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James Johnston signature Squier


jim_bass
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Has anyone else seen this ...

[url="http://www.squierguitars.com/products/popup.php?root_dir=&web_root=&img=prod_images/basses/0301078502_xl.jpg&name=James+Johnston+Jazz+Bass%26reg%3B&node0=1#bottom"]Squier James Johnston Signature Jazz[/url]

From what I understand it's a classic vibe, but in a different colour.

Anyway - has anyone played one? Are they out yet?

They cost more than a classic vibe, is there any point?

Opinions please.

[and do I really want a bass with a biffy clyro headstock - I've no idea is he's actually a good bassist :) ]

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[quote name='Happy Jack' post='636748' date='Oct 26 2009, 09:50 AM']For one truly awful moment, I read this as [b][i][color="#FF0000"]Squier James Jamerson Signature Jazz [/color][/i][/b]...[/quote]


:) me too....

Who's James Johnston?

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[quote name='Happy Jack' post='636748' date='Oct 26 2009, 09:50 AM']For one truly awful moment, I read this as [b][i][color="#FF0000"]Squier James Jamerson Signature Jazz [/color][/i][/b]...[/quote]

Ooops that had me thinking Jamerson... Jazz :) then i got to your comment and reread the title! :rolleyes:

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I don't know about James, but I have seen pics of Simon Neil (Biffy frontman) using Squiers before. So even if they're not using the current signatures over their CS's, they've supported the Squier name in the past!.

In any case, Signatures Squiers are to get the kids playing, nothing more :)

Si

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Looks good but I am a bit cynical with Fender when it seems to be little more than an existing model in a different colour. I'm a major Fender user but they do keep reinventing the wheel (but what a wheel!).

I was on Fender's website earlier and noticed that my favourite sig models are of bassists who I don't really care for.

And adding my name to the out of touch club, I thought this was James Jamerson too. :)

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[quote name='GreeneKing' post='636957' date='Oct 26 2009, 03:06 PM']Hehe, nice one.

You are, err... joking aren't you?[/quote]

I could pretend that I just made a joke, but in reality I'd never heard of him. I have now done some reading thanks to wikipedia and am feeling extremely ignorant.

He's an impressive chap. I knew the songs but never knew who the bassplayer was.

Anyway I'll just crawl back beneath my rock for a few more years.

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Squier have done a fantastic job over the last few years in providing excellent quality basses either side of the £200 quid mark. And they seem to be very keen to give the main Fender brand a serious nose-tweaking.

I recall a few debates on here about the ethics or otherwise of stripping off the Squier logo and replacing it with a hooky Fender example. Which kind of suggests they must be doing something right. Their previous sig offerings have been a little - shall we say - US-punk focussed, so it's really rather thoughtful that they're chumming up to a Scots band with some serious chops.

As for the whole question of "Sigs - good or bad", may I suggest the question be addressed, in person, to Mr JJ Burnel. Or that somebody prod Mr Zakk Wylde in the tummy and ask him how he has the effrontery to be playing a guitar named after a recently-deceased, nonagenarian jazzer. No self-respect, these people.

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[quote name='mike257' post='636894' date='Oct 26 2009, 01:54 PM']I doubt he's gonna drop his Custom Shop Fender for it. If you believe the promo vids, they've 'used' the guitars live and love them. Hmmmmm.[/quote]

I saw those as well. Was surprised at how much they didn't know about their own instruments. Left it all to the Fender rep to give the details.

Maybe they play Custom Shop stuff with a Squier decal on. Geez, I'm getting so cynical in my old age....

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[quote name='jim_bass' post='637498' date='Oct 26 2009, 11:40 PM']I could pretend that I just made a joke, but in reality I'd never heard of him. I have now done some reading thanks to wikipedia and am feeling extremely ignorant.

He's an impressive chap. I knew the songs but never knew who the bassplayer was.[/quote]

It's worth remembering that for a LONG time we were all in the same position ... no one had heard of some character called Jamerson, and I doubt if many people at the time realised that it was the same bass player on all those Motown hits. Certainly I never realised until [i]Standing In The Shadows Of Motown [/i]came out 20 years later. We used to call it "the Motown sound" and we just assumed that all those bands were trying really hard to sound like "the Motown sound" and that's why it existed. :)

Anyway, back in the day no one (except other bass players) cared who was playing bass. You were expected to know the name of the frontman and the lead guitarist; if the drummer was a weirdo then you were expected to know his name too; keyboard players needed to have a major-league gimmick if anyone was going to remember them. Bass players? Who cares?

Unless it was Paul McCartney, of course.

Example: To this day I have no problems remembering who played lead guitar for Focus (Jan Akkerman) and who was the yodelling keyboard player (Thijs Van Leer). If I want to name the non-weird drummer or the faceless bass player, I'll need to Google it.

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[quote name='Happy Jack' post='637593' date='Oct 27 2009, 08:32 AM']keyboard players needed to have a major-league gimmick if anyone was going to remember them.[/quote]

Keith Emerson > Bowie Knife > Hammond

Endorsement opportunity missed.

Edited by skankdelvar
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