Adrian, Janick and Dave's guitars and Steve's basses

CriedWhenBrucieLeft said:
I think it's just Marshall, to be honest. I mean, Gibson even made Buckethead a signature LP...
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Not so sure about that "even" here. Buckethead is a phenomenon and his fame far transcends his actual fans = profit.

matic22 said:
Yeah but Jackson took the risk with Adrian signature and it wasn't a faliure. Still don't know how can Kerry King have his signature model with Marshall.
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Jackson is part of Fender, and the brand is aimed exclusively at a market where Adrian Smith would be a well known player. Furthermore, he was an endorser back in the 80's and helped build the brand. Still, Jackson is a brand on about the level where it would be mutually beneficial, whereas Marshall is the amplifier brand of rock music.

Kerry King made the JCM800 standard equipment for thrash metal. Can't exactly argue that Dave Murray or Adrian Smith have had the same influence or fame with their use of Marshalls. They're low-profile players in a high profile band, there's no other way to put it. They are hugely successful, but entirely without the celebrity status many of their contemporaries have fought hard to get and maintain.
 
Maturin said:
Not so sure about that "even" here. Buckethead is a phenomenon and his fame far transcends his actual fans = profit.
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Do you think? He's really not that famous though. And the guitarist community, generally, don't really like Buckethead's style of playing. These are the guys buying expensive signature models. Add to that, the signature model is a baritone guitar & oversized; so too big for the average player. Taking all this into account, I don't really see, personally, the market for a Buckethead $1000+ signature guitar. Maybe, but I can't imagine Gibson have made that much from the association.
Maturin said:
Jackson is part of Fender, and the brand is aimed exclusively at a market where Adrian Smith would be a well known player. Furthermore, he was an endorser back in the 80's and helped build the brand. Still, Jackson is a brand on about the level where it would be mutually beneficial, whereas Marshall is the amplifier brand of rock music.

Kerry King made the JCM800 standard equipment for thrash metal. Can't exactly argue that Dave Murray or Adrian Smith have had the same influence or fame with their use of Marshalls. They're low-profile players in a high profile band, there's no other way to put it. They are hugely successful, but entirely without the celebrity status many of their contemporaries have fought hard to get and maintain.
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They could still have had some sort of endorsement link with "Iron Maiden" generally, yes/no? The brand link would be pretty good for Marshall you'd have thought; especially now. Maiden are big enough, are they not?
 
CriedWhenBrucieLeft said:
They could still have had some sort of endorsement link with "Iron Maiden" generally, yes/no? The brand link would be pretty good for Marshall you'd have thought; especially now. Maiden are big enough, are they not?
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They most certainly have an endorsement deal (which could mean anything from discounts on equipment all the way up to free gear and front up payment for using their gear) - check album booklet of any band with a record deal and you'll find some documentation of gear used. But here's the problem, Maiden is certainly big enough but that doesn't necessarily carry over into the three individuals who are the guitarplayers of Iron Maiden.

CriedWhenBrucieLeft said:
Do you think? He's really not that famous though. And the guitarist community, generally, don't really like Buckethead's style of playing. These are the guys buying expensive signature models. Add to that, the signature model is a baritone guitar & oversized; so too big for the average player. Taking all this into account, I don't really see, personally, the market for a Buckethead $1000+ signature guitar. Maybe.
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Now, Gibson is today an insane company run by a man with severe delusions (they put self tuning tuners on all the guitars on their 2015 lineup and subsequently are busy discounting them at half the price to get rid of them) - but the Buckethead sig is one of the least idiotic things they've done in recent memory. They had no baritone model in their product line at the time, they made a cool looking one as the signature of one of the single most well known guitarplayers out there today (don't forget he was in Guns n Roses too) and released it featuring a kill-switch. A reasonable addition to the lineup, but one surely meant to try the market, sell a few, and then be discontinued. And it wasn't expensive. 1000 USD is nothing for a guitar.
 
