# Marco Sfogli now with Jackson/Charvel



## HeHasTheJazzHands (Jul 25, 2020)

Another modern prog shredder leaving Ibanez for Jackson.


----------



## gunshow86de (Jul 25, 2020)




----------



## TrevorT (Jul 25, 2020)

Damn, that's a big loss for Ibanez! His signature model is still on the Ibanez website but I'm sure that won't last for long. It'll be interesting to see what his new sig will look like.


----------



## Metropolis (Jul 26, 2020)

Well that's surprising... I was watching that Charvel video yesterday and thought why he's having one. Also curious about why he left Ibanez.


----------



## MaxOfMetal (Jul 26, 2020)

Metropolis said:


> Also curious about why he left Ibanez.



$$$


----------



## HeHasTheJazzHands (Jul 26, 2020)

Charvel's been trying to appeal to the modern shredder/fusion market in recent years. Makes sense they'd try to get guys like Angel and Marco. You're talking about companies owned by Fender/FMIC, so they got deep pockets.


----------



## _MonSTeR_ (Jul 26, 2020)

Didn’t the Ibanez A&R guy move to Jackson a few years back, I guess it’s like any business, you make a call to your network when you’re looking to get things done.


----------



## Seabeast2000 (Jul 26, 2020)

_MonSTeR_ said:


> Didn’t the Ibanez A&R guy move to Jackson a few years back, I guess it’s like any business, you make a call to your network when you’re looking to get things done.



Yep, companies want to buy you plus your "rolodex". Mostly your rolodex.


----------



## MaxOfMetal (Jul 26, 2020)

_MonSTeR_ said:


> Didn’t the Ibanez A&R guy move to Jackson a few years back, I guess it’s like any business, you make a call to your network when you’re looking to get things done.



Mike Taft moved to FMIC back in like 2015. He handles Gretsch for the most part it seems.


----------



## HeHasTheJazzHands (Jul 26, 2020)

Speaking of another Ibanez guy jumping ship, Chris Garza jumped from Schecter to Ibanez, but now he has a Fender CS 7-string Strat. But according to him, he knew a friend that worked at Fender CS, so I'm not sure if this is endorsement related.


----------



## MaxOfMetal (Jul 26, 2020)

HeHasTheJazzHands said:


> Speaking of another Ibanez guy jumping ship, Chris Garza jumped from Schecter to Ibanez, but now he has a Fender CS 7-string Strat. But according to him, he knew a friend that worked at Fender CS, so I'm not sure if this is endorsement related.



This is how it works. Artists follow the money, especially with no shows. We're going to see a lot of shuffling the longer concerts aren't an option and merch sales trickle along.


----------



## _MonSTeR_ (Jul 26, 2020)

MaxOfMetal said:


> Mike Taft moved to FMIC back in like 2015. He handles Gretsch for the most part it seems.



That must explain why he's not called to offer me a signature model Jackson


----------



## surge (Jan 22, 2021)

Happy for Marco, he’s one of my favorite players. But I’m sad he left Ibby. I’ve still got his original MSM1 signature model, I fkn love it. Also saw yesterday that Herman Li left Ibanez too. Both those guys have been with them for a loooong time too.


----------



## groverj3 (Jan 23, 2021)

surge said:


> Happy for Marco, he’s one of my favorite players. But I’m sad he left Ibby. I’ve still got his original MSM1 signature model, I fkn love it. Also saw yesterday that Herman Li left Ibanez too. Both those guys have been with them for a loooong time too.


I had no idea that Li left Ibanez until I saw him on the Dragonforce YouTube channel playing all kinds of random stuff in his room with like 20 guitars. Truthfully, I wasn't even aware that Dragonforce was still active. Was this Li leaving, or Ibanez cutting his sig model?


----------



## couverdure (Jan 23, 2021)

groverj3 said:


> I had no idea that Li left Ibanez until I saw him on the Dragonforce YouTube channel playing all kinds of random stuff in his room with like 20 guitars. Truthfully, I wasn't even aware that Dragonforce was still active. Was this Li leaving, or Ibanez cutting his sig model?


He's not endorsed by a guitar company at the moment, so he's free to use any guitar he has. He was using a custom-made PRS on their last tour and he also has several other custom guitars from other companies.


----------



## cip 123 (Jan 25, 2021)

groverj3 said:


> I had no idea that Li left Ibanez until I saw him on the Dragonforce YouTube channel playing all kinds of random stuff in his room with like 20 guitars. Truthfully, I wasn't even aware that Dragonforce was still active. Was this Li leaving, or Ibanez cutting his sig model?


My feeling is Ibanez definitely cut him.


His Instagram posts started to get pretty salty towards Ibanez before he “left” and I can’t imagine they were fans of him repeatedly waterboarding his personal sigs for pictures/videos


----------



## Zado (Jan 25, 2021)

Considering how music artists are treated and how hard is for them to make a living out of music here in Italy, it's definitely a thing of money.


