Do you buy gear because of endorsements?

OilCityPickups · August 2023

I'm always fascinated to know if folks buy a particular product because their favourite star endorses it. I think I can genuinely say that I think I have only once bought a guitar related product because it was endorsed by a star I respected ... and that was Optima Gold guitar strings endorsed by Brian May (I thought they were a huge waste of money after trying them by the way).
Do you trust 'endorsed products' not to be 'cashing in on getting free shit' or are you as cynical as I am?
To nail my colours to the mast ... I have a couple of endorsees with Oil City ... but the most they get is ten or fifteen percent discount, and they actually have to buy and use my products.

roberty · August 2023

The only thing I bought because of an endorsement is the Bob Balch signature Reverend, because I had tuition from him for many years. To be fair it's a great guitar. It's kind of weird, the bottom half of it is completely hollow, more or less

theatreanchor · August 2023

I suspect I did when I started. But then quickly realised that wasn’t the way forward.

OilCityPickups · August 2023

I tend to get a lot of 'give me free stuff because I'm a YouTube influencer' e mails ... several a month ... and I basically ignore these. If someone asks to review pickups that's different. But 'gimmie stuff for free and I'll say nice stuff about it' pitches make me want to say 'go forth and reproduce in jerky motions'. :-)

HarrySeven · August 2023

OilCityPickups said:

I'm always fascinated to know if folks buy a particular product because their favourite star endorses it.

Interesting. I’ve discovered gear/guitars through people I’ve found intriguing, but I can’t say I’ve ever had a favourite star/guitar “hero”, blahblahblah - certainly not enough to dupe me into believing I can sound like/throw shapes like/be as cool as, etc through buying some product they’re hawking.

Svartmetall · August 2023

For me, it honestly depends on who the endorsee is. Also, if you see someone endorsing something in an ad that you never see them use live or whatever, then you know it's pretty much snake oil; I remember seeing Yngwie endorsing Aria guitars back in the mid 80s and thinking 'hang on...he never plays Arias?'...Spaeaking of cycnical, wasn't it Paul Stanley of KISS who used to sell the free guitars he got from Gibson (this was pre 'Alive!' when they were still broke) to raise some cash?

Jez6345789 · August 2023

I think less with age and the current world of influencers although some of them in guitars are informative.
Back in the day when i was young I would try strings and pedals and amps because some one I admired played them. Hey they got me to love EMG lol.

webrthomson · August 2023

Nope - I'll happily use something that is endorsed if i like how it sounds but I'm not buying it because it endorsed.

Mick Thompson Seymour Duncan blackouts come to mind, I like the tighter pickup, I dont care that Mick Thompson plays them in the slightest.

roberty · August 2023

edit: posted this negative comment in the wrong thread lol

Dave_Mc · August 2023

theatreanchor said:

I suspect I did when I started. But then quickly realised that wasn’t the way forward.

That

OilCityPickups said:

I'm always fascinated to know if folks buy a particular product because their favourite star endorses it. I think I can genuinely say that I think I have only once bought a guitar related product because it was endorsed by a star I respected ... and that was Optima Gold guitar strings endorsed by Brian May (I thought they were a huge waste of money after trying them by the way).
Do you trust 'endorsed products' not to be 'cashing in on getting free shit' or are you as cynical as I am?
To nail my colours to the mast ... I have a couple of endorsees with Oil City ... but the most they get is ten or fifteen percent discount, and they actually have to buy and use my products.

I bought your Eruption because of the tones it's aimed at, but that's not quite the same. I definitely buy stuff if it's aimed at a certain tone I want...

DrJazzTap · August 2023

It's a double edged sword I think. For instance I'm a huge Holdsworth fan. He was well known to have endorsed a wide variety of manufacturers.

I think that it was mostly financial, but I'd like to think some of the pieces of gear he used (particularly the UD stomp and the Carvin Guitars) he contributed a fair bit of input into the design process. The Hughes and Kettner deal just seemed like a means to an end, he was well known for his love of UD stomps at that time and the H&K stuff was simply to amplify those? I'd love a Fatboy or a DG amp.

Serial endorsers like Jobo and Slash seem somewhat comical to me. I think if i can detect a level of sincerity or originality in the product, then i'm a more interested. A two tone strat or another plexi style marshall is of no interest to me.

