33 - Colton

May 26, 2024

Colton from Montoursville, Pennsylvania, is a 32-year-old male who has lived in PA his entire life. He started playing music when he was 14 or 15. Starting with keyboard or piano, he soon found himself drawn to the rock and metal that his dad would listen to, bands like Rob Zombie and Metallica. Around a year later, he got his first guitar starter kit. He plays anything that he deems to sound good, ranging from blues to rock, metal, pop, and even some country - essentially covering everything in between. He's even written covers to Lady Gaga songs to make them sound more metal. His repertoire includes everything from Dire Straits to Lynyrd Skynyrd, Metallica, Slayer, Johnny Cash and Miley Cyrus. While he hasn't yet created his own songs or lyrics, he's definitely written some good riffs and managed to convert some pop songs into metal versions. Mostly, he plays by himself, at times also with his drummer. In addition to guitar, he also plays the piano, keyboard, drums, bass, violin, and even sings. Guitar might be his main instrument, but he really likes to try it all.

Colton’s guitars:

LTD FX-260SM Spalted Maple. Has split coil tappable EMG 81TW and EMG 89. Originally had coil tapped passive pickups, I wanted to keep the features so when I switched to active emg's I put in their coil tappable set.
Dark wood explorer. LTD FX-360. This ones all stock. Emg 81, emg 60
LTD DJ-600 Dan Jacob's blood explorer. Very rare, mine has almost never left the case so the finish hasn't started to yellow even slightly. Stock with locking tuners. EMG 81, EMG 85
LTD DJ-600V Dan Jacob's Blood V. Very rare, very hard to find. All stock! EMG 81, EMG 85
BC Rich NJ Deluxe series Warlock. In the trans black quilt top finish. Another rare one, hard to find this model and finish. All stock.
BC Rich Special X Mockingbird in trans amber finish. Another rare one, made only a year or two. All stock, rockfield pickups.
Jackson KE3 Kelly in Eerie Dess Swirl finish. Swapped all chrome hardware to black, buffed all scratches out and even waxed this one. Hard to find these not all beat up. Beautiful color scheme.
Ibanez Artcore AGR73T-TSW Twinkle Snow White Sparkle Hollow Body guitar. This is one of my all time favorites. Sounds absolutely incredible clean plugged in or acoustic even. Paint and Sparkle is gorgeous and earn the light catches it it's second to none. This is my blues machine.
Ibanez rg421msp. This one my fiance got me for a present. Beautiful teal green Sparkle finish with pearl binding. This guitar plays super smooth and the Sparkle mixed with the pearl is stunning.
ESP/LTD WA-600 Will Adler Woodland Camo les paul. Love this one how it had the American flag inlay on the 12th frets. Stock seymour duncan pickups that shred. This ones got the look and the feel. Another favorite of mine.
ESP/LTD Kirk Hammett Purple Sparkle Ouija signature guitar. Limited to 500 worldwide. Beautiful finish. Shredder. Kirk Hammett Bone Breaker Pickups stock. This was one of my grail items, and now I've got it! Complete with Ouija hard case.
Lime green, and a white Ibanez 3/4 scale guitars. These are each one of my son's guitars. One for silas(green) and Jasper got the white! Shredders in training.

What was your first guitar and do you still have it?

My first guitar was a nice starter kit from our local K&S Music, a black squier strat with white pickguard, and a drive starter amp. No I definitely do not still have it. I wish i did just so I could look back but once I got a nice guitar the teenager in me destroyed and set fire to that unit.

What’s your favorite guitar right now and why?

Favorite guitar right now, probably Mt ESP/LTD FX-360 in Paduk Brown Stain finish. The explorer is my favorite guitar shape, it fits me and is comfortable so I always gravitate towards those. It has emg pickups which most of my guitars do so of course I dig the sound as well as the feel. I love natural finishes in guitars so I've got 2 explorers, a spalter maple which is a lighter wood, and this padul brown stain which is my darker one. (My first explorer guitar however was the lighter, salted maple one!)

What’s your newest purchase?

My newest purchase as of a week ago is my ESP/LTD Signature Model Kirk Purple Sparkle Ouija, limited to 500 worldwide. Finally got my taxes so I could afford it which would never happen otherwise. Not my favorite guitar, but one I have had on my grail list for a while, and definitely love it.

How often do you play?

I play less often than I'd like. I have 3 boys now and they are the center of my life and they keep me pretty tired so I usually just relax at the end of the day. However the kids love watching me play and coming out when I'm jamming with the drummer too. My 1 year old headbangs and likes to strum the strings while I'm holding the guitar trying to play. Depression has gotten the better of me also lately and it's been hard to find the urge to pick up an instrument as well. But, I'm working on it.

What's the music you are creating, what's the mission behind it?

Not currently creating any music just jamming with the drummer mostly and doing covers with him too. So usually just mindless riffing and jamming, or covers of metallica or whatever we feel like!