With Fender making them faster than you can blink. i was just wondering who actually owns one or two. What model and what do you like best or dislike about them.
I have two, a John Jorgensen Hellecaster, quite rare and a Jerry Donohugh hellecaster strat Both very unique and good quality
Both were Japanese limted editions.
I think about 500 made of each
0222 serial numberr for JJ and 0339 for JD
I am thining about the Eric Johnson strat too
I like most of the sig models its usually a great way to get a flatter radius neck bigger frets and bigger neck profile than most Fenders.
I have owned the Robert Cray and Jimmie Vaughan both great guitars.
I got an Eric Johnson Strat for Christmas, after playing and flirting with it for a couple of weeks. It's based on his original 57, Nitro finish, and a 12" radius fretboard. Anyway, if you're interested in the EJ you probably know all that.
I gotta tell you, this guitar is really an incredible value. It's Fender's highest priced production model strat (I believe) but for once in my life, the money really wasn't an object. I played it alongside a 50th anniversary, and a 60's closet classic, and IMHO it smoked them both.
If you haven't had a chance to play one, firstly they're light (like 7-7.5 pounds), then the acoustic quality is amazing. I can play it sitting in my front room, no amp and hear it over the television, this sucker just rings like a bell....beautiful.
Plugged in...well you know if it sounds good acoustically, it'll usually sound good amped as well. The feature I really love on the EJ is that the pickup configuation is wired so that the tone controls are active for the neck and BRIDGE pickups, I like being able to warm up that bidge pickup.
Man, I oughta get a job with Fender...anyway enough rambling...it's a great axe.
Good luck on yer git hunt!!!!
That's a Robin move...Batman never woulda done that...
EJ Strats are some of the best Signature Models out there. I tend to make stock Strats into my own but, if I was to buy one off the rack, it would be an EJ Strat. I heard Fender would be selling the pickups in 2006. That would be cool too.
"Make everything louder than everything else..."
JM3, I think you need the Will Ray ASAT to round out that collection!
"No harmonic knowledge, no sense of time, a ghastly tone, unskilled vibrato, and so on. Chuck is one of the worst guitar players I know" -Gravity Jim
:yayOriginally Posted by Offshore Angler
I don't understand Sig models.... Why not just make your own custom ? like they all did.. Instead of worshiping them
Because they sell guitars.
Several guitars in different colors
Things to make them fuzzy
Things to make them louder
orange picks
MIM Robert Cray Strat.
While I'm sure the USA version costing $2000-plus is exceptional, this Mexi-made version is the best damn Strat I have ever owned or played. Best tone, resonance, and so on.
yeah im sure you all have a roy smeck, and know who he is.. with out googling him. These fads can die out.
Just saying they completely hose you for a few lil perks here and there. And people buy them cause they want to be unique. Like 10 g for the clapton 335 ? Here they have 60's red 355 sitting right next to it for 5 g. Why not buy the real thing?
Like no matter how much you spend your never going to sound like clapton. Cause your not clapton and it's in the fingers.
I think these are lawyer and doctor rigs. Clapton took 2 or 3 different guitars to make blackie cause he knew what he wanted. To most of you collectors that’s almost sac religious.
And now you can buy a john mayer strat. With a giant TRY on it…ohh which just happens to be the name of his new CD. Great your paying out extra cash for marketing of his CD.. buying this guitar makes you a bill board for john mayer. And your paying for it.
Ever play a Les Paul? Did you play it because you wanted to sound like Les? I didn't, and I don't necessarily think you can categorize every signature guitar as window dressing for the mindless horde of wannabe guitarists in the world. These guitars all have different options that appeal to different folks...thats all.
I've had, as I'm sure a lot of people here have had, many guitars over the years. I know what I like, and really couldn't care less who's names on it. But I'm certainly not going to pass up a great playing guitar because it's a sig, just as I wouldn't buy it just because it's a sig.
That's a Robin move...Batman never woulda done that...
I have a Bonnie Rait sig.
I like the slim neck and flat radius (great for slide) and the colour, beautiful desert burst, is a Fender 'one off ' its cloth wired with Texas specials and is a great guitar imho.
I got it second hand so I wasn't stiffed on the price. If I had the choice I would lose the Signature perhaps but then again it doesn't bother me and means that it holds the resale value a bit also.
I have a S.R.V. I bought it because I'm used to playing Les Pauls and I like the fatter neck and 12" radius. It's a great guitar.
