Signature Models: Desirable?

[Rudi]

This topic was inspired by the Steve Vai link on Tapper Mike's post in the 'Guitar Recommendations' thread.

 

I feel uncomfortable about signature model guitars.

 

Even though I have one. Its a small F# model that can fit in my suitcase when I go on holiday. It's cheap. It was even cheaper because of a big paint blister on the headstock. This is it (the Les Paul shape) http://www.epiphone.com/News-Features/News/2010/The-NEW-Epiphone-Les-Paul-Pee-Wee-and-Vee-Wee-Zakk.aspx

 

Now I had no idea who Zakk Wylde was when I bought it (I've since watched a brief YouTube performance by Mr. Wylde, and that's still all I know of him). I am very ignorant of many 'name' players and this includes most of those who have signature models associated with them.

 

But I feel uneasy about the association implicit in a signature model instrument. Even if it were a guitarist I liked and respected, I still would not want his/her name and paint job on my guitar.

Example: Here's a Doug Irwin guitar of which there were only two models made, both for Jerry Garcia. The shape is unique and was only ever used by JG. A replica is now available to buy and I would love to try it out but once again wouldn't really want to gig it. 

http://www.lieberguitars.com/guitars/lg74/ At $6200 its out of my price range anyway.

 

It doesn't matter too much about the PeeWee I bought. It will never be gigged, but if it were, I might be tempted to buff the paint off first. Is that an overreaction? I don't know. That's part of why I am posting this up now.

 

How do you feel about signature models?

Somebody is buying them.

[TapperMike]

Honestly it depends on the guitar itself.  

 

Though I wrote a long reply about this but apparently I never clicked post.  Of all the stratocasters on the market today only the Jimmie Vaughan interests me and it is a MIM

 

Short scale guitars are marketed to kids (or rather parents for kids) Kids want something that stands out. Like Hello Kitty or butterfly guitars or some other flashy stuff.  Sadly the quality of these instruments can be rather poor. Parents may not care or notice what to look for same as kids.

Edited December 2, 2014 by TapperMike

[davidmichael]

If your referring to the Ibanez Jem 7WH,I own one and it is an exceptional guitar.I didnt necessarily by it because its a Steve Via model , but for the fact that I love Ibanez [upper end] guitars. All a jem is pretty much is a RG with a monkey grip , alder body instead of basswood , factory Dimarzio pickups and stainless frets . It is also IMO a beautiful guitar with the vine of life inlay on the fretboard , and this guitar is an excellent playing BEAST !!!!.

I would in no way consider paying $3000 which is the going price for one now [not MSRP] .Mine is a 2003 which was the last year with the ebony fretboard which i prefer , and considering it looks brand new with the exception of a tiny bit of the plating wearing off the edge of the trem , i feel i got a very good deal paying $1200 .

I agree 100% that just because it has an artist endorsement , doesnt make it worth any more.

Same goes for people selling a guitar that has been signed by an artist for four times what its worth .That signature isnt gonna do anything for me unless I can find someone dumber than I would be if I bought it that would give me more than i payed .

On the same note is a Gibson Les Paul Custom worth close to $5000 ,or a custom shop Gibson worth $10000 .I dont think so .Take the name Gibson off it and whats it worth ? [and yes I own 3 Gibsons] And IMO the quality is no where near what it was in the 70's .

Same with PRS .

In my opinion you can take a couple thousand dollars and go to a true custom shop and get a guitar that will blow the doors off pretty much any retailed guitar .

I have two guitars I ordered from Carvin that I would put up against anything Ive played ,neckthrough construction , the most beautiful tops Ive ever seen ,coil taps and phase switches ,Floyd Roses , locking tuners etc....The only thing I could imagine someone changing is the pickups [which I personally love] if they werent to their liking , and they cost me approx $1700 each .

But thats just my opinion !!!!!!!!

[Rudi]

In my opinion you can take a couple thousand dollars and go to a true custom shop and get a guitar that will blow the doors off pretty much any retailed guitar .

 

Thats something I had not thought about.

 

Yes the brand logo is a name too, and can be seen as a status symbol of sorts.

 

I have two guitars I ordered from Carvin that I would put up against anything Ive played

 

 

I have a aged Washburn that hangs on the wall in my living room. It was very cheap (£150 some 14 years ago) I only use it for practice and dont even plug it in. So its used more than any guitar I have. Nevada wouldnt even consider it for part X when I bought the last Jackson. Even though it plays better than 90% of the models hanging on thier walls. So its still my practice model.

[TapperMike]

It's strange coming here to Songstuff after visiting gearslutz

[Rudi]

counter-culture shock?

[Jim622]

Rudi - I feel the same way about signature models. Theres something about playing a replica of someone elses guitar that seems - wrong. I am a big Buddy Guy fan, but would not have the stones to stand on stage with a poka-dot guitar or a copy of SRVs #1. it is funny though, the Jimmie Vaughans model that Mike mentioned did catch my interest, but it does not have the look of a replica, just supposedly the same hardware.

Edited December 8, 2014 by Jim622

[EJB]

To answer the ? none that I have seen. To Damn Expensive.

One of the best Guits I own is a Tele Copy I paid $80 for (New).

