Chippin' vai

[straymond]

I read somewhere that
steve vai's guitars are chipped.

what does this mean?

[davester1234]

could mean chipped as in half destroyed with chips and cracks! i dunno

[MM]

Most of Steve's guitars have small cracks, dents or chips. Such is the life of any instrument that is constantly played and toured with. Surprisingly though, many of Steve's touring guitars are in really very good shape...

[EKG]

I love that used look. Shows character. Each marking has a story of it's own ;-)

[armdias]

I love that used look also. I remeber the day when my VWH got the first (and only) nick. Of course i didn't liked it when it happened. But now, i think it gives her a character, a personal living story that no other guitar has.

For instance, i have a strat that is full of nicks and scratches. And you know what? I love it! It's so cool, i almost can remeber the day when a certain nick was done, they tell stories.

Oh, and the beat to hell VWH that Steve plays is sooo cool!

[motogod927]

duh!

[mike777]

I prefer everything to look as new as possible while still being able to feel unrestricted while playing the instrument. Some guitars look better with some use than others. Some will appear like a well-loved antique and others look plain ol' dinged-up.

Just curious, if Ibanez and Vai decided to recreate Evo as a "relic" copy, dings, cracks, and all, would you buy it (regardless of price)? (I hope I just didn't open up a can of worms with that question)

Mike 777

[EKG]

No, I would not buy an EVO replica with dings and all. Accidental markings I like, not intentional

I agree to an extent about keeping them in pretine shape. My PGM10TH must remain so....whereas a 7VWH, I wouldn't worry much since they are so common and I can always get another. ;-)

[bob mclaughlin]

Yea, It,s to bad "character" marks take off half the value..

[6828]

Originally Posted by mike777

Just curious, if Ibanez and Vai decided to recreate Evo as a "relic" copy, dings, cracks, and all, would you buy it (regardless of price)? (I hope I just didn't open up a can of worms with that question)

Fender did something like this with their strats. I'm not sure if they are still doing it but it's a sham. I don't mind a lacquer coat getting some "aging colour" put into it, but a guy sitting at a work bench in a factory taking chips out of a brand new guitar ? I don't think so !

Steve's EVO, is exactly that, it's his. Even if you could clone EVO at a factory, it wouldn't be Steve's guitar it'd be some poor facsimile, intended to be sold to a Steve Vai wanna be.

Tony

[pawel]

Originally Posted by 6828

Fender did something like this with their strats.

Yeah, those are the Fender Custom Shop relics...I kind of like the way they look, but i would never pay extra $$$ to have dinks and chips in a new guitar...

[EKG]

Sort of like buying those worn out faded jeans all the chics are getting

[Babook]

my 7VWH (and so were my 555 and 7vbk) is chipless and I hate to get it out of my home.... that's why I bought a used RG for rehearsal (and beacause we played tuned in D)
the gutar got 2 micro-tiny-mini chips and I hate that
I have a UV7BK that is really used... (the guy made some poor tries to make a custom paint and ****** up the coat etc...) but I really love the way she looks once used... it really gives her character...

[Akhenaten]

My fave right now is one that's in the shop I work at...this guy bought a strat and was a huge SRV fan. So he dinged his up almost perfectly. The laugh about it is that he had several coats of clear put on top of it when it was beat to perfection. He didn't want it to get any EXTRA marks...lol

ESP is also on the "worn" train now with their Kirk Hammett model. You could have a KH-2 for the normal 2 grand or for double that, have one beat to the exact chips and cracks of Kirk's fave.

[sniperfrommars1]

The relic has the same prototype specs as kirks actuall guitar. Its neckthrough as well isnt it?