The Crazy Horse Les Paul was the first guitar I did with the Gibson custom shop. It is a custom Les Paul that is painted up like the 1966 Ford Bronco I built on TRUCKS! Called Crazy Horse. The Crazy Horse Bronco was built in tribute the the legendary Big Oly bronco that Parnelli Jones and Bill Stroppe drove to victory many times in the Baja 500 and Baja 1000. The guitar not only features the House of Colors purple paint and silver stripe that we used on the Bronco, but there is also a tire track of the actual Parnelli Jones tire tread going across the face of the guitar, to give it that “run over” feel. The truss rod cover has my name engraved in it, and there was a limited run of 25 of these slated. How many were actually built, I don’t know. This particular guitar was the first one made and it has been signed by legendary Baja racers Ivan Stewart and James Duff. One of these days I’ll get Parnelli Jones to sign it too. Best part is... it plays like a mother!!
Copperhead Guitar
The Copperhead SG was the second Guitar that I did with the Gibson custom Shop. It was built to go with a 1967 Chevy c-10 pickup that I built using the very first, pre-production 572ci Chevy Crate engine. The guys at Gibson wanted to be a little more creative with this guitar so they carved the face of the body with a very cool, snake-like scale look. The name Copperhead was set in the neck with mother of pearl, a small badge that reads “572 ci” is mounted at the base of the neck, and the whole guitar is painted in the custom PPG Copperhead metallic paint that we developed for the project. Once again there was a limited number of 25 of these slated to be built, but I don’t know how many Gibson actually built. The Guitar sounds great, but the neck is just a bit wider than I personally like, but it still plays well.
Rat Roaster Guitar
The Rat Roaster 335 was a guitar that was kicking around in my head for years. Since the Rat Roaster car is a Hot Rod 1932 ford Roadster with the vibe of 1969, I knew this guitar had to be special, and it had to have that Rockabilly, hot rod vibe... and that meant a cool exhaust system built into it. When I showed the drawing for the concept to the guys at the Gibson Custom Shop, they said “there’s no way we can build that thing”. Fortunately Gibson Custom shop honcho Rick Gembar said that if I wanted to build it, they would do the final assembly on it. Of course I told him “heck yeah” and he grabbed me a 335 that had a flaw in the finish and was slated to be destroyed, and said “go to it”. So I basically cut off the lower body horn and designed and built a stainless steel header to take it’s place. The header is held in place by hidden nuts in the pickup cavity so the guiltar has an ultra slick look to it. The guitar was shot by the guys at West Kentucky Collision center, using the same custom “Rat Roaster green” PPG paint that we used on the car. Of course the guitar was outfitted with a Bigsby tremolo for the ultimate vintage rock and roll vibe. This is my favorite Gibson so far because it is VERY unique, plays great, sounds great, and just screams rock and roll hot rod. At this point it is the only one in existence. Gibson said they would offer them to the public, but because of all the custom fabrication required, probably priced them so high that nobody ordered one. Too bad... it’s an awesome piece.
The Banshee Guitar
The banshee is ’95 Mazda Miata that we stuffed a 400hp 302 Ford into. Since the whole point here was to take a cheap Japanese car, and stuff some good ol’ American horsepower into it, the guitar had to reflect that. Malcolm Pritchett at West Kentucky collision put this one together by taking a cheap 80’s Aria Pro guitar (Japanese made) and stuffing some hot EMG pickups in it (American made). The guitar was painted like the car with a custom PPG color called “Banshee Blue”, and a silver stripe running down the center of it.
THE V8 Guitar
This custom Fender Stratocaster came from my friend Danny White, who owns 16 ton studios in downtown Nashville. This guitar was custom built to look like it is an original 50’s guitar that spent as much time in the shop as a car did. Built by custom guitar builder ??????????????????? the guitar includes Greasy fingerprints, tobacco stains, scratches and a big metal flake paint job give this thing a patina that is just magical. A V8 emblem from a vintage Studebaker and a little shift knob on the pickup selector add the final hot rod vibe. The best thing about this guitar though, is the way it plays. Despite the beat up appearance, it is one of the best playing and sounding guitars you will ever hear on a record or on stage. A testament to Kevin’s skill in not only building a cool looking instrument, but one that plays well too. This guitar doesn’t go with a particular car yet, but the guitar and case just scream classic hot rod and rock and roll, so I had to have it. It will definitely be seen on the show from time to time too.
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