If you like, go for it. I did buy a Gibson Les Paul Custom model over 46 years ago.
Opinions on signature guitars? Just in general?
- Thread starter Ave
- Start date
mattier303
Strat-Talker
I won an Ibanez pgm301..love it! I think Paul Gilbert is a fantastic player but even more a funny and overall great guy. i couldn’t name a song of his if I tried. Not why I bought it, love the guitar specs and vibe. Reverse headstock, Gotoh fixed bridge, painted holes, one knob, volume. Sick neck. id say signature guitars are not a big deal, unless it’s super tacky.
All I care about are features. If it happens to be someones signature guitar that fits what I want I'd buy it. I have a PRS SE Santana right now.
I think they might have kinda bugged me a while ago. But I grew up and now I just like what I like, no matter what it might be called.
Last year I bought a Suhr Pete Thorn Signature, because the specs, look and feel were cool to me and nothing like anything else I have.
Last year I bought a Suhr Pete Thorn Signature, because the specs, look and feel were cool to me and nothing like anything else I have.
Impulsive guppy
Senior Stratmaster
There are quite a few Gretsch signature models I would gladly own.
Bo Diddley, Malcom Young, Billy Zoom, Brian Setzer, Chet Atkins, Billy Duffy, Duane Eddy, ….
Or a B.B. King Lucille, John Lee Hooker Zephyr
So, I guess I got no prob with them!
Bo Diddley, Malcom Young, Billy Zoom, Brian Setzer, Chet Atkins, Billy Duffy, Duane Eddy, ….
Or a B.B. King Lucille, John Lee Hooker Zephyr
So, I guess I got no prob with them!
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Hanson
Senior Stratmaster
I didn’t see myself owning a Signature until it happened.
This subject…again?
Signature gear is no different than relics. If you like them, cool. If not, that’s cool too. Plenty of options out there, go with what makes you happy and quit worrying about what others think or do.
Signature gear is no different than relics. If you like them, cool. If not, that’s cool too. Plenty of options out there, go with what makes you happy and quit worrying about what others think or do.
HighwayStar106
Senior Stratmaster
I have a Squier Simon Neil Strat, which I bought purely because it was a good guitar. I don’t think I’ve ever actually heard any Biffy Clyro songs.
I don’t think I could buy one that was a blatantly obvious copy of a famous guitar, such as an SRV or Buddy Guy sig - even though I’m a huge fan of both. Even the Biffy Clyro logo on the headstock of my Squier is only just acceptable to me. Maybe because I can cover it with a clip-on tuner.
I don’t think I could buy one that was a blatantly obvious copy of a famous guitar, such as an SRV or Buddy Guy sig - even though I’m a huge fan of both. Even the Biffy Clyro logo on the headstock of my Squier is only just acceptable to me. Maybe because I can cover it with a clip-on tuner.
I’ve got 15 sig guitars (not counting LPs and Jackson RRs), so I can say I like sig guitars. Just think they’re cool. People I know don’t care about signatures. They don’t even know who these players are.
Waiting for #16 for months, but I don’t know if I’ll ever get that… Rick Beato model. My order is still in process though.
Politicians should have a sig guitar. I’d buy a few…
Waiting for #16 for months, but I don’t know if I’ll ever get that… Rick Beato model. My order is still in process though.
Politicians should have a sig guitar. I’d buy a few…
My opinion on signature series guitars? I’m insulted that Fender has yet to approach me about making my signature model. I keep waiting patiently by the phone but they never call. 
PonyB
Most Honored Senior Member
That Beato model is very cool, double-cut LP Special in Pelham Blue.
Hope you get it!
Bane
Strat-O-Master
If they have the features you want, then they are good
.
Easy way to think about it:
1- What artist do you despise? Now if someone wanted to sell you that artist's signature model guitar would you want anything to do with it? Would you be inclind to scrape the signature off like all those players who embarrassingly sand off 'Squier'?
2- Say you try to sell a Signature guitar, how difficult is it to find a buyer who wants the brand, the style, and the signature artist? Venn diagram gets pinched there and it will take longer to find a buyer and you'll sell for less.
