The Rob Chappers/Monkey Lord signature guitar - Blog 3

[rguitar]

i absolutly love that guitar please say u will leave it the natural look

[matrags]

How many guitars do you actually own? By the way I hate you.

[GPMETALBR]

man, I don't know if you already have your signature model right now...

but I have a sugestion...for this a nice tele with the reverse headstock..

maybe an "f" hole would be even coller that it already is!

....well, just a sugestion, sorry for the crappy inglish... hahahahahah congrats from brazil man!!

[theflavasava2]

I have a Bucket on my Head, im kind of walnut'ted of this!

[goodguitaristatmetal]

LOL plastic knob flying off!

:D

[angus666ify]

is it like ltd editon

[ZaphodBeeblebrox65]

Epic win on the design and specs Chappers, I think I want one already...

[hungrysparrow]

I like the thinking behind the design and I think for just £200 that would be an excellent first guitar because the basic foundation is of such good quality. Nice classic design too - means it could have a broad appeal.

[fretboarder]

a chappers sig guitar?? what ever in the world next..

[tragictravisty]

what amp are you playing through at the intro?

[joshthemangojunkee40]

super uber win!!?!

[RobChappers]

I also share your love of Mango... a much under-rated fruit! \m/

[mariachi91]

i miss your ESP

[zacman5550]

reversed telecaster headstock sounds awesome

[staticxfrk]

what happened to the 29 frets?

[tetzell]

sounds good

how thins's the neck gna be?

also is it fixed bridge? cant remember

cheers monkey lord!

mat

[Fiarzen]

tbh ebony fretboard will be overkill i think. a good rosewood or maple will be just as good.

[Chipmonkcheeks53]

Hooray 3 sway toggle switch :D

Kill pot sounds interesting too.

Will you be able to click it up and down or pull it out?

[TheRestlessAngel]

Love the look Chappers

[Badfish228]

HAHAHA that'd be so funny if someone made a gif out of the part at 2:06 =P

[houghtor]

Think you're almost spot on with Concept 1 there chappers. Best strat-esque guitar I've had is my Yamaha Pacifica 604 which is similar. Only suggestion I'd make if there's any budget left is locking machine heads - Sperzels or similar.

[kiterat]

i love you chappers :D aha

[BigBlackPug]

PRS took the 12th Fret "TREMONTI" inlay off his signature model. A clean/standard marker could be okay.

PS - Ever come across Neil Zaza?

[benjthorn]

I'd vote ML4 - a beautiful axe - but I've forgotten my forum log in.

[V3ryM3tal]

Reverse tele stock is a very cool idea but I have to say.. I really prefer the strat shape stock, reverse or no... My 2 cents..

[gonya33]

Looks really nice Chap! I'd definitely buy one if I had the extra cash.. being a broke college kid is teh sux0rz.

[daveymurrayrules]

I WILL BE THE FIRST ONE TO BUY IT!

[DoggieTreatz]

mabe some kind of a strat trem for a bridge?

[ZandrixR]

Lefty????????

[quadsimo]

wow i really like it... so hoped it would at least have a neck single coil!

[jakeblandjk47]

hey chappers, is it going to come with a Case at all? or have you not thought about that...

ta

Jake Bland

[irritatedmushroom2]

I think a miniature monkey on the 12th fret would be pretty cool and fit well if it says "Monkey Lord Approved" on the back of the headstock. I think it's a pretty neat design so far though, hard tail is definitely a winner for me too. Coil tapped HB is a very practical touch aswell I think.

Has any potential dealers been finalised yet? I'll definately check this hard rockin' axe out!

[imorez1]

i like it but i would have a monkey hanging from a tree as the paint job to symbolize the money lord.

[Leviskardsen]

I really like the way this is turning out, Rob. My only suggestion would be to make it dual splittable zebra 'bucker, and take out the middle coil. I just never use the middle single coil.

Love the black stained body on it.

