Signature/Artist series basses for semi-famous musicians: why?

[peledog]

Biffy Clyro hasn't hit it big in the US, but they are nuts for 'em around the world.

Nate Mendel, sure - the others, meh.

[Davo-London]

My view is where the artist has heavily modified their bass (or got Fender to do it), and Mark Hoppus, Marcus Miller and Jaco Pastorius are good examples of this, then there certainly is a point to having these signature models available. You would think Fender, in the case of Jaco, would get the copy right. But there are so many versions and most without epoxy fingerboards, which is plain annoying because to get that tone you need roundwounds.

Where the manufacturer is largely just matching the colour of the signature artists' bass then it's a bit sad. I can't imagine buying one of these. Take the Roger Waters bass. It's got SD quarterpounders and a brass nut. Both simple mods if you wanted to match this bass.

I found out who Mark Hoppus was, when I first came across the Fender signature bass. In fact I've wanted a volume only bass but would have gone for Precision body and Jazz neck with just a single Jazz pickup at the bridge, say a 60 custom shop PU. Now we're talking. We could call it the Davo bass.

Davo

[lizardwizard28]

Oh especially that Clarence Leo Fender guy, he has literally HUNDREDS of basses, guitars, amplifiers, even electric pianos named after him! How rediculous is that? Who is that guy?

[mattbass6945]

i can't wait for that fender davo sig.......i'd buy it!

[Troph]

I'm amused by a few of the replies from people who seem to get very defensive when they see one of their favorite players called "semi-famous".

Originally Posted by bass nitro

Sorry pal,do not take offense but I do not know You but do who is Matt Freeman.

Trust me: you couldn't offend me even if you tried (and I cared).

Originally Posted by Phalex

Yeah, Gibson sells the majority of their Les Paul's to Les Paul wannabe poseurs. No self-respecting guitar player would ever play an instrument with another artists name on it.

Your sarcasm would be more effective if the topic were not already covered in the 3rd paragraph of the first post. Les Paul obviously qualifies as an icon. (Although not really a bass icon, so if you have Les Paul signature bass, well...)

On the subject of fame, I guess it's true that the standards for fame have lowered substantially. A Newsweek poll in 2011 showed that 30% of Americans couldn't even name the Vice President, who I would normally consider to be super-famous. So, maybe "famous" now means only 1 in 10 have heard of you. So who knows, maybe all of these random bass players have a chance of meeting that threshold...
But I doubt it.

By the way, Spector at least has Justin Bieber's bass player signed, and Fender has Taylor Swift's bassist signed. No word yet on when the signature basses will appear, however. I'm sure the line will start forming shortly.

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Originally Posted by Troph

On the subject of fame, I guess it's true that the standards for fame have lowered substantially. A Newsweek poll in 2011 showed that 30% of Americans couldn't even name the Vice President, who I would normally consider to be super-famous. So, maybe "famous" now means only 1 in 10 have heard of you. So who knows, maybe all of these random bass players have a chance of meeting that threshold...
But I doubt it.

Outside of TB you'll find more people who see Mendel, Hoppus or Freeman as icons than those who have heard of Miller, Jamerson or Pastorious. As far as the lay public go, if you asked them who Jaco Pastorious was they'd probably think he was the South African bloke who recently shot his girlfriend...

It isn't that standards of fame have dropped, it's that you don't know who they are. It's similar to the stereotyped attitude of the father of a teenage girl in the 1960s claiming The Beatles aren't famous and of how the standards had dropped with such drivel

[Dan Lenard]

Hero worship = a certain amount of sales - whether the bass or player deserve that worship is up to each of us.

[troy mcclure]

Troph, famous is a relative term. No one outside the bass world knows Marcus Miller or Brian Bromberg. Do I want a Mike Durn or Mark Hoppus bass, no...but they probably inspired as many kids to pick up a bass as Geddy. Actually the Hoppus bass is the opposite of what I play... a P body with a J neck.... but still a cool bass...not tone control... I played wide open as a teen so would have worked for me.

[mattbass6945]

if there's a demand for them, they'll sale. if there isn't they won't and you'll see that trend decline. if you like it, buy it. if you don't, then don't buy it. i don't see what the big deal is.....and i would so play a les paul sig bass, but i don't care what the headstock says.

