John Mayer has a guitar that’s literally made out of the basketball court at Madison Square Garden
Mayer played two shows at the iconic venue earlier this month.
Credit: Denise Truscello/Getty Images for Keep Memory Alive
While he’s probably most associated with PRS and Fender guitars, John Mayer’s fond of Charvel, too. And his latest Charvel axe has some rather unconventional origins. That is, because it’s literally made from the basketball court at Madison Square Garden.
Mayer’s new guitar celebrates his recent two-night stint at Madison Square Garden, with its body being built from wood taken from the floor of the venue.
The guitar was commissioned by The Garden and made by Charvel Custom Shop Master Builder Joe Williams. The recently-removed New York Knicks basketball court was used to make the guitar, and there’s a sticker displaying the Knicks’ logo on the axe too.
The guitar has a different head to most Charvel models, instead appearing to pay homage to another of Mayer’s guitars – his pink Jackson 30th Anniversary Soloist built by Mike Shannon.
Williams posted a selection of photos of the guitar on Instagram, writing that he was “very honoured” to be part of this “special project” for MSG and Mayer.
“A while back, we were contacted to build a guitar for John Mayer who had already sold out The Garden venue two nights in a row,” he continued. “As gift to him, they asked us to make a guitar out of the recently removed Knicks basketball court.”
“I didn’t have a whole lot of time to really go crazy with it, but it seems like everyone was happy with what I came up with.”
He then added that Mayer owns another guitar he made: a Jeff Beck-style Soloist he built in 2015.
While performing at Madison Square Garden earlier this month, Mayer brought out one of most iconic his Fender Strats: ‘the Black One’, or BLK1, a 2004 model, for the first time in four years. And the previous week, he brought out a Jimi Hendrix Monterey Strat during a festival show.