Danny Spitz - Custom Jackson 10 String Dinky Rhoads
What is there to say about Danny: underrated by the critics, under appreciated by Jackson (he did sell alot of guitars for them) and very missed by TRUE Anthrax fans. This is the case that when your lead guitarist (Danny) and your lead singer (Joey Belladonna) are not in the band any more, you should rename the band out of respect for them and the past successful records. As one of the founding members in 1981, Danny went on to be with the band up until 1993 when he did some of the guitar work on the album "The Sound of White Noise". It is at this point that the die hard Anthrax guys loose the love for the music that they were and still are making. Anthrax became more main stream and lost the "thrash" or "speed metal" following. This theory would fall under an AC DC with or post-Bon Scott or a Iron Maiden with out or pre-Dickenson.
Danny got this guitar after his studio and practice space burnt to the ground (with 95% of all of the cool old school Jackson's that he had owned). That is where the turtles guitar is - so ever one can stop looking. The fire was right before the "Persistence Of Time" album. This is one of the "holy grail" models that Jackson made. Legend has it that there was only 3 of them made. Two went to Danny, and one was sold to a customer. Danny had one with EMG's and one with Duncans.
This guitar was made especially for Danny. It has a much smaller fret gauge, modeled after an older Gibson feel. The neck has been left as an oil finish as well. The body and neck are made of maple. The body shape is what is referred to as a "Dinky Rhoads". The wings are about an inch and a half shorter then a normal Rhoads. This was actually Danny's idea to make them smaller. Danny did it so that the guitar would look normal in size instead of giant on him since he is not as tall as Robin Crosby (who made some of his guitars larger to fit his height). The Dinky Rhoads is now a production model called the Extreme Rhoads. It would of been nice for Jackson to have given some credit to Danny for all of his years of loyalty (I am sure the credit would be worth more to him then the four or five free guitars a year). Thanks again Jackson.
I purchased this guitar directly from Danny, through a mutual friend of ours. Easily this guitar is one of my prized possessions. Probably one of my top five all important Star Guitars.