Elwood Francis (born August 23, 1961) is an American guitar tech and bassist. The longtime guitar technician for bassist Dusty Hill of ZZ Top, Francis replaced Hill in the band after Hill’s death in 2021 at Hill’s request.
In 2022, Francis went viral for performing on stage with a 17-string bass guitar, an instrument he found “late at night while internet surfing on one of those Chinese websites”.[7] He sent the listing to Billy Gibbons and they ordered the bass from China. Francis has admitted that he hates playing the instrument as it is hard to play and he struggles finding the frets on the bass’ neck.[7] The bass was later eventually discovered to be a knockoff of Jared Dines’ Ormsby 18-string.[8]
This roller coaster ride is basically the story of my life. “Look at this screwball knife in Aliexpress, how did they come up with that?” Then what ensues is a multi-hour dive into the rabbit hole to discover whose design they ripped it off from.
For instance you can’t buy a HOM Chimera for love nor money nowadays, but the Chinese will sell you one or at least something shaped just like it for $60…
from Wikipedia:
This roller coaster ride is basically the story of my life. “Look at this screwball knife in Aliexpress, how did they come up with that?” Then what ensues is a multi-hour dive into the rabbit hole to discover whose design they ripped it off from.
For instance you can’t buy a HOM Chimera for love nor money nowadays, but the Chinese will sell you one or at least something shaped just like it for $60…
I looked it up just to see and I find just a butterfly knife? What makes the HOM chimera worth enough to make a knock off?
Who the hell knows, other than the fact that the original retailed for $400 and you can’t get one anymore. When there’s demand, someone will step up.