Tosin Abasi surprised Joe Satriani and Steve Vai with a pair of custom eight-string electric guitars to celebrate the end of the their Surfing With The Hydra Tour.
The Animals As Leaders guitarist presented the two guitar icons with two of Abasi Concepts’ monster ēmi 8s, each with a signature twist. Abasi teamed up with long-time Satch and Vai collaborator, and all-round guitar art and finish wizard Dave Bonvillain to present Satch with an ēmi 8 with a finish inspired by his Ibanez Chrome Boy signature, and Vai with one that sports a similarly psychedelic swirl finish to the Ibanez Universe 77 7-string guitar from the Passion And Warfare cover – and the early ‘90s JEM 77s.
“David Bonvillain took on the challenge of translating that palette and character onto a one-of-one ēmi8, while keeping the guitar distinctly its own,” says Abasi Concepts.
For Satriani, this was something altogether different. His Chrome Boy ēmi 8 is his first 8-string guitar. When Abasi presented it to him backstage at the Filene Center in Wolf Trap National Park, Virginia, Satch could barely contain himself.
“I figured you needed an 8-string guitar,” says Abasi.
“Oh wow! Oh my God,” says Satch, taking his jacket off as to not scratch this lustrous beast. “Oh, it’s light! What’s it made of?”
That’ll be the okoume, and the judiciously contoured shape. There’s something of the 21st-century sportscar to Abasi Concepts’ designs, and the ēmi 8, sibling to the the brand’s Larada 8 flagship model, is surely a bit lighter for its double-cutaway design. It certainly suits a pair of players show play next-gen turbo S-styles to a tee.
For Satriani, the multi-scale fanned-fret setup is going to to take getting used to. He says it has been some time since he last tried one.
“Ralph Novak [of Novax Guitars], does that ring a bell? He was the one that was trying to get me to [play them]. He made me a guitar,” says Satriani. “A JS guitar, but Ibanez wasn’t interested. I didn’t feel like it made anything better for a six-string. It’s great to solve the whole B-string thing. You need it for this. I don’t know any chord shapes!”
This generosity to his touring buddies is something we have come to expect from Abasi. In 2023, he gave John Petrucci an ēmi 8 with a custom finish based on his Ibanez JPM 100 from the ‘90s, with that rad multi-coloured Picasso graphic. Abasi sure has an eye for these cult classic Ibanez guitars.
Steve Vai was similarly blown away.
“Are you serious? Holy shitting hell!” he says. “I wanted one of these guitars so bad. I never wanted to ask but this is beyond… Tosin! You really did this.”
It will be interesting to see what these two come up with on guitar whose scale runs from 25.5” to 27.5” scale, with a 16” to 21.5" radius on that ebony fingerboard.
As Satriani admits, it might take a little getting used to the new chord shapes but that oviform + - neck profile is might inviting, and Satch and Vai have never been shy about trying out something new.
In other Satch/Vai news, the pair’s first collaborative studio album, The Sea Of Emotion, has been announced for November 6 via earMUSIC.
