The Guitars of Linkin Park

Chester may not have played a lot of guitar (at least on stage), but he still managed to be seen with a pretty wide variety of instruments during his career.



Brand: Paul Reed Smith (PRS)
Model: CE 24
Finish: Royal Blue
Years Used: Backstage photo circa 2000-2001, used on stage in 2011
Special Features: Sticker between pickups (2000-2001)
Current Status: Active touring use (As of 2017 - Mike Shinoda)
Notes: Chester was photographed backstage with Brad's blue CE 24 at one point during the Hybrid Theory touring cycle (first photo), which is probably the earliest photo of him with a guitar in existence. He never played the guitar on stage during that period, but fast forward about ten years, long after the guitar had moved from Brad's arsenal to Mike's and had the sticker removed, and Chester actually ended up playing it on "Shadow of the Day" for some performances in 2011 (second photo)! Chester rotated this guitar, his PRS Mira, and his red Hamer in and out of use during that year's Asian tour, and I believe that was the only point where he used this guitar. That makes this guitar a rarity in that Brad, Mike, and Chester have all used it on stage!


Brand: Takamine
Model: EF341C
Finish: Black
Years Used: Owned since 2001, used for one performance in 2013
Current Status: Unknown
Notes: Chester used this guitar for a solo performance of "The Messenger" at a radio station in June of 2013. After looking back at some early LP-related footage following Chester's passing, I was surprised to discover this guitar can be seen in the music room at Chester's house during his appearance on MTV Cribs way back in 2001! There isn't a circulating recording of that episode in high enough quality to make it worth posting a screenshot, but it's definitely the same guitar from what I can tell. I suppose it's possible Chester may have used this guitar on "Jane Says" and/or "Morning After" in 2001, either instead of, or in addition to, the EF444S mentioned below, but I really have no way of knowing that for sure.


Brand: Takamine
Model: EF444S
Finish: Tobacco Sunburst
Years Used: 2001
Current Status: Unknown
Notes: This is the only existing photo of this guitar, so I can't say for SURE when it was used, but based on the time period the photo was taken, it's reasonable to assume Chester used this guitar for his occasional solo acoustic performances of "Morning After" or "Jane Says" by Jane's Addiction during Linkin Park's headlining sets in the middle of 2001.
Photo Credit: Takamine Guitars


Brand: Terry C. McInturff (TCM Guitars)
Model: Taurus Sportster
Finish: Black
Years Used: 2002
Current Status: Unknown
Notes: Chester used this guitar for performances of the song "It's Goin' Down" in 2002. This guitar was previously used by Brad Delson in 2001 (more info on this guitar on Brad's page).
Photo Credit: Pushmeaway.com


Brand: Pignose
Model: PGG-200
Finish: Metallic Blue
Years Used: 2002 (Studio)
Special Features: Tortoise shell pickguard, built-in amplifier
Current Status: Studio use (Mike's home studio)
Notes: Chester can briefly be seen playing this guitar at Mike's home studio on the Making of Meteora DVD (more info on this guitar on Mike's page).


Brand: Hamer
Model: Newport Pro
Finish: White
Years Used: 2002-2003 (Studio)
Current Status: Unknown
Notes: This was the first guitar that Chester custom-ordered from Hamer (it wasn't typically available in a white finish). It was never used on stage, but it can be seen briefly in one of the 2003 LPTV episodes, sitting on a couch in the studio. Unless Chester lost this guitar in his divorce from his first wife or something, I'd assume he held onto it over the years, but it was never seen again outside of those two appearances.
Photo Credit: Hamer Guitars


Brand: Ovation
Model: C779LX "Flag Guitar"
Finish: Custom U.S. flag graphic
Years Used: 2002-2003 (Studio)
Current Status: Unknown (Likely owned by Don Gilmore)
Notes: Chester can be seen messing around on this guitar while playing the infamous "Nondisclosure Agreement" joke song on one of the 2003 LPTV episodes filmed while recording Meteora. This guitar belonged to Don Gilmore, who can also be seen joking around with it in another episode ("Today was magical...almost as magical as this guitar!"). Given the amount of time that's passed since the Meteora sessions, and the fact that Linkin Park hasn't worked with Don Gilmore since 2004 (his last involvement with them being some of the mixes on the LPU 4.0 CD), I have no way of knowing if this guitar is still in Don's possession, but I have a feeling it probably is.


