Barking Spiders Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 (edited) Thread here on Gene Simmons Lobue bass inspired this thread. I might be letting my views on KISS being woeful and on GS being a repellent individual get in the way of being objective but I've heard enough of his bass playing to leave me unimpressed. I guess he's rich enough to endorse whatever bass he likes but I was always under the impression you had to be pretty advanced with a respected back catalogue of work to have a signature instrument. Mind you I've seen many other signature basses -e.g. Adam Clayton, Nikki Sixx - around leaving me scratching my noggin wondering what it takes to get one made , other than money and /or fame or is that enough? Edited November 28, 2017 by Barking Spiders Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SubsonicSimpleton Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 You just need a high public profile Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikel Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 I don't know, don't most endorsees simply need to be famous and play the companies product? I think the whole endorsement thing is a bit a**e about face. The musician is supposed to be promoting the benefits of the instrument by playing it, and believing in its superiority, but lots of musicians change companies, I would assume simply for more money. A signature instrument is probably a different thing. I would think the musician has played the companies product for so long, and gained a level of fame, that the company believe they can make money from wannabees by building something slightly left field and adding the players name. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roceci Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 Gene Simmons is a high profile bassist, has been around for donkeys years & has doubtless inspired many thousands of kids to pick a bass up the world over. Love him or hate him, & it's easier to do the latter, he easily qualifies for a signature bass in the crazy world of signature basses I'd say. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikel Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 Its an interesting thread. I would have thought a famous player who "Modified" an instrument to suit their own needs would be the one to get a "Signature" instrument. Or why bother? If its not very different from the standard model then why make a signature? Clapton got one because he didnt use his Strat trem, removed the springs and replaced them with a block of wood. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uk_lefty Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 There's loads that dont "deserve" it but you see the chap from Fall Out Boy endorses a squier, good move because that's his audience. The Nikki Sixx signature bass however is a pj on a Thunderbird body and costs over a grand. No way! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JBP Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 I think it falls into two groups, the Adam Clayton's and Gene Simmons of this world who will put a company's product in front of a large number of people. The other group are genuinely great musicians who may have a much smaller audience but company's want them to seen playing there instruments. I suppose the sweet spot is someone like Robert Trujillo, who has the talent and the audience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lojo Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 Anyone that a company believes is worth talking about a product idea or endorsement is worth it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Japhet Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 Shouldn't the Adam Clayton signature basses all have one string though? (Behave!). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discreet Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 I wore Calvin Klein's underpants for ages before I realised I was never going to have shapely buttocks just like him. It's really all about market perception, both within the individual consumer and the pant-buying public. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmccombe7 Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 I'm a fan of earlier Kiss and i like Gene Simmons more as a showman than a technical bassist so maybe a bit biased. He's a Rock bassist so being technically brilliant isn't really what its all about. I would think that if Gene Simmons was endorsing your bass there would be significant sales mainly because Kiss have a lot of fans whether you personally like them or not they are one helluva business. Think there are too many bassists out there with Signature basses that a standard bass would have suffice. The one that comes to mind is Roger Glover with his Vigier. I'm a fan of his but the standard Excess bass is virtually the same as far as i know. Cliff Burton from Metalica had a signature Aria or he used an Aria and the company eventually made a Cliff Burton bass so not sure if that counts. Think the Adam Clayton signature bass is the odd one for me too. Not sure it brings anything to the table and it looks daft too. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cato Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 (edited) 1 hour ago, Barking Spiders said: Thread here on Gene Simmons Lobue bass inspired this thread. I might be letting my views on KISS being woeful and on GS being a repellent individual get in the way of being objective but I've heard enough of his bass playing to leave me unimpressed. You mean you wouldn't be tempted by any of these 'packages'... http://www.genesimmonsaxe.com/meetgenebackstage/ Not even the one where you buy a signature bass for $10,000+, he plays that bass for one song at a gig, then signs it and hands it over to you? Edited November 28, 2017 by Cato 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmccombe7 Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 4 minutes ago, discreet said: I wore Calvin Klein's underpants for ages before I realised I was never going to have shapely buttocks just like him. It's really all about market perception, both within the individual consumer and the pant-buying public. Did he not mind ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_b Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 (edited) 1 hour ago, Barking Spiders said: . . . . but I was always under the impression you had to be pretty advanced with a respected back catalogue of work to have a signature instrument. The signature instrument is a marketing invention and has nothing to do with respect, musical integrity or any catalogues. There is only one question, "Is this guy popular enough to sell lots of basses if we put his name on them". Yes, gets a signature bass. No, doesn't. Edited November 28, 2017 by chris_b 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discreet Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 4 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said: Did he not mind ? We had an arrangement. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JBP Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 7 minutes ago, chris_b said: The signature instrument is a marketing invention and has nothing to do with respect, musical integrity or any catalogues. There is only one question, "Is this guy popular enough to sell lots of basses if we put his name on them". Yes, gets a signature bass. No, doesn't. That pretty much sums it up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stingrayPete1977 Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 Even as a bass player I haven't heard of most of the bass players with a signature bass available. Try asking Joe public if they know who Gene Simmons is then try Victor Wootton or Duck Dunn, I know who'd be most 'famous'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul_5 Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 Billy Sheehan definitely deserves one, as he developed his own take on an existing product, as does Jaco, but didn’t most ‘famous’ bassists make all of that ‘famous’ music on standard, shop-bought instruments? James Jamerson’s was such a standard instrument it still had the original strings on when he died!! ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mykesbass Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 49 minutes ago, paul_5 said: Billy Sheehan definitely deserves one, as he developed his own take on an existing product, as does Jaco, but didn’t most ‘famous’ bassists make all of that ‘famous’ music on standard, shop-bought instruments? James Jamerson’s was such a standard instrument it still had the original strings on when he died!! ? Billy Sheehan's Yamaha is probably one of very few genuine signature models, in that it was developed to his spec, and he had proper input into making something that was different. The Lemmy carved Ric and Jaco's de-fret are the only other two that come to mind. Sure there are more, but not as many as Fender manage to market!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discreet Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 (edited) I want a Jamerson sig... which is basically any early 60s sunburst/tort/rosewood P... Edited November 28, 2017 by discreet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alyctes Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 4 hours ago, mikel said: Clapton got one because he didnt use his Strat trem, removed the springs and replaced them with a block of wood. I read that as "strings", and wasn't entirely surprised. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drTStingray Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 I get that some signature basses are quite different versions of stock basses. However there seems an increasing tendency of one manufacturer, having dropped the 'non standard' signature instruments, to issue an ever more bewildering stream of 'parts bin' signature instruments based on designs they've been producing for years but in a different colour. I guess it's a marketing strategy but being cynical, it smacks a bit of desperation to me. It also makes that manufacturer's range even more bewildering than ever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T-Bay Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 Companies exist to make money, some people are swayed by ‘celebrity’ endorsement, the rest is simple economics as to what why and where it will occur. Now if I could get a Jack Bruce EB that automatically made me sound like him I would be interested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drTStingray Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 38 minutes ago, discreet said: I want a Jamerson sig... which is basically any early 60s sunburst/tort/rosewood P... I'm sure there were other 60s/early 70s players who used these (John McVie, Larry Taylor and others) so they could make the same basic instrument and put a range of different names on......... oh hang on ? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stingrayPete1977 Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 Annoyingly the models we do want they don't make, I'd probably buy a 5 string version of the Fender JazzRay that Flea plays. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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