Only prob is it weighs 12.9 Lbs

[MikeRobinson]

It is also well-worth remembering that many of those musicians that we now idolize bought their original instruments because, at the time, they were busted ... as in, flat broke.

 

Sure, sure, it's "fun" to think about someone who made guitars out of square-boxes ... until you stop and remember that the artist in question did so because he couldn't afford to buy a "real" instrument.  He was, at that time, "absolutely nobody."  Yes, at the time he couldn't even afford to be prowling around in a pawn-shop.

 

"Giving the devil his due" with regards to Marketing, I simply think that you should buy an instrument ... any instrument ... for what "this particular piece-of-wood-and-metal is."  And then, having bought the thing, "make magic with it."  After all, that's precisely what your heroes did.

[Rudi]

"Giving the devil his due" with regards to Marketing, I simply think that you should buy an instrument ... any instrument ... for what "this particular piece-of-wood-and-metal is."  And then, having bought the thing, "make magic with it."  After all, that's precisely what your heroes did.

 

Well we dont all have heroes, or magic for that matter.

 

I'm think of painting the Peewee pink, calling it the 'wimpy guitar' and pledging to play it if someone catches me making a mistake.

[TapperMike]

The thing about the Jimmie Vaughn Signature is that...It's not priced through the roof and it's like Jimmie Vaughan's no nonsense strat with only one slightly unique alterations.

 

 

 

Unlike standard strats where the bridge pickup isn't linked to a tone control but the neck and middle are ...In the JV version the middle pickup is wide open and not hooked up to a tone control.

 

I've thought about swapping my loaded pickguard with a Jimmie Vaughan pickguard to get the tone without buying another strat.  About the only thing stopping me is I really like the tones I'm getting out of my current strat.

[Rudi]

I love the Strat sound. Its why I stuck with one for so long. At the moment I'm considering changing pickups, and the Fender sound is my only real guide.

 

What different about that pickguard?

[TapperMike]

Everything, The pickups, the wiring, the pots the wires the pickguard itself and time.

 

Time...

With a loaded pickguard all you is swap out one for another and disconnect/reconnect three wires. Two to the jack and a ground to the trem plate.

If you simply swap pickups out you'd need to replace all three.

 

Then there is that JV wiring which is different from my guitar.  Mine has one tone control for the neck pickup and another for both the bridge and the middle. I'd have to bypass the middle from the tone pot.

 

Then there is tone.  I've got a strat plus. Aside from the Lace pups it also has tbx tone control.  That means the tone control is notched.  From 0-5 its like 0-10 on a standard tone pot. From 5-10 the tbx kicks in and it increases the treble and bass while not affecting the mids. I'm running a .01 tone pot which is on the thinner brighter side.  the JV uses a .22 pot

 

The pickguard is actually the lesser. JV strats are known for two-ply where as my strat is three ply. With thinner pickguards they have a tendency to curl up.

[Rudi]

Ha ha! So it includes the entire wiring loom & pots.

To me a pickguard is just a bit of adornment.

 

My strat had a dark piece of inner ply inside a white sandwich.

 

I still miss the sound it made.

[TapperMike]

I used to swap pickups like mad during my early years of playing.  Mostly because I went through cheap guitars like water. A lot of time you can get a good cheap guitar but the cheapness is in the hardware, tuners, pickups etc.  My 335 had generic (not gibson) humbuckers installed by the previous owner.  I dropped a set of Duncans (jb and jazz respectively) in and I was amazed.  Ever since then I've been a fan of real Seymour Duncan pickups.

When I worked at the guitar store..the staff would constantly be switching things up on their personal guitars. Installing and uninstalling preamps, swapping pots, changing pickups.  It was something to do on a slow afternoon and many times they'd go back to the original equipment.

 

 

I've been looking at JTV's recently.  I had a chance to buy variax guitars before JTV's but I hated the original Variax bodies and necks.  As much as the new variax workbench HD goes the extra mile in customizing virtual guitars I keep on hoping for more from them.

 

[Rudi]

Looks like fun. I glimpsed a couple of these during my guitar venture a few days ago.

 

While at the Guildford shop I picked up a reduced Line 6 Pod HD400. I have been trying to get my head round it ever since. I’m getting there but I expected it to be pretty straightforward. It’s actually more difficult than the old departed Boss GT-5 ever was, and that had a rep for being awkward 15 years ago. Isn’t progress about making things easier? I’ve actually had to gen up on some electrical engineering just to understand the advanced manual (which is not in the box, it has to be downloaded).

 

Anyway, despite all that. I am a fan of new tech for music and this demo had me very interested, because it directly compares the real thing to the simulation using various techniques. It exactly the sort of evaluation needed for the variax; and it does a good job IMO.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPCxiVSRnZQ

 

If I were to try one I would use the acoustic simulator first. This is a difficult thing to model. Of those I tried before: They sound just like an acoustic, but…. If you play it hard or softly, it sounds the same, with only a little difference in volume. OK, even certain acoustics might not sound much different, but I choose mine based on how it sounded played hard. If you wonder what I’m getting at here, imagine Bert Jansch’s playing. Also certain techniques will elude the modelling.

 

Here is such an example with an electric technique.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQEHbFc0bZs