Metal Wani scribe Dallas Luckey recently had a chat with former Scorpions guitarist, Uli Jon Roth in Omaha, NE.

“For a man of his music background and talent, he remains modest and polite. Even just how he is inspired by the rest of the world seems to be on a different level than everyone else. The way he describes his music and how he likes to write his songs, broken down so systematically and logically, you can just see the insane levels of complexity and depth that he’s always working with.

“We talked about his incredible Sky Guitars and the incredibly detailed thought process behind each one, Despite being so detail oriented, he goes on to say, “It’s always important to not get lost in the detail and be able to step back and look at the big picture”. I did have to ask what he thought about metal, given his direct influence on many major metal musicians. On the record, he’s not a fan at all. He says it dwells on death too much and he likes to write about life; however, after the recording was finished, he admitted to enjoying the power metal band Kamelot.”

Premier Guitar recently posted a new rig rundown video featuring Uli Jon Roth.

“One could argue that Uli Jon Roth invented neo-classical electric guitar and brought it to the masses through his work with the Scorpions in the ’70s. PG’s John Bohlinger caught up with Roth during his tour with Jennifer Batten and Andy Timmons for a look at his high-powered setup.

“Originally a Strat man, Uli felt limited by the instrument and wanted something with more frets and a wider range of tonal options. The solution came in the form of the Dean Sky Guitar. Above the 27th fret, this scalloped-fret monster switches to whole-step fret spacing. The Sky Guitar's pickups are a custom four-coil humbucker with a second pickup hidden under the 24th fret. The electronics run off of phantom power via a stereo 1/4” inch input cable from a proprietary power source.”