{"id":9176,"date":"2024-10-12T11:46:26","date_gmt":"2024-10-12T16:46:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/?p=9176"},"modified":"2024-10-12T11:46:28","modified_gmt":"2024-10-12T16:46:28","slug":"bruce-kulick-axn-guitars-launching-custom-80s-style-guitar-line-paying-homage-to-his-era-of-kiss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/?p=9176","title":{"rendered":"Bruce Kulick &amp; AXN Guitars launching custom \u201980s-style guitar line paying homage to his Era of KISS"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/unnamed-1-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-9177\" style=\"width:646px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/unnamed-1-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/unnamed-1-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/unnamed-1-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/unnamed-1-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/unnamed-1.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>photos by <strong>Simon Diez<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong><em>\u201cIn the past five years, I\u2019ve seen a revival of my Kiss era\u2026 I\u2019m always flattered that it\u2019s not just the music that moved them \u2013 the guitars I played also matter\u201d: Bruce Kulick is launching a custom \u201980s-style guitar line that pays homage to his Kiss days<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><em>By Andrew Daly&#8221; &#8211; as featured in<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/raquelfiglo.com\/so\/01P9Id0ki\/c?w=rkctrUFJG4Z-_RIJEziMAXVPiTYB9VpWduVVQ6WnDe8.eyJ1IjoiaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ3VpdGFyd29ybGQuY29tL2ZlYXR1cmVzL2JydWNlLWt1bGljay1heG4tY3VzdG9tLWd1aXRhcnMiLCJyIjoiMzQ0ZTEyMDQtYzNlYS00ODVmLWIzYTUtYjY1NTM5OTcwYjUxIiwibSI6Im1haWwiLCJjIjoiZDRjMmM3NDktODY4NC00ZTNiLTg1ODEtMjg3MTU2NGZkMWFlIn0\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Guitar World Magazine<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hard rock and heavy metal legend Bruce Kulick and \u201cThe Sensei of Vintage 1980s Guitars,\u201d Johnny DiFatta of AXN Guitars have announced a special collaboration to engineer boutique guitars under a new banner, Kulick Guitars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMeeting Johnny from AXN ignited my love of M-1 guitars from the 1980s.&nbsp; This collaboration will help me create boutique quality guitars worthy of my name on the headstock.\u201d &#8211; <strong>Bruce Kulick<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bruce Kulick, you know the name\u2026&nbsp; 12 years, 8 albums with rock \u2018n roll icons KISS.&nbsp; The <em>Asylum<\/em> and <em>Reveng<\/em>e records carrying his credits are considered indispensable.&nbsp; 23 years a member of Grand Funk Railroad.&nbsp; Trusted sidearm to Meat Loaf, Billy Squier, Union, Avantasia, Lordi and Michael Bolton.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Guitar luthier and ESP aficionado, Johnny DiFatta from AXN Guitars is recreating the glitter, the glam and the grunge of a short-lived period of time in rock n\u2019roll history.&nbsp; AXN Guitars, a brand name carrying its own weight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you\u2019ve caught recent shows by The Bruce Kulick Band, you may have been treated to the sight of Kulick wielding an ESP-styled guitar faced with a recall of his <em>Asylum<\/em> album era.&nbsp; Consider Kulick\u2019s AXN-backed <em>Asylum<\/em> boutique guitar a tribute and a mission statement.&nbsp; Retro elegance.&nbsp; Arena-heralding flair.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"nv-iframe-embed\"><iframe title=\"AXN Guitars - Manufacturing Specifications\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/zfAUvb3KtMs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Remember heavy metal in The Big Eighties?&nbsp; The larger-than-life stages.&nbsp; Pyrotechnics, awesome light shows, fire and more fire.&nbsp; Decibels so loud you felt the vibrations in your bones a week after the show.&nbsp; The image and the glitz and awesome custom-built instruments with graphics. These are guitars made famous by the MTV era of the 1980s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>AXN Guitars founder and luthier Johnny DiFatta wants to keep the spirit alive<em>.<\/em> Joining him in this preservation effort is former KISS and Grand Funk Railroad guitarist, Bruce Kulick.&nbsp; Together, they\u2019re bringing you Kulick boutique handmade Guitars.