Me and my guitar: Benjamin Burnley

(Image credit: Will Ireland/Future)

On their first ever UK date we met BB’s founder and his custom LTD model...

ESP

“We established a really amazing relationship with ESP because the company built these amazing custom guitars for me and are very supportive of us, and what we do. They’re really hospitable to the band – and make great guitars. This is a maple top, mahogany body. It has my band logo inlaid, and these red Seymour Duncan pickups.”

Piezo pickup

In certain songs the piezo allows us to play acoustic and electric guitar simultaneously

“It’s got a piezo pickup that can be run simultaneously with the electric signal. I run the piezo through a tuner pedal to bypass the signal and turn it on and off. We have songs that have acoustic guitar in them that run along side electric guitars.

“In certain songs the piezo allows us to play acoustic and electric guitar simultaneously with one guitar. Some of the songs we use it on include Sooner Or Later, Home, Breathe, Give Me A Sign and Simple Design.”

Neck

“I love the feel of it. It’s [neck-] through, one piece. There’s no separate neck piece to it. It’s a really solid, well resonating-sounding guitar. This is a standard scale but I also have a baritone scale; same exact guitar, same specs and wood, but baritone. We track with many guitars in the studio, including a Les Paul Baritone and we will be including the LTD Signature Baritone in future recordings.

I run through an Axe-Fx processor, so that does all of the work, and we let the guitar be simple

“Unfortunately it wasn’t made at the time of the recording of the last album but we will use it for future albums. The live baritone songs we use it for right now are Diary Of Jane, Failure, I Will Not Bow and Breathe to name a few.”

Wireless tech

“We prefer it to be wireless on stage. It’s a standard three-way toggle switch, but it’s wired to just have the tone and bass all the way up. I keep it simple; I run through an Axe-Fx processor, made by Fractal, so that does all of the work, and we let the guitar be simple.”