Periphery guitarist Misha Mansoor is teaming-up with online retail giant Reverb to sell-off a section of his sizeable gear haul.
The store is announced today, alongside a preview of the key items, and officially opens on August 3, whereupon there will be up to 48 pieces available to buy.
“Over the years, I’ve collected a number of rare guitars and interesting pieces of gear,” said Mansoor. “Some of these pieces have been used on the upcoming Periphery album, most of them have been used on previous albums, but all of this gear has mojo.
“These are the pieces I kept for myself. Now I’m hoping other players can be inspired by, and create with this gear.”
Perhaps the most notable item in the sale is Mansoor’s Blackmachine B6, designed and built by UK luthier Doug Campbell – an electric guitar which proved highly influential on the djent pioneers.
“Those who know understand the significance of this guitar: it’s the one that started the whole Blackmachine adventure for me,” said Mansoor.
“This guitar is a proof of concept for the B6 lightweight philosophy. There isn't, nor will there ever be, another B6 quite like this one – this guitar was used to write and record many songs on Periphery II, and it was used live during that era as well. If there is one guitar here I was genuinely torn on selling, it's this one.”
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Also up for sale is the first prototype of Mansoor’s USA Series Jackson Juggernaut HT6 signature guitar.
“This is a very special, one-of-a-kind guitar,” comments the guitarist and songwriter. “It was used on Juggernaut live tours as well as in the studio for Periphery III and Periphery IV. It became a studio workhorse because of how good it sounded and how relatively rare it was.”
Mansoor is also selling a prototype of his limited-run eight-string Jackson custom shop Juggernaut HT8, of which only 30 were produced. The guitarist notes that he leant on the instrument heavily throughout the Juggernaut recording sessions and tours.
“This guitar became a live workhorse,” adds Mansoor. “It was my best playing and sounding 8-string, and anytime I was playing an eight live in that era, I'd be using this.”
We also like the look of the one-of-a-kind custom-built Floyd HT7, which Jackson made for Mansoor to play the track Motormouth from Periphery III.
Mansoor claims it has been used in every performance of the track, including the studio recording, and notes that he probably should have had a backup made.
Elsewhere, there is another signature model, though it’s not one of Mansoor’s. Rather it’s an original run model of Music Man’s JP7 John Petrucci Signature, finished in Mystic Dream. It was one of the first seven-string guitars the Periphery man owned and saw a lot of use in the band’s early years.
“I saved up like crazy for this,” comments Mansoor. “And then I used it to write and record all of the seven-string songs on Periphery I and it was also used on Periphery II.
“I also used this on tours around that era, though I was paranoid about taking this guitar out on the road. It's so special that I feel a bit worried playing it so now it sits in the case – maybe someone else can put it to good use.”
Some of the gear – namely a gnarly custom Fano build and a futuristic Teuffel Tesla – goes back even further, to Mansoor’s pre-Periphery project, Bulb.
The Fano is described as having a “unique but very sweet voicing”, while Mansoor says he loves Teuffels as “they are funky, unique and actually phenomenal instruments. This Tesla is so easy to play and sounds so good, it puts a lot of competitors to shame. Such an ergonomically considerate design as well.”
Both guitars saw use on the Bulb album, before finding their way back into Mansoor’s recording line-up during sessions for Periphery III and IV.
All of the items will be available for sale at a fixed price (so you pay what you see, no bids, no auction) from August 3.
In the meantime, you can preview the gear and sign-up for launch notifications over on the catchily-titled Official Misha Mansoor of Periphery Reverb Shop.
