With a strong focus on the Australian music scene, Australian Guitar is a rich source of information on playing techniques, styles, the wide range of instruments available and all the technology that guitarists have to consider in the 21st Century.
Keith Urban provided details on his forthcoming signature guitar he’s developing with Paul Reed Smith – and while it might be inspired by his favourite Telecaster, this looks like it is going to be something completely different. And how could it not be? It’s a semi-hollow electric inspired by a Custom Shop three-pickup Telecaster named Clarence that survived the Nashville floods, and its f-hole is inspired by Urban’s tattoo. In September 2024, Urban told Guitar World that he actually sent Smith a picture of his tattoo and asked him to design the f-hole from that. “I like a little bit of a hollowbody, so it’s got a little bit of that in there,” he said. “We have a customized f-hole shape that is modeled after the phoenix tattoo on my…
The Met’s new exhibition of guitars has become the center of international intrigue, after a 1959 Les Paul Standard that had been stolen from Rolling Stones guitarist Mick Taylor in the early 1970s mysteriously re-surfaced as part of the collection. New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art announced that it had come into the possession of a 500-strong arsenal of guitars back in May. Included in the hefty donation was a Bigsby-loaded 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard used by Keith Richards during the band’s legendary appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964. Having seen the news of the guitar’s arrival at the Met, Taylor’s manager has now revealed that the guitar’s prominence goes beyond that show, sharing previously unknown details about the guitar. Taylor had bought the guitar from Richards…
Mooer is no stranger to product launches that look to drag traditional guitar gear into the modern era, and its F15i Intelligent Amp is no exception. Though a regular desktop amp in its proportions, the F15i works hard to differentiate itself from the likes of Yamaha, Positive Grid, Boss and Line 6 by leaning into what makes Mooer such an interesting brand. The F15i modeling amp reportedly “redefines portable guitar practice” thanks to a new iAmp system, which offers 55 preinstalled amp models that are in turn designed using the firm’s MNRS modeling tech. These are bolstered by 69 effect types – reverb, delay, modulation among them – as well as Mooer’s Dynamic Spatial Enhancement function, which looks to deliver a more expansive listening experience with a bit more depth.…
Merpire is the performing name of Melbourne-based solo artist Rhiannon Atkinson-Howatt. Her 2021 debut Simulation Ride - released slapbang at the height of the COVID period sounded like a modern, bedroom-recorded take on the high production sensibilities of ‘90s alternative pop. Now, four years later, that debut is followed up by Milk Pool, which transmutes alternative pop into something dreamier and blurrier, without sacrificing hooks and momentum. It’s a much more confident, and much more varied record, compared to its predecessor, and within its dayglo pop swirls is a fascinating, painterly approach to the guitar. While the instrument doesn’t take a front seat – this feels like a record written with a whole studio – Atkinson-Howatt’s guitar serves a huge number of textural responsibilities. Australian Guitar spent some time with…
BASED ON THE Gold Coast in Queensland, Fenech Guitars has been around for nearly 10 years, but it’s a name that is only just beginning to be known on our shores. And, as you will have read in our review on page 92, we became very quickly impressed by not only the build quality but also the feel and tone of both the samples we looked at. Aaron Fenech has a background in carpentry and science, having gained a BSc that “looked at engineering principles but really focused around ocean environments and a lot of mathematics, a lot of physics”, he tells us. Factor in a fascination for the acoustic guitar and the idea for a business took off… What inspired you to launch Fenech Guitars in the first place?…
OVER THE PAST decade, New Zealand trio Alien Weaponry have positioned themselves as one of the most exciting new forces in metal, opening for giants like Guns N’ Roses and Gojira. After inking a deal with Napalm Records, they released their Tā - debut in 2018, peaking at Number 5 in their native charts. What made it an even more impressive feat was singer/guitarist Lewis de Jong being only 16 at the time. Their second album, Tangaroa, arrived in 2021, not long after landing a worldwide-management deal with the same team who look after Slayer, Mastodon and Ghost, and this year sees them building on that momentum with their third full-length, Te Rā. The 11 new tracks could very well be the most explosive they’re written to date, splicing elements…
