“He took it on tour, beat the heck out of it, then painted it. This is a family heirloom now”: Joe Satriani gifted Steve Vai his relic’d, custom-painted Ibanez signature – now it’s one of Vai’s most treasured guitars

From his Ibanez PIA all the way to his radical five-neck Hydra, Steve Vai is a man of many electric guitars – but the instrument he considers to be a “family heirloom” isn’t actually one of his own models: it’s a Joe Satriani signature guitar.

In a short video posted by Positive Grid – which recently collaborated with Vai on a Spark Mini signature amp – Vai can be seen discussing three of his most cherished guitars.

The first is the Yankee Rose Swiss Cheese guitar, which Vai was reunited with back in January 2023 after it had been missing for nearly 40 years. The second is a semi-hollow John Scofield Ibanez model that he used on tour to perform his recent semi-hollow number, Little Pretty.

Coming in third, though, was a rather peculiar black-finished Satch Ibanez guitar, which had been gifted to Vai by Satriani himself for his birthday one year.

It’s not your standard Satriani Ibanez, though: it sports a ridiculously heavy relic’d finish and a wild custom artwork – painted by none other than Satriani himself – on the back. And it’s this guitar that Steve considers to be a Vai family heirloom.

Steve Vai - Guitar Tour: Satriani's Birthday Gift, the "Swiss Cheese" Guitar, First Guitar & More - YouTube

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Explaining the origins of his road worn Satch guitar, Vai recalls, “I had a very good birthday one year when my good buddy Joe Satriani gifted me this guitar.

“He took it on tour and he played it. He took it home and he beat the heck out of it, then he painted it,” he continues, turning the guitar over to reveal its wild custom artwork – complete with ‘Happy Birthday Steve’ decaled onto the backplate. “This is a family heirloom now.”

At first glance, the guitar itself appears to be a JS2 of some sorts, notably with a Sustainiac Stealth Pro pickup in the neck position. A rather peculiar appointment, considering that factory black JS models were either HH or HSH in their setup. Further still, the only black HS Satch model (the JS2450) came loaded with a Satch Track DiMarzio.

Most likely, this was a custom-modded model purpose-built for live shows (or a completely different model altogether, owing to the patchy paint job?), which just makes its sentimental value even greater.

Either way, it’s a very cool guitar, and it’s kind of making us want relic’d Ibanez Satch guitars to become a thing.

In another conversation Vai recently had with Positive Grid, he explained why he kept his guitar playing a secret when he first started learning.

For more information on the Spark Mini Vai, head to Positive Grid.