Bonvillain Design Studio

08/05/2023

Been too busy in the shop to get anything posted for a bit…but for Straturday - here’s another 1957 Stratocaster I scored from and this one didn’t have the original finish underneath :)
#1957

07/13/2023

Hard to describe how awesome it felt opening that case.

07/02/2023

Stage1 done on the JS charity guitar. Now seal it with an intercoat, scuff that down and then off to California for the next stage of art front/back…then back to Colorado for some hand pinstriping/clear/buffing/assembly (and more sanding…always so much more sanding 😂)

06/25/2023

Back preview from the next charity guitar underway…this one is gonna be cool 😁

06/25/2023

Someone is gonna be stoked when they open this one ☝️

06/19/2023

Here’s something a little different - I recently acquired this ‘57 Strat that was refinished in a candy apple lacquer (over silver base). Besides the refin, a refret, some guard screws, the spring cover, and replaced nut it was otherwise all original. While I was definitely considering slinging some crazy colors on it 😁 once I realized the original finish was still under there - I went for a restoration to see if I could pull it off.
Pretty happy with the results.
I’m gonna swap an original backplate/spring cover on and if I can get an original nut - it’ll be 100%!

#1957

05/26/2023

A few in blacklight…I do ❤️ the neon pop 😁

05/13/2023

Prepped, Racked & Stacked

05/10/2023

Cool collab with on this carbon fiber fiddle for Sol-Vista Violins 🎻 Painted it the same day and colors/style as Steve’s archtop…so I suppose it’s a Vaiolin even :)

04/29/2023

Ghost Pia’s racked and stacked!

04/22/2023

Saturday morning rack of Pia’s headed back to Japan!
I think these were the latest ones that were shipped…I was leaning towards a little more abstract and purple heavy lately vs more balanced color lays on the first 40 painted.

04/20/2023

Halcyon RSA Jazzmaster wrapped up just in time 😅
First time working with nitro and first time laying a pinstripe in acrylic paint. Learned a bunch and happy with the results. Many thanks to .learn for his advice and support!
This one will be raffled off at the Halcyon booth next week in San Francisco.
#1959

04/17/2023

The response since NAMM has been overwhelming. Thank you everyone! 🙏💜💙🧡❤️💚🖤💛 It’s a weird thing taking something you’ve worked really hard on and exposing it for everyone to see…

But now that I can show progress pics - prepare for a lot of em :) Not that I haven’t always posted a lot of Ibanez guitars - as they are my jam 😁 But given that I have been hyperfocused on nothing but these Pia’s for a good while now - expect a lot more 😁
To preemptively respond to some frequently asked questions:

I don’t have an exact production number (that’s all up to Ibanez, but it isn’t a mess of em).

I don’t know an exact drop date as that is on the factory timetable. But I should be done with all the art early summer and I know everyone involved wants them delivered asap given the latency in such efforts over the past couple years.

Bonvillain Design doesn’t currently take in private instruments for refinishing (not yet at least…I still have another job that consumes every waking moment that I’m not working on guitars. My focus since day 1 has been to paint these guitars for and that is what I am doing exclusively right now.)

No, I won’t sell you one of my allocation 😁 I do this because I love fancy guitars, Steve, and . What I am keeping is for me, my closest friends, and my family :)

04/14/2023

Nice to finally be able to show what I’ve been working on :)
Many thanks to the folks at Ibanez for and for having me out.
Most importantly my deepest gratitude to Mr. Vai…I don’t even know how to express how much all this means to me. Love you dude.
For info on this Pia run, hit your Ibanez dealer or rep (or Rich :)) There definitely isn’t going to be a lot of them out there.

04/09/2023

Pretty cool and different style Les Paul I’m working on (also another piece for Halcyon) for this Easter Gibsunday. Pinstriping next with , then seeing if I can get .learn to lay down a little Yoda on the back per request 😁, and then see if I can get it done before end of month :)

04/08/2023

It’s not a Strat for Straturday, but still a Fender! 😁
Working on this Jazzmaster for a corporate event giveaway. 59 Jazzmaster- this’ll be my first with nitro as the clear.

04/06/2023

T minus 7 till NAMM 😁

04/02/2023

Week and a half till NAMM 😁

04/01/2023

03/29/2023

T minus 14 days till NAMM

03/11/2023

Been painting some really cool ones lately

01/25/2023

Quick assembly on this prototype body. I’m still deciding exactly how I want to do the pinstripe and backs on these…but this v1.5 proto is perfect. Many thanks to for going through all the hours of discussion and multiple iterations till we got here…it’s f***n fantastic!!! 4 more like this please! 😁
One piece alder body. One piece birdseye maple neck w/stainless frets. bridge, noise makers (super distortion and true velvet). Easily my favorite guitar I’ve ever played.

01/16/2023

There is nothing I have experienced in my life that brings me more joy than seeing someone play and love a guitar that I was involved with making…the pinnacle of that experience being one that also was made specifically to generate money for a good cause.
Congratulations Tyler - it couldn’t have landed in better hands.
And as always - deepest thanks to for his kickass contribution and lifetime of inspiration. 👊

12/30/2022

In a galaxy far far away…
Digging this design. I’ll get this one built in short order.

12/24/2022

Merry Christmas! Thank you for all the love and awesomeness over the last year everyone! ❤️❤️❤️

12/10/2022

Congratulations Tyler!!!
Such a generous donation and we are getting your new axe ready right now!!!
“Winning bid is $13,000.00 by tyler.”

11/20/2022

Satch collab charity guitar almost ready for auction!
After some research and back and forth with the charity, we decided to try and host this auction ourselves. While a little convoluted as to how the winning/donation/shipping works, we felt like it worked best in the interests of the winning bidder and the charity. The goal is to have 100% of the winning bid go to the charity that Joe picked and also allow the winning bidder to get the associated tax deduction for their donation…so in order to make that happen and not have an auction house take 20% of the strike price and add another 20% as a buyers fee - we are hosting it on our site and the winning bidder will donate directly to Children’s Hospital San Francisco. The bidder will notify us that the donation is complete and we will validate their info with the charity and overnight the guitar out.
We are still testing some things this weekend with the plug-in functionality to make sure everything works as expected, but should be good to go live on Thanksgiving!
Link to the auction page: https://www.bonvillain-design.com/product/joe-satriani-collaboration-charity-art-guitar/

10/31/2022

A buddy I painted this one for sent me a pic of it all assembled and lookin pretty. One of two old school swirls I’ve painted that are finished guitars (the other is my GMC I posted a while back…and there is one more UV I did that’ll get finished eventually). The early 90s Jems/Universes that ATD did are my inspiration (obviously 😂), so it’s fun to have done a couple.

10/14/2022

So much cool stuff happened over the last couple weeks that I’m not sure how to absorb it all. One highlight - Steve showing off the Pia prototype I painted all over Guitar World 🎸 🌎 He’s been dropping some interesting hints out on the road too 😁 - if you haven’t seen the show, catch them while still on tour!