Scott Henderson Discussion

[guitarplayer]

Hi Scott,
Could you tell us the specs on the purple Ibanez that you used to play in Tribal Tech? What wood, pickups etc?
In some videos it looks like you are blending in a synth with your distorted tone. Were you running a dual guitar/synth rig for the Tribal Tech album and tours?
I love the neck pickup tone that you got on that guitar.

[Scott Henderson]

That guitar wasn't an Ibanez, even if it said so on the headstock. It was a custom guitar made by Mace Bailey in LA. It was alder with a rosewood neck, Duncan '59 pickups, and a Wilkinson bridge. Ibanez wouldn't release it as a model for the public - that's why I quit endorsing them.

I had a Roland synth pickup on it for awhile - unfortunately it was hooked up to very cheap synths using factory programs. Kinsey would look at me and roll his eyes at my horrible synth sounds, so I got rid of it pretty quick.

When John Suhr was working at Fender, he made a purple strat for me with the same exact hardware. It sounded better so I eventually sold the "Ibanez".

[jbear]

I think I remember when you sold the pickguard/elelectronics on EBay!

[Gurkan]

I'm quite sure it is not the same model (or the same quality) as yours Scott but Ibanez produced a very similar model in 1993 for 1 year only, RV 470... You were on the same page in that year's catalogue Alder body, maple neck, rosewood fingerboard, gotoh bridge and tuners with HSH pickups. The body was Radius, the same shape as Satriani models... and I consider myself lucky to own one

[Gianluigi Rossi]

Hi Scott,
I have been listening and following your music since 1992 when i saw my first Tribal Tech concert at Big Mama in Rome! So your purple ibanez has always been "special" and with the help of a luthier friend of mine i would like to build a similar purple guitar.
Could you please give me more detail:
Body shape: was it similar to other Ibanez of that time? (Roadstar? Allan Holdsworth model?)
Electronics: did you use 250k for both volume and tone at that time, is that correct?
Splitting: did you use a splitting switch for neck humbucker?
Did you also use a "treble bleed" at that time?
Did you use any onboard preamp on that guitar?
Sperzel locking tuners?
Any other useful information?
Thank you so much for your help and above all for your music!
Gianluigi

[Scott Henderson]

Wow, I really hate to rain on your parade but there was absolutely nothing special about that guitar. The body was thinner and smaller than a strat body, and it sounded smaller than a strat too. I used 250k pots with the humbuckers, and that's how I learned to NEVER do that again because it sounds terrible and completely takes all the bass out of the tone. I used a treble bleed - they sound tinny and un-natural. I split the neck pickup, which in single coil mode is extremely thin and doesn't sound anything like a real single coil.

The only right thing about that guitar was the Sperzel tuners.

When John Suhr made me a strat while he was working at Fender, it sounded much better than the Ibanez and I sold it immediately.

[Gianluigi Rossi]

...maybe it was the purple color that made your hands play the guitar so well! 🤣

Anyway thank you so much for the information
Hope to see you soon in Rome

[Chickentonight]

Great notes and even great tones out of that guitar. Some of the best playing ever. Can't be that bad then. Love it.

Any idea who owns it today? Should be quite expensive buy thesedays and even more so in the future.

[Scott Henderson]

Well, if you compare it to those horrible Ibanez guitars they were making in the 90's, mine sounded great! They really wanted me as an endorser, and they're actually the only guitar company I've ever been with who was willing to spend big money on ads, clinic tours, etc, but they wouldn't make my model for the public because it didn't have a Floyd Rose on it. I'd rather stick needles into my eyes. So, that was a short endorsement and I'm much happier with my Suhr guitars.

[Chickentonight]

I remember when I was young that I thought that cool that Scott Henderson plays Ibanez also like my then biggest heroes like Skolnick, Vai, Petrucci and so on, but what's wrong with that guy? Why the hell doesn't he have a floyd rose floating bridge in his ibanez guitar? Doesn't he know how much better that is?

Haha, those were my thoughts back in the early nineties. Little did I know.

[MarkVI]

[Scott Henderson]

I'm not absolutely sure, but I think Joe & Steve's guitars were a lot closer to what they made for the public than mine was. Even if the pickups and other things were different, the guitar tone comes mostly from the wood and the design. My "Ibanez" was closer to a Fender than anything else, and they were willing to make it for the public if the bridge hadn't been a deal breaker.

That being said, there were people in charge at Ibanez USA who wanted me to stay and put out the guitar with the bridge I was using - the no came from their bosses in Japan. Before I say anything else, I'm not a racist, I love Japan, and I have many Japanese friends. However, Japanese gear companies have made huge mistakes in the past because they don't seem to know when to stand behind their products.

For example, Yamaha had a good relationship with Allan Holdsworth, and because of that, they made some great pedals like the UD Stomp and Magic Stomp. Allan moved on to other companies and I believe Yamaha took it personally and discontinued the products, even though they were one of a kind boxes and nothing as cool has been built since. Korg made the PX5D, the best sounding little hand held amp ever. I use it for writing, doing workshops, practicing - it's awesome, and discontinued. Roland made the SE-70, a great midi-switching multi-FX that's only a half space big, and instead of improving it, they discontinued it. I could go on.... it's a shame when people make something and have no idea how good it is. All they watch is the numbers.

[MarkVI]

Very interesting stuff. It's great to hear your perspective on this.