I didn't post this here originally cos it didn't seem like many people were doing the whole 'bragging about their new toy' thing, but I changed my mind!
The history of this guitar starts back in June 2005. Thankfully the stupid "no artist replica" policy wasn't in force at this time, but FMIC had already brought in 'regulations' about use of copyrighted graphics. Still, I wasn't to be deterred - I disussed my plan with Matt, who gave me some direction as to what I needed to do, and off I went. Obviously, I needed to find out who owned the rights to the Ninja Turtles, and how to contact them. I actually struck gold pretty fast - there is (or was) and TMNT forum, so I emailed the admins with my request, and they passed my details on to the CEO of the company which owns (or owned) the rights. He was really cool and helpful, and put up with much back and forth, simply because FMIC legal needed to hear direct from the copyright owner, not through me (fair enough, as I could just make it up I guess).
Then it was down to sorting out the specs of the guitar itself - we did try to get FMIC to locate the original work order, but apparently the artist guitar W/Os were 'in storage', so that wasn't gonna happen. The specs kind of wrote themselves (with Jani's help!), but there are some differences, notably the neck profile (I assume) and the toggle switch - the orignal had a gibson style toggle, but no idea what it did! Basically, I wanted to use it as a kill switch, but they don't do a 2-way toggle, so we agreed to go for a mini-switch. We had no idea what body wood that the original had, but I love the sound of my USA Select, so we went for alder. The other 'non spec'd' difference is that the paint joint at the neck is the old-school type on Danny's, but mine has the current 'wrap round' style.
So here's the evolution of my ultimate #1 holy grail......
First pic of 2414
From Dan Lawrence:
Back to FMIC:
On to Matt:
Then finally, here it is with it's brothers
According to Mike Kotzen, this is the last 'unauthorised' artist replica that will ever leave the Custom Shop, so I guess that makes it that little more special! I'm just glad that they didn't cut it into pieces like they did on two completed Vinnie Vincent guitars :eek In case anyone is considering it, about 8 months ago I contacted Gary again about getting permission for another turtles Jackson (the Soloist this time), but he wasn't interested, so it would seem to have been a one-time deal.
I'd like to thank Matt for all his help, and putting up with my hassles with good grace - as you've probably gathered, this guitar is a MASSIVE deal to me, and as such, I was a little more 'antsy' that I would normally be, and I'm normally pretty antsy
- we can finally put this one to bed, and I think we both deserve a drink
Oh, and 7 months after I recieved my last inspired by Spitz guitars CS order, I bought Spitz's actual guitar (thanks again Robert), so maybe that'll happen again??! No-one seems to have any idea where it is, but in the re-union documentary Danny says that "it's probably in a Hard Rock somewhere".....