I've also owned a couple of EC Strats (old and new model ) but sold them both. There's just something not right with them, something missing sound wise, and the finish falls off the neck (both guitars)
With me, it wasn't about it being a Robert Cray sig. Hell, I'm not even a real fan of his, although I admire his playing (I like a few of his songs, and I saw him "live" this past year, but I could have cared less whether or not his name was on the headstock).
This thing is a tone machine, pure and simple. It had a hardtail, which I prefer. The pickups are Custom Shop vintage -- cloth wrapped wiring (even in the MIM, which I have), the neck profile is exactly what I prefer. To be honest, I can't make the name out on the headstock, anyway. Just a bunch of squiggles and shit.
The name has nothing to do with it, and after 40 years of playing, I sure as hell do not think that the simple act of buying XYZ's signature guitar will make me sound and play like him or her. That's crap. Oh, I'm sure there are folks who think that, but most of us old dogs know better.
The comparison to folks buying a Les Paul is dead on, and said it all.
Most of us on this forum relate the signature to the specs. I have yet to read about how someone expected to sound like Muddy Waters after purchasing a signature MW tele.
MW= 9.5 radius, med jumbo frets, great pups, etc.
Eric Johnson= quarter sawn maple neck, 12" fretboard radius, Nitro finish, great pups, etc.
Jimmie Vaughan= soft "V" neck profile, etc..
It's a heck of a lot easier than recalling a serial number or model number.
"If you're cool, you don't know nothin' about it. It just is...or you ain't." - Keith Richards
I have 2 sig guitars. They both have larger than usual necks for fender and are very lightweight. I build neither bodies or necks so wasting time building them ain't an option i want to waste time on - I'd rather spend time playing then playing guitar builder. Anyway my Gatton Tele and EJ strat are among the best instruments I've ever played.
Ok well heres a better question. IF you where suddenly going to be famous. Which one of your many many Guitars. Would be your Sig guitar ? Which guitar outta all of them truley is "you" and defines you and what your about ?
An oh as far as the Les Paul thing goes. Thats apples and oranges. Les Pauls come in X amount of differn't styles and colors. And there is Sig les pauls like slash. or peter frampton etc. And I find it funny When you actually do See LEs play. He's plays a 70's model that every one hates. And i bet he has hunderds
:troll
That's a Robin move...Batman never woulda done that...
What if I said it me be a Carvin CT6M?
Betcha didn't expect that?
Well, it might be close, but I'd have to say my '75 Les Paul Standard. After owning her for 30 years, we're kinda married.
Looks like the EJ is really a good seller? I played a white one 002 and it smoked ! Loved the treble pup May have to invest in one But they just came out with $399 Buddy Guy strats in white or red with polka dots LOL
If I didn't already have two great Strats, a '57 reissue and one assembled from different parts, (kind of like Blackie was but with 22 frets and Fiesta Red:), I would definitely get an EJ. Sounds like Fender did something right with that one.
Haha i like the black with white polka dots personally but they charge way to much more for that.... :toobadthey just came out with $399 Buddy Guy strats in white or red with polka dots LOL
Either the EJ or Gatton. It seems like a lotta people hold these things sacrd but I've had a few things done to make them better suit my needs even more: The Gatton got new tuners, a new string tree and graphtech saddles. The EJ got new noiseles pickups and a graphtech saddle on the high E. But I didn't waste time doing the work - a tech did. ;)
I had a Harmony Roy Smeck flattop for years. Great little guitar.
Right on FEzzmy friend has an arch top by harmony thats just awesome.
The Sigs are nicer, thats for sure.. Kinda shows that guitar corps etc.. give you the bare min that they could produce.
A 30 year old LES sounds like a good choice
Yes, this is my first post. Hi.
I just picked up an EJ about a month ago, it took a couple of weeks to really get into this guitar. (mainly a LP, PRS player).
Now I have to say I would could never part with this guitar. The 12' radius is perfect. The pickups are great. The more I play this guitar the more I like it.
In a previous comment as to why someone would buy a signiture model guitar, the answer is very clear. It's not the name on the headstock it's the features it has.
If you bought a new strat and decided to customize yourself the cost would far exceed the production sig. models. Even if you were to buy a custom shop Fender to your specs. it would still cost you more.
The EJ Strat comes pretty much with the options I would order if ordering a custom shop.
A diehard strat man may find the 12' radius to be anything but a strat feel, but for a LP player its a perfect transition into srtat tones without changing the feel.
Welcome Dave9271! If i was in the market for a Strat, I would get the EJ. Terrific guitar...
