Pete Loeffler (Chevelle) Signature Model Possibly?

solacematt

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Not sure how many Chevelle fans there are here, but Chevelle's Pete Loeffler replied to someone yesterday on twitter that he currently is in talks with PRS for a model. They have made him some custom guitars in the past, most notably a white baritone with a single humbucker and the bands medic logo for inlays. I thought it looked and sounded great as well. Pete is more known however for using a Custom 24 in Gold. Though the band plays mainly in Drop tunings (Drop C, Drop B, and even A) it would be cool if they released a baritone signature for him. Lord knows PRS probably has the most popular baritone with the Mike Mushok SE so another one would only help.
Any other fans, thoughts?

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Huge Chevelle fan here. Pete is actually the one that convinced me to not get a Mark V, so I stuck with my IV. A sig would be awesome.

Oh and he has a gold baritone too that's pretty sick.
 
Huge Chevelle fan here. Pete is actually the one that convinced me to not get a Mark V, so I stuck with my IV. A sig would be awesome.

Oh and he has a gold baritone too that's pretty sick.

Always nice to see a fellow fan :) I didn't realize he had a gold baritone as well.
Mark IV is definitely a better amp than the V. I use it when I play Chevelle stuff and that amp is definitely the key to their tone.
 
Ive always loved Chevelle, and Pete as well. Pete has always supported PRS to the max and I think he deserves it as much as anyone. To be honest, I felt it was kind of a snub against him when Mike Mushok was given a signature. Pete has been playing PRSi baritones for years, and actually played PRS where as Mike was an Ibanez user for years, had an Ibanez signature model and walked right into a PRS sig.
 
Ive always loved Chevelle, and Pete as well. Pete has always supported PRS to the max and I think he deserves it as much as anyone. To be honest, I felt it was kind of a snub against him when Mike Mushok was given a signature. Pete has been playing PRSi baritones for years, and actually played PRS where as Mike was an Ibanez user for years, had an Ibanez signature model and walked right into a PRS sig.

Mike Mushok is to PRS as Chad Kroeger is to Gibson per se :p It really didn't make any sense for PRS to just give Mushok a custom guitar. It was nice to see him smarten up from Ibanez to PRS though. Talk about an upgrade
 
It was nice to see him smarten up from Ibanez to PRS though. Talk about an upgrade

I wouldn't be so quick to "dis" Ibanez. My #1 up until very recently was a '92 S540. I acquired and sold many high-end guitars after acquiring my S540 new in 1992, including a '95 Annapolis Shop PRS Standard 24 that I purchased new in 1995. While Ibanez does produce a lot of budget-oriented axes in Korea, their Japanese-made guitars are pro-quality instruments. They did not become the premier guitar manufacturer in the late eighties by producing junk.

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(Serial number beginning with "F" were made by FugiGen Gakki)

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I'd agree, I'd rather see a Pete baritone than MM, for the reasons stated above. But, I have a hard time seeing 2 baritones on the market, unless one is not an SE. But I don't think there's a big market for that.
 
PRS aligns with "newer" metal guys a lot so a Pete Sig would make sense. Should definitely be an SE. I was somewhat surprised the Chris Henderson was a MiM guitar.

Chevelle sound good and all but they seem to be very derivative of Tool to my ears. YMMV...
 
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So Pete appears to have been snubbed for a signature PRS guitar :( Is there any truth to the signature's being discontinued?

Either way, there are a number of people who would have bought a Pete guitar in a heartbeat (myself included). My household owns two PRS's and I've been holding out on buying another one for years in hopes that he would finally get one. Sad day!

The members of Chevelle Online are trying to rally together to send some letters to PRS to let them know they've made a mistake.
http://www.chevelleonline.net/forum/index.php?topic=162.0
Join us!
 
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So Pete appears to have been snubbed for a signature PRS guitar :( Is there any truth to the signature's being discontinued?

Either way, there are a number of people who would have bought a Pete guitar in a heartbeat (myself included). My household owns two PRS's and I've been holding out on buying another one for years in hopes that he would finally get one. Sad day!

