I will protect you from the Hooded Claw.

I haven't posted in quite a while, because of an awesome reason...

I have my own custom guitar now, but not enough, i built it myself.

And when i say, i did it myself includes everything. I cut the frets, the slots, i put them in the fretboard, i wound my own pickups, i drilled the holes for the sidedots and inlays, worked on the nut and so on.

It's a mahogany body with a thick zebrawood top and a maple neck with ebony fingerboard and some zebrawood veneer on the (reversed) headstock. The pickups are wound quite moderate and the neck one has 12 single magnets, so that it sounds like a real single coil when split. The Wilkinson vibrato is floating, the tuners are Kluson locking.

Building a guitar is one of the most exciting experiences i had in my life so far. It's almost magic, how big squares of wood transform to a musical instrument, it's fantastic how much love you can put into every little detail and what mistakes you can make. 

I've seen them Live on tuesday – and i was stunned.

Pink: Check Floyd Rose: Check Reversed Hockeystick Headstock: Check Tilted Humbucker: Check Being the signature Model for the Guy in Whitesnake: Check.

I had to reach a certain age to appreciate the art of shredding. I discovered it while watching Paul Gilbert Videos on Youtube. He has such an awesome technique, but, different from other fast players, he has soul, balls and humor. He is a devoted teacher, too. One of his more famous students is for example Buckethead... and he speaks Japanese.

And Ibanez made him some quite cool singnature models.

First are the RG-based models with the painted f-holes. They came in various colours, with standard or reverse headstock, as a double neck and with fringes on body, headstock AND neck.

Nice idea: the höfner / ibanez lovechild... PGM 700

I always had a soft spot for the Ibanez Talman models. Obviously Paul too.

And then Paul fooled around with photoshop and a picture of an ibanez iceman. The outcome is awesome! The PGMFRM1 Fireman... and it comes with single coils!

Recently i've seen a documentation about the recording of Hysteria. I was very hooked by this album in my teenage years and i am again now. And as the experienced guy i am today, with all the phases i went through, like grunge, country, folk, metal, electronic music and so on, i have to make a confession: as much as i'd love to say, that my guitar playing is influenced by Allan Holdsworth or Pat Metheny, it was actually Phil Collen, who had a major impact on me.

For me, the magic about about the Hysteria album is in the awesome arrangements. There is a decent verse, a bridge, that other bands would be glad to use as a refrain, a second part of that bridge and then a refrain, that is so full of hooklines, melodies and harmonies.