"The Black Dog prototype JS guitar started out as a black, hum-sing-hum Radius model that Ibanez sent my way for my examination. I was intrigued by the sound, and smooth contours of the body. However, we had to do something about the pickups, pots, fingerboard radius, frets, whammy bar, etc. So, it went back to the shop to have the single coil pickup removed, and the cavity filled and painted over. This was the first step in creating what would ultimately become my favorite electric guitar.

To get the most comfortable and useful compound radius fretboard possible, we finessed the playing surface over and over until it was just right. This took quite a lot of time and experimentation. I wanted a vintage neck and fretboard feel, but wanted to be able to bend my notes anywhere, without ever fretting out. I also wanted the option of low action for two-hand tapping techniques.

Soon, Larry DiMarzio and Steve Blucher got involved by supplying a few pickups for me, pickups that were essentially 'Fred' prototypes.

We bent the whammy bar in an effort to get the perfect angle. We even tried many different lengths. San Francisco luthier, Gary Brawer, was working on Black Dog as well, testing and implementing many of my ideas along side the Ibanez custom shop.

All this time I was recording and touring. Black Dog was my main guitar in the studio and onstage for years. The 'Flying in a Blue Dream' album saw the Black Dog used on every song, as well as gracing the back cover.

I started drawing on the guitar as soon as I started touring with it. The distressed black paint job had seen too much prototype work, and I felt the need to put some artwork on it. My wife Rubina, an artist herself, encouraged me to cover the entire guitar with my scribbles. Metallic paint pens seemed to do the trick, but the images would rub off almost as quickly as I drew them.

There were some 'golden moments' however, where the multiple layered illustrations seemed to form a beautiful mosaic of sorts, and we would be fortunate to have it photographed, preserved for future reference. Little did I ever expect to have the illustrations replicated for an anniversary model!

Now, it just might be my favorite guitar, all over again."

-Joe Satriani