Thread by @visakanv

Feel like doing a Steve Vai aesthetics thread. Steve and I share the same birthday (06/06), and while I've never been a ~huge~ fan of his music personally, I admire his embodiment of his own aesthetics. At his peak (IMO), he had this interesting xeno-magick-conjurer vibe going on

First thing I would start with re: Vai is not to talk about his music, or his clothes, or his bands, or his onstage persona

I'd start by talking about the guitar he co-designed: the Ibanez JEM. It's what you might call a "super-strat", designed for pretty serious abusing

The JEM:

- 24 frets (other guitars had 22, 21 frets)
- cutaways to make it easier to reach those frets
- more pickup options
- more whammy options

watch/listen Steve talk about his thinking – he has a hacker's mindset, modifying his tools to suit him. "I really wanted..."

a thing that people argue about is the point of the Monkey Grip. It doesn't help you play the guitar any better. What's the point?

I like to think it has the same point as the handle on the iMac. It makes it more approachable. It *invites* you to pick it up. It's about intimacy

here are a couple of cute bits – first talking about the claw – the scallops under the bridge that allow the player to pull the whammy bar up (for those wild squeal guitar sounds), and then the monkey grip.

Love hearing how Rich translated Vai's vision into reality

Now let's talk about inlays! Most guitar necks have either dot inlays or block inlays. These help you visually orient yourself on the neck, to find your position.

(Some cool kids play guitars with *no* inlays, maybe to show off how well they know their way around 😂)

now check out the JEM inlays! rather than use a series of discrete dots or blocks, Vai's design has a continuous "Tree Of Life" vine that runs fluidly through the whole neck.

Call me overdramatic but I find the Tree of Life inlay inspiring! question your assumptions and priors

switching up a bit – here's the story behind the multi-ring necklace that Vai wears

I remember seeing it multiple times and vaguely thinking "there's something about that", and I think it may have informed my thinking about talismans

some of Vai's aesthetics over the years

I think it's interesting that he started out with a sort of "traditional" psychadelic and hard glam rock aesthetic before evolving over time to his more "alien willy wonka" vibe