Steve Vai will release his latest album Inviolate, on 28 January, an event that will be marked by a unique NFT auction of the Hydra reveal video. The NFT collectable features the video, plus unlockable bonus content that will be revealed to the buyer and additional assets will be added over time for the winner to access.
“I feel this instrument has the potential to be historical,” Steve Vai says. “It’s unique in various ways, and its construction is inspired. And there’s a song that was written on it that honours the potential of the instrument. This Hydra reveal video is the first video made that intimately details many of the unique aspects this guitar embodies.”
An NFT is a non-fungible token, a digital asset that represents a real-world object. While the public can see an NFT digital piece, NFT allows the buyer to own the original item. Not only that, it contains built-in authentication, which serves as proof of ownership.
Cash is fungible. One pound is equal to another one pound and can be traded for goods as such. With its digital signature, an NFT, being non-fungible, cannot be exchanged for, or equal to, a second NFT.
We absolutely respected this instrument,” Steve Vai says, “by having the brilliant Garson Yu and his team at yU+co create this phenomenal Hydra reveal video. The guitar geek in me is stunned every time I see it.
“This video captures the splendour and mystique of the Hydra in intimate detail. The conception and construction of the instrument was a monumental feat of creativity by a whole group of inspired people, and I could not be happier with the way this video came out.
“Imagine being half an inch tall and exploring the Hydra as an adventurer. It would be like exploring an alien planet. Sign me up.”
“When I first saw the instrument at Steve’s studio,” Garson Yu says, “I was stunned. I thought this was a creation that didn’t belong here on earth— it looked extraterrestrial to me.
“When Steve played a track that he composed with the Hydra, I told him that it sounds so transparent and open, complex and spiritual on many levels. When we were filming, I put the guitar on the turntable and looked through the lens. It looked like an alien spaceship. It’s epic.
“I told myself we need to create a video that has the same transcendent feeling of this instrument. My team and I are honoured to be part of it.”
“The Hydra, as Mr Vai has appropriately dubbed it, started off as a concept that Steve approached Ibanez with several years ago,” Ibanez Artist Relations Manager Mike Orrigo said. “While it was understood then that the task to turn Steve’s vision into reality would be a tremendous undertaking, we were undeterred by the challenge.
“Fueled by Steve’s inspiration, our team of designers, engineers, and luthiers worked tirelessly together in order to create a true one-of-a-kind instrument, remaining as true to the initial vision as possible. This incredible reveal video, produced by yU+co, perfectly captures the same feeling of awe and amazement that this magnificent beast of an instrument imparts on to all who are able to witness it in person.”
For more details of the auction, visit opensea.io/collection/steve-vais-guitars
The Hydra is a one-bodied, two-headstock-ed, three-neck-ed creature that encompasses, among other things: 7 and 12-string guitars; a 4-string ¾ scale length bass; 13 sympathetic harp strings; half-fretless necks; single-coil, humbucking, piezo, MIDI and sustainer pickups; floating and hardtail tremolo bridges; phase splitters.
