Marcus Silver, our "alien finger" from Norway.
I wanted to introduce his new "Silverized" Routa model in our “Spotlight Gallery”, because it definitely represents the guitar of the day and is truly one of the coolest so-called “theme guitars” which I have ever build!
Metal music has changed and developed a lot during the past decade. One of the main reasons for this is probably the fact that young players have started to find novel ways of creating their music. This requires both a development in instrument technology as well as knowledge of the music scene. At the same time, it gives us great possibilities for creative thought and for modernizing the old “rules” that still exist in the music and instrument business.
One of my personal challenges has always been to build guitars that are made for today’s music, in terms of both image and technology. Music is full of emotions and sensations. So what is better than to go to the stage with an instrument that has all of that?!
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 Together with Silver I wanted to invent and realize a guitar that can live up to the needs of the music he plays. I designed a completely new shape for the guitar, basing it on a silver arrow necklace and on our Routa model. I also introduced him to the idea of a guitar with 28 frets and he was immediately in! He asked if it was possible to include some lights and a D-tuna for the Floyd Rose.
We also talked about special inlays and an image for the guitar. I suggested that we could use the “ring” and other little details of the logo of his band Triosphere.
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Since Silver already owns one of our guitars, we decided to change the concept a little bit. Acoustic sound was again the thing number one. Everything else comes after that! To get more “attack” into the sound, I put a maple top on the guitar. The body is made of alder and the neck is maple. The fingerboard is of ebony with 28 jumbo frets.
For the electronics, Silver wanted a gain booster and only volume control – no other sound controls.
We thought about the pickup for quite a while, because we did not want to use the same EMG than he already has. Then I got the great idea to use a really rare custom-made pickup from the USA: Arcane Pickups! These hand-wound pickups are individually serial-numbered, and for this guitar, we used the Brownbucker. The sound of this pickup is based on the original EVH-sound from the year 1978.
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 The finish is shiny black with special pinstripes and other paintings.
The neck finish is sanded satin, as it is just the best finish for fast playing and for keeping the warm touch and feel of the wood.
Here you are!
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 SPECIFICATIONS:
Scale: 25,5”
Construction: Neckthrough
Body: Alder
Top: Maple
Neck: Maple
Fingerboard: Ebony
Frets: 28, jumbo
Inlays: Custom “ring”, “arrow head”
Bindings: White, neck & head
Pickup: Arcane Pickups: Brownbucker
Electronics: Volume, EMG Afterburner (switch control)
Hardware: Original Floyd Rose, Schaller, Gotoh, EVH D-tuna
Color: Black / Custom painted
Neck finish: Sanded satin
Silver on stage
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 Special cyber, space pinstripes. |
 The Triosphere “ring” logo painted on top of the guitar… |
 I painted a cool detail here…The circles of the logo go over and under the stripes. |
 You can find part of the same idea also on the back of the head. |
 The trussrod cover plate is made of stainless steel...It is really hard stuff and perfectly matches the idea of the guitar. |
The special “arrow head” inlays at the 12th and at the 24th frets as well as the “ring” inlays are based on the guitar’s image.
28 frets give more possibilities for creating the craziest stuff ever heard…You fingers just slip over the 24th…
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I put the LEDs to all of the arrow “cuttings” on the body and on the head. |
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 The side dots are also LEDs which are installed with a copper ring so that you can see them very well in normal daylight.
The whole system works with a little 3-way switch and the push/pull potentiometer (volume).
The lights of the body and the head and those in the side dots can be switched on separately.
The body and the head lights are done to work at the same time. |
 All lights are on when pulling the push/pull potentiometer.
The system has its own 9V-battery. |
 The EVH D-tuna drops the low “E” to the “D” by pulling out the D-tuna. |
 This little “fellow” here who is holding the tremolo arm is called tremstopper.
It locks the Floyd Rose while using the D-tuna. |
 Hand-wound pickup by Arcane Pickups. Serial number 49.
These pickups really rock! Check out more on their web pages: http://www.arcane-inc.com |
 Volume and switch for the gain booster.
Another switch is for the lights. |
 Battery box for the gain booster. |
All in all, I have to say this was a really interesting and challenging project.
And what’s next? … Even more extreme creations.…
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Tomi Korkalainen
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