I don't know if the power's that be at Fender actually read this forum or not, but here's a promotional idea for ya...

I have to admit that I've never been a fan of "Signature Series" instruments...I really got turned off by them the first time I played a Clapton Sig at my local Guitar Center's when they had first came out. No offense to the EC Sig owners out there, but all I could think was "man, what a horrid piece of crap...they want how much for this thing?", LOL!!! I feel even more strongly about the relics and the new road worn series of instruments...as I've said elsewhere, I really just don't understand why someone would pay extra for a "new" guitar that's already beat coming out of the box. I just don't get it (and hopefully never will). However, I might pay extra for an instrument that was actually played by Eric Clapton (or David Gilmore or Jimmy Vaughn, etc).....

Here's the idea...strike up a deal with some of these folks (the guys that are still living of course...SRV doesn't apply) to take a few new guitars out on tour with them. As I understand it, many of these guys tend to "stock up" on instruments before a tour anyways (see the recent John Mayer artical here on Fender.com). Send along a small video crew to film Clapton (or whoever) playing the specific guitar on a song on stage (with some close-up's of the guitar). One guitar, one song...that's all it would take. Since many of these guys do many shows during a tour, they could slip in 2 or 3 guitars for each show, playing one tune on each guitar and then once the tour is over, these guitars could be sold along with the video of the artist playing that specific guitar on stage (along with of course, a signed certificate of authenticity). While I could be wrong here, I think the marketing potential for such a series of instruments could be awesome! It seems to me that there's at least a few folks out here in guitar land who would pay -A LOT- more for even a basic Standard Strat for example that was actually played by Eric Clapton than they would for something like a Clapton Sig Series. Of course, if said instrument picked up a few nicks and scratches along the way...there's your "road worn mojo" to boot! Talk about braggin' rights? .

Anyways, it's just a thought. If someone at Fender should pick up on this idea, feel free to contact me at my email address to find out where to send the royalty checks or a guitar or amp or other endorsement to .

Peace,
Jim

I wish they would set up some kind of chat with some of the artists, and the forum here, maybe make an IRC channel.

also anyone think any celebs lurk here, or post under one of the handles we all know so well??

I know other celebs who lurk on their own forums and post under assumed names, so why not here?

I bought an early 90's Clapton Strat from a good music store. It was and is one of the best guitars I have ever played. It remains my main axe at every gig I play. Possibly the bad experience you had was down to the store and not the instrument. I have played instruments in GC that had rusty strings, poor setups, necks bowed, etc. I've had clerk there tell me they didn't have a certain model when it was hanging on the wall behind them. I've also had GC clerks go out of their way to help me find something I wanted or remember me a month later when I came back and tell me the piece I was looking for last time was in. So don't necessarily blame the instrument for a bad experience. The Fender signature series guitars that I have tried have all been great - but I tried all of them at music stores and not GC.

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Frank
A legend in my own mind.

Its a common but unproven rumour that john mayer does sometimes use the fender forums (as well as other forums) under a pseudonym.

I gotta agree with you Lomitus, i dont like signature series guitars either. But every guitar i ever played needs some adjustment to suit my requirements and i bare this in mind when i try em out. The clapton in particular is a very specific instrument, in that the pickups boost and neck shape are an acquired taste. Whereas something like the knopfler or robert cray is much more generic.
On the 'as played by' suggestion it would definitely sell if it was priced right. A guitar handled by hendrix for a very short while and never recorded was bought 2 recently by some fella in some band for his girlfriend. He paid £13000 for a handled by guitar which if you take it as a guideline figure prices it out of the range of most starry eyed kids. Who would be the main target consumer group. Anyone being able to afford those kinds of prices would surely buy a tribute or in rare cases the 'as made for' guitars.
Certainly 'as played by' guitars would sell well and relatively cheaper if fmic keep the offer away from the likes of clapton and mayer, and target a younger audience with guitars endorsed by fresh artists. FMIC could even write it into the endorsement contract along the lines of you must play xxx number of guitars a year.

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[quote="nikininja"] Something of that sort has already been done with a Clapton Crashocaster, and a Mayer Limited Edition..although these were contest prizes. I wonder does our esteemed colleague have any idea what the price point for such an instrument might be? "When he's ready" may never happen.

