How much is a signature on a guitar actually worth?

HAL9000

Some years ago, Art Buchwald told the story in the New York Herald Tribune of a  Hollywood producer whose hobby was collecting rare books. He went on constantly about his hobby until all his friends and colleagues were bored of hearing about it. One day, one of his friends decided to play a joke on him.

When the subject of old books came up, the friend mentioned an old Bible he'd just thrown out as it was so old and smelly. The producer asked if he knew who the printer was.

'Guten something or other - I don't really remember' replied the friend.

'Could it be Gutenberg?' asked the producer.

'Yes, that's it'.

'You need to find it right away' exclaimed the producer 'its one of the first books ever printed and it's worth about half a million dollars!'

'Wow!' said the friend getting all excited. Then the excitement was replaced with a look of disappointmend. 'Actually this one wouldn't have been worth anything - some dude called Martin Luther had scribbled his name all over it.'

SteveRobinson

Babones said:

My first thought when I see a signature on a guitar is, does it come off easily? Any sig on the front of the headstock is a no-no. I don't care who it is.

Les Paul?

viz

If it’s a signature guitar it’s quite nice to have the artist sign it. I enjoy meeting people and having a chat and if they’re good enough to sign something then that’s nice as a memento.

It’s more valuable if the artist owned it rather than just signed it I guess?

I wouldn’t normally pay for a signature but I suppose if it was like 10-15% extra I might, especially if it was something special. Actually I have a teeny marshall amp from ebay signed by James Marshall - never met him, but it was cheaper than some of the other 2nd hand ones! 


The question is, how much would a Steve Vai fan pay for a £1200 Ibanez Jem if it had been signed on the headstock by Steve Vai (assuming (s)he was in the market for one of course)?

Bridgehouse

Maybe we should do a fretboard signed guitar - get all the regulars to sign it and flog it for £1800 on eBay. 

@ICBM could sign the headstock. I’ll sign by the bridge etc etc

Bound to be some mug out there who would buy it I reckon. 

Wolfetone

SteveRobinson said:

Babones said:

My first thought when I see a signature on a guitar is, does it come off easily? Any sig on the front of the headstock is a no-no. I don't care who it is.

Les Paul?

HaHa Good work fella! :-)

I've always wanted Harley Benton's monicker.

Blueingreen

Some autographs are valuable.  So an autograph on a guitar could be valuable.  Will depend on who it is, backstory to the signature etc.  And valuation will never be an exact science.

But generally the signature would need to be by someone very famous or important and you'd need evidence showing the signature is genuine.  I suspect the list of people who could have added significant value to a guitar by signing it is very short. 

carlos

viz said:

The question is, how much would a Steve Vai fan pay for a £1200 Ibanez Jem if it had been signed on the headstock by Steve Vai (assuming (s)he was in the market for one of course)?

A non-guitar playing acquaintance bought a Jem just so he could take it to a gig and get Vai to sign it. I think he had some kind of backstage access tickets or something. He then put it in a display case on his man cave. He was, and is, filthy rich so this was just a little thing for him. Sorry, I added nothing to the conversation, but I guess the signature was worth the £1,200 or whatever he paid for the guitar.

carlos

Blueingreen said:

But generally the signature would need to be by someone very famous or important 

... and relevant. When I was young and foolish I had Yngwie sign the pickguard of my Ibanez jazz box. Why did I do that???

viz

carlos said:

Blueingreen said:

But generally the signature would need to be by someone very famous or important 

... and relevant. When I was young and foolish I had Yngwie sign the pickguard of my Ibanez jazz box. Why did I do that???

Haha awesome. I have a guitar amp signed by Rat Scabies. 

Parker

guitars4you said:

 or Kylie Pants valuations

Mmm....Kylie pants! 

axisus

It's worth what someone pays for it. 

I would have no interest in signatures on a guitar. I wouldn't buy a guitar if they were showing and I couldn't remove them with lighter fluid. I would want to deduct the cost of the bottle of lighter fluid from the sale.

Blueingreen

axisus said:

It's worth what someone pays for it. 

I would have no interest in signatures on a guitar. I wouldn't buy a guitar if they were showing and I couldn't remove them with lighter fluid. I would want to deduct the cost of the bottle of lighter fluid from the sale.

Even if the signature said "Thanks Scotty for all your hard work. Elvis?"

Babones

SteveRobinson said:

Babones said:

My first thought when I see a signature on a guitar is, does it come off easily? Any sig on the front of the headstock is a no-no. I don't care who it is.

Les Paul?

Yeah, the 2015s 

NelsonP

I bought a  Gark Clark Jr signature Epi Casino. Paid extra for it and everything.

And it turns out it hasn't even got his signature on it.

;-)

EricTheWeary

Anyone remember the story about Alvin Stardust's guitar? Very cheap acoustic signed by various original rock'n'roll artists, The Beatles, The Who,etc. His widow was offered £400k for it.

clarkefan

SteveRobinson said:

Babones said:

My first thought when I see a signature on a guitar is, does it come off easily? Any sig on the front of the headstock is a no-no. I don't care who it is.

Les Paul?

I actually once had a Les Paul with Les Paul's autograph on the scratchplate.  I didn't like the way it looked and wiped it.  Ooops...

axisus

Blueingreen said:

axisus said:

It's worth what someone pays for it. 

I would have no interest in signatures on a guitar. I wouldn't buy a guitar if they were showing and I couldn't remove them with lighter fluid. I would want to deduct the cost of the bottle of lighter fluid from the sale.

Even if the signature said "Thanks Scotty for all your hard work. Elvis?"

Yes. I have no interest in any signature unless it's signed personally for me and in my presence, and I wouldn't want it on a guitar.

Schnozz

I think common sense is to get it signed on the removable/replaceable scratch plate and not the actual guitar.