signature guitars- rip off?

[jmh151]

Re: signature guitars- rip off?

I hear the signature USA strats tend to get better wood than the USA production strats. Also, Fender really tries to match up the specs and weight of the wood to the model. Both my Clapton and Malmsteen are maple necked alder bodied guitars, but every Malmsteen I pick up is substantially heavier than an average strat. Frets seem to be dressed better on the signature guitars as well.

As far as the name? I heard every artist gets a $100 royalty for every one of their Fender signatures sold. So you're paying very little for the name.

I bought both my Clapton and Malmsteen used at $1,000 each, so I'm not trying to justify how much I paid. For the meoney they were the best guitars I could find at that price.

 

[blueman335]

Re: signature guitars- rip off?

Signatures give us more options to choose from, and more ideas on how to mod guitars, so what's not to like about that? "Lighten up, Francis."

 

[jmh151]

Re: signature guitars- rip off?

If Fender wanted to REALLY rip you off like Gibson, they would discontinue the $1400 Eric Clapton Signature Strat and force you to buy they $2300 Fender Custom Shop Eric Claption Signature Strat then.

The Custom Shop one is built by the same guy that builds Clapton's personal strats, that's why it costs more. I heard of someone that played one, while it did play and sound slightly nicer than the standard, they couldn't justify spemding another $900.

 

[Empty Pockets]

Re: signature guitars- rip off?

This topic brings up some extremely painful memories. See when I was a wee 16-year-old punk rocker, growing out of my pointy axe BC Rich phase, I decided I wanted a Strat for cleans and twangs and 'hard rock' you know. While I shopping I stumbled upon this:

My ideal guitar, covered in polkadots. I didn't know who Buddy Guy was but having a Strat that says "Buddy Guy" on the headstock was cool regardless.

Fortunately or not, i still don't know which, I found an older used American Strat for $50 less, but I still wonder if I would've been happier with a brand new, polka dotted Strat to call my buddy, guy.

It's funny because to remedy this situation I'm getting polkadot wallpaper to put on my Warmoth if I ever finish stripping the paint...so I'll have a polkadot Strat soon. It's ironic because I built the Warmoth Strat because I wanted a hardtail strat with humbuckers and didn't want to buy the Tom Delonge signature edition...so where I could have ended up with a signature Buddy Guy and a signature Tom Delonge, I now have two made in America, high-quality, fully customized Xander Face signature Strats :smokin:

And Gibson went ahead and made my signature SG, like a year or two before i even started playing...I got that too

 

[Sporky McGuffin]

Re: signature guitars- rip off?

Actually, just replace with a baritone neck and then move the bridge back a few inches, drill new holes... easy.

That doesn't sound very neck-thru to me.

 

[Kosh Naranek]

Re: signature guitars- rip off?

Are signature guitars, as in the clapton of Knopfler strats, worth the money or are you just paying for the name.

In some cases maybe. I honestly can't tell the difference between the Billy Joe Armstrong Les Paul Jr and any other LP Jr, except maybe the color it comes in. BFD.

Same with some of the signature Strats, though as others have pointed out, maybe the wood used is premium.

OTOH some sig guitars are completely different than the company's production line. The EB/MM Steve Morse and Petrucci models. Their Axis, formerly the VH model. Awesome and unique guitars. And I'd get a Axis just as readily as an early 90's EVH model cuz they're the same guitar.
The Malmsteen Strat is another example.
The Ibanez JEM is another.

I like my late 80's Hamer Steve Stevens guitars.

 

[Dirt123]

Re: signature guitars- rip off?

Some signature guiters are very cool.

I'd dig a Gibson Johnny Smith, Trini Lopez, Byrdland, Howard Roberts (either model) or a Guild George Barnes (or a Bert Weadon) or an Ibanez George Benson. Heck, I hear those Les Pauls are pretty good.

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: signature guitars- rip off?