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBruce reached out because we liked the same things, and we started talking about the guitars he used during his era of KISS,\u201d Johnny explains as the foundation to their future collaboration.&nbsp; \u201cWe went over the early 1980s ESP catalogs<strong> <\/strong>of guitars Bruce played and used live at that time.\u201d DiFatta adds, \u201cESP Guitars were one of my two main influences as a guitar manufacturer with the other being early Charvel Guitars.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>KISS\u2019 <em>Asylum <\/em>will turn 40 years old next year, and with it marking the recording debut of Bruce Kulick with the Rock \u2018n Roll Hall of Famers.&nbsp; <em>Asylum<\/em> served as a linchpin toward fostering a retro homage project starting in 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Johnny reflects, \u201cThe ESP Bruce played live in the early KISS days was his 1985 ESP M-1 with a Flip-Flop paint job.&nbsp; It&#8217;s the same guitar that is hanging in the Hard Rock Cafe in London England right next to Eric Clapton\u2019s Stratocaster today. &nbsp; So I went on to manufacture and produce a replica of that M-1 ESP but it had a chunkier neck on it.&nbsp; We applied some guitar math and used a caliper tool to examine his favorite ESP guitars.&nbsp; I instructed Bruce on how to calibrate the thickness of a guitar neck.&nbsp; Bruce settled on a slightly thinner neck profile that was very 1980s-ish with an R2 nut.&nbsp; Now Bruce has that tribute guitar and uses it live<strong>.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To depict his own take of the memorable Beatlesque headshots on the <em>Asylum<\/em> album cover, Johnny spins his art process:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBruce said it would be great if we could do a guitar with his face on it from the <em>Asylum<\/em> cover.&nbsp; I said that was doable and I was already making AXN custom guitars with artwork on them.&nbsp; So I took photos of a guitar without any artwork on it.&nbsp; Since I\u2019m also an artist, I went into Photoshop and designed the guitar.&nbsp; I also went and bought the biggest poster I could find of the <em>Asylum <\/em>artwork, and I photographed just his face and did a lot of cool stuff with it.&nbsp; I had to move some of the paint splatters around the pickups, the bridges and the neck and move Bruce&#8217;s face around until the symmetry was there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The result became a tribute guitar.&nbsp; The gorgeous mockup blossomed into a further collaborative effort by two \u201cguitar geeks.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBruce wants to<strong> <\/strong>offer boutique guitars,\u201d Johnny relays.&nbsp; \u201cHis<strong> <\/strong>fans are constantly asking Bruce for more guitars that celebrates his KISS era.&nbsp; We started talking about the woods, the hardware, all the specifications, and the pickups.&nbsp; Everything that is involved in the process of making guitars.&nbsp; Bruce showed an interest in learning more about what makes a guitar truly great.&nbsp; He was intrigued by my knowledge since I\u2019m a luthier and I\u2019m a guitar player and I used to be in a working band.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some of the features a Kulick guitar will offer<strong> <\/strong>are locking bridges, a single humbucker and a non-reversed headstock carrying the Kulick logo on the front, and the AXN logo on the back.&nbsp; It&#8217;s handcrafted and \u201cperiod correct,\u201d as Johnny boldly asserts.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Retro done not only right, but major league 1980s throw-back guitars.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"791\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Blue4OpenHands-copy-1-791x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-9179\" style=\"width:441px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Blue4OpenHands-copy-1-791x1024.jpg 791w, https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Blue4OpenHands-copy-1-232x300.jpg 232w, https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Blue4OpenHands-copy-1-768x994.jpg 768w, https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Blue4OpenHands-copy-1-1187x1536.jpg 1187w, https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Blue4OpenHands-copy-1-1583x2048.jpg 1583w, https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Blue4OpenHands-copy-1-scaled.jpg 1978w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 791px) 100vw, 791px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p><strong>About Bruce Kulick and AXN Guitars:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Time will only be kinder to the esteemed name, Bruce Kulick, and his contributions. Not only to KISS, but rock n\u2019 roll at large.