www.amfisound.fi Amfisound Custom For a long time I had dreamed of ordering a tribute guitar to the black Jackson Custom Rhoads that Chris Holmes has used throughout his career. To me it was the coolest heavy metal design ever and fit the sinister image of WASP perfectly. In May of 2007 I approached Tomi Korkalainen of Amfisound Guitars with my custom order idea cause I had heard only good things about the company. Tomi invited me to visit their factory and once I saw with my own eyes what these guys can do I knew it was the right place and time for this project...
Revisiting the 80s Many guitar manufacturers can build replica guitars but I had a more ambious goal in mind than a simple look-a-like. I wanted the guitar to seem like the original was reborn. I wanted the same feel, sound, everything. The only different spec we agreed on was the Amfisound Routa headstock and logo - this was to be an Amfisound guitar after all! One of the challenges of the project was to find out as much about the original as possible. I did a lot of research but the main advantage was that I own Chris's other Rhoads (RR0849) that was also built in 1984 and used to be pretty much identical to the black one apart from the color. To better understand the background for this project click the icons below and take a trip back to the 80s... RR0744 RR0849 The specs included a lot of small details that Chris is known for. I was really happy that Tomi was as interested as I was about the project and he made sure everything was done correctly. I supplied the basic specs but many things couldn't be described with measurements. For the sound , feel and exact dimensions of the neck and body two guitars were used as references - The Chris Holmes' actual zebra Rhoads and a late 83 Rhoads Custom RR0269 which Juha Haukipuro kindly lent to us.	Tomi and Jani at the Amfisound factory
Specs and parts Below are the specs I wrote down for Tomi. In addition a large number of images of the original guitar were used. My friend Dave Kelly provided some recent pics taken at Chris's place while I gathered more from old magazines etc. To recreate the feel of the original guitar many period correct parts were hunted down. Some of the materials are awfully hard to find these days and I could not have done it without help. I'd like to thank Joel Drabicki for helping with the ivoroid binding, Dave Wescott from www.fretsonthenet.com for manufacturing the bridge and Lee Garver from www.gmwguitars.com for the right kind of tuners. An old Duncan DDJ Distortion pickup was bought from Ebay and the volume knob came from my own vintage parts collection. Building Process To build the guitar we naturally also needed some wood. Tomi selected pieces of highest quality alder, ebony and maple for the project. Early on in the process classic Routa headstock started to take shape on the 3-piece quartersawn maple neck... 22.08.2007... A lot of hard work went into duplicating the special Iommi cross inlays. Each inlay shape was slightly different and Tomi had to draw the templates one by one using photographs as reference. The inlays were then cut from mother of pearl sheets... Matching shapes were routed on the fretboard before the inlays were glued on their places... After medium sized frets were installed it was time to glue on the binding. The original Holmes Rhoads had binding over the fret ends and these "nibs" had to be shaped one by one which was very time consuming... I live only 2.5 hour drive away from Haukipudas so I had a chance to visit Amfisound monthly during the project to check on progress and approve stages. Below is a picture taken 19th of November, 2007 when the neck was mostly done and the alder wings had been glued on it. Not quite playable yet... At this point Juha's reference guitar was brought in to help in shaping the body and neck to correct form. The size and placement for the small electronics cavity was measured from RR0849... Paint And Assembly Finally it was time for the striking paintjob. The white base color was applied, then the bevels and text on the back of the neck were masked with tape. After a layer of black paint the tape was removed to reveal the infamous joke that for years has given the "educated ones" a chance to show their uncanny grammar skills... A special version of the Amfisound logo was made and placed on the headstock. The size and placement of the logo was carefully planned to give the right overall look for the guitar... Then guitar was clearcoated and buffed to a nice shine... The frets were carefully levelled and the hardware and electronics were installed on the guitar. And the finishing touch of course was Tomi giving the guitar that famous Amfisound setup - 19.01.2008. Final Product The guitar was given a serial #0712033 and it was first shown to public at Finnish Metal Expo 2008. Amfisound collector cards featuring the guitar were given to visitors. A video clip of the guitar was also made and you can view it below. Click on the thumbnails to view large images of the Amfisound Custom Chris Holmes tribute guitar: This project was a dream come true and I fully enjoyed each phase. I also got to talk on the phone with Chris Holmes himself about this guitar which was very important to me. The sound and playability of the guitar exceeded all my expectations. It's a true tone monster! I want to thank Amfisound for their amazing craftmanship and great attitude!