Me and my guitar: Bring Me The Horizon's Lee Malia

For his second signature model with Epiphone, Lee Malia has taken inspiration from James Hetfield, alongside his need for versatility.

Explorer

“I’ve always been drawn to Explorer shape guitars. I had a couple when I was younger: a Jackson Warrior that was more spiky, and as I got older I got a Gibson Explorer and I loved it - how it sat and felt, the tone and everything about it. I was obsessed with Metallica and James Hetfield would always play an Explorer shape. I thought he looked cool, so I’ve always had an attraction to them.”

Pickups

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“I decided to go for the [84T-LM humbucker and P-94] pickup combination because it’s the same as the Les Paul Custom I have with Epiphone. With Bring Me The Horizon, I play a lot of full-on, heavy stuff, but then I also need a really nice clean sound, so I’ve always liked the P-90.

“I used to like single coils in the neck but a P-90 is just a little more fuller-sounding for me. So I mainly use the bridge [humbucker] for my gain-y stuff and the middle position with the P-90 and use them both a lot of the time for my clean sounds. You still get the top end from the bridge pickup, but all the body and warmth out of the P-90. It sounds really nice. And I also use the P-90 on its own for certain parts.”

Coil-split

“With the Customs we also added a coil-split. I use the middle position of both of [the pickups] a lot of the time and when you split the [bridge] pickup as well it’s even better - you can get a more twangy sound.

“It covers any genre you want to play on it. Even though it looks like a bit of a rocky guitar you could play jazz or anything clean or ambient on it because it sounds so nice. This [bridge] pickup has a lot of gain but when you coil-[split] it, it’s cool.”

Walnut finish

“I went for the walnut finish because I’ve always liked wood and wood grain. I wanted it to look like a natural kind of wood but not a matte finish. With the walnut you get to see all the grain still but it’s got a sheen to it, which I like.”