KMise clone of new Goldtone Plastic Banjo Uke

PhilUSAFRet

PhilUSAFRet

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PhilUSAFRet said:
Wow, Kmise didn't waste any time getting on board with a copy of the new Goldtone plastic concert size banjo uke. Only selling clear and lime green, but this may be the first time I've seen a Chinese seller beat a U.S. importer to the market with a clone. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Kmise-Banj...713254&hash=item2a9dd3ee30:g:0~EAAOSwZqZaDpoQ
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That's just begging for some blinky-lights to be added somehow.

I wonder if the plastic rim/resonator makes a big difference to the sound, since with a banjo/lele most of the sounds seems to come from the drum head itself.
 
Personally getting really really tired of Kmise riding roughshod over other makers. They also copied the aNueNue U900 uke (calling it a U800 or something) and have copied the Luna Honu too. I spoke to aNueNue about it and they were appalled, but felt there was nothing they can do...
 
Here's the Luna version and the Kmise. Bold as brass. 26241587_1589780554423238_2066607459_n.jpg26235565_1589780654423228_1955120622_n.jpg
 
And the aNueNue original and Kmise copy

1381595966-2792359868.jpg71llQDc60CL._SL1200_.jpg
 
Interesting that it's "only" about a 33% discount, and with no case. I think I'd probably pay the extra $50 to get the Gold Tone version that comes with a case, since you'd spend a good $20 on a halfway decent case anyway. My primary instrument is the 5-string banjo and the one and only banjo I've ever needed over the past decade plus I've played has bee a Gold Tone. I'm seriously tempted by the Little Gem series; would love to tune it CGDA and have a mini tenor to travel with.
 
It's funny what bazmaz says about Kmise undercutting Gold Tone, Luna, etc. I have been off-and-on looking at getting a banjo uke, but wouldn't necessarily want to spend a ton on what would probably be a sort of novelty for me. I honestly would probably have bought a Kmise if Gold Tone hadn't come out with this line at a very similar price point! So who's undercutting who?
 
I didn’t suggest undercutting. I suggested pinching designs used by others.
 
Kmise is completely ripping off designs especially the cute bear-head design. I would think that is unique enough to be under some sort of copyright law, but my guess is that anything goes in China!
I think most of us here on UU would buy the slightly-better Gold Tone since we trust the name more. But we are a more educated player than most (I think). So it’s really the newbie who’s looking at these Chinese knockoffs who are taking the plunge
 
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bazmaz said:
I didn’t suggest undercutting. I suggested pinching designs used by others.
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Fair enough. I thought there was an implication that the Kmises were undercutting the other brands by offering cheaper ukes of the same design, since that's pretty much what they do. I don't know if Kmise offers much other than price to really differentiate themselves from the people they're competing with/stealing from...
 
They are certainly cheaper which makes design theft even worse. But even if they were the same money, taking someone else’s design still isn’t cool.

Re the U900 ones that they re badged as U800 - aNueNue told me that Kmise don’t have U900 permission (U900 was a Japanese Youtube cartoon thing) - but I got the impression trying to fight a copyright claim is pointless. That’s really sad.

To think I could come up with a totally unique uke design as a small builder and have it stolen, then realise it wouldn’t be worth my cost in pursuing copyright... well... ugh..
 
bazmaz said:
...To think I could come up with a totally unique uke design as a small builder and have it stolen, then realise it wouldn’t be worth my cost in pursuing copyright... well... ugh..
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Yeah, I agree with you. That would really suck bad.

Sometimes it seems like China has a photocopying-mindset with lots of products, including nearly ANYTHING electronic as well.

I guess they need to keep the child-labor sweatshops going with lots of activity in order to justify the government subsidy of business over there.

(You can see this kind of misery from any of the older news reports of the working and living conditions at Foxconn while under contract for Apple products, with high suicide rates of workers)
 
Did Gold Tone or aNueNue actually say they designed that model? After going to the NAMM show a few times, I discovered that the way it works is a Chinese manufacturer puts out a variety of designs and makes a deal with local distributors to carry as many or few as they choose, which includes putting any label on the uke that the distributor requests.

