Guitar Stuff » signature-series

Get Your Taste of Metal History – Dimebag Darrell Signed Guitar (Only $34k)

Matt — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 15:18:01 +0000

A guy on eBay by the name of ramses6615 is selling a Washburn Custom U.S.A. guitar signed by both Dime and Vinny at a Damageplan CD signing in 2004. As of writing this post there are only 12 hours left in the auction and 0 bids. The fact that the guitar is number two of six ever made makes it expensive to start with, but slap those two signatures on there and it goes up in price exponentially. I guess we will just have to wait and see if there is actually a buyer out there interested in this.

If I was a multi-billionaire, I would probably buy it, but, I’m not, so I wont.

The seller does his best to make it clear that he is not trying to exploit Dime’s death to make a quick buck. He says that the guitar has never been dusted and probably contains Dime’s fingerprints. I’m not sure if that makes it worth more… probably does.

The guitar doesn’t come with a certificate to verify the signatures, however, there are several pictures showing Dime and Vinny signing the guitar. I would be inclined to say that it is legit, but people have been scammed for a lot less.

Long story short, if you have $34,000 to spare, maybe today is the day you get to own a piece of metal history.

[Via Blabbermouth]

Jackson Mark Morton Dominion Signature Guitar

Matt — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 13:38:52 +0000

Jackson has just unveiled a new signature guitar for Mark Morton of Lamb of God. If you head over to jacksonguitars.com right now you’ll see their little showcase. The guitar is a customized version of the Swee-Tone Jazz’r that Mark himself helped design.

Jackson has lost a few artists to ESP over the last few years… well basically since they were bought by Fender. This shows some artists still have faith in the Jackson brand. The guitar, which Mark Morton helped design really is run of the mill though. If you look on Jackson’s site, all of the unique features are in the aesthetics. You’ll see though that it has all of the standard metal guitar features including Seymour Duncan pickups, jumbo frets, and neck-through-body design.

Set aside the amazing finish and unique body design. The thing that stands out at me is both the bridge and neck position have the same pickup. To be hones the first thing I would do after buying this guitar would be swap out one of the pickups with a different Seymour Duncan to increase the range of sound. On the other hand, this IS a signature guitar… if you are going to buy it my guess is you are trying replicate Morton’s sound. Either that or you are like me and are having strong sexual feelings towards the guitar due to it’s stunning finish.

Feature Summary

Body: Chambered Mahogany with Quilt Maple Top
Neck: Neck-Thru-Body Mahogany with Pultruded Graphite Rods for Stability
Tuning Machines: Pearloid Buttoned Sperzel® Locking Tuners
Fingerboard: Ebony
No. of Frets: 22 Jumbo Frets
Bridge Pickup: Seymour Duncan® ‘59™ Humbucking Pickup
Neck Pickup: Seymour Duncan® ‘59™ Humbucking Pickup
Controls: Volume 1. (Neck Pickup), Volume 2. (Bridge Pickup), Tone 1. (Neck Pickup), Tone 2. (Bridge Pickup)
Bridge: Schaller® 456 Fully Adjustable Bridge with Anchored Tailpiece
Pickup Switching: 3-Position Toggle Pickup Selector and 2 Mini-Toggle Coil Splitter Switches
Hardware: Chrome
Strings: GHS Boomers, (.010 to .046)
Scale Length: 24.75”

Ernie Ball Music Man John Petrucci Signature Guitar

Matt — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 18:49:29 +0000

John Petrucci is one guitarist that until lately I haven’t paid much attention to. I knew of him and of Dream Theatre but had never had much exposure to his music. I recently got my hands on his instructional DVD Rock Discipline and I can’t believe what I have been missing all of these years. The guy is a god.

One of John’s many guitars is his own Ernie Ball Music Man John Petrucci Signature guitar. Petrucci worked very closely with Ernie Ball Guitars to develop a guitar that had a new level of style and practicality. The guitar comes in both 6 and 7 string versions and can be purchased with or without a piezo bridge. The body of the guitar has a sculpted neck joint for better access to the high frets and a contoured top for better picking arm support.

The guitar features a basswood body with a maple neck and rosewood fingerboard. 24 wide high profile frets are lined with custom inlays including a “JP” just above the first fret. All Petrucci Signature models come with Music Man bridges and saddles.