Brand: Hamer
Model: Studio Custom
Finish: Red Transparent
Years Used: 2003-2004, 2007, 2009-2012
Current Status: Unknown
Notes: For the majority of Linkin Park fans, this was the first guitar they saw Chester use on stage. He initially started using it on "It's Goin' Down" during the Meteora touring cycle, then he retired the guitar for a while in favor of his Flying V-style guitars. He did use this guitar on at least one occasion for "Shadow of the Day" in 2007, before using it regularly for the same song beginning in 2009. This guitar was only used twice in 2010, on "Iridescent" at two promotional shows in September (the first two performances of that song, in fact). Chester also used this guitar on "Iridescent" at some shows in 2011, and it was spotted as a spare guitar in the A rig as recently as the Honda Civic Tour in 2012, although it didn't see any use during that tour (largely due to Chester heavily promoting Green Guitar Project during that period), making 2011 its most recent stage appearance.


Brand: Yamaha
Model: RGX A2
Finish: White
Years Used: 2005-2006
Current Status: Unknown
Notes: This was Chester's main guitar for Bucket of Weenies performances. Not sure if it actually belonged to him, but he used it on more than one occasion. Apparently Amir Derakh had a hand in designing this guitar model through his relationship with Yamaha, so I'd assume that's where Chester's connection came from and how he ended up with it.


Brand: Gibson
Model: Les Paul Standard
Finish: Tobacco Sunburst
Years Used: 2005-2006
Current Status: Unknown
Notes: Chester also used this guitar for at least one Bucket of Weenies performance. I used to think there was some custom artwork behind the tailpiece on this guitar, but upon closer inspection I think it's just a reflection from the mic stand, so I think this is a stock Les Paul after all.


Brand: Dean
Model: Unknown (ML series)
Finish: Unknown
Years Used: 2006 (Charity auction)
Special Features: Custom artwork by Chester
Current Status: Sold at auction
Notes: Chester painted this guitar for the 2006 "Six-String Masterpieces" exhibit/auction. Joe Hahn also painted a guitar for this exhibit (see the "Misc." page for information on it). This guitar has subsequently shown up on eBay several times in the years since.
Photo Credit: eBay


Brand: Gibson
Model: Les Paul Custom
Finish: Ebony
Years Used: 2006-2007 (Studio)
Current Status: Unknown
Notes: Chester and Mike both used this guitar during the Minutes to Midnight recording sessions. It may have belonged to Rick Rubin or studio engineer Ethan Mates, or it may have been a rented instrument.
Photo Credit: Mike Shinoda


Brand: Takamine
Model: Unknown Dragon series acoustic-electric guitar
Finish: Natural Gloss
Years Used: 2006-2007 (Studio), 2010 (LPU Summit)
Multiple Copies: 6
Current Status: Active touring use (As of 2017 - backstage guitars)
Notes: Chester and Mike both used this guitar during the Minutes to Midnight recording sessions. Chester also used this guitar for a solo performance of "The Messenger" at the December 2010 LPU Summit in Australia. The band owns a total of 6 copies of this guitar (or at least similar enough Takamine acoustic guitars that I can't tell them apart), and both Brad and Mike have used it on stage over the years. While Brad and Mike are the only two members of the band that have used these guitars for "full" live performances (Brad on "Castle of Glass" and "The Messenger," and Mike on "The Little Things Give You Away"), these guitars have kind of become "communal" guitars that the band collectively shares for backstage warmups and jamming offstage in recent years - every member of the band except for Rob has been documented playing them at some point!
Photo Credit: Mike Shinoda


