut), Tuesday, 20 June 2006 05:12 (seventeen years ago) link

UNO

― San Diva Gyna (and a Masala DOsaNUT on the side) (donut), Tuesday, 20 June 2006 05:13 (seventeen years ago) link

so as not to advertise the manufacturer in the hop that said manufacturer will then sponsor artist, give them free stuff and they can play the instrument unfettered

― simon 803 (simon 803), Tuesday, 20 June 2006 07:39 (seventeen years ago) link

Mosh all

― Marmot 4-Tay (marmotwolof), Tuesday, 20 June 2006 07:44 (seventeen years ago) link

"The only band that has ever done this properly is Sparks."

Iirc the keyboard player with A-HA always used to put a bit of tape over the "YAM..." on his keyboards.

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Tuesday, 20 June 2006 08:34 (seventeen years ago) link

Amanda Palmer from Dresden Dolls has a Kurzweil altered to say "Kurt Weill"

― Marmot 4-Tay (marmotwolof), Tuesday, 20 June 2006 08:41 (seventeen years ago) link

bands I played in have had...

1) An EARTH amp modified to read "FART"

2) Marshall modified to Arsehole

― Insert Clever Screen Name Here (kate), Tuesday, 20 June 2006 10:10 (seventeen years ago) link

"It's my keyboard; I can make it look however I want. If they want me to advertise for them, they can pay me." - Piano player from my old band.

Hard to argue with, I reckon.

― Rick Massimo (Rick Massimo), Tuesday, 20 June 2006 13:40 (seventeen years ago) link

Pearl bass drum heads are a good one if you want "ear" (Chili Peppers) or "Peart" (Rush)

― Whiney G. Weingarten (whineyg), Tuesday, 20 June 2006 13:53 (seventeen years ago) link

I think "earl" is perfectly fine to have on a drumhead.

― Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 20 June 2006 13:54 (seventeen years ago) link

"Drum Dorkshop"

― Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 20 June 2006 13:55 (seventeen years ago) link

"Dudwig"

― Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 20 June 2006 14:07 (seventeen years ago) link

Fender(? I hardly know her!)

― shueytexas (shueytexas), Tuesday, 20 June 2006 18:34 (seventeen years ago) link

― kyle (akmonday), Tuesday, 20 June 2006 18:41 (seventeen years ago) link

yr friend sounds like a douche

― bernard snow (sixteen sergeants), Tuesday, 20 June 2006 19:16 (seventeen years ago) link

does he also play a fretless guitar and wear gloves the same color as the fingerboard so that no one can see what notes he's playing?

― bernard snow (sixteen sergeants), Tuesday, 20 June 2006 19:17 (seventeen years ago) link

also, the kind of people who care enough to go to shows and take notes on guitarists' setups would recognize most of the pedals anyway. they might not be able to tell a DD-5 from a DD-6 at a distance, but they'd still get the gist of it.

― bernard snow (sixteen sergeants), Tuesday, 20 June 2006 19:24 (seventeen years ago) link

no, he is a cellist.

― kyle (akmonday), Tuesday, 20 June 2006 19:27 (seventeen years ago) link

I wish I could remember who it was that had altered their "KORG" logo to read "MORG".

― mummy wrapped in bacon (nickalicious), Tuesday, 20 June 2006 19:28 (seventeen years ago) link

I LOVE ZYX

― Steve Shasta (Steve Shasta), Tuesday, 20 June 2006 19:29 (seventeen years ago) link

I saw this one industrial-goth band once who had rigged plastic piping along all the outer parts of their synths, so it looked like they were banging on, like, water drainage pipes.

― mummy wrapped in bacon (nickalicious), Tuesday, 20 June 2006 19:31 (seventeen years ago) link

no, he is a cellist.
-- kyle (akmonda...), June 20th, 2006.

maybe he was just uncomfortable with the idea of anyone taking an interest in his music

(hahaha BURN, CELLISTS!)

― bernard snow (sixteen sergeants), Tuesday, 20 June 2006 19:52 (seventeen years ago) link

when they appeared on the smothers brothers show on cbs, the who had to cover the vox logos on their amps and guitars because vox was a subsidiary of a rival network conglomerage.

they didn't use vox amps much anyway, and that occasion was the only time they ever used vox guitars.

― Lawrence the Looter (Lawrence the Looter), Tuesday, 20 June 2006 19:57 (seventeen years ago) link

does he also play a fretless guitar and wear gloves the same color as the fingerboard so that no one can see what notes he's playing?

