dimarzio

Reader: Natheniel Nikhamin

Hometown: Brooklyn, New York

Guitar: Rogue

The inspiration behind this young reader’s build came from getting hooked on 7-strings, and an admiration for John Petrucci.

The story behind this guitar is pretty funny. Since Dream Theater caught my ear and I heard the thick tone of a 7-string guitar on “The Dark Eternal Night,” I wanted, needed, a 7-string. However, there was one small problem: getting this new piece of gear approved by my mom. She’d always say, “Stick with your 6-strings,” and, “You don’t need another, you already have three.” (GAS—or “gear acquisition syndrome”—has made this difficult.) But whenever I’d walk into a guitar store and pick up a 7-string, I wouldn’t want to put it back.

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Rig Rundown: Chelsea Grin

Deathcore dealer Stephen Rutishauser dishes bludgeoning riffs on Petrucci-approved sparkly 7- and 8-string stallions.

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Mustaine stands tall with the Gibson Custom Shop version of his signature Flying V EXP, which will become available in October.

Photo courtesy of Gibson

The Megadeth leader survived his most difficult challenge—throat cancer—to make a new thrash metal opus, The Sick, the Dying… and the Dead!, with guitar foil Kiko Loureiro.

Megadeth’s leader Dave Mustaine was about to dive into making the band’s new album, The Sick, the Dying… and the Dead!, when he received a terrible diagnosis: throat cancer. “I was told by an oral surgeon just like he was ordering a cup of coffee. ‘Oh, you have cancer.’ I went out, sat in my car for a long time, and had tears down my face. I had just gone into a numbness,” he recalls.

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