Slash model doesn't have his signature pickups, thoughts?

[rbraad68]

Sure a JB and 59 are great pickups, very clear and beefy for the JB and the 59 or Jazz is very smooth with a great warm tone to them. But... that is pretty far from a Slash tone pickup, so I would definitely leave the Probucker Custom Slash approved in my Slash guitar. But hey... that's just me. I definitely would not plug in the guitar, play a few chords, then change them out. I would give them a chance for sure and put the guitar through its paces for a week or two.

That's exactly what i did man! I don't regret it one bit either. I got this slash playing and sounding great. I also put the Klusons and Faber bridge kit in this guitar as well. With the org custom pro buckers the neck was muddy and the bridge was ok but nothing special. These SD pups really sorted that out for me. I notice that this slash is a warm sounding guitar to begin with so there is not doubt that trying a few diff pups in the guitar was going to have to be done to help things along. The pups out of the slash sound really well in my 50's gold top and prob live in that guitar till they quit working 30 yrs from now! I also like the pro buckers i have them in three of my epi pauls. I could of put SD in those guitars but i didn't... To each is own man.....

 

[darkvoice]

Can someone please explain what's the big deal with Slash and signature guitars? Gibson positions him as a huge celebrity and builds multiple versions of guitars (both Gibson and Epiphone), charging hefty premium just for the name, but also making them worse than previous issues (by replacing his signature SD pick-ups with more common pickups).

Recently I've been thinking - what's so special about Slash that people would want to get his special guitars? Yes, him and GNR band were huge in the end of 1980s - start of 1990s. True, they were probably the biggest stars then. However, their last good album was exactly 30 years ago (Use Your Illusion), followed by an OK Speghetty in 1993. For almost 30 years that followed the band released just one studio album Chinese Democracy in 2008, and for 15 years there was nothing...

Yes, GNR and Slash are touring, but their concerts is mostly old material.

Which makes Slash a guitar player of the past, whose prime time ended long time ago. If you ask younger audience who Slash was most would have no idea...

Yes, Gibson still counts on him as one of the biggest celebrities in their lineup. But why???

I understand when guitar makers use players like Kirk Hammett, Dave Mustaine, James Hetfield, Joe Bonamassa and others, it makes sense - they are all current and active musicians.

IMHO - Slash is overrated by Gibson compared to many other signature artists. What do you think?

 

[Shelkonnery]

I think Slash has some sick riffs and a licks, I'll give him that.
But he butchers his scales more often than not, a bit too crude.
There's no finesse to his playing IMHO.

Having said all that, I think Gibson could invest in some newer fresher blood.
I would guess many of the artists who play single-cuts from ESP, PRS and such would gladly team up with Gibson.

 

[fry]

Can someone please explain what's the big deal with Slash and signature guitars?

There was an entire thread about this topic a while back. Seems to be a misconception that he hasn’t done anything for 30 years. That’s just not true. He has a whole iconic thing going on with his style, his look and his gear. The number one reason Gibson keeps making his signature models is that they sell big.

 

[MaskingApathy]

Can someone please explain what's the big deal with Slash and signature guitars? Gibson positions him as a huge celebrity and builds multiple versions of guitars (both Gibson and Epiphone), charging hefty premium just for the name, but also making them worse than previous issues (by replacing his signature SD pick-ups with more common pickups).

Recently I've been thinking - what's so special about Slash that people would want to get his special guitars? Yes, him and GNR band were huge in the end of 1980s - start of 1990s. True, they were probably the biggest stars then. However, their last good album was exactly 30 years ago (Use Your Illusion), followed by an OK Speghetty in 1993. For almost 30 years that followed the band released just one studio album Chinese Democracy in 2008, and for 15 years there was nothing...

Yes, GNR and Slash are touring, but their concerts is mostly old material.

Which makes Slash a guitar player of the past, whose prime time ended long time ago. If you ask younger audience who Slash was most would have no idea...

Yes, Gibson still counts on him as one of the biggest celebrities in their lineup. But why???

