Gibson CEO reveals why Tool’s Adam Jones “wants the heaviest guitars that we can possibly or humanly make”

Gibson CEO and President Cesar Gueikian has spoken about how Tool guitarist Adam Jones is always on the lookout for the “heaviest guitars” the brand has to offer.

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Jones has long been associated with Gibson Les Paul Custom guitars, with his number-one axe being a well-worn 1979 model you’d hardly see the man performing without.

As Gueikian explains on the latest episode of Dean Delray’s podcast, those new Silverburst models Gibson made for Jones are exceptionally heavy because the rocker believes that a guitar’s weight impacts its tone.

Speaking about what it’s like working with the Tool axeman, Gueikian says [via Ultimate Guitar], “He has a very unique sound. First and foremost, he’s looking for the sound. Second, he wants the heaviest guitars that we can possibly or humanly make. And so we have to source the heaviest maple and the heaviest mahogany that we can find around the world.”

“We go scouting to find the heaviest woods that we can find for him. And that’s because he’s used to playing those ’79 Silverbursts.”

“And he truly believes that it has an effect and that it does affect sound,” Gueikian continues. “So, in his mind, the weight, the finish – the metallic finish – and then the way the guitar is built and the electronics, the profile of the neck, all the specs that make the guitar right in his hands, is what we’re always chasing.”

“And we’ve got a good formula with him having developed a couple of years ago the first ’79 Silverburst,” he says, adding that from that point on, everything Gibson has done with the Adam Jones collection is “preserving that patent DNA of what he’s looking for”.

Having collaborated with some of the biggest names in guitar, Gueikian says that “the beautiful thing about working with all of them is to understand what they are looking for and spend time with them to get it to the point where we can understand exactly what they are after so that we can go get it. As opposed to us asking them to play what we’re making.”

Check out the full interview below.