Signature Models that Aren't Accurate: Why?

[SausageofPower]

Can someone explain this one to me? The two that stand out in my mind are the ESP Lynch signatures and the Charvel DeMartini signatures. They're close I guess, but little details that feel really stupid to omit aren't there (Lynch's tiger model where the stripes don't wrap around the whole guitar and DeMartini's models with the wrong frets). And the prices are definitely high enough that I'd expect exact duplicates of what the guys (supposedly) play.

I'm sure there's other models with discrepancies, but...am I alone here? Why buy an "almost" signature?

[DonP]

On the Lynch, I think it's ESP being cheap. Jackson wraps their body with the graphic.

Are the frets too small on the DeMartini?

[Hellbat]

Fender has offered exact replicas of the artists guitars right down to cigarette burns but they can run up to around $25K (Frankenstein, Blackie, The Duck, Etc.)

My feeling is you get a compromise of "Close enough for the money."

[The Rossness]

Why don't you just buy an ESP Kamikaze? or have Lee at GMW make you an exact replica of Warren's guitar?

[DonP]

Why don't you just buy an ESP Kamikaze?

Those don't have the camo on the back either.

[Axewielder]

I think the originals are often wonky pieces of shit (not to name any names).

*cough * Van Halen! *cough*

[Chad]

With ESP that might an omission on the Standard Series signature line. I'm not up on all the Lynce models. But it might change soon considering all ESP branded signature guitars are going to be Custom Shop only in the near future.

[SausageofPower]

Why don't you just buy an ESP Kamikaze? or have Lee at GMW make you an exact replica of Warren's guitar?

Why don't I buy a completely different guitar aethetically? Uh...because? :P

Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't buy either. I just find it amusing that these guitars go for thousands and they're not even accurate. I could go on. The Eddie replicas that are the wrong wood for instance. I mean, most of these guitars (the originals I mean) were pieces of crap that were thrown together for less than $100 from 'B' parts. If I wanted an artist replica, I'd piece it together myself. Or do what I do now and buy a good quality platform to modify to get somewhat close (like the Kramer Pacer Vintage I got and am outfitting with stainless 6100's and so on).

[Devotee]

Fender did some Frankenstein replicas which are ridiculously accurate to the original, right down to the quarter under the trem: http://www.evhgear.com/frankenstein/

I guess the whole thing with signature guitars is a balancing act between the artist's specs and what will make it feasible to manufacture and what people will buy. You have to consider that artist customs are most of the time hand built one-offs with a lot of bespoke specs and sometimes even custom hardware built for them rather than just a fancy paintjob, so taking a custom instrument and making it a production model requires some compromise. There are however cases where what you get is exactly what the artist plays - the Ibanez M8M for instance is the 'production model' result of years of prototyping. Each guitar is a hand-built custom shop model, which reflects in the price but it's 100% true to the guitars that Meshuggah play.