Skeletar
My electric guitars were once described as
encompassing 3 major themes of rock and roll: love, sex, and death.
This guitar could be dedicated to any of
the guitar heroes who died in their prime, and it also appears as
the "Miss October" of the Exotic Guitar year 2000 calendar.
The image was conceived on a tour of the
Hapsburg Palace in Vienna. In the basement are the family crypts and
funeral vehicles, all elaborate Rococo sculptures glorifying death:
Skeletons with Angel's wings larger than life in black cast iron.
It's interesting that because so much
mass of the guitar's body is carved away (a bare bones guitar), the
entire instrument is LIVE. Touching the neck is like tapping pole
pieces on the pickup. Running your fingernail over the ribs makes a
sound like a xylophone. Excellent sustain. The jack is located at
the end of the tailbone, and while some guitars have coil tap, this
one has a spinal tap.
One spring Saturday morning I was
carving the skull in the backyard. I often work out doors to have
more air while using high speed grinders. When I had finished I was
showing the skull to a neighbor when we heard a shriek from an
upstairs window of the house behind. His neighbor saw us examining a
skull, and my neighbor had been gardening and still had a shovel in
his hand. Don't you hate those moments when your life starts to feel
like an Alfred Hitchcock film.
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