do you buy your gear cause an artist endorsed it?

[tone4days]

Re: do you buy your gear cause an artist endorsed it?

well .. yes ....

i was very much into frank gambale (chick corea electric band) in about 86/87 ... when he went to ibanez and started playing the 540s, i really wanted one but it wasnt in the financial cards at that time (paying off student loans, car loans, and setting up house as a newlywed plus saving for a house) ... by 91, i had studied with the man himself and played his (butt ugly puke yellow one with the shark inlays - which had been renamed the FGM-100) ... i wasnt really into the locking trem, but i loved how it felt and sounded ... so i went on a quest to find an actual 540s (same guitar without the cosmetics) ... found a gently used one with a standard trem for a good price ... and have had it for almost 15 yrs now ... if he hadnt played one, i never wouldve given it a second look


and i STILL want a george benson model (gb-10 - blonde) that i first played over 25 yrs ago

t4d

 

[The Golden Boy]

Re: do you buy your gear cause an artist endorsed it?

When I was a kid I really wanted a Hofner Beatle Bass because McCartney played one. Until I actually played one and I hated it. I still occasionally get a bug and then I play one and it kills the bug. I really don't like them.

I did get a natural finished (Mapleglow) Ric 4001 because the opportunity was there (I had happened to bump into a guy who was selling one), I had just seen Motorhead that weekend and McCartney played one. I had it for around 6 years and never really warmed up to it much.

I spraypainted my Telecaster white because Page had a white Tele with the Yardbirds. I also have bought Les Pauls that have had the same colors as Jimmy Page's #1 LP. In both cases, the colors of the guitars are my preference (I really like Olympic White Strats, and I detest clownburst Les Pauls).

It made me so angry that, for a while, I put a piece of duct tape over the "Fender" logo of my geetar. (I can hear you laughing from here) I also got out a little bitty screw driver and took the name-plate off my amp. The way I figured it, Fender never did anything for me...so why the ?*!# should I give them advertising. Of course, it didn't matter because no one cared what I played anyway.

Round about 5 years ago I bought a brand new $WR amp- the bASS 750. It blew up after a total of 3 hours of use. When it blew up it took the speakers in my $WR 4x10 with it. $WR paid for the repair of the amp, but I didn't trust it and the place I bought it from gave me a hella deal on a brand new SM-900. So, even though their repair guy said there was something faulty with the amp, and that it blew up all the speakers in my 4x10, AND I had forked out money for ANOTHER brand spanking new $WR amp, it was the worst thing in the world trying to get them to cover the cost of repairing my speakers. To add onto that I asked for some new name badges for my $WR cabs and the black banana jack connector- and they charged me for old, obsolete parts sitting around the shop AFTER I had paid to recone 2 speakers, paid for materials to recone another speaker and they comped me 1 speaker after a brand freakin' new amp of theirs blew up my speakers.

I decided to put those new name badges for my Triad and Goliath II in a drawer, and played a game with my bass gear called- Find the Logo.

 

[ErikH]

Re: do you buy your gear cause an artist endorsed it?

what, there are lots of JAZZ/BLUES fans? the JB does not stand for Jeff Beck, it's Jazz/Blues. the whole JB = Jeff Beck is an internet misconception.

-Mike

That misconception was around WAY before the Internet even existed.