Brand: Hamer
Model: Vector (Custom)
Finish: Purpleburst
Years Used: 2007-2010
Current Status: Unknown
Notes: Chester used this guitar quite a bit during the first half of the Minutes to Midnight touring cycle, specifically on "Shadow of the Day." By the middle of 2008, it had been largely phased out in favor of a black Hamer Vector, but was still used at least once in 2009 for the Epicenter festival appearance. Chester also used it for the same song on the European tour in the fall of 2010. All of his Flying V-style guitars were retired by the end of the A Thousand Suns touring cycle, and I believe this one wasn't used at all in 2011.
Photo Credit: Drew Gadsby


Brand: Revenant Guitars
Model: Nemesis (Custom)
Finish: Black
Years Used: 2007 (Photo shoot)
Special Features: Single Seymour Duncan humbucking pickup, master volume, string-through bridge, pentagram inlay at first fret, custom Ve'cel artwork on body
Current Status: Unknown
Notes: Chester used this guitar for a Ve'cel photo shoot in 2007. As far as I know, that's the only time it was ever used.
Photo Credit: Ve'cel Clothing


Brand: Revenant Guitars
Model: Nemesis (Custom)
Finish: White
Years Used: 2007 (One show)
Special Features: Single Seymour Duncan humbucking pickup, master volume, string-through bridge, pentagram inlay at first fret, custom Ve'cel artwork on body
Current Status: Unknown
Notes: This is an identical guitar to the other Nemesis model mentioned above, save for the color. Chester actually used this guitar on "Shadow of the Day" at the last show of Projekt Revolution 2007 in Englewood, Colorado. Chester still owned this guitar as recently as 2013, but as is the case with most of his guitars, I don't know what became of them following his passing (if I even knew what their status was by mid-2017 anyway).
Photo Credit: Revenant Custom Guitars


Brand: Paul Reed Smith (PRS)
Model: Custom 24
Finish: Royal Blue
Years Used: 2007
Special Features: Bird inlays, custom artwork by Mike Shinoda (added November 2007)
Current Status: Active touring use (As of 2017 - Mike Shinoda)
Notes: Chester used Mike's blue Custom 24 for performances of "Shadow of the Day" on the fall 2007 tours of Australia, New Zealand, and Asia (first photo). The custom artwork on this guitar was added by Mike prior to the show in Bangkok, Thailand in November (second photo). More info on this guitar can be found in Mike's section.


Brand: Mysstery Guitars
Model: Flying V (Custom)
Finish: Tobacco Sunburst
Years Used: 2008
Current Status: Unknown
Notes: Chester used this guitar on "Shadow of the Day" during the January 2008 tour of Europe (first photo). Mysstery Guitars is actually a VERY small Japanese company (you can count their number of employees on one hand!). Chester purchased this guitar in Japan in the fall of 2007 after seeing his guitar tech Kurt Schneck playing it at one of the band's soundchecks. Mysstery Guitars also uploaded a photo of the guitar on their blog (second photo).
Photo Credit: Mysstery Guitars (Second photo)


Brand: Hamer
Model: Vector
Finish: Black
Years Used: 2008-2011
Current Status: Unknown
Notes: This guitar essentially replaced the purple Hamer Vector for the second half of the Minutes to Midnight touring cycle, and was also used on the Australian tour in December of 2010, as well as the 2011 European tour. Again, this was used for "Shadow of the Day," and was retired from stage use at the end of the A Thousand Suns tour.


Brand: Gibson
Model: Unknown J-series acoustic guitar
Finish: Unknown (Sunburst)
Years Used: 2008-2009 (Studio)
Current Status: Unknown
Notes: Chester was briefly seen with this guitar in one of the behind-the-scenes videos posted on the Dead By Sunrise Myspace page. It looks like it may be a J-45 or something similar.


Brand: Yamaha
Model: CJX32
Finish: Wine Burst
Years Used: 2008-2009 (Studio/Dressing room warm-up guitar)
Current Status: Unknown
Notes: Chester used this guitar a lot during the Dead By Sunrise writing/recording sessions, and he also took it on tour with Linkin Park towards the end of the Minutes to Midnight touring cycle to use as a warm-up/writing guitar in the dressing room (most notably in the infamous "Unicorns and Lollipops" video!). I thought for many years that this was a CJ-32, but it's actually the rarer CJX32 model built in the Japanese custom shop. Ryan and Amir from Dead By Sunrise/Julien-K each have one of these guitars as well, although theirs are in a black finish.


