Emperor Guillotine
The Almighty Ruler
This is the NGD thread that many of you have been waiting for.
This is the guitar that several members here on the forum have privately messaged me about or dropped a comment about in some of my other NGD threads.
This is a First Act Custom Shop Sheena that was built for Andy Williams of metalcore legends Every Time I Die.
I originally received this guitar back in May of 2020.
I want to preface this thread by saying that 2020 was a wild and difficult year for many of us. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacting the jobs and ability to generate income for so many countless people around the globe, I began seeing gear pop up for sale on the used market that I otherwise would have never ever seen listed; and it was all due to people hurting for cash to the point that they were resorting to selling gear in order keep their bills/expenses covered throughout 2020.
I ended up purchasing so much awesome gear at fantastic deals throughout 2020; but this particular guitar was the highlight of it all for me.
Let's dive into the specs.
Specs:
• Body wood: alder
• Body finish: gloss
• Scale length: 648mm (25.5")
• Neck construction: set-neck
• Neck wood: 3-piece neck comprised of maple with a walnut stripe
• Neck profile: thin C
• Neck finish: gloss
• Fretboard wood: birdseye maple
• Fretboard radius: 305mm (12")
• Fret number: 22
• Fretwire: jumbo
• Pickups: Seymour Duncan SH-12 Screamin’ Demon
• Additional electronics: onboard JE-1000 clone preamp for up to +18dB of additional gain
• Controls: volume knob, latching on/off push-button for engaging the preamp
• Bridge: Kahler 2300 tremolo
• Nut: Floyd Rose R3 locking nut (43mm)
• Tuners: Gotoh Mini 510 6-in-line non-locking tuners
This atomic pink tiger stripe Sheena is one of the four custom builds that Andy received from the FACS.
His other three FACS builds were:
• a baby blue (or powder blue) singlecut Lola with a custom paint job by cartoonist Paul Frank
• a full-size, solid body Delia with a flamed maple top in a sunburst finish
• a gloss black DC6 (doublecut Lola) that came with a Kent Armstrong humbucker in the bridge position and a lipstick pickup in the neck position
This guitar has had some work done to its wiring at some point during its existence.
When Andy initially received this Sheena from the FACS, it did not have a volume pot installed. Instead, it had a two-way toggle switch installed alongside the latching push-button.
Based on how the guitar is currently wired, I'm assuming that the guitar was originally wired up to have the two-way toggle function as an on/off switch for the whole guitar (thus no need for a volume pot) and the latching push-button functioning as the on/off switch for engaging the preamp. Or alternatively, it could have been vice-versa with the two-way toggle wired to function as the on/off switch for engaging the preamp and the latching push-button functioning as an on/off switch for the whole guitar. I'll never know at this point. The former FACS employees whom I am friends with online don't even remember.
Let's discuss some fun facts about this Sheena!
The black tiger stripes have tiny flecks of fluorescent paint sprinkled throughout them. If you turn on a UV light, this guitar's stripes will light up like it’s a party at your favorite bar, bowling alley, retro arcade, or cathouse!
A small “glory hole” has been drilled into the cavity control plate on the back of the guitar to allow quick access to the preamp’s gain trim pot for adjusting the variable gain level of the preamp on-the-fly with a small Phillips-head screwdriver.
The Kahler 2300 tremolo can easily be locked down into a fixed bridge position by using a small hex-head key/wrench to turn a tiny locking screw that inserts into the side of the cam and prevents the cam from moving.
The Kahler 2300 also has an easily accessible universal tension adjustment conveniently located on top of the cam. Simply use the appropriately sized hex-head key/wrench to turn the load lever screw, which will adjust the tension load of the entire tremolo. No more struggling to balance your tremolo! You can get it to sit perfectly in a matter of seconds.
This particular guitar is sentimental to me for a rather peculiar reason. I have this very, very faint memory from when I was a young kid (around middle-school or high-school age; maybe 12-15 years ago, somewhere in that distant ballpark) of sitting in a local burrito joint with my father and reading through one of those heavy music culture magazines that were prevalent during that time while we were waiting for our food to be brought to the table. And in the magazine, I recall seeing an article covering a festival that Every Time I Die had played. From what I can remember, the article featured a little Q&A with the guitarists of various bands, including Andy; and the Q&A was coupled with some typical photos of Andy with his guitars that he had at the time. Some of his FACS builds were in the photos. I swear that this atomic pink tiger stripe Sheena was one of the guitars that I saw in the photos, but I will readily admit that I could be totally mistaken. (In fact, this very, very faint memory from my younger years might not even be of an event that actually happened. You guys know how the human brain tends to come up with funny things as we age.)
So, when this guitar was listed for sale in May of 2020, I immediately reached out to the seller and we cut a deal privately in a matter of hours. It turns out that he had purchased the guitar directly from Andy and had pretty much kept it stashed away in its case, untouched for nine years. While chatting, we learned that we had a few mutual contacts in the touring artist and merch worlds too, which made him a bit more game to conduct business with me.
Promo photos below provided by the FACS.
"We made the scene when we made a scene. And though it was brief, it meant everything. Oh, what a pity. Now they're bound to make us saints."
