DoctorPaul's Guitar Emporium - Sold Guitars

Chapman Guitars (Jaden Rose) ML-1 'Handmade Artist Prorotype'

(ex. Rob Chapman)

"Sparrow"

 

I wrote a lot in my write-up on "Leaf" (the Ghost Fret that Jaden made for Rob Chapman of Chapman Guitars) about the position of Jaden Rose within the Chapman Guitars hierarchy ... Jaden ended up as a kind of clandestine ghost builder (referred to a few times as 'the Chapman Guitars luthier').  I don't know how he felt about that, but I reckon that I might have allowed myself to get a little cross about it if I was in his shoes.  I've no idea if he DID get cross, or even modestly pouty, but whatever.  I'm sure that our boy Jaden is above stuff like that.

 

After making a few Ghost Frets for CG, and a further few prototypes (there was an ML-2 and a small-bodied ML-2 variant), Jaden went on to build three very handsome and awesome "ML-1-esque" guitars, to the spec of the (then) CG endorsees.  Nick Johnston got a peachy one with three singles and a Sapelle (?) body, Nick Ioannou got a slab of ash loveliness (HSS) with a blue-stained finish, and Rob Chapman got a sweeeet trans-black swamp ash one, also with an HSS layout.  Awesome.  These were made to act as the range-toppers for the standard ML1 line (which were made in China from 2009, then Korea from 2012).  One thing led to another, and the two Nicks moved on, so the above two guitars were sold.  I flirted with the blue one for a long time, but lost out on it as I waited for the (really quite high, in my opinion) asking price to come down.  I was disappointed, as you might appreciate.  Not TOO disappointed however, as the one I REALLY wanted was Rob's guitar.  I don't really give a bollock that Rob owned it, but the finish and the fact that the control layout was the same as the standard ML-1 (or so I thought ...) really caught my attention.  Unfortunately, the first time that Rob showed off this ML-1 was in a video in which he put it up for sale ...

 

So, I watched the video, salivated a little, gave it a few hours to be sure that I wanted it (that is standard protocol around here ... I don't buy on impulse) then scrolled down the comments to check that the asking price hadn't been reduced.  The last comment (made shortly beforehand) was from a very decent lad from my hometown (Sunderland) whose Avatar and user name I knew well from the CG Forum ... he'd bought it.  The little bastard!  How DARE he buy it when I wanted it!  I felt like that spoilt lass from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ... you know ... the "I want the whole world ... I WANT IT NOW" kid.  Gutted.  I pouted.  I sulked.  Shit was not good.

 

Over the next few months it became obvious that he liked the guitar A LOT, so I resigned myself to the fact that the nails were in the coffin lid, and that I'd never get my hands on it.  He sold off quite a few guitars since then, but never Rob's "Jaden ML-1".

 

Then one fine evening I logged on to the CG forum and saw that he'd sent  me a message ... Saying "I know you have been eyeing this guitar up for as long as i can remember ... if you promise to look after her then I think I might be willing to part with her".  There was a firm "no offers, no haggling, no bullshit" stipulation, and a high asking price.  And quite rightly so.  Of course, me being the arrogant arsehole that I AM, I immediately started with the offers, the haggling and the bullshit!  And WHAT d'you know, the haggling and bullshit worked a treat, and a deal was struck for what I reckon was a very reasonable amount.  What a very agreeable young man!

 

So, let's DO this shit.  I know what you're thinking.  You're thinking "So is it any GOOD or what?".  Well, HELL YES!  In fact, this isn't just GOOD ... this is good, wrapped in a layer of awesome, wrapped in a layer of kick-ass, wrapped in a double-decker burrito!  She's swamp ash, and the body shape is a Strat with squared-off shoulders, all finished off in Jaden's hand-rubbed-oil tomfoolery, so showing gob-fulls of that lovely swampie-grain.  Nice.  The neck is Canadian rock maple (which ... and I'm guessing here ... is harder than regular maple?) and is REALLY VERY thin ... kinda like an Ibanez Wizard but not as severe.  It is scarf-jointed and has a pitched back, reverse Tele headstock.  Production line ML1's get the reverse Tele headstock, but aren't scarf jointed or pitched, so are fitted with string trees to give a decent break angle at the nut.  Whatever, it's all good.  Pickup are all DiMarzio, with a chopper and an Air Norton (both single-coil sized humbuckers) and a MoJoe at the bridge.  The electronics are NOT the same as the stock ML1 (which would have been awesome).  The stock ML1 has a three way switch that operates on the neck and bridge pickups (like a normal Gibson three-way would), but a crafty push-pull tone pot switches the middle pickup on and off (as well as splitting out the bridge inner coil at the same time) which means that you get COMPLETE control.  It's VERY cleverly thought out, and a really intuitive way to do things.  This, however, has a three way ... and I'm still coming to terms with what the hell it does.  Jaden says that it was originally wired so that the three-way simply turned each of the pickups on and off in turn, so 'down' was the bridge, 'up' was the neck, and 'middle' was ... well ... middle.  There are no signs that any soldering has been disturbed or redone, so I'm guessing that everything is still original anf that the switching still does that now.  It certainly sounds that way ... there is no out of phase quackiness or anything.  Which is fine.  The result is a strong, powerful, bright output, with the neck and middle pups giving a lovely rounded but crispy tone, and the bridge pup is just what you'd expect from a MoJoe ... beautiful.

 

I doubt that I'll ever get a chance to even play any of the other two Jaden ML1's, let alone own one, but if any come up for sale, I WILL be bidding hard!