Me and my guitar: Mastodon's Bill Kelliher
The prog-metal master gives you a guided tour of his LTD Sparrowhawk
When Bill Kelliher switched from Gibson to ESP, little did we realise he’d produce two signature models in the space of a year, the second of which is the Sparrowhawk, which you can see in the Mastodon guitarist's hands above.
We caught up with Bill at NAMM 2017 to get the lowdown on the new model that he calls “his baby”, how he came up with the new body shape, his tunings and signature Lace Divinator pickups.
The Military Green Sunburst Satin-finished bird will cost $1,703 when it swoops in later this year. Mastodon, meanwhile, are prepping their new album, Emperor Of Sand, out on 31 March.
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Mike has been Editor-in-Chief of GuitarWorld.com since 2019, and an offset fiend and recovering pedal addict for far longer. He has a master's degree in journalism from Cardiff University, and 15 years' experience writing and editing for guitar publications including MusicRadar, Total Guitar and Guitarist, as well as 20 years of recording and live experience in original and function bands. During his career, he has interviewed the likes of John Frusciante, Chris Cornell, Tom Morello, Matt Bellamy, Kirk Hammett, Jerry Cantrell, Joe Satriani, Tom DeLonge, Radiohead's Ed O'Brien, Polyphia, Tosin Abasi, Yvette Young and many more. His writing also appears in the The Cambridge Companion to the Electric Guitar. In his free time, you'll find him making progressive instrumental rock as Maebe.
