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It used to be that you had to really earn a signature guitar by years of service to the music industry and by creating something unique. These days it seems you just need to be in a popular band in order to put your name on a guitar that is hardly any different to the original stock version. The guitar brands are cashing in, just check out Fender and ESP who have 25 and 22 signature guitars respectively.

So what makes a signature guitar worth buying? Well the original signature model was the Gibson Les Paul. Les Paul nailed his design so perfectly that in 50 years little has changed apart from hardware and production advances. The shape and finishes are still as they were. The only weird thing about the Les Paul is that it somehow became a model rather than a signature guitar which means that now you get signature Les Paul’s, a signature signature model! This is a way of Gibson constantly cashing in on the original by altering the neck profile or pickup selection slightly and brand it a Slash Les Paul, whack a nice fat price tag on it and watch the money pour in. So would I buy a Slash Les Paul, no probably not. Likewise with Fender, replace the pickups and scratch plate and call it a John Mayer Strat, bingo! Instant income from JM fans who could have bought an American strat and replaced the parts themselves and saved a few dollars.

What really makes a signature worth the money is when that guitar has been through a long development cycle with the guitarist yet isn’t just tailored to one individual. The Les Paul again is a perfect example of this, something that has been constantly refined for years and suits most guitarists and styles. What doesn’t make sense to me is a guitar such as the ESP Jeff Hanneman model http://www.espguitars.com/guitars_jeff.html which is basically a stock guitar with EMG’s and a fancy camo paint job, or maybe that is the point? Maybe the paint job IS the signature… some would probably argue this case, I personally think that this is a cop out. Similarly the Matt Bachand Ibanez signature really seems like a waste of money to me.

So why did I buy a signature guitar (pictured above)? Well for 2 reasons. Firstly I have been a fan of Ibanez guitars since I bought my RG550DX back in the early 90’s and secondly because I have been a fan of Joe Satriani for 20 years. AHA! I hear you say, you bought it because you were a fan, not because of the product development cycle! Wrong. That is exactly the reason I bought my JS1000. This guitar is something that has been refined for 20 years by Satch and used on tour year after year. Unlike Vai, Joe is happy to use new guitars not favour one old one in particular and this is the important factor. From the years of touring and studio recording Joe has sculpted what was once a humble Ibanez 540 Radius into something that is an incredibly versatile, comfortable and amazing sounding guitar. The multi-radius neck gives the guitar a vintage feel when you are playing in first position and yet makes shredding easy up the top end of the fretboard. The bridge pickup was designed by Joe. The ability to split the coils on both humbuckers enables all the clean and distorted tones you will ever need and if that wasn’t enough there is hi-pass filter when you pull the volume pot maintains high frequencies at low volumes which is a great feature. This guitar in my opinion is a perfect example of a Signature guitar and worth the money. In fact, they are actually pretty reasonably priced compared to the Ibanez JEM which in Australia will set you back $4,795.00!

In the end though it all comes down to personal preference and there are enough Dimebag and Randy Rhoads fans out there in order to keep Dean and Jackson flogging their signature models even after death. The Dimebag Signature series currently has 33 different models… I mean come on. I bet Fender are kicking themselves that they didn’t get a Jimi Hendrix Signature model out before his untimely death!

UPDATE: This article sparked quite a debate over at the Fender Discussion Page Forum where some very good points were made so I thought I would include a few that I agree with:

Fred132: The JM (John Mayer Signature Strat) had a combination of color & features not available elsewhere off the rack. - although you could modify a standard model this is a major point for a lot of people.
yellowrubberduck: if anyone buys or doesn’t buy a sig guitar because of the sig, they are not focused on the instrument - another good point, are you buying for the name or because you love the instrument?
A.M.G. You simply like the guitar the artist designed. - which comes back to the personal preference thing again.

A couple of people mention how they would buy their signature models (namely Jeff Beck and Robert Cray) even if they had no name on the headstock which is a sign of a great signature model.
Thanks to everyone over at FDP - Forum for continuing the discussion!

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