[TonusDiabolicus]

I would prefer a HB + P90 combination. Sounds great on my Gibson BFG and is a little different to the predictable HSS combo. Don't see the need for 3 pickups!

Also, I don't know if this was mentioned in earlier posts but I'm assuming that a hard shell case is not in the budget - just a nice thick cardboard box I hope!

Oh! - and VERY important - how are you going to handle selling to the USA? Shipping costs and cardboard box fatigue could be a problem!

Cheers Chappers!

[RockinSi]

CANNOT WAIT.

[Lordgout]

Bolt ons are much more pratical! Maple could be interesting!

[lighteningboy]

I love the reverse Tele headstock! Great looking axe, but I think the word "Chappers" is far too large.

[lighteningboy]

"Chapman" sorry...

[SupremeMaggot]

Looking good so far. :)

[hellsing1983]

Binding maybe

[dwg316]

hi dude, looks great so far!!!!

[FredtheShred]

I'd suggest downsizing the strat body ever so slightly. This shouldn't make much of a difference for the larger folk out there, yet it does make it a lot easier to wear if you're on the shorter side (I'm 1,70m tall, for instance, and I favour Ernie Ball strat-types due to them being more "proportional").

[CircleOfFifz]

I'm hoping this will be a neck-thru

[Draugoth]

Hey, I'm really excited you're getting your own signature! Looks great to me, I like that you thought of paying key attention to putting in high quality tonal elements. Real good idea.

[Khatib92]

i would suggest making those horns a little bit sharper

[chubbymosher700]

take out the neck singlecoil and replace it with a generic hotrail style pickup. i think i saw one with a zebra effect so it will match the bridge pickup.

[d4rkst0n3]

Wow I'm absolutely loving it. I'd definitely buy it. Good luck with it mate =D

[KKKAZE]

Not bad, but im still addicted to Ibanez :D

[verbity]

You should stamp "It's the shizzle" on the back too...with the Verbius trademark of course!!

[drakester115]

Mayb u should add a monkey grip like the Steve Vai Ibanez Jem model.

[Treeman987]

looks cool, i'd buy it (1 down, 499 to go)

[darcymetal]

i reckon ishould be a h, s, h, being able to tap both the bridge and neck individually

[J3sst44]

You should make the body a little more superstrat shape. Then it would be brutalz.

[reflex1119]

i think you should have the head stock the other way up

[schectersensei]

looks great rob im really impressed i wold buy it! very vigier kinda style! which i adore! i was gonna suggest their shape to you but you already got it haha!

congrats!

[cataclysmichael]

The body shape was a bit boring to my taste :P

[naruchiha2323]

you sould angle the headstock ,also ill probably be buying one since my 100$ guitar blew out on me

[pstaffier]

That's a pretty wicked design.

If you're going for a hard tail, it would be pretty cool to have a Strat style guitar with a string-thru-body bridge like a Tele.

I don't think I've ever seen a string-thru-body Strat, which would make your guitar unique in that regard. Probably cheap to implement too. Keep up the good work and congrats on your signature Ax.

[XVinnyTheMetalGodX]

i thought you were endorsed by ESP?

if you make a signature guitar other than ESP, wouldnt ESP get onto you for advertising a different guitar brand or whatever?

just wondering

but the design looks absolutely sick man!

definitely gonna try to get one

[Zaneus92]

He's no longer endorsed by ESP

[XVinnyTheMetalGodX]

seriously?

i knew he left orange, but didnt know about ESP!

[gibshall]

What type of neck profile are you going to be using? Are you one for thin necks or the sweet baseball back?

Yes, I'm biased.

[BraydonSzafranski]

Even though a mahogany top with a cheap finish will typically have that kind of stain, I don't like the stain. But the 12th fret inlay could still look like a monkey shape, like you know the ones you get in the 'Barrel 'o Monkeys?'

[damadstuntman]

If you stick to the mahogany body you'll have to go with a ebony fretboard

[dancingwithscissors]

i buy one as soon as i can

[1337mOnK3y]

Chappers, you know I'm buying one.

