Chapman ML3 Bea Standard

There’s so much to admire about the Chapman ML3 Bea Standard. It’s a well thought out guitar, with excellent specs, at a really reasonable price. For all intents and purposes, it boils down to a posh telecaster, but this belies how many advancements there are on that traditional design. Coil tapped humbuckers for tele or LP tones, flame veneer, locking tuners and lovely body contouring (it’s really comfy) are three of the top pros. I also like the placement of the controls, well out the way of the strumming hand but still easily accessible, and the dot-less fretboard with just the infinity symbol at the 12th fret is a sweet touch. On a personal level, the neck is too chunky for my own taste. I had it setup in both standard and drop B tuning and it played and sounded well in both.