When
Led Zeppelin and
Black Sabbath
hit record store shelves and airwaves,
many viewed heavy metal as a demonic vice
corrupting the youth with its occult-based
rhetoric packaged within slick, entrancingly
melodic powerhouse rhythms. It was feared.
It was abominable. Decades and PRMC
Senate hearings later, the record burning
protests and disdainful disposition towards
metal have subsided, but W.A.S.P.’s guitarist
Douglas Blair’s late ’70s Japanese Les Paul
copy puts the danger back into dangerous
when it comes to playing heavy music.
Dubbed the Blade II—Blair has
another rip saw blade-equipped Japanese
Les Paul-style guitar dubbed Blade I—it
boasts a custom-engineered, gold-anodized
aluminum rip saw blade that spins atop
its face, with oversized, wave-shaped teeth.
The blade turns clockwise or counterclockwise
and is controlled by a bezel-mounted
control switch. “It can clearly be
seen shining and spinning from the back
of the venue—and it doesn’t hurt to have
six laser pointers mounted on the bridge
illuminating my fingertips either [
laughs],”
says Blair.
Other custom appointments include a
nut clamp, rear belly contour, bolted-in
Gibson humbuckers, a 6-way pickup selector,
and a removed heel. “The way I cut the
heel away gives similar access found on a
Washburn N4 with the Stephen’s Extended
Cutaway neck joint, which improves the
ease of playing above the 15th fret, right
up to the 22nd,” says Blair. “I wouldn’t
have been able to make the transition to
a Les Paul-style guitar if this issue wasn’t
addressed.” As for the six-on-a-side Jackson-esque
headstock, Blair chalks the mod up
to being a sign of the times. “When I did
the change in the late ’80s, the left-handed,
pointy headstock thing was cool. I’d regret
not leaving the original three-by-three
construction at times, but now I love the
uniqueness of it—it complements the rest
of my axe.”
This LP copy has a cherry red finish
over a book-matched flame maple veneer
that covers a chunky, solid mahogany
body—almost 3.5" thick in its center. The
large mahogany neck has a scalloped rosewood
fretboard. While the looks may first
draw W.A.S.P. fans’ eyes, Blair contends
the guitar quickly garners the attention of
their ears because of its “soundman-pleasing
tone.” “This guitar is the equivalent of
gluing a couple of sweet mahogany SGs
together,” adds Blair. “It is thick, warm, and
punchy. No maple anywhere, just mahogany—
probably old, high-quality stock—and
rosewood on the fretboard make a wonderful
tone to build a crazy guitar around.”
And when it comes to the playing
around a moving blade, Blair tries to keep
things as controlled as possible. “If the
blade spins clockwise—which I avoid—it
will steal the pick from you, or worse,
take a nip at your fingers. Other than the
TSA inspectors’ facial expressions, there
have been no real problems with the blade,
though the airlines have busted my headstock
twice this year already. When the
blade is running, I pay the utmost attention—
and so do the stage security guards,
because sometimes I try to give them a
haircut [
laughs]!”
A special thanks to Douglas Blair of
W.A.S.P. for the opportunity to feature this
fine instrument and its story.