This was the scenario that Reuben Forsland of JOI Guitars was faced with in August 2014, when he met up with Slash for the first time after a Slash ft Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators concert. They discussed the finer details of the guitar, and Slash’s main stipulation was that it should “sound amazing”. To achieve this goal, Reuben used wood from ‘The Tree’ in the guitar. A 50ft wide Mahogany beast, ‘The Tree’ was first discovered and felled in 1965, but fell in a ditch and lay there until 1983, when a sawmill owner chopped it up into eight pieces and lugged it 200 miles to his mill.
This isn’t even the most impressive wood in the guitar though, with the cake being taken by a 3000 year old Ancient Glacier Sikta Spruce, which is used on the top. The guitar also features sitka/carbon fibre bracing, dual laminated sides for strength and a carbon fibre reinforced quilted Honduras mahogany neck with a dual action truss rod. One of the most interesting features, however, is the tuning mechanism, the buttons of which are made from petrified whale vertebrae.
For more information, visit www.joiguitars.com/special-projects/slashs-custom-guitar/