I understand when guitar makers use players like Kirk Hammett, Dave Mustaine, James Hetfield, Joe Bonamassa and others, it makes sense - they are all current and active musicians.

IMHO - Slash is overrated by Gibson compared to many other signature artists. What do you think?

Seriously? I posted about this earlier:

Are you serious? In 30 years he's done 2 records with Snakepit, 2 records with Velvet Revolver, a solo record, 3 (soon to be 4) records with Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators, huge reunion tour with GnR (and a rumored new album); not to mention all the touring and guest appearances. Definitely doesn't sound like "hasn't done much."

His "prime time" did not end a long time ago and there's a lot of younger people who are fans. I saw GnR earlier this week and there were a lot of young people there.

Also keep in mind that Slash pretty much single-handedly brought back the Les Paul into the mainstream in the late 80s, a fact that Gibson is well aware of.

Btw GnR has a new song out that they're playing nightly and there's more to come...

 

[darkvoice]

That's great that he's been active with side projects! Big question is - how well known are these side gigs? Are they of the same caliber as his work with GNR?

Many guitar players when they see signature guitars they assume that the musician is in his prime, a super star, etc. I could be wrong, but to most players it looks like Slash's star status is a thing of a past.

 

[MaskingApathy]

That's great that he's been active with side projects! Big question is - how well known are these side gigs? Are they of the same caliber as his work with GNR?

Many guitar players when they see signature guitars they assume that the musician is in his prime, a super star, etc. I could be wrong, but to most players it looks like Slash's star status is a thing of a past.

Those people aren't paying attention then, his star status isn't a thing of the past. Velvet Revolver and then SMKC were his main gigs, and both of those were pretty high profile (like main stage billing right under the headliner profile). With SMKC he's playing big venues and selling out a lot of shows. My point is that his career isn't defined only by GnR now, he's got a lot of other significant stuff to his name too.

 

[VergDan]

Many guitar players when they see signature guitars they assume that the musician is in his prime, a super star, etc. I could be wrong, but to most players it looks like Slash's star status is a thing of a past.

Take a look at Ibanez, their most treasured artists are still Satriani, Vai and Paul Gilbert, Ibanez still gives them the highest rank of endorsement (allowing them to make drastic design changes to their respective signature lines, accompanied with several free custom shop guitars every year), and they're obviously not as active as they were in the 80's. They are doing more solo stuff recent years, so does Slash, making several solo albums with Myles Kennedy, which makes them still active and relevant.

But most importantly, they're still many people's heroes. I myself started playing guitar because of Slash, he is forever an icon in my heart. Gibson and Epiphone keep pushing out his signature models because people are still stoked about these, and they make good money off of these guitars.

 

[KStopper65]

Take a look at Ibanez, their most treasured artists are still Satriani, Vai and Paul Gilbert, Ibanez still gives them the highest rank of endorsement

Regardless, the newer players, such as Tim Henson, Ichika etc. are given custom guitars. I bet those sell pretty well. At least they're picking up some new players

 

[VergDan]

Regardless, the newer players, such as Tim Henson, Ichika etc. are given custom guitars. I bet those sell pretty well. At least they're picking up some new players

What you're saying is very true. I'm not familiar with Gibson's lineup, and anything comes to my mind close to 'newer player signature' in the Epiphone lineup is the Matt Heafy model, which is scarce. But anyways, I was focusing on 'why Gibson still picks Slash', not 'why Gibson doesn't pick up new players'.

 

[MaskingApathy]

Gibson has newer players too.

 

[rbraad68]

I was about 16 17 yrs old back in 1984/85 and back then it was all Jackson guitars and other such guitars like Kramer no one was buying the Gibson's back then everyone wanted the metal guitars. I rember going into a Big Tampa based store called Thourhbred Music which later got bought out by Sam ash anyways I could pick up Lp Customs and other Gibson guitars for around 300-600 bucks all day long. When Slash hit the scene the cost of Gibson just kept getting higher and higher!! I blame Slash for the price of Gibson's these days lol....