Those of you that dont own sigs.

[MCBTunes]

Is it because you dont like another players name on your guitar?

Or because you prefer generic models to "make your own character of."

I know many players in my area refuse to buy a sig model because they think it makes them look like they are trying to be that player, or it makes them less unique... Personally, I would rather not have another players name on my guitar. I like it to try and put my own personality into my gear. Honestly if I found a guitar that played better, or was cheaper and it had a sig on it... I wouldn't mind...

All things equal... which they are preformance/quality wise with musicman, I would rather not have the sig.



P.S. This does not include things such as the Sterling Bass

Edit: The poll is private

 

[Rossie]

I don't really like signature guitars, but the specs that the JP has to offer are just impossible to find else where, plus the workmanship is also top notch...

Other than a JP, I wouldn't play any other sig guitars...

 

[kompressaur]

well I've never really thought too hard on the sig guitars as I like the Silo (strat) and Axis (tele/LP hybrid).then again I suppose the axis is mostly an evh,so is the silo the only generic musicman 6 stringer? ok axis sport but thats no more....
komp

 

[Spudmurphy]

Having Albert Lee's sig on my guitar doesn't mean Jack S to me. The guitar is the best I've played and I prefer it to my other sig guitar a Les Paul. Having Les's signature on a guitar did stop millions buying it' cos they thought they had to sound like Les.
If a said that out of 200 people at the last gig - prolly 5 people recognised the guitar as an Albert Lee and I don't think any of the 5 expected to me play like Albert (I wish !!)

I wouldn't care if it said Donald Duck on the guitar as long as it had plenty of quack that would be fine for me.

 

[robelinda2]

100% agree spud. when i bought my first ball - the Luke - i bought it for its versatility, plus i figured out of all the HSS strat type axes there are in the world, Mr Lukather actually plays this one so it must be really good quality, rather than buying yet another strat.

 

[Rossie]

Having Albert Lee's sig on my guitar doesn't mean Jack S to me. The guitar is the best I've played and I prefer it to my other sig guitar a Les Paul. Having Les's signature on a guitar did stop millions buying it' cos they thought they had to sound like Les.
If a said that out of 200 people at the last gig - prolly 5 people recognised the guitar as an Albert Lee and I don't think any of the 5 expected to me play like Albert (I wish !!)

I wouldn't care if it said Donald Duck on the guitar as long as it had plenty of quack that would be fine for me.

Ha!

Thank you for reminding me a Les Paul is actually a signature guitar too... Got carried away too much...
Really need to put more thought into "Slash's (for example) signature Les Paul"...

 

[PocketGroove82]

Granted, I'm not a pro/working guitar player (althought I do play a Taylor acoustic...cause it sounds/plays SO DAMN GOOD), but I AM a bass player who works 3-4 gigs a week....infact, i work my ass off for peanuts.
So, that being said, I want to say that a sig. model is not always a bad thing. But three quarters of the time, at least in the bass world, if you buy a Jaco P. model or a Marcus Miller Sig...you're really spending a sh!t load of money on a bass that was cheap as he!l in the 1960's or 1970's. But now, 'cause it has the name of someone we admire, it's gotta be 4-8X the original price. And that causes me NOT to spend and extra couple hundred bucks on some reissue...when you could get lucky and find an original for alot less...though the originals are usually BEAT UP!
I'm just glad that EBMM makes sig. models that are truly unique!

 

[Jimmyb]

If I liked the options etc of a sig guitar I would get one (I'm thinking about a Benji to use for slide playing)

I wouldn't buy a sig just because of the artist. For example, I really like David Gilmour, but I wouldn't buy his (rumoured to be on the way) signature str4t. Now on the other hand, if I could get my hands on his actual guitar, that may be a different thing.

Go with what you want to go with, they're all good.

 

[candid_x]

To sig or not to sig, makes no difference to me. I guess the only exception is when it’s pasted all over the guitar, like the SRV Strat. That just screams wannabe. Blackie is also pretty cliché. As far as Balls go, they’re all made to play individually. Identity may be important to some, but I just want a playable axe.

 

[francric]

I know many players in my area refuse to buy a sig model because they think it makes them look like they are trying to be that player, or it makes them less unique... Personally, I would rather not have another players name on my guitar. I like it to try and put my own personality into my gear. Honestly if I found a guitar that played better, or was cheaper and it had a sig on it... I wouldn't mind...

All things equal... which they are preformance/quality wise with musicman, I would rather not have the sig.

I used to think that way a long time ago. Then I realized I'm missing out. If I want a guitar I get it. I don't care who's name is on it. Don't care how anyone percieves it. I have a JP and love it. Do I want to play like JP, HELL YES........can I play like JP, HELL NO...........guitarists/musicians/artists are funny people. Just play, create, have fun, forget about your image and what name is on your axe........unless you are in a 80's hair band, wear spandex and play a kramer................ Then image is everything........

 

[gerry d]

I now own a Luke guitar and will have another soon, when I was growing up and learning the guitar, late 70s and early 80s I was a big fan of Luke and his playing and tones he got on non EBMM guitars, I just loved his touch on the guitar, so I got the usual stuff, LP, various strats and even some old Valley arts guitars, my whole style was and is very much influenced by who I was listening to, the Luke signature guitar really does capture a lot of the tones I wanted.. for me it's about versatility and with this guitar I have all I need...

