# Autographed Guitars



## Skippy (May 3, 2006)

Is BB Kings Autograph worth $2000?. I will never understand why people get guitars autographed, in my opinion unless you plan on holding on to the guitar for life it will actually depreciate the value of the instrument. Thoughts?

Gibson 1985 ES-175 signed by BBKing | Guitars | Oshawa / Durham Region | Kijiji


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## SaucyJack (Mar 8, 2017)

A BB King autograph won't depreciate the guitar unless he signs it with a hammer. I don't think it's worth $2G though.


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## Scottone (Feb 10, 2006)

A BB signature on his signature Gibson would be cool and I'd pay a bit more for that. Other than that, it would have no value to me.


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## knight_yyz (Mar 14, 2015)

A signed Lucille would make sense to me.


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## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

I don't want a guitar somebody wrote on no matter who wrote on it. It doesn't devalue it for me, its a deal breaker. I won't buy a guitar with a signature on it. I don't even like signature guitars that much and have never bought one.


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## BSTheTech (Sep 30, 2015)

Whatever the market will bear...

I laugh at these clowns that get the cheapest Squire Bullet signed. F right Off!


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## ZeroGravity (Mar 25, 2016)

@BSTheTech I know where you can get a Bullet signed by Nickelback, gotta be worth big bucks


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## Guncho (Jun 16, 2015)

Yeah I would never let anyone write on one of my guitars. I don't care who they are.


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## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

BSTheTech said:


> Whatever the market will bear...
> 
> I laugh at these clowns that get the cheapest Squire Bullet signed. F right Off!


Thats exactly the guitar I would let someone sign. One that I would just hang on the wall and the signature would have more value than the guitar. Just a souvenir wall decorator.


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## BSTheTech (Sep 30, 2015)

guitarman2 said:


> Thats exactly the guitar I would let someone sign. One that I would just hang on the wall and the signature would have more value than the guitar. Just a souvenir wall decorator.


I'd jigsaw out the name and frame that.


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## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

BSTheTech said:


> I'd jigsaw out the name and frame that.


Naw I'd leave the guitar intact. A squier with a famous signature would look cool to most that would see it. Only us guitar nerds no one guitar from another.
I bought my daughter a pink squier when she was a little girl. At 26 she still has it and never took the interest to learn to play. She likes it on a stand in the corner or where it is now on a wall hanger. She thinks its cool as part of the decor.
I bought my Grand daughter a Taylor GS Mini as she has more of an interest in music so hopefully she'll stay with it. No one gets to sign that one.


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## Guest (Feb 12, 2018)

Kijiji

Joey Kramer and Brad Whitford signed Drum sticks $250









https://www.kijiji.ca/v-guitar/sarn...ai/1240635355?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true
Tragically Hip Signed $1,500










Johnny Winter signed Epiphone EB-0 $2,500










Epiphone Special II Alexisonfire Signed $3,500










and the best,

Signed, Framed Toronto Maple Leafs Fender $22,000


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## Tone Chaser (Mar 2, 2014)

BSTheTech said:


> Whatever the market will bear...
> 
> I laugh at these clowns that get the cheapest Squire Bullet signed. F right Off!


I have been at concerts at the local Casino. There has been a low dollar Squire sitting on display in the lobby with a sign saying the winner will get a meet and greet, including this guitar, to be signed by the band.

Sometimes you just have to take what you win. Some must believe that this kind of thing is priceless to someone. To each his own.


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

My level of hero worship doesn't extend as far as getting some celebrity's signature on a guitar. I love Rory Gallagher and Pete Seeger but I wouldn't want their signatures on my instruments. Even if I bought a signed guitar, I would remove the signature, so I certainly wouldn't pay more for it.


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## marcos (Jan 13, 2009)

Skippy said:


> Is BB Kings Autograph worth $2000?. I will never understand why people get guitars autographed, in my opinion unless you plan on holding on to the guitar for life it will actually depreciate the value of the instrument. Thoughts?
> 
> Gibson 1985 ES-175 signed by BBKing | Guitars | Oshawa / Durham Region | Kijiji


Holy crap !!! He signed my LP Custom in Ottawa back in the 80's. Its long gone now. If only i would have known. LOL. Dont really care about famous people signing my guitars. My Tele is signed by regular players and signers that i have had the pleasure of playing with. To me thats worth all the money in the world.
Pic of Steve Pittico signing my Tele and playing with him.