OilCityPickups · August 2023

I think when I came into the pickup making business I was a bit naïve, or at least a bit too idealistic. I remember the first time I was approached by a literally world famous guitarist's tech to make his artist some pickups ... I was chuffed to bits and fondly imagined I might be able to shout about it publicly. I was then told the artist was a Fender endorsee and of course he couldn't be seen to be using aftermarket pickups. I was actually a bit shocked.

swiller · August 2023

I wouldnt. However, i am starstruck when i go and visit my local tech and follow his lead/ advice. But the guy is a proper legendary wizard and re defines enthusiast.

From a business perspective, id say endorsees are not as profitable as giveaways to big gun youtubers etc. But personally , i prefer more ethical companies and actively seek em out.

Offering a 15% discount to an endorsee, seems quite strange if i may say so. If they are big names and its worth it, surely they wouldnt give a toss about paying full whack. You may as well go the whole hog and offer as a freebie or charge full whack as part of the ethics of your business. The latter is stronger imho.

I think fender with the marr/edge/rodgers editions have it right, because they are actually trying to copy the artists guitars with significant input from the artist, or so it seems. So that works from a business perspective. Same idea could and im sure does/would work with pups.

flying_pie · August 2023

I don't care who plays the gear. It's all about if it suits me.

Having said that, I'd probably love it if a Taylor Swift signature Explorer in rainbow unicorn sparkle burst was released and it turned out to be a perfect fit... Just for the one guitarist in the crowd at a gig to give me strange looks

Gizmo · August 2023

I bought a spector bass about 30 years ago (i still have it) because Doug Wimbush & Dave La Rue used them, but Stuart Spector said he never had/did "Emdorsements" he just had players and everyone of them bought their basses, for me that was the best endorsment!

I do remember another bassist at music college buying a musicman because of "Flea" he was a bit shocked when i told him that Flea recorded with Alembic Basses, so much so that he didn't believe me untill i played him a VHS/Recording of flea in the studio recording BSSM stating that he only recorded with the best.....Alembic

I did buy a greg howe Laguna sig guitar, which i totaly love, i only bought it because it was $600 off the list!

Bigsby · August 2023

OilCityPickups said:

I tend to get a lot of 'give me free stuff because I'm a YouTube influencer' e mails ... several a month ... and I basically ignore these. If someone asks to review pickups that's different. But 'gimmie stuff for free and I'll say nice stuff about it' pitches make me want to say 'go forth and reproduce in jerky motions'. :-)

That's good to hear. YouTube has become a difficult, even pointless place to look for reviews and opinions. I recall the launch of Fender's Am Pro II series - every influencer seemed to be pushing them, 'blah blah, best strat ever, blah blah, on top of their game, blah blah' bollocks. It put me off enough that it was a couple of years before I bought one.

As for endorsements from heroes, they'd need to employ a medium to get endorsements from my heroes now.

OilCityPickups · August 2023

swiller said:

I wouldnt. However, i am starstruck when i go and visit my local tech and follow his lead/ advice. But the guy is a proper legendary wizard and re defines enthusiast.

From a business perspective, id say endorsees are not as profitable as giveaways to big gun youtubers etc. But personally , i prefer more ethical companies and actively seek em out.

Offering a 15% discount to an endorsee, seems quite strange if i may say so. If they are big names and its worth it, surely they wouldnt give a toss about paying full whack. You may as well go the whole hog and offer as a freebie or charge full whack as part of the ethics of your business. The latter is stronger imho.

I think fender with the marr/edge/rodgers editions have it right, because they are actually trying to copy the artists guitars with significant input from the artist, or so it seems. So that works from a business perspective. Same idea could and im sure does/would work with pups.

I offer 10/15% professional discount to professional musicians and luthiers anyway. Endorsees get stuff designed for them too if they want that. Plus I also have to like their stuff ... my company my rules :-)

axisus · August 2023

Not interested. Especially so with minor stuff like strings.

ArchtopDave · August 2023

Basic answer is NO. I do own a Gibson Johnny A guitar, but that I bought because I thought is was an interesting redesign. I do like Johnny A's playing, especially the first two albums, but I didn't buy the guitar simply to have what he played.

