Signature and pre-worn guitars: Gimmie a Break!

I've always been interested in signature guitar models, mainly because of my interest in some of the unique features specified by each artist. On occasion I've played a few just to check them out. Eric Clapton's V contour neck and special tone control, John Mayer's mid-scooped pickups and Dave Murray's DiMarzio humbuckers are interesting insights into these artist's special requirements. And to be fair to the maker of those guitars and bring some others into the picture, models bearing George Lynch's name and Zakk Wylde's signature are equally interesting. So while I've always been interested in these guitars, because I'm a curious kind of enthusiast, I have never spent the money on one and never will. So at the risk of drawing some contrasting points of view, I'll elaborate on my position, which includes two reasons why I'll never buy one, the one and only reason I could possibly understand why people do and what I did as an alternative.

First and foremost, I believe that the price of American made guitars by the largest and very familiar companies are unjustifiably expensive. And in many cases, the signature guitars in my opinion are no better and often so odd and unique in their appointments, to meet the specs of the people whose signatures grace the headstock, that these guitars are even less valuable to the average player and especially any player trying to achieve their own style and tone. Clearly its the player's name that commands the highest prices and not because the guitar is any better than its more vanilla albeit more useful cousin.

Secondly, as a guitar player, I'm more concerned about being myself than trying to be someone else. If a buyer of these guitars is doing so in an attempt to play or sound more like the artist, then I'd say practice more. If your equipment is even close to the type of equipment your idol plays (meaning single coild guitar versus a humbucker guitar), then let me tell you that a guitar player's tone comes first from their hands. Yes, equipment is an important part, but I can assure you that buying an SRV guitar is not going to make you play or sound like the legend. You'd probably have a better chance striking a deal down at the crossroads. ;-)

Now, I can see a reason why someone would pay the ridiculous amounts of money these greedy companies charge for these guitars, and that's if you're a fairly wealthy person who simply wants a collectors item. If I had unlimited funds, I might line the walls of my house with these guitars, but when it comes to actually playing guitar, I'll play my own guitar, thank you very much!

So lastly, I offer an alternate approach. As I said, I've always been intrigued by these guitars, especially if I've been a big fan of the artist. Most recently, I became very interested in Dave Murry's guitar. Not only because I've been a lifetime Iron Maiden fan, but because one of my most versatile and favorite guitars was a Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster that I modified into a Humbucker-Single-Humbucker guitar with a piezo bridge. So wanting to get back to a guitar like the one I once had, I actually thought about buying the Dave Murray guitar. I really like the way it looked, but soon realized that I could only get it with a maple fretboard, yet I wanted rosewood. I liked the hum-single-hum setup, but I knew I'd rip out the DiMarzio pickups and put in something better. The 5-way switch I would require is only a 3-way on his guitar and the neck was only 21 frets when I need 22. So for $1800 I would have to make hundreds of dollars of modifications, alter the guitar from stock, which would no doubt destroy the resale value and I couldn't even really use the 21 fret neck. The alternative? I made my own.

The platform I chose was the latest version of the Highway One HSS Stratocaster (alder body with 22 jumbo frets on rosewood). I replaced the pickguard with an H-S-H from Warmoth, chiselled out the neck single pickup cavity for a humbucker, installed a Graph Tech Ghost piezo bridge and Acoustiphonic preamp, installed a set of WCR American Steele humbucker pickups and a Lindy Fralin Blues Special in the middle with 500k pots and treble retention circuit, wired the 5-way to split the buckers in positions 2 and 4 and installed a mini switch that gives me mag pickups, piezo pickups or both simultaneously (in stereo) and have possibly one of the most tone-rich and versatile guitars on the planet. And my total investment is still significantly less than the Dave Murray guitar. And wait until I post a pic; it looks just like his guitar (all of the mods are the same colors as his guitar and I even installed the chrome pickup rings - really sharp looking guitar). As a matter of fact, I brought the guitar into my outstanding local music store (http://www.parkwaymusic.com/) and the very qualified guitar playing, tone aware salesman on the other side of the counter looked at my guitar and said: "Oh, a Dave Murray..." I took great pride in correcting him!







Oh, and the last part of this peice has to do with the latest trend of paying for guitars that have been pre-beat up! Are you kidding me? Buy your own guitar, play the hell out of it and it will eventually get worn in, by you! It will tell your story and nobody else's. And with the recent trend for some makers to go back to the ultra thin nitrocellulose finishes on moderately priced guitars, like my Dave Murray inspired Highway One, it really won't be that long before the guitar looks and feels very broken in...by actually playing the guitar!

God bless and play a lot!