On the subject of the signature series, you know my feelings about the '89 Clapton I acquired on Ebay, and my Gilmour. Strictly a matter of taste mate but, in the opinion of many, that Clapton is the most versatile axe in the entire Fender Stratocaster stable.

.....and if Niki didn't think so, he would have taken the trouble of modding one of his with a Clapton preamp.

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"Another day in paradise!"

here's a marketing idea... give me a new strat
and i'll tell everyone about it

In regards to my comments about the Clapton Sig Series...

Please let me say that as I'm sure many of you are aware, the "feel" of a guitar is really a personal thing and as I and others have said, a great portion of the feel comes down the the guitar's neck. Very simply, I'm a "C" neck kind of guy...I really hate the proverbial "baseball bats" and/or especially the "deep V's". So that said, that was I'm sure the very first thing that turned me off the Clapton Sig Series. To be honest, I don't really remember how the instrument actually sounded plugged into an amp...I simply couldn't get past the neck. I would also add that I'm sure I also had some sort of preconception about the instrument as well. I have been a Clapton fan for...well...all of my life. EC, David Gilmore and Pete Townsend are perhaps the singles greatest influences on my playing. At the risk of sounding rather cliche, EC is simply one of my "heros". So when I first heard about the Clapton Sig Series, I had gotten tremendously excited...after all what real Clapton fan would't be excited over an instrument that was basically designed to Clapton's specs right? Now even then I knew this instrument wouldn't make me "sound like Clapton" and I was aware that a person's sound comes from their own fingers and heart, but still...what can I say, I got sucked in by the marketing! LOL! So aside from my own personal tastes, this mental preconception of what I may have built up in my mind as being "the perfect guitar" was simply shattered and crushed.

Yes I certainly agree that a guitar's setup can certainly play a factor in how any given instrument feels and I am all too aware that many places, particularly like Guitar Center don't do setups on many their instruments any more. I'm one of those people who's VERY picky about my setup anyways and whenever I buy a new (or used) instrument, the first thing I do is sit down and set it up the way that -I- like to play it. I do certainly take this into account when I'm looking at a given guitar. In this case, it was the setup at all...it was simply the feel of the instrument and specifically the neck.

To further drive the point home, I later tried one of the SRV sig's and pretty much had the same response...I really hated the way it felt. After the Clapton Sig, I didn't have as much of the preconception, but was still generally disappointed with the model as a whole...just not my cup of tea as it were. After that, I pretty much just "gave up" on the Sig series...there really just haven't been a lot of new models that have interested me by the sig name to begin with. I'm not a Malmstien fan -at all-, Cray and Buddy Guy are cool, but I'm not that big a fan, the Jimmy Vaughn strat just reminded me of an average MIM...nice, but nothing to write home about, etc.. I will say that I -am- interested in this new Gilmore sig series (although I think they tend to be ugly looking buggers! LOL!) but honestly, given a choice between a Clapton or SRV sig series and a basic MIM like I own, I'd really take the MIM. Very simply here, I know that everyone's tastes differ and often differ greatly on this issue. Some folks like having a chunk of a 2x4 bolted to their guitar body and others like a guitar neck that's so thin that it's barely there at all (such as a Rick). At 6'2" and 230 lbs, for a "big guy" I have rather small hands, so the now common C shape just feels so right to me.

Also, please let me say that my comments were not/are not intended as a slam in anyway at all against the Fender Sig Series or those who respectively own one. I just wanted to clarify my own thoughts on this...I personally simply do not like them. Again I am a picky individual...I also don't like LP's or most archtops, I'm not really fond of teles (I don't care for that "twang"), etc., etc.. The most important thing for -any- guitar player or instrumentalist in general is to simply be happy with the instrument they have...the rest is all subjective .

Peace,
Jim

owning expensive and cheap guitars i can definately see the appeal of the humble MIM. I worry nowhere near as much about playing a £200 guitar as i do a £1200 one. Also from a modding point of view, a MIM is a far more attractive proposition than a VR/SIG/CS.

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