Daily Deadly Axe "Snake Idol"

Seriously? Real snake skin? That's just freaking cool! I contemplated buying this Washburn Idol just to piss off PETA people and because I have the Ibanez with cloth finish. I think the two would make for great conversational pieces. I also think the guitar shape is pretty cool. Other then the finish (which is real snakeskin encase you missed it) the rest of the guitar is pretty standard. None the less, I'd rock out on this axe. After all, it is deadly....to snakes anyways!

Funny, I knew this would happen

Well my white ESP Cavalera is back on EBay except I'm not the one selling it! I'm the first one to admit that not many Max Cavalera fans would run out and spend $1,899.99 on a signature guitar and that's exactly what I did with my Urban Camo Cavalera. However, that was the new 2009 model. With the white Cavalera after shipping I paid $1,500.00 even and I let it go for $740.00 in absolute mint condition. I hated to let it go but the Japanese guitar market is in the toilet right now and I listed it three times on Ebay and also had it listed locally. The market for ESP is smaller and the Market for a niche guitar like the Cavalera is even smaller.

I got 5 offers for $700.00 so finally I decided to cut my losses and let it go. I went with the buyer that I did because he had a good rating and looked like he would pay up without a problem. I also noticed he had a few high end items for sale as well. I figured it would end up right back on EBay for an up sell of course. However, at $1,249.99 I really hope he sells it becuse I had no luck at trying to get $1000.00 back out of it.

Daily Deadly Axe"Vortex Elite"

What do you get when you mix a "somewhat" unique V shape with the Fernandes Sustainer pickup system and urban camo paint? You get the Fernandes Vortex Elite guitar and today's Deadly Axe! The drastic bevels and Floyd really make this a killer axe and Alder wings and Maple neck are proven winners for responsive tones (at least in my opinion.) The Fernandes website didn't have a lot of pictures so I found some on Evilbay.

Fugly Axe "W.A.S.P."

This is a supposed B.C.Rich guitar built for the guitar player in W.A.S.P. However, I have it on good authority that this is not a legit build so it begs the question. Even if some nutcase guitar player wanted this guitar, why would someone really take the time to rip off the design? In my opinion this guitar (and W.A.S.P.) deserves to be placed in the FUGLY category!

Daily Deadly Axe "ZDG EVX II"

This is one of my best designs and one of the guitars that I made while running Zyon's Dream Guitars. It's the EVX II. It's a redesign of the EVX. It has sharper lines and a sleeker profile. It's all Maple with a bolt on neck and Guitarheads pickups. It's also got a fine tuning schaller tail with a tone pros wrap around. I really like the stone finish. It's durable and doesn't hurt your arm at all. After all, it isn't actually stone!The reverse headstock and single humbucker with a simple volume tone is a trademark of mine (just becuase that's the way I like them!)

This guitar is my favorite ZDG guitar but I never play it and it's ready for a new home. This is your chance to own custom shop ZDG for a great price. Contact me for details if you are interested. zyon@zdguitars.com

Daily Deadly Axe "Hembry"

Every once in a while a carved guitar comes around and just blows me away. Now, I'm a huge horror movie fan so this guitar really speaks to me but I think anyone should be able to admire the craftsmanship that went into this axe. This Hembry hand carved Ibanez is one for the books and it should be- just check out his long gallery of custom carved and built axes!

Daily deadly axe "LTD's aren't so bad"

Yup, I went and bought me an S shaped guitar last night. I've had GAS for a guitar with a wiggly stick for the last few weeks. The only other one I have right now is the Ibanez Jem and it doesn't come out to play much. So, since I'm a big fan of ESP and I really didn't want to break the bank on this buy I went with an LTD M-200FM series S shape.

In order to quantify buying an S shape axe it had to have certain features. One, it had to be neck through. Second, it had to have a Floyd (not a knock off) and 3rd, it had to be high quality. Oh, and a reverse headstock was in order too. I couldn't find a quality single humbucker with just a volume for the $500.00 to $700.00 range so I went with the LTD.

When I got home I was surprised that the stock ESP pickups actually responded nicely to my amp settings and I was able to get a more than adequate tone out of it. I have a few Seymour Duncan pickups floating around and even have a new Dimebucker I can throw into it but I'm not so sure I want to do that. A little more playing time will tell me if I need to replace them.

So far the Floyd Rose Special has been a work horse. I had to set the guitar up for m tuning and lower the ridiculously high action but it wasn't too damn hard to set up for a Floyd!

The binding is nice and there isn't a finish flaw on it that I can find so I'm super happy with the quality of the construction. The inlays are really clean and don't have too much filler in them. That's usually a place where cheaper guitars make up the money.

All in all this is a super axe for the money with a really good overall tone. Again, I'm not sold on the pickups but in this day and age, it's very common for a player to swap out the pickups for their favorite brand.

This guitar will have to keep my GAS under control for now. The next wiggly enabled axe will the the Ran.

Correction on the Pat O'Brien guitar

No one ever said match was my best subject and currency conversion is obviously not a market I should dabble in! Ran guitars was nice enough to correct may mathematical errors. apparently 1880 Euros must be multiplied by 1.3 to get the US conversion. So, the Cannibal Corpse guitar will cost $2,224.00 plus $290.00 for shipping. The total is $2,514.00 with half due at order and the other half due before shipping.

If you want to know if I'm still interested. Check out the right hand column of this blog!

Daily Deadly Axe "Pat O' Brien"

In honor of me picking up the new Cannibal Corpse album (yes, they are still around) I'm making Pat O'Brien's signature guitar made by Ran Guitars the Daily Deadly Axe. This thing is simply ready to kill; and it even says so on the neck! This axe has been such a hit for Ran, they are now 12 months out on their build times!