----------



## OmegaSlayer (Jan 25, 2021)

Bah...
If I brainstorm, everyone leaving a company ends up with a guitar I like less than the previous one
Marty Friedman leaving Jackson
Alex Skolnick (not exactly a sig, but a guitar strongly associated with him)
Jeff Loomis leaving Scheter (I liked the Cygnus)
Frank Gambale ending up with Kiesel
John Petrucci (I much prefer the Ibby to the MusicMan)
Guthrie Govan leaving Suhr
Reb Beach leaving Ibanez


----------



## Esp Griffyn (Jan 25, 2021)

couverdure said:


> He's not endorsed by a guitar company at the moment, so he's free to use any guitar he has. He was using a custom-made PRS on their last tour and he also has several other custom guitars from other companies.



Did he leave Ibanez or did Ibanez leave him? Who even is Herman Li these days? I'm not sure he is a draw.


----------



## mpexus (Jan 25, 2021)

OmegaSlayer said:


> Bah...
> If I brainstorm, everyone leaving a company ends up with a guitar I like less than the previous one
> Marty Friedman leaving Jackson
> Alex Skolnick (not exactly a sig, but a guitar strongly associated with him)
> ...



And from that List only Petrucci really had what I call a Signature. New Shape, new Layout. All others move to exactly the same shit but in different colours or simply rename a Company Model to the Artist Model


----------



## MaxOfMetal (Jan 25, 2021)

Esp Griffyn said:


> Did he leave Ibanez or did Ibanez leave him? Who even is Herman Li these days? I'm not sure he is a draw.



He wasn't happy with how his Ibanez deal was going and decided to be something of a petulant child about it (destroying his signature gear, taping over headstocks, etc.). 

He's having a better time playing the social media circuit while companies court him with gear. 

If the EGEN had sold better things would have been different. Unfortunately, no one really cared about it and he wasn't going to get a better deal with a guitar not selling.


----------



## OmegaSlayer (Jan 25, 2021)

The Egen was a really good guitar
Too bad it has been made for someone that has more mouth and arrogance than talent


----------



## Jonathan20022 (Jan 25, 2021)

OmegaSlayer said:


> The Egen was a really good guitar
> Too bad it has been made for someone that has more mouth and arrogance than talent



What's with the vitriol against Herman Li? I know people always gave him flack for that 2008 performance, but arrogant?

Good for him playing the social media game, he's one of the only musicians I saw embrace live streaming and try to make content especially mid-covid. The dude regularly streams on a relatively consistent schedule from what I can see and collabs with several other artists on his Twitch.

I've yet to tune into a full stream but I always check out clips when they trend and he seems like a pleasant guy.


----------



## odibrom (Jan 25, 2021)

Jonathan20022 said:


> What's with the vitriol against Herman Li? I know people always gave him flack for that 2008 performance, but arrogant?
> 
> (...)



What performance was that?


----------



## aesthyrian (Jan 25, 2021)

Herman kept the Ibanez S alive for a good decade. He'll forever be a hero in my book for that noble cause.

As far as him destroying guitars.. in this in reference to him playing in the pool on the cruise? Because both of those guitars are still playable, and he really loves(loved?) his Ibanez's it seems. He played the first EGEN prototype forever, including playing it underwater once. It was a true testament to how much the guitar can handle. I never got the impression that he was breaking stuff just to break stuff, and he even went so far as to having his guitars repaired instead of just having Ibanez send him a new one. He still plays the orange EGEN on twitch fairly often too.


----------



## MaxOfMetal (Jan 25, 2021)

aesthyrian said:


> Herman kept the Ibanez S alive for a good decade. He'll forever be a hero in my book for that noble cause.
> 
> As far as him destroying guitars.. in this in reference to him playing in the pool on the cruise? Because both of those guitars are still playable, and he really loves(loved?) his Ibanez's it seems. He played the first EGEN prototype forever, including playing it underwater once. It was a true testament to how much the guitar can handle. I never got the impression that he was breaking stuff just to break stuff, and he even went so far as to having his guitars repaired instead of just having Ibanez send him a new one. He still plays the orange EGEN on twitch fairly often too.




You give him far too much credit as far as "keeping the Saber alive", really it was the switch to 24 frets, something that was coming down the pike without him, that did that. 

I was referring specifically to "bathing" his EGENs in the tub videos and taping over the Ibanez logos on tour. It was pretty obvious he wasn't happy with Ibanez and was certainly not enticing players to buy them.

This stuff happens. The EGEN had a good long run.


----------



## mastapimp (Jan 25, 2021)

odibrom said:


> What performance was that?