Brand: Dean
Model: Unknown (ML series)
Finish: Unknown
Years Used: 2009 (Art exhibit), 2011 (Charity auction)
Special Features: Custom artwork by Chester
Current Status: Sold at auction
Notes: Chester painted a second Dean ML for a 2009 art exhibit called "Dark Art." It was subsequently auctioned off at the 2011 edition of the "Six-String Masterpieces" exhibit/auction.


Brand: Mysstery Guitars
Model: NEXP
Finish: White Transparent
Years Used: 2009 (Rehearsals)
Current Status: Unknown
Notes: Chester picked up another guitar from Mysstery Guitars at some point, possibly at the same time he bought the Flying V in 2007, but this is the only known photo of the guitar, and it comes from Dead By Sunrise tour rehearsals in 2009. Very unique-looking guitar!
Photo Credit: Sean Paden


Brand: Paul Reed Smith (PRS)
Model: SC250
Finish: McCarty Tobacco Sunburst
Years Used: 2010
Special Features: 3 of 4 knobs removed
Current Status: Active touring use (As of 2017 - Mike Shinoda)
Notes: Chester also used this guitar on "Iridescent" occasionally at some early A Thousand Suns shows, most notably the South American shows in October of 2010. More info on this guitar can be found on Mike's page.


Brand: Paul Reed Smith (PRS)
Model: Singlecut
Finish: Platinum Metallic
Years Used: 2010
Special Features: Mark Tremonti signature model bridge pickup, 3 of 4 knobs removed
Current Status: Active touring use (As of 2017 - Mike Shinoda)
Notes: Chester used this guitar on "Iridescent" for most of the early A Thousand Suns tour shows in 2010. This is also one of Mike's regular touring guitars (more info in Mike's section). Chester actually used this guitar during filming for the "Iridescent" music video as well, but they didn't end up using any shots of him playing guitar in the final edit of the video.


Brand: Fender
Model: Blacktop Telecaster HH
Finish: Silver
Years Used: 2011
Current Status: Unknown
Notes: Chester used this maple-necked Telecaster with humbuckers for performances of "Iridescent" on the 2011 U.S. tour.
Photo Credit: Fuse


Brand: Taylor
Model: 814ce
Finish: Natural Gloss
Years Used: 2011 (One show)
Current Status: Unknown
Notes: Chester used this guitar for a solo performance of "The Messenger" at the May 2011 MusiCares benefit show. This is actually a newer version of the same model Taylor acoustic Brad has used on a couple occasions, in a different finish. This one has different inlays than Brad's, but they still aren't the "element" inlays found on the current model - I believe those were introduced in 2012 or 2013.


Brand: Paul Reed Smith (PRS)
Model: SE One
Finish: Black
Years Used: 2011
Special Features: DiMarzio P-90 Tone Zone pickup
Current Status: Active touring use (As of 2017 - Mike Shinoda)
Notes: Chester used this guitar, another one of Mike's, for performances of "Iridescent" during the 2011 European tour, as well as at least once during the Asian tour later in the year (more info on this guitar in Mike's section).


Brand: Paul Reed Smith (PRS)
Model: SE One
Finish: White
Years Used: 2011, 2014-2015
Special Features: DiMarzio P-90 Tone Zone pickup
Current Status: Active touring use (As of 2017 - Mke Shinoda)
Notes: Another one of Mike's guitars that Chester used on "Iridescent" for two performances in Las Vegas and Los Angeles in August of 2011 (more info on this guitar in Mike's section). Chester also used this guitar on the "Iridescent" portion of the "Ballad Medley" pretty often in 2014-2015, although it returned to Mike's rig in 2017.
Photo Credit: Anita P.


