Johnny Depp's SJ-200 built by Ren Ferguson

zohn

I discovered this story about Ren Ferguson building a guitar from an inspiration he got from watching the movie Pirates of the Caribbean:

One of the most famous Gibson owners isn’t even known primarily as a guitar player. Johnny Depp has a custom-made Gibson commissioned by Walt Disney when “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl” came out in 2003.

Ren Ferguson, Gibson’s master guitar maker in Bozeman, lavished all of his considerable skills on the instrument, carving a ship’s female figurehead into the bottom of the neck, inlaying 22-karat gold on the fretboard and a skull and crossed sabers in the headstock, to which the tuning pegs are attached.

Though he declined to say how much Gibson charged for the guitar, Ferguson said Disney valued the instrument at $100,000.

Ren tells the story here: =
Some video on the inlays can be seen here: =

Read more here: http://www.premierguitar.com/Magazine/Issue/2008/Oct/Big_Sky_Builder.aspx?Page=1

Ren’s sketches for the ebony bridge of the Pirates J-200

H-A-

thats a beauty!!! gives me warm and funny feeling in my loins

Warren

Johnny is a fair player too, you can find some clips of him jamming on the web. I also love some of the gypsy-jazz tunes in the movie Chocolat (but no way to know if it's actually him playing on those tunes).

JoeyBones

I've seen old clips of him playing a tele on a live performance. Looked like he knew what he was doing, but then he is a good actor ?

Squonk

seems like he did the guitar playing in Chocolat. Apparently a Django piece!

Jack-Flash-Jr

100k disney guitar :-\

Keira-WitherKay

mmm that ships head figure on the heel must be hellishly uncomfortable when playing in the upper frets ....... or is this a guitar NOT meant to be played at what some call the "dusty end " of the fretboard (above 12 th fret ) BUT no prob with that tho most artists willagree that "all the money's down the other end" ?

also is johnny depp just a very 'small ' man or is that guitar really big .............cos that pic of him with it , it looks enormous

>☹ and typically Hollywood........... people are starving and homeless right under their noses and they commission a $100 000 guitar ....and it's NOT really for a specific player .....but just because they can ........ mmmmmm i'm sure some local charity coulda used the money .......... $100 000 buys a lot of ' meals"

Bob-Dubery

As a guitar it makes a nice conversation piece. That ornamentation on the heel means that unless you play lap steel the dusty end of the neck will be literally dusty.

Me no like.

Johnny Depp, as already noted here, is not the world's worst guitar player.