=]

[RobChappers]

Love you buddy ;-)

[dustmanweathers]

Congrats on the guitar bro, i love the fat strat design (personal favorite) i would like to see a flame top with a nice transparent paint job and a 3+3 headstock, but for an early concept this is going to be a great guitar

[Chimaira555]

looks great except maybe a different headstock im not a big tele fan

[abaichmaide]

YES! I love this idea! You got the coil tap and a sick and inventive headstock plus THANK GOD A HARD TAIL! AWESOME! Im in ! -Thom

[guitargod908]

looks like a mayones guitar

[peaveypower212]

the headstock is a trunoff for me but so far so good

[julian3rdal3rt]

what kind of neck construction will it be?

[JerkyChid]

most likely bolt on to cut down the price

[umpalumpa101909]

not a fan of the headstock :P, maby have a le spaul style headstock? =D

<3 Les Paul :P

[JeffPasterino]

hey rob will the body have the contours and shape of a strat or will it be more like a jackson or other super strat type guitar

[tenaciousjp]

Man....i think you should get exotic woods on your dig guitar man....you wont be sorry.

[dude2512]

personaly, i think u should play around with the shape some more, alittle more pointy hehe more metal

[xxc3lld4m4gexx]

****** i really dig it rob, i need a good new hardtail,, but please please please take out the single coil neck pick up...it would be so much sweeter with a humbucker in the bridge and neck and a single in the mid, this is my only gripe...thanks alot mate :) cant wait to buy it ******

[illusionfreak]

HAHAHA..... thanks Rob for the idea shoot down on youtube. Joking, I thought of either the 12th fret inlay or the no inlays at all as both being pretty classy. In the end I started thinking a 12th fret inlay would be kind of wierd in terms of a balanced look. Glad you put the coil tap in. I'm really digging it man.

P.S. What you think about the satin finished neck thing?

-illusionfreak,

"aka" nemesis.

[guitargod908]

i really like it

[tylerdwells]

Herman Li did this thing on his guitar where he made the higher frets really easy to access by choking up where your left hand would go. Herman Li is definitley not my favorite guitarist (not even close) but i though what he did was a great idea. You should search it up. I forget what the title of the clip was called.

[erenoi]

I'm not too keen on the reverse tele headstock :(

Put angled cutaways in rob.

Just look at the Jackson DKMG.

[wickedexp]

Like the stain look. I would still like to see a mahogany body with a spalted Maple top like the ESP FX series, but in a strat shape... would look good in a gloss or satin finish. I like the humbucker idea & having a coil tap feature.. I also think it's important to have a pickup ring. Like you said, for those who want to change pickups & possibly want to go active, they have that option instead of having the pickup cavity round like on Ibanez guitars to where you can't fit an active pickup.

[set6the6word6afire]

the idea of no overdriven signature shit is thouh best idea.......i'm drund ......

hello

[TheMetalerEricM]

guitar looks great. personally i'd have the bridge pickup all one colour instead of zebra, but thats just my opinion on how it looks with the finish. try either spalted , quilted ,flamed maple tops or graphic but not a cheezy one :P, neck thru ( if possible ). locking tuners, slightly thinner body than a regular strat i.e Dean RC7X. For pickups mabey try hum-sing-hum, but coil tap the neck humbucker. but hey, its my opinion and input :)

[FENDERbender612]

i know there is a brand of knock off seymour duncans called "ducan Performers" (correct me if im wrong) i think there are made by SD but are the cheaper, like fender --> squire

there single coil sytle but are tchnically humbuckers! i put a set (3) on my fender for about 80-90 US dollars might be a good set up to save u some money on the pickups

they sound fantastic as well for the price

[glent07]

Not to keen on the headstock shape or the finish on the body, otherwise sounds like it will be great

[roryrockssocks]

I ain't digging the fact it's not a tradition strat style, but that's easily livable with.

I can't pick many faults with it to be honest!

