Seems like everyone and their brother has a “signature guitar” anymore. You seem them from time to time in Guitar Center or the latest Musician’s Friend catalog, but never all at once. The kind of seem to come and go. I decided to list my favorite signature guitar models all at once for you to check out. These are my favorites from Eddie Van Halen, Dave Mustaine, Dimebag Darrell, Michael Schenker, Tony Iommi, Zakk Wylde, George Lynch, Kirk Hammett, Buddy Guy, Eric Clapton, Eric Johnson, Jeff Beck, Slash, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Randy Rhoads, John Petrucci, Angus Young, and Steve Morse. I wish I had them all!

 

Van Halen Wolfgang Signature Guitars

 

Dave Mustaine Signature Guitars

 

Dimebag Darrell Signature Guitars

 

Michael Schenker Signature Guitars

 

Tony Iommi Signature Guitars

 

Zakk Wylde Signature Guitars

 

George Lynch Signature Guitars

 

Kirk Hammett Signature Guitars

 

Buddy Guy Signature Guitars

 

Eric Clapton Signature Guitars

 

Eric Johnson Signature Guitars

 

Jeff Beck Signature Guitars

 

Steve Vai Signature Guitars

 

Joe Satriani Signature Guitars

 

Randy Rhoads Signature Guitars

 

John Petrucci Signature Guitars

 

Steve Morse Signature Guitars

 

John 5 Signature Guitars

 

Angus Young Signature Guitars

What would classic 80′s rock be without Motley Crue? Nikki has a signature bass that’s both affordable and that sounds great, he calls it the “Blackbird” (fitting eh?). If you love it louder than Hell, then you’re never too young to fall in love with Epiphone’s Nikki Sixx Blackbird electric bass guitar. The original, “DeepSixx” humbuckers are directly mounted for more crunch, and, combined with a simple on/off toggle switch, help you recreate the distinct sound of Motley Crue!

There’s not much more classic than an Epiphone Casino Guitar.  You’ll probably immediately think of the Beatles.  You’ll love the light weight and comfortable neck of the Epiphone Elitist 1965 Casino. The Elite series are instruments that approach custom shop perfection. Crafted with premium woods, fitted with American pickups and circuitry—-even American-made toggle switches and Grover tuners-they’re made at a special factory devoted to their manufacture where they receive a high degree of hands-on luthier attention. You’ll find the Elite 1965 Casino true to the original made famous by The Beatles. A finely crafted, great-sounding, and easy-playing instrument that beautifully blurs the line between Epiphone and Gibson. Includes hardshell case.

There are all kinds of Epiphone Casino’s on eBay in both used mint and new reissue condition:

How can you resist a guitar in the Explorer style? I’ve always been a fan o EMG pickups – especially for the more modern styles. The Future is well suited for metal, modern rock, or alternative guitar playing. The Epiphone Futura Prophecy EX Electric Guitar is loaded with an EMG-81 humbucker pickup in the bridge position for great attack and sustain during solos and an EMG-85 humbucker at the neck for fat, great-sounding rhythm. Lavish, supreme features include the Futura guitar’s highly figured quilted maple top, pearl inlay knobs, strap locks, graphite nut, Grover tuners, bound fingerboard, unique blade inlay, and rich, black cherry finish. The hard maple set neck and 24-fret ebony fingerboard provide a playground two full octaves in length.

Here’s a video review of the Epiphone Futura Prophecy guitar:

Here are some Epiphone Futura guitars listed on eBay right now:

Consider this my blanket review of all Epiphone guitars in general. I go to Guitar Center a lot. Usually it’s just to check out a bunch of guitars through different amps. I bought one guitar there, and I buy them online sometimes too. About a year ago I found a cool deal on Musicians Friend on a Epiphone Dot Studio guitar. The Dot Studio is basically a budget version of the very expensive and legendary ES335 (several thousands of dollars). This guitar was awesome! It was black on black, and those humbuckers just screamed through my Marshall! It had lots of tone, and was very light (which is great on stage). I loved that guitar…for awhile.

After I gigged it out a few times, the bridge volume know fell inside the body cavity, held on by only the volume knob itself. The nut had come loose. I popped off the volume knob while holding on to the pot pliers, tightened up the nut, and that was that. I tightened up all the other volume and tone knobs too. This was the first time I began to feel like Epiphone was a really low quality guitar. I’d never seen a brand new guitar, direct from the factory with loose volume knobs. In fact, I’d never owned a guitar for years where the volume knobs got loose on their own.

