Lily | soldguitars

Jaden Rose Salvo Reload Prototype #1

(#15-0001)

"Lily"

Well THIS makes me smile. In 2015 Jaden took a leap of faith and decided to allow his inner-80's to take control. Out went the posh lumber and pretty oiled finishes, and in came a range of neon in-your-face finishes in the shape of the 'Salvo' line, his take on the best of the 80's shred-machines.

This one is prototype #1, and still wears a unique headstock logo, which was redesigned after this one. As far as I'm aware, there were only ever six of these made, but (being a sad collector-type) it was the prototype, serial #15-0001 (No. 1 in 2015, he year that the line was introduced), that I really wanted.

I flirted with this guitar a LOT when Jaden introduced the line and agreed to buy it shortly after it was made, once Jaden had posted some build-shots. However, as these initially sold for big-£££, I abandoned the deal shortly afterwards and bought something else. Jaden was very gentlemanly about the situation, but I couldn't help feeling bad about it.

Fast forward a few months and, after probing me for a while on the (obvious) merits of Jaden's builds, an internet buddy of mine bought it. Bollocks. BOLLOCKS. Not for the first time (and surely not the last) I was left feeling like the dumbest part of a dumb dog's arse, and a guitar that I coveted was lost forever. Worse still, the guitar's owner REALLY liked it, so I struck it off the list and moved on. But ... you know ... I never stopped thinking about it.

After a while, I convinced myself that I actually didn't WANT it ... like the way you stop wanting the hottest girl in the village once your mate gets her pregnant. Regardless, I still made a point of calling 'Dibs', but it seemed like the guitar and its new owner were a formidable team. He'd even named it after his daughter for God's sake ... "Lily". Lost forever? Lost forever.

I eventually came to terms with the situation, yet started lusting after the others from the original production run ... but the slime green sold, the yellow sold, the orange had a deposit on it, and the remaining white one had a nasty knot on the back of the headstock, so that fell off my radar. Besides, the collector in me wanted proto #1, because ... well ... just because. It turned out that Jaden subsequently made a follow-up, a black one. Black would work. I like black. So that went on my want-list, but would have to wait it's turn, as the pattern was full and I had a couple of deals underway.

Weeks later, shortly after picking up "Slytherin" and the day after "Casey" arrived, I was minding my own business at work, reclining with a big mug of industrial-strength black coffee, when an email popped up from a familiar address ... that of the owner of the Salvo prototype. Now, not only is he a nice guy, but he's also a tone-chaser. The problem with chasing tone, however, is that your target can change. And what do you know. It turned out that the tone he was currently chasing, the one he had in his head, was stratty. Now, the Salvo might be awesome, but it is certainly NOT stratty. His pitch? Did I know anybody who might either want to buy the Salvo, or would trade a decent Strat for it? It was like he didn't know me AT ALL. As you might expect, I was perfectly willing to buy it, and was perfectly willing to trade a Strat for it. I reminded him of the address of this site, and told him to fill his boots. I fully expected him to ask for one of the more expensive strats ("Casey", "Mollusk" or "Chapstick" ...), and was fully prepared to say no, so was comfortable when he started to pay some attention to "Muffler". Now don't get me wrong, Muffler is a lovely guitar (not to mention stunningly beautiful), and I bonded with it a LOT, but I'd not exactly treat it carefully over the years. Although I’m pretty sure that this was the first Salvo to change hands on the used market, the usual mark-down from ‘new’ to ‘used’ price put it squarely in the same ball-park as the value that I assigned to Muffler. We discussed it, and a deal was done. Straight trade, no mess, no fuss. I will admit to smiling about it. A lot. I'd wanted this guitar since the first time I saw it.

Two days later, Muffler was boxed up, and a very miserable courier whisked it away. That same day, I got a call from my secretary to say that the Salvo had arrived at the office. Well ... what she actually said was "Another bloody big box arrived for you ... surely you don't need MORE guitars?". I reminded her that we weren't actually married, and that I fully expected to get some grief from MrsDoc, so didn't need any from her. All was well.

So. This is a skinny-horned double-cut, as you'd expect from Jaden, and is pretty Ibanezesque in profile. This is the only Salvo to be made of basswood, so is light and snappy; I like basswood just fine, and have several great guitars that are made from the stuff.

The neck is maple on maple with pearl dots and 24 beautifully installed, immaculately finished frets. It's quite thin too ... not 'Wizard-thin' but a great mid-to-thin-C with comfy shoulders and edges that are comfortable without being rolled.

Electronics were upgraded by Jaden to a pair of "Oil City" buckers, which run through a three way, volume and tone. No girly coil-splits HERE, thank you.

Acoustically, it's bright and resonant, and is feather-light. Plugged in, and with a gob of gain and reverb, and this guitar finds its home turf ... this is real "old sneakers" territory, comfortable and easy. Rocky tones jump out of this with no effort at all.

What else. Yeah ... you might have noticed that it's almost overwhelmingly pink. Not girls blouse pink like "Charlotte", and not dull pink like "Allan" (which is almost magenta), but proper highlighter-pen pink, with the Dimarzio Clip-Lock to match.

I like it. I like it a lot. And I'm VERY happy that it's here.