Wednesday, 2 June 2021

You can't have too many.

Make of this what you will - I'm still not quite sure what to make of it myself - but while sniffing around the web I discovered this rather beautiful guitar from the Chapman range:

Now, objectively that's a nice-looking instrument, with an absolutely gorgeous finish to the body. True, I've got a thing about blue (or blue-ish) guitars, but that's just me. What snagged my attention was the name given to the scheme:

Chapman Guitars have updated the ML1 Pro Modern formula to make it one of their best looking, sounding, and feeling guitars to date! Loaded with Seymour Duncan Sentient and Pegasus humbuckers, the ML1 Pro can produce powerful yet versatile tones and the ash top with Zima Blue finish gives it a eye-catching aesthetic. Add to this the roasted maple neck, Macassar ebony fingerboard, and rolled edges for a smooth playing experience.

Now it could be a coincidence of name, but if you Google "Zima Blue" (not that I've ever done that except for research purposes) the first link that comes up which isn't to do with either my story or the Netflix adaptation is three pages down and to do with this guitar. Then it's back to stuff to do with the adaptation. The guitar is from Chapman's 2020 range - the animation came out at the start of 2019.

I must admit I'll be enormously tickled if there is a connection. I've reached out to Chapman to see if they can confirm it, so I'll just have to wait and see what - if anything - they say. In any case I think we can all agree that it's a rather lovely thing in its own right.

Picture and description from Andertons:


  1. I suppose you could describe it as being the Alastair Reynolds signature model? ;-)

  2. Life imitating art imitating life imitating ... perhaps the neck is Permafrost Yellow? Either way I'd be expecting one in the post!
    Would look nice alongside the Epiphone :-)

  3. I have seen that, and never made the connection. I'm most curious to hear if Chapman replies, and what they say about the name.

  4. I've heard nothing to date, Andreas.

  5. Gosh, that's a beautiful thing.

  6. Seems to me that this is a completely valid reason why you should get one for yourself. Even if they don't respond it could be true in your head canon ;-)

  7. I like your reasoning!

    I have had a contact back from Chapman since yesterday, and they're going to ask their designer.