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Players that don't warrant a signature bass


Barking Spiders

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I bought a Jack Casady bass once purely because I liked the bass. His bands never really grabbed me. Signature basses kinda pass me by - if you want to be like Dee Dee Ramone, just buy a white P-bass and job done.

I get the artists they choose because it is based on popularity. I guess they aren't likely to be picking sig models based on one hit (or no hit) wonders from the past! 

As a cheeky add on, about 99% of forum members would be a poor choice for a signature model, simply because we keep changing basses every 5 minutes! :laugh1:

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1 hour ago, Burrito said:

...about 99% of forum members would be a poor choice for a signature model, because we keep changing basses every 5 minutes!

Oh, come on. I'd be an ideal candidate for a sig bass, me. I can just see the Fender boardroom now... 'There's a completely unknown middle-aged bloke in Sydenham who plays bass now and then. He is fat. Let's do him a signature!'

Edited by discreet
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2 hours ago, Barking Spiders said:

Surely signature models are targeted at more experienced players who know their instruments and are not gonna be swayed by marketing gimmickry

???

Signature models ARE marketing gimmickry.

 

Edit: Hiram got here first.

Edited by Bolo
Hiram got here first
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 I bought a Jack Casady bass once purely because I liked the bass. His bands never really grabbed me. Signature basses kinda pass me by - if you want to be like Dee Dee Ramone, just buy a white P-bass and job done.

I get the artists they choose because it is based on popularity. I guess they aren't likely to be picking sig models based on one hit (or no hit) wonders from the past! 

Agree. I have two signature basses: a black Matt Freeman P-Bass and a slightly pink Jazz with stack knobs. I didn't know who Matt Freeman was (I still don't really) but it was the best P-Bass I could find for the money and loved the bass. I'm not a RHCP fan although I can see that their bassist is very talented. Again, not bought because of who it represents but because I liked that particular bass I tried in Andertons. It was just rather special. Very comfortable and seemed to play itself. 

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It's amazing what some people consider to be 'deserved'......because these men and women had their multi-million dollar careers handed to them on a plate?! Just because they don't play jazz a million miles an hour, doesn't mean they haven't grafted as hard, or harder, than some bedroom prodigy.

the internet has changed that a little and put the emphasis back on ability a little bit, but there are still those grafters, who started out in toilet venues, on $5 a day, 10 years ago who equally deserve some recognition for their craft.

Si

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11 hours ago, Sibob said:

It's amazing what some people consider to be 'deserved'......because these men and women had their multi-million dollar careers handed to them on a plate?! Just because they don't play jazz a million miles an hour, doesn't mean they haven't grafted as hard, or harder, than some bedroom prodigy.

the internet has changed that a little and put the emphasis back on ability a little bit, but there are still those grafters, who started out in toilet venues, on $5 a day, 10 years ago who equally deserve some recognition for their craft.

Si

They have got recognition, loads of punters shelling out for their albums, merch, gigs plus broadcast royalties, freebies from sponsors and advertisers. What more recognition do they need?

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In my bass history, i've had just the one sig bass. It was a Rudy Sarzo peavey, active job.  I  didnt even know the name of Sarzo. I still dont know who  he played for or if he is ( or was ? ) any good.

One thing i can say, and the reason i bought one, is the build quality was simply stunning. In fact, over the short 2 year period they built the RS, it was their flagship model. Around £1500 in the UK if you could find one.

Edited by fleabag
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I`ve had a few sig basses, all have been good but the best one for me  - and one which I sold only last weekend - was the Fender Dee Dee Ramone Precision. Others were Mike Dirnt Precision, Matt Freeman Precision, and Duff McKagan Jazz Bass Special. The quality on all of the instruments was great, in all honesty the only one I bought for association to the artist was the Duff. The others were bought purely on the fact that they were Precisions - a must - and that the colour schemes were right.

