Popular Signature Guitar Models

1. Angus Young Signature Gibson SG

Who doesn’t like ACDC, perhaps the best rock n’ roll and classic rock act in the last 50 years or so! The Aussie rock band is one of the most popular bands of all time, have a large fanbase all across the globe, and continue to sell out stadiums and dazzle people with their music and their live performances despite being in the business for a good 40 years now! On the forefront of their immense popularity and success is the band’s lead guitarist Angus Young – a man ranked 24^th on Rolling Stone Magazine’s Greatest Guitarist of All Time! Young was a big fan of the uber-famous Gibson SG, and Gibson and Young collaborated to make the Angus Young Signature SG, a guitar which had a pickup designed by the man himself (Angus Young Signature Humbucker) in the bridge, and came with distinctive lightning-bolt inlays in the neck as well as a distinctive double-cutaway body design. The ‘Thunderstruck’ comes with a MSRP of around $3200! But that’s a small price to pay if you’re an ACDC fan (with deep pockets) and want to own one of THE BEST signature guitars out there today!

2. Slash Signature Gibson Les Paul

Slash, you might know is the guy who made history with a little band called Guns n’ Roses, has been known to be a big Gibson Les Paul fan – a guitar which he says is the best all-round guitar out there! According to well-attributed sources, Gibson has even  accredited him with single-handedly bringing the Les Paul ‘back into the mainstream’! Perhaps unsurprisingly, Slash has more than 10 Gibson/Epiphone signature models to his name – the most popular of which is the ‘97 Gibson Custom Shop Slash Les Paul Standard known as the ‘Snakepit’. "I had Gibson make this for me in 1996 or 1997. It's got the embossed Slash logo on it and the snake inlay in the neck. It's a gorgeous guitar. I only have one of those and they are very rare" he said about the guitar. Only 100 of these beauties were ever made, making this signature model one of the rarest collectible guitars out there! 

3. John Mayer Signature Fender Stratocaster

John Mayer is someone who, like just about all others on this list, needs absolutely no introduction. Whatever opinion you might have of him as a person, there’s no denying that he is one of the most acclaimed and accomplished musicians of present times, and hence it is only fitting that he has many Fender signature Strat electric guitar models to his name. These limited-release Fender Stratocasters, part of the Fender Artist Series, sound amazing and look just as great as well, even though they might not be the most exciting instruments on this list! The John Mayer Stratocaster costs around $1500, and has an alder body, maple neck, African rosewood fretboard, single coil Strat pickups, and an synchronized American vintage tremolo. The guitar, like other signature models, was created in close collaboration with Mayer.

4. Kurt Cobain Signature Fender Mustang

Easily one of the most well-known and renowned musicians of our times, Kurt Cobain was one hell of a talented musician, singer-songwriter and of course, guitarist – the true definition of raw, natural talent! And just as famously, he is also known as a member of the 27 Club. But I digress; Fender, in memory of the Nirvana frontman introduced the Fender Mustang, a signature electric guitar ‘inspired by a true grunge legend: Kurt Cobain’. A guitar which had a big influence on Cobain and Nirvana’s distinctive sound, and a guitar famously used by Cobain over the years – as can be seen in the infamous ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ video from ’91, or when he extensively used the Mustang during Nirvana’s ‘In Utero’ tour in 1993-94. The guitar had an alder body, 24” scale neck, rosewood fingerboard, a Mustang single-coil neck pickup and a Seymour Duncan bridge humbucker, and the price today for one of these is around $1400.

5. Kirk Hammett Signature ESP KH-2 Electric

And my personal favorite, the Kirk Hammett ESP KH-2! I’ve been a big, big fan of Metallica for as long as I can remember and Kirk Hammett bleeds Metallica! He’s been an ESP player for as long as I’ve seen him play; in fact, the first Hammett signature guitar released by ESP in 2007 was to commemorate 20 years of association with Hammett! This particular modified KH-2 had a price of $9999-a-pop, and only 41 of these were ever made! Over the years, ESP has released tons of Hammett Signature KH-2 models, such as the ‘Bride of Frankenstein’, ‘Skully’, the ‘Ouija’, to name just a few. The Signature KH-2 black retails for $2300, and is actually a modified ESP M-II Deluxe with EMG active humbuckers, and some sweet skull-and-crossbones inlays in the neck!  A must-have for any and all Hammett and Metallica fans, and guitar players aspiring to play and sound like Hammett.