Case in point is when I spearheaded a group buy here on UU for an arch top electric steel string uke direct from the Chinese manufacturer for $165 each for an order of 20. I originally saw the uke from Kamoa for $750 special order, and the general assumption was that Kamoa designed the uke, which was not true, they just made a deal to distribute in the US.

I wonder if Gold Tone and eNueNue have done the same thing? If neither made an exclusive deal for distribution, then there's no recourse. With the open market of eBay, Kmise is most likely selling the exact same product themselves.

8 tenor cutaway ukes, 3 acoustic bass ukes, 8 solid body bass ukes, 8 mini electric bass guitars

• Donate to The Ukulele Kids Club, they provide ukuleles to children's hospital music therapy programs. http://.www.theukc.org
• Member The CC Strummers: https://www.youtube.com/user/CCStrummers/videos
 
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I can’t speak for Goldtone, but the aNueNue design was around for years before Kmise copied it. Plus - the aNueNue U900 uses the actual cartoon brand name (U900) that they partnered with. For Kmise to do one, much later thst looks very similar called U800 (which isn’t a cartoon thst actually exists) can be nothing but a copy. Plus - aNueNue told me they did a deal with U900 designer to use it. Kmise cannot have done because they changed the name!

The Luna copy is also a design Luna had out for many years - the Kmise version came out in the last year. They might not have buttoned down the design as you say.

Either way, it consider it damn lazy at best, and with the U900 model, despicable. I also hope the U900 owner (cartoon not uke) takes action. It’s like them copying the Peavey Jack Daniels uke that licences the whiskey logo, but calling it ‘Dick Janiels’ - JD would be all over them like a rash.
 
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Well as I said, no idea about the Goldtone, but aNueNue told me direct that Kmise had no rights to use the U900 idea. Which seems pretty clear to me in that they amended the design to ‘U800’ which isn’t actually a ‘thing’, but a close copy.

Don’t see how the Japanese cartoon called U900 would licence a design for something called U800.. that would be like Coca Cola licensing a design called Caca Cola...
 
Yes - Johnson at anuenue advised that they had done a deal with the creators of U900 to make aNueNue models. At the time, as I recall there was quite a bit of marketing from both aNueNue and U900 to mark the launch

It’s still on the aNueNue website http://www.anuenue-uke.com/en/products/one/4/11

They are clearly the official products as they carry the actual U900 name
 
Booli said:
That's just begging for some blinky-lights to be added somehow.

I wonder if the plastic rim/resonator makes a big difference to the sound, since with a banjo/lele most of the sounds seems to come from the drum head itself.
Click to expand...

Guessing it would have a plinky sound to match the blinky lights, LOL~
 
bigsciota said:
Interesting that it's "only" about a 33% discount, and with no case. I think I'd probably pay the extra $50 to get the Gold Tone version that comes with a case, since you'd spend a good $20 on a halfway decent case anyway. My primary instrument is the 5-string banjo and the one and only banjo I've ever needed over the past decade plus I've played has bee a Gold Tone. I'm seriously tempted by the Little Gem series; would love to tune it CGDA and have a mini tenor to travel with.
Click to expand...

At $249 for the Goldtone, and $96 for the Kmise, that's a lot more than 33% discount.
 
Dean Beaver said:
I don't know why Anuenue say they can't do much about it,
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I think it really comes down to it costing a lot of money to fight on a point of principle. Copyright infringement is pretty rife and I suppose any challenge is weighed up against cost of action versus your return. I don't suppose the U800 version is massively affecting aNueNue in financial terms. Still, that doesn't make it right.

I suppose it irritates me because I have had my own online content ripped off by other sites. Doesn't massively affect me, and I certainly don't have a budget to fight it, but it's still mighty annoying!
 
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