The Signature Guitar Company existed between the years 1987-1992. The first production site was in Aurora, Ontario, Canada.

The company was started started by Luthier Russ Heinl, a friend of Alex Lifeson of Rush. It is believed that Geddy Lee also held investment in the company. Together they designed a series of guitars that Alex used in the "Hold Your Fire" era. They are now collectors items due to their rarity and extremely high quality. Sales were slack, there was some friction in management, and the company moved production from Canada to Cranston, Rhode Island, USA.

In an effort to bolster sales, a line of bolt-on models were developed, the first of which was the J-Bass model and also a few P-Bass’s were made too. They also prototyped Stratocasters and Telecasters but never put them into production. Then Fender's lawyers came along and shut down production.

The quality of these US made (Cranston / Rhode Island) instruments is remarkable, everything fits well and the necks are entirely handmade. It is easy to see why Fender wanted them stopped - they are simply too good.

The first J-Bass rolled of the luthiers bench in '87, and the last one was made on the 20th Jan '92, (3 tone burst,  swamp ash), all of them had string through the body into the bridge.

The string through body design is an outstanding feature that gives the best sustain possible without upgrading to the costly Badass bridge, and they yield about the same sustain. Stan Alesi was the driving force behind this design, he swore by string through body technology because of this increased sustain.