By Hilary Saunders In late January, Epiphone announced a new instrument collaboration with rock and roll stalwart Joan Jett. The stringed instrument and amplifier company, which was purchased by Gibson in 1957, partnered with the trailblazing singer/songwriter last year to devise one of the only new custom guitar models to bear the name of a female artist. Modeled off her old, trusted Gibson Melody Maker, the Joan Jett Olympic Special is a lightweight electric guitar, with an asymmetrical body and glossy white finish. Like Jett’s music with The Blackhearts and her first band The Runaways, both…