Guitar Gear
My 9-Year Journey To The New Ibanez PM3C Pat Metheny Signature Guitar
Jazz Guitar Today contributor Marc Silver describes his journey to a guitar that was worth the wait!
In September 2015 Pat Metheny was the Artist-in-Residence at the Detroit Jazz Festival. That meant Pat would be playing many different shows during the festival. Being fans of Metheny’s music, my friend and fellow guitarist, Don Carr, and I drove to Detroit to pick up our festival credentials and dig in for a long weekend of great jazz with close-up seats and backstage access. Since Detroit is my hometown, this was also a fantastic opportunity to reconnect with many of the local musicians who were playing at the festival.
This particular September weekend in Detroit was uncomfortably hot with mid-90s temperatures and extreme humidity. Normally, the weather wouldn’t be important to the story, but it was a key element in the first sighting of what would eventually become Pat’s new main guitar.
One of the shows we were looking most forward to was the Pat Metheny/Ron Carter Duo. The audience was packed in like sardines with a standing-room-only overflow. We were positioned at the side of the concrete stage in the mid-afternoon sun with sweat pouring down our faces, anxiously awaiting the sounds of Carter and Metheny.
When they hit the stage, there was an immediate buzz about two very unusual sightings…
The first was Pat wearing a sport coat in that crazy heat. Metheny in a sport coat? That’s like spotting Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster – only this time for real. My understanding is that Ron Carter ALWAYS performs live in a coat and tie, so perhaps in deference to Mr. Carter, Metheny respectfully donned a sport coat. You gotta love that level of commitment.
The second unusual sight was Pat’s guitar. It wasn’t his usual Ibanez PM200 archtop that he had been playing all weekend. The Charlie Christian style pickup on this new axe was immediately recognizable, but the headstock, neck, inlays, body, and tailpiece seemed like a custom mish-mash of various high-end archtops. We spent a lot of discussion time postulating its origins, but on that particular day, we were unable to establish the secret identity of this mysterious new instrument.
After a few days of research, I discovered that Pat had commissioned this new custom-built creation from luthier Daniel Slaman in the Netherlands. I wondered how he was going to navigate playing something other than his signature Ibanez model while still being an active Ibanez artist. Fast-forward a few years later to a Pat Metheny “Side Eye” outdoor concert in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Pat was playing an Ibanez-made version of the Slaman guitar. Okay, I thought, Ibanez would soon be coming out with a new PM guitar with a Charlie Christian style pickup. I was right… sort of.
It took a few more years for Ibanez to finally bring the new Ibanez PM3C Pat Metheny Signature model to market, but I can confidently tell you it was worth the wait.
My first impression was in the Ibanez booth at Sweetwater’s 2024 GuitarFest this past August. I didn’t know the new PM3C had been released, so I was surprised to see it sitting on a stand, beckoning me to come hither and commit quartal harmony on its flatwounds.
I was really enjoying playing the new Metheny model, but in that cacophonous environment, I couldn’t fully “hear” the guitar. I knew right then and there that I wanted to write a review for JazzGuitarToday, but I needed the instrument in my home studio to thoroughly examine it up-close and personal. Ibanez was kind enough to send me a PM3C for that very purpose.
Here’s what I found…
True to Pat’s preferences, the PM3C has a 16″ lower bout, a 24.7″ scale, and a 1.692″ nut width, similar to his other PM guitars. My review model (Natural Amber) features a laminated spruce top, and dark-stained maple sides and back. Even with the laminated woods, the guitar is surprisingly light and resonant… and feedback resistant, which makes for an extremely attractive combination of features.
Let’s face it, the main draw of this new PM artist model is the Charlie Christian style single-coil pickup. I’ve never had a guitar with a CC pickup, so I was genuinely excited to hear how it sounded with my amps. It is definitely different than a humbucker. As I was expecting, with my regular amp settings it has a somewhat thinner, brighter, more articulate tone paired with its stock flatwound 11’s. Great clarity on chords. I believe it would thicken up noticeably with heavier flatwound 12’s or 13’s that I typically use. Metheny gets a thick, rich tone from his flatwound 11’s. Between your amp’s EQ and the PM3C’s wide-range tone control, you can take this pickup from thin-to-thick, and bright-to-dark with ease.
My sample guitar came right out of the box with low action and accurate intonation after tuning it up. One of the things I always look for is… up around the 10th fret and above, I want the notes to ring clear and not choke out. The PM3C was clean and clear, and in-tune all over the neck. I’m impressed.
The guitar is beautifully designed and built with high-end appointments such as:
– Triple binding on the top, sides, and back
– Bound headstock, neck, and f-holes
– Smooth, comfortable Artstar fret edge treatment
– Ebony fretboard with custom PM3C acrylic inlays
– Large, rich-looking headstock with nice tuners
– Smartly-designed tailpiece (Is that an “M” for Metheny?)
– Gold-colored hardware
– Excellent workmanship and finishing all around
It looks a lot more expensive than its $1,599 street price. Plays like it too.
Marc Silver is a guitarist, composer, and author, best known for writing the classic instruction book Contemporary Guitar Improvisation (Utilizing the Entire Fingerboard), which has been teaching guitar players around the world how to improvise since 1978. Visit online at MarcSilverGuitarImprov.com
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