Norrin Radd
Well-known member
So here's a very long (potentially boring) story that leads up to my purchase of this new guitar.
In 1991 I recall seeing the advertisement for the new Ernie Ball Music Man Eddie Van Halen model in all the guitar magazines. For some reason, the words Flying Eddie come to mind? Anyways, when I saw that ad, I knew that someday I would have that guitar. At the time, the only guitar that I owned was a 57 reissue Stratocaster in surf green with a maple neck. I was struggling with it. However, in 1991 I was a poor college kid, so a new Eddie Van Halen guitar was completely out of reach.
Eventually, I graduated college and went to graduate school. I graduated in 1994 and decided to go to law school. I also decided I had waited long enough to get an EVH guitar! So while I was going to law school (and at this time, I was tired of being in school) I decided I would work as well. I took a job working at Guitar Center, so I was going to school full-time from 8 AM in the morning until 1 PM in the afternoon and then I was working at guitar center six days a week from 2 PM to close at 10PM. This gave me access to both money and the ability to purchase an EVH! I ended up purchasing two of them. Beautiful gold and blue quilts. They were fantastic!
Fast forward, because I know this is already boring, I graduated law school and got married. I was still dirt poor, had two beautiful EVH guitars, and had to pay for a wedding. You guessed it – those EVH got sold for dirt cheap because I needed to raise money to buy a ring and pay for a wedding (Pro tip: learn from my mistake - don’t spend too much money a wedding ring - the right woman won’t care anyways) . They were just two of the many guitar casualties that would follow in the years that followed. Through that early part of our marriage, you know the part where you really hurt for cash, I managed to purchase a few other Music Man guitars, including a couple various Axises (sp?). I also managed to pick up a 20th anniversary Silhouette and a JP6 (which I had swirly painted). Of course, then I had kids and priorities changed. I had to whittle down the collection to virtually nothing, except a couple sentimental guitars that were not of great value, but I still have. That meant all of my Music Man's (and other guitars - miss you JS10th #125!) were sold off. Again for way too little money.
About 15 years ago, I started building partscasters because it was a relatively inexpensive method of doing something related to my guitar hobby and gave me an opportunity to stay in the game - so to speak. I could spend a couple hundred bucks a month to collect parts and put together some guitars. It was also a great way to learn about guitars and how to set them up and how to properly do maintenance. How to do fretwork and nut work and what to look for when issues arose and all sorts of potential maintenance issues. It was really a great learning experience. I still have a bunch of partscasters and a bunch of parts lying around. Over that time, my employment status improved quite a bit, and I was able to spend a little more money on my hobby. During that time, I also became hopelessly addicted to Dr. Z Amplifiers. I suggest everybody own a couple! But I digress.
So a couple months ago, I wandered into my local guitar center to play some Music Man guitars. The GC closest to my house never carries anything but the Sterlings so I had to drive a ways to a different one. Once I got there, I was quite disappointed because I could not find any Music Man guitars at all - they used to have a bunch - almost pulled the trigger on a gator burst Sabre a few years ago. I was just about to leave the store when I spotted the lone two Music Mans they had there - Kryptonite green 7 string and 6 string Kaizens. I've owned an Ibanez Universe 7 string since 1991 and still have never learned how to play it, so I didn't even bother to pick up the 7 Kaizen! However, I did pick up that 6 string Kaizen, just to see what it was all about. Well, you can guess the rest of the story. After I played it, I decided it was time for me to start rebuilding my Music Man collection. This new Kaizen is step number one! I hope to make it an interesting journey over the next decade. I think next might be a Mariposa in the beautiful white and gold (it will take the place of my old Jem7VWH and Navarro Custom 24 I also had to get rid of). I just have always been in love with MM necks ever since I first played the EVH. I even copied best I could those specs when ordering necks from Musikraft. Well, enough blabber. First - some photos of SOME of the ones that got away (don’t have any of the old EVHs):
And now the first step back:
If you have made it all the way to the end, thank you very much for indulging me in my story!
