- Excellent value for the money
- Offering great components with a fair build quality for the price
- Very versatile due to its specs with HSS pickups, coil-split with a tremolo system
- Craftsmanship is not the best, you'd be better off testing before you buy it
- Extremely heavy guitar, around 4.5kg
Hello there! In this article, I will be talking about the world’s most democratic, innovative and first collaborative guitar company on this planet!
Table of Contents
About Chapman Guitars
Some of you guys might already know this company, but for those who haven’t heard of it, it is Chapman Guitars by Rob Chapman! My relationship with Chapman Guitars goes back to the golden era of YouTube. How we would be communicating through videos had just started forming, and most users on YouTube hadn’t had a solid idea of presenting themselves in front of their audience (By the way, as I am a die-hard guitar fan, I’m talking about guitarists, gear, electric guitars and good music!).
Then all of a sudden, a man appeared with a style! This was the first video of him actually responding to a need and question, just like brilliant marketers do, but in a video format. Back in the day, guitar players would spend days on the internet forums, posting comments and arguing about guitar gear.
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But with this video, he was answering a question: “Can the Tiny Terror play metal?” “I don’t know, I’ll be trying hard, but you decide if it can!” The vibe he gave in his very early review videos clearly shows that he was leaving the answer to his audience, collaborating with them already in the very first moments of his career. He also added his humour to his videos every time. I believe this was a really strong and unique approach that no one had ever taken on YouTube before!
His way of communicating with his audience was always so strong, and he had started building a strong alliance with his followers. In those days, he used to do guitar clinics for Faith Guitars, and many of his YouTube followers were also attending his clinics. The head of Faith Guitars was quite surprised by him being just a YouTube user and having many followers (Imagine this was weird 10 years ago!). 
Rob Chapman would explain this with his unique attitude and the way he used social media. Later on, Faith Guitars offered to manufacture his own signature guitar, and this was the birth of Chapman Guitars! Instead of deciding what he would like to have on his own limited-run signature guitar, he ran to his followers and shot a video. He thought there would be no better way to design a guitar than asking those people who would be buying them. Eventually, the company decided to make 500 guitars instead of 100 pieces; they also offered him his own brand! This collaborative approach was a win-win situation because it helped people to feel that they were a part of the process and proud of what they achieved.
Chapman ML-1
I was also a proud owner of a Chapman ML-1 for some years. Even though there were a couple of minor problems, Chapman Guitars never hesitated to swap my guitar with a new one! I actually had to change the guitar three times with the help of Andertons, and finally got the best one, which you can see in the images below.
The first one I got had the tremolo screws wrongly placed, causing me not to be able to adjust the tension of the springs in the back. As far as I remember, the second one had some issues with the wiring. And the third one was almost perfect, and stayed with me. However, it was the heaviest guitar I have ever played! 
It had a really nice combination of possibly a three-piece mahogany body that hosts an HSS pickup configuration with a coil split option, featuring a 3-way switch. It also came with a proper Wilkinson tremolo, which was pretty much what you would have found on a modded guitar. The neck was made of maple with a very dark ebony fingerboard.
Headstock
The headstock on the Chapman ML1 was a T-style, reverse headstock. The only problem here was that due to the break angle, they had to use a pair of string trees, which never helped the tuning stability. 🙂
Tuners
As far as I remember, tuners were solid Grover ones in black colour! It was pretty amazing to be able to access such nice components at a crazy low price tag! I had never had a tuning problem because of these wonderful tuners. However, it wasn’t the most stable guitar due to the plastic nut and the double string trees, which impacted 4 strings!
On the back of the headstock, you can see the Monkey Lord Approved stamp, which was a cool little detail! 🙂 
Pickups
Pickups used on this guitar were pretty much made in Far East pickups. Back in the day, while living and surviving here and there, I didn’t really have that much of a focus regarding technical details, even though I was always a nerd! 🙂 So, I won’t be able to tell you the output measurements. But I can tell you that the bridge pickup was pretty similar to a JB pickup. Easily driving amps and amp simulations. 🙂
While talking about the sound and the pickups, I wanted to share this video with you. I had only three videos that I uploaded to YouTube featuring my Chapman ML1. Here I played a cover version of Queensrÿche’s “I Don’t Believe in Love Cover”. I also used my Ibanez AR300 with an SD JB/Jazz set. Don’t forget to check out the video gear page to find out all the gear I use in my videos.
