I concur. It has nothing to do with the name on the headstock, In fact, Clapton, years ago, asked that the name be removed from his personal guitars, and the Custom Shop versions carry it on the back side. It's most relevant to specs particular to the instrument which are not found on production gear. Some features may find their way to a production instrument, however, Lace Sensor pickups, for example, once a stable of the Strat-Plus series, can now only be had on the Buddy Guy MIA. The only other guitars offered with active electronics is the Clapton. It appears that they have D/C'd the 12 dB midboost which, I believe, used to be in the Powerhouse Stratocaster (which, interestingly enought, was the first version of the Buddy Guy Artist Series Guitar nearly a decade ago.)

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"Another day in paradise!"

Most signatures offer little in the way of extra features and are way over priced. Having said that, I do own an Yngwie Malmsteen Strat, and that was well worth the price. It has a scalloped high gloss large headstock neck. A brass nut. Three stacked single coil Dimarzio pickups, so..... yes this is a unique strat, so worth the cash.

As I've said before....."Different strokes...."

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"Another day in paradise!"

These discussions also make me think about how guys would build a strat that would be 10 times as cool as a Fender Sig on Warmoth, but still be looking for a fender neck on ebay or something because they couldn't fathom the idea of a blank headstock or one missing the Fender logo. It's that prestige of being a "fender guy" that unfortunately most people will never get over.

..not sure if I'm totally on topic.



...ignore this post.

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-Kc
"Payin' dues."

Warmoth makes some mighty fine necks Then again I am more concerned about have a good playing axe!

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

Overall I'd say get the non-signature one--but if you find one on sale--consider it.

The extra may be worth it if it has different parts, is a custom shop, you're buying it for collector's value (well that may or may not be a good idea.-especially if there's ever a Paul Stanly Strat ) or you're in a tribute band for that guitarist and/or their band. Oh, and maybe if it's for a business that uses it for display, and can write it off.

But for most of us you're probably better off getting a regular one, and maybe modding it.

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

Very true, but pickup changes or neck modifications can get damn expensive. I know because ...I want to scallop and gloss the neck of my 7 string and change the pickups and it will be $600 bucks!!!!

Some well executed pinstripe art should take care of that kind of neurosis. Seems to me it would personalize the guitar way beyond anything the Fender trademark could offer.

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"Another day in paradise!"

I think there are probably 3 kinds of people, generally, who buy artist series guitars:

1 - Collectors who keep 'em in cases and hang onto them for their future value, or who play 'em, but consider it a pose to have a real "name" guitar.

2 - Players who are also HUGE fans of a particular artist and figure it's a great place to start building a tone they truly love, or possibly find psychological inspiration to play the best they can. Or, maybe, who play in a tribute act and see it as an extra bit of authenticity.

3 - Players for whom that particular set of features is also their ideal Strat and are glad it's offered in that package.


I guess they do cost a wee bit extra; the artists tend to make a royalty on their name, don't they?
Some feel better with the name on there (prestige? Affirmation of one's status?) while others don't care what's on there and would just as happily play a Squier if it feels and plays well enough.
But I do think the "trickle-down" effect can be very useful at times, ie if a feature instigated by (or with) an artist is successful on the guitar and/or admired by many players, it can find its way onto other Fenders and be available to lots more players as a result.

Personally, I don't have a Jeff Beck or Yngwie Malmsteen Strat yet, just regular US, MIM & Japanese ones, but I'd have either - or both - as I see them as really nice Strats that I love the feel and sound of and do offer a real great combination of features.

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" The spoken form is in fact a very restrained representation of what is possible in the musical language. "
- Robert Fripp

[quote="Glenno!"]


An interesting departure was the Gilmour project. The guitar is unsigned. The artist originally felt that producing a replica of his prized stage guitar was, in his words, 'daft'. In the end, not only did they do a relic replica, and an NOS version as well., but separated the prices by about 1000K and not much different from Masterbuilt pricing, at the insistance of David. (Unlike some of the others with respect to cost.) Much of your analysis is likely reflected in the motivation to purchase it. There was great activity in the threads on the Forum in the year preceding the guitar's release. The bottom line, however, is that it is a great instrument, artist history not withstanding.

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"Another day in paradise!"

Whilst i dont find the idea of some other fella's signature on the headstock (having leo's never worried me though) artist series guitars are a great way to get expected results. Lets face a simple fact, theres a lot offered by the artist/signature series. Today there is variation after variation of strat. When the whole artist thing started there were nowhere near as many. A standard, a 50's or 60's reissue,a ultra or a HM for american guitars wasnt it? Neck and pickup options were limited too, though in the case of pickups the replacement market was just starting to boom.

I'd offer that artist/signature guitars paved the way for the plethoria of strat options we have now. Ok japan offered more variations but then again the japanese market has always been much more diverse than western markets.

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No no and no

Right! Example: The Elite Stratocaster was a test bed for Fender in the area of active electronics until Eric Clapton sought out a replacement for his 'Blackie'....in a guitar which had more 'stuff'. That guitar evolved into the The Signature Series, an era which really began with him notwithstanding our prior dicussions and the small differences in contract dates and production date with Malmsteen. It was a really new electronics concept...a Strat Plus with a preamp; a different neck profile, minus a roller nut; vintage bridge, and a blocked trem rather than a hardtail. Truly a singular guitar, with a long track record for Fender, now into its second reincarnation as far as pickups are concerned.

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"Another day in paradise!"

Doc on a side note concerning our many queries on EC's guitars. I read I read somewhere that EC himself isn't concerned at all with pickups as long as they give the desired results. His sound is primarily guitar into amp and whatever conditioning gear Mr Dickson uses back of the stage. His sound is primarily governed from the mixing desk.

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No no and no

I was given to understand that they moved away from the Lace Sensors because they were looking for a better response on the high end. You know that I have always held that the 'flavor' of his tone was the end product of a signal processing recipe, the details of which have never been made public.

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"Another day in paradise!"

Then in your case--it might be worth it?

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