 

[TonyEVH5150]

I guess my Axis sort of qualifies as a sig (or at least a former). EVH is a major influence of mine, and his sig guitar is what drew me to EBMM. I had never even heard of the company before that.

Now, I'd love to buy a Silo, another Axis (esp if they make a hardtail). I'd try out some of the other sigs (JP, Luke, etc). If I liked them for my playing style, I'd get them. EBMM has a great line of sig artists, and their guitars are the best made (IMO).

But don't let that take away from the rest of the lineup. They're all awesome!!!

 

[Bungo]

I first picked up a JP because I liked the noises that JP got out of his, and then found it really suited me as well. Doesn't really matter to me about whether it is a sig or not. Very few people here know who he is anyway!

Let's not forget that every LP player out there is playing someone else's sig model!

 

[Norrin Radd]

I think it's also important to remember that with EBMM, signature guitars are models rather than specific guitars. What do I mean? Think of the Vai or Satch sig models. There are 2 or 3 of them with no options available. You get the exact paint, matching headstock, pickups, pickguard, trem (or no trem), etc...

When I got my AL, it was not Pinkburst and it has no trem. So although the model is designed/played /endorsed by a specific artist, I don't really consider it a "signature" (as in exclusively identifiable with) model.

 

[Astrofreq]

I personally don't like having another's signature on my guitar. I have an EVH, but I bought it long before I had this issue, and it's not really a huge issue for me anyway. I don't mind it being a signature guitar, just don't put a person's name on it. I guess that's the catch 22.

What about the Charvel EVH striped guitars? I love Ed, but playing one of those is just lame. Then again, I'd love to have one of the ones he really striped and sold on Ebay last year.

Like, why would anyone want a really HUGE JP on the 1st fret? I just don't get it. I have an old Ibanez Jem, but I don't use it live because it just screams Steve Vai when you look at it. Don't get me wrong, I think all those guys are GREAT players, I just like my stuff to have my own personality.

 

[Astrofreq]

I think it's also important to remember that with EBMM, signature guitars are models rather than specific guitars. What do I mean? Think of the Vai or Satch sig models. There are 2 or 3 of them with no options available. You get the exact paint, matching headstock, pickups, pickguard, trem (or no trem), etc...

That is a great point, which is why Music Man rules.

 

[starsky]

I'd actively stay away from artist guitars in situations where they are just badged versions of regular production models with perhaps a better top, different pickups or whatever, but the EBMM sigs are different models in their own right and I judge them on their own merits.

I've been a fan of Luke's playing since the early 80's, but that never made me want to get an EBMM Luke. I was aware of the guitar since the Luke mk I was launched, but the first time I actually got my hands on one was in a music shop in London earlier this year (coincidentally it was the night of the Toto gig there).

I immediately liked the feel, build quality and the neck, so my buying decision, to get a Luke a few weeks after that was based on this initial experience plus the opportunity to have EMG's, which I'd never had in a guitar before, and not purely on the fact that it's a sig.

I just connected with my Luke, which then made me look in more detail at the rest of the range, and it was a case of Koog's 'Welcome to the addiction' from that point. These guitars just seem right for me.

Now I've got a JP6P on order, and I'd never even heard Dream Theater properly before joining this forum. I wasn't a JP fan but I did want the features on that guitar. Since ordering it, I've now got a few DT CD's and am getting into their stuff, so in this case it's worked the other way round.

Sigs on guitars quite often seem to be more marketing than anything else on other brands, a regular model with some bells and whistles. With EBMM it's different, but I do wonder just how many people who have never tried an EBMM are maybe missing out and not trying a Luke, JP, Morse etc just because they are sigs.

 

[Quarter]

I'd actively stay away from artist guitars in situations where they are just badged versions of regular production models with perhaps a better top, different pickups or whatever, but the EBMM sigs are different models in their own right and I judge them on their own merits.

Ding Ding Ding ... We have a Winner!!!

 

[Astrofreq]

this is a MUST SEE

http://cgi.ebay.com/CUSTOM-BUILT-GUITAR-IBANEZ-JEM-HARDWARE-CUSTOM-PAINT_W0QQitemZ220041943381QQihZ012QQcategoryZ33043QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


THIS IS JUST UNBELIEVABLE TO ME.

 

[John C]

I think it's also important to remember that with EBMM, signature guitars are models rather than specific guitars. What do I mean? Think of the Vai or Satch sig models. There are 2 or 3 of them with no options available. You get the exact paint, matching headstock, pickups, pickguard, trem (or no trem), etc...

When I got my AL, it was not Pinkburst and it has no trem. So although the model is designed/played /endorsed by a specific artist, I don't really consider it a "signature" (as in exclusively identifiable with) model.

I'll second (well, actually third) that - EBMM Signature models are completely different guitars. They are much more in the spirit of one of the first "signature model" guitars, the Gibson Les Paul, as opposed to the "tweaked" type of signature guitar like Fender's Artist Series Strats.

When you go for an EBMM signature guitar, you are getting something unique within the line, not just a "regular" model with a different neck size/shape or different pickups/hardware. I won't have it for a while yet, but I ordered an AL because it has unique ergonomics that seemed to fit me well when I tried one out.