Now, I've taken hits at Ran in the past for building guitars that are clearly copy written guitars that they do not have permission to build. Being that they are out of the country there is little that small companies can do to stop them due to the costs involved.

However, I'll admit that I've contacted Ran to see what this guitar would cost and was shocked that a custom guitar is 2010 Euros shipped to the US. A rough estimate is $1,600.00 USD. Now keep in mind that ESP wanted to charge me over 5K for a custom guitar and Neal Moser wants about $4,500. Everyone that I know who owns a Ran loves it and says it's one of the best guitars they own. Now, I still take sides with those who have been burned but I'd be more than willing to dish out a measly $1,600 for this guitar and in-fact, since it takes a YEAR to get. I think it just got placed on my "must have" list!

Daily Deadly Axe "KK BCR"

My love for pointy guitars started where most people's has; in the back yard of B.C.Rich. For me, it was the Warlock. I've always had a thing for early era Warlocks but when HHI bought the company, Bernie Rico Sr. died and Neal Moser left. Well, BCR ceased to make guitars worth entry level and unfortunately they no longer have the reputation in the metal world that they once had.

Well, over the last few years they've started to make higher quality guitars again and their overseas manufacturers are really starting to reach the level of ESP and other Japan builders. A few years ago the Kerry King signature guitar came out and it was clearly a sub entry level axe. Well now, they have a new Kerry King signature series for the more seasoned player. This one included his EMG set, neck through construction and even a Kahler Hybrid. Finally BCR has a guitar worthy of the DDA!

Daily Deadly Axe "ghost flames"

I found this Jackson guitar buried on a Japanese website. It's got one of the most likker chost flame paint jobs that I've seen outside of a custom shop guitar. I've never been a big fan of the Jackson Kelly but this one is pretty cool. I'd have it just for the cool paint job!

Fugly one and Fugly two!

I guess for every one awesome axe Jackson does (see DDA below) they make two really fugly designs. Enter Prometheus Tangerine and the Pablo Santana concept bass. I am a fine diner on crazy pointy guitars but even I have to stand back and shake my head on these? Here is a hint. If you commit to pointy, don;t use too many curved edges. Like siblings, curved and pointy don't mix well!

Too many more of these and I'll be forced to start a "Daily Deadly Fugly" post

Daily Deadly Axe "Jackson Blue Skull"

Another airbrush job gone wild! This is one killer Jackson custom shop axe and it's obviously ready to kill! $4,500 beans and you can add this one to the cart and take it home! Hey, for $4,500 you get one killer S shaped guitar that's signed by Grover Jackson himself!

Some DDA stuff up for sale!

Update: the ESP did not sell so I've relisted it.

I've got gas for a certain DDA listed below so I need to go out with the old so I can come in with the new.

First up for sale is my Max Cavalera ESP AX in white. Since I got the urban camo Cavalera I've realized I won't play this one much. I'm willing to entertain offers so if you are interested, send me an offer and see if you win!

$8000 what?

IN my desire to own a custom shop I reached out to a few ESP dealers to get a quote on a custom built ESP AX guitar. It's the same shape as the Max Cavalera AX. After almost two weeks of submitting offers I finally got back a quote.

Now keep in mind, the only changes I made to the actual Max Cavalera AX guitar was these

Tone pros wrap around bridge instead of a tone pros string through- It's actually easier to install and less parts.

Black camo finish (which is a finish they regularly offer) instead of the satin Urban camo- It's one less color (leave out white)

Reverse ESP 6 -inline headstock instead of AX 3x3 headstock. -It's a neck through, just grab one from the KH series...same neck blank.

Imagine my surprise when the dealer came back and said retail is $8,000.00. Yes, $8,000.00 for a custom shop ESP. I guess when most people order custom shops they only get finish changes. I'm not too sure what jacked the price up but seriously, 8K? I've been around the guitar business for a long time and I fully expected to see a high price but for an over seas axe, 8K is a bit much for the MINOR changes I asked for.

I also had one dealer tell me I had to pay it in full before they would order the guitar and I'd be waiting at least 6 t 12 months before I see it.

Minus the headstock, I could just buy a white Cavalera for $1500.00 and for another $500 to $700 I could get the finish I want and convert it to a tone pros.

In full disclosure the $8000.00 is retail price and might not be the price I'd have to play but I was told it would be extremely high.

Daily Deadly Axe "charlie"

This DDA comes in to the fun category! If you were lucky you grew up with Charlie Brown. He was likely the first Emo super depressed comic strip character and I'm sure he is single handily responsible for the boom in antidepressants! However, this ESP custom shop axe is one for the ages!

Daily Deadly Axe "Vixen"

Bernie Rico Jr, son of famed Bernie Rico Sr has been hard at work carrying on the tradition started in the 70's at BC Rich. The Vixen is clearly one of Rico's best designs and is truly deadly looking. If your thing is a nice V shape then giving Mr Rico a call will surely not disappoint!

Daily Deadly Axe"GAS for Faststar"

Yes, I've got GAS for a Moser Faststar! When I saw this 80's throwback I just about drooled myself a river! That rear horn is simply deadly! Neal Moser makes great stuff and it's all high class quality but until now I wasn't willing to plop down the cash for one. This is the first Moser shape that I would seriously think about! In fact- one of these in high gloss black camo with a tone pros wrap around bridge and a single humbucker would do it! Good thing they are a custom shop eh?

Daily Deadly Axe "quality"

I named this post "quality" because it's all about the quality of this instrument. The flamed maple binding (actually not binding,) the clean finish and the absolute attention to every detail make Mika Guitars one of the best small shop builders!

Where's the pickups you say? I don't know. He doesn't give his secret away in the build pictures. My educated guess is a transducer pickup under the bridge or placed in the neck. That sort of adds to it's innovation and really slam dunks it as a DDA.