Earlier this year, nine-year-old Maya Neelakantan became an internet sensation after she posted an epic cover of Tool’s 16-minute opus, 7empest.
It was a cover that attracted the attention of multiple media outlets and thousands of Tool fans, with the original video currently sitting just above a cool 65,000 views. 7empest is a tricky beast to tackle for even seasoned guitar players, so it's no surprise the internet went a bit crazy when the nine-year-old nailed it.
Folks on the internet weren't the only ones who went crazy for Neelakantan’s cover, though. As it turns out, Tool guitarist Adam Jones himself saw the performance – along with all the other Tool-themed videos Neelakantan has posted – and was so impressed that he gifted his very own Gibson Les Paul signature guitar to the young six-string sensation.
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“Something incredible happened today, you won’t believe it: Adam Jones sent me a gift,” Neelakantan says in a new video posted to YouTube, in which she unboxes the recently released Adam Jones Les Paul Standard. “This is the biggest day of my life.”
In the video’s description, Neelakantan writes, “A few days ago I got a huge parcel, I opened it up and inside was a Gibson hard case, and when I opened that up there was this beautiful shiny Silverburst Adam Jones signature guitar.
“Mr. Adam Jones himself and Mr. Cesar [Gueikian, Gibson's Brand President] sent me this special guitar as a gift,” she continues. “This is a huge and unbelievable moment for me. Not only did he send this to me, he also signed it at the back [and] wrote, ‘To Maya,’ on it – and also did a beautiful skull/spiral artwork on it.”
In the 14-minute video, Neelakantan puts the uber-shiny six-string through a rigorous tone demo, exploring the clean and overdriven tones that the Burstbucker 1 and DC High-Gain humbuckers are capable of.
The enthusiastic aspiring guitarist made it clear that the $2,999 signature model is a significant upgrade on her existing Epiphone Les Paul Modern – which she used in the original cover video – saying it has a better “feel” to it.
“I’ve always wondered what’s the difference between an expensive guitar and a normal guitar,” she observes. “Now I know it gives more of a feeling to it – it just sounds better. I can tell a very, very big difference between my other guitar and this.”
She continues: “This is truly a very special moment in my life, and I will never ever ever forget it. I really want to thank Mr. Adam Jones and Mr. Cesar for being so kind, loving, encouraging and supportive and for doing such a generous gesture of sending me this guitar all the way from another country to my house.”
Now that Neelakantan has her hands on the real deal, we imagine we’ll be seeing even more Tool covers from the budding guitarist in the near future.
To watch them as they come out, head over to Maya Neelakantan’s YouTube channel.
