Back at Winter NAMM a few months ago, we had a chance to sit down with guitar legend Steve Vai, who showed off his new signature Ibanez—the PIA. The new signature model isn't a replacement but rather an evolution of the popular JEM signature, which continues to expand on its legacy 35 years after its original release.
With how much fun we had just checking out Vai's new signature, we were eager to do an even deeper dive into his extremely unique personal guitar collection. In the video above, Vai shows us around his musical instrument mecca, "The Harmony Hut."
"I seem to resonate more with guitars that have unique functions and totally unique sounds," he told us, before pointing out a 30-fret guitar Guild made for him in the 1980s and an Ibanez model featuring 16 frets in each octave. "It'll drive your harmony teacher crazy," he quipped, and we believe him.
Other guitars that stuck out to us were the dual-whammy JEM model, the JEM that was built by Vai's guitar tech and features built-in automatic tuning switching, and the hybrid sitar-guitar. Be sure to check out the full video above for yourself, which features not only these but many other custom builds and inventive creations from across Vai's career.