I went into PMT in Bristol the other day and I saw that they had a PRS SE billy Martin, used for £116. This is an absolutely great guitar for the money, and essentially a PRS SE standard 22 in all but name. That, and the glow in the dark bat in the middle of the fretboard...
I've normally got no qualms about guitars with artist endorsements that I'm not fans of (I covet the Mikey way mustang bass for example), provided they offer something different from the main line but I can't help but think that so many guitars lose half their customers by incorporating some non-removable decoration into the design. Also id be pretty bummed if I'd bought a guitar with half the resale value of the vanilla main line model...
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Plus, as said above, you can pick up some sigs cheaper because they're not cool. Just put up with the inlay, or have it redone? No idea what that would cost.
Upgraded pickups devalue prs SE guitars as well. My mate got a Tremonti se with prs winged tuners and a Duncan jb in the bridge for 150 ish quid, maybe even less.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
I'm a Gilmour fan but why would I spend four figures buying his Signature Strat when I could build a very similar spec partscaster (which after all is all the black Strat is) for less.
And I fucking hate soppy inlays of signatures, bats or any other bollocks that are just marketing cods that associates the guitar with the player's "brand".
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
And the "monkey lord approved" text on the back of the headstock.
A Les Paul with a marginally different spec isn't a sig, it's a money spinner and an excuse to charge more for what should be interchangeable features on a standard model.
Imo.
It's not that their necessarily bad, they're sometimes better than standard. But if they are widely accepted as being better, should that not be a standard model? Example - mascis squier. Great guitar. Just have 2 versions - one with the right bridge, one with the Gibson bridge. That way, you lose the sig but keep the great guitar. Possibly even lower the price...
It's different with accurate relic copies of star guitars, but other than that, I think a sig guitar should be different - more often than not, though, it's a well set up version of an off the shelf that they've changed the pickups in.