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Given that I’m a big Ratt fan, I’ve always appreciated Robbin’s playing and I’ve loved his Jackson Firebirds. Two of my favorite birds are Robbin’s solid Ferrari red one (sans pickguard) with the regular headstock and sharkfins and his white one with the fishbone graphic and reverse headstock and inlays. So I came up with an idea to combine the two guitars as a tribute to Robbin.
I approached Ian (YouThinkYourFish), who is also a big Ratt fan, last fall since he already has a replica of Robbin’s white fishbone Firebird. I wanted to see if he would be cool with the idea of me using his guitar as a model and to see if he would send some pics to Dan Lawrence for reference. Ian was more than happy to help out. In fact, he was pretty fired up about the idea and told me that he always wanted to do a ‘bookend’ end type project and build a set of guitars that had a basic theme but each having different specs and its own identity. I thought it was a cool idea so we talked about it on and off for awhile and discussed it with Lee at GMW. Ian made a few mockups based on my original idea and he totally got into one version. Once I saw the mockups, I was committed and so was Ian. Here’s what he came up with.
So earlier this year, we finalized our discussions with Lee and decided to pull the trigger on the fishbone set of firefoxs. Lee really liked the idea and in no time he had the bodies built for these guitars.
Mine is an alder body & maple neck with a standard millennium head, non-reverse inlays. Ian chose all mahogany, body binding, a reverse head and reverse inlays. Our different spec preferences really highlight the “bookend” idea.
Lee finished my fishbone first near the end of June with Ian’s getting completed just a few days ago. We couldn’t have been planned it any better having both of them done right before Robbin’s 50th birthday today.
As you can see, both follow the general theme but each has its own unique identify. Of note, both Ian and I have favorite numbers - his is 7 and mine is 8. We mentioned this to Lee and he was not only cool enough to give us consecutive serial numbers but reserved ones with us in mind; G0117NT & G0118NT. So here’s how our GMW “replica” bookends turned out.
The back of each guitar.
Here are the close-ups.
Happy Birthday King!
John
I approached Ian (YouThinkYourFish), who is also a big Ratt fan, last fall since he already has a replica of Robbin’s white fishbone Firebird. I wanted to see if he would be cool with the idea of me using his guitar as a model and to see if he would send some pics to Dan Lawrence for reference. Ian was more than happy to help out. In fact, he was pretty fired up about the idea and told me that he always wanted to do a ‘bookend’ end type project and build a set of guitars that had a basic theme but each having different specs and its own identity. I thought it was a cool idea so we talked about it on and off for awhile and discussed it with Lee at GMW. Ian made a few mockups based on my original idea and he totally got into one version. Once I saw the mockups, I was committed and so was Ian. Here’s what he came up with.
So earlier this year, we finalized our discussions with Lee and decided to pull the trigger on the fishbone set of firefoxs. Lee really liked the idea and in no time he had the bodies built for these guitars.
Mine is an alder body & maple neck with a standard millennium head, non-reverse inlays. Ian chose all mahogany, body binding, a reverse head and reverse inlays. Our different spec preferences really highlight the “bookend” idea.
Lee finished my fishbone first near the end of June with Ian’s getting completed just a few days ago. We couldn’t have been planned it any better having both of them done right before Robbin’s 50th birthday today.
As you can see, both follow the general theme but each has its own unique identify. Of note, both Ian and I have favorite numbers - his is 7 and mine is 8. We mentioned this to Lee and he was not only cool enough to give us consecutive serial numbers but reserved ones with us in mind; G0117NT & G0118NT. So here’s how our GMW “replica” bookends turned out.
The back of each guitar.
Here are the close-ups.
Happy Birthday King!
John
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