The guitar has a custom John Petrucci Tremolo bridge and Schaller locking tuners. Consistent with the rest of his guitars John Petrucci uses 2 custom DiMarzio humbuckers. The guitar also comes complete with a hard-shell case.

Feature Summary

Basswood Body/Maple Neck/Rosewood Fingerboard
Sculpted neck joint/Contoured body
24 high-profile frets/Custom Inlays
John Petrucci Custom Tremolo bridge
Schaller Locking Tuners
2 Custom DiMarzio Humbuckers

ESP Alexi Laiho Signature Guitar

Matt — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 13:20:38 +0000

When Fender bought out Jackson Guitars Alexi was told it would take 1 year for them to build him a new signature guitar. When ESP told him it would only take them 3 months it was a no-brainer for him to switch. The Alexi Laiho signature is basically a Jackson RR Custom clone with some added visual flair.

The design of the guitar plays on the black pinstripe on white look that the Jackson RR1 Rhoads has, but with a more stylized look. The shark fin points on the body are straighter and slightly curved as opposed to the true edges on the RR.

Like the more expensive Jackson RR models the Alexi ESP is designed with neck-through-body construction for maximum sustain. The body is made of alder and the neck is made with maple with an ebony fingerboard. The 24 XJ frets are decorated with custom saw tooth inlays.

For a $4000 suggested retail guitar I am a little shocked by this: the guitar only has one EMG HZ-4 Pickup in the bridge position and one volume control. For the minimalists it may be great but to me that just seems like a rip. Alexi being another avid tremolo user his guitar has an original Floyd Rose tremolo bridge.

Feature Summary

Alder Body/Maple Neck/Ebony Fingerboard
Neck-thru-body construction
4 XJ Frets/Saw blade Pearl Inlays
1 EMG-HZ H-4 Pickup in the Bridge
Original Floyd Rose Tremolo

This is probably the least impressive guitar I have looked at this week. It is basically a Jackson RR1 with one less pickup. Besides its rad paint job it doesn’t have much going for it.

That raps up my 7 day look at metal guitars. You can check out all of the previous posts here:

Dean USA Razorback Tribute Dimebag Darrell Signature Guitar

Matt — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 02:41:02 +0000

Dimebag had always been a Dean player in his youth. His first Dean was a cherry sunburst ML bought for him by his father and his second a Dean that he won in a playing competition. The guitar he won later became his most popular guitar, the custom lighting bolt painted Cowboy from Hell.

When Dean went out of business in the mid 80’s Dimebag became a Washburn promoter. In 2004, not long before Dime’s death the Dean company was reopened by Dean Zelinsky and Dimebag was brought back on as an endorser. The Razorback Tribute has been released along with a range of reissued ML guitars in Dimebag’s name.

The Razorback Tribute guitar is similar to the ML in many ways but has been updated with a modern body design. The points of the ML have been made jagged to simulate a razor’s edge and the body has been finished with a hand airbrushed rusted metal finish. To top it off the headstock is decorated with a tribute Dimebag Darrell crest.

Although Dime used Dean and Bill Lawrence pickups in his personal guitars, the Razorback has a Seymour Duncan Dimebucker Signature pickup in the bridge position and a MiMarzio rhythm pickup at the neck. Don’t worry though; the Seymour’s were still approved by the man himself. Dimebag is a pioneer when it comes to metal and the use of a tremolo bridge. Only a Floyd Rose Tremolo was good enough for the Razorback.

Mahogany was used to build both the body and the set neck which has a rosewood fingerboard. The fingerboard is inlayed with pearl wings and a razorblade on 10th fret. Dimebag choose Grover tuners and black hardware to finish the look of this guitar. If you ask me the guitar is a little over the top price wise at $3699 from Musicians Friend. But there may be a big enough market in Dean and Dimebag fans to sell the guitar. Musicians Friend will get their next shipment on June 2nd 2006, so place your orders now.

Feature Summary

Mahogany body/Set Mahogany Neck/Rosewood Fingerboard
Seymour Duncan Dimebucker bridge pickup
DiMarzio neck pickup
Floyd Rose tremolo bridge
Grover tuners/Black hardware/Dimebag Tribute crest on the headstock
Comes with certificate of authenticity and Dimebag tribute photo

The guitar is definitely too expensive for my taste, but if you ask me it screams Dean and Dimebag. It would be a great performance guitar.

