| Visit Our Catalog at SteelGuitarShopper.com |

Post new topic Logos (Again)
Reply to topic
Author Topic:  Logos (Again)
Lee Baucum


From:
McAllen, Texas (Extreme South) The Final Frontier
Post  Posted 11 May 2006 7:11 pm    
Reply with quote

There have been a couple of discussions about logos in the past. With regard to steel guitars, I've always loved that beautiful script that Sho-Bud used. It was really classy looking. Of course, Emmons used script also. Others that I can think of are Fessenden, Franklin, Rains, Mullen, Williams, Marlen (With Speedy West in script, also), and of course the new Show Pro guitar. Zum, while not in script, uses the two long lines on the Z and S and looks nice. I'm sure there are others that use script. Which ones did I miss?

As far as amps are concerned, the Fender script logo is a classic. Evans also employs script in their logo. I believe there was a short time that Evans used a form of slanted, block letters. That was short-lived, though. Of course the old Sho-Bud amps had that beautiful script logo. Are there others?

------------------
Lee, from South Texas
Down On The Rio Grande

Mullen U-12, Excel 8-string Frypan, Evans FET-500, Fender Steel King

View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Brett Day


From:
Pickens, SC
Post  Posted 11 May 2006 7:41 pm    
Reply with quote

Derby with the big "D" and Derby written several different ways. Brett, Emmons S-10, Morrell lapsteel, GFI Ultra D-10
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website Yahoo Messenger
Brett Day


From:
Pickens, SC
Post  Posted 11 May 2006 7:43 pm    
Reply with quote

I love how Zumsteel uses the long lines for the Z and the S. That's really awesome. Brett, Emmons S-10, Morrell lapsteel, GFI Ultra D-10
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website Yahoo Messenger
Don McClellan

 

From:
California/Thailand
Post  Posted 11 May 2006 8:30 pm    
Reply with quote

I said before and I'll say again, I feel steel guitar logos are all too BIG. Someone once pointed out to me that bad and amature art work (paintings and such) usually have large, very noticable signitures while great works of art usually have tiny, hidden signitures. Classical guitars have their logos on the inside of the body. That's where they should be. Steel guitars should not be billboards.
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Jim Sliff


From:
Lawndale California, USA
Post  Posted 11 May 2006 8:44 pm    
Reply with quote

"Steel guitars should not be billboards."

No, but a tasteful logo is essential in a commercial market. Audience mmbers..some of whom may be players...sometimes want to know what instrument is being played.

It can't be compared to the classical world (on a professional level) where the higher-level instruments are commissioned builds by small one-man shops. Your average classical player isn't going to even be alowed to buy one of those instruments. It's a different ballgame.

Commercial instruments need identification like any other product.

I also Like the Zum, Sho-Bud, Fender (on amps and guitars - that "script" is one of the most recognizable musical "signatures" in the world) and Emmons logos. I like Lone Star's as well. Two that stand out as, IMO, rather unattractive are Dekley and Peavey. Fessenden is in the middle - just kind of bland. But they are ALL recognizable - and the only bad advertising is the thing you don't recognize later. You often forget good or bad - but name recognition alone can lead you to the cash register....
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Jack Francis

 

From:
Queen Creek, Arizona, USA
Post  Posted 11 May 2006 9:15 pm    
Reply with quote

I am gonna talk on this subject from the only frame of reference that I have. I'm an old signpainter.

Logo's that are the most effective are the ones that are easy to read and are pleasing to the eye.

The script logos that you refer to Fender,Sho-Bud, Etc.and I'll throw in the Ford script came from another era...I would venture to say that, from the look of the styles, they were probably created by an
"Old School" signpainter that the companies did business with. Those old folks knew what works and what doesn't

Some years back NBC spent 1/4 of a million $
to have an advertising agency come up with a new "N"...after they made a big deal about thier new logo they found out that an affiliate in a small market, I think in the midwest, had a local signpainter come up with the IDENTICAL logo some years prior to that at a cost of around $100 or so. NBC then had to pay them for the use of thier "NEW" logo.

Generally, people buy a product because of the quality of that product and it's ability to do whatever we want it to do. However..as when we were looking for our spouses, we were attracted to a pleasing
"PACKAGE". So THERE!

IMHO

[This message was edited by Jack Francis on 11 May 2006 at 10:19 PM.]

