The Badass Ambassador
Guitar World|October 2022
DAVE MUSTAINE DISCUSSES HIS “BRAND AMBASSADOR” RELATIONSHIP WITH GIBSON — AND LET’S NOT FORGET HIS TWO NEW SIGNATURE FLYING V’S!
JON WIEDERHORN
The Badass Ambassador

OVER THE YEARS, Dave Mustaine has had working relationships with Jackson, ESP and Dean. Since he was a kid, however, he’s had a special love for Gibson. “I saw the first Kiss album and it said, ‘Kiss use Gibson because they want the best,’” Mustaine says. “I thought, ‘Well, fuck, I want Gibson ’cause I wanna be the best!’”

Mustaine ended his 13-year endorsement deal with Dean in late 2020, and in February 2021 he finalized a Brand Ambassador deal with Gibson. “I heard they were in the market for an ambassador,” Mustaine says. “I asked them, ‘What’s an ambassador?’ And I was told it meant that you represent all brands for the Gibson franchise. I said, ‘I can do that.’ So now I represent Gibson, Epiphone and Kramer.”

To date, Gibson has issued three guitars. The Dave Mustaine Songwriter acoustic features a slightly thinned walnut Songwriter body with a cutaway, a 24.75-inch scale mahogany neck with a 24-fret ebony fretboard (their first acoustic to feature 24 frets).

This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

MORE STORIES FROM GUITAR WORLDView all
Kittie - Guitarists Morgan Lander and Tara Mcleod discuss the canadian metal powerhouse's unexpected rebirth — by fire!
Guitar World

Kittie - Guitarists Morgan Lander and Tara Mcleod discuss the canadian metal powerhouse's unexpected rebirth — by fire!

Guitarists Morgan Lander and Tara McLeod explain that making new music was “not on their bingo card” when the band regrouped in 2022 for a few festival appearances, preferring to think of the sets as more of a “final lap” than a new beginning. But drilling into old favorites — whether the nu-flavored teenage slams of 1999’s Spit or the more venomously groove-thrashed tunes of their late-’00s period — revealed that despite not having raged together in years, there was something undeniably special about Kittie’s musical connection. “Playing with these girls is like putting on an old pair of pants,” Lander says. “It’s very comfortable — and it looks good too.”

time-read
2 mins  |
October 2024
McKinley James - Why all you really need is a guitar, a drummer and some serious low-end six-string skills
Guitar World

McKinley James - Why all you really need is a guitar, a drummer and some serious low-end six-string skills

Nashville-based blues rocker McKinley James came flying out of the gate in 2022 with his Dan Auerbachproduced EP, Still Standing By. His momentum screeched to a halt, however, when his keyboardist split, leaving only him and his drummer, Jason Smay (who also happens to be his father). “For a moment, I was like, ‘What are we going to do?” James says. “But then I thought, ‘Well, other bands have succeeded as a duo. Maybe we can, too.”

time-read
2 mins  |
October 2024
TC Electronic TC 2290P Dynamic Digital Delay
Guitar World

TC Electronic TC 2290P Dynamic Digital Delay

THE MID EIGHTIES was a golden age for digital delay, thanks to the proliferation of pro- and studio-quality rack effects units from Eventide, Korg, Lexicon, Roland and Yamaha.

time-read
2 mins  |
November 2024
Danelectro Doubleneck
Guitar World

Danelectro Doubleneck

WHEN I THINK back to the Seventies, the famously coined “Me” decade, it seems the only surefire way you could leave audiences awestruck was to strap on a doubleneck guitar.

time-read
2 mins  |
November 2024
CARLOS ALOMAR
Guitar World

CARLOS ALOMAR

The former David Bowie guitarist talks Young Americans, Station to Station and the Berlin Trilogy, plus recording (and co-writing) \"Fame\" with John Lennon

time-read
10+ mins  |
November 2024
GEORGE TERRY
Guitar World

GEORGE TERRY

It turns out Eric Clapton's Seventies guitarist (and co-writer of \"Lay Down Sally\") also played on ABBA's \"Voulez-Vous.\" Below, he looks back on a decade-plus of E.C., Bee Gees, Diana Ross and more

time-read
10 mins  |
November 2024
FRANK MARINO
Guitar World

FRANK MARINO

The Mahogany Rush frontman charts the band's Seventies lows and highs, plus SG's, pickups and how he was definitely not visited by the ghost of Jimi Hendrix

time-read
10+ mins  |
November 2024
DEWAYNE "BLACKBYRD" MCKNIGHT
Guitar World

DEWAYNE "BLACKBYRD" MCKNIGHT

The jazz/funk/fusion veteran on his smooth segue from Herbie Hancock sideman to full-on Funkdaledic member -plus his '70s gear and what he learned from Shuggie Otis

time-read
10+ mins  |
November 2024
PAT TRAVERS
Guitar World

PAT TRAVERS

The Canadian-born virtuoso discusses the rise and fall of the Pat Travers Band, witnessing the U.K. punk revolution and the riotous roots of \"Snortin' Whiskey\"

time-read
9 mins  |
November 2024
JOE PERRY
Guitar World

JOE PERRY

The iconic guitarist looks back on Aerosmith in the Seventies, the decade that literally made and temporarily broke apart those Bad Boys from Boston

time-read
10+ mins  |
November 2024