While Bon Jovi fields death rumors (yes, he’s alive and well), his lead guitarist Richie Sambora is starting work on his third solo album at Ocean Way Recording in Hollywood.

According to Broadcast Newsroom, Sambora has tapped Luke Ebbin, who manned the boards for Bon Jovi albums Crush and Bounce, for the project.

“Richie and I have worked on and off together for years,” Ebbin told Broadcast Newsroom. “Richie came off the Bon Jovi tour energized and we got together to write a couple of songs. The results were very good, so we kept writing more and decided to go in and record them.

“The recordings came out great, so Richie decided why not make this a solo record? There are eight songs in the can now, including a co-write with Bernie Taupin...”

Sambora’s first solo release was 1991’s blues-based Stranger in This Town, and he followed up that with 1998’s Undiscovered Soul.

Ebbin says the guys have started round two of sessions and hope to have the full album done by early spring.