Albert Lee protoype first called Axis?

[Colin]

So I have a few guitars mags around the house anyways I was looking thru a few and found this article from 1990 and the photo is of Albert holding his sweet looking guitar with Axis written on the headstock. Similar to the EVH pictures posted awhile back. If you haven't seen them before enjoy.

Note the nice flame on the body, If a flamed top was available on the AL I'd get one in a flash!

Colin

 

[tommyindelaware]

So I have a few guitars mags around the house anyways I was looking thru a few and found this article from 1990 and the photo is of Albert holding his sweet looking guitar with Axis written on the headstock. Similar to the EVH pictures posted awhile back. If you haven't seen them before enjoy.

Note the nice flame on the body, If a flamed top was available on the AL I'd get one in a flash!

Colin

my god !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i'd kill for that geetar !!!!!!!!

 

[ripley]

Yeah, I thought the albert lee was supposed to be the Axis for the longest time. I always thought that change happened about the time the eddie van charvel parted ways w. MM.

hey, mayhaps someone from EB could officially end the mystery

 

[SteveB]

The story exists somewhere in these threads...

As I recall, the guitar we know as the Albert Lee was originally called "Axis". Albert liked it so much, they re-named it after him. They re-used the "Axis" name for another guitar they were working on.. which turned into the EVH before it ever hit the streets. After the EVH exodus, EBMM got to keep their guitar design but couldn't call it EVH anymore, so they dusted off it's old name, "Axis", and re-applied it.

As always, I may have gotten the story entirely wrong.

 

[Big Poppa]

good job steve!

That one albert is holding is actually ultralight flame maple body. The blanks are too hard to get to make a normal production. The guitars Albert plays are ash however

 

[tommyindelaware]

the ash one i got is ultra light too.......
i think it's the most confortble guitar i ever wore.

 

[mbgreene]

i think it's the most confortble guitar i ever wore.

+1

 

[Colin]

the ash one i got is ultra light too.......
i think it's the most confortble guitar i ever wore.

I have some more photo's of the proto, I'll try and scan them if you're interested. I'd love to quote some of the interview, Albert talks about EB, Sterling as a "wild seventeen year old" and the guitar. Great interview, if I get a chance I'll post it. The guitar pictured looks like it has a different piece of wood down the centre, inbetween the figured maple.

Colin

 

[Jimi D]

From my website:

This unusual guitar design was originally christened the "Axis". The prototype was presented to Albert Lee by Sterling Ball at a Christmas party in the mid-80s, and Albert loved the unique, trans-pink finished instrument so much that he played it religiously for more than six years prior to it ever becoming a Music Man production model. The only other person besides Mr. Lee himself to have one of these ergonomic wonders in all that time was Sir Paul McCartney, who liked Albert's so much he ordered a left-handed model for himself. Anyway, by the time EVH defected the EB/MM camp, the Albert Lee model was a reality, and the Axis name was recycled for the line based on the Van Halen/Gimpel design.

And lets not forget that other "signature" guitar that was dubbed "Axis" that Colin mentioned:

 

[Colin]

Is it my imagination, or does Ernie Ball make a very very fine instrument?

Colin

 

[GWDavis28]

No sir it is not your imagination. They make the very finest instruments.

Glenn |B)

 

[Darth Tater]

Albert looks like he's on about his 9th beer there

 

[tommyindelaware]

Is it my imagination, or does Ernie Ball make a very very fine instrument?

Colin

u can buy fancier geetars...............but none finer !!!!!!!!

 

[ripley]

u can buy fancier geetars...............but none finer !!!!!!!!

+1

 

[robelinda2]

i wonder where that 'axis' is now? great thread!

 

[Colin]

i wonder where that 'axis' is now? great thread!

Doesn't Albert have it? You can ask him yourself soon

 

[passarellee]

Big Poppa,

Is it true that a little change has been made to the body design when the guitar went into production?
I have some Al instruction tapes and the tophorn on the pinkburst proto looks a little different for some reason. I could be wrong here, just asking