"And guess what? When you buy one of these beauties, you'll sound nothing like the guy who has his name on the headstock. Wink"

Nobody's fool enough to believe that, even if one has the dough.

I'm not so sure about that

You never faced such situation as I understand

I've played professionally for a long long time. I, as well as my band mates have always worked on our own original sound. We modded our own guitars and amps to get what we wanted not what someone else was doing.

I have recently met musicians who would buy a sig guitar only to mod it anyway. Seems like a waste. You could take the cash from a sig model and create your own that no one else in the world has and build it with your own two hands. It's not difficult at all. I'd rather have my one of a kind. I'm not talking tweaking pup height or float on a trem.

signature guitars are fun. No i dont own one but i've got a couple loosely based on my heroes guitars. Lets face it, without Holly, marvin and such its unlikely fender would still be making guitars. I was told by a very good rockabilly guitarist the Hank marvin's strat was one of the first in the UK. Undoubtedly he fancied one after seeing buddy holly play one. Knopfler certainly wanted one after seeing Hank at work with his.

If anyone cares to dispel a myth feel free. I'm not from that era and only hazard guesses at best.

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He is right about it being one of the first. But the story on wikipedia is that Hank Marvin ordered the Stratocaster beliving that it was what James Burton used.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hank_Marvin

An artist signature is a good place to get "the sound" of your favorite artist.

Absolutely correct , just that Cliff Richard bought it for Hank who was a poor boy (at that time)

Hank's was supposedly the 1st in the UK. Awesome Player too. Rory Gallagher's 61 Strat was supposed to be the the first in Ireland.

I got my 72 Strat because of both Gallagher and Holly. I never wanted my Strat to look like Rory's and I knew I'd never sound like him. I can do a pretty decent Holly though. I came from a time of fewer choices and everyone was modding their guitars or having someone do it to be unique. Some worked out well, some didn't. don't own 5 Strats, I own one. It's not my #1, my 63 Supro is. I find it a lot more versatile than my beloved Strat. I have always played Fender amps though, but I'm thinking about a 5e3 kit that I will build PTP and mod to my liking. I had a 5e3 Deluxe many years ago and sold it for a more powerful amp. Talk about hind site.

My thing is make your own sig guitar and have your own sig sound.

There you go, near cast iron proof of our heroes emmulating their heroes. If being enamoured with another players sound is good enough for Hank and Mark, its certainly good enough for me. It doesnt mean i wont strive to build my own voicings though.

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Exactly. I don't try to sound like anyone but me. My musician friends can tell it's me sight unseen. I don't try to emulate anyone although I'm sure I do. We're all Magpies and Thieves anyway. Even if there was a Buddy Holly Strat in the mid 60's when I started playing, I doubt if I'd buy it. The Les Paul was one of the few signature guitars back then that I can remember.

They key is to steal from so many people that noone can tell where you got it from anymore. i think I am a mishmash of a bunch of playing styles, and that somehow I ended up just sounding like me.

I got a book called 'The Fender stratocaster handbook" as a gift, and the forward is written by hank Marvin. he recounts receiving his first strat, Ordered by Cliff,) and his early recordings with it, (Cliff richard's second album.)