JOE DUPLANTIER SIGNATURE PRO-MOD SAN DIMAS STYLE 2 HH MAHOGANY £719

Another Signature model from the Gojira frontman, but this time he’s gone vintage

- Simon Arblaster

What do you do when you’re a huge fan of Fender and Gibson guitars? Well, you take your favourite bits of both to create one superguitar, of course. At least that’s the case with the latest signature model from Charvel and Gojira frontman Joe Duplantier. And you just have to take one look at this new Pro-Mod San Dimas Style 2 to realise that. Having already gone for very clean and modern finishes with his two previous signature models, Joe sought to go down a more vintage route and “wanted the colour of the guitar to look like your grandmother’s table”. A lovely thought, although we’re not sure our grandmother’s table looked this good.

The mahogany finish with a black pickguard is familiar territory for any Telecaster fan, but slap on a Tune-O-Matic bridge and cover the fretboard in pearloid big block inlays and you’re in Gibson country. On paper, this shouldn’t work, but it does. Combined with the worn nickel finish on the DiMarzio pickup covers and you can consider the vintage aesthetic nailed. It’s not all vintage, though, as the twist is that this model is equipped with some thoroughly modern essentials. Locking tuners, a graphite-reinforced neck and a heel-mount truss rod adjustment wheel firmly bring this model bang up to date.