I'd much prefer a maple fretboard and a deathly bright finish, but we can't have everything ;)

I'll try to get my mits on one when they're released.

[TheLeadingIndicators]

If you don't have the inlay anywhere but the 12th fret, you should definitely consider putting small dots on the upper side of the neck.

also...I really like the no whammy bar idea.

the world needs some more insano string benders!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­!!!

[Karlkp]

i love it!!! I would definitely but one!

Especially with the woods you have chosen!!!!

would be nice with 24frets though

i love the finish

Will make the monkey lord look at one with his tree/ wood/ shred machine

[EscpdFrmPsykward]

I like everything except for the finish. But this is just the first concept model.

[guitarslasher3100]

i think you should use a type of nitrocellulose finish on the guitar. not only will it let the guitar breathe a little more so to speak, but it will also allow it to age better and develop more unique, sort of vintage like tones when it gets older.

and if you wanted to go all out i'd almost say a neck through. maybe 5 piece maple/mahogany or maple/bubinga? the maple/mahogany would probably match the body woods better though.

[guitargogden]

I thought you were an ESP artist?

[Souldevistator666]

atleast add binding on the neck and headstock, and definently sperzel locking tuners, there the best! mention me if you can ^^

[kopite92]

locking tuners?

[master123puppets]

for the neck make it like an esp thin u neck, not to thick not to thin

[hughh20]

Very nice, how many frets are there? Has it got a thin or thick neck?

A lot of people would be looking for a thin neck and 24 frets.

[hughh20]

actually, dont worry about the frets question. I counted them :P

[Rockislivin]

yay theres a hum bucker at the bridge!

[HDWMusic]

I LIKE IT, BUT COULD BE TEN TIMES BETTER

[RustyR]

A hardtail! You are a man after my own heart!

I do like the concept of this first guitar Rob. Looks great. Awesome choice of wood for the body. Can't wait to purchase one!

[Tayler3372]

yo dude, let me know where i can get hold of one of them! sounds and looks pretty damn perfect man. xx

[Vignirv]

Nice looking guitar, but i tend to throw up a bit in my mouth when i look at the headstock. I dislike the color but i guess it should come in different colors. To me, the headstock would look better reverse and not that bump in the middle of it. Personally i would prefer looking at a regular straight headstock. Another thing is making the inlays white/silver and have a cool arty like thing to it, like a small monkey avatar. Please no tremolo! Dear god no.

Regards,

Vignirv.

[SixMoreReasons]

lol my first ever guitar was a Gould strat, still have it, bought it in a pawn shop about 7years ago xD

[GeoAnimism]

where will i be able to order one from?

[RobChappers]

Have to finalize the design first. I will let you know as soon as I have a date ;-)

[soccerfreak526]

well honestly i like the strat thing goin but i just dont like the finish that it has would there be any other way that we could get different finishes??

[lugerman]

Hmm... Not so hot on the shape or the headstock. I wouldn't buy it.

It'd be cool if this was a Tele body and reverse Tele headstock. I'd buy that. I just don't think this really 'goes' well.

Did you decide to go string thru hard tail?

I seriously think this should be a Tele body... I think that's what the market needs, it's certainly what I've been looking for.

Though I think most of what is putting me off at the moment is the body shape, it feels slightly... off.

[jclp777]

can u jackoff in the paint like steve vai did on his jem dna model guitars?

[Eggy777]

Chappers!

Oil finish is for the win every time !

Don't bog your baby down with some sort of horrid, thick poly jacket.

[Fichtezxc]

Looks really sweet. If I were in England, I think I would buy one. Seriously. I love the body and neck. I really want a tone pot, but I could add that myself if I had one.

Great design.

[dokken555]

nice ideas! but i personally dont like the reverse tele headstock, and id love a floyd :P but other than that nice ideas Chappers! P.S cant beat a kramer though :P take it easy man

[JGBEK]

please make sure it stays in tune lol

[mojo292]

Lots of good ideas here, glad to hear your going with the xtra jumbo frets! Ergonomic neck joint would be a good idea I think. Is it neck thru construction or bolt on? I might have missed that point?

