Sheryl Crow SJ Available Now !

[SurfingWombat]

AJ Bracing and Adirondack..... damn good taste miss sheryl.

[Spot]

Is her name on a soundhole label or engraved in the fretboard anywhere? Can't see anything on this on the Gibson website....

 

It may actually be a the best modern SJ if there is no mention of her name ruining it. I just hate when Gibson do this "a la" Aaron Lewis, Kris K and the S Crow CW....what is the bloody point??? Do they actually think a top of the market potential buyer (....likley to be a pro musician IMO) will be drawn to the guitar with her name on it????

 

Just call it a damned SJ!!!

 

[Harmonics101]

Sounds interesting. Heck, I wish I looked that good on stage with my guitar.

 

If you don't have nothing good to say about the model though children, I'd recommend you stay in school and try to get that edication ;)

 

Harmonics101

[Spot]

If you don't have nothing good to say about the model though children, I'd recommend you stay in school and try to get that edication ;)

 

Harmonics101

 

 

Thanks for your advice Harmonics but last time I checked it was a free country (or rather a free Forum) and I'll say what I want to say, when I want to say it thank you very much!

 

Slapping the "S. Crow" name on a a Southern Jumbo with a spec as tasty as this makes absolutely no sense what so ever and is just another example of bad Gibson Marketing IMO!

 

[ParlourMan]

If you don't have nothing good to say about the model though children, I'd recommend you stay in school and try to get that edication ;)

 

Harmonics101

 

 

If you can't handle a bit of honest critical feedback from an informal focus group (yes, that's what we are) that has remained polite and fairly positive perhaps you need to ask yourself if referring to people as 'children in need of education' is how you best want to represent yourself. Not very...adult... is it?

 

You also lose some points for misspelling "Education".

 

 

[SurfingWombat]

I don´t see any signature to it... hope so. Probably a paper inside, which you can burn! :-"

 

This is a honeydrop of an SJ. Sheryl in respect i think there is no need for a second sig guitar.. but if it is the only way to get such a nice spect instrument. Who cares ´thanks sheryl!

[Jeremy Morton]

Thanks for your advice Harmonics but last time I checked it was a free country (or rather a free Forum) and I'll say what I want to say, when I want to say it thank you very much!

 

Slapping the "S. Crow" name on a a Southern Jumbo with a spec as tasty as this makes absolutely no sense what so ever and is just another example of bad Gibson Marketing IMO!

 

 

Spot,

If you had a signature model what would you choose to do? When an artist like Sheryl expresses what they want or may not want we listen and try to meet and beat their expectations. Yes it does have her name on the label and the first 75 are signed. No sig on the fretboard or Truss Rod Cover. Once the guitar is complete and ready to be put into production, of course it does need some marketing behind it so people are aware that it is available. Like any new product.

JM

[Mojorule]

Given all the misspelling (deliberate?), I'd like to see a Noddy Holder signercher geetar, Jeremy. You might think a cherry red SG might be in order, but in light of the current orthographical tendencies, I think we should be clamouring for the Noddy Holder SJ. *** on feel the noize! The critics will be Slade.

[ParlourMan]

....but if it is the only way to get such a nice spect instrument. Who cares.

 

Very well put.

 

While it may put some off to have any sig/artist association, it boils down to what instrument people want to play. While I'm no sig/artist fan in general terms, I've ended up with two because they were the guitars I liked. I'd be equally happy without any artist endorsement, but I haven't changed the Keb Mo TR cover as yet, so it obviously can't be bothering me too much. We mightn't always agree but I guess it's easier to sell guitars with a sig/artist association than without or they wouldn't be paying to use the artists names.

 

If Sheryl helps them sell a bucket load of them in tough times, good on her. The particular artist association has no lure for me, but if I needed an SJ, tried it, loved it and felt the considerable upcharge on an Amulet system all added up to a guitar I had to have, I'd buy it. (the one caveat being no FB inlayed sigs)

 

But, I'm not employing hundreds of people nor selling guitars globally year in, year out, so what do I know.....

[GotTheSilver]

Very well put.

