SAN LUIS OBISPO, CA (July 12, 2007) – In anticipation of last week’s LIVE EARTH global live music phenomenon, Ernie Ball Music Man has created a one-of-a-kind Global Warming Guitar – an incredibly elaborate guitar that merges plenty of creative global warming kitsch with the amazing sound and quality expected from Music Man’s elite collection of special edition instruments.
The result of over 1200 hours of concept design and labor, the awe-inspiring Global Warming Guitar debuted on the London LIVE EARTH stage on Saturday, July 7, in the hands of Chris Guest – perhaps best known for his role as Nigel Tufnel of Spinal Tap in the mockumentary film This is Spinal Tap – for whom the guitar was specially created.
“Chris has been a loyal fan of Music Man instruments for years, so when he called me up looking for something to play before billions of people on 7-7-07, we started brainstorming the global warming concept immediately,” said Sterling Ball of the Ernie Ball Company. “Incredibly enough, most of those initial ideas made it onto the guitar, which turned out to be absolutely beautiful.”
“Everyone was so astounded by the guitar – it’s truly a masterpiece, and it plays great, too, of course,” said Guest. “Thanks to everyone at Music Man for their support and ingenuity.”
The perfect complement to the climate crisis-driven, 24-hour LIVE EARTH worldwide concert series, the Global Warming guitar is similar in shape to the popular Silhouette 20th Anniversary guitar and boasts the following fully-functional features:
- Laser engraved figured maple top depicting a flaming Earth
- Real snow globe with Al Gore figurine, “Presidential Seal” and volume-activated lighting
- Knobs in the shape of an ice cube and an Egyptian pyramid
- Pickup switches in the shape of the Eiffel Tower, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and the Empire State Building
- Painted and laser engraved pickups (to maintain continuity of the image on the body)
- White Corian fingerboard laser engraved with Fahrenheit and Celsius temperature scales
- Functioning LED “thermometer” running up the center of the fingerboard (when the tone pot is pulled up, the thermometer slowly rises to the first fret; freezing is at the 12th fret)
- Flamed headstock
- Fully-detailed guitar backside painted black with sparkling stars complete with a “Blackberry” compartment containing a small faux blackberry fruit
Live Earth was a 24-hour, 7-continent concert series which took place on 7/7/07 to bring together more than 100 music artists and 2 billion people to trigger a global movement to solve the climate crisis. Live Earth marked the beginning of a multi-year campaign led by the Alliance for Climate Protection, The Climate Group and other international organizations to drive individuals, corporations and governments to take action to solve global warming.
For more info on this, or any other Ernie Ball products, please visit ernieball.com.
