Jackson Custom Shop is introducing its new Chris Broderick signature guitar model in January 2011. The MEGADETH guitariat himself worked closely with Custom Shop master craftsmen to create a distinctive guitar based on a classic Jackson design.

That guitar, the Jackson Chris Broderick Soloist, brings his long and exacting search for instrumental excellence to a most satisfying conclusion.

"After an exhaustive search for the highest-quality instrument, I've found it at Jackson," Broderick said. "I've been looking for a guitar this incredible for quite a while, and the guys at the Custom Shop really understood what I was after and where I was coming from. I have spent countless hours ensuring that this guitar is playable and stylish."

Broderick's Soloist model boasts an unusual new touch in the form of a slightly offset carved-top body design for which the guitarist collaborated with longtime Jackson Custom Shop master builder Mike Shannon. Other features include dual DiMarzio humbucking pickups and a 24-fret 12"-radius fingerboard. Further, the guitar will be available in six- and seven-string models.

The Colorado-bred Broderick is not only a formidable shred guitarist, but also an extraordinary musician in a much wider sense. He started playing at age 10, studying guitar, voice, violin and piano, and eagerly devoured a wealth of diverse musical influences extending well beyond rock into classical, jazz, blues and country forms. He earned a degree in classical guitar performance from the University of Denver's Lamont School of Music, and he himself has taught guitar for more than a dozen years.

Broderick joined Megadeth in early 2008. His molten guitar work has contributed to the band's current revitalization, including 2009 album Endgame, the American Carnage" and Rust In Peace 20th-anniversary tours, and the summer 2010 Sonisphere festival shows in Europe that featured several metallically historic "Big Four" shows.

Jackson's unveiling of Broderick's new signature model comes closely on the heels of the guitar maker's announcement of its partnership with Megadeth bassist David Ellefson, who received his own new signature bass model in early 2011 and who will be collaborating with Jackson on the development of other new bass models.

Broderick's NAMM schedule can be viewed on the flyer below: