Best sigs ever?

Aornic

I have a few that appeal to me for different reasons:

Ibanez JEM 7v

Not only is this a versatile, shred machine (the middle single coil really has chime and a little quack if needed for cleans) - its history is fascinating. At one point it was all I was playing, and I sorely missed the monkey grip on my other guitars - picking them up by the neck felt inefficient. The Dimarzio evolution humbuckers in the neck and bridge are among my favourite. Vintage tone? Nope, but they sing and scream with ease.

The one knock I have against it is how thin the neck is, and how it makes me want to play needlessly faster sometimes.

ESP KH-2

I bought this back in 2007 and it was my main guitar from then to 2018 - aka my mostly metal playing days. As a Metallica fanboy, I instantly clicked with this guitar and found it gelled perfectly with both riffage and lead playing. The EMG pickups shoved in the front end of any amp and sounded, appropriately, consistent like machinery.

That being said, it's my least played guitar since I weaned off metal and got more into blues and funk. It's great for what it does, but I may be biased at this point because of my history with it. I feel like an ESP M-II would suit someone just as well and not need the Hammett name on it.

PRS Silver Sky

My favourite and most played guitar since Q4 2019. I was a naysayer for over a year beforehand, having been a newly converted Fender Strat fan at the time and in love with my Custom Shop '56 - but the feel and the tone of the Silver Sky has really left an impression on me. It stands along with my three other Strats by not really being one. Similar, single-coil goodness but a significantly different feel and mellower tone. It's similar to a lot of hi-fi headphones that I enjoy in that it doesn't sound fatiguing in any pickup setting.

Signature guitars that I haven't tried but like the look of:

- Ibanez Yvette Young in Slime Green

- PRS DGT (a very popular choice it seems!)

- Fender SRV Strat

- MusicMan Majesty

- Musicman St. Vincent

- PRS Paul's Guitar

- Fender John 5 Black/Mirror (first guitar I ever remember wanting!)

- Suhr Mateus Asato in Shell Pink

- Reverend Billy Corgan

JerkMoans

@bermudianbrit said:

Eric Johnson sig is the business

@DavusPG said:

I've had more sig guitars than anything else, my favourites have been:

Eric Johnson Strat - wiped the floor with the Fender Custom shop one I had

@punchesjudy said:

Eric Johnson Strat. It's great, neck was a bit too chunky for my dainty hands though. 

@octatonic said:

The only two that I'd consider playing would be a PRS DGT or a Fender Eric Johnson Strat.

May I join the EJ Strat love-in?  Liked mine so much I promptly shifted my Custom Shop jobbie.  Strattiest Strat I've ever played; build quality and all bits superlative.

DB1

I'm going to nominate, at the lower end of the price scale, the Epiphone Joe Pass.

UnclePsychosis

Never played one but the Musicman St Vincent looks cool as. 

I really hate sig guitars that are just a stock one with a different paint job or different pickups. What's the point? (other than exploiting your fans?) 

darius

N4 - it’s what he plays
Wolfgang - it’s what he plays
Jem - it’s what he plays
JS - it’s what he plays

They’re all genuine sigs because they’re all new shapes and styles. The fact they’re all shred rock machines is interesting.
What non shreds are there in the same category?

Bill_S

A big shout out for John Petrucci’s Ernie Ball MusicMan series. He’s put his money where his mouth is for 20 years. 

simonhpieman

I was always captivated by the Hellecaster series in whatever Fender pamphlet they featured in when I was about 15.

I particularly liked the sparkly John Jorgenson Strat with split pickups and the gold leaf Will Ray Jazzacaster - a tele with wonky Jazzmaster-looking pickups jammed in there.

I actually saw a Jorgenson model in the flesh a while back. SO tempted....

Bill_S

markblack said:

Johnny Marr Jaguar is well thought of. I like mine.

Yep, he put a lot of thought into getting it right. 

Blueingreen

grungebob said:

The “captain” Kirk Douglas SG was very nice with its vibrola, 3 pickups and 6 way switch. One of those guitars I sadly had to sell. 

I also really liked the squier Venus and the schecter Shaun Morgan guitars I had. 

When the Kirk Douglas SG was first mentioned (maybe in an interview with KD, can't be sure) I really fancied one based on the proposed specs which included 6100 frets (and possibly locking tuners?). 

Unfortunately by the time it came to market they'd changed the original specs, fret size and some others and made it a bit more mainstream.   The revised model probably had more mainstream appeal but it was less appealing to me personally.

