Fender Signature Guitars
 

Finally, SY signature guitars by Fender.
These will go well with my SY T-shirts, my SY coffee-mug, and my SY underpants...can't wait to put on my Thurston-wig - I'll post a pic!

Sorry for the rant, but where's the point in all this?
Ain't it more fun to tailor a guitar to your own needs and PLAY?
If we put out a Guitar-Hero version of it, the kids don't even need to play themselves anymore...

I've cherished SY for their art since Kill Your Idols.
Now everybody line up to shell out for the sell-out...
By the way, which one is Pink?

Welcome to the boards.

Good points, but please use the Search function: http://www.sonicyouth.com/gossip/showthread.php?t=32021&highlight=Lee+Thurston+sign ature+guitars

Tailoring your own guitar - That's what they did! At least Sonic Youth actually play their signature models unlike so many other guitarists.

£1800 is far too much for any guitar in my opinion. I struggle to see who is actually going to buy these. I guess that is Fenders problem, not Sonic Youth's.

I bought one. I play it. It rocks. Wish I would have been able to afford it 15 years ago when I was in a band. I have lots of guitars, most are modified. This one is as it is, and will be. Super psyched that Fender had the balls to put this project together. Wonder how many they'll make/sell.

btw- - purchased the Thurston model...

that was harsh man. Lighten the F up.

damn dude. How much was it?

Actually:

1. Thanks a lot for the warm welcome.

2. That was a bit harsh indeed, although you are right of course.

3. I apologise for not using the search function! :o

4. For anyone interested, I read about the sigs for the 1st time today. I'm in Germany, so news take a while to get here sometimes.
As the sensitive may have noticed, the news about the sigs just led me to immediate-emotion-overflow: Find website, sign up, post comment - the normal chain of systematic, analytic & self-reflective thinking that divides man from animal...

Seriously, I would not necessarily have thought SY would sign up for this kind of business for several reasons.
Anyway, I'm happy SY get Fender's recognition.
I'm also happy for the guys that have bought/will buy one - I'm sure they are great guitars!

Actually I was making a joke. You got off light. I'm the one who's usually super harsh to new posters that post redundant threads. So yeah. Joke.

Haha, yeah that wasn't harsh at all.

the list price: $1620 with tax. It's an exact copy of the guitars they play. I couldn't resist– this is a beauty. The booklet that Lee designed is great info, not so great design (mediocre typography)... Comes with a strap, a cable, an extra set of strings, a sheet of stickers, in a beautiful hardshell case. It came tuned perfectly-- but in STANDARD, not an SY tuning... kinda thrown off by that think that they (fender) went through all the trouble to make a killer guitar for a killer band, they would have strung it up with one of the tunings from the booklet.

yeah I've seen em, and the sticker books. I don't have that sorta loot to drop on fun stuff though.

would it be "against the rules" to ask for some scans of the accompaining booklet? I don't think it could hurt sells in any way, but you know, gotta respect our hosts :D.

I could prolly do that.. low rez and watermarked... ; )

Or high quality scans, but "shared" only in private :).
In any case, any input will be much appreciated!

yeah, i wanna see the strap and stickers too.

i'd hold off til someone official chimes in, but 'whatever'...

oki doki, I'm down with waiting for some sort of approval (or for insults).

The zine is a treasure trove of info regarding tunings and string gauges. I just got the Lee model. I think I've been waiting for this guitar for 14 years. It's it for me. Gorgeous too. I can't wait to bust it out live this coming wednesday. Probably my favorite guitar. It came with a little dent in it, which I figure will be the first of many. I bought it at Sam Ash in LA, they still have one Thurston. I really dug the jumbo frets of the Thurston, but the volume placement and the humbuckers of the Lee model were what I had to get.

So... kill yr idols... but damn they made a nice pair of guitars.

out of interest, does it come from the factory in standard tuning?

yes ;)

Customizing guitars is very expensive, and if I want a jazzmaster designed to sound like the guitars I want, I'll buy it. This is a name placement that actually makes sense musically and for the customers.
YOu're indie cred isn't helped by dissing it.

I've always thought they deserved sig guitars, they motivated fools like me to go out at get a jazzmaster...it's just too bad that I think they both look ugly compared to all their other beauties they have had over the years.

If you can't understand why people think this is retarded, you're an idiot. I don't really have a problem with it and don't care either way, but you're fucking stupid if you don't get it.

hmmm you don't have a problem with it and don't care either way, yet you say he's fucking stupid for not getting your point.. hmm.

maybe you should have reviewed that one before posting it.

and if you don't get my point, then we know who the idiot is.

Edit: I'm realising more and more why I barely come around here anymore, there sure are way more assholes here than back when it all started.

I always wanted a Jazzmaster, but of course the price has been skyrocketing since they got trendy. I think it's safe to say SY was a big reason for that.

I think these new sig models look amazing, first of all. The colors, the black headstocks, the little touchs..knobs et.
http://www.fender.com/sonicyouth/

Anyways, sig models never appealed to me too much, BUT this is one i am seriously considering. The Mascis was too obvious with the purple et. With these alot of people will have no idea what it is, as SY is still not a household name and the quality is there.

Torn on the models. On one hand i like Thurston's bc it has standard pu's and the color. But the Lee model is a little more interesting pu wise and is also a great color.

the J Mascis model from a year or 2 ago was apparently pretty awesome.

