Jem Design Contest Loser.......now a winner.

[Mackattack]

Here's some photos of my very recently finished guitar that was initially a design I put into the Jem Design Contest. I loved the design so much that I just had to have it anyway.

Enjoy.

[Mackattack]

[Mackattack]

Specs:
Basswood body
Maple neck, ebony fretboard
Mojoe pup bridge, breed single pup and Evo neck pup
Lo-pro edge bridge
Stainless steel frets

Painted and decaled by me, assembled and built by ET Guitars Australia. Fantastically built might I add.

The idea of the design is obviously Steve Vai himself, with all the bold black areas being his PAW days hair, ringed necklace incorporated into the volume/tone knobs, Vai logo on the bottom horn mixed in with the design and the all seeing eye on his forehead. I went with Satriani's MoJoe pup in the bridge as I already have evos in my 7VWh and being that Joe was Steves mentor and teacher, I thought it quite fitting. Also, I love the Fred pups too as I used to have a JS1 which was stolen.

The back has my wife and three kids names mixed in there as well. Also of note is the aluminium etched bridge cover plate which actually doesn't show up too great in photos but is quite splendid in real life.

[Mackattack]

[Nate from San Diego]

I really dig the artwork...especially the back cover plate. Very nice work.

[ocxcxd]

That backplate is really AWESOME!

[prman]

Very nice! Very nice indeed!

[Jeries]

i really like what you did with the knob placement

[Mackattack]

It has arrived.

[Mackattack]

The inane doodling on the paper on the very left is something I did out in the shed after a gig, watching music TV, mostly drunk with a sharpie and a few more beers. This was three weeks before I ever even knew about the competition. Once I learned of the comp I had no idea of what I'd put on a guitar and then I saw this doodle lying on the table in the shed and thought "hmmmm maybe that would look okay". The hand drawing of the guitar is the entry I sent, basically just as you see it there. The 7 was something that was lying around that I started to toy with and practice on, learning to go around corners really. The white and fluro orange wooden test blocks were the last stepping stone before attempting it on a real Jem body. The end result is ...... fantastic. It plays every bit as nice as my 7VWh. I still can't believe it's done. Ima use it this friday at the pub.

Lol, in the doodle on the left hand side, you can see the eyes that I stole from that design to have on the actual guitar.

[RGTFanatic]

Macka, you really need to post the link to your Jemsite thread so these folks can see the entire evolution of your guitar.....It's one HELLUVA story....lol

[jonnyboy mills]

said this before to you on jemsite, Im gonna say it again. That guitar looks great!!! well done dude.

[bennyvx78]

...that guitar looks absolutly stunning!! Forget the actual 'winner' guitar, I'd rather have this one.

[VirgilGuitar]

Duuuuuude! That's awesome! It's so funny - I started drawing up some designs for that contest, never actually entered it Then I decided to build my own guitar - not a JEM, but an original design that took nearly a year to finish with almost 1400 man hours to complete. Looks like this took YOU awhile as well - nice work!

[Mackattack]

So here's a little one minute video that I entered into a competition for when Steve Vai brings his Masterclass to Australia. Winner gets to jam with Steve onstage.... a little daunting but I just want my guitar signed, I ain't no pro player or anything. At this point I'm gonna try anything to make it happen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLkgyQ5Ii88" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;