In 1987, I walked into the famous Manny's Music in New York City to drool over all the gear that I couldn't afford and came across this Guild X-88 Flying Star. They were selling them off at a 50 percent discount, including a custom-fit hardshell case!!! I couldn't believe my good fortune. Here was a name brand, 100-percent-American-made guitar with a Kahler pro whammy, ebony fretboard, and American-made "California" pickups (EMG humbuckers). I pulled out my wallet and bought it right on the spot!
Not being very fashion-conscious, I later realized the reason for the great discount ... spandex-wearing hair bands were on the way out in the late '80s, and demand for pointy guitars had dropped significantly.
I dressed and polished the fretboard to take care of some sharp fret ends. I changed the bridge pickup to a high-output DiMarzio X2N humbucker. (Leslie West used DiMarzios at that time.) I also changed the volume/tone pots to top-quality, smooth-taper Carvin pots and wired them '50s-style to preserve highs when rolling back the volume knob. (Leslie always fiddled with his volume pot to go from clean to crunch.)
The guitar now played and sounded great, but as time went on, I didn't like the look and balance of the guitar. Indeed, I would get a bit of ribbing, sometimes even laughed at, if I showed up for a blues jam with this pointy guitar. It's kind of like showing up for a formal affair in a ruffled shirt from your 1970s prom. Something had to be done. I decided to draw radiuses and cut off all the points on a band saw, and then primed/painted those areas. Next came the custom paint job, which was done freehand by my wife and is based on the album cover of Mountain's Climbing. A bonus is that the guitar is now perfectly balanced hanging on the strap—no more neck riding up due to an overly heavy guitar body.
This is now a total custom job that I find to be a good-looking, good-sounding, good-playing guitar. I have a modest guitar collection. Without fail, when I have musicians over, this is the guitar everyone gravitates to, asking questions about it, and they all want to play it.
Thank you for providing a forum for us readers. Your magazine is excellent, and I look forward to every issue.
Send your guitar story to submissions@premierguitar.com.
Photo by Travis Shinn
TOOL elected to kick off the highly-anticipated trek in Eugene, Ore. as a nod to the abrupt halt to their 2020 Fear Inoculum tour. Slated to play the Matthew Knight Arena on March 12, 2020, the show, along with the band's remaining tour dates, was canceled as nationwide lockdowns began to take effect that evening.
"It is with great pleasure I get to announce our return to the road," said Danny Carey. "These past 18 months have been trying to say the least but from great trials come great lessons and great rewards. We are genuinely looking forward to sharing them with you."
Tickets for all dates are on-sale this Friday, Oct. 1 at 10 am local time (UK and Irish dates are on-sale at 9 am local time). TOOL Army members can purchase pre-sale tickets for European dates on Sept. 28 at 10 am local time (24 hour pre-sale window), while U.S. pre-sale tickets are available on Sept. 29 at 10 am local time (36 hour pre-sale window). A selection of exclusive packages, which include a pre-sale ticket, will also be made available to TOOL Army members on Sept. 29 at 10 am local time.
Tour Dates
January 10 Eugene, OR Matthew Knight Arena
January 11 Tacoma, WA Tacoma Dome
January 13 Boise, ID Ford Idaho Center
January 15 Sacramento, CA Golden 1 Center
January 16 San Francisco, CA Chase Center
January 18 Anaheim, CA Honda Center
January 19 San Diego, CA Viejas Arena
January 21 Phoenix, AZ Footprint Center
January 22 Las Vegas, NV T-Mobile Arena
January 25 Salt Lake City, UT Maverik Center
January 27 Denver, CO Ball Arena
January 30 Tulsa, OK BOK Center
January 31 Dallas, TX American Airlines Center
February 2 San Antonio, TX AT&T Center
February 4 Houston, TX Toyota Center
February 5 New Orleans, LA Smoothie King Center
February 8 Orlando, FL Amway Center
February 9 Tampa, FL Amalie Arena
February 10 Miami, FL FTX Arena
February 19 Boston, MA TD Garden
February 20 Philadelphia, PA Wells Fargo Center
February 22 Washington, DC Capital One Arena
February 23 Belmont Park, NY UBS Arena
February 26 Newark, NJ Prudential Center
February 27 Buffalo, NY KeyBank Center
March 1 Pittsburgh, PA PPG Paints Arena
March 3 Detroit, MI Little Caesars Arena
March 4 Louisville, KY KFC Yum! Center
March 6 Columbus, OH Nationwide Arena
March 8 Grand Rapids, MI Van Andel Arena
March 10 Chicago, IL United Center
March 12 Omaha, NE CHI Health Center Arena
March 13 Minneapolis, MN Target Center
March 15 Kansas City, MO T-Mobile Center
March 17 Moline, IL TaxSlayer Center
March 18 St. Louis, MO Enterprise Center
March 20 Cleveland, OH Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse
April 23 Copenhagen, DK Royal Arena
April 25 Oslo, NO Spektrum
April 26 Stockholm, SE Avicii Arena
April 28 Hamburg, DE Barclaycard Arena
April 29 Frankfurt, DE Festhalle
May 2 Manchester, UK AO Arena Manchester
May 4 Birmingham, UK Resorts World Arena
May 6 Dublin, IE 3Arena
May 9 London, UK The O2 Arena
May 12 Paris, FR AccorHotels Arena
May 13 Antwerp, BE Sportpaleis
May 15 Berlin, DE Mercedes-Benz Arena
May 17 Cologne, DE Lanxess Arena
May 19 Amsterdam, NL Ziggo Dome
May 21 Krakow, PL Tauron Arena
May 23 Prague, CZ O2 Arena
May 24 Budapest, HU SportAréna
Blonde Redhead opens on dates from Jan. 10 to Feb. 10. The Acid Helps opens from Feb. 19 to March 20.