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## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

It's worth $2000.00 if someone is willing to pay that. To me it would be worth what the guitar is worth without the signature. 

The only guitar I would have signed is an inexpensive guitar with as many signatures from different band members as possible. It would be more for momento purposes than trying to increase its value.


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## Roryfan (Apr 19, 2010)

I have a pickguard signed by Jeff Healey, Tinsley Ellis, Duke Robillard & Magic Slim. All incredible players that I'm happy to have met (had a beer with Duke at the Silver Dollar) and some sentimental value as Jeff was my first guitar hero.


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## Scotty (Jan 30, 2013)

laristotle said:


> Tragically Hip Signed $1,500


I'd actually like that, though has less meaning if it wasn't already mine and signed for me.


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## Scotty (Jan 30, 2013)

guitarman2 said:


> Thats exactly the guitar I would let someone sign. One that I would just hang on the wall and the signature would have more value than the guitar. Just a souvenir wall decorator.


+1. Exactly this.


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## Guest (Feb 13, 2018)

Scribble whatever on your guit and tell people it's so and so.
Some of them sign so sloppy that you can't read them anyways.


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## High/Deaf (Aug 19, 2009)

I don't get this either. To me, an autograph is only worth something to the person who had direct contact with the autographer. It's a little bit of proof that you did meet him I guess (and now totally surpassed by the ubiquitous selfies). I don't want someone else's memories or life. Well, except for Hef. I wanted his life, but not now that he's dead. 

I have to admit I have some guitars with people's name's one them. A few with Orville Gibson's name, a couple of those also have Les Paul's name. And I've got a few with Leo's last name. And George Lowden and CF Martin and Fred Gretsch and even one with Dean Zelinski's first name on it. That's weird.


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## Guitar101 (Jan 19, 2011)

About 10 years ago, I bought a Les Paul signed pickguard from a reputable signature company (I hope) with pictures of Les signing a stack of pick guards for a Les Paul. Not sure if it's worth any more since he's passed.


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## Chitmo (Sep 2, 2013)

There is a plethora of shit that is taken into consideration as far as signature values go. Was it written with a pen, pencil or a marker? When was it done? How rare is the signature? Blah blah In most cases though unless there is proper documentation and a market it doesn't really add any value to anything.


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## Ian Murray (Aug 29, 2016)

BSTheTech said:


> Whatever the market will bear...
> 
> I laugh at these clowns that get the cheapest Squire Bullet signed. F right Off!


LOL I had exactly none of these - never figured out who's it was (if it was anybody's) before it rubbed off... 
Any ideas?


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## Guest (Feb 13, 2018)




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## BSTheTech (Sep 30, 2015)

Not a fan of Teds but you can't fault his reasoning with those vultures.


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## krall (Apr 19, 2009)

Speaking of Ted Nugent. I had a Les Paul a few years ago that he signed (Whack 'em all!):


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## cdntac (Oct 11, 2017)

laristotle said:


>


Quick story related to this video.

About 18 months ago I was testing an amp at a guy's place and playing a few of Ted's licks.

The guy says "Nice...but that guy's a dick because he charges for autographs."

We go back and forth a bit, with me explaining how Ted's giving guys a hard time in that vid because he knows they're gonna sell the stuff he signs.

Nope, he insists he always charges for autographs.

So I pause for a moment and tell him I have to send a quick text.

I get a reply back rather quickly and I tell the guy to read it.

I forget the exact words but it basically said "I've signed 10s of thousands of autographs and never charged any true fan for an autograph!"

The guy looks at it and says "yeah, so?"

Then I told him to look at the name the text came from. His eyes got really big and he didn't know what to say. It was quite funny.

Last year at the Dallas Guitar Show he signed for about 7 hours straight without a break on the Sat and then another non stop 6 on Sunday and then did a show. I've never seen another rock star spend as much time talking with fans as he does.


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## dwagar (Mar 6, 2006)

I have collected a few autographs, on albums and CDs. I would certainly not let anyone take a felt pen to one of my guitars. 

Just my opinion, I would pay less for a guitar that had been written on than a clean one.


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## Guest (Feb 14, 2018)

dwagar said:


> I have collected a few autographs, on albums and CDs.


