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A refreshingly honest take on artist signature models from Janek Gwizdala

visog

By visog,
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yorks5stringer Grand Master

yorks5stringer

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Interesting but I felt there was a lot left unsaid.  Am I right in thinking a 'signature bass' might mean you get it for free or do you actually pay for it?  Or do you get a payment on every signature bass that is sold subsequently? I just don't feel the rationale behind a sig bass was fully explained , especially when he talks about them being made cheaper by CNC with Fodera which they declined to do. This video  seems to be less about the bass and alluding to more about the finance, he says so himself when he talks about going to F Bass and just buying a bass and not getting into all the other stuff.

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Cato Grand Master

Cato

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5 minutes ago, yorks5stringer said:

Interesting but I felt there was a lot left unsaid.  Am I right in thinking a 'signature bass' might mean you get it for free or do you actually pay for it?  Or do you get a payment on every signature bass that is sold subsequently?

 

I think probably depends on factors like the guitar maker, the price point of said model and whether the artist actually wants one.

 

Many Fender sigs for example are not actually played by the endorsee, they stick with their original favourite guitar that the sig is based on and probably have another 2nd favourite vintage guitar they use as backup rather than the sig.

 

I'd gues that with Janek Gwizdala  being quite niche and his model so expensive that he's unlikely to have been given it completely free.

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Burns-bass Grand Master

Burns-bass

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It's great to learn that world famous and insanely talented musicians have the same sort of fights and tantrums that us mere mortals do. 

 

I couldn't watch the video all the way through, to be honest, but he seems like a good guy. His books are great as well.

 

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wateroftyne Grand Master

wateroftyne

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35 minutes ago, Burns-bass said:

I love this video. Not one root note in an hour of practice...

 

The guy is an insane talent, but personally, he seems to be playing bass guitar like a jazz guitar which is cool but it lacks the timbre and note definition of a jazz guitar. Hey ho.

 

 

 

Why has he mixed it so it sounds like he's performing at the far end of a network of caves?

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ped Grand Master

ped

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Interesting vid. He seems like a nice bloke but WHY do YouTubers constantly cut their videos so that the next sentence jumps on top of the previous. I notice it more and more, I assume Youtube make them do it somehow!

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Beedster Grand Master

Beedster

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2 hours ago, Cato said:

 

Many Fender sigs for example are not actually played by the endorsee

 

When I was in sport it wasn't unusual for a very famous athlete to appear to be using a big brand (for example Nike and Trek, and these are specific examples of very well known athletes) while the shoes/bikes themselves were made by smaller, niche, manufacturers, the branding of the apparent manufacturer - usually also a corporate sponsor - being applied at a later stage with I assume either the permission or at least the knowledge of the actual manufacturer. While I tend to find it amusing when I see an artist who has a signature instrument routinely photographed playing one or more completely different instruments, it's probably better than, for example, Fender branding on an instrument made by a niche luthier (or perhaps that does also happen)?

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Beedster Grand Master

Beedster

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3 minutes ago, wateroftyne said:

 

Why has he mixed it so it sounds like he's performing at the far end of a network of caves?

 

Just now, ped said:

Interesting vid. He seems like a nice bloke but WHY do YouTubers constantly cut their videos so that the next sentence jumps on top of the previous. I notice it more and more, I assume Youtube make them do it somehow!

 

That's how the kids do stuff these days guys :)

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wateroftyne Grand Master

wateroftyne

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Just now, ped said:

Interesting vid. He seems like a nice bloke but WHY do YouTubers constantly cut their videos so that the next sentence jumps on top of the previous. I notice it more and more, I assume Youtube make them do it somehow!

 

Reason one: It's to keep the zero-attention-span kids of 2023 interested.

Reson two: It's less labour-intensive to do hard cuts like that, than meticulously pore over each edit to make is as silky as possible. 

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fretmeister Grand Master

fretmeister

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2 hours ago, yorks5stringer said:

Interesting but I felt there was a lot left unsaid.  Am I right in thinking a 'signature bass' might mean you get it for free or do you actually pay for it?  Or do you get a payment on every signature bass that is sold subsequently? I just don't feel the rationale behind a sig bass was fully explained , especially when he talks about them being made cheaper by CNC with Fodera which they declined to do. This video  seems to be less about the bass and alluding to more about the finance, he says so himself when he talks about going to F Bass and just buying a bass and not getting into all the other stuff.

 

 

Depends entirely on the individual deal.

 

Like with Marshall amps, even those with signature models (Slash / Kerry King / Joe Satriani etc) had to buy them. Marshall don't do free stuff.

 

But for their artists they have a worldwide support structure, local loan amps so the artist doesn't have to air freight a load of heavy amps and cabs, local tech access etc etc. All probably worth a lot more than a free £1500 amp head. And with dealers in every city on earth likely to host a good sized gig that's a monster network.

 

In the 90s all the metal bands were swapping to Mesa Dual Recs and Mesa was supplying them for big discounts and some free items. It was a good strategy for them as until the Dual Rec they were not a metal brand at all. It made a massive difference to their customer base. Marshall didn't have to do that, but for Mesa it worked so well that the Dual Rec became the must have metal amp for a good 10 years *

 

So it's all a mix of the needs of the company and the artist.

 

 

 

* even though it is actually a really flubby sounding thing without a TS type pedal boosting the mids and cutting the lows. 

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Chris2112 Mentor

Chris2112

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Disappointing to hear of Matt Garrison going on like that. It is unusual that round about the time he was being critical of Janek was around the same sort of time as he pretty much disappeared from the bass scene. Before that he had seemed pretty busy and got some decent parts, and everyone was talking about the 'Matt Garrison' right hand technique. Perhaps he had some sort of an episode then, he's only 52 now so it effectively seems like he jacked in aged 40. 

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miles'tone Veteran

miles'tone

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3 hours ago, Burns-bass said:

I love this video. Not one root note in an hour of practice...

 

The guy is an insane talent, but personally, he seems to be playing bass guitar like a jazz guitar which is cool but it lacks the timbre and note definition of a jazz guitar. Hey ho.

 

 

Sounds interesting. Will check that out ta 👍

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Beedster Grand Master

Beedster

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2 hours ago, Ricky Rioli said:

I love the Johnny Marr signature, he put so much effort into it. As Fender let him do what he wanted with the specs, the production guitar is what he plays. Also, it's available in orange, so.

 

Likewise the Modulus Flea, which he played pretty religiously for a decent length of time, at least on stage

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