'Tis a sad day in "Strat-land" for Strat/Joe fans!! (Page 5 of 13)

Hey Joe,
did you or your management ever contact Fender about that guitar?  I'd be curious to know if they had an excuse or what their defense was for creating a guitar that was clearly based off of your beloved sparkle strat.   I remember first being impressed with that guitar on your first instructional video.

(RichP)Jeez.....did I open up a can of worms with this thread or WHAT!!!
No, we love these kinds as long as they stay civil, and this one, although emotional at times, IS.  Nice topic selection with direction!

(Joe) Two reasons actually.. First was the constant comparison to SRV (something that I am truly honored by  but not a fair assessment of the way I play)
True enough!Second reason I used to spend hours and a hours trying capture this tone I had in my head. When I play the Gibson it just appears naturally.hmmm
Joe, you could use a Fender privately to give yourself "instant writer's block", which makes your mind work the
tone in a way that never perfects it, but when you "naturally" have it appear on a Gibson you'll have extra guitar practice input, and maybe some frustrations which occurred on the Strat could be glommed onto the song or direction of song(s) for overall improvement???!!!

(Joe)He was the reason I have a job right now...
No, only ONE of the reasons.  You work hard for any rewards you receive

(Joe)Jessie Davie with out SRV would not exist...
No, he just would not have any semblance of professional talent, therefore likely would not be gigging in front of anyone with his current stature on a regular basis

(Joe)I steal from everybody I admit  that
Big Deal! No one succeeds without it being on someone else's back, at someone else's expense, help, or at least without someone else's inspiration

(Cathy)There are moments when Ryan McGarvey has licks that ARE Joe Bonamassa...
Yup

(Joe)My point was that if you play a strat and your first and last name doesn't begin with Jeff and end with Beck then your are unfairly lumped in with the SRV clones...
Yup! One of Albert Cummings complaints (and he got his break with Double Trouble backing him per his fantasy wish that came true), and if he doesn't get a deviation in his formula, may almost deserve it

(Jim M) The first time I saw him play an all Les Paul show the only thought I had was who needs a Strat when you can make a Paul sound like that.
Perhaps need is not everything.  I agree he can do so much on a Les Paul, but some songs may just be better by being a "different" kind of different sound, played on a different instrument in a different way.  Blues Deluxe, same song, played same way, but sounds ESSENTIALLY the same on both, but I liked the DIFFERENCE better on that *@%##y guitar

(Andre)When I hear 1 or 2 tones and I can tell who it is then you have reached it I think
YEs, I agree.  And Joe is DEFINITELY one of a kind!

(Joe)I did 4 interviews yesterday where I had to fend off the first question.  " So SRV was your primary influence? How does it feel to be following in his footsteps?"  4 times!!!!
Joe, management & I are working on finding a stunt double for interviews that is highly trained to rolls his eyes (and only roll his eyes) as the response to dumb questions...Shouldn't affect your humble image negatively if he toes the line otherwise

(RichP, Topic Originator)Man...you gotta love the press.....what buttheads!! Joe....fear not....you can play a Strat everyday of the week and NOT come off like a SRV clone!!
Your style is different...period!! You give nods to the greats every so often....but that's IT!! You don't do blatant rip-offs!
I understand your beef with Fender.....granted.....I'd be pissed too! When the time is right....possibly after an apology from them.....perhaps you'll treat us Strat fans to that 'crossroads' induced magic that you create on that guitar.
Amen, although not likely soon.  I certainly approve of venting & ranting at this point, although it is really only a few chumps responsible

(Vince)...its sad that they have no interest in helping smaller guys
Again, it is really only a few chumps responsible.  But overall, that is the nature of the biz, be it product endorsement or what engineer or producer or studio or label "worked with".  It is a mutual need environment, but egos can run amuck as well as slighting or stiffing someone

(Libby)Hopefully, whoever made the ill-advised decision to rip YOU off, will be served up a big plate of crow when your JB LP's are flying off the shelves and Fender sales take a dip.
Let's hope the crow flies away and Joe has the good fortunes, period.  He deserves it. Period! I mean exclamation point.