In 1991 I recall seeing the advertisement for the new Ernie Ball Music Man Eddie Van Halen model in all the guitar magazines. For some reason, the words Flying Eddie come to mind? Anyways, when I saw that ad, I knew that someday I would have that guitar. At the time, the only guitar that I owned was a 57 reissue Stratocaster in surf green with a maple neck. I was struggling with it. However, in 1991 I was a poor college kid, so a new Eddie Van Halen guitar was completely out of reach.
Eventually, I graduated college and went to graduate school. I graduated in 1994 and decided to go to law school. I also decided I had waited long enough to get an EVH guitar! So while I was going to law school (and at this time, I was tired of being in school) I decided I would work as well. I took a job working at Guitar Center, so I was going to school full-time from 8 AM in the morning until 1 PM in the afternoon and then I was working at guitar center six days a week from 2 PM to close at 10PM. This gave me access to both money and the ability to purchase an EVH! I ended up purchasing two of them. Beautiful gold and blue quilts. They were fantastic!
Fast forward, because I know this is already boring, I graduated law school and got married. I was still dirt poor, had two beautiful EVH guitars, and had to pay for a wedding. You guessed it – those EVH got sold for dirt cheap because I needed to raise money to buy a ring and pay for a wedding (Pro tip: learn from my mistake - don’t spend too much money a wedding ring - the right woman won’t care anyways) . They were just two of the many guitar casualties that would follow in the years that followed. Through that early part of our marriage, you know the part where you really hurt for cash, I managed to purchase a few other Music Man guitars, including a couple various Axises (sp?). I also managed to pick up a 20th anniversary Silhouette and a JP6 (which I had swirly painted). Of course, then I had kids and priorities changed. I had to whittle down the collection to virtually nothing, except a couple sentimental guitars that were not of great value, but I still have. That meant all of my Music Man's (and other guitars - miss you JS10th #125!) were sold off. Again for way too little money.
About 15 years ago, I started building partscasters because it was a relatively inexpensive method of doing something related to my guitar hobby and gave me an opportunity to stay in the game - so to speak. I could spend a couple hundred bucks a month to collect parts and put together some guitars. It was also a great way to learn about guitars and how to set them up and how to properly do maintenance. How to do fretwork and nut work and what to look for when issues arose and all sorts of potential maintenance issues. It was really a great learning experience. I still have a bunch of partscasters and a bunch of parts lying around. Over that time, my employment status improved quite a bit, and I was able to spend a little more money on my hobby. During that time, I also became hopelessly addicted to Dr. Z Amplifiers. I suggest everybody own a couple! But I digress.
So a couple months ago, I wandered into my local guitar center to play some Music Man guitars. The GC closest to my house never carries anything but the Sterlings so I had to drive a ways to a different one. Once I got there, I was quite disappointed because I could not find any Music Man guitars at all - they used to have a bunch - almost pulled the trigger on a gator burst Sabre a few years ago. I was just about to leave the store when I spotted the lone two Music Mans they had there - Kryptonite green 7 string and 6 string Kaizens. I've owned an Ibanez Universe 7 string since 1991 and still have never learned how to play it, so I didn't even bother to pick up the 7 Kaizen! However, I did pick up that 6 string Kaizen, just to see what it was all about. Well, you can guess the rest of the story. After I played it, I decided it was time for me to start rebuilding my Music Man collection. This new Kaizen is step number one! I hope to make it an interesting journey over the next decade. I think next might be a Mariposa in the beautiful white and gold (it will take the place of my old Jem7VWH and Navarro Custom 24 I also had to get rid of). I just have always been in love with MM necks ever since I first played the EVH. I even copied best I could those specs when ordering necks from Musikraft. Well, enough blabber. First - some photos of SOME of the ones that got away (don’t have any of the old EVHs):
And now the first step back:
If you have made it all the way to the end, thank you very much for indulging me in my story!