Brand: Paul Reed Smith (PRS)
Model: Mira
Finish: Wild Mint
Years Used: 2011 (Live), 2014-2015 (Dressing room warmup guitar)
Special Features: Bird inlays
Current Status: Unknown
Notes: Chester used this guitar for some performances of "Iridescent" and "Shadow of the Day" on the 2011 Asian tour, and he also used it as a backstage guitar for the 2014-2015 tours in support of The Hunting Party.


Brand: Takamine
Model: EAN10C
Finish: Satin Natural
Years Used: 2011-2012 (Studio)
Current Status: Owned by Joe Hahn
Notes: Chester was photographed using this guitar in the studio at some point during the Living Things recording sessions. This is actually one of a couple guitars that Joe has at his home studio.
Photo Credit: Big Tattoo Planet


Brand: Green Guitar Project (GGP)
Model: Custom (Telecaster-style)
Finish: Classic Pearl
Years Used: 2012-2015
Special Features: Reversed DiMarzio Chopper T pickup, custom tone circuit
Current Status: Unknown
Notes: Chester first used this guitar at the 2012 House of Blues show in Los Angeles, and it continued to be used on "Iridescent" throughout most of the Living Things touring cycle. This was the first of several GGP guitars (built by former LP guitar tech Sean Paden) that Linkin Park used on stage beginning in 2012, and this particular model served as the basis for the first GGP "production model" guitar as well. Despite Sean Paden's departure from the band's crew in early 2014, this guitar stuck around through The Hunting Party's touring cycle as Chester's C rig guitar.


Brand: Green Guitar Project (GGP)
Model: Custom (Telecaster-style)
Finish: Metallic Gold
Years Used: 2012-2015
Special Features: DiMarzio Chopper T pickup, custom tone circuit
Current Status: Unknown
Notes: Chester debuted his second GGP model on "Iridescent" at the X Games performance in June of 2012 (first photo). This one is pretty similar to the first one except it has a maple neck, and the pickup is slanted in the "normal" direction. Chester's white and gold GGP guitars were among the first that Sean Paden built (second photo - the white and gold guitars are Chester's, and the black one in the middle is the original GGP prototype guitar). Like the white GGP guitar, this one was last seen in 2015.


Brand: Vox
Model: Ukelectric
Finish: White
Years Used: 2013 (Backstage)
Special Features: Custom "Brinyan Jones" artwork by U900
Current Status: Unknown
Notes: The LPU-exclusive "Electric Ukulele" video, filmed backstage in Tokyo in 2013, features Chester messing around on this cute little electric uke made by Vox. The custom artwork featured on this instrument eluded me for a while, and it turns out that's because this is a one-of-a-kind instrument! The character featured on it is "Brinyan Jones," a character created by Japanese cartoon/music/art collective U900 as a parody of Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones (Jones was a noted player of Vox's Mark III guitar during his time with the band). U900 primarily exists as a "cartoon band" that is very popular in their native Japan, and they're frequently depicted playing ukuleles. This has resulted in several U900 partnerships with ukulele manufacturers, and as part of U900's "Ukulele Picnic" event in 2013, they partnered with Vox and created this commemorative Ukelectric with custom artwork. That event took place on August 5th, five days before the video with Chester was shot backstage at Summer Sonic. I'd assume this wasn't a coincidence - Tokyo was the first show of the tour, so the band may have been in Japan a few days early and happened to find out about the event, or at least be around not long after it ended. Regardless, this instrument probably went straight from the Ukulele Picnic to being in Chester's possession, and for being such a toy-like thing, it turned out to be one of the more unique things I've ever featured on this website!