I took advantage one time.
A former co-worker got this signed for me, along with R&R Machine. Related through the extended family.


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## StevieMac (Mar 4, 2006)

I've encountered a few guitars online that came with documented signatures (in auction, typically) and managed to snag them for considerably LESS than their typical cost. Those signatures drastically reduced the number of potential buyers IMO, allowing for much better deals. 

The one that immediately comes to mind was a new Gibson LP Special, signed by none other than...John Stamos!  IIRC, I got it for ~$300 with ohsc because virtually _nobody_ else was interested. Rubbing alcohol was used to remove the signature, I threw out the documentation, and ended up trading it for something else at fair market value (~$900). One man's trash...blah, blah, blah.


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

it's not my thing to have an autographed guitar--I would only be interested in it-if it was a guitar I owned anyway--and the person signing it had something to do with it.
I had a chance to have one of my favorite guitarists sign a guitar I already owned--but as he had nothing to do with the guitar I didn't have him sign it.

So pretty much the only exception to this woudl have been Les Paul & it is too late for that--and I would have just had him sign the pickguard of my Les Paul.

but hey-if you're into it--go for it--just know the situation...


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## Business (Jul 30, 2013)

What's a signature worth?


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## nikkisixx100 (Feb 2, 2013)

Guitar is worth more than $2k the original Shaw’s are worth $500 alone....i could care less about the signature but 82-87 ES and LP guitars IMO are some of the best you can get may grab this one tomorrow!


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## Skippy (May 3, 2006)

nikkisixx100 said:


> Guitar is worth more than $2k the original Shaw’s are worth $500 alone....i could care less about the signature but 82-87 ES and LP guitars IMO are some of the best you can get may grab this one tomorrow!


Yes , the Hogs from this era are great just not $4500 great. But he did come down and it sold rather quickly with the realistic price.


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## CMQ01 (Sep 10, 2015)

Never been an autograph guy. Well maybe....but not after my mid-20's. I think it came down to meeting ppl I idolized and realized they weren't any different than me except more people know their name and they don't know the ppls names. I would never pay a dime more for something autographed. A piece of gear someone owned, like their guitar or something, maybe. But still highly unlikely i'd drop serious cash on it.


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## Guest (Feb 18, 2018)

BB King Epi. $5800


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## TA462 (Oct 30, 2012)

I would rather have a picture of a famous player playing my guitar than having them sign it. Never been a autograph person but I do have some cool pics.


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## fretboard (May 31, 2006)

I had some friends sign this for a charity auction - closest I've gotten to an autographed guitar in my possession if you don't include Paul Reed Smith signing the headstock of my old PRS when I met him.



















(If you can't figure out the signatures, take a second and count them up then think of the name of the forum and starting piecing things together...)


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## Boogieman (Apr 6, 2009)

So, which one is Rik Emmett's autograph? 

Sorry, I am a Fly By Night wannabe comedian.


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

Im gonna sign my guitars.


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## GUInessTARS (Dec 28, 2007)

I also don't care for autographed stuff, 
however,
I have a guitar signed by David Grissom. 
I didn't know it was signed when I bought it, but it wouldn't have influenced 
my decision to purchase it one way or the other. 
I liked the guitar so I bought it.
I met Mr, Grissom in the '90s when I was in Austin, and was impressed by him as a person and a musician,
but I bought this guitar much later, and in a different country.
I thought about removing the signature, but, since it is on the back of the headstock, I left it.
It is a PRS DGT.
I thought maybe I could get Big Bird or Stephen Hawking to sign the body to balance the chi.


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## Farmboyjo (Aug 26, 2016)

So just to get a different slant on this... What if we called this thread Autographed Hockey Sticks, or 'game worn jerseys'? Do outlooks change about what's valuable or meaningful? Some guys rag on me to grow up and quit spending money on music, but they're really happy to spend money on hockey tix and jerseys and trips to see their team play in someone else's arena.


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## CMQ01 (Sep 10, 2015)

Farmboyjo said:


> So just to get a different slant on this... What if we called this thread Autographed Hockey Sticks, or 'game worn jerseys'? Do outlooks change about what's valuable or meaningful? Some guys rag on me to grow up and quit spending money on music, but they're really happy to spend money on hockey tix and jerseys and trips to see their team play in someone else's arena.


I wouldn't buy anything signed personally. Just don't care enough


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