[btruins]

Thanks for not making the finish with some horrible dean like finish. Great choice in an ebony fretboard as well.

[Szartard]

Definantly needs binding

[asklcnvivdf]

Agreed.

[jclp777]

thank you

[lugerman]

Binding costs money... maybe on a chappers deluxe?

[Lordgout]

Sounds great! I'm not too sure about the telecaster reverse headstock, I just finding tuning wise can be quite annoying as I forget the which strings lineup to the machineheads. I love the look of the peavy tele style headstocks (like the one you played at the Budda stand) also the Warmoth Warhead headstock looks great too (look on google) But so far amazing! Make sure you have a deep tummy cut and a forearm cut just to make things extra comfy! Thanks rob!

[Sulcuscentralis]

22 should be enough I think

[Sulcuscentralis]

Inlays(dot) please. It'll be helpful for many of us. But this brown kind of a finish is not so good with the blackness of the headstock, I think some cream finish should be good. How many frets BTW?

[MyFatCatIsOld]

Why only a fret marker on the 12'th?

[damadstuntman]

Very cool design so far!

- Consider ergonomic neck joint maybe? (Ibanez-style)

- mounting HB directly into the wood looks cooler IMHO

- Wilkinson pick ups kick some serious arse!

- I'm cool with the reverse headstock...but is that a given or could that change to a strat style headstock?

All in all a nice twist of the usual strat-design, I think I'm getting one ofe these phukas since I'm a strat guy ;-))

[smp156]

how about designing a tremolo with a built-in block? it could be a screw in the spring-block that you unscrew with your fingers and it backs out to butt up against the body.

[snapascrew]

you GOTTA use my idea (stainless steel frets) :)

[exmag]

i think it should have the blade pup selector if your gonna have three pups, otherwise id just stick with 2, also i think it needs a tone pot and could probably do without the killswitch as people can upgrade the volume pot to a killswitch anyway, but just my suggestions

[sportsportsport]

epic cow like movements from the mouth during the playing! lol....... I feel a revitalisation of the monkey's body is in the pipeline for the new sig model!...

[GiGaMoG]

Why not Tune-o-matic bridge with string-thru?

[shredster]

Really like the look. Dunno if a "monkey lord approved" stamp would put people off as being a bit cheesy though, even though its just a small detail. good stuff though :)

[GiGaMoG]

Yes please. An inlay at 12th fret will help many people.

[ibanezdudeck]

I'd put an HSH pickup combo and maybe a coil split on higher priced ones. Also, a cool inlay aat the 12 fret is always nice.

[prawn87]

id prefer HH or HSH config, and at least some inlays even if just dots. is there anywhere there is a written list of specs for this?

[demonaca123]

the horns of the body should be sharper and it should be slightly darker colours so it appeals to the metal market aswell because it looks very bluesy at the mo

[MuffinWithAnAxe]

I think maple wins!

[maxlamenace987654321]

I like everything about it, except the knobs configuration. The volume should be a bit further (I always thought the strat volume was too close) and the toggle switch seems to be hard to reach (behind the volume control) I think the best place for a toggle switch is like Les Paul: easy to reach but not in the way of your hand when your playing....

HSS is cool, reverse tele headstock perfect, no tone knob is cool, stained mahogany FTW! Looks like a serious guitar, not a metal toy, very nice!

[Z0ul0u]

Lol Yeah Rob, I posted to early when the video wasn't done ûploading... xD

I'm very proud of you, you've gone so far and worked pretty hard. Now you've got your signature model.

I like it very much, but here are the things I like and I would prefer :

- I Like the Hardtail!

- I like the mahagony body, I was part of the dudes asking for mahagony.

- HSS = Sweet (Hopes the middle p.u. won't get in the way...

- I wish it had a pickgard

- Not sure about the headstock but maybe

WIN

[savagesnephew]

blocked off? what does the mean? never heard of this b4, how does this work?