But back to the Dee Dee, why did I like it so much. Well yes love The Ramones, but at the time I bought it I just wanted a white/black/maple Precision, and that one came along so I snapped it up, wasn`t fussed about the sig. The neck was nice and chunky, and the bass sounded great. Really well put together, aside from no thru-body stinging it would be hard to tell it apart from a US Precision. Was Dee Dee that prolific a player, maybe, maybe not. Did Fender get it right, in terms of playability yes, in terms of colour debatable, as many shots I`ve seen of his bass it sported a red/tort scratchplate not black. But as a punk icon he was recognisable for his low slung Precision as much as his "1-2-3-4" call.

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Does Rob DeLeo warrant one?

I barely know Stone Temple Pilots' back catalogue; to be honest when I bought my Schecter Model T, I had no idea that it was effectively* DeLeo's signature bass, let alone that he'd led the work on building the prototype. I'd say it's sufficiently different from most mass-produced P/Js to say that he's done something different with the design, and it's a damn good instrument, so it checks those two boxes. 

*I say "effectively" as his name and signature don't appear anywhere on the instrument

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So called "signature" instruments are b/s. They're all standard issue models that just happen to be/have been played by notable players - because those players weren't famous when they started out, so had to use whatever was available or that they liked. As for those players "leading development of" or "designing" said instruments, etc, that really is eyewash. Rant over.

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On 28/11/2017 at 16:42, mikel said:

Its an interesting thread. I would have thought a famous player who "Modified" an instrument to suit their own needs would be the one to get a "Signature" instrument. Or why bother? If its not very different from the standard model then why make a signature?

Clapton got one because he didnt use his Strat trem, removed the springs and replaced them with a block of wood.

Not quite. Fender approached him about making a signature instrument, took the neck profile from his guitar, made a few necks with slightly different neck profiles and stuck them on 1983 Elite Strats. These prototypes were refined into what we have now as the basic Eric Clapton strat.

(Edit: For those not familiar with the 1983 model Elite strat, it was a strat with lots of hi-tech refinements, including noise suppression through a dummy coil, active mid boost, a fancy trem system and push buttons instead of the switch. Clapton basically wanted a guitar like "Blackie" the 1956 bitsa that he put together from parts of several original 50s strats, but with a fatter sound... so they used the elite to demonstrate the mid boost... which in a slightly altered form was the only thing from the elite strat that ended up in the finished product)

His trem is blocked, but it still has the springs.

Edited by dlloyd
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29 minutes ago, Bluewine said:

Does Paul McCartney have a sig bass, if not, nobody should have one 

I don't believe Paul has ever had a formal business relationship with Hofner or Rick 

Blue

He doesn't have a formal endorsement with Hofner, but I'm pretty sure he has some sort of relationship with them.

I've noticed him with a couple of limited special editions over the years, most notably his Union Jack bass which I guess they probably send to him, rather than him checking their website for the latest models.

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On 11/29/2017 at 10:25, cheddatom said:

Bill Kelliher from Mastodon switched from Gibson to ESP for entirely the right reasons. There are a few articles about it but basically they were shipping his signature guitars with the wrong gauge strings for the tuning he plays in, so his fans were buying his signature guitar, and finding it unplayable when they tuned it to the tuning he plays in. 

By Bill's own admission they were a horrible company to work with, Brent Hinds left for the same reason. Obstinate, slow, incompetent, much like the rubbish instruments they produce for a laugh.

 

I'd never want to be associated with them after they advertised guitars on their website using photographs of guitars with the famous broken headstock.

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21 hours ago, Dan Dare said:

So called "signature" instruments are b/s. They're all standard issue models that just happen to be/have been played by notable players - because those players weren't famous when they started out, so had to use whatever was available or that they liked. As for those players "leading development of" or "designing" said instruments, etc, that really is eyewash. Rant over.

Indeed, there's one of these on every music shop wall:

1494610034CDBPOOWW_02_nut_web.jpg

The Jack Bruce Cream reunion signature bass. Although before that, he had a signature fretless Thumb bass from Warwick that was changed from the original - see his website. So sorry, sometimes what you say is true but by no means always.

 

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