For me, it's real simple. You treat it like you would any other guitar. Does it sound great, play great, even look cool, in ways that you haven't found on all the other guitars you've tried? Does it have features you really dig -- for example, I like the no-string-tree feature on the EJ strat, and the control cavity cover on the back of the Lucille -- that aren't available on other guitars?

If yes to all or most of the above, then buy it. By definition, it's worth the extra money.

 

[jimmy]

Re: signature guitars- rip off?

The only signature guitar that really calls to me is the Yngwie Strat. And that's only because it has all the mods I'd want on a strat. Other than that, I'm fine with playing a stock guitar.

I think signature guitars are hit and miss. You win some and you lose some.

 

[uOpt]

Re: signature guitars- rip off?

Most of the guitars mentioned have at least very high-quality hardware, and vintage-style hardware. Wood? Hard to tell. A MIJ Malmsteen might have gotten better or worse wood than a MIA American standard strat. Or Fender might not be able or bother to tell the good pieces from the bad ones below the Custom Shop.

The EJ Strat seems to be great value overall.

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: signature guitars- rip off?

The only signature guitar that really calls to me is the Yngwie Strat. And that's only because it has all the mods I'd want on a strat. Other than that, I'm fine with playing a stock guitar.

I think signature guitars are hit and miss. You win some and you lose some.

I am intrigued by that scalloped fingerboard...

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: signature guitars- rip off?

The EJ Strat seems to be great value overall.

On the whole, I agree. But I tried three of them in a shop once and they varied quite a bit.

One was just a dog tonally and didn't play/feel all that great either. One had remarkable playability and decent tone. And the third had decent playability but dynamite tone. Would have taken it if I had the dough...

 

[pinto79]

Re: signature guitars- rip off?

I would like to own a JEM one day. I definately see it as worth the money, it's just more than I have right now. The few that I have played have been stellar.

 

[Sporky McGuffin]

Re: signature guitars- rip off?

I'd like to try a Stephen Carpenter. I'm not much of a Deftones fan, but the guitar is interesting.

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: signature guitars- rip off?

I dig my Paul and I'd die for a Country Gentleman.

 

[uOpt]

Re: signature guitars- rip off?

Well, I take the "Les Paul" signature model, then

 

[ex-250]

Re: signature guitars- rip off?

a brand new, polka dotted Strat to call my buddy, guy.

im not your guy, friend!

 

[idsnowdog]

Re: signature guitars- rip off?

I'd like to try a Stephen Carpenter. I'm not much of a Deftones fan, but the guitar is interesting.

I tried the Karen Carpenter model but it puked on my shirt.:laugh2:

 

[ErikH]

Re: signature guitars- rip off?

I like trying out signature guitars to get a feel for what that player likes. Sometimes I like them too, sometimes I don't.

My favorite sig guitar, mostly for the neck, is the SRV Strat. It just fits my hand so well. That's one I would really like to add to the stabel. I also like the Clapton and Beck Strats. All 3 feel and play very differently from one another. The Lynch Skulls & Snakes ESP is pretty cool too. I played one of those before and it was nice. The big frets bothered me a little bit though, they were a little too big for my style.

The way I look at it, if you like the guitar and it plays how you want it and has the features you want, it's not a rip off.

 

[KeeperOS]

Re: signature guitars- rip off?

I think if one wants to make sense out of sig guitars one needs to first see the guitar OUTSIDE the context of the name it is paired with. Weird I know but true nevertheless.
In fact, it's best if you didn't even knew the artist prior to trying his sig.

In any case, are there guitars that cost more just because of the name?
YOU BET!
But there also are some guitars that in fact make a hell of a lot of sense in that they have specs that the manufacturer would otherwise be unwilling to have in an ordinary model.
Also, sometimes the sig guitar even has some more attention to detail that ordinary models lack as well.

So if for whatever reason what works for the artist *mostly* works for you as well then yeah, you got it pal, otherwise... meh...

(BTW, I have found several signature guitars from artists I didn't even know who they were that were actually quite a bit better (IMO) than the rest of the manufacturer's models so I can attest first hand that both cases can easily be true)