This is the guitar that several members here on the forum have privately messaged me about or dropped a comment about in some of my other NGD threads.
This is a First Act Custom Shop Sheena that was built for Andy Williams of metalcore legends Every Time I Die.
I originally received this guitar back in May of 2020.
I want to preface this thread by saying that 2020 was a wild and difficult year for many of us. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacting the jobs and ability to generate income for so many countless people around the globe, I began seeing gear pop up for sale on the used market that I otherwise would have never ever seen listed; and it was all due to people hurting for cash to the point that they were resorting to selling gear in order keep their bills/expenses covered throughout 2020.
I ended up purchasing so much awesome gear at fantastic deals throughout 2020; but this particular guitar was the highlight of it all for me.
Let's dive into the specs.
Specs:
• Body wood: alder
• Body finish: gloss
• Scale length: 648mm (25.5")
• Neck construction: set-neck
• Neck wood: 3-piece neck comprised of maple with a walnut stripe
• Neck profile: thin C
• Neck finish: gloss
• Fretboard wood: birdseye maple
• Fretboard radius: 305mm (12")
• Fret number: 22
• Fretwire: jumbo
• Pickups: Seymour Duncan SH-12 Screamin’ Demon
• Additional electronics: onboard JE-1000 clone preamp for up to +18dB of additional gain
• Controls: volume knob, latching on/off push-button for engaging the preamp
• Bridge: Kahler 2300 tremolo
• Nut: Floyd Rose R3 locking nut (43mm)
• Tuners: Gotoh Mini 510 6-in-line non-locking tuners
This atomic pink tiger stripe Sheena is one of the four custom builds that Andy received from the FACS.
His other three FACS builds were:
• a baby blue (or powder blue) singlecut Lola with a custom paint job by cartoonist Paul Frank
• a full-size, solid body Delia with a flamed maple top in a sunburst finish
• a gloss black DC6 (doublecut Lola) that came with a Kent Armstrong humbucker in the bridge position and a lipstick pickup in the neck position
This guitar has had some work done to its wiring at some point during its existence.
When Andy initially received this Sheena from the FACS, it did not have a volume pot installed. Instead, it had a two-way toggle switch installed alongside the latching push-button.
Based on how the guitar is currently wired, I'm assuming that the guitar was originally wired up to have the two-way toggle function as an on/off switch for the whole guitar (thus no need for a volume pot) and the latching push-button functioning as the on/off switch for engaging the preamp. Or alternatively, it could have been vice-versa with the two-way toggle wired to function as the on/off switch for engaging the preamp and the latching push-button functioning as an on/off switch for the whole guitar. I'll never know at this point. The former FACS employees whom I am friends with online don't even remember.
Let's discuss some fun facts about this Sheena!
The black tiger stripes have tiny flecks of fluorescent paint sprinkled throughout them. If you turn on a UV light, this guitar's stripes will light up like it’s a party at your favorite bar, bowling alley, retro arcade, or cathouse!
A small “glory hole” has been drilled into the cavity control plate on the back of the guitar to allow quick access to the preamp’s gain trim pot for adjusting the variable gain level of the preamp on-the-fly with a small Phillips-head screwdriver.
The Kahler 2300 tremolo can easily be locked down into a fixed bridge position by using a small hex-head key/wrench to turn a tiny locking screw that inserts into the side of the cam and prevents the cam from moving.
The Kahler 2300 also has an easily accessible universal tension adjustment conveniently located on top of the cam. Simply use the appropriately sized hex-head key/wrench to turn the load lever screw, which will adjust the tension load of the entire tremolo. No more struggling to balance your tremolo! You can get it to sit perfectly in a matter of seconds.
This particular guitar is sentimental to me for a rather peculiar reason. I have this very, very faint memory from when I was a young kid (around middle-school or high-school age; maybe 12-15 years ago, somewhere in that distant ballpark) of sitting in a local burrito joint with my father and reading through one of those heavy music culture magazines that were prevalent during that time while we were waiting for our food to be brought to the table. And in the magazine, I recall seeing an article covering a festival that Every Time I Die had played. From what I can remember, the article featured a little Q&A with the guitarists of various bands, including Andy; and the Q&A was coupled with some typical photos of Andy with his guitars that he had at the time. Some of his FACS builds were in the photos. I swear that this atomic pink tiger stripe Sheena was one of the guitars that I saw in the photos, but I will readily admit that I could be totally mistaken. (In fact, this very, very faint memory from my younger years might not even be of an event that actually happened. You guys know how the human brain tends to come up with funny things as we age.)
So, when this guitar was listed for sale in May of 2020, I immediately reached out to the seller and we cut a deal privately in a matter of hours. It turns out that he had purchased the guitar directly from Andy and had pretty much kept it stashed away in its case, untouched for nine years. While chatting, we learned that we had a few mutual contacts in the touring artist and merch worlds too, which made him a bit more game to conduct business with me.
Promo photos below provided by the FACS.
"We made the scene when we made a scene. And though it was brief, it meant everything. Oh, what a pity. Now they're bound to make us saints."
