GUITAR HEROES: DAVE MUSTAINE

David Scott Mustaine (born September 13, 1961 in La Mesa, California, USA) is the lead/rhythm guitarist, main songwriter, and vocalist for the American heavy metal band Megadeth. Mustaine grew up in various Southern California suburbs. He currently resides in San Diego, California. Mustaine was also the first lead guitarist and co-songwriter of Metallica. In 2009 he appeared as the No. 1 position in Joel McIver's book The 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists.

Mustaine was born on September 13, 1961 in La Mesa, California, to Emily and John Mustaine. When his parents divorced, he spent much of his youth with his mother and sisters moving constantly to avoid contact with his father. By the age of 15, Mustaine had rented his own apartment and was surviving financially by dealing drugs. One of his clients was often short of cash, but worked in a record store, so she offered him albums by artists such as Iron Maiden and Judas Priest in trade, which helped form his taste in heavy metal. In the late 1970s, Mustaine started to play electric guitar, most notably a B.C. Rich Bich and joined a band known as Panic for a short time. Mustaine is of Irish and French descent, on his father's side, and German and Jewish on his mother's.

Mustaine used B.C. Rich Guitars early in his career (and for his entire duration with Metallica), most notably a B.C. Rich Bich 10 and later, a B.C. Rich Perfect 10 Bich, which Mustaine strung with just the regular six strings.

In March 2009, while he was guest hosting Bruce Dickinson's Friday Night Radio show, Mustaine attributed his choice of the Flying V guitar to being a fan of UFO's Michael Schenker when he was growing up.

After switching to Jackson Guitars he helped to re-design the guitar maker's version of the King V model (at the time, it was a "double Rhoads size" meaning it had two of the longer fins from the RR). The reshaped Mustaine KV1 model had slightly shorter fins, Kahler bridge and Seymour Duncan JB-4 and Jazz-2 pickups. He also specified 24 frets rather than the original King V's 22, a tradition which Jackson still keeps on its King V models today, and the KV1, as have all of Mustaine's signature models, also featured a smaller, medium fretwire compared to the extra jumbos featured on most Jacksons.

Mustaine later switched to ESP guitars. The company released the DV8 signature model in the 2004 NAMM convention also at which time Mustaine announced his ESP endorsement deal. In 2005, Mustaine and ESP teamed up to release the ESP Axxion, (pronounced Action), in order to celebrate Megadeth's 20th anniversary.(the XX in Axxion and the fretboard inlays being the number 20 in Roman numerals) The ESP Axxion and ESP DV8 were both successful and cheaper models such as the LTD-DV8 R, LTD DV200 and the LTD Axxion were released to target a bigger market.

Dave Mustaine with his Dean VMNT USA Gears of War guitar on tour supporting United Abominations.

However, on December 6, 2006, Dave Mustaine announced that he was leaving ESP guitars and shifting his endorsement to Dean Guitars. His new signature guitar was revealed during NAMM Show on 19 January 2007. The signature guitar is called the Dean VMNT. The V-shaped guitar is very similar to his earlier Jackson and ESP Signature models.The release campaign of the VMNT had a limited copy of only 150 in the world and are signed by Dave Mustaine. This was posted on the website:

"After two successful years, I have decided to leave ESP guitars. This was a business decision and had nothing to do with the guitars or the manufacturing of the guitars, and I wish the staff of ESP, both in the USA and in Japan and Korea the very best of health and prosperity. Meanwhile, I am taking my Classic Metal V known formerly as a Jackson King V1 or an ESP DV8, and my new guitar design presently known as an Axxion, which was the recipient of the Gold Award from Guitar World Magazine for 2005 for new guitar designs with me. I will also be re-introducing through my new endorsement many special models, including re-issues of my old models from over the span of my career, as well as some retro V shapes, similar to the formerly known Jackson Y2KV or a Gibson Flying V. I will make my announcement and be attending the 2007 NAMM show to meet Megadeth fans and all metal fans, musicians of all styles-especially guitarists."

Today he uses his new signature model by Dean Guitars, the Dean VMNT. The USA model was available briefly in limited run after its release, although the Korean and Chinese models are in continuous production. Mustaine uses the USA models on stage.

Dave Mustaine has also recently collaborated with Marshall in order to produce the 1960DM Dave Mustaine Signature Cabinets. He is now using his signature Marshall cabinets on tour.

His new guitar shape, debuting in 2010 with Dean guitars will be a unique new shape for Dave, resembling the Gibson Explorer. This new guitar is named the Dean Zero. Dave has made a few appearances so far with this guitar on the Late Night Show With Jimmy Fallon and on shows during the Australian tour with Slayer. He has also used the guitar in the later dates of the 2009 Endgame tour.

posted by:
zuluwashere