Just Rock On & Faith Follows,
Rocket

"He still doesn't charge for mistakes! "
http://jbonamassa.com/tour-dates/
"Everybody wants ta get inta the act!"
“Now, this isn’t your ordinary party crowd, here.  I mean, there are professionals in here.”

The first time I heard of Joe, he opened for KWS in GreenBay in June of 2004. So if it wasn't for KWS, I would've never heard of JB. I was backstage, and I cut my conversation with DT short so I could join my friends in the front row watching Joe.

And, my personal opinon, having a signature Les Paul is much more rare and sought after than a signature strat. Here are some details:

Strat:
Yngwie Malmsteen, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Mark Knopfler, John Mayer, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Rory Gallagher, Jimmy Vaughan, Buddy Guy, Eric Johnson, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix, robert cray, and on and on...

Les Paul:
(not counting Les Paul himself)
Jimi Page, Ace Frehley, Zakk Wylde, Peter Frampton, Slash (just recent), Billie Joe Armstrong (LP jr. I'd say half credit there), Joe Perry, Paul McCartney ....am I missing anybody?  Oh that's right Joe Bonamassa!

My point is strats:13 to les pauls 8 (not counting joe). So I'd take more pride to be on the short list (les pauls) instead of the bottom of a long list (strats) of endorsee's.

- Nic from Detroit... posting on JB's Forum since 6-2-2006
Ask me about my handwound Great Lakes Guitar Pickups
Since 2010, Bonamassa fans have taken advantage of my JB friend discount = my cost + shipping.

guilty. guilty as charged deezer! Was just basing opinion based on rarity and statistics. As the figure of speech goes that Mark Twain made popular "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."

I mean if you look at the names of strat sig's most of them are heavyweights. And most guitar players would not balk at the chance to have a signature strat if offered. I can see how salty Joe is considering they pretty much made a JB Strat with detail, and refuse to recognize it as a Joe Bonamassa model Strat. No love.

Gibson has had salty history too though... I remember hearing back in the 60's that Les Paul was angry when the 61 SG Les Pauls had Les' name on it, and the wanted his name taken off all guitars SG & Les Pauls - here is wikipedia's info on that.

"He was impressed enough to sign a contract for what became the "Les Paul" model (originally only in a "gold top" version), and agreed never to be seen playing in public, or be photographed with, anything other than a Gibson guitar. That persisted until 1961, when Gibson changed the design without Paul's knowledge. He said he first saw the "new" Gibson Les Paul in a music store window, and disliked it. Though his contract required him to pose with the guitar, he said it was not "his" instrument, and asked Gibson to remove his name from the headstock. Gibson renamed the guitar the "SG", and it also became one of the company's best sellers."

- Nic from Detroit... posting on JB's Forum since 6-2-2006
Ask me about my handwound Great Lakes Guitar Pickups
Since 2010, Bonamassa fans have taken advantage of my JB friend discount = my cost + shipping.

When you get up to that stage of players that have been given Signature guitars, there just ain't getting any better than that. Clapton and Beck swear by Fender, Joe and Jimmy Page swear by Les Paul. It just don't get any better than that.

And I would like to own a Les Paul one day. But that will be there's more capital laying around. But right now I love the guitars I have. I wouldn't part with them for anything.

Seven pages!!??!! Wow!! I'm glad my curious little inquiry brought on so much passion and no less than 2(!!) responses from the MAN himself Joe B. !!! Thank you Joe for giving us the inside scoop and not leaving us to wonder !

As you can see....I'm a little bit biased in MY opinions....................

http://image2.frappr.com/pix2/i/2008040 … _large.jpg

Yes the majority are HSS formatted.......I like the ability to go from Hendrix to Zep in a set without switching axes!!

And yes.....traditionalists be damned.....it's STILL a Strat!! (but with a bit more 'juice ' under the hood!)

Yeah...she's special!! A 60's Reverse Special to be exact ! I got rid of the cheesy single ply pickguard, (and put a 3 ply on) as well as the horrid stock pickups. I put in 2 Dimarzio Area 58's and a 54 Pro. This is a MONSTER now!! I even got a laser enscribed Jimi neck plate on her.

that is a nice collection.  I dig Strats with humbuckers.  neat sounding guitars.