Wish it was back (Part 5)

While Rich Lasner was still with the Ibanez team in the '80s, he had the above Maxxas guitar as an Ibanez alternative. In retrospect, he was way ahead of his peers in believing the popular electric guitar design should offer a chambered body to vary the instrument's voicing (maybe this fix got him into the Vox team & those Virage models are definitely semi-solid guitars; obvious chambering without hidden intentions) . The Maxxas was lightweight due to this conception feature & from the looks of it, screamed stealth. From the commercial viewpoint, it made sense; the desire for a Maxxas won't exclude us from the rest of the Ibanez offerings because this guitar was in a league of its own, reaping benefits from the reputation of its designer. Wish this guitar was back because the chambered body philosophy hold its own, especially now.

VOX: Virage

This is the new Vox Virage guitar, a fresh idea by the manufacturer in a long time but worth noting nevertheless. The outline is a little jaded- another singlecut guitar, nothing too different from the Gibson you-know-what.

However, take a look at the body design here, it's actually angled back to give more default resonance upon amplification. The manufacturer also included a pair of triple coil DiMarzio pickups hinting at a more contemporary tones while still retaining those classy, vintage bits.

And the chap responsible for this arguably formidable guitar is non other than Rich Lasner. If you don't already know, he's the guy who laid hands on the very successful Ibanez RG, Yamaha Pacifica/ Weddington/ Attitude & Modulus basses, among others.