Jackson Custom Shop Steve Vai 'Crossroads' Replica Guitar On eBay!

If, like me, your first visual introduction to Steve Vai was in his role as the Devil's guitarist in the movie Crossroads from way back in 1986, then this Jackson guitar will surely bring back fond memories.  (eBay Item#: 290399667260)

A replica of the axe that Vai shredded, teased and strangled in the movie in a 'guitar duel' with the hapless Ralph Macchio, this Jackson guitar is apparently a one-off made in the US Jackson Custom Shop.

According to the seller, this particular axe features an oil-finished early-80s style Charvel neck (read: wide and flat but not too skinny at the back) with a compound radius fingerboard with rolled edges, ash body, Seymour Duncan JB and '59 humbuckers and a Floyd Rose trem.  All topped off with a stunning Candy Apple Sparkle finish. 

Is it time to air out those leather pants or what!

Now I've sworn off Floyd Rose bridges for the last 15 years but this Crossroads-inspired Jackson Custom Shop has piqued my interest in a locking-bridge axe again.

Steve Vai's 'Green Meanie' Charvel Guitar

In an earlier article I spoke about the mysterious connection we guitar players sometimes have with certain instruments.

These special instruments emit a special vibe, feel great in our hands and make us play beyond our abilities. Or perhaps, more accurately, they make us realize our abilities.

Case in point, Steve Vai and his now legendary Charvel 'Green Meanie' (Serial No. 3733), shown above in an early 80's Carvin amplifiers ad.

Legend has it that Vai was in Grover Jackson's workshop talking about getting some new guitars made when he happened upon Grover's personal Charvel. Vai liked the guitar so much he asked to borrow it. Legend also has it that Grover never got the guitar back.

Originally finished in a light amber sunburst, Vai soon set about putting his personal 'touches' on the instrument.

The guitar was refinished a 'Loch Ness Green' and a cavity was carved out into the body under the back end of the Floyd Rose by Vai himself to facilitate radical pull-ups on the whammy bar.

Later on, the lower cutaway on the guitar was sanded deeper to allow easier access to the upper frets as shown in the stage pic from David Lee Roth's Eat 'Em and Smile tour at right.

Vai also added a piece of foam to the upper bout of the guitar near the bridge to enable him to rest his right wrist on the body of the guitar -- the Floyd Rose was not recessed and sat high off the face of the instrument, interfering with his picking hand.

An interesting pictorial timeline of the evolution of this guitar can be found at the Jemsite here.

The Green Meanie was to be his main instrument both onstage and in the studio for several years.

Said Vai of his beloved axe, "It's so ugly that it's beautiful; it's got a personality of its own. Pretty soon it's going to grow legs and walk away from me."

And when his considerable collection of guitars was stolen from a rehearsal studio during preparations for the Eat 'Em and Smile tour, the Green Meanie was spared because Vai always had the guitar with him.

Sadly, the guitar was damaged irreparably while Vai was warming up for a David Lee Roth show at Madison Square Garden -- the entire Floyd Rose vibrato was "ripped right out of the guitar". Vai then called upon famed Los Angeles guitar builder Tom Anderson, who was then just starting out with his fledgling company, to build a replacement based on the Green Meanie's specs.

And indeed, the forthcoming Ibanez endorsement deal that Vai signed in 1987 was a culmination of design ideas that grew out of both the Charvel and the Tom Anderson.

Ibanez AH10 Allan Holdsworth Signature Model

Determined to become the industry leader in a burgeoning guitar market, Ibanez started developing a roster of endorsees in the mid '70's.

Artists such as Bob Weir, Steve Miller and Paul Stanley played existing models from Ibanez's catalog, aesthetically modified with tons of inlaid mother-of-pearl, or in Stanley's case, with inlaid pieces of broken mirror.

In 1977, Ibanez collaborated with George Benson to produce the first of their artist-designed guitars -- the GB10 and GB20.

By the early to mid-80's, Ibanez's roster of artists with personalized signature models included Steve Lukather, Allan Holdsworth, George Benson, Lee Ritenour and Joe Pass.

Ibanez had yet to sign on rising-star Steve Vai -- arguably the company's most famous endorsee -- who was still mainly playing his Grover Jackson-built Charvel and Tom Andersons.

The AH10 model was designed in collaboration with Allan Holdsworth in 1984. Holdsworth had very clear and radical ideas as to what he wanted in a custom instrument:

• A light basswood body with a large, rectangular hollowed-out area under the pickguard for added acoustic resonance
• Custom designed AH Special humbucking pickups with adjustable polepieces on both coils
• A single volume and a single tone control
• A lightweight aluminum bridge
• A wider ebony fingerboard with jumbo frets
• Slightly wider string spacing at the nut and narrower string spacing at the bridge -- giving a very uniform string spacing along the entire length of the instrument
• The first model, the AH10 had only a single humbucking pickup at the bridge position, which is Holdsworth's preference to this day. A two-pickup model, the AH20 appeared after several months to create a more versatile (and probably more saleable) instrument

The AH10 and AH20 were only available for about 2 years making these guitars very sought-after by Ibanez afficionados.




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