OilCityPickups · August 2023

axisus said:

Not interested. Especially so with minor stuff like strings.

Are strings minor stuff? Over a lifetime as a guitarist I bet I have spent the price of a pretty good quality US guitar on strings ... surely they are a vital link in the chain of fingers to amp, to audience..

skullfunkerry · August 2023

Similar to a lot of the comments here, I’d buy a sig item if it was the specs I wanted, but not because of the artist. I had a Mark Holcomb PRS for a while; it was fab, but I would barely recognise Mark Holcomb if I saw him, I wouldn’t recognise his playing, and despite trying a few times, I don’t really like Periphery.

I’m with @flying_pie on the “use an unusual sig to weird everyone out” - I’d definitely play a sparkle unicorn Taylor Swift Explorer if one existed!

Stevepage · August 2023

Only if the product would benefit my playing in some way. I love Ibanez JEMs but not because its Vai's signature guitar, its a damn good guitar that I love playing.

carlos · August 2023

theatreanchor said:

I suspect I did when I started. But then quickly realised that wasn’t the way forward.

Same, because they are not me and I'm not them.

OilCityPickups · August 2023

Stevepage said:

Only if the product would benefit my playing in some way. I love Ibanez JEMs but not because its Vai's signature guitar, its a damn good guitar that I love playing.

I was actually very lukewarm about JEMs until the other guitarist in the band I was in at the time got a 77 Floral ... I was using a Fender HM Strat and simply tried his guitar at a rehearsal ... and realised it was streets ahead of the Fender.

Roland · August 2023

Product placement is often more effective than outright endorsement. I was watching a Guthrie Trapp video this week, and he produced a plectrum with his name on it. He seemed more impressed that Blue Chip had sent him a pick than with the sound it produced. Nevertheless it got me thinking “I wonder what a Blue Chip sounds like”. I haven’t bought one, well not yet anyway.

Philly_Q · August 2023

I think I might have a DigiTech pedal called The Weapon designed for Dan Donegan of Disturbed... I certainly became aware of it because of the endorsement, so I guess artist endorsements (and adverts) do catch my attention, but they generally don't lead me to actually buy anything.

elstoof · August 2023

OilCityPickups said:

I tend to get a lot of 'give me free stuff because I'm a YouTube influencer' e mails ... several a month ... and I basically ignore these. If someone asks to review pickups that's different. But 'gimmie stuff for free and I'll say nice stuff about it' pitches make me want to say 'go forth and reproduce in jerky motions'. :-)

I get a lot of this in my business (shoemaking). My favourite was the Spanish “influencer” with a handful of Instagram followers for a few photos of himself trying to look like James Bond in a white linen suit, offering me what he referred to as a collaboration. I’d pay for his flight to London plus hotels to visit my factory and he’d write some articles, then I’d give him a free pair of £4k shoes and he would review them positively. I told him I don’t have a factory, I’m just one man with a home workshop and no PR department, he said he understood but quite generously offered to come to a compromise

hollywoodrox · August 2023

I like signature stuff or even stuff loosely associated with favourite artists , usually because the items are cool looking anyway & do what I want ,but it’s cool to me to have signature stuff.
my slash wah has a much better tone than previous GCb95’s I’ve had plus it doesn’t suck all the tone out , I like Kirk Hammet picks , had a malmsteen strat and a malmsteen partscaster , slash signature guitar and my epiphone slash tribute snake pit , I’ve had a few green charvels because of Steve vai (miss them very much actually ) would love a Jem even a Jr to modify . Kirk Hammet picks & before I started using jazz picks I did use vai picks , had a yngwie pedal years ago . Probably other stuff too , got a vai strap & have had various Dimarzio cliplocks yngwie/vai

munckee · August 2023

No does nothing for me at all I would be less likely to buy something with a name or really obvious association. I find it a bit cringy.

UnclePsychosis · August 2023

I don't give a shit about endorsements.

That said, if an artist is a genuine user of a thing, that may cause me to take an interest in it. But the endorsement bit itself I couldn't care less.

Voxman · August 2023

Absolutely not.

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Do you buy gear because of endorsements?

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