Queensrÿche – I Don’t Believe in Love Cover
Neck & Fingerboard
The neck is made of maple; unfortunately, I don’t remember the number of pieces. But I must say it was a pretty comfortable, slim-C profile neck. This great all rounder profile features a pretty dark and smooth ebony fingerboard with medium jumbo frets. So, pretty much standard specs, but the ebony fingerboard was definitely a surprise at this price range. Also, considering that I first purchased this guitar back in 2010 for about 250GBP, I must say it was too impressive!
The neck plate also featured this lovely Monkey Lord laser engraving, which looked really, really cool! I’d like to also share another video featuring my ML1. This time I played the trumpet solo on the track Que Dolor by Fanfare Ciocarlia. Don’t forget to check out the video gear page to find out all the gear I use in my videos.
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Fanfare Ciocarlia – Que Dolor Trumpet Solo Cover
Bridge & Electronics
As I mentioned, the second guitar I had had some issues with the electronics and switching (as far as I remember), so I had to return that guitar. But the last one I got had a lot better quality. ML1 features a pretty simple, 3-way switch with a coil-tap option on the volume pot. While the HSS pickup configuration is already the most versatile pickup combination ever, you would also have an option to split the bridge. I couldn’t remember exactly how that pull position worked. Maybe splitting the bridge and adding the middle pickup to it?
Just like the Grover tuners, the Wilkinson bridge was also a shockingly good addition to this guitar. It was crazy to get such high-quality and industry-standard components on a highly affordable guitar. Nothing bad to say about this bridge; it was awesome! Here you can listen to the guitar on my cover of You Don’t Fool Me guitar solo by Queen. I heavily used the Wilkinson trem on this solo. Don’t forget to check out the video gear page to find out all the gear I use in my videos.
Queen – You Don’t Fool Me, Guitar Solo
Overall, the guitar was offering a lot more value than what you would have to pay back in the day. As I mentioned, I bought it for about 250GBP back in 2010, and sold it without losing too much money after 5 years of light usage.
Although customer participation in product development processes has been around for quite a long time in many industries as well as in the musical instruments industry, what Rob Chapman has achieved still remains unique in his own league. According to his interviews that can be found on the internet, what I have understood is that he is a natural-born marketing guy, an entrepreneur and has already proven many times that he’s very successful!
One of the other reasons that I am writing this article on Chapman Guitars is its influence on my life. Back in the day, I was in London, UK, working, studying and trying to survive. All I remember is that I was working really hard to catch up with all these tasks and responsibilities in my life. Like many foreign students, I wanted to do my master’s so I could have another piece of paper that might help me with my career. The process was almost always boring until I decided to incorporate what I liked the most into my dissertation project, the musical instruments industry! I chose Chapman Guitars as my case study and had a really great time writing my dissertation.
This little path that I had turned to has affected my career, and it’s the reason that I have become a musical instruments industry professional keep sharing what I have learnt in this industry on this blog! If you are interested, please do not hesitate to go to the “Download” section and read my “MBA marketing dissertation, a case study of Chapman Guitars!” And forgive my way worse abilities in the English language in my dissertation! 🙂 It’s a great feeling that I chose Chapman Guitars as my case study while it was just a small company with a limited number of instruments, and I am now able to see that it has shown huge business growth! Thank you, Rob Chapman “The Monkey Lord“ for being a great influencer in my professional life! 🙂 
Although there were a lot of controversies around his online persona in recent years and the current status of his Chapman Guitars company, I still like him a lot; he was one of the pioneers of the guitar/gear universe of YouTube and inspired many people just like me! 🙂
Pricing & Availability
Unfortunately, Chapman ML1, the very first original ML1, is very difficult to supply online. Your best bet is to check out Reverb all the time. There are many Chapman Guitars listed as used as well as brand-new items from authorised dealers. Weirdly, Chapman Guitars are not so visible across the biggest online stores in the EU. I wish the company more success and visibility on the guitar market in the upcoming years!
Check out Chapman Guitars on Reverb here
Hope this has been a helpful review for you! I wanted to feature this lovely brand and one of my favourite guitar gear personas to you and also walk me and you through those days! 🙂 Thanks for visiting my blog and supporting me so far! I will hopefully see you in the next review here!