[BradleyJohnHunt]

basicaly a block of wood that stops the trem from working full stop. to turn a trem guitar into a hard tail

[AndyR3w666]

blocked off means that the tremolo is blocked with something like a piece of wood. so it cannot be moved, look for chappers video where he shows you how to do it.

[savagesnephew]

omg, that intro thing the chappers did at the beginning was AWESOME!!!

[Blade686]

Really nice, though it should have inlays all over. A 400$ guitar is pretty much for medium-skilled players, so they will probably be at the stage of still needing inlays all over.

[yoflyisdown]

I would make it a string through body with a six saddle bridge ,like a tele. It kinda look like thats what you had going on from the photo. Also I think one with a all black satin finish would be bad ass especially since it has an ebony fret board.

[peachy901]

dont like the headstock :(

like it reversed

just not a tele headstock

[EricRichardsonn]

Yay! You took my idea of the stamp on the back of the headstock!

(I am Fuzzy Picklez on the MLF)

[Hazardousglee]

I like the sharp winged RG type instead of the round strat type, also 24 frets are great, i also think the guitar would look wicked if the both of the single coil's were angled forward, and i'm a big fan of the swirl paint jobs....

[heminder]

the body and neck look nice :)

a few things i must say that i absolutely despise: 1 - telecasters, so that goes for the headstock. 2 - reverse headstocks, just keep it the normal way

[gistring]

you won't sell your esp's?

[QuickLicksUK]

as far as im conserned maple neck are ftw !!!

[yoyodunno]

I think it should have a pickguard, other than that it looks sweet and if they are selling any in the US then i'm gonna save some money this summer to get one.

[SomethinWild]

The only thing I would change is the shape of the upper part of the body. Making it a bit more 'agressive' would make it feel more ... a rock'n'roll type of thing. I'm rather a fan of an Ibanez kinda shape with "sharp" edges. But anyway you decide, have a white binding around it. It is a total contrast to the mahogany colour and your chosen finish.

[ReeceLiamAllsop]

have wilkinson pickups like in the vintage guitars

[rammsteinlad]

yo dude where would we be able to buy theese badboy's ? i'm seriously thinking of getting one lol

[Vexion193]

I think i string thru will look better on that kind of body as a posed to a stop tail bridge......IMO

[Janesch]

bah no reverse tele headstock!!!

[kerekem1983]

Reversed headstock! my heritage:)

[bshuker]

Can I just suggest Stainless Steel Frets?! And something like a 12" radius, but wide and flat.

Also, how about body contours? Is it gonna be flat like a Tele or stick some Strat contours in?

Coil tap would be great on the bridge.

How about some quality machineheads? Like some nice locking Gotohs or something, or would you rather leave that to be upgraded later.

[PupDogRecords]

I think it's great! I especially love the reverse tele headstock. Since it will be a hardtail are you just going with standard tuning machines?

[MuffinWithAnAxe]

Does it have to be an ebony fretboard? I love the way a maple fretboard looks and feels on a maple neck

[RobChappers]

Any other votes for maple over Ebony??

[ibanezbloke]

I'd say maple - lovely snappy sound off of them.

[PupDogRecords]

I would love to see it with a maple fretboard...maybe that could be an option later???

[Rockislivin]

id go for maple as well

[ckcoolidge]

+1 on the maple neck. The rest of the specs sound really good.

[LordOfThisWorld74]

Hey rob. i absolutely dig the guitar looks. i thought i wouldnt like a reverse tele headstock but it looks cool. very unique. one.. or 2 questions. is it a set neck??? and what are your ideas on neck profiles??

[RobChappers]

I'll have to go bolt on probably to lower the cost, but the next model will be glued ;-)

[LordOfThisWorld74]

Ibanez or fender style bolt?? i dig ibanez, dosent get in the way. and i prefer ebony board. for my style anyway

[bigleemac]

top drawer Rob, looks like an awesome guitar for the money.

[PestVic]

cant wait