What signature model is actually worth it?

[muggsy]

How do you like the flip-up mute on the Hurley? Really cool idea if it works, but given my experiences with Jaguars I have my doubts.

I love the mute and it works great. To me the Hurley is basically a Pino CS bass plus the mute, in a better color (IMO) and without the factory relic job. And I got mine used a few years ago, for what now looks like a really good price. It’s the best P I’ve ever played.

 

[BassyBill]

I bought my Tony Franklin P bass for its features (fretless ebony board, PJ pickups, gorgeous nitro finish), not the name. I don’t think I’d ever heard of Tony Franklin before I bought it. It’s a fantastic instrument and the best Fender bass I’ve ever played, by miles. It was expensive, but worth every penny of what I paid at the time of purchase, although the price increase since then would make me think twice before buying one nowadays (currently £2719 on the Fender website).

 

[jd56hawk]

I bought my Tony Franklin P bass for its features (fretless ebony board, PJ pickups, gorgeous nitro finish), not the name. I don’t think I’d ever heard of Tony Franklin before I bought it. It’s a fantastic instrument and the best Fender bass I’ve ever played, by miles. It was expensive, but worth every penny of what I paid at the time of purchase, although the price increase since then would make me think twice before buying one nowadays (currently £2719 on the Fender website).
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Might be the nicest bass in Fender's current lineup.

 

[krfoss]

I bought a CIJ Geddy Lee here on TB late last year, and after some modifications, it's currently the one with which I play out exclusively:
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I like Rush well enough, in moderation, and think that Geddy is one of the finest players of all time, in his genre. The bass is all one can expect from a Japanese Fender of that vintage. In other words, even stock, it punches way over it's pay grade, as all my CIJ/MIJ's do, but add in the John East preamp, Wilde humbuckers, and aesthetic improvements, and I'm good to go.

Ū2 on the other hand, is one of my least favorite bands. I actually have an active dislike of them . . . their vocalist and guitarist, in particular, the former for his pretentious political posing, and the latter for that annoying jangly guitar sound.

Adam Clayton, well . . . He's a bass player, I suppose, but he ain't no Chuck Rainey, JPJ, Joe Osborn, or even John Deacon. That being said, the pair of his signature basses which I have, are well worth what I paid for them:
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I like them enough to have had a custom purple strap made for them:
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Edit: I forgot, I have a Sadowsky Will Lee sig, which is a master built instrument. I bought it used here some years back and it's probably the most heavily optioned Sadowsky I've ever seen. It's nice, super light, and the VTC sounds good, but for what it would cost to reproduce today, it's just about Alembic money, and I honestly can't justify it. Looks pretty, though:

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The Adam Clayton signature basses are the only ones I would really want. Amazing looking basses.

 

[Snarf]

The Sekou Bunch (sp) Carvin basses were great, partly because he's an obscure name so it doesn't feel weird to play it. Also, the only indication that he had anything to do with the model is present only in the SB designation in the model number. My daily driver right now is an SB5001, and it's basically a $1400 (at the time) Sadowsky with a more flexible preamp in a Fender-meets-Warwick type of shape.

 

[bbao]

I would say the lower scale ESP Edwards Tetsuya Signature basses.
It's essentially kind of a lakland but with quite a few differences.
E.g unique pink color
Pearl pickguard
ESP preamp
Seymour duncan pickups

It is also a lot more affordable than a lakland.

 

[LanEvo]

I'm a HUGE fan of the original Yamaha Attitude Limited. Offers a ton of unique and useful features you won't find on any other Precision-style bass:

• Gigantic, rigid neck (profile copied from a '70s Tele bass)
• Unique bolt-on system with milled alloy block locking the neck in place
• Deep lower bout, which allows full access to upper frets
• Scalloped frets under D- and G-strings at the base of the fingerboard, which helps with bends
• Dual-output with EBO-style neck pickup and DiMarzio split-coil

There's literally NOTHING else like it on the market. It feels amazing and sounds phenomenal. Later generations are also awesome, but the first-gen is really special.

 

[LanEvo]

The original Ibanez GWB-1 was also special with several unique features: curved Bartolini pickup, finger ramp, tuner buttons, etc.

