Alex Lifeson

"I always stuck with my 335, but at the beginning of this tour I got a Howard Roberts Fusion that I love, it's a great guitar. I use that for 'Hemispheres,' 'Tom Sawyer,' 'Camera Eye' and the medley at the end of the night. It's the dark guitar with the single cutaway - it looks like an oversized hollow-body Les Paul, which is basically what it is, it's a hybrid of the Howard Roberts and a Les Paul. It's a hollow-body guitar but it has a maple spur that runs down the center of the body so it's got the weight and density yet it has the acoustic qualities, like at a lower volume setting it's nice and clear, not fat and undefined like the Les Paul usually is. The back pickup is one of the hot Gibson pickups and the other one has a certain coiling to it that's a little more toppy, which you can use in that front, rhythm position."

Alex Lifeson 40th Anniversary of Rush Les Paul Axcess

For the song "Stick It Out" on Counterparts, Lifeson used a '72 standard tuned in drop D. He says "The guitar was a ’72 Les Paul Standard that I had used on certain songs in the past."

For Test for Echo, Lifeson used the Acousticaster, saying "In the choruses I used a Godin Acousti-Caster, which has a really interesting sound that is at the same time almost acoustic but definitely electric."

The Myth of Creation Legend has it that Russ Heinl, an old buddy of Alex's, approached him in 1986 with a prototype of a new MIDI pickup. After playing it Alex wasn't to impressed with the pickup but thought the Guitar the pickup was installed in was great! (1)(5). Russ and Alex then got together and with the assistance of some other fine Canadian luthiers developed the Signature and consequently the Signature Guitar Company was born.

Beginning production in 1987 they produced a limited number of models (it is believed about 500) until the company closed in 1990. In this brief, 3 year window in time some of the most outstanding guitars in the world were created. During production there were 2 distinct generations of Signature guitar. The first generation (1-gen) were handsome flat tops and the second generation (2-gen) had beautifully carved tops. 1-gen Aurora models can be seen and heard being played by Alex Lifeson on the RUSH video "Show of Hands".

Another great, Guy Pratt (bass player for Pink Floyd) used Signature Excalibre Basses in the late '80s and early 90s for much of Pink Floyd's studio and live work.

The fade into legend

So with such excellent quality and superb craftsmanship, where did the Signature Guitar Company go? It is a sad, unjust and cruel world and unlike the movies good does not always prevail over evil. The time was a dark, perilous and morally corrupt 1990. LA glam rock, sissy metal music and big hay stack hair jobs ruled the Earth. Factories were soullessly pumping flash guitars with lots of points that were virtually dipped in fluro paint. The market was saturated with such abominable excuses for instruments. These companies also had huge endorsement propaganda deals with slick LA rockers.

Because each and every Signature came stock standard with the best available materials, expert craftsmanship and state of the art Evans/EMG electronics they were selling for US$1200 - $1800. The poor guy's at Signature werre forced to compete in a tough, image driven market against cheaper, flashier yet quality compromised instruments. In a world over run by bad yet showy craftsmanship Signature was unable to keep its head above water.

An interesting yet tragic omen to this was that Alex's famous pearl white Signature (Great White) seen in "Show of hands" had its head broken off one day prior to the companies passing. It happened during a hand off and guitar change on stage during the "presto" tour.

Sadly, the Signature Guitar Co. slipped away in 1990 into legend and their competitors to this day are still trying to catch up with their quality.

"The candle that burns twice as bright burns half as long. And you have burned so very, very brightly..." Victor Tyrell, 2023.

During this rig rundown with "Premier Guitar", Rebecca Dirks talks with Alex Lifeson's tech, Scott Appleton. At 1:18 Scott picks up the Crimson Red version of Alex' signature guitar.

At 1:44 of this "Rig Rundown" with Premier Guitar, Rush's Alex Lifeson's tech Scott Appleton show us Alex's original 1970s 355 in white.

At 3:00 of this "Rig Rundown" with Premier Guitar, Rush's Alex Lifeson's tech Scott Appleton shows both of Alex's 90s PRS guitars, one in black and one sunburst with Signature brand pickups.

At 3:45 of this "Rig Rundown" with Premier Guitar, Rush's Alex Lifeson's tech Scott Appleton shows us this Telecaster which he mentions is Alex's main writing instrument.

At 4:20 of this "Rig Rundown" with Premier Guitar, Rush's Alex Lifeson's tech Scott Appleton shows us this Les Paul.

