It is said that every once in a great while an artist comes along and changes what was thought possible. Cabot Guns believes Jason Morrissey to be just such an artist, considering the revolutionary steel he has composed for our latest custom 1911 pistol: the Diablo Damascus.

On a cool October night, in the middle of a dusty Mississippi intersection at midnight, legend tells of a young, searching man. Robert Johnson, so the story goes, stood in front of the devil himself and traded the only thing of value in his possession for the only thing of value he desired: the ability to play guitar in a way that no one else ever had.

After that fateful night, inhabitants of the Delta knew one thing: that young man, who couldn’t carry a guitar note in a bucket the last time they’d seen him, was changed. No one could explain it, but when they heard him play afterward, they felt the blues as if possessed by them. In this young man’s hands, the guitar became a living thing and Delta Blues was born.

One can be excused for similar ponderings regarding the inspiration behind the Diablo Damascus. This beautiful 1911 is so unique, did it somehow spring from a moon-bathed crossroads at midnight? Did some spirit of the night craft such an eye-catching pistol? Linger too long and you might see the interplay of moonlight and cloud creating fanciful, swirling shadows up and down the frame.