[3234718]

Originally Posted by Phalex

You're coming at this from the wrong angle IMO. I had no idea who Mark Hoppus was until I bought the sig bass online for cheap.

The fact of the matter is that I really like the bass a lot! (I was going to build a parts bass that was similar, but the beat up Hoppus was CHEAP!) I have had sound guys from lots of venues (some of them pretty big) rave over the sound of my bass.

Mark who? The bass friggin rocks!

^^^
This

I can't stand Blink 182 and I don't care much for Mark Hoppus, but his bass is awesome. A friend has one and it's a monster. I love the simplicity of it.

[Yango]

Fender has just announced the release of The Kardashian two string bass...

Apparerntly they have pre-sales numbering in the single digit numbers lower than 2...

[Davo-London]

As I say, anything innovative is cool.

Is there a website where I can match a precision body and a jazz nexk and select the body and plate colours?

I've gotta make a Davo signature bass ...

Davo

[LanEvo]

I think it's pretty clear that there are two kinds of artist sig models and they are meant to serve two totally different purposes. Take Fender as an example:

On the one hand, you've got the CS-level instruments that are aimed at serious players. The Tony Franklin, Pino Palladino, Jaco, Vic Bailey, and the like. The idea is to pull in the players who would otherwise drop $3k on a Sadowsky or other boutique bass and "bring them back" to Fender. Obviously, you choose the artists who appeal to serious players.

On the other hand, you have low- to mid-priced sig instruments that are aimed at new players. You're in 8th grade, you listen to Deathcab for Cutie all day, and you've just convinced your mom to buy you "a bass" for your 14th birthday. So, Fender chooses artists that appeal to this audience to introduce new players to the brand. Hopefully, you'll create some brand loyalty and they'll stick around for a while.

No mystery, really.

[DwaynieAD]

mark hoppus played bass for one of the biggest bands (to the 12-24 crowd) in the late 90s, pete wentz played bass for one of the biggest bands (to the 12-24 crowd) in the early 2000's fender doesn't care about what bassists you like, they care about what basses will sell.

[lizardwizard28]

All joking aside, there are alot of bassist who deserve signature models (JMJ, namely) and many that dont. But in the end its marketing, not musicianship. Though alot of TB'ers place more emphasis on technique than songcraft. Sure, Adam Nitti can play circles around Macca, but how many Nitti tunes do you hear non musicians whistling?

[survivalist]

I bought a Mark Hoppus bass because I like the idea of using your Amplifier for the tone, not so much the bass. The idea of one pickup, and one volume pot carried over from my guitar playing. It just so happens that the bass sounds really good for what i do(although its a one trick pony). I still stand by my decision to buy this bass, and i would have bought it regardless of wether it had Mark Hoppus' name on it or not. If it gets the job done for you, who cares?

[Lowbrow]

To OP: for me a good solution would be to perhaps pattern an instrument after one associated with a given bassist but not go so far as to print a signature on the bass. That way we could buy a bass we like and either credit the bassist or not depending on taste. I love the vintage white M. F. Squier specifically cause to ME it's the Pete Farndon tribute P! Don't own one cause of that goofy signature.

[carvinbassplyr]

I don't have a distaste for guys with Sig models, I just personally stay away from them because I wouldn't like walking around with someone else's name on my gear lol. IMO it takes originality away from "your sound". Every time someone asks you what you use or how you get your tone someone else's name would always get the credit. I love Andrew Gouche's playing and his tone, that's why I now use Epifani lol, but I would feel like a poser/wanna be walking around playing his Sig bass. I dunno I just like being able to say this is "my bass, my gear and my sound" instead of having to say "well this is so and so's bass, so and so's preamp", etc.

[sigmafloyd]

I agree, I think they cheapen the brand. Let's not forget the Avril Lavigne telecaster. Same goes for the really expensive ones like the Fodera Victor Wooten. They both cater towards people wanting to emulate their idols, one just happens to cost as much as a small car.

[3234718]

Originally Posted by sigmafloyd

Let's not forget the Avril Lavigne telecaster.

I thought that was a joke. Holy moly.

I'm sure anyone who gets a signature instrument is happy to have one, but I bet they're disappointed they got a signature Squier and not a signature Fender.