SPLIT DECISION
First off, thanks for another great issue, 428 January 2018 (loved the Bernie Marsden column) but I initially thought it must be the 1 April issue… I thought I had seen it all but the Crimson Raw Copper Rodded Descendant takes the biscuit… a £2k guitar with a massive split down the whole length of the body! Whose idea was that? There’s subtle relic jobs and then there’s this monstrosity. I’m sorry but I just don’t get it – and don’t get me started on offset guitars. Ray Faulder, via email
Thanks for writing in, Ray. To be fair to Crimson, those guitars are designed to turn heads and challenge orthodoxy, so they won’t be for everybody. They are beautifully made and though we often say that guitarists have conservative tastes, not all do – and we reckon the Copper Rodded Descendant would look and sound great in the hands of someone like Matt Bellamy of Muse or maybe King Crimson’s Jakko Jakszyk: original players with an original outlook on guitar. Also, we hope you won’t mind us giving you a gentle ribbing about starting on offset guitars, too. The Jazzmaster has been around since the 50s, so if you ain’t used to them yet, we doubt you ever will be!