Axe 9 Gibson Les Paul

It’s like playing an entirely different instrument, It’s witchcraft what you’ve done!
— James Macdonald: City Of Ashes

Orion Powell, Lead Singer of City of Ashes visited Burntaxe with guitarist James's Gibson Les Paul.  This guitar had been toured hard and needed some TLC to bring it back to life. It's a beautiful guitar, but sounded flat, out of tune and had constant feedback issues, it didn't have that quality "Les Paul" feel, it wasn't quite right.

 

Vision

The original studio pick ups were a bit of an issue, they didn't fit the band's sound. We launched into universe of "picks ups" and searched for classic 57s, however, no UK retailer could get them to us quickly. We decided to go in a different direction.  Tom has imported Stewart-MacDonald pick ups from the USA many times, he loves them, they have everything you want from a quality pick up, and have a unique feel.

It took a call to the Stewart-MacDonald factory in the United States to get them speeding across the ocean to us here in Brighton.  We fitted them.  These awesome pups give this axe a velvety warm jazz tone and huge, big, bright, ultra clear chords when cranking full gain and volume. 

 

Design

Orion fell in love with our very special Axe 1 design by deprivedanxiety.   We blended the City of Ashes icon into the centre of our Mandala design on both the front and back.  We angled the band icon on the front, so that it's still displayed upright on the axe when James is on stage.

 
 
It’s like playing an entirely different instrument, It’s witchcraft what you’ve done!
— James Macdonald: City Of Ashes
 
 

Tour

City of Ashes begin their Autumn tour tomorrow with their new Burntaxe!  They'll be playing at Barclays Eaglelabs, Brighton on 19th November as part of Stand as One raising funds and awareness for the Samaritans