DoctorPaul's Guitar Emporium - Sold Guitars

(SOLD)

Jaden Rose Custom Shop PGM FRM1 'FireMan'

"Sandy"

 

Well, this one caught me by surprise.  You will see from the details on this site that I have a ... what should we call it ... a "healthy interest" in guitars made by Jaden Rose.  I have a bunch of them now, and they're TREMENDOUS guitars. 

 

As I'm a busy geezer (50+ hours a week at work, two young children ...) I don't get time to sit on eBay for hours on end, but I'm part of a small network of geeks / nerds who tend to know and tell each other what is going on in the guitar world, specifically if anything tasty is on the market.  So it was a BIT of a surprise when I stumbled across this on eBay with less than a day left to run ... and only a couple of bids.  I SHOULD have known about it sooner.  Still, you know the drill by now.  Saw it, wanted it, that 'want' festered into an overwhelming NEED, so waited until a few seconds from the end of the auction before throwing in a stupidly high bid.  The old "Sniper-Bid" ... never fails.  Bid too early, of course, and you give the other folks time to take stock, to think about how bad they want it, and any self-respecting gear head WILL convince themselves that its worth a few hundred more, especially for a unique guitar like this one.  I've lost out on some lovely guitars by being a tart and limiting myself to a particular figure, only to see them sell for £1 more than that figure.  I hate that.   SO, yeah, I normally decide what I want to pay, then (depending on how bad I want something), just double that amount and see what happens.  Looking at the listing record now, there were other sniper-bids ... one 6 seconds before the end, one 4 seconds before the end, then mine at 3 seconds, and the winning bid was several hundred quid lower than the maximum amount that I bid.  Awesome.

 

The history IS that this was designed by Paul Gilbert, the lanky but very affable virtuoso guitarist from Racer-X and (cough) Mr Big.  He's used Ibanez guitars for decades, and they've always been pretty staid, save for their painted-on f-holes.  The 'Fireman' is his latest design, and his current Ibanez Signature model.  He came up with the ... erm ... "odd" shape by flipping an Ibanez Iceman and adding some upper fret access.  Fair enough ... whatever floats your boat mate.  Regardless, I've been after one for a while.  The trouble IS that the recent ones are Chinese (which puts me off ... sorry).  The exception is the original FRM1 models, which were released in VERY low number (a couple of dozen) from the Ibanez LA Custom Shop ('LACS') and cost nearly £7,000.  SEVEN THOUSAND POUNDS (see the link).  I'm sure they were very nice and all, but seriously?  Regardless, they got snapped up pretty quickly, and the chances of ever SEEING one are low, let alone the million to one chance of owning one.  The man himself says that the original PGMFRM1 is "... an incredibly cool guitar ... it came out and although its the most perfect thing in the world, and I love it, it's REALLY expensive ...".  No shit Paul.  Seven grand is crazy-money for a guitar, you could snag 10 very cool guitars for that much.

 

But hang fire ... what's that you say?  Our boy Jaden made one?  And not a Copy of the cheapo Chinese one (of course), but. 99.9% replica of the £7k limited edition FRM1.  Jaden has confirmed they this is the one and only that he made (apart from the test cut, made from cheap wood, which existed only in order to make sure that this guitar came out perfectly), and that he put a shit-tonne of time and effort into it.  That is music to my ears ... it amuses me that he really threw a bunch of effort into this.  He's refused to make more, so this is as unique as it is fabulous.  Pretty much every detail is exactly the same as Gilbert's own FRM1.  The body is Korina (same as Paul's), the neck is Korina and Bubinga (same as Paul's), it runs on three DiMarzio "Area 67" hum-cancelling single coils (same as Paul's ... originally), with a kookie control layout with the volume knob farthest away from the neck (same as Paul's) ... you get the idea?  It's the same as Paul's.  Only THIS one is hand-made by a proper, fair dinkum, sawdust-behind-the-ears luthier. 

 

Unplugged, this is loud and zingy, with vibrations EVERYWHERE ... its a cliché, but its like it is alive in your hands.  Specifically, that upper bout (which Gilbert says transfers the vibrations of the guitar "straight into your heart") ... kinda does just that ... the whole thing resonates really nicely.  Plugged in, this is awesome!  I wasn't expecting anything less, but the pickups sing ... the bridge is airy and snappy but not ice-picky (and plenty powerful enough to overdrive my valve amps without being boosted), and the middle is rounder and beefier.  The neck pickup, however, is where the magic is ... its hooty, full, warm, rich, sustainy ... almost like a decent Les Paul with the tone rolled down just a touch, but still transparent and not at all muddy or dull.  Lovely ... ABSOLUTELY lovely.  The inbetween positions (2 and 4) are underwhelming, not quacky at all and pretty thin, but the disappointment disappears quickly as soon as you switch back to positions 1, 3 or 5.  Its not like I'd ever use this to play Knopfler.  Mayeb the lack of quack is a result of the fact that each pickup IS technically a humbucker (in that they cancel hum).  Whatever ...  this is a great one, and I was very pleased to have it.

 

Nice one Mr Rose.