Signature Series Guitars

[jimmiJAMM]

How do you feel about the endless line of very pricey Signature Series guitars? The intentionally beat-up or, "Relic" models will cost you even more due to the highly-skilled artisans who painstakingly re-create every scratch, chip, and cigarette burn. And yes, I realize Les Pauls are signature guitars but I'm talkin' bout these specialized editions.

 

Here's a few examples:

 

Robby Krieger SG

http://www2.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars/SG/Gibson-Custom/Robby-Krieger-SG.aspx

 

Slash Les Paul

http://www2.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars/Les-Paul/Gibson-USA/Slash-Appetite-Les-Paul/Details.aspx

 

David Gilmour

http://www.fender.com/features/gilmour/guitar.php

 

Stevie Ray Vaughan

http://www.fender.com/products/search.php?partno=0109200800

 

Eddie Van Halen

http://www.guitarcenter.com/EVH-Eddie-Van-Halen-Frankenstein-Replica-Electric-Guitar-104226733-i1176775.gc

 

B.B. King

http://guitars.musiciansfriend.com/product/Gibson-B.B.-King-Lucille-Electric-Guitar?sku=517800

 

And many more...

[KL]

They don't really interest me. If you have a non-signature guitar you can make it your own. That does interest me.

[pippy]

I can fully understand why some people would like to have an instrument which is a replica - as close as is humanly possible with naturally occuring material such as the grain and figure of a slab of wood - of one played by someone they admire more than perhaps any other player.

 

I understand even more the desire to have a replica of an instrument one might feel to be the most beautiful or historically important ever created; whether it's a replica of '#1'; 'Brockburst'; 'Stanleyburst'; 'Pearly Gates'; 'Beano'; 'Peter Green/Gary Moore'; 'Old Black'; 'Perry/Slash/Perry' . . . . and those are just a few of the '58-'60 Les Pauls...

 

Re-creating the true Greats is a harmless excercise which gives those fortunate enough to obtain them much pleasure. I'm sure no-one thinks the individual instruments come with the talent of the originals' owner built-in.

 

For the luthiers, too, each project must be an incredible, fantastic, task; to re-create, as close as possible, an instrument so well known and loved by such a broad-based group of fans who know, intimately, every detail of that instrument that it could pass for it's double.

 

I can't for the life of me understand why they pump out 'signatures' of instruments whose only claim to fame is that some nonentity played one so that's good enough for the bean-counters.

[grampa]

If by buying a Leo Kottke or Jimmy Page signature guitar I became able to play like them, I would consider it. Otherwise, why?

[cookieman15061]

Why not I say.

 

It's just marketing and if making a guitar that resembles the one played by (enter your fav guitar hero's name) helps them sell guitars I got no gripe.

 

I own one cause I won it but otherwise wouldn't have bought it.

 

That being said some of the guitars I play are because my influences. My Casino and Ric 330 because of the Beatles. My Gretsch because of Brian Setzer. My Strats because of Gilmore and Clapton.

 

So I guess even though they aren't sig models per se they are signature sound models for me.

 

Just my 2 cents.

[mcmurray]

My buckethead sig cost $1895. Very happy with it seeing as a standard would have been more expensive and doesn't sound as good.

[MojoRedFoot]

I would not want to spend 3 month's salary on something like that. They are aimed at collectors. I'm fine w/ sig models but those replicas are a bit redi-Q-lous. I'd take a fresh, scratch free sig. I got me a James Hetfield Truckster. I just need an Ibanez PGM.

[jamman]

People like what they like. If they can afford the price and it makes them happy .Cool. I think they look at these guitars as an investment. I say , buy a good guitar and "play the hell out of it". that's what it was made for.

[pauline]

I bought my Epi Lucille because of the features, not because the name on it........

 

 

Peter

[retrosurfer1959]

Only if they don't have a pickguard

[pauline]

Only if they don't have a pickguard :-

Actually I like my guitars better without PG

 

 

 

[Silenced Fred]

The only sig guitars I have played and liked, are the ones with different features that I want. The name, means nothing to me. It's just a marketing ploy

[Gibson4life]

For me, I understand that someone would want a guitar that plays like their hero's guitar, like the Pearly Gates for example. The Price may be high, but......how much would it cost for an actual 1959 Les Paul? Alot more. So even though Sig's are not my cup of tea, I get that some people buy Sig's.

[yoda]

There is one signature guitar that interests me and that is Les Paul's that rest can bite me.

[Shnate McDuanus]

If Gibson ever approached me with an offered me a deal for a signature model, here's probably how I'd respond:

 

"You have one already. It's called the SG Special Faded."

[S t e v e]

did someone mention signature series guitars?

 

 

 

 

 

[DAS44]

I understand why some people would want one. This might help me sound like <insert name here>. I'm set trying to find my own tone. Don't get me wrong if I found a signature model guitar that felt and sounded right I'm not going to pass it up but I'm not any more likley to go pick that one up than a "run of the mill" one.

 

It's really a "to each his own" situation....

 

<shrug>