I think signature models tend to be more popular with more flashy/iconic players. Zakk Wylde isn't a great guitarist but he's recognizable and has a signature guitar design (the bullseye thing). Iron Maiden is a well known band but I don't think any of the guitarists have that "guitar hero" status. It has very little to do with actual playing ability IMO.
 
Mosh said:
Iron Maiden is a well known band but I don't think any of the guitarists have that "guitar hero" status.
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Agreed. In some of those 'top 40/50/100' guitarists lists I've seen, Dave and Adrian are listed as a double act.
 
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I was just casually looking at the photos of H's son Dylan's band when I spotted something. H's old Ibanez Destroyer, which was ruined by flood sometime between 2003 and 2010 (Adrian talked about that in a 2010 interview) that hit the IM warehouse.
It seems it's Adrian's home studio wall ornament now. Bottom right.
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From the current tour, the standouts are Janick's Epiphone Les Paul Black Beauty (used on "If Eternity Should Fail") and Adrian's red Jackson 'Explorer' and San Dimas with a see-through green finish and quilt top.

Surprised about the Epiphone, I must admit. It's rare to see such a big act with cheap, made in China, stuff. Not to say that I necessarily think it is a bad guitar, but you'd expect him to play a more prestigious instrument than that, whether it's customshop, customshop fake vintage, real vintage or otherwise nicer instrument. The only guitarists I've seen play Epiphones regularly are people like Joe Bonamassa who has a signature model and thus probably are required to play the cheaper model at shows to promote it (and given that kind of stuff is common you'd have to question whether the model they actually play is the same sold in stores or just another customshop-job made to look like it).
 
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A couple of additions to the list: Dave and Adrian both had Ibanez Roadstar guitars around the Powerslave era. Never seen photos of them playing them on stage, but they were listed in the World Slavery Tour gear list in the booklet that came with the Live After Death LP.

I have a Guitar for the Practicing Musician magazine (Jan '85) where Adrian says he recorded the whole Piece of Mind album using a Gibson Melody Maker (!), and for Powerslave, he "used a stock Ibanez Roadstar and it worked out fine in the studio." (p. 65.)

I've seen one photo of Adrian holding an Ibanez RS315 (Strat-shaped, bound flat top, single V2 humbucker, Ibanez's version of a Super Distortion) in Marine Sunburst finish, in what looks like a backstage setting. The Live After Death booklet lists two Roadstars in blue woodgrain finish.

Dave had an RS1000 (Strat-shaped, carved bound birdseye maple top in cherry sunburst, two Super 58 humbuckers), that I've only seen twice - once in an Ibanez promotional photo (see attachment) and once in a video about the recording of the "Hear 'N Aid" charity record, which Dave & Adrian recorded during a few days' break from the World Slavery Tour. You can see Dave using his Ibanez and Adrian using a white guitar that I don't recognize with no logo on the headstock, starting at 5:37 here:
Dave's RS1000 looked to have a tobacco sunburst finish rather than cherry, and is listed that way in the Live After Death booklet - maybe it was a one-off for him, because I've never seen another one in that finish.

I have an RS1000, and it's a great sounding and very playable guitar. But the whammy system is a bit of a pain, especially for string changes (requires a Philips screwdriver), and it's possible that Dave's RS1000 was fine for recording and practice but lacked the tuning stability for live use (or that the unpotted humbuckers created too much feedback of the wrong kind on a loud stage). That may be the same reason Adrian didn't seem to use his Roadstar on stage.
 

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IWishIHadAdriansDT300 said:
Dave's outfit in the attached image seems to be more reminiscent of his early Beast On The Road getup, I'll see if I can find anything of him using in any other photos
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Yeah, the RS1000 came out around '81, so he likely would have had it from sometime pre-Piece of Mind (when they seemed to have some kind of relationship with Ibanez) through at least Slavery Tour years, however much he did or didn't use it.
 
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AlexS said:
I have a Guitar for the Practicing Musician magazine (Jan '85) where Adrian says he recorded the whole Piece of Mind album using a Gibson Melody Maker (!), and for Powerslave, he "used a stock Ibanez Roadstar and it worked out fine in the studio." (p. 65.)
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Cool info. (The rest of your post as well!)
 
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