 

While it may put some off to have any sig/artist association, it boils down to what instrument people want to play. While I'm no sig/artist fan in general terms, I've ended up with two because they were the guitars I liked. I'd be equally happy without any artist endorsement, but I haven't changed the Keb Mo TR cover as yet, so it obviously can't be bothering me too much. We mightn't always agree but I guess it's easier to sell guitars with a sig/artist association than without or they wouldn't be paying to use the artists names.

 

If Sheryl helps them sell a bucket load of them in tough times, good on her. The particular artist association has no lure for me, but if I needed an SJ, tried it, loved it and felt the considerable upcharge on an Amulet system all added up to a guitar I had to have, I'd buy it. (the one caveat being no FB inlayed sigs)

 

But, I'm not employing hundreds of people nor selling guitars globally year in, year out, so what do I know.....

 

My feelings on the subject are pretty similar to PM's. I actually appreciate that Gibson does artist signature models. I think it encourages them to make some variations on their traditional products that they otherwise probably would not make - a different neck profile, different wood species, etc. I don't really look for or run away from an artist association on these guitars, although, like others here, I would prefer for the artist's name to kept to the label or the easily replaceable truss rod cover and not inlaid on the fingerboard or elsewhere. I remember the Sammy Hagar Les Paul that Gibson did not long ago with the Chickenfoot logo emblazened on the headstock! My god, I would never buy that guitar for that reason alone!

 

I also think that, contrary to what non-guitar manufacturers/marketers on this site may think, that the artist association probably does help Gibson sell more guitars. Think about this - there are already enough variations on certain models that it is hard for people to keep straight what the differences are. If this new SJ was released with a plain vanilla SJ name, most people would never realize it was any different than any other SJ out there and therefore would not consider buying one. By adding Sheryl's name, that catches people's attention and they ask "What are the specs? How is it unique from other SJs?" I think this is actually good for product differentiation.

 

And to repeat what I said in an earlier post, if I was in the market for a new mahogany slope shoulder dread right now, I would be taking a VERY serious look at this one, based on the fact that it has basically all the specs I want in an SJ!

[Mojorule]

Both of my Gibsons are signature models.

 

The Howard Roberts Fusion I did not buy, but I would be devastated if it were lost, and were that to happen, I would buy another to replace it if I could. I would seriously consider an ES 335 as an alternative replacement, but that is because it is also an excellent design and I always wanted one before the Howard came my way, not because I don't love the Howard, and certainly not because I have a problem with the fact that the Howard is a signature model. In fact the Howard is an excellent example of what happens when a named artist brings something new and meaningful to the table, and it is quite possibly the best electric signature model since the Les Paul. The 335 may have some advantages over it (solid maple core, a tad brighter perhaps, better access to the higher frets without bringing your thumb round in front of the neck, a super-solid stopbar tail on the ones I like), but Howard's design trumps McCarty's wonder in other departments (lighter because of the chromyte centre, woody-airy jazz tones more readily on tap, more compact and cuddly).

 

The Woody Guthrie I did buy, and I would be equally devastated if it were lost. Were that to happen, I would actively go out to find another like mine. Certainly I would give a fair audition to any other J45 variant and would take the best sounding one, but all tonal and feely things being equal, I would take the Woody again over a standard J45. As PM has effectively pointed out, it has that rather special combination of bling and down-home that only 1940s SJs had before Bozeman brought this one out - I love the combination of parallelogram inlays and unbound neck. I also like the banner and script. But above all, it sounds fine, and most reports from other owners of the model say the same. Non-owners who've tried Woodies out, like Zombywoof, keep singing their praises too.

 

Certainly in both cases, the artist connection does no harm to my appreciation of the guitar. I struggle to know who played what on the many Wrecking Crew cuts, but I do like the theme from Bullitt, and am pretty sure that it is Howard Roberts at work. I know he was a good player, even if I can pinpoint the work or Barney Kessel more readily. The fact that HR could play adds to my sense that he might have known what he was doing when he worked with Gibson to produce a new model. So the endorsement is certainly not off-putting. In the case of Guthrie, I'm more a fan of his songwriting and and general approach than I am of his guitar playing (or singing for that matter), but the link to such an icon of American music certainly doesn't detract from the sense that the SJ named after him is a serious working musician's tool. It sort of reinforces the idea that it's a no-nonsense instrument for unpretentious songwriters and performers. It does help, however, that HR's and WG's names are not daubed all over the instruments. Both are discretely tucked away on the label inside the body, and I like the fact that my Howard is of the generation which had no model name engraved on the truss-rod cover, even if in his case his role in designing the instrument would make such an indication credible and creditable in my eyes.

