FLOWER POWER

In this exclusive interview, STEVE VAI takes you inside his brand-new signature guitar, the Ibanez PIA

- STEVE VAI

STEVE VAI’S FIRST collaboration with Ibanez, the JEM, debuted in 1987. In the more than three decades since, the revolutionary instrument (and let’s be frank — with its monkey grip handle, “lion’s claw” tremolo cavity, fiveway HSH pickup options, deep cutaway and eye-popping fluorescent finishes, among other features, it was indeed groundbreaking) has become firmly established as one of the most popular, celebrated and instantly recognizable designs in modern guitar do.

The JEM has undergone updates and modifications since that first iteration, from changes in pickups and fretboard inlays to wild new finishes (floral patterns, a limited-edition swirl with Vai’s blood mixed in) and even a 20th-anniversary acrylic-body with-LED-lights model. All the while, Vai acknowledges, “Ibanez has been extraordinarily supportive of all of my ‘imaginative meanderings’ over the years.”

As if to prove his point, Vai recently unveiled — exclusively to Guitar World — his latest JEM-related imaginative meandering with Ibanez — and it’s a big one. So big, in fact, that this creation is not even a JEM at all. Rather, Vai has spent the last few years developing and designing a brand-new guitar with the company: the Ibanez PIA.

For the design, Vai says, “I wanted something simple, and something that for me also had personal meaning.” Those ideals are reflected in the guitar’s moniker — the PIA. “It stands for Paradise in Art,” Vai says. There’s a second personal meaning as well. “It’s also my wife’s name,” he adds.

Spec-wise, the new guitar resembles a JEM in some very foundational ways. Its measurements — 25.5-inch scale, 43mm neck width at the nut and 58mm at the top fret, 430mm fretboard radius — are, to be sure, certainly JEM-like.