 

[LanEvo]

Now that I think of it, the Reverend Wattplowers are also quite different from anything else on the market.

 

[ELG60]

The Adam Clayton signature basses are the only ones I would really want. Amazing looking basses.

They are. My only preference would be for a 70's style "TV" decal, but it's a small thing.

 

[FullumMusic]

I just learned the Dave Grohl signature guitar is going for upward toward $25k. That seems insane for what is likely a standard 335 style guitar with little diamonds instead of F-holes. 335s are expensive enough, but now this?

Got me thinking about other signature guitars and basses and wondering if any of them are special or unique enough to warrant a premium, or are they just valuable to a fan because the fans like the player. Of course, fans want to buy what their idols play, thats understandable, but are any of these guitar or bass signatures good enough that a non-fan would want the unique specs?

Edit: if you know of one, list it and add why it's special. Thanks!

The only one who can say if the extra money, no matter how much extra, is worth it for you. If you play a bunch of standard & signature models and think, "This regular model will do just fine. I don't need to spend a cent more for the signature model," then it's not worth it.

If you play them and think, "Well, the signature model is better because [your reasons], but i'm not willing to pay $X.XX more for it," then it's not worth it.

If you play them and think, "Well, this signature model is better because [your reasons], and i'm totally willing to pay $X.XX more for it!" then it's worth it.

$X.XX could be $0.01 more, or $1000+ more. Could be any amount. But it's gonna be different for each signature model, and each person buying or not buying them.

Only you can say if something is worth it for your purposes and wallet.

 

[cujodos]

Two basses come to mind. The Yamaha Nathan East original B Beast, and the Fender Roscoe Beck bass. These two signatures are not duplications of another production with alterations. These two are a completely stand alone instrument. They have a configuration like no other before it's conception. I have the Yamaha, and wish I had the Fender, which I missed buying when they were affordable. Any donations would by greatly appreciated.

 

[osv]

I would say the lower scale ESP Edwards Tetsuya Signature basses.
It's essentially kind of a lakland but with quite a few differences.
E.g unique pink color
Pearl pickguard
ESP preamp
Seymour duncan pickups

It is also a lot more affordable than a lakland.

View attachment 5087645

Love Tetsuya and Laruku.

 

[nono]

The only signature bass I own is a 1st gen Sandberg Ken Taylor. I tried it and said "I want one" before the salesman told me it was a signature model; I had to look up Ken Taylor, never heard of him before.

This bass has been custom made with a different neck though. I wonder what this makes it?

 

[lermgalieu]

IME most of them don't require a premium. I've owned both a Marcus Miller Jazz and a JMJ Mustang, and didn't buy either one of them for the name on the headstock.

 

[Ulf Buck]

Ian Hill Spector Euro.

It has a reverse P pickup only, no jazz pickup like a standard Spector. The P pickup is closer to the bridge than standard and consequently sounds better to me and is very light. Amazing bass for a small if any premium over a standard Spector Euro.
It does have a 50th anniversary Judas Priest logo on the fretboard, so if you hate that it's a no go. I

 

[Albert Ross]

The Jack Cassady bass is way more than just a hollow body-ish bass. With rounds it can cover a huge variety of styles. The JCB-1 pickup and impedance selector work great together. Its also got a very comfy neck. Plus Jack actually plays one.

 

[B-Mac]

Dean Jeff Berlin: USA and Czech

 

[SDC1-ClickClack]

(...snip...)
The Jack Casady EPI on the other hand...
I played one for the first time the other day and was completely blown away by how good it sounded (and felt). I love a good Precision bass, but the JC has all but ruined any prospect of me ever buying another one (P bass). I played it through a good friend's Peavey bass amp with 15" speaker, and it sounded as good, if not better than my '59 CS P. Extremely well made (Korea). Tremendous value for money. Perfect tone for blues/jazz/rock.

Well said! They are surprisingly good basses for their (relatively) modest cost.

 

[Neon Blues]

I would say the lower scale ESP Edwards Tetsuya Signature basses.
It's essentially kind of a lakland but with quite a few differences.
E.g unique pink color
Pearl pickguard
ESP preamp
Seymour duncan pickups

It is also a lot more affordable than a lakland.

View attachment 5087645

Ooh boy! That's a pretty bass!