I would love a Zac Brown signature (like the one Bob built custom for him).
Good call, that would probably be a popular model.
I don't know that a Taylor Swift model would be as big a seller as people think. Buying a TSBT is a no-brainer; couple of hundred bucks. But when you start talking about high-grade Koa, it would be a different story. As a guy in his late 40's, if I had a choice between a Taylor Swift Signature Model GS (for instance) or a K26ce with upgraded woods, I'm going for the upgraded woods and leaving the "Taylor Swift" off of it...
I think Taylor missed an opportunity by not doing a copy of her glittery model in a 100/200 series type range. That's what she was iconic for at the time and I bet that would have been more likely to get younger girls into the Taylor fold than a baby. At this point I think a GS Mini would be a perfect Taylor Swift signature since it's more like what she plays on stage.
Marketing-wise, I don't think it's a particularly good idea to take the name from a very low-end product and put it on a high-end one.
Not sure what you're getting at here.
I'd love to see artists design the guitar from the ground up -- different woods, scale lengths, appointments -- and leave off the personal messages. The guitars would be designed more along the lines of limited edition models than taking existing guitars and applying superficial changes to them.
That's kind of what I was inferring -- letting an artist essentially do a BTO and doing a limited run signature model.
The thing that always irked me about signature models is that, more often than not, the artists for who their named don't play them, nor did they make their name playing them.
I agree with this to a point -- I think there needs to be some kind of connection. For example, I'd be more likely to buy a James Taylor signature Gibson J-50 than one of his Olsen guitars. Because even though he's been playing the Olsens for a while now, to me, JT's signature sound is a J-50. But for fans of his later work, the opposite would be true as well. I think my Iron and Wine example is valid because he's been playing Taylors for a while now and that's what I associate him with when I think of the guitars he plays.
Dave Matthews didn't spend is time on stage all those years with a guitar inlaid with "GRUX" on the fretboard. I understand why it was done, but the guitar simply doesn't share the same specs as the ones Dave played on stage while making a name for himself. That said, Taylor sold a bunch of them, but I think those guitars probably went to people who were fans of Dave Matthews as opposed to people who wanted a guitar with the same specs as Dave's.
I think this is definitely true, there is a fan aspect that goes along with the guitar, which is kind of the point of a signature model, I guess.