The members of Chevelle Online are trying to rally together to send some letters to PRS to let them know they've made a mistake.
http://www.chevelleonline.net/forum/index.php?topic=162.0
Join us!

DAT 2 YEAR OLD NECROBUMP! :laugh: Honestly, I'm a HUGE Chevelle fan, but I don't take it personally if they don't offer an artist that I like a signature model. Would I be all for a trem-equipped (or PRS trem-shaped hardtail a'la the Mushok Model, FWIW), USA-built carved top Baritone model? ABSOLUTELY! Does it need to have Pete's name or sig inlays on it? Not at all. ;) I love Pete and I love the band, but honestly it's been 2 years since the rumor even surfaced and I'm not sure why folks are trying to stir the pot there. It would be great to have a Maryland Baritone offering, but I don't think they necessarily need to make it yet another sig model, IMHO.
 
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So Pete appears to have been snubbed for a signature PRS guitar :( Is there any truth to the signature's being discontinued?Either way, there are a number of people who would have bought a Pete guitar in a heartbeat (myself included). My household owns two PRS's and I've been holding out on buying another one for years in hopes that he would finally get one. Sad day!The members of Chevelle Online are trying to rally together to send some letters to PRS to let them know they've made a mistake.http://www.chevelleonline.net/forum/index.php?topic=162.0Join us!

That makes sense now. I saw them two weeks ago and Pete played Fender STRATS the entire show except the last two songs. It was very shocking to see at first, since he's always played PRS. I never considered tuning a strat so low. The scary thing is, as much as I wanted to hate the tone, it actually sounded pretty crushing.

SSH config, not sure what humbucker was in there, but it was brutal.
 
For those here that may still be interested in pushing for a Pete Loeffler Signature Guitar, please sign our petition.

http://www.change.org/petitions/pau...utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=share_petition

We haven't given up. There is currently no standard production run USA made baritones available via PRS. PRS would be smart to create this model for their USA line. Sure, people have been buying up the Mushoks for great reasons. They're nice guitars for the money, and hell, they're baritones. But, there are customers out there who want a USA - made PRS with baritone scale, and right now, if they want that, they need to shell out thousands to have it custom made for them.

If PRS got behind this, and included Pete in the designs of one; I believe people would buy a Pete Loeffler USA Signature. Hell, if they didn't know who Pete was, or just didn't care - they would still end up buying it simply because it's a baritone.
 
For those here that may still be interested in pushing for a Pete Loeffler Signature Guitar, please sign our petition.

http://www.change.org/petitions/pau...utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=share_petition

We haven't given up. There is currently no standard production run USA made baritones available via PRS. PRS would be smart to create this model for their USA line. Sure, people have been buying up the Mushoks for great reasons. They're nice guitars for the money, and hell, they're baritones. But, there are customers out there who want a USA - made PRS with baritone scale, and right now, if they want that, they need to shell out thousands to have it custom made for them.

If PRS got behind this, and included Pete in the designs of one; I believe people would buy a Pete Loeffler USA Signature. Hell, if they didn't know who Pete was, or just didn't care - they would still end up buying it simply because it's a baritone.

The same argument has been made for years regarding other models and their lack of presence in the line up. Trust me, I've barked up the tree for things as well but I've come to understand that things are done for reasons unbeknownst to us. While I can tell you I'd like a USA Baritone in the line up, and I love Pete and think he's been extremely loyal for over a decade - there has to be a reason it hasn't happened business wise that we'll never know. Same reason there isn't a core 7 string - the manpower, time and resources just probably benefit the company in a different aspect instead of a niche instrument. I hope they can hash out their issues because Pete has been pretty vocal about his strat use as of late and it saddens me but at the end of the day its between them.

I think a petition is cool and I 100% back it but it really only counts if everyone invovled actually bought the gutiar because supporters and customers are two totally different things for a manufacturer. I also saw on the Chevelle messageboard someone suggested emailing Customer Service directly which I think is a bad move. Tweet, start petitions and let your voice be heard but someone answers that email and a major influx movement like that will only delay things he can actually help with.
 