Eh, Robert Johnson would turn away from anyone who seemed to be paying too much attention to his fingerwork. Some people don't mind getting copied, but some do.

― Dark Floyd (dark floyd), Tuesday, 20 June 2006 21:00 (seventeen years ago) link

If I remember right, Ian MacKaye's Marshalls both the cab and head said "Marsha" with the two Ls taken off. I kind of like Marsha for the name of the amp.

― Earl Nash (earlnash), Tuesday, 20 June 2006 21:13 (seventeen years ago) link

MAPEX -----> APE

― Marmot 4-Tay (marmotwolof), Tuesday, 20 June 2006 21:16 (seventeen years ago) link

OR--HIM ( Can anyone guess this manufacturer? )

― The Startrekman (Startrekman), Wednesday, 21 June 2006 01:53 (seventeen years ago) link

If I remember right, Ian MacKaye's Marshalls both the cab and head said "Marsha" with the two Ls taken off. I kind of like Marsha for the name of the amp.

It's always Marsha, Marsha, Marsha

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e7/Maureen_McCormick.jpg

― The Startrekman (Startrekman), Wednesday, 21 June 2006 03:10 (seventeen years ago) link

I used to work with a guy who owned a QSD amplifier. (A brand I'd never heard of, but bear with me...) He was quite pleased with himself for removing the little plastic tab with the lowercase "qsd" logo and then inverting it so it approximated "psb" - his initials.

― aatuoq uoA e6uoW (Monty Von Byonga), Wednesday, 21 June 2006 03:26 (seventeen years ago) link

"If they want me to advertise for them, they can pay me."

Quite right too - I've been adopting this approach to my clothing for the last 25+ years!

Of course, when I first started doing it, it was intended as a potent statement of defiance in the face of what I saw as the rising designer culture, the increasing pervasiveness of major corporations, and the homegenisation of individuals in our society into one vast undifferentiated mass, devoid of any imagination, personality or individual distinguishing features beyond the labels on our shirts.

These days it's got more to do with not particularly wanting people to know that I'm just another sad unimaginative middle-aged twat who buys most of his clothes from Marks & bastard Spencer, just like all the other sad unimaginative middle-aged twats.

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Wednesday, 21 June 2006 11:43 (seventeen years ago) link

nine months pass...

both times i have seen the advantage i have searched around to find a vantage point to check out the guitarists' effects loop.
both guitarists use some sort of nondescript pedal that i think is painted black or inside a box. does anyone know what this effect could be, im pretty sure ita the thing that gives both of the guitarists that signature sound.

― davedestroybox, Wednesday, 21 March 2007 00:18 (seventeen years ago) link

a friend of mine covered up the names of all his effects pedals because when he played a show in europe someone stood at the foot of the stage and started writing down all the pedals in his chain. he just felt it was kind of intrusive, to find out how he made his sounds.
kyle (akmonday) on Tuesday, 20 June 2006 18:41 (9 months ago)

yr friend sounds like a douche
bernard snow (sixteen sergeants) on Tuesday, 20 June 2006 19:16 (9 months ago)

just last sunday somebody told me kk null paints all his pedals black.

― Edward III, Wednesday, 21 March 2007 00:44 (seventeen years ago) link

what kind of amps do sunnn play, hmmmmmmmm?

― Mike McGooney-gal, Wednesday, 21 March 2007 01:16 (seventeen years ago) link

Fuck Zildjian, they are the fun haters of the rock instrumentation world. Although maybe there is some way I could make it say Dildjian, which sounds like a kind of mustard that comes out of a dildo.

― nickalicious, Wednesday, 21 March 2007 15:07 (seventeen years ago) link

OR--HIM ( Can anyone guess this manufacturer? )

Oberheim?

― ken taylrr, Wednesday, 21 March 2007 20:05 (seventeen years ago) link

one month passes...

I put tape on my bass so that it reads "WO-MANN" does that count?

― cli0019, Thursday, 3 May 2007 08:17 (seventeen years ago) link

IF YOU DON'T COVER UP THE NAMES, YOU AREN'T INDIE, YOU CORPORATE ROCK WHORE

― Richard Wood Johnson, Thursday, 3 May 2007 17:13 (seventeen years ago) link

I immediately switched out the TAMA bass drum head with a plain black one just because I like it better that way. Anybody who knows anything about drums can tell what they are in about 2 seconds, not that anyone really cares what I'm using.

― Rotgutt, Friday, 4 May 2007 00:04 (seventeen years ago) link

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