Not so funny story , my friend , who I made the Bass for owns a small Mom and Pop music store that I used to teach guitar and do repairs at in the early 70's . He's a huge Sylvester Fan and wanted a Bass like that so I made him one ... and I told him that was it , nevermore ... He'd have the ONLY one !!!
One day , two guys in suits
walk in his store , and wanted to buy the Bass... They offered him a virtual Shedload of money and he refused ... Then ,they wanted to have one made ... The answer was a resounding NO ... Good thing too , cause' these guys were Attorneys from Warner Brothers , trying to entrap him , and me into a big fat lawsuit ... Sneaky EVIL bastards!!! ... Good thing he held firm on this matter , or he and your humble narrator would have been sued ... Innocent as this all was , WB wanted MONEY !!!
Moral of the story , no matter how innocent it seems , be careful what you make , or some attorney will come calling , looking to ruin you , and all for a guitar ...
As horrid as that story is, I doubt they would have gotten far. I doubt that their underhand methods would have gone down too well in court, also, I'm guessing you and your friend aren't rolling in it, so a big company suing two average individuals over copyright on a single item would make them look very stupid. Especially if you contacted papers. We all know that the press love to drag beloved names through the mud and that story would be a gift to any journalist. I don't know sh*t about law, but I can see that that plan could have backfired horribly for WB.
