BSB Shred Tribute

One of the coolest finishes of all time has got to be the BSB (burnt stained blue) from a limited run of guitars for Steve Vai. The burning aspect was always a huge fascination to me. However, over time some of the flaws of this finish came to light; the oil coating made the greenish tinge lessen over time (especially on necks) and the oil finish provided only minimal protection to the soft poplar body it covered. This made it so that people frequently kept their guitars guarded instead of played. I wanted to build an instrument that payed homage to this amazing finish, but didn't discourage people from actually playing it. To do this I opted out of using a maple neck with the greenish stain. I also overly burned the body, in some places to the point of charring, so that the guitar is pre-beaten and players wouldn't fear adding additional damage to it. The guitar also gave me a chance to play with some new materials that I had been itching to use, namely persimmon (America's only true ebony) and Ivoroid.