View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website
Jack Stoner


From:
Kansas City, MO
Post  Posted 12 May 2006 2:26 am    
Reply with quote

I don't really think about a logo - it's just there. However, I gather that some took a lot of thought and time to come up with what they considered an appropriate logo for their product.

Then there are some that change and then go back to the original logo. e.g. the first Peavey Nashville 1000 amps had a new style logo but later it was changed back to the original "Peavey" logo at Hartley Peavey's request (according to Mike Brown).
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Dan Beller-McKenna


From:
Durham, New Hampshire, USA
Post  Posted 12 May 2006 5:31 am    
Reply with quote

I'm always surprised when I see a picture of my Dekley to find that there's a log there at all: never see it from behind the steel!



Dan

------------------
Dan Beller-McKenna
Big Red
Durham, NH

View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website
Barry Blackwood


Post  Posted 12 May 2006 11:52 am    
Reply with quote

Don, how do you feel about logos in general, like on cars, or soft drinks?
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Smiley Roberts

 

From:
Hendersonville,Tn. 37075
Post  Posted 12 May 2006 12:13 pm    
Reply with quote

Just a bit of trivia for you here. Our ol' non-pedalin' buddy,Billy Robinson,is the guy that designed the Sho~Bud logo,maaany years ago. Billy is,also,a very acomplished artist.(painting)

------------------
  ~ ~

©¿© It don't mean a thang,
mm if it ain't got that twang.



[This message was edited by Smiley Roberts on 12 May 2006 at 01:16 PM.]

View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Paul Norman

 

From:
Washington, North Carolina, USA
Post  Posted 12 May 2006 12:51 pm    
Reply with quote

Without the logos the guitars look too plain.
I think they really add to the looks.
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Jack Francis

 

From:
Queen Creek, Arizona, USA
Post  Posted 12 May 2006 1:10 pm    
Reply with quote

KUDOS to Billy Robinson on the design of the Sho-Bud logo.
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website
Marlin Smoot


From:
Kansas
Post  Posted 12 May 2006 3:12 pm    
Reply with quote


Because the 1974 D-10 Emmons was my first great pro level guitar when I purchased it over 23 years ago (and still have) that logo has a very special meaning to me and I sure always will.
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Jim Sliff


From:
Lawndale California, USA
Post  Posted 12 May 2006 3:24 pm    
Reply with quote

No-name guitars in the 6-string world are know as "Partscasters", with a comparably poor resale value.
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Calvin Walley


From:
colorado city colorado, USA
Post  Posted 12 May 2006 4:57 pm    
Reply with quote

the logo is like having that finishing touch of trim on anything , it's just not finished till the logo goes on

------------------
Mullen SD-10

[This message was edited by Calvin Walley on 12 May 2006 at 05:58 PM.]

View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Don McClellan

 

From:
California/Thailand
Post  Posted 12 May 2006 5:10 pm    
Reply with quote

Barry, Honestly I think most logos are too conspicuous. They scream at us. But I don't csre as much about other things as I do pedal steels. Some logos are nice looking I guess but MSA guitars used to have 3 logos on the front of them! One on either end of the front and another on the pedal bar. All of them different and all too big IMO . I thought that was really overkill. Don
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Lee Baucum


From:
McAllen, Texas (Extreme South) The Final Frontier
Post  Posted 13 May 2006 4:55 am    
Reply with quote

The new Jackson guitars have a script logo. (At least they will whenever they start production.)
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
richard burton


From:
Britain
Post  Posted 13 May 2006 8:02 am    
Reply with quote

It took a lot of research and cash to come up with the logo on my first couple of steels, indeed it cost more than both of them !

View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Lee Baucum


From:
McAllen, Texas (Extreme South) The Final Frontier
Post  Posted 20 May 2006 8:35 pm    
Reply with quote

The new Jackson steel guitars can be added to the list.
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail

All times are GMT - 8 Hours
Jump to:  
Please review our Forum Rules and Policies
Our Online Catalog
Strings, CDs, instruction, and steel guitar accessories
www.SteelGuitarShopper.com

The Steel Guitar Forum
148 S. Cloverdale Blvd.
Cloverdale, CA 95425 USA

Click Here to Send a Donation

Email SteelGuitarForum@gmail.com for technical support.


BIAB Styles
Ray Price Shuffles for Band-in-a-Box
by Jim Baron