 

On the other hand, the artist connection would not really persuade me to buy the instrument in itself. I never really notice the guitar on Guthrie's records, and I certainly can't tell when he's playing a Gibson or a Martin on them. I wouldn't buy an instrument with a view to sounding like him. And if I wanted an instrument in order to emulate the sound of one of the jazz guitarists in the Wrecking Crew, I would be looking for a Gibson Barney Kessel to replace the Howard. But I'm not, even if the Kessel is a fine-looking instrument. The point is that Howard designed a fantastic guitar. And Gibson put Guthrie's name to a fabulous sounding SJ.

[Mojorule]

My feelings on the subject are pretty similar to PM's. I actually appreciate that Gibson does artist signature models. I think it encourages them to make some variations on their traditional products that they otherwise probably would not make - a different neck profile, different wood species, etc. I don't really look for or run away from an artist association on these guitars, although, like others here, I would prefer for the artist's name to kept to the label or the easily replaceable truss rod cover and not inlaid on the fingerboard or elsewhere. I remember the Sammy Hagar Les Paul that Gibson did not long ago with the Chickenfoot logo emblazened on the headstock! My god, I would never buy that guitar for that reason alone!

 

I also think that, contrary to what non-guitar manufacturers/marketers on this site may think, that the artist association probably does help Gibson sell more guitars. Think about this - there are already enough variations on certain models that it is hard for people to keep straight what the differences are. If this new SJ was released with a plain vanilla SJ name, most people would never realize it was any different than any other SJ out there and therefore would not consider buying one. By adding Sheryl's name, that catches people's attention and they ask "What are the specs? How is it unique from other SJs?" I think this is actually good for product differentiation.

 

And to repeat what I said in an earlier post, if I was in the market for a new mahogany slope shoulder dread right now, I would be taking a VERY serious look at this one, based on the fact that it has basically all the specs I want in an SJ!

 

I take Jeremy's point that if a famous artist orders a guitar with particular specs, Gibson would be fools not to use the fact in their marketing.

 

I also agree with your points here Long John Keef, especially the middle one. I'm not sure that many people buy signature models because they really want to sound like Kris Kristofferson or Sheryl Crow or whatever, even if they like their music (I do in these cases). Nor because they're such fans that they must have a piece of memorabilia (I really like their music, but I don't want their guitar). An exception here may well be the Lennon 160E, however great it might sound. What the endorsements do is to make classification of all the different variants easier. The alternatives would be either: 1) to offer the SJ in a single format and risk losing customers with particular preferences for different specs; 2) to offer the SJ under a single, simple name, but with the full range of variations available to order, and then leave anybody who picks a guitar up in a shop instead of custom ordering it unsure of what they're playing; 3) to offer a full gamut of SJs with a name composed of the model and specs, risking unfathomably long nomenclature and confusion. Sure we still have to read through the lists of specs, and be bamboozled by all the variants, but it is easier to remember that you want a Sheryl Crow SJ than to remember that you want a banner SJ with adirondack top, mahogany back and sides, advanced bracing, bound neck, small tortoise guard, optional amulet pickup and bone nut. Just imagine trying to order the latter! Provided the artist has some credibility as an artist (and not even especially as a virtuosic guitarist), then the endorsement can also reinforce the overall ethos that the combination of variants which make up the instrument imply.

 

I quite like the idea of a banner SJ with adi top, hog back and sides, advanced bracing, a small tort guard and an amulet. I can't afford one sadly. Sheryl's name would not put me off from buying one if I could. It won't persuade me to take out a loan to buy one either. The neck binding would be a more serious consideration for me than the model name. Anyway, I think it's a splendid model, but I'll stick with my VOS banner SJ with sitka top, mahogany back and sides, standard J45 bracing, unbound neck, small firestripe guard, LR Baggs pickup and bone nut. I'm also glad they named it after Woody. Just think how much mileage Wily and the rest of us get out of that name. Who wouldn't want the opportunity to bring their Woody up in response to a Sheryl?