&nbsp; Johnny DiFatta of AXN Guitars essentially started manufacturing guitars in 2018 and even then AXNs were considered high pedigree.&nbsp; Today, he is well-known throughout the world for AXN Guitars and as the most notable vintage ESP and Charvel historian in the United States.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As \u201cThe Sensei of Vintage 1980s Guitars\u201d and someone who knows Eddie Van Halen\u2019s Kramer\/ESP guitars inside and out, Johnny usually owns up to 200 guitars at any one given time and he has sold over 1,400 vintage guitars online. The ESP-influenced master craftsman has his sneakers planted firmly in the Eighties, thus it\u2019s nothing less than fate Johnny and Bruce Kulick were destined to join forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m excited that Bruce and I have been able to examine and discover the technical details of the guitars he used during his KISS era,\u201d Johnny glows about their partnership.&nbsp; \u201cBecause Bruce and I have been working together for the past four years, I have incorporated many of his suggestions into my AXN Guitars.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In summation of this growing Kulick-AXN endeavor, Johnny notes, \u201cThis isn\u2019t about money so much as it is the demand of the fans because Bruce and I totally love these guitars.&nbsp; I\u2019m a KISS fan first and foremost, yet it\u2019s also about our crazy obsession with era-correct guitars of the Eighties.\u201d<br>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>For more information on Bruce Kulick and AXN Guitars, please visit:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Bruce Kulick\u2019s website:<\/strong>&nbsp; <a href=\"https:\/\/raquelfiglo.com\/so\/01P9Id0ki\/c?w=v4_smSkbIJWQWLeu-ymAii-wvHfqLB1PsqhlQFUvZ64.eyJ1IjoiaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYnJ1Y2VrdWxpY2suY29tLyIsInIiOiIzNDRlMTIwNC1jM2VhLTQ4NWYtYjNhNS1iNjU1Mzk5NzBiNTEiLCJtIjoibWFpbCIsImMiOiJkNGMyYzc0OS04Njg0LTRlM2ItODU4MS0yODcxNTY0ZmQxYWUifQ\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">BruceKulick.com-The Official Bruce Kulick Website | Home<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>AXN Guitars:<\/strong>&nbsp; <a href=\"https:\/\/raquelfiglo.com\/so\/01P9Id0ki\/c?w=37f1Nimwpz4WtyVmnE2RFbhitrmqtIkXJeb4zZBtOug.eyJ1IjoiaHR0cHM6Ly9hbGllbnhuYXRpb24uY29tLyIsInIiOiIzNDRlMTIwNC1jM2VhLTQ4NWYtYjNhNS1iNjU1Mzk5NzBiNTEiLCJtIjoibWFpbCIsImMiOiJkNGMyYzc0OS04Njg0LTRlM2ItODU4MS0yODcxNTY0ZmQxYWUifQ\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">AXN\u2122 Guitars (alienxnation.com)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"588\" height=\"579\" src=\"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/AZ-BK.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-9180\" style=\"width:604px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/AZ-BK.png 588w, https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/AZ-BK-300x295.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 588px) 100vw, 588px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>August 5, 2000 with Lauren Silver, Bruce Kulick and AZ at FOXFEST 2000 Elgin, IL photo by Jason Meudt<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>photos by Simon Diez \u201cIn the past five years, I\u2019ve seen a revival of my Kiss era\u2026 I\u2019m always flattered that it\u2019s not just the music that moved them \u2013 the guitars I played also matter\u201d: Bruce Kulick is launching a custom \u201980s-style guitar line that pays homage to his Kiss days By Andrew Daly&#8221;&hellip;&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/?p=9176\" rel=\"bookmark\">Read More &raquo;<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Bruce Kulick &amp; AXN Guitars launching custom \u201980s-style guitar line paying homage to his Era of KISS<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9177,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9176"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9176\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9181,"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9176\/revisions\/9181"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}