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As I understood it, Pete hasn't used any PRS since they all got stolen on tour. I can see a working musician, even one that regular slobs working a day job would deem "rich and famous", might not have the cash to replace his gear after a catastrophic loss of that type, but I'm still surprised PRS didnt send him out at least one guitar to keep him from having to build partsocasters. Who knows, though, maybe they did and we didn't hear about it.


Signature models in general have a limited market, because of the unavoidable comparison to the endorsing artist. Id love to own a baritone PRS...but I'd never buy a Mushok model because I hate the band and I refuse to talk about it with other guitarists that notice my gear - probably its an excellent guitar, and Mike Mushok is probably an excellent player. I like Chevelle a lot, and I'd be more likley to buy Petes signature, but if it was done to his specs with the Chevelle logo on the board, I wouldn't want it either, because its a guitar customized to some other guy and their band. No thanks. Same reason I couldn't buy a Hiland - I loved everything but those inlays - might as well have said Johnny on the fretboard.

To me, the sweet spot would be to have a standard baritone - that way no one guitarist/band has their own endorsement for the only baritone you can get, but multiple players endorse the baritone model and maybe have customizations on their own instruments unique to them. Fans can see their favorite bands playing their customized baritone, get the standard model to have the same instrument as them but remain individual, and imagine the day when they'll be rich and/or famous enough to get their own awful gaudy custom inlay or whatever they want on the guitar.
 
Even though Pete has been using the Fender Sub Sonic model for years in the studio, it's difficult to see him make the switch on stage. I just got done watching a couple recent videos from YouTube, and while the Fender models used sound better than expected, it doesn't compare to the tone from his PRSi. Also, in another recent video where he actually played his white PRS for 'The Clincher', you can tell he's more comfortable playing it compared to the Fenders...

IMHO he's forcing himself to get used to playing the Fenders live as a big F*U to Paul and the staff at PRS.

Pete and Ben (Burnley) were the guitar players I idolized, among others, growing up in my late teens and early adulthood. They were part of what got me hooked on wanting a PRS guitar, including the two MM baritones I've purchased (sold my first one, just recently bought another). I didn't buy the baritones because of Mike Mushok... :laugh: PRS should have taken a risk with either Pete or Ben. Look at some of the other signature flops they've built, and IMO, still building.
 
I have had a MM since 09. I recently bought a Lowery because I thought the beveled top and stuff would be an upgrade - ended up more of a lateral move though. They're both equally good but not as nice as either of my 2 USA PRS guitars or any of the other USA PRSi I have owned. I am indifferent to both Mushok and Lowery as players, as they don't make music that interests me. I bought their guitars because they're longer scale and sound better for B standard. Our band uses that tuning on about 1/3 of our songs.

So, if PRS was to make a USA baritone, I would sell both the MM and Lowery in order to buy a USA baritone, either S2 or Core, signature model or not, it doesn't matter. I really want to take a step up for the guitar I use for that tuning so I can be as inspired to play in that tuning as I am in standard or drop D with my USA models. I even tried converting my Mira to B standard, but it just didn't work. While I am equally indifferent to Pete from Chevelle, I would buy his sig model as long as it had a wide fat and two pickups, and the scale wasn't outlandishly long like 30 inches or something.

Just in general, it's pretty tough to find anything with a set neck and scale length 25.5" or longer.
 
I would personally be very excited to see a Ben Burnley signature model released. His custom makes are sweet!
 
It is pete's loss if he stops playing guitars he has praised for years because of something like this.

On a serious note is he upset over lost royalties? Why else would he have sour grapes over no sig model. For what it's worth I had never heard of chevelle until a couple of years ago and that was only because I was looking at baritone PRS. You could ask joe blogs on the street in Europe if they have heard of staind or megadeth and chances are they would have.

No disrespect to any fans of chevelle but emailing the PRS customer service takes their time away from business issues.
 
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