What a fantastic guitar this is, in so many respects, because this beauty once belonged to Guthrie Govan. The Master played this instrument for several years with The Aristocrats, Hans Zimmer and Steven Wilson, mainly throughout Asia and Europe. Indeed, in 2015, Charvel sent Govan this prototype, featuring an improved finish, and after using it for several years, Govan donated the guitar to the Jason Becker Foundation through Herman Li, guitarist of DragonForce, and Stephen Correa, one of Jason’s childhood friends and an active member of the foundation. Leadmusic is proud to have had this exceptional guitar in its possession for several years.

As part of the #ShredforJasonBecker virtual fundraiser, co-organized with Herman Li of DragonForce, Team Becker briefly listed the guitar on Reverb before putting it up for sale through Guernsey in 2021, at a price of $30,000 (in 2021, this amounted to CHF 27,500, excluding fees and taxes).

This rare, signed, stage-played guitar, personally owned by none other than Guthrie Govan, is an exceptional prototype version featuring absolutely stunning tonewoods. A critically acclaimed British modern virtuoso, Guthrie’s guitar playing is truly breathtaking. In 1993, the genre’s Jedi Master was named “Guitarist of the Year” by Guitarist magazine and has continued to blow guitarists’ minds around the world ever since. Govan’s versatility is widely regarded as unmatched. Don’t just take our word for it: dive down the YouTube rabbit hole and prepare to have your mind blown by Guthrie’s videos…

Guthrie is a long-time friend and admirer of Jason’s and is delighted to show his support once again. In 2011, Guthrie performed at the Not Dead Yet benefit concert in Amsterdam (watch the video in this listing’s media gallery to hear Guthrie talk about Jason and his music). He recorded a solo for River of Longing, from Jason’s Triumphant Hearts album, and is now contributing one of his personal guitars to our current fundraiser. From the signed letter of authenticity accompanying the guitar:

• “Greetings!

  Guthrie Govan here, with a quick note to certify that I’m the original owner of this Charvel GG signature guitar.

  A little history, if you’re curious… back in 2015 we made a small change to the finish of the GG signature model, to make it more resistant to the kind of wear and tear which it would inevitably encounter on the road.

  This was the prototype which Charvel sent to me for approval around September 2015: it became one of my main touring guitars for the next year or so. (At that point, we introduced another tweak to the guitar’s design, incorporating a mini switch to access an additional wiring option for the humbuckers and thus yielding the current “version 2.0” specs).

  So… by my calculations, this late-period “version 1.0” guitar must have toured Asia pretty extensively (I did a clinic tour in that part of the world in late 2015) and it’s also done a fair amount of sight-seeing in Europe – the Aristocrats did a big tour there between 2015-16.

  I have to say that the guitar seems to have survived all of that relentless travel rather well so… I suppose that “small change to the finish” must have been effective!

  A huge “thank you” for helping to support a truly worthy cause here and… congratulations on your acquisition of the fine instrument. Us it wisely, my friend 😉

  Cheers,
  G“

The body of this Guthrie Govan Signature features the traditional San Dimas shape and is made from lightweight, carefully selected basswood, with a beautiful caramel tint in a satin finish. Both the body and neck woods have undergone the specific heat-treatment process that many other luthiers use under various names, such as Roasted, Baked or Aged Tone. This treatment removes moisture from the wood, allowing it to dry and stabilize much more effectively, giving it a gorgeous caramel color and, above all, enhancing its resonance and tonal qualities.

This is a treatment commonly applied to acoustic instrument soundboards, fingerboards and complete necks and, in the case of this Guthrie Govan Signature, to the basswood body and maple neck.

Unplugged, the guitar sounds better than almost any other Strat-style solid body we have ever had through our hands – remarkably lively and resonant. The body top is made from absolutely stunning figured maple, with highly pronounced figuring and magnificent patterns. The grain and figuring are broad, well-defined and remarkably consistent, making for a truly beautiful top.

The neck is made from quartersawn figured maple, and here we have to admit that the flame figuring on this neck is the most beautiful we have seen to date. The neck features graphite reinforcement rods and an easily accessible truss rod adjustment located close to the body, as found on Music Man guitars. The 12″–16″ compound-radius fingerboard provides two full octaves and is exceptionally comfortable to play. The neck profile is fairly rounded, not overly wide, and naturally fits the hand. The Jumbo frets further contribute to the overall comfort of the instrument. It is genuinely one of the most comfortable guitars we have ever played in the super-Strat category.The pickups are Charvel custom MFB pickups specifically designed for the Guthrie Govan Signature series, in an HSS configuration, with a 5-way selector switch. The bridge is a floating tremolo system without a locking nut, but thanks to the integrated Tremol-No system, this beauty stays remarkably well in tune under all circumstances. And since the guitar is fitted with a bone nut, we can say that Charvel really got everything right with this instrument.