3- You gig: do you want to be on stage with another artist's model? Do you want "Elvis" down the fretboard in big glittery letters? You should really prefer to have your own partscaster, perhaps even your own name in the fretboard, or nothing on the fretboard to distract the audience from your playing.
Guitar brands mostly like signature artists because it gives them new product to talk about. It's a marketing angle. Retailers like them for the same reason -- some players buy them out of curiosity. Then the used market gets saturated and they sit, meanwhile the brand is churning another artist for new product.
.
Easy way to think about it:
1- What artist do you despise? Now if someone wanted to sell you that artist's signature model guitar would you want anything to do with it? Would you be inclind to scrape the signature off like all those players who embarrassingly sand off 'Squier'?
2- Say you try to sell a Signature guitar, how difficult is it to find a buyer who wants the brand, the style, and the signature artist? Venn diagram gets pinched there and it will take longer to find a buyer and you'll sell for less.
3- You gig: do you want to be on stage with another artist's model? Do you want "Elvis" down the fretboard in big glittery letters? You should really prefer to have your own partscaster, perhaps even your own name in the fretboard, or nothing on the fretboard to distract the audience from your playing.
Guitar brands mostly like signature artists because it gives them new product to talk about. It's a marketing angle. Retailers like them for the same reason -- some players buy them out of curiosity. Then the used market gets saturated and they sit, meanwhile the brand is churning another artist for new product.
.
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crawdaddy
Most Honored Senior Member
I'm just happy that Fender made my signature guitar.....the "San Miguel".... 
....
Though when I went to pick one up, they made me pay for it....just didn't believe I was THE Saint Michael.........
....Though when I went to pick one up, they made me pay for it....just didn't believe I was THE Saint Michael....
.....
PonyB
Most Honored Senior Member
That doesn't happen.
I gigged regularly with a Gatton Telecaster, no one batted an eye.
dogletnoir
V----V
On at least one level, if your guitar says 'Fender'
or 'Gibson' on the headstock, it's basically a
signature model, LOL.
or 'Gibson' on the headstock, it's basically a
signature model, LOL.
I bought a Robbie Krieger Les Paul Custom 'cause I wanted a '54-style reissue with a nice top-carve at a then-okay price. So, yeah, the features I wanted.
Except I had to swap out: the mini-humbucker for a SD "staple"; the Gotoh bridge for a Faber ABR1-type; and the tuner buttons for pearloid. So I got dissed by a member of a Les Paul forum for wrecking a signature model -- and they'll probably soar in value now!
But I wouldn't otherwise buy it as a Robbie Krieger signature: there were bits of phoney Robbie Krieger "authenticity" like two holes in the top for the Bigsby that the signature, of course, never sported. But there were a LOT of manufacturing shortcuts that were historically "wrong" for that guitar.
I've still got it, and it IS a great guitar. But it was never accurate ... and that accuracy wouldn't on its own make the guitar great anyway.
PonyB
Most Honored Senior Member
Leo wasn't a player.
I believe Orville was though.
dogletnoir
V----V
One might argue that some of the folks who have sig models aren't
very much players either, but that's a whole other can o' worms, LOL.
Full disclosure: i own a couple of EJ Strats, a Robert Cray hardtail, and
a John Mayer sig in Cypress Mica, as well as a few Les Paul models, an
Epiphone Emperor II 'Joe Pass', and an Ibanez JSM10 'John Scofield'.
All of them were purchased because of their features (in fact, on the
Epi Joe Pass i've replaced all of the specific 'sig' elements, leaving me
with a very nice journeyman electric archtop) rather than the association
with the artist, and their 'sig'ness is pretty discreet on the whole although
anyone who knows what they are looking at will know what they are.
Anyone who is familiar with what i do will also be aware that i don't sound
like any of those artists, nor am i trying to in any way.
A good guitar is a good guitar no matter whose name is on the headstock.
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dogletnoir
V----V
But you have a particle named after you...My opinion on signature series guitars? I’m insulted that Fender has yet to approach me about making my signature model. I keep waiting patiently by the phone but they never call.
oops, sorry, that's the HIGGS Bosun.
There was a character called Higgins who was a bosun, though.
The Great Alaskan Mystery (1944) - IMDb
The Great Alaskan Mystery (1944) Edgar Kennedy as Bosun Higgins
www.imdb.com