Brand: Gibson
Model: Les Paul Standard
Finish: Heritage Cherry Sunburst
Years Used: 2013-2015 (Backstage)
Current Status: Owned by Dean DeLeo
Notes: Following Chester's passing in July of 2017, Stone Temple Pilots posted this picture of him playing one of Dean's Les Pauls backstage on their Instagram account as part of a tribute to him. I'm unsure of exactly when this picture was taken, so I've just dated it to 2013-2015 to coincide with his time with the band.
Photo Credit: Stone Temple Pilots


Brand: Green Guitar Project (GGP)
Model: Custom (Telecaster-style)
Finish: Classic Pearl
Years Used: 2014
Special Features: Custom artwork by Mike and Otis Shinoda, reversed DiMarzio Chopper T pickup, custom tone circuit
Current Status: Unknown
Notes: Chester used this guitar for several performances of "Iridescent" on the November 2014 European tour, instead of the gold GGP he normally used. He also used his gold GGP for the same song at other shows on that tour, and the B rig was used for the entire tour, so this is an oddity. A couple of Mike's B rig guitars changed in the middle of that tour, so perhaps this was just another guitar that got swapped out, since Chester's guitar typically travels in Mike's guitar rig. Chester resumed using the gold GGP guitar in the B rig in 2015, and this guitar hasn't been seen since.


Brand: Gibson
Model: Unknown J-series acoustic/electric guitar
Finish: Natural
Years Used: 2015
Current Status: Unknown
Notes: Stone Temple Pilots added the song "Adhesive" to the setlist for their spring 2015 tour, and Chester played the second guitar part on it using this guitar. Not sure what exact model it is, it's definitely something from the J series based on the dot inlays and body style, and I don't THINK it's a J-45. I'm guessing this guitar is owned by one of the DeLeo brothers. "Adhesive" was only performed a handful of times in 2015, and Chester left Stone Temple Pilots near the end of the year, so this guitar ended up being a rare sight.


Brand: Yamaha
Model: Unknown acoustic/electric guitar
Finish: Natural
Years Used: 2016 (One appearance)
Current Status: Unknown
Notes: During July of 2016, while in China doing some promotional appearances for Mercedes-Benz, Chester did a little "street performing" in Beijing one night, singing a song that he improvised on the spot. He played this Yamaha guitar during the appearance, which was one that he hadn't previously been photographed with. This guitar most likely belonged to another street musician who just happened to be performing in the same area, as one of the lines Chester improvised mentioned "that man is a much better guitar player than me" or something to that effect. Hard to say what model this is, pretty much all of the A-series and F-series Yamaha acoustic guitars share the same body style, and most of them have Natural as one of their finish options.


Brand: Martin
Model: Unknown
Finish: Unknown (Natural)
Years Used: 2016-2017 (Studio)
Current Status: Owned by Ethan Mates
Notes: Chester was photographed with this acoustic guitar in the studio in 2016, it's a Martin that was also used by a couple other band members in the studio while working on One More Light (see Brad's page and the Misc. Guitars page).
Photo Credit: Linkin Park


Brand: MJT Guitars
Model: VTT
Finish: Daphne Blue
Years Used: 2016-2017 (Studio)
Current Status: Owned by Ethan Mates
Notes: Chester was photographed with this guitar in the studio in 2016, it's the same one Mike and Brad previously used on The Hunting Party (see the Misc. Guitars page).
Photo Credit: Linkin Park


Brand: Tanglewood
Model: TW2 T
Finish: Natural Satin/Rosewood
Years Used: 2016-2017 (Studio)
Current Status: Owned by Talinda Bennington & family
Notes: Chester was seen with this guitar on two occasions, once in a short One More Light promo video, and once in this photo, which was one of the unique Polaroid photos given away with the One More Light box set. This is a smaller travel-sized guitar from Tanglewood's Winterleaf series. Chester traveled with this guitar during the early One More Light promo tour period, and more recently, Chester's son Tyler was seen playing it in a photo Talinda posted on social media (I'd assume Chester's family still has quite a few of his guitars, but this is the only one I've actually seen since Chester passed away).
Photo Credit: Linkin Park/LPCatalog


Brand: Music Man
Model: SUB 5
Finish: Flat Black
Years Used: 2017 ("Good Mythical Morning" filming)
Current Status: Owned by Mythical Entertainment
Notes: When Mike and Chester filmed their appearance on "Good Mythical Morning" with Rhett and Link in April of 2017, they "played" a couple of the instruments that are typically sitting around the Mythical Entertainment studio while filming the joke songs they recorded for the segment (the instrumental parts of these songs came from stock, pre-recorded backing tracks that they had no involvement in, so they just mimed whatever instrumental parts they decided to play...VERY badly, I might add). This bass is one of the older, USA-built "SUB" basses (which were marketed solely under the Music Man name, as opposed to Ernie Ball/Music Man like the more expensive Stingray basses, or the Sterling name, which was adopted on the later imported SUB bass models). Watching Chester try to figure out how to hold this thing without a strap is the funniest thing in the entire video, in my opinion!


