Into the fiery depths of hell…
“Hope not ever to see Heaven. I have come to lead you to the other shore; into eternal darkness; into fire and into ice.”
– Dante, Inferno
A guitar with no name
When we got this guitar ready, it didn’t have a name. And it needed a name fast, cause I was supposed to display the instrument as part of our 2018 collection at The Holy Grail Guitar Show in one week! I was staring at the instrument, and my first thought was “hellish”. There was something infernal in this guitar, for sure.
The dystopic customer
I picked up the phone and called Junnu, the customer who had ordered the guitar from me two years earlier. He was the artist who had conjured up the whole concept and aesthetic appeal of this guitar – and we were merely the hired guns, doing our best sculpting Junnu’s (dystopic) fantasy into reality.
Dante’s Seven Deadly Sins
I explained the situation regarding the name issue to Junnu, and he said immediately: “Dante’s Inferno”… and I continued his sentence without a moment’s pause: “Yeah, the Seven Deadly Sins”… and Junnu corrected: “No – the Seven Deadly Strings”. Yup, that’s some serious brainstorming, folks. We had the perfect name, and it took some whopping 3 minutes to come up with it!
The favourite nightmare
There’s a long history for my cooperation with Junnu. He is after all the guy who has designed our website (and quite a few other graphic elements) for us since the turn of the millennium. We’re soulmates with Junnu, for sure… but there’s a kind of a bittersweet flavour to our relationship, too. I think he calls me “his favourite nightmare” on his website. Hmmm.. yeah, I get it. We’ve been through a lot. It’s actually quite an entertaining story – check it out on Junnu’s website, if you will.
No! I refuse!
Back to the fiery depths of Inferno. Rrraaahhh!!! When Junnu presented his ideas to me – a semi-hollow 7-stringed Mojo with red colored and led-lighted body chambers, buffed gold leaf fretboard, satin/gloss graphics on top, endless amounts of red binding details, Evertune bridge, optical fiber side dots, Sustainiac… I told him: “No, I won’t do it. This is madness”.
What goes around comes around…
But he knows me better than that. He knows if I refuse to make his dreams come true, he will then reject my megalomaniac ideas for our website, apps or other fantasies that will take a lifetime to execute.
My client blackmailed me!
So… truth be told: Junnu blackmailed me in cold blood to take on this project. Inferno – the perfect name for the project, in many ways!
Jyrki saved the day
Now that it is all over, I have to admit – what a beautiful and original looking guitar with tons of novel features. And also one of the most striking looking guitars ever made in my shop. Master luthier Jyrki Kostamo is to thank for the endless amount of work he put into all the special constructional details embedded into this guitar.
Infernal Ultra Mayhem time!
And most importantly – everything in the guitar functions perfectly. The Evertune bridge does exactly what it’s supposed to do, and the Sustainiac brings its unique flavour to the tone as well. The optical fiber side dots (red, of course!) not only add to the infernal appearance of the instrument, but they really shine in the dark so Junnu hits the right frets when thrashing away on a gig with Ultra Mayhem.
As always, photos tell more than thousand words. Enjoy the picture gallery!