Read the other posts in this series:

Jackson RR1 Randy Rhoads Signature Guitar

Matt — Wed, 29 Mar 2006 13:12:08 +0000

Randy Rhoads designed this guitar and approved its prototype before he passed. It’s a shame he didn’t live to see this wonderful guitar come to production. Randy will forever be known as one of metal’s most talented and influential guitarists. So many of today’s guitar players were influenced by the man who made Ozzy and the Jackson RR1 Rhoads Signature screams just like Randy would have wanted.

The RR1 is Jackson’s most popular signature guitar, and not only for its name. The alder body and maple neck are built together in a neck-thru design. Neck-thru gives the guitar much more sustain than the cheaper bolt-on neck option.

The ebony fingerboard is decorated with the classic Jackson shark fin mother-of-pearl inlays. The headstock mounts die-cast tuners and Jackson logo inlay. In the bridge position there is a Seymour Duncan JB TB4 Humbucking pickup and in the neck there is a Seymour Duncan Jazz SH2N. For switching the RR1 Rhoads has a 3-way toggle switch. Since Randy incorporates tremolo into so much of his music the guitar has an original Floyd Rose Double Locking 2-Point Tremolo.

The unique body shape of this guitar is very popular among metal guitarists. This was Alexi Laiho of Children of Bodom’s guitar of choice before he signed with ESP to create a signature of his own. The guitar is available in over 25 different finishes.

Feature Summary

Alder body with maple top/Maple neck/Ebony Fingerboard
22 jumbo frets with shark fin inlays
Seymour Duncan JB TB4 in the bridge/Jazz SH2N in the neck
3-way pickup switch
2 tone/1 volume control
Floyd Rose Original double locking 2-point tremolo
25+ different finish styles

I have been eyeing up the RR1 Rhoads Signature guitar for a few months now. My current electric guitar is an Epiphone Les Paul standard. While it does get the job done, I would really like something with a neck-thru design and a tremolo bridge. Maybe once I pay my car loan off I will be able to afford it.

Read the other posts in this series:

Gibson Les Paul Zakk Wylde CAMO Signature Guitar

Matt — Tue, 28 Mar 2006 13:00:12 +0000

The Zakk Wylde Signature Les Paul is one of the most popular signature guitars from Gibson. The original features a stunning black on antique white bulleye trademark paint job and a raw oiled maple neck. The Zakk Wylde CAMO is an alteration of that 80’s Les Paul using a black on camouflage for the bullseye.

The body is a 1 piece mahogany back under a carved maple top decorated with gold hardware. For sound it sports the signature EMG ZW (81 neck/85 bridge) active pickups for playing those heavy screaming Black Label Society riffs. I have the ZW set in my Les Paul and I couldn’t imagine another pickup for playing metal. Active is the way to go if you ask me. The sound of the overdrive is unmatched and the sustain is infinite.

The fingerboard is where this guitar differs from Zakk’s original Bullseye. This guitar has a 22 fret unfinished maple fingerboard with pearl inlays. The unfinished neck and fretboard is a little much for me. Personally I’m a heavy finish kind of guy. It could be something that takes getting used to, but at first it just didn’t feel natural. Just like every other Les Paul the guitar includes two volume knobs and two tone knobs. It also has the standard 3-way pickup selector switch.

Feature Summary

Carved maple top/Solid mahogany back
Multi-ply white/black binding on top and back
Gold Hardware
Nashville TOM bridge/Stopbar tailpiece
Unfinished 3-piece maple neck
22 fret maple fingerboard with a rounded profile
Pearl inlays
Metal tulip tuners
EMG ZW Signature pickups (EMG-81/EMG-85)
0.10 gauge strings

If you want to sound like Zakk Wylde, there is no better way than with a Zakk Wylde Signature Les Paul, a Marshall amp, an MXR ZW-44 Wylde Overdrive Pedal, and a Dunlop ZW-45 Zakk Wylde Signature Wah. Now, if you can’t buy all of that, the Les Paul is a great start.

Read the other posts in this series: