The Badass Ambassador

DAVE MUSTAINE DISCUSSES HIS “BRAND AMBASSADOR” RELATIONSHIP WITH GIBSON — AND LET’S NOT FORGET HIS TWO NEW SIGNATURE FLYING V’S!

- JON WIEDERHORN

OVER THE YEARS, Dave Mustaine has had working relationships with Jackson, ESP and Dean. Since he was a kid, however, he’s had a special love for Gibson. “I saw the first Kiss album and it said, ‘Kiss use Gibson because they want the best,’” Mustaine says. “I thought, ‘Well, fuck, I want Gibson ’cause I wanna be the best!’”

Mustaine ended his 13-year endorsement deal with Dean in late 2020, and in February 2021 he finalized a Brand Ambassador deal with Gibson. “I heard they were in the market for an ambassador,” Mustaine says. “I asked them, ‘What’s an ambassador?’ And I was told it meant that you represent all brands for the Gibson franchise. I said, ‘I can do that.’ So now I represent Gibson, Epiphone and Kramer.”

To date, Gibson has issued three guitars. The Dave Mustaine Songwriter acoustic features a slightly thinned walnut Songwriter body with a cutaway, a 24.75-inch scale mahogany neck with a 24-fret ebony fretboard (their first acoustic to feature 24 frets).