DoctorPaul's Guitar Emporium - Sold Guitars

Chapman Guitars ML-1 Custom

(ex. Rob Chapman)

"Myth"

 

Right then. So this is another Chapman. If you've been paying attention, you'll perhaps know that in the "Jaden Rose" part of this site, there are two guitars that Jaden made (exquisitely) for Chapman guitars. One ("Leaf") was a prototype of the planned top of the range handmade model, the Ghost Fret, and the other ("Sparrow") was one of three prototype Artist Models, which were also planned as a range-topping handmade flagship. The latter ("Sparrow") was a derivative of Chapman Guitars' most successful model, the ML-1, which was initially a limited-run model, with its specs selected by the members of the Chapman Guitars Forum. I spend a lot of time there. They're good people.

 

Anyway. Part of the deal when CG joined forces with Andertons (the large music store in Guildford) was that the basic guitar was infinitely customisable ... you bought the guitar, you bought any posh parts that you wanted, and the Andertons' guitar techs would fit the parts for free. A great idea, and a USP for Chapman Guitars. This guitar was put together by Andertons specifically for Rob Chapman, in order to showcase the kind of crazy-assed mods that could be made ... mods weren't limited to pickup swaps or changing the tuners. In an attempt to go balls-out, this guitar was not only fitted with a floating and recessed Floyd Rose (a very nice German-made model), but also with a Fernandes Sustainer kit. I reckon that, short of scalloping the board, they probably went as far as they should ... crazy. The upshot is that the value of this is far more than double that of the guitar itself ... simply, the mods cost more than the guitar. That amuses me. So. There's a heavy-as-shit mahogany body, bolted maple neck with quite a nice ebony board (although I hear that they initially used to turn the punter's fingers black, as the ebony was stained to darken it down, and the stain would leach into your skin)! Whatever, it's a solid piece of work, and the substantial mass helps with the air of robustness. You might remember that the original Ghost Fret ("Leaf") had a horizontal infinity inlay that spanned from the 11th to the 13th fret. That inlay is a bit of an issue, as glancing down doesn't leave you THAT confident of where the 12th fret IS. That's been rectified on this, with the infinity logo flipped around to occupy only the 12th fret position. Which is nice.

 

What else. Fretwork is all nicely done, but I rather suspect that it has seen some fret-love, possibly before it left Adertons; I hear that their boy Gav is quite the luthier. Certainly, the work he did to this guitar is completely top-notch. From the fret profiles, I'd bet that they have been stoned and reprofiled a few times too ... it's all good. Again (like "Sparrow), the electronics are NOT the same as the stock ML-1 (which would have been awesome, as the stock ML-1 has a three way switch and a crafty push-pull tone pot to switch the middle pickup on and off, as well as splitting out the bridge inner coil at the same time). That's an excellent system. Anyway, this ... er ... doesn't have that. What it DOES have is a three-way selector, a master volume, but no tone control ... the hole where the tone knob used to live is now occupied by the sustainer intensity control. There's a two-way mini-toggle to switch the sustainer on/off and a three-way toggle to select how the sustainer works, by sustaining either the fundamental note, a harmonic of that note (... it takes over from the fundamental after a short while) or a blend of the two. Lovely. So there you have it. Not a 'posh' guitar by any stretch of the imagination, certainly not at all 'high-end'. Rather, this is a very nice, competitively priced (before the modifications) player's guitar made very special by the addition of the fancy stuff. Pragmatically, this thing proves beyond any reasonable doubt that, if us label-snobs cut the shit and smell the coffee, a guitar doesn't have to be USA-made (or masterbuilt in some Custom Shop) to be awesome. A little but of love and attention, and a bloody good set up and fret dress, and this thing is fighting fit and ready to square-up against the big guns.

 

Excellent.