The Rudy Sarzo Off The Rails contest is off to a great start.  I've received many e-mails and direct private messages from Kompozers, all expressing excitement about the contest format.  And I've received many more questions about the prize list.  They all start something like, "Dude, are those prizes for real?!?!"

Yes, they are for real!  The sponsors have really stepped up big.  If you have not already started working on your entry, I strongly suggest that you get busy!  These prizes are phenomenal, and given our prize award process, you've got a really good change of winning something.

Included in the Grand Prize bundle is a Jackson Randy Rhoads guitar valued at over $1,700 USD.  This guitar was commissioned by Randy Rhoads from Charvel, and was to be called the "Original SIN".  Then company president Grover Jackson had his name put on the headstock of the custom model instead of Charvel.  This guitar put the Jackson name on the map.  Grover originally produced two prototypes for Randy and made the pieces for a third, but didn't assemble them, waiting for Randy to give feedback about the tone and play of the prototypes before completing the third guitar. Tragically, Randy was killed in a plane crash before he could give Grover any feedback about the guitars.

Jackson currently has 12 different models in production, grouped into 5 different series.  The guitar we will be awarding is the RR24, from the Jackson MG Series.  The RR24 has a body made from alder and neck made from maple. It has an Ebony fretboard with Sharkfin inlays.  The "RR" in the model name obviously stands for Randy Rhoads.  And the "24" refers to the fact that this model has 24 frets.  It has a neck-thru body construction, comes with an Original Floyd Rose, and has one brutal EMG 81 pickup in the bridge.

Stay tuned for future blog posts detailing some of the other prizes!