The reason I'm asking is because I'm looking to buy a new guitar and both the Kurt Cobain Jaguar and Mustang are some of my considerations. I certainly don't want to be considered a "wannabe" but damn those guitars are cool!

If the model's specific features serve your purpose(s) then by all means, go for it.

But personally, there's only one name I'm interested in on a Fender guitar......

And that's Leo's.



Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

If the guitar is what you want and you like how it plays who cares what anyone else thinks. The artist guitars are nice guitars.

i'm looking at the mustang really hard myself. if the jaguar were a little cheaper i'd be considering it, too... I agree with Tbazzone, who cares what anyone thinks. if you like the guitar, like how it plays, sounds, feels, looks.... then that's all that matters. personally, i've always been a huge nirvana fan and always had some huge guitar envy for kurt's competition mustang. the only thing that bothers me about the one they're selling is that they didn't give it the matching headstock like kurt's. oh well. when i win the lottery i'll buy the real one, right? lol

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~Dan

It depends on the artist sig guitar it is, and the price and the features.

Some are decently priced, others are not, and some only make sense if you're in a tribute band for that guitarist/bassist

Although ultimately it's up to you.

If you like it, you can afford it, and you'll play it--go for it.

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It wasn't Willy-Nilly, it was at crows.

I think many of the Artist Signature guitars are overrated and most are overpriced. It's a good deal for the artist and a better deal for Fender, but not so much for you and me.

JMO since you asked.

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Dennis in CR
Rockin' since 1963

In my personal opinion.....(and we all know what opinions are like, so take it for what it's worth)......

Most all artist signature models come with various features you or your guitar tech can install with relative ease, so unless having that particular artist's name on the headstock is important enough to spend the extra money, then by all means buy it, and enjoy it....

I've only purchased one instrument that was an artist sig model it was a Geddy Lee Jazz Bass from 10 years ago, and the only reason I purchased it was because it was the only Jazz Bass in the shop with a maple fretboard, and I wanted a Bass with a maple fretboard.

I like the Jeff Beck Strat, but the only real defining feature on that guitar is the roller nut, and that it's available in Surf Green with a rosewood fretboard, so why not just order a '65 vintage in Surf Green and have a good tech install a roller nut......

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American Standard Strat
American Standard Tele
Custom Vibrolux Reverb
Fulltone RTO
Boss TU-3

the only two i've really seriously looked at is the kurt cobain mustang (which i'm hopefully buying thursday) and the j mascis jazzmaster from a few years ago. the big deal with both of those was the finish on them. short of ordering a custom guitar or paying someone with more talent than myself, i'd have no hope of having that purple sparkle finish. and with the mustang, as far as i know they haven't made a mustang with the competition stripe since like 72 or so..? yeah, i guess i could get a stock mustang and add the pickups and the stripe and all, but that'd end up being more money in the end.
i do agree on most signature guitars though, especially signature strats. most of them are just a different pickup or two and a pearl pickguard.
but my theory with any guitar is always play it first. everything else is secondary to how it feels and sounds.

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~Dan

Sometimes a signature Fender has features you've always wanted, like the Mark Hoppus Bass. I guess they're even better now, with the new design and all.

Unless you want the features of the guitar or an urber fan of the artist, I think they are over rated. Don't get me wrong, there are a few Artist's series guitars I would love to have. I have found in my years that you can hot rod a guitar to your specifications and be just as happy with it, and maybe save some money.

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RK

2007 Fender Highway 1
2012 American Deluxe
2015 MIM Dave Murray HHH
2010 Fender Blacktop
1987 Fender Avalon Acoustic
2012 Marshall DSL 15 watt head

My first "Artist Tribute" guitars were my Epiphone EJ-160-E John Lennon model and my 1965 John Lennon Casino,which I have to admit that I bought them because of my immense love for John and his music and every other aspect of him that have been a huge influence on me and my life. When I heard and played these guitars I found that the both were exceptional instruments and both had the real Lennon/Beatles vibe to their tone.The Casino however is absolutely the best made guitar that I've ever played-it is absolutely flawless and it's set up for the action to be no more than 1/16 " all the way down the neck without a sign of buzzing.The Casino is my favourite guitar of all 30,except of course for my '65 "L" series Strat.It is also the most comfortable and the easiest to play.

My next "Artist" guitar was my Jimmie Vaughn that I picked after trying 9 or 10 new Strats.I was willing to pay as much as $3,000 for a new Strat but even though it was one of the cheapest that I'd tried out,it was the one that spoke to me.The Jimmie Vaughn with its Tex-Mex pups had the tone that was closest to my '65 Strat and that's what really spoke to me.Even though I always like Jimmie Vaughn's playing I was never fanatical enough to make that a criterion for buying the guitar.The V neck took some getting used to but the guitar absolutely screams when run through my Marshall JCM 800 stack and has a real Hendrixesque sound to it.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

i LOVE that Kurt Cobain Mustang !! i don't own one but it's a great guitar, comfortable neck so nice to play
& it's been very cool seeing my left handed best friend playing BOTH his Lefty Kurt Cobain guitars he's got the Jaguar too !!

I WISH FENDER WOULD PLEASE MAKE A BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN TRIBUTE ESQUIRE !!
I would buy that at any price

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"I'll always be a Fender girl!"

First, look past the artists name, and then look at what the guitar is comprised of. Find out what makes that particular model specific to that artist (pickups, specs, features, etc.), and then find out how much it would cost to modify a similar guitar to be just like the signature guitar. The difference in cost is how much you're spending just to have the artist's name attached to the guitar.

I've tried a SRV Strat and really liked it. The neck profile and pickups are the most expensive features to try and copy. That neck unfinished would probably run $250 US. Plus if you wanted to be picky you would need a lefty bridge. And some have special wiring you would need to change (no-load pots, volume kits, etc...). If I found a good deal on the one I wanted I would rather buy it, unless the purpose was a project for the sake of building it. It's not so cheap to build a really nice guitar unless you have the skill to build the most expensive parts from raw materials. Even then, nice cuts of wood are not so cheap anymore.

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My ability to spell is in direct proportion to the amount of coffee I've had.

Yeah and sometimes an artist has removed all the unnecessary features too, which is what I liked with my SY Lee Ranaldo JazzMaster.

Personaly I could do without the Signature on the back of the headstock, but I could not resist the Translucent Saphire Blue Color with a headstock matching the Black anodized pickguard, and the WRHB and most importantly the lack of all the extra knobs and switches which I found unnecessary IMO on a Jazzmaster.

It felt like someone had built that model just for me. So I had to have it.

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GUITAR: Fender USA JazzMaster.
BASS: Fender USA 58'AVRI
AMP: Fender USA SuperSonicTwin - Blonde.