Francesco Filigoi

The "drama" would be non-existent if common sense was still alive nowadays. If I am X dude and I like Y dude's work, I write Y "hey I like your work, could I do something similar with my stuff?" and depending on the answer, I'll then behave accordingly. Is it that difficult?

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Theoretically speaking X can do anything he wants when there are no patents/copyrights involved. Then at the same time why can't Y do anything he wants by criticizing it and call it out? I don't think patents are required to do so :)

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To clarify: I know Vik and the Skerv folks personally and both are incredibly nice people to hang with, I respect each other's work. But I did in fact talk with Maciek at Skerv regarding their Raptor model, saying I much preferred their other models rather than something "too inspired" like that. He genuinely replied "but it's our best selling model" and I can't argue with that, the original design is so hard to purchase and they opened doors for all the BM-shape lovers.
I still think that regardless of money, one should build his name with his stuff. Since they've stopped accepting Raptor orders, I'm glad they're taking the right path and I wish them the best as a company.

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Vik takes pride in what he does, and with very good reason. After so many years in guitar history, he's one of the very few who came up with original, unique and classy designs, and see someone else earning money the easy way, without putting the effort to create something personal, but most importantly without his consent, is indeed upsetting in his position.

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Now, some frequent responses I've seen:

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1) "but what about all the Gibson/Fender/Ibanez copies around etc etc?" There is a huge difference between copying a classic, dated design which is all around the world in gigantic quantities, and occupy the same niche market of someone else who does custom work.

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2) "you are reacting unprofessionally/you shouldn't get offended" Heard the new Avenged Sevenfold album? It's a plagiarism monument and Machine Head's Rob Flynn called them out publicly by stating the truth. Why in this case everybody agreed with him in front of the obvious evidence, rather than go against him?

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3) "strandberg licenses his designs to everyone" That's his personal choice, not a universal law. I applaude Ola for this but that doesn't mean I'd do it in his position :)

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4) "I'm unliking the page/wow what a douche/etc" useless drama. If I see dog shit on the street, I proceed walking, I don't stop and yell "OMG DOG SHIT WTF EW".

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That being said, I have unfortunately learnt the hard way that stating publicly exactly what's in our mind is not the best thing since people tend to take stuff way too personally. I would have approached the concerned people privately and worked it out without drama involved. But hey, it's the internet :)

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