Ultimate Rhoads

I didn't want to mess up the Zakk guitar thread so I thought I'd start a new one...

To my mind there are only 3 real signature guitars:

Eddie's striped strats
Randy's Polka Dots
Schenker's V

Beyond that I feel they are odd (Lynch's sleleton), poorly done (any of Warren Di Martini's strat's), silly (Vai's curtains), or clones (I saw a version of Zakk's bullseye years before on Eddie Ojeda's Pink and Black strat in the early, early Twisted Sister days)...

I'm not counting guitars like Randy's Jacksons were different from almost all guitars before. Or Paul Stanley's Ibanez Iceman which wasn't just for him, but no one else really played one for years...

Jakes white Charvel/Fender

Stiltzkin wrote:Jakes white Charvel/Fender

See, that is signature to him, but it was an off-the-rack model and lots of people played guitars like that at the time...

Jake did have the radical idea to NOT allow tremolo units on his guitars because they were so trendy...

and how many people have you seen with that pickup configuration ?!

there's not really anything signature with
Rhoads and Schenkers V's either if you think about it.

I played like 4-5 of Steve Vai's actually guitars. One of them was the exact same one you can buy. I own one. I actually asked him about it backstage, if the model was true to what he played. He said, of course it was, but it's only on occasion when he plays it. He has so many guitars though. I don't think he really has one signature guitar. The Evo, FLO, ect....

Stiltzkin wrote:and how many people have you seen with that pickup configuration ?!

there's not really anything signature with
Rhoads and Schenkers V's either if you think about it.

The polka-dots make Randy's V a signature model, not to mention the headstock and electronics placement...

The paintjob makes Schenker's V a signature, nobody else has hever had one like that, 'cept Rudy, but even he did it diferent, and since he is also a Schenker, it's okay

After Randy, Eddie and Michael, it became cliche to have a "signature" paint job; everybody jumped on the bandwagon until Slash came along and used just a plain old Les Paul... It was an early '80's trend.

Todays "signature" crap is just a way for the guitar companies to milk more money out of people. Dan Donegan's "signature" model? He picked a design drawn by someone else, they built it, he said, "I like this, but not this." THey changed it until he liked it and it bacame a "signature" model. The reason for making it? The guitar company wanted another "signature" model in it's lineup...

RockyRhoads wrote:The polka-dots make Randy's V a signature model, not to mention the headstock and electronics placement...

Again, who else do you know that has used the pickup-configuration
Jake used?

And the electronics Randy used on the PDV ??
LesPaul controls ... what's so special about that?

I'd say, a signature-guitar is an exact replica of the instrument
the artist plays/playd ... otherwise it's custom

Stiltzkin wrote: And the electronics Randy used on the PDV ??
LesPaul controls ... what's so special about that?

Nobody ever put the jack under the upper wing or the toggle on the upper wing, that's what makes it special.

The term signature to me means it is identified with that person only. When you write your signature, do you copy someone else's name?

What I was trying to say is that these three guys have truly unique looking guitars and after them people tried to create "custom" looks just to be different. The fact that all three of these guys were (and are) excellent players helped a lot as well.

As for Jake's pickup configuration, you could buy a guitar off the rack at Guitar Center in the '80's with pickups just like that. I know, because I had one in '84 which was the year people first heard of Jake, but before he was considered anyhting but Randy's permanent replacement.

I understand that not many guys played an axe with that pickuo configuration, but Jake didn't start it...

RockyRhoads wrote:I didn't want to mess up the Zakk guitar thread so I thought I'd start a new one...

To my mind there are only 3 real signature guitars:

Eddie's striped strats
Randy's Polka Dots
Schenker's V

Beyond that I feel they are odd (Lynch's sleleton), poorly done (any of Warren Di Martini's strat's), silly (Vai's curtains), or clones (I saw a version of Zakk's bullseye years before on Eddie Ojeda's Pink and Black strat in the early, early Twisted Sister days)...

I'm not counting guitars like Randy's Jacksons were different from almost all guitars before. Or Paul Stanley's Ibanez Iceman which wasn't just for him, but no one else really played one for years...

Bo Diddley.......Decades before any you listed. His "Box" guitar is truly his signature model.

OH yeah! What about the most obvious signature model.....The "Les Paul"

deansolo wrote: Bo Diddley.......Decades before any you listed. His "Box" guitar is truly his signature model.

OH yeah! What about the most obvious signature model.....The "Les Paul"

See now I stand corrected... I can now think of 5 true signature guitars, thanks for the input.

what about Mustaine and his Axxions ?!

Akira Takasaki and the Killer Guitars ?!

RockyRhoads wrote:As for Jake's pickup configuration, you could buy a guitar off the rack at Guitar Center in the '80's with pickups just like that.

Yes, you can practically buy all signature gear.
Even PDVs

I f Jake didn't come up with that configuration, with the
slanted singlecoils, please tell me who did

You know one of the most obvious SIG model that I am totally surprised nobody has mentioned yet is Brian May from Queen's guitar. NOW THAT IS SIGNATURE!!!! He and his father built that together when he was 16 years old!!

BIG_P wrote:You know one of the most obvious SIG model that I am totally surprised nobody has mentioned yet is Brian May from Queen's guitar. NOW THAT IS SIGNATURE!!!! He and his father built that together when he was 16 years old!!

I was just thinking about it

yep BM's guitar is made out of a fireplace with burns tri-sonic pickups. Cheap pickups now worth a fortune lol. If your really trying to find signature how about Michael Angelo Batio's double guitar, or Michael Angelo Batio's horrible metallic guitar.

Randy's Polkadot V of course
All Dimebag's Deans
Zakks Bullseye Gibson Les Paul