So I gigged this black Dot Studio out like 6 or 7 times. I noticed one night that the input jack nut was coming loose. I tightened it up by hand and all was well for the night. But that made me take notice of the input jack from that point forward. I always checked at home and before gigs….and ended up hand tightening it all the time. It was as terrible pain, and I don’t know why they didn’t install a locknut or lock washer at the factory. Long story short, it had to be tightened so many times that it caused one of the wires attached internally to the input jack to start to short out, and eventually just fall off. I ended up buying an AllParts input jack new at Guitar Center and soldering it back in myself. The guitar was ok…..for awhile.

On stage I switch from bridge to neck pickup a lot depending on the song. I started to notice at first a crackle, and then sometimes just cutting out going from neck to bridge. I would have to switch it back once or twice before it kicked in. I’ve never had problems like that before on a new guitar – that told me it was a cheap input jack. I had already noticed when I soldered in the new input jack how thin the internal wiring of the guitar was (compared to others I had taken apart). Problems with the wiring, and the switch dragged on for months. When I installed the new input jack I had put a few dots of gorilla glue at the edge of the nut to keep it from coming loose again. Eventually I sold the guitar when I had owned it just under a year. I ended up buying the Ibanez Artcore I play as my main guitar now in it’s place.

I have not had a single problem with the Ibanez that I had with the Epiphone, and it has the input jack on the tail just like the Epiphone did. And I can see inside the F-holes of the guitar that the wiring is significantly thicker than it was on the Epiphone. My only complaint with the Artcore is that the pickups aren’t nearly as biting or clear as they were on that Dot Studio. I have a friend that loves Epiphones. He’s tried to tell me that maybe the one I had was just a lemon. I disagree. I have played dozens of Epiphones in 3 different guitar centers and various music shops. Each and ever one has had loose knobs and or input jack. Also, the setup and quality is very hit or miss.

Here’s a prime example. I went to Guitar Center today and played several instruments. I saw this one guitar that was stunning from afar. It has natual laquer and wood, beautiful finish, semi-hollow body 335 type guitar. As I got up on it I saw it was indeed an Epiphone Dot Studio. Being a glutton for punishment I picked it off the rack and plugged it in. It played nice. In face it screamed, and was full of tone. And in this newer model, the input jack had been moved from the tail to the top just right of the bridge. The input jack was tight. I tuned it up and played. Nice action, nice feeling neck, even the toggle switch for neck and bridge was a newer kind and seemed better. Then I switched from neck to bridge and went to turn the volume up for that pickup…and it turned around, and around, and around, and around. The nut had become loose and fallen off that volume. I check the others, and they were also indeed loose.

I played a flame top Epiphone Les Paul last weekend, and it’s input jack and volume knobs were loose (and the action was terrible). I played two Dot Studios that were on clearance and the action was way off the fingerboard, and one had a blemish on the headstock. Loose volume knobs as well. The wost was 2 months ago when I was very interested in getting an SG. SG’s are very expensive, so I of course checked out the Epiphone SG’s (I know – idiot, duh!). They had this one that was white with gold hardware, triple humbucker. Beautiful guitar…nice action, good setup – I liked it a lot. It was on clearance for $340 – a bargain (so I thought!). I plugged it in and tried the neck pickup – nice! I switched to bridge, and no sound! I turned every volume and tone knob on 10 – still no sound! The mid pickup switch was the same. This guitar only had volue on the neck pickup! I thought this guitar was so nice, that I was willing to get it fixed if need be. I took it over to the department manager looking for a deal. He said “no way – it’s already on clearance”. I said “but wait, it’s broken – the wiring is bad and you’re selling is as ‘new’!”. He wasn’t willing to budge one iota on the price. They also weren’t willing to fix it, I had to buy the guitar AND PAY FOR the repair! I was pissed and ended up not buying the guitar. I don’t care if it was clearance or not – they didn’t even know the wiring was bad until I brought it up to them! How can you sell something as brand new that’s broken, and not be willing to send it back to the factory?

See a pattern here? Every Epihpone I pick up in any store, any make or model has a problem or a blemish. The quality is so low, I would never again take one (without gutting it) as a stage guitar. If they can’t even make sure the hardware is tight and the electrical connections are good, and spend an extra $2.50 on a quality switch and input jack – I am not interested in buying an Epiphone guitar EVER AGAIN!! The ONLY way I would consider it would be if it were on extreme clearance (less than $300), and I was going to have it rewired with new knobs, switch, and input jack! If you are considering an Epiphone guitar – BUYER BEWARE!! Look for the things I have pointed out. You will get much more for your money if you take a look at other mid-range priced guitars from Fender, Ibanez, Jackson, Paul Reed Smith (the LTD line), ESP, Dean, or others. I will be reviewing many of these guitars in the future to give you as much information as possible!

Have a comment? Love or Hate Epiphones? Please – comment now and join the discussion!