Save for special songs or occasions, John Mayer is rarely seen without a Silver Sky in his hands. That changed over the weekend as he grabbed a Music Man Axis to shred some Van Halen.
Mayer shared the stage with Dave Grohl at the annual Soundstage of Hope benefit concert at Chaplin Studios in Los Angeles on October 10. They were two of the big name artists getting in on the action, and their rare guitar pairing stole the show.
With Chad Smith on drums and Grohl donning an all-black Gibson RD offset, Mayer tipped his hat to one of his earliest guitar heroes. Specifically, he played Eddie’s 1990s Music Man signature, with a striking purple finish, a flame maple top, and a “JCM” Monogram headstock.
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This model in particular is a Custom Shop replica of the one Eddie Van Halen was pictured with on the cover of Guitar World magazine in September 1991. Mayer, who fell in love with the guitar because of the cover, once called the custom model a “the dream machine.”
At Chaplin Studios, Mayer more than put it through its paces during a cover of Van Halen’s most famous cover: The Kinks’ You Really Got Me. During the track, he unfurled some screaming leads and supple volume swells, making full use of the Floyd Rose and whammy bar. Plus, in true EVH style, there were oodles of phaser warping his tone.
The guitar means a lot to Mayer, so it’s no surprise he was excited to bring it out onto the stage.
Posting on Instagram in 2014, he wrote: “Throwback Thursday, with a twist. Back in 1991, at the age of 13, I bought a Guitar World with Eddie Van Halen on the cover and fell in love with his Music Man signature model (and his playing.)
“23 years later I reached out to Ernie Ball/Music Man and asked if they could make my childhood dream come to life by building one more of these long-discontinued guitars,” he continues.
“Here it is, made from original parts stored away since 1991. The dream machine. I can’t begin to describe the joy.”
It’s been a busy couple of weeks for Mayer. He’s traded solos with Derek Trucks at Eric Clapton’s Crossroads, dropped two Land Rover-inspired Silver Sky models – which are not a dig at Fender, it turns out – and announced his return to the Las Vegas Sphere.
It’s also not the first time he has paid tribute to Van Halen. In 2008, Mayer covered Panama with a Frankenstein guitar.
