Guitars

My very first Gibson, I bought it back in 1997 and it has been my favourite and main guitar ever since. It is a normal Les Paul Custom, I only changed the pickups and the tailpiece/bridge. The pickups are two EMG 81s, the new hardware is from Tonepros. It is a very heavy guitar, something around 4,5 Kilos, but this is exaclty what I like. I have never been into light guitars, just like I have never been into slim necks, I love the weight of a Les Paul, just as I love the fat neck profiles, both is absolutely perfect for me. Most of my guitars have names, this one has always been called "The Custom"

This is actually the very same model as my main guitar, it is also from 1997, the only difference is the golden EMG Pickups, I wanted to keep the look a bit closer to the original and I wanted it to look at least a bit different. I got this one from my best friend. He fell in love with one of my old ESPs, which I lent him as a backup for a gig he played, after that show he asked me if I wanted to trade one for the other, both of us were very happy with that. For whatever reason this one never got a name, even though I have it since more than 15 years now, I think it really is time to think about one...

This one is called Amber and she is my second favorite guitar, in my humble opinion one of the best looking guitars I have ever seen.The only modifications made to this model are the same as the ones made to my main guitar, I changed the pickups for 2 EMG 81s and I replaced the hardware with TonePros. I love the way it sounds, but in the moment I am thinking about changing the pickups again, to get the original look back, I might go for a set of Suhr Aldrich pickups. Funny detail about this guitar: originally I ordered this model in a different finish, I wanted something darker, I think Desert Burst, but for whatever reason the guys in the US sent this one. The guys in Berlin just sent me a short note, telling me a wrong guitar was shipped, but they also attached a picture of this "wrong" guitar, telling me I still might want to check it out... The picture made me forget about Desert Burst immediately.

This is definitely the guitar with which I messed around the most. I kept it in the original state for some time, but at some point I got hold of a Fishman Powerbridge which I definitely wanted to try. The Powerbridge ended in this guitar and offered awesome clean sounds, unfortunately it died one day on the road, so I kicked it out again. Next I changed the pickups, from the original Gibson Pickups I went to my usual pair of EMG 81s, but for whatever reason I didn't like them that much in this guitar. So I kicked them out as well and put in a set of Suhr Doug Aldrich Humbuckers, now it sounds perfect. Both pickups have a coil splitting option, so it offers a wide range of sounds. The only thing I still have to change is the knobs, the original ones got broken on tour and we only had black ones with us, so we used them as a replacement, but they somehow look wrong on this guitar. I still have to get some in the proper color to restore the look. By the way, I love the Blind Guardian bell on the headstock which was given to me by the Gibson Customshop. Because of this bell the guitar is called "Guardian"

One of the first guitars I got from Gibson after becoming an endorser. When I saw it on the Gibson webpage I fell in love with it and ordered it immediately. Originally it was supposed to be here before we went on tour, but the shipment got a bit delayed, so I only got it in London, I just took it out of the case and went on stage with it immediately. At some point I changed the pickups, the original Burstbuckers sounded great, but I wanted something with a bit more punch, and I wanted to have the option to split the coils. I went for another set of Gibson Humbuckers, the 500T/596R, they sound perfect in this one. It is called Azul by the way, people who speak Portuguese might guess why.

Somehow I love wine red Les Pauls, when I originally asked Gibson for one they offered me this one along with "Guardian". My original choice was Guardian, but I never got this one out of my head, so a bit later I got it as well, you can never have too many wine red Les Pauls in my opinion ;-)

It is equipped with Suhr Aldrich humbuckers, they are my fave pickups in the moment. They are as tight and powerful as the EMGs, they sound more open though and they just preserve the original look. This guitar is called "Scarlett" and I first used it without the pickguard, but at some point I decided to put it on, I think it looks even better like this.

This is Slash's signature Goldtop. I have never been the biggest fan of Slash, but I always wanted to have a Goldtop, and this one is an incredibly good guitar. It feels great, looks great and sounds great, the only thing disturbing me a bit is the Slash logo on the headstock, maybe I'll have it painted black one day and turn it into a regular Gold Top.

A very rare guitar, it is based on a Les Paul Studio, but it has some unique features: it has a satin black finish, there is a binding on the neck, the hardware is black and it is equipped with an EMG 81 and an EMG 85. There are only 400 copies worldwide and it is one of the best sounding guitars in my collection, very heavy, very powerful, the perfect metal guitar.

As mentioned before I really like heavy guitars, the heavier, the better. At some point Gibson started to introduce their weight relief system, which means they used chambered bodies for some models, to reduce the weigth. Originally I wanted to have another Les Paul Standard, but those models had the chambered bodies in 2012, so I decided to try this Les Paul Traditional instead. Basically it is like a Standard without the chambered body, this guitar is almost as heavy as my "Custom" and even though it is supposed to have the typical 50's neck (which is a rather fat neck), it feels even thicker than my other guitars with this neck shape. Again I switched the pickups, this one has an EMG 81 and an EMG 85.

The latest addition to my collection, a 2013 edition of the Les Paul Traditional. I really like those guitars, and when they finally added this color option (Chicago Blue) I had to get it. I went for Suhr Aldrich pickups again and like this the guitar immediately made it to my personal top 3. The neck is as big as the one from my other Traditional, definitely bigger compared to other 50's necks, so this seems to be normal on those models, I really like it a lot. This one is called "Tardis" by the way.

My very first electric guitar was a Flying V (not an original Gibson though) and I always wanted to have one again, so I got this one before the 2010 World Tour. It was born as a regular black Flying V, but as you can see it got pimped a bit by the custom shop, I replaced the original white pickguard with this mirrored one and I also changed the pickups for two EMG 81s. Even though it is not really typical for a Flying V, I also wanted to have the little pickup frames on top of the pickguard, my first V, a copy of the legendary Michael Schenker Model, had this feature as well, so I wanted to have it in this one too, I just think it looks better.

My main acoustic guitar. On the "Twist" tour Gibson provided me with 2 of those for the gigs in Japan, and I fell in love with them immediately, right after we came back from Japan I got this one. It might not look too fancy, but it sounds just perfect.

The only non-Gibson guitar I am using on tour. The much I love my J 45, there is one problem with it when it comes to playing live. Acoustic guitars have a problem with volume, when the gig is too loud you always start to get feedback problems. Unfortunately there is not much you can do about it, the body is hollow, so it immediately reacts to high volume. We have been fighting with this for some time, then my friend Herman from Gibson brought me this one to a show. It has a solid body and is only equipped with a piezo pickup, it sounds awesome and no matter how loud the gig might be, there are absolutely no problems with feedback.