At 4:43 of this "Rig Rundown" with Premier Guitar, Rush's Alex Lifeson's tech Scott Appleton shows us his 12-string Martin Dreadnought that he uses on the intro for "Closer To the Heart."

Gibson credits Alex use of the EDS-1275 in the product description here.

There is a shot of Alex using the guitar at 2:21 in this video.

Here Alex can be seen playing his signature PRS SE acoustic guitar. PRS quotes Alex on this official product page saying "I was very pleased when PRS presented me with my SE Angelus acoustic, a beautiful guitar of stunning quality. It was in response to the challenge of building a guitar that shared the integrity and attention to detail that the Alex Lifeson Private Stock Angelus possesses in a package more broadly accessible. The SE Alex Lifeson Thinline is that model. Carefully selected materials, expert craftsmanship and a smart approach to concept resulted in a guitar that is beautiful to look at and rewarding to play."

PRS also posts this video about the guitar.

In this music video for Rush's song "Limelight," Alex can be seen playing a black Fender Stratocaster at 1:00. And in an interview with Premier Guitar he says, "Yeah, I sort of went through a Fender period. In fact, we did a gig with Blue Oyster Cult at the Nassau Coliseum in the late seventies, and one of the horns had fallen off of the stack and then fell on my 335, as well as a double neck that I had. It sheared a headstock off the double neck, and it took a real big gouge out of the neck of the 335. So I decided, 'Okay, the 335’s going home, that’s not going to be on the road anymore.' I got a Strat as a backup, and I just wasn’t quite comfortable with it, you know, coming from the Gibson world. So I got a Schaller neck for it, and I put a humbucker in the bridge position—just fooling with it a little bit, trying to get something that was sort of a hybrid between a Gibson and a Fender."

In this image one can see Alex Lifeson playing his signature ES-355.

https://twitter.com/LoucinGuitars/status/765627840603619328

Discussed on this introduction to Gibson Memphis range NAMM 2015 - starting at 9:17 and Alex mentioned at 14.55 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKoFTI0F9Zo

Alex playing one on Rush 40 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FICkVLg7Vok

Explains use of it on Anthem http://www.guitarworld.com/interview-alex-lifeson-dissects-11-key-rush-songs-anthem-test-echo

old clip from 1977 talks about it at 1:00 as his original guitar https://rushvault.com/2013/01/19/rare-1977-video-alex-and-his-guitars/

In this YouTube video taken from "R30" DVD/Blu-ray, Alex plays "Roll The Bones" with a Gibson SG Original in a concert Frankfurt, Germany.

“The playability is instantly silky and facile, the tone bright, clear and shimmering, and the finishing details are a testament to the PRS craftsmanship. The broad fretboard is a joy to play, and I was blown away by the intonation–of course, split saddles!! Why doesn’t everyone do that?”

Lifeson used his "Hentor Sportcaster", named after Rush producer Peter Henderson, in the 1980's, used notably on the "Grace Under Pressure" tour. In the video above, luthier Freddy Gabrsek explains how Lifeson gave him his Sportscaster to reverse engineer and make copies of. Gabrsek holds the original Sportscaster at the beginning of the video, but plays one of his replicas at the end of it.

This picture shows Lifeson with his signature Gibson Les Paul ES model.

"Rig Rundown" with Premier Guitar, Rush's Alex Lifeson's tech Scott Appleton shows us one of Alex's amp heads which is a TriAmp MK II (shown in the top right). This particular amps is where all the effects run through. Scott also mentions that they run everything through this rig in mono audio.

At 9:15 in this "Rig Rundown" with Premier Guitar, Rush's Alex Lifeson's tech Scott Appleton mentions Alex's signature edition of the MK II amp head. Scott mentions that this is a dry amplifier that does not have any effects running through it at all.

At 9:28 in this "Rig Rundown" with Premier Guitar, Rush's Alex Lifeson's tech Scott Appleton shows us a Hughes & Kettner Coreblade which he says "“has its own built in effects, so this is kind of what Alex likes to call the third man on stage amp or the icing on the cake amp."

At 0:20 in this video on Alex Lifeson's gear, one can clearly see a Mark V below a Silver Jubilee Clone. At 1:02 the technician explains that the Lerxst Silver Jubilee Clones are Alex's dirty sound, while the Mark V is Alex's clean sound.

At 0:58, the tech explains the signal path of Alex's rig and mentions "The Lerxst head, which is Alex's dirty sound."