Marty Friedman in Cleveland and playing Jacksons

[Johnnyryche]

I got to see Marty Friedman last night at a small club here in Cleveland. The guy is still an amazing guitarist and puts on a hell of a show. Had a great time seeing him jam with his supporting band. I was lucky enough to be up front right in front of Marty the whole night. Thought I would share a couple pics that I took with my iPhone. Sorry they're not the best, the lighting was terrible with only blue and red lights the entire night. I'm hoping my pics on my camera turned out better but I'll have to download those first to see.

Just wanted to share a couple pics of Marty and his new custom shop Jacksons. The flat top Kelly is stunning! It's a trans red with a nice tight flame top, white binding (not ivoroid) and a stop tail piece. And he was some type of EMGs in it, as do the other guitars he was playing. The LP style was black with a silver bevel. The interesting part of that one is it had his signature on the back of the headstock and his logo on the truss rod cover. Possible prototype for a signature model???

Anyways, just wanted to share with everyone here since I had not heard or seen anything about Marty or these guitars on the JCF lately. I'll try to upload some more pics from my camera if they turned out better.

[Jackson8090s]

Awesome Johnny, thanks for sharing, I've met Marty a couple of times while he was with Megadeth and doing clinics.

[watson503]

Too cool! Thanks for the pics, man - I really dig that Kelly. I don't think I had ever seen Marty playing an LP-shape guitar until just recently, now with Gary Holt and Skolnick it seems a few guys from that era are.

[Larz]

Sounds like a great time, great pics

[Sephiroth]

After years of him bouncing around Ibanez, PRS, and an occasional Gibson I never expected to see him playing Kellys again. It's nice to see. Is he feeling nostalgic?

[MartinBarre]

Thanks for posting. I thought he was endorsed by PRS stilll so does this mean he's back with Jackson? Kinda surprised he's using EMGs, he was always into Duncan JBs.

Why did you call it a "flat top Kelly"? Aren't they all?

[MartinBarre]

Too cool! Thanks for the pics, man - I really dig that Kelly. I don't think I had ever seen Marty playing an LP-shape guitar until just recently, now with Gary Holt and Skolnick it seems a few guys from that era are.

He's been playing a PRS Les Paul-type for a few years now. Think it was a signature model, with stars on the fretboard:

[x_zac10]

Damn - I'm disappointed I missed this. I would have gone if I would have realized it was happening. Thanks for sharing!

Why did you call it a "flat top Kelly"? Aren't they all?

No bevel

[Mudlark]

Great pics and great seeing Marty with Jacksons.
That stoptail Kelly is a beauty.

[shreddermon]

Love the Kelly! Would much rather see that be his sig model. Put a NR Floyd on it, and I'd buy one.

The LP is really interesting, but married with that headstock isn't doing anything for me. Besides, the FMIC lawyers will likely kill any chances anyway. Probably another artist one-off special, just like PC's X-stroyer.

Thanks for the pics, J.

[toejam]

The LP is really interesting, but married with that headstock isn't doing anything for me.

Same here. I like that headstock, just not on the LP-looking guitar. They could have used the SweeTone/Mark Morton headstock and it would look much better.

[shreddermon]

^ yep ^

[Johnnyryche]

Forgot to mention that his other guitarist played a variety of guitars including a custom shop Jackson identical to Marty's LP style. Main differences were it was a 7 string version and had reverse shark fin inlays. I'll try to get some more pics posted this weekend.

And, yes, Marty played that black PRS with the star inlays for a good part of the show mixed in with the 2 custom shop Jacksons.

[kmanick]

damn! I missed here in Boston last week. I bet it was a great show
is he using Engl's now?

[daisp]

Some very cool guitars in his arsenal...thanks for posting