Brand: D'Angelico
Model: Premier DC
Finish: Transparent Wine
Years Used: 2017
Special Features: F-holes, "stairstep" tailpiece
Current Status: Unknown (Was in D A D G B E tuning in C rig as of July 2017)
Notes: Chester began an association with D'Angelico Guitars in 2017, with this being the first of their guitars he was photographed with. Initially, during rehearsals, there was some talk of Brad actually using this guitar on "Heavy" (see Brad's page), but that ended up not happening, and Chester wound up using this guitar to play "Battle Symphony" on tour instead. Initially, this guitar was used in both the A and C rigs since Chester only had two guitars when touring started, but by June of 2017 he added a third D'Angelico hollowbody to his arsenal (see below), which caused this guitar to permanently shift to the C rig.


Brand: D'Angelico
Model: DC (Custom)
Finish: Matte Midnight
Years Used: 2017
Special Features: F-holes, "stairstep" tailpiece, uncovered pickups, black hardware
Current Status: Unknown (Was in D A D G B E tuning in B rig as of July 2017)
Notes: Chester began using this guitar for "Battle Symphony" in the B rig in 2017. While it appears similar to a Premier DC, this guitar definitely has some custom features, notably the uncovered pickups and black hardware. The Matte Midnight finish is also typically only available on the Deluxe model.
Photo Credit: Linkin Park


Brand: D'Angelico
Model: Deluxe DC
Finish: Matte Plum
Years Used: 2017
Special Features: F-holes
Current Status: Unknown (Was in D A D G B E tuning in A rig as of July 2017)
Notes: Chester toured D'Angelico's New York factory and showroom while Linkin Park was in town for the One More Light promo tour in early 2017, and while he was there, he jammed with some other musicians and was even filmed playing a cover of "Jane Says" for the D'Angelico Facebook page. The guitar he used during this appearance was a step up from his Premier DC guitars, this being a Deluxe model with gold hardware (the Matte Plum finish is also one of several limited edition finishes that were temporarily made available for this model - the default model is only available in black). This guitar doesn't have the "stairstep" tailpiece option on it, however. Chester mentioned during the appearance that he was "hoping" it would be his new guitar, and indeed, it ended up becoming his guitar in the A rig on the European tour in June (meaning his red Premier DC moved to the C rig exclusively).
Photo Credit: D'Angelico Guitars


Brand: D'Angelico
Model: Premier Delancey
Finish: Vintage Sunburst
Years Used: 2017 (D'Angelico Guitars factory visit)
Current Status: Unknown
Notes: While visiting the D'Angelico factory as mentioned above, Chester was also filmed jamming on a D'Angelico acoustic guitar by his longtime friend Rene Mata, who posted the video on his Instagram account later in the year as a tribute following Chester's death.
Photo Credit: Rene Mata


Brand: D'Angelico
Model: Unknown acoustic guitar
Finish: Grey Black
Years Used: 2017 (D'Angelico Guitars factory visit)
Current Status: Unknown
Notes: Rene Mata continued posting tributes to Chester on his Instagram throughout 2017, and eventually posted another photo from the D'Angelico Guitars factory visit, this time showing Chester playing an acoustic guitar that I haven't been able to identify the model of. It's a dreadnought-style guitar in Grey Black finish, without a pickguard. I haven't found that combination of features on any production model D'Angelico acoustic, so I'm assuming this must have been a custom/one-off guitar they happened to have at the factory.
Photo Credit: Rene Mata