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00:00 Hey guys, how's it going? I'm Sophie Lloyd and I'm here with Guitar.com and this is My Guitars and Me.
00:05 So this is my first Kiesel signature model. It is the SL6X, this one. This is the slightly more
00:27 advanced version. I started designing this with Kiesel. I've been a Kiesel artist for ages. I've
00:31 always loved their guitars, especially the Aries models. So I know I wanted an Aries model but I
00:37 just sort of, there were some tweaks that I wanted to make to make it like extra special.
00:41 So this one is a black limber body which I love because it's got similar tonal characteristics
00:46 to mahogany that is quite like warm and rounded, kind of similar to how like a Gibson Les Paul
00:51 would sound. But then it's also got that, like it's way lighter so you can kind of, and it's
00:56 super balanced so you could like run around stage, do silly things, throw it up in the air without
01:01 worrying too much about, you know, your back and your shoulders because I'm only weak so
01:05 I need like something a little bit lighter. So this is really good that it has that.
01:09 The neck is a walnut neck. This one has a purple heart stripe as well purely for
01:14 looks because it looks kind of sexy. It has a lot of good sustain, it makes it resonate. It's
01:19 also really smooth to kind of, you know, move your hand around, it doesn't get caught or anything.
01:24 And the fretboard on this is royal ebony which it has the pretty little stripes. Again, very warm
01:37 round. I kind of love that classic kind of Gibson Les Paul sound but I wanted it in more of a shreddy
01:42 kind of modern guitar with 24 frets that you can do a bunch of silly stuff with. So that's kind of
01:48 what this is and the extra silly thing that I put into this is this pickup here. So this is a
01:57 Sustaniac pickup and we've got a kill switch here and this is the little switches to activate the
02:04 Sustaniac pickups. And basically what that does, it kind of makes a bunch of really silly sounds.
02:11 It's purely for fun. It just makes the note like never die basically. So it'll just,
02:19 I don't know what it is about it, I don't know the electronics inside it but it just makes the
02:24 note carry on forever. And then it has three different like harmonics so you can make it go
02:29 really really high, get really high harmonic in there and then with the whammy bar you can wail
02:34 on it, you can do the kill switch, you can just make it sound super fun, super silly. So yeah,
02:39 this is my signature baby.
02:41 So this Kiesel was my artist series from a few years ago. This was the first Kiesel I ever got.
03:03 So I first came to discover Kiesels, it was actually through Rob Caggiano from Volbeat
03:08 and he recommended to have a little look at Kiesel and sent me their Instagram page. And I just fell
03:15 in love with their guitars. I'd never seen anything like them. Just the creativity behind it, like the
03:21 woods choices, like you could tell so much care and creativity went into designing those instruments.
03:27 I just sort of on a whim messaged them being like, "Hey, wanna, like I like your guitars,
03:32 do you maybe want to like build a guitar?" And they, you know, they sort of went out on a limb
03:36 and said yes and agreed to kind of partner with me as an artist. And they kind of took that chance
03:41 on me, which was really cool. And they built me this one. I chose all the specs for it. I chose
03:47 the really pretty purple color that they like mixed special. So it's not, this isn't like a
03:51 standard Kiesel color. This is one that they kind of made for me and they sent it. And it was just,
03:56 honestly, from the word go, it was like the best guitar I'd ever played. I feel like getting this
04:00 guitar, like kind of leveled up my playing in a way. And I think it's just the ease of like how
04:05 smooth it is and stuff. Like your fingers just kind of fly over the fretboard. Like you feel
04:09 like you don't really have to search for the notes. They just kind of land under your fingers.
04:13 That's what I found with this. Like when I got the Kiesel, it just sparked so much creativity and I
04:18 just wanted to write. I wanted to play. I wanted to do all these things that I hadn't like learned
04:23 before. I wanted to learn new genres and stuff. And, you know, from then I just started writing
04:28 a lot, doing a lot more YouTube videos and the balls kind of, you know, rolled to now where I
04:34 am touring the world and doing some crazy shows and got our album coming out and stuff.
04:38 You can kind of see it has some little dinks in it here. And this is actually shaved down because
04:53 once it got dropped on stage and I think like maybe the bass is swung into it or something.
