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Signature Les Pauls- what gives?


Silenced Fred

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No offense, but who determines what makes a sig? I mean with an LP, what is it? A color, pickup difference or what?

 

So the SH one has a graphic on the headstock, big deal. I don't know, it all just seems like a marketing scheme, at least some signatures, Synyster Gates' Schechter comes to mind (not a fan of the guitar) but at least it's different, not just something you can get from the company in a bunch of other configurations.

 

Just sayin'...

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i agree with all the above comments, i mean just look at the ox blood or the pearly gates or the page no 2...gibson are asking for obscene amounts of money for them guitars 4,5,6 times maybe more than a standard costs, when my GM sig les paul was released it cost not much more than a standard so i didn't mind paying the money...it looks fantastic, plays like a dream, sounds amazing plus i'm a major gary moore fan...i'm all for sig guitars but when they cost so much more than gibsons standards it does make you feel like there taking the pi*s out of you...[lol]

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The Les Paul model in itself is a signature model, and only for marketing reasons.

 

Gibson would have made a solidbody electric guitar without Les Paul - how could they not after the success Fender had had with the Esquire, Telecaster and Precision Bass? Using Les Paul's suggestions was a marketing decision - put the name of a popular guitarist on it and people might warm up to a radically different guitar a bit faster.

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I was just checking out Ibanez's new Signature Andy Timmons model. The big Revelation there is they made a Stratocaster?!?!?!

http://www.ibanez.com/ElectricGuitars/Series-at

 

If you wanted a Stratocaster' date=' Fender makes a few.[/quote']

 

i would still like that model...wouldn't you?...to hell with it i want every guitar ever made!!!!! [lol], just gotta find the space [glare]

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The Les Paul model in itself is a signature model' date=' and only for marketing reasons.[/quote']

This is my favourite thing about the whole signature guitar debate.

 

I have a Pearly Gates reissue. I bought it because I already had a 2009 R9, wanted another one but not exactly the same. The Bloomfield R9s came out, I thought those looked great but I passed on them. Before Pearly was released, I thought 'what the heck, I'll give these a try.' I got my hands on a Pearly and I've loved it ever since. My decision to buy one had nothing to do with Billy Gibbons or ZZ Top. Actually, I don't really listen to ZZ Top.

 

I personally think it's silly to buy, say, a Pearly Gates reissue because you want to be like Billy Gibbons...or a Page signature so you can think you're Jimmy Page. It's almost as if those people don't necessarily like the guitars, themselves, only the guys who played them.

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Well the next guitar im buying is a sig (more of a tribute since the poor man is dead) and well i would get a regular one but the other one is a 7 stirng with 2 emgs and the next one is a ugly blue one with 2 emg's.

 

The B.C. Rich Chuck Schuldiner tribute? Cool. #-o

 

I see it as a tribute to the days when Death Metal still had some soul.

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Death Metal still exsits...just in really really small numbers.

 

Yeah, yeah, I know. Morbid Angel and Cryptopsy and Deicide and guys like that are still around and still doing good stuff. Hell, I've even liked some of the stuff that Cannibal Corpse has put out.

 

It ain't the same now, though. You have to admit to that.

 

After so long, though? Nothing ever is.

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AreNine- I got you completely. You like the way the guitar plays which, IMO, is the only reason worth it, at least for me, to buy a guitar. Not because some schmuck said he likes it, or plays one like it. If you like it, go for it. If you happen to like the specs on the sig, get it and play it.

 

I hate it when people complain about the prices of them, if you don't like it or can't afford it, get something else. Or just save up for it like most other people do.

 

Well, I bought a Page signature, but I don't play like him... wtf? And Slashtone is only available from the Epiphone Slash sig, everyone knows that Ba sshole [biggrin]

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I wanted a Les Paul because Ace Frehley looked so cool with his, yet I think his signature Les Paul looks cheesy.

I mean who wants a picture of Ace on the headstock?....or his latest model has the Anomaly decal on the headstock.

Ill stick to a plain Les Paul that LOOKS like a Les Paul.

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Signature Guitars

 

Replicating and Manufacturing.

 

1) The endorsing artist does not let the company/product use their name for free, therefore price increase.

2) Research and development-color matching takes time, therefore price increase.

3) Matching wood grains to be as close to the original and still be of the higher quality. I imagine that is no easy chore seeing as wood is... well wood ffs. Price increase.

4) Metrology ie: Laser Templating. Not cheap and time consuming. Yep, price increase.

5) Re tooling the production line to make said product. Time = money again.

6) Attorney fees and additional advertising. More of the same-see above.

7) Custom cases with additional screening. The Canadians need their cut too.

8) The employees? Should they work for free? Would you?

 

So all in all, the high end signature guitars cost more for a reason.

 

Now kwityerbichin.

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AreNine- I got you completely. You like the way the guitar plays which' date=' IMO, is the only reason worth it, at least for me, to buy a guitar. Not because some schmuck said he likes it, or plays one like it. If you like it, go for it. If you happen to like the specs on the sig, get it and play it.

 

[b']I hate it when people complain about the prices of them, if you don't like it or can't afford it, get something else. Or just save up for it like most other people do.[/b]

 

Well, I bought a Page signature, but I don't play like him... wtf? And Slashtone is only available from the Epiphone Slash sig, everyone knows that Ba sshole [thumbup]

 

Axe®, I understand your points, I get why they cost more, my thread was not about that. Do I think that they have to cost more than a regular production model? I never said it didn't I just asked what determines a sig. It seems that a lot of people are coming out with them, not just Gibson, and charge more for it.

 

They cost more for a reason? Yes guaranteed, but a lot of it seems ridiculous, I mean Sammy Hagar? There are tons of people out there with sigs, and a lot of them just turn into collector's items. I want a guitar, as a guitar, to be played as a guitar.

 

I just don't get the whole signature guitar thing I guess...

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i would still like that model...wouldn't you?...to hell with it i want every guitar ever made!!!!! [biggrin]' date=' just gotta find the space [biggrin] [/quote']

I don't think I'd want it, but maybe try it out. The only Ibanez's i really like are the JS and the old Saber

That thing looks cheap. Like something that comes in a starter pack. Gimme a PGM!

That's what I thought. I at least expected something a little more Ibanez.

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I remember Leslie West saying something about how a Leslie West signature model would be a stock LP Jr.

 

Incidentally, the Dean Leslie West signature has a humbucker, while the Jr. had/has a P90. Whatever. It's still a vaguely similar concept.

 

I've always liked Leslie West, but I'd rather go for a LP Jr. (based on the guitar's own merits) than a Dean Leslie signature.

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