Richie Sambora

When Richie was in junior high school, he teamed up with his best friend, Jon Bon Jovi, and a bunch of pals and made a garage band that never stopped. Bon Jovi, also called "The Band of the Eighties" has as its lead guitarist, Richie Sambora: rock and roll star, New Jersey native, and one heck of a screaming lead guitar player.

Richie has a home not too far from the Guitar Shoppe.  He wandered in one day and struck up a conversation and a friendship with Kirk. He fell in love with Kirk's classical electric guitars, but was leaving on a world wide tour in a few weeks, so there was no way for Kirk to make him one before he left. Kirk loaned him one and Richie played it all over the planet for about a year while his own was being built.

Kirk customized Richie's mahogany model Classical Electric with an intricate abalone vine inlay on the fretboard and cubic zirconium fretboard side dots (so he can see the frets when there is minimum lighting in a concert setting).

Since Richie's main ax is a Fender strat, Kirk was very flattered that he thought it played "like a nylon string strat."