In hindsight, the signature series is much more than merely a marketing gimmick -- I think it has been demonstrably a postive way to revitalise the model line-up with a diverse set of guitars that have features that real guitarists have found useful, rather than a bunch of whizz-bang techno gimmicks thought up in the backrooms of the guitar manufacturers R&D divisions.
For years, Fender and Gibson have been competing against their own perceived past glory days -- the "don't build 'em like they used to" syndrome. And maybe it was true.
But now, through resissues and custom shop orders, they are building 'em like they used to -- and now, with the all the signature series available, probably better in lots of instances. The EJ Strat is probably a good example of this. According to the MF website, it's one of the top-selling models. I'm sure not all the buyers of this guitar are particularly fans of EJ. But the EJ Strat's specs makes for a great players guitar by all accounts. And I'd probably be even more inclined to buy a "unsignature" EJ Strat, personally.
So I think the "signature series" approach, even if originally conceived as a marketing gimmick, has really proven itself to be a very viable approach to developing a usable range of models with choices that make sense to real guitarists, simply because the features offered reflect the needs of real guitarists in the first place. And diversity is good - the more the merrier. I'd just prefer the "EJ spec" rather then the "EJ sig" model. Maybe when the marketing guys really get a handle on why this is so successful... nah, it'll never happen.
-Mark
I own an E.J. It's because of the features that I bought it though. I'm not even an Eric Johnson fan. I'm so glad a signature was not placed across the headstock.
This is a nicely equipted guitar, sold at a good price with good build quality. It could have been the John Doe Strat for all I care.
brianf
Oh Man!!! I never knew Fender made amps too!!!
But he played bass.
http://www.gregorybennett.com/X/john_doe.jpg
"Well, I used to be disgusted, now I try to be amused..."
Elvis Costello
:rl :rofl :rl
Good one!!!
brianf
Oh Man!!! I never knew Fender made amps too!!!
I got an EC strat. I bought it for £1300 without even playing it (thats $2,293.84 USD)
and to be honest, its never blown me away. It had a little puff at me when i first got it, but it just run out of air.
Had nothing but trouble since i got it. Just had it set up and it still doesn't make me smile. Make's me mad if anything...
Last edited by Los7; 01-11-2006 at 03:37 PM. Reason: Wrong Face
"I'm not mad, i just like to keep myself company"
Personally,I feel signature strats are just a marketing ploy.
However,I suppose many players buy 'em for the features and feel of a particular model,and if they like 'em,then that's great.
Then there's the people who buy a certain model because it's styled after their favourite players model,and if they're happy,that's great too.
So basically,putting my cynicism to one side,who cares?,a good guitar is a good guitar,regardless of who's name is on it.
Just play 'em and enjoy it,that's all that matters.
I think,therefore I am
I thought,therefore I was
I am therefore,I thought
Therefore,am I as I think I was
Les is different.
The Les Paul Model came out when there were essentially two solidbody guitars, it, and the recently renamed Telecaster. Without meaning any disrespect to Rhubarb Red, if it was named anything else, the great design would have still made it a classic.
What's stupid is:
The Joe Perry Les Paul
The Jimmy Page Les Paul
The Zakkkk Wyyylde Les Paul
The Gary Moore Les Paul (um, wasn't that Peter Green's LP?)
etc.
Several guitars in different colors
Things to make them fuzzy
Things to make them louder
orange picks
Hey, I'm one of the schmoes who has a John Mayer Strat. I got it because I like the way it plays and sounds. I could care less if some clown's signature is on it. At least the signature is on the back of the headstock. I wanted to like the EJ Strat because, apparently, it's the hot ticket, but it just didn't work for me. And I got a really good deal on it (and I got one of those Squier Mini-Strats for my seven year old son for free).
"Hot DOG! When it comes to cookin', I'm the cat's meow!"
- Larry Fine (Malice in the Palace, 1949)
the GM LP is not a replica of peter greens burst.. it doesnt even have binding so as to make it a more affordable LP :)The Gary Moore Les Paul (um, wasn't that Peter Green's LP?
etc.
Roy Smeck? I have a Roy Smeck 4 string Banjo. $20 yard sale score a couple of years ago (I had to google him). Ya, I can "take or leave" the whole SIG line, but I agree that buying a SIG guitar is a good way to get "specs" you want that may not be offered on Fenders "regulare" Strat line.
Right....GM has at least one other original LP in addition to the Peter Green one. PG, of course, towards the end of his Fleetwood Mac days played a Strat too. ;)
Tried an EJ in 54 burst man what agreat sound out of those pups Im figuring how to buy it now
dbl post oops
Last edited by JM3; 01-12-2006 at 03:14 PM.
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