In honor of , we’ve decided to present a special “Satch and Vai” edition of Cover Models. That’s when we track down cover stars from the distant or recent past and ask them to tell us about the guitars they’re holding on their covers. This month, we’d like to send out some big-time thanks to Mike Mesker, Vai’s art director, who contributed several historical details concerning Vai’s guitars.
“That’s my first Ibanez JS prototype, which we called 'Black Dog'. It had a Roadstar neck and a basswood 540 Radius body. By the time of this photo it also had a DiMarzio FRED pickup in the bridge and a PAF Pro in the neck.
[Luthier] Gary Brawer had done extensive fret and fretboard work as well.” “I started using it live in ’88 and used it all over and throughout the ’90s. It was one of my favorites to play at that time because it had a very unique feel and tone.
Since it was a distressed, plain black guitar, I thought a little artwork would improve the look and give it a cool vibe. It was featured on the back of the album, so it only seemed right to bring it to the photo session.” “The first time I recorded with this guitar would have been for on the live/studio EP.
The song, recorded and mixed by John Cuniberti, featured Jeff Campitelli on drums, along with my guitar, bass and keyboard work. It was first released on a flexi-disc! I really got to know the guitar during the album sessions in ’89, as it was my main guitar for that album.” “This was th.