MusicRadar

The Classic is a completely new design in it's own right.

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• Review

Anyone who's kept an eye on the comings and goings within the music instrument industry over the last few decades will know that Martyn Booth worked for Gibson's UK repair department during the 1970s.

From there he went on to run his own successful repair business before designing the MSG range of guitars for Yamaha in the mid-eighties.

There he created the MSG guitar, looking to combine the elegance of a 335 with the construction of a Les Paul. Although it got a great response – the late great Alan Murphy was the model's prime champion – by the early nineties times were tough and Yamaha decided to cease production.

Come forward 10 years and Martyn has a successful repair operation in Suffolk, where his reputation as a craftsman and perfectionist keeps him busy looking after his roster of satisfied clients.

But the nagging desire – along with considerable pressure from MSG/ Image fans – to re-create and refine his original design to the boutique standards of PRS and co, has led to the models we see today.

Overview

Those who have tried to amend an existing and extremely well known guitar shape will know that it's infinitely more difficult than you think.

In this instance, Martyn couldn't just scale the ES-335 shape down by reducing its perimeter by a few millimetres because, where the body itself may have looked okay, the cutaways would have been way out of proportion.

The reality is that every facet of the design – including body depth, waist and the carving of the top – all need to be adjusted in order to produce a look that 'works'.

Martyn has got things dead right. It's hard to look at the Classic and not think it fell off a Gibson drawing board 50 years ago, whereas in reality it's a completely new design in its own right.

While Booth's guitars ape the Les Paul's construction with its mahogany back and maple cap, Martyn has found that the correct proportion of mahogany to maple is vital to retain the proper balance of dynamics and sustain – too much maple and the sound can become brittle, go too heavy on the mahogany and it gets a bit too dark and grungy.

Martyn keeps his wood stocks in batches according to weight (mahogany) and grain (maple), so customers can choose heavy, medium or light, along with whatever style of grain pattern they fancy – from fabulous quilts and flames, to plainer versions for those not keen on the 'furniture guitar' thing.

Although most of Martyn's guitars are chosen with translucent finishes that highlight the grain of the maple top, we opted for this black Classic because we felt that, with its bound ebony fingerboard and pearl inlays, it lent a meaner, more rock 'n' roll look.

The mahogany neck is glued to the body at around the 20th fret for virtually unhindered access to the generous cutaways.