04:58 And there were some big chunks taken out of it. And we took it to Kiesel and they actually sort
05:03 of filled it and painted it and shaved this down so it looks better. So they're very good at damage
05:08 controlling my clumsiness, which is nice because I feel like I need that. But yeah, like I like
05:13 guitars that tell a story and that, you know, you can get a little bit gritty, you know, road worn
05:19 is what I'd say. You should see my Gibson there. It's absolutely awful.
05:23 But yeah, it's been it's been tried and tested and it's it's never failed me.
05:28 [Music]
05:38 So this is my Manson Evo and it's got the Sustainiac in it as well. This one is really
05:48 special to me because this was actually gifted to me by Matt Bellamy from Muse,
05:54 which was so wild. I've been a fan of Muse for so long. They've been one of my favourite bands
05:59 growing up. And then just randomly one day he messaged me on Instagram just replying to one
06:04 of my videos. He's been like, oh, you're awesome. And I was like, oh my God. And then we started
06:09 talking and because he I think co-owns Manson or something. So they sent me out this guitar
06:14 because it was something I really wanted to try. I'd never even heard of a Sustainiac before. I
06:18 have this unboxing video that's really embarrassing. I'll never see the light of day because I didn't
06:23 know what it did and I was trying to figure out what it did. And I was like, why is it like
06:27 ringing like that? So how do I turn it off? Little did I know I would grow to love it. But I like to
06:33 think people are unboxing my signature guitar and having that same reaction. Like what the hell is this?
06:37 [Music]
06:45 Yeah, it soon became one of my one of my favourite guitars. And it's just it was so cool. I did like
06:50 a Muse Shreds cover over on YouTube where I sort of really delved into all of like the different
06:56 features on it. But I just loved the combination of the Sustainiac. You can see the kill switch
07:00 here as well, which I've kind of taken elements of this and put it onto like the more Shreds guitar
07:05 because this was like, this one I think is all maple. I could be wrong with the body, but this
07:11 is like a bit more lighter. So it's a little bit spankier, which is really cool for this guitar.
07:15 But it's not, it's not kind of my sound that I go to a lot. Like it's I guess more Fender-y than Gibson.
07:22 [Music]
07:34 So this is my Gibson Les Paul. This one is quite like nostalgic to me because this was the one
07:40 that when I sort of decided I definitely wanted to be a professional musician, be a professional
07:45 guitar player, my dad was like, if you can play the Stairway to Heaven solo, we can go out and buy
07:50 you a guitar. And I was like, oh my God, that's so exciting. So I spent months trying to learn the
07:55 Stairway to Heaven solo. I eventually sort of learned to play it on my little Yamaha Pacifica.
08:00 And then we went out and bought this one, which is amazing. It's a Les Paul model. It did come with
08:08 the electronic tuner, which I swiftly removed and replaced with the normal Grover tuning pegs,
08:14 which was a good decision, I think. But yeah, this is sort of what really, where I developed my love
08:21 for like the tone of Gibson's, like that really warm, round, old school rock and roll tone I just,
08:27 I absolutely love. So this is all mahogany. It's ebony fretboard. Like I just think it's such a
08:33 beautiful instrument. And it just means a lot to me that it sort of signifies my decision to kind
08:39 of go full time into music and to take that jump.
08:42 [Music]
08:53 I think this is what my first few YouTube videos were, were using this guitar, which is really
08:56 special. But yeah, as you can see, it's very road worn. Not intentionally, I did not buy it like
09:02 that. Please don't hate me. Everyone that treasures their guitars and polishes them every day. This
09:08 is survived to me being a chaotic student at university, many drunken jam nights, everything.
09:15 There are scratches all over it. But each one tells a story, I guess, most of which I can't
09:20 remember because I was probably a bit drunk. But I'm sure there are stories there. And yeah, it's
09:26 just it still sounds amazing. Like I'll still crack it out if I want like a deep, like chunky,
09:30 heavy rhythm. It's a great one to have in the, in the bank when you're at a studio or something,
09:36 because there's, you know, there's no sound that really matches it. Like I said, I think my
09:40 my keys all does a great job at standing against it and being a bit more shreddy. But like,
09:46 it gives them to just, you know, they have that renowned sound that you just can't really emulate,
09:51 emulate, I guess, because of the mahogany. And yeah, it's just a beautiful guitar.
09:56 [Music]