Famous Guitars: Using Guitars the Pros Use

How much merit to you put in what guitars your favorite guitar legend plays? Obviously, guitar manufacturers hope you put a whole lot of merit into it because they sponsor musicians to use their guitars and do clinics, etc. Exactly the reason you shouldn't put too much stock in it though. Your rock star may not be playing brand X because its his favorite but because he's payed to do so.

Also realize that a certain guitar is only one variable in a long chain of variables your upper echelon star relies on. There are effect pedals, the amplifier, not to mention what the sound engineer or recording engineer might be doing to the sound. Don't expect to sound the same even if you have the same talent level.

One good reason to pay attention to what your hero plays is because you like the appearance of his guitar on stage. But understand that if this is your motivation, there are probably cheaper "look a like" guitars that you could consider.

Companies now make copies of their star's guitars right down to the exact damage of the original instrument. Some manufacturers have the stars design guitars for them to make as "special editions" as well.

You know that no name bass I was talking about? Turns out its an Arbor bass used by 80s "hair band" bassist Dana Strum of The Vinnie Vincent Invasion, and Slaughter. Even knowing that, I'd never heard of the bands (Well ok, I'd heard of Slaughter. Don't know their music at all though.) nor the guitar brand.

Hair bands... probably my least favorite sort of music because of the hype and pretension. I wonder if I should not buy this bass because of that association? On the other hand, it might just be a perfect inside joke.

One other thing that I should mention here goes back to my first point. Arbor I found out is a cheap, entry level guitar company. I don't know how famous The Vinnie Vincent Invasion and Slaughter are/were, but probably Dana Strum could have bought and used more expensive guitars had he wanted to. When I did a little research, it became obvious though that either Strum or the bands themselves were contracted to Arbor.

Its OK to play your hero's guitar if you want to. There is nothing wrong with it. But if you are just looking for a reliable, playable, cheap guitar, know there might be cheaper ways to go.