Orangewood faces backlash amid claims it “ripped off” Old Style Guitars Shop’s rubber bridge instruments
Orangewood is facing backlash from musicians over the launch of new models for its rubber bridge collection – a feature championed by small business, the Old Style Guitar Shop.
The Old Style Guitar Shop is owned by luthier Reuben Cox and is based in LA. His instruments have been played by the likes of Phoebe Bridgers, Aaron Dessner, and Taylor Swift. His rubber bridge concept was inspired by photographs he saw of Blake Mills in a recording session with ’50s Harmony banjo that had an unusual muting system.
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Orangewood announced the launch of two new rubber bridge additions to its lineup – the Juniper II and Juniper II Baritone – back in January. Under an Instagram post sharing the new models, commenters have criticised the brand for “ripping off” the Old Style Guitar Shop. Musicians such as Mason Stoops and Hand Habits have also spoken out against the brand’s collection online.
Credit: Hand Habits/Instagram
Credit: Mason Stoops/Instagram
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Songwriter and gear guru Stoops shared the post to an Instagram story, in which he advised people to support Old Style Guitar Shop, and accused Orange wood of “shamelessly ripping off a small business”. Hand Habits – also known as Meg Duffy – shared a screenshot to their story, which shows correspondence with Orangewood. At Duffy’s request following the rubber bridge models, it has removed them from the Orangewood Artists page.
Orangewood is not the only brand manufacturing rubber bridge models, and the Old Style Guitar Shop has spoken out about guitars with “striking similarities” before, as shared online back in 2023. Orangewood is yet to publicly comment on the accusations.
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Orangewood was established in 2018, and is also based in LA. The brand sells a range of varying acoustic model collections. Its current, limited-edition Juniper Live rubber bridge model retails for $395.
Guitar.com has reached out to both Orangewood and the Old Style Guitar Shop for comment.
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
