Stupidest signature guitars?

brojangles

It seems to me that there are some signature guitars - Clapton Strat, Marr Jag etc - that have won general acceptance in their own right, even among people who aren't rabid fans of the signers. 

Are there signature instruments that are generally agreed to be the worst/stupidest/most halfarsed cash-in examples of the type?

JerkMoans

Anything with ‘Joe Bonamassa’ on it, as a starter for ten.

DrBob

I did wonder about the Gibson Keifer Sutherland sig...

Stuckfast

Wasn't there a Gibson "Jimi Hendrix" guitar at some point?

Fishboy7

Wasn't there a Nigel Tufnel sig?

octatonic

Avril Lavigne Telecaster

/thread

ICBM

octatonic said:

Avril Lavigne Telecaster

/thread

Except that she does actually play it...




The Gibson Hendrix "Strat" takes it - the absolute definition of half-arsed cash-in... also known as 'Janie Hendrix'.

crunchman

Stuckfast said:

Wasn't there a Gibson "Jimi Hendrix" guitar at some point?

Think that wins the thread.

On a lesser scale is the Eric Clapton Martin OOO28.  The fake tan "aging toner" really doesn't look good, and I'd much rather not have his signature inlaid at the 12th fret.  Unfortunately it's the only way to get an OOO in something close to pre-war spec.  Martin don't make an OOO28V.

thegummy

Duesenburg Johnny Depp signature with a switch that adds 1963 turns of wire to the pickup because that's the year of his birth.

Also, Fender put EMGs in every model they make and sell it as a a Jim Root sig. Jim is cool but seems a bit daft to use his name as code for "this model but with EMGs"

octatonic

ICBM said:

octatonic said:

Avril Lavigne Telecaster

/thread

Except that she does actually play it...




The Gibson Hendrix "Strat" takes it - the absolute definition of half-arsed cash-in... also known as 'Janie Hendrix'.

Here is her playing guitar (although not that one).



She isn't great, or even good, but that isn't the point.
Sig guitars have nothing to do with being a capable guitar player and everything to do with marketing guitars to people who might buy them.

Funkfingers

ESP/LTD Richie Sambora Fuglycaster

ICBM

octatonic said:

She isn't great, or even good, but that isn't the point.
Sig guitars have nothing to do with being a capable guitar player and everything to do with marketing guitars to people who might buy them.

Exactly, which is why it's a perfectly valid signature guitar - it's also important that the signature model is a Squier, whereas she plays Fender-badged ones. I think that's deliberate, to keep the cost down for the sort of fans who might buy one. Anything that encourages kids to play real guitars has to be a good thing.

I'd be happy to use one, by the way - I think it looks great and you can't really go too far wrong with a Telecaster with a humbucker. I'd probably change the switching to something more useful though.

aguirre

How about the Steven Segal Signature Model made by Freshman?

carlos

thegummy said:

Also, Fender put EMGs in every model they make and sell it as a a Jim Root sig. Jim is cool but seems a bit daft to use his name as code for "this model but with EMGs"

Or the Gibson equivalent: put a bullseye and EMGs and call it a Wylde signature model.

thegummy

There's an Ed Sheeran Martin and a Taylor Swift Taylor.

They're not that cheap either. Never tried them but I'd bet that the spoiled kids who have them could have gotten a much better guitar for the money.

At least Sheeran is always playing the guitar, the a Swift one must be up there on cashing in.

octatonic

ICBM said:

octatonic said:

She isn't great, or even good, but that isn't the point.
Sig guitars have nothing to do with being a capable guitar player and everything to do with marketing guitars to people who might buy them.

Exactly, which is why it's a perfectly valid signature guitar - it's also important that the signature model is a Squier, whereas she plays Fender-badged ones. I think that's deliberate, to keep the cost down for the sort of fans who might buy one. Anything that encourages kids to play real guitars has to be a good thing.

I'd be happy to use one, by the way - I think it looks great and you can't really go too far wrong with a Telecaster with a humbucker. I'd probably change the switching to something more useful though.

Oh fuck off- I'm sick of you being right all the time.
Fuck!

NelsonP

I really like signature guitars.

They basically turn me into my heroes immediately, lending me their inherent coolness and a lot of their mojo (both of which I need, a lot) ;-)

Seriously though, they often offer something a little better or different than the usual. I own both a Shiflett tele (12" fretboard radius, bigger frets, 2 x regular humbuckers rather than the wide range jobs) and a Gary Clark Epi Casino (Gibson / switchcraft electrics). Both of them are brilliant guitars with a ton of personality.

I'm liking the J Mascis jazzzmaster too at the moment. Again it offers something slightly unusual.

There are some sig guitars out there that I don't particularly like, e.g. the Les Paul recording guitar, which arguably is Les Paul's 'signature' Les Paul. and I don't really get the Slash sig Firebird as he is so strongly associated with Les Paul's. And the Guthrie Govan Charvel is just too brown - although I bet it is awesome to play.

But one man's trash is the next man's treasure as they say.

skullfunkerry

The singer from The Offspring had a signature Ibanez for a while, that struck me as really silly, although I think he plays guitar in one or two of their videos

Paul7926

I've never really understood the point of 'signature' guitars but that might be because I tend to like a style/genre of music rather than one particular artist.  Each to their own I guess.

EDIT:  Thinking about it that might be why I have more of a totally illogical 'brand' affiliation which makes as little logical sense as having a desire for a signature model.

AlexO

Nothing against him at all and he's obviously a very good businessman and brilliant for him if people are buying the,

But anyone who's bought a Lee Anderton, 'Captain' Chapman Stratocaster needs to take a good look in the mirror at themselves. 

stickyfiddle

thegummy said:

There's an Ed Sheeran Martin and a Taylor Swift Taylor.

They're not that cheap either. Never tried them but I'd bet that the spoiled kids who have them could have gotten a much better guitar for the money.

At least Sheeran is always playing the guitar, the a Swift one must be up there on cashing in.

Sheeran can sell out Wembley for 3 nights then headline Glastonbury a couple of years later then sell out Wembley AGAIN for 4 nights the following year. Playing guitar. On his own. That's fucking awesome whatever anyone says.


As for Swift - that's not remotely a token cash-grab. She's no EVH/Vai/Slash/whatever but does play guitar shitloads, particularly live and on her early stuff. Also a decent pianist.