Don't wanna derail this thread too much more, but the "Betcha can't play this" video was atrocious


----------



## OmegaSlayer (Jan 26, 2021)

Jonathan20022 said:


> What's with the vitriol against Herman Li? I know people always gave him flack for that 2008 performance, but arrogant?
> 
> Good for him playing the social media game, he's one of the only musicians I saw embrace live streaming and try to make content especially mid-covid. The dude regularly streams on a relatively consistent schedule from what I can see and collabs with several other artists on his Twitch.
> 
> I've yet to tune into a full stream but I always check out clips when they trend and he seems like a pleasant guy.


You might have humble and sweet words but be arrogant with facts.
The vids about "making x dudes song in 10 minutes" is pretty bad in this regards.
I think they're mildly skilled guys without music talent, that got very lucky with being in the Guitar Hero soundtrack and they think they're rockstars, but they're not


----------



## Jonathan20022 (Jan 26, 2021)

odibrom said:


> What performance was that?





mastapimp said:


> Don't wanna derail this thread too much more, but the "Betcha can't play this" video was atrocious





This has more than it's fair share of mistakes, but was notoriously used for years to say they were terrible live.



OmegaSlayer said:


> You might have humble and sweet words but be arrogant with facts.
> The vids about "making x dudes song in 10 minutes" is pretty bad in this regards.
> I think they're mildly skilled guys without music talent, that got very lucky with being in the Guitar Hero soundtrack and they think they're rockstars, but they're not



I think your assertion of lacking talent is ignorant in and of itself, Herman can play just fine. If your bar for talent is prodigy level genius, then yeah he definitely doesn't compare. "No music talent is a huge stretch".

I also checked out the video you were mentioning where they record a song in the style of a specific band. They're just joking around on stream and cracking cringey jokes drunk, maybe they did one for a band you liked and you took it personally. Disparaging musicians over maybe 3 - 5 videos on youtube is incredibly petty, try ignoring it next time.


----------



## mastapimp (Jan 26, 2021)

Jonathan20022 said:


> This has more than it's fair share of mistakes, but was notoriously used for years to say they were terrible live.



I think you meant to link this one: Dragonforce Graspop 2006 on Vimeo that one you shared is pretty damn good in comparison.


----------



## Jonathan20022 (Jan 26, 2021)

mastapimp said:


> I think you meant to link this one: Dragonforce Graspop 2006 on Vimeo that one you shared is pretty damn good in comparison.



Holy shit 

Definitely that one, clipping and all!!


----------



## OmegaSlayer (Jan 26, 2021)

Jonathan20022 said:


> This has more than it's fair share of mistakes, but was notoriously used for years to say they were terrible live.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Man, really, you're a fan, I'm not.
For no music talent I mean songwriting skills.
On the technicality of playing guitar we can digress...I play faster than Yngwie, do I think I'm better than Malmsteen? No, I think I have to study, practice and not making vids mocking other bands.
Those guys are really far away from the kind of people I pay respect to, but as human beings before of the musicians.
That's all, if you want to continue digressing, send me a pm, because we're derailing this discussion too much, and it's my mistake for having brought up Herman Li in this conversation, so I apologize


----------



## aesthyrian (Jan 26, 2021)

Some people here think very highly of their own opinions, which is fine, but also very amusing.


----------



## Zado (Jan 26, 2021)

OmegaSlayer said:


> The Egen was a really good guitar
> Too bad it has been made for someone that has more mouth and arrogance than talent


I talked to him after a clinic once and he was a very down to earth guy. Maybe his later social media addiction changed his for worse tho


----------



## MaxOfMetal (Jan 26, 2021)

I've met Herman, and the rest of the DF guys circa 2012, seemed like a genuine, funny, humble dude. I think his stage persona lends itself to claims of arrogance, as does some of his social media antics, but it seems all in fun. 

That said, I think how artists handle endorsement deals says a lot about them. So, I think in this case calling his actions childish are fair. Good dudes can do some silly bullshit.

I will say, his PRS PS is like a million times more cool than all his Ibanez combined.


----------



## diagrammatiks (Jan 26, 2021)

MaxOfMetal said:


> I've met Herman, and the rest of the DF guys circa 2012, seemed like a genuine, funny, humble dude. I think his stage persona lends itself to claims of arrogance, as does some of his social media antics, but it seems all in fun.
> 
> That said, I think how artists handle endorsement deals says a lot about them. So, I think in this case calling his actions childish are fair. Good dudes can do some silly bullshit.
> 
> I will say, his PRS PS is like a million times more cool than all his Ibanez combined.



that prs is so awesome.


----------



## groverj3 (Jan 26, 2021)

But anyway, despite Sfogli's name being associated with Ibanez for so long, the Charvels he's playing do suit his playing as well. Interested to see what signature model he designs with them.