Winny_Pooh

Fucking cool signature guitars I just cannot afford to buy:

TINMAN82

Never considered myself a fanboy but for some reason I’m often drawn to signature guitars.

Think it was the aesthetics of the Jem (which also plays incredibly well) and the spec on the Clapton 000-28 which as mentioned above has features like wider string spacing uncommon in the standard range.

grungebob

Blueingreen said:

grungebob said:

The “captain” Kirk Douglas SG was very nice with its vibrola, 3 pickups and 6 way switch. One of those guitars I sadly had to sell. 

I also really liked the squier Venus and the schecter Shaun Morgan guitars I had. 

When the Kirk Douglas SG was first mentioned (maybe in an interview with KD, can't be sure) I really fancied one based on the proposed specs which included 6100 frets (and possibly locking tuners?). 

Unfortunately by the time it came to market they'd changed the original specs, fret size and some others and made it a bit more mainstream.   The revised model probably had more mainstream appeal but it was less appealing to me personally.

I got mine in a trade for a PRS McCarty I wasn’t bonding with plus a good chunk of cash, my intention from the start was to sell it as I needed to free up some cash. I was sorely disappointed once I plugged it in, it was a phenomenal guitar, I don’t like Gibson guitars in general ( scale length probably plus TOM bridges) I tried every conceivable idea to keep it but alas.....
you hardly seem them come up now. 

ADP

ToneControl said:

Ibanez Pat Metheny sig models are outstanding (Japanese made hollowbodies)
The fact that he has used them himself for decades tells you a lot

The George Benson and Joe Pass ones are also excellent

I prefer sigs that don't make you look like a fanboy

They are great guitars, but Pat’s relationship to production Ibanez guitars has always been a bit odd. He has played a prototype for the PM100 since he retired his ES175 in 1995. Unfortunately, it bears no resemblance to the production guitar. The more recent PM200 is modelled on that prototype but isn’t identical. He was rarely seen playing an actual production-style PM100. At one point, he played a black one, but it had a carved spruce top and a surface-mount pickup because he said it sounded better unplugged for writing in hotel rooms. He used a modified PM120 for MIDI control during the Orchestrion tour. All of his guitars have been fitted with internal microphones and/or Roland or other 13-pin pickups. He’s been using Daniel Slaman guitars with a Charlie Christian pickup for about five years now, but recently he’s started using an Ibanez that looks to be pretty much a copy of the Slaman.

I have to say that all that hasn’t stopped me owning a PM100 (which I should never have sold) and now a PM200, but I wish he played the guitars that bear his name.

artiebear

I would definitely vote for the Musician Luke series. A proper signature guitar to the exact preferences of Steve Lukather. Part of the issue with any signature guitar is that it won't be for everybody. I had one for a while, having loved SL's approach to studio work, but realised that Steve has different taste in neck s to me. Still a great guitar.

darcym

Washburn N4 - this is what a signature guitar should be about.

Paul_C

munckee said:

I’ve got a j Mascis jazzmaster which is very good. He apparently uses them on tour although I gather he changes the pickups! 

I had a Japanese J Mascis sig (the purple flake version) and even on that the pickups were awful.

I put a set of Lollars in and swapped the main pots for 250k and it sounded lovely. The original bridge pickup plus 1 meg pots could take the enamel off your teeth.

TTBZ

The Epiphone Jared James Nichols looks cool apart from the lame blues power plaque.

DrBob

TTBZ said:

The Epiphone Jared James Nichols looks cool apart from the lame blues power plaque.

Agreed, ditch that and go for the newer Epi headstock and I’d be all over it

hubobulous

For me its the N4, JS and what was the Suhr Modern Guthrie option

The N4 is simple, but distinctive, sounds awesome, has one of my fave necks and the Stephens Extended Cutaway is genious for high end acccess

The JS is simply one of the best body shapes. Coupled with the brilliant Fred/Paf Pro pickups, treble bleed and coil tap, there's nothing is doesn't do brilliantly

The Suhr Modern with GG switching is the most versatile guitar I know of. HSH so all sounds available, coil tap and blower switch. All easy to use and the Modern is a great, ergonomic body shape.

Honourable mention goes to the Jem. I've had a few and love the idea, but just doesn't suit me in terms of ergonomics. Brilliant guitar though and so distinctive

ThePrettyDamned

I truly think the St Vincent sig is equal to the buckethead one. Just mad and beautiful and unique and wonderful.

Buckethead one was a couple of grand at release, but seems collectible now...