The “MK” Burst: Finds its Home with MK
A note from our CEO –
BEN MONTAGUE
On Friday, 7 November, at around 6 AM, I was at home having a cup of coffee and checking my emails, as I do most mornings, when a message in our info@ inbox caught my eye. The subject line simply read, “For Sale,” but the thumbnail image of a headstock stopped me instantly. There it was: the unmistakable silhouette and lacquer of a Gibson Les Paul Standard. When I opened the email, I found photos of the consignor standing proudly with George Gruhn and other icons of the guitar world, all holding what appeared to be an exceptionally beautiful 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard.
I reached out immediately, saying we’d be honored to take a look. This year alone, we’ve seen fourteen Bursts from ’58, ’59, and ’60 come through our hands, each one special, but something about this one felt different before I ever saw it in person. I invited the owner to bring it in to meet our authentication team: Greg Ellis, Gary Bohannon, McLain Keith, Jake Byrne, and myself.
When the consignor, Mr H, arrived with his wife later that afternoon, he shared a story that felt straight out of guitar folklore. He had purchased the guitar in September of 1971 from George Gruhn’s original shop, long before anyone knew what Bursts would become. From that very day, the guitar became a constant companion in his life. As Mr H told us, whenever he walked into a room with the guitar case, people knew exactly what was inside before it was ever opened. Not everybody gets to own an authentic Les Paul, and he knew it.
The guitar’s most famous scar came from a moment of heartbreak.
Mr H had a talented musician friend named Michael Kauder who once asked to borrow the guitar; something Mr H had never allowed before. Against his instincts, he agreed. Three days passed without a returned call. Desperate to retrieve his instrument, Mr H drove to Michael’s home during family dinner, knocked on the door, and waited until the meal was finished before finally getting the guitar back. When he opened the case at home, his heart sank. Michael had carved his initials, “MK,” into the back of the headstock, right where the serial number once was. Later, Michael admitted he had been on hallucinogenic drugs and believed he was supposed to do it. It was devastating. And yet, the guitar’s sound, soul, and presence were so extraordinary that Mr H kept it, cherishing and playing it for more than fifty years.
As we authenticated the instrument, everything we hoped to find in a Burst revealed itself. The original frets had been previously leveled and the guitar played effortlessly, ringing with a bell-like clarity even unplugged. The original PAF humbuckers were every bit as magical as their reputation suggests; the neck pickup open and deep with endless clarity, the bridge capable of everything from spanky country snap to an absolutely massive, searing wall of sound. This was a ’59 Standard that stood tall among the very finest we’ve ever had the pleasure to offer.
At that moment, watching the guitar come alive in the room, Noah Pelty (one of our senior sales managers) quietly summed up what we were all feeling:
“In the vintage guitar business, every single day is steeped in cool. But every so often, we get to witness history in the making. My job is to tell the stories of the instruments themselves and of the people who played them before, and to try to paint a picture of the future those instruments will have with the people who buy them. The MK Burst didn’t need much imagination – it told its own story.”
Noah Pelty
Visually, the guitar was breathtaking. The original sunburst had faded to a rich lemon hue, revealing mineral streaking in the maple with flashes of bird’s eye, ribbons, and waves that danced as the guitar caught the light…depth and dimension that simply can’t be captured in photos. A whisper of red remained beneath where the original hang tag once hung, reminiscent of another famously storied Burst. Aside from the MK carving, a small touch-up on the headstock, Grover tuners in the Jimmy Page tradition, one replaced saddle, and minor stable binding separation, the guitar was remarkably clean in all the places that matter most: pickups, electronics, plastics, hardware, and finish.
During inspection, McLain Keith walked into my office, glanced at the headstock, laughed, and said, “Well… this is the MK Burst. Those are my initials. Maybe I’ll take it home.” And just like that, the name stuck. From that moment on, this guitar was officially known as The MK Burst.
The next morning, after a tornado tore through Nashville, I was walking my dog at sunrise and couldn’t stop thinking about the MK Burst. Its story. Its scars. Its soul. And that’s when it hit me with total clarity: there was only one person meant to play this guitar…let alone own it.
Marcus King.
Marcus is a dear friend of the store, family, really. I reached out and said, “Brother, we have a ’59 Burst here, and I swear this guitar is destined to be in your hands. It literally has your initials carved into the headstock.” From that moment on, the conversation never stopped. Photos were exchanged. Ideas were shared. And when Marcus finally came in and played the MK Burst, the connection was instantaneous.
As Marcus later put it:
“From the first moment I played the MK burst I knew this guitar would change my life.
Marcus King
The smell of the nitro finish, the matchbook Top, the Grover machine heads, the PAF pickups – all of it put me right back in my childhood bedroom with my dad learning from him, the music of the great torch bearers before me who wielded this instrument. I’m honored to contribute to the impact these guitars have already made to Rock N Roll history.”
Noah happened to be standing quietly in the corner of the room that day, watching it all unfold:
“When Marcus first played the guitar, I was holding my breath. Plugged into a low-powered Tweed Twin with a Mythos Mjolnir, the tone that came from his hands through that guitar was unreal. Everyone in the room seemed to share an unspoken understanding that this artist and that guitar should never again be apart.”
Marcus came back again to play the MK Burst, and we changed the rig: a Keeley-modded TS808 into a 1966 Fender Super Reverb. Somehow, impossibly, the two MKs sounded even better together. Between songs, stories were shared, laughs exchanged, including one about the first time Marcus’s dad met Duane Allman. Eventually, and reluctantly, the guitar went back into its case for a little while longer.
Then the day finally came. The details were settled. One last video. A lot of hugging and back-slapping. And the MK Burst went home.
As Noah later reflected:
“It didn’t fully hit me until a couple of days later that I’d been a small part of what will undoubtedly go down in history as one of the most important guitar purchases of all time. All I can say is this: long live the MKs.”
Today, we’re incredibly proud to officially announce that Marcus King is the owner of the MK Burst.
Marcus, we love you dearly. You are a great friend of the store, a generational talent, and a true steward of this instrument’s next chapter. We cannot wait to hear the records this guitar will help create, the stages it will command, and the audiences it will inspire for decades to come.
A heroic guitar is now exactly where it belongs—in the hands of a guitar hero.
From all of us at Carter Vintage Guitars, thank you for being our friend, thank you for inspiring us, and Marcus – welcome to the Burst Club.
-Ben Montague