It looks heinous

I have one and really love it

My friend was at a show and somebody (street team??) was passing out the sy guitar zines outside and I got one!

I can't believe CHOUT's back!!!
would you get one of these man?
I'm scratching my head about the whole idea... how's the zine?

Here is a video of it in action, its a good tune too!
http://pitchfork.com/tv/#/musicvideo...ime-fat-possum

Have seen Dinosaur Jr twice this year and J played a Jazzmaster but it was even better looking than this one and the sonic youth signiture ones. It was more like this

Attachment 479

but bigger and with black pick ups rather than the Telecaster Deluxe ones.


[IMG]file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/User/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot.jpg[/IMG]

I can never play a Jazzmaster until they make one with a neck that has more than 21 frets.

If I have a Fender Cyclone II (HH), oh, I'll glad..

these are expensive in my opinion eventhough it does have supposedly the best hardware and electronics, in general i'm not fond of sig models and possible perception of emulating guitarists in that way... if i was more of a "professional" musician and made more money i could probably justify getting one of these, but for now my black '72 tele custom reissue (like the one keiji haino and ben chasney play) will continue to be my main guitar of choice... i have a mortgage and car payment so a $1400 guitar is not really a priority of mine especially right now i'm not in a band... its pretty obvious that these sig models are definetely geared for a specific type/group of people. i'm not against these, just indifferent...

i would like to have a look at the zine as well. it seems like these should be available to SY fans who are also guitar players/enthusiasts without purchasing the sig. guitars. i wanted to comment on this in the original thread, but never got around to it.

I am glad Fender recognized them, its cool that it happened, but I couldn't justify buying one. It seems like non-affluent players into the spirit of SY would be more into searching out and finding their own styles, innovations, etc...

Coincidentally, there was a recent reissue of vintage low-buget Harmony guitars like the ones SY used in the very beginning. check 'em out: www.harmonyguitars.com
you could get one of their reissue-vintage "H15 Bobkats" (or a cheaper actual-vintage one from eBay) , carve a bunch of X's on it, replace the bridge with a shattered drumstick secured w/ ducktape, attack w/ a file, and have a replica of the "battle scarred harmony" from the sonicyouth.com gearography! BURNING SPEAR!

A few years ago I bought a cheap vintage Harmony "H19 Silhouette" (yet to be reissued) which was the top-of-the-line solid body model by this bottom of the barrel low-buget company from the 60's. Its a little closer to the Jazzmaster than the "Bobkat" model, has tunomatic style bridge and JM-like tremelo. I put nicer tuners on mine, and it looks like these Harmony reissues have them too. The tuners on the old ones were the weak link (and the wooden bridge on some of them like the bobkats). Its really fun and has vintage weirdo cool vibe. Mine has some dings here and there, but I elected not to thrash mine like the youth did theirs. Maybe i would if i could afford more guitars. My exhaustive study of the SY gearography page and T's Harmony definitely influenced my purchase. 60's harmonys are cool but in the 70's they were bought out by some big conglomerate and moved production to asia, supposedly quality went downhill, and style certainly did.

For those who feel that buying/building cheap low-budget and/or strange guitars is more their route (i remember people saying this on the old thread) here is a link to SUBWAY guitars in Berkley, CA, whose store I have not visited yet but is on my list of things to do. This cantakerous dude bought all the old part stock when the original Danelectro shut down, and has been building weird low-budget guitars according to his and his cuistomers whims and eccentricities for approximately a generation:
www.fatdawg.com

also for custom building and parts, there is www.warmoth.com
they have jazzmaster bodies/neck/pickgurads/etc...

cheers to all

Yo dude, I totally agree. I actually just bought this http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=260476852837 weirdass guitar. This isn't really for people who want to follow in the footsteps of Sonic Youth, it's more for their aging fans who have no desire to do anything interesting. And I think that's just fine. But we should have a thread about customizing and weird guitars because I think it's totally awesome and I'm just getting into it.

Also, I looked @ that Subway site and it's cool, but... what's with the constant masturbation references? It's really funny and out of place

I personally love the look of these guitars and I'm not really into signature guitars. I don't know what I like about it but I feel that it has a "signature" look that makes it unique, yet not that overly unique look that lots of signature guitars have.

yeah, he does make a lot of masturbation jokes, which i could do without. i am willing to overlook that because of the overall feel and "philosophy" of the place, the sheer quantity of vintage, weirdo, & "urban renewall"-style custom guitars. some people love masturbation jokes, however. to each his own.

p.s. i am not at all excited by the sig. model's colors, black headstock, etc... it would almost have been cooler if Fender had done an exact replica of the dings and scrapes on some of their original jazzmasters like they did for the Jeff Beck sig. model, or Rory Gallagher sig. model i think it was. those guitars were seriously beat up, and looked cool. but fender charges a boatload of money for such uber-detailed "aging" treatments, which would drive the price up by thousands. since i'm not going to get one anyway, it would be more fun to look at.

I have thought about trying to find a cheap "Drifter" LP-copy like the original SY monster and replicate their modifications/thrashings.

the J. Mascis JM is ridiculous and ugly, which seems to be his visual aesthetic for a lot of Dino Jr. releases too...
...though Kim looked kool playing one... ...maybe it's a girl thing...