It would seem like one thing drawing artists to FMIC brands (other than monetary) is the ability to play any of the other FMIC brands. Ex. Dave Davidson, Loomis, Gus G all play Strats and Charvels from time to time.

Ibanez is basically trying to cover all that ground within one company. They do it well, but I rarely see an Ibanez artist playing models other than their signature guitar. Perhaps their deals are more restrictive.


----------



## mastapimp (Jan 26, 2021)

groverj3 said:


> But anyway, despite Sfogli's name being associated with Ibanez for so long, the Charvels he's playing do suit his playing as well. Interested to see what signature model he designs with them.
> 
> It would seem like one thing drawing artists to FMIC brands (other than monetary) is the ability to play any of the other FMIC brands. Ex. Dave Davidson, Loomis, Gus G all play Strats and Charvels from time to time.
> 
> Ibanez is basically trying to cover all that ground within one company. They do it well, but I rarely see an Ibanez artist playing models other than their signature guitar. Perhaps their deals are more restrictive.



It's interesting and I've noticed the same thing as I follow Loomis and Davidson regularly. They're two jackson guys that have posted a lot of videos playing fender and in loomis' case charvels occasionally. I haven't seen it the other way around where there's a high profile fender artist also playing the other brand gear. I've yet to see Yngwie or Eric Johnson ripping on a jackson/charvel. Maybe they're too iconic/synonymous with their gear to stray too far?

Also, i've noticed that when Davidson isn't doing his typical metal thing, he'll often do jazz shows/videos with gibson guitars.

But you're right about ibanez... the only time i've seen their players reach for a different brand it's when they're playing acoustic or a different instrument all together (ex. Kiko Loureiro's fingerstyle videos or rehearsal room videos where he's jamming on Ellefson's bass).


----------



## I play music (Jan 26, 2021)

mastapimp said:


> It's interesting and I've noticed the same thing as I follow Loomis and Davidson regularly. They're two jackson guys that have posted a lot of videos playing fender and in loomis' case charvels occasionally. I haven't seen it the other way around where there's a high profile fender artist also playing the other brand gear. I've yet to see Yngwie or Eric Johnson ripping on a jackson/charvel. Maybe they're too iconic/synonymous with their gear to stray too far?
> 
> Also, i've noticed that when Davidson isn't doing his typical metal thing, he'll often do jazz shows/videos with gibson guitars.
> 
> But you're right about ibanez... the only time i've seen their players reach for a different brand it's when they're playing acoustic or a different instrument all together (ex. Kiko Loureiro's fingerstyle videos or rehearsal room videos where he's jamming on Ellefson's bass).


Jim Root plays also Jackson, Charvel, and Gibson.


----------



## groverj3 (Jan 26, 2021)

mastapimp said:


> It's interesting and I've noticed the same thing as I follow Loomis and Davidson regularly. They're two jackson guys that have posted a lot of videos playing fender and in loomis' case charvels occasionally. I haven't seen it the other way around where there's a high profile fender artist also playing the other brand gear. I've yet to see Yngwie or Eric Johnson ripping on a jackson/charvel. Maybe they're too iconic/synonymous with their gear to stray too far?
> 
> Also, i've noticed that when Davidson isn't doing his typical metal thing, he'll often do jazz shows/videos with gibson guitars.
> 
> But you're right about ibanez... the only time i've seen their players reach for a different brand it's when they're playing acoustic or a different instrument all together (ex. Kiko Loureiro's fingerstyle videos or rehearsal room videos where he's jamming on Ellefson's bass).


I'll add to this with Sfogli himself playing a DK Modern 7 string in one of his videos.

Edit: Big "duh" to me here, I couldn't remember where I saw this and apparently it's the literal first post in this thread.


----------



## HeHasTheJazzHands (Jun 15, 2022)

Jim Root's long-awaited Charvel signature model heads up the company's new Artist Signature Series drop


The Slipknot man's EMG and Floyd Rose-equipped axe sits alongside new signature models for Marco Sfogli and Anthrax bassist Frank Bello




www.guitarworld.com











Homeboy got a sig and it's beautiful.


----------



## RadoncROCKs (Jun 15, 2022)

Beautiful - but I personally prefer the Gotoh and no pickguard models in the Charvel lineup

Purple guitars FTW

Congrats to Marco such an amazing musician


----------



## ArtDecade (Jun 15, 2022)

Not a fan of the look of that guitar.... of course, my favorite Charvel Signature Guitars are by Warren and Satchel. My taste is suspect.


----------



## TGN (Jun 15, 2022)

HeHasTheJazzHands said:


> Jim Root's long-awaited Charvel signature model heads up the company's new Artist Signature Series drop
> 
> 
> The Slipknot man's EMG and Floyd Rose-equipped axe sits alongside new signature models for Marco Sfogli and Anthrax bassist Frank Bello
> ...


Somehow Blade was the first thing that came to mind for me.


----------

