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    EMERALD GUITARS

    Mar 06, 2020 6 minutes
    Words David Mead

    Emerald Guitars was initially set up in 1999, when founder Alistair Hay had the idea of turning his enthusiasm about the instrument into a career building them. With a background in engineering and experience using carbon fibre in Formula 1 racing boats, he settled down for a period of research and development, not only learning about luthiery in general, but how his knowledge of carbon fibre could be turned towards the manufacture of acoustic instruments. In fact, an early development involved making a guitar for a certain Mr Vai…

    “I went to a Steve Vai concert,” Alistair remembers. “It was The Ultra Zone tour and he came out on stage dressed like the alien from the album cover, but with a regular Ibanez JEM. I thought, ‘We’ll have to do something about that…’ So, the very next day, I went home and started building the Ultra guitar.”

    Working from the album’s artwork Alistair made The Ultra Guitar (pictured overleaf on page 130) and presented it to Steve at his home. “Steve hung it on his wall and never really did that much

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