Indholdsfortegnelse for Summer 2019 i Guitarist

This month’s feature on customising guitars once again underscored the importance of not getting too settled in your ways. For example, I have a very nice S-type guitar that a luthier friend made for me. It has a slightly chunkier neck profile than is usual for a Strat-type instrument and, combined with the 0.010-gauge strings he provided it with, it delivered absolutely beautiful tone – warm, expressive and classic. However, while perfectly playable, it was slightly harder work to get around the fretboard than on some of the slinkier guitars that cross my path at Guitarist. Without really meaning to, I started thinking of it as a great-sounding guitar but one that made you work for it slightly. No great shakes, just something you get used to. But you really…

PRICE: £1,189 (inc case) ORIGIN: Korea TYPE: Twin-cutaway semi-acoustic electric 12-string guitar BODY: Laminated mahogany, with centre block NECK: Mahogany with maple centre strip, glued-in SCALE LENGTH: 629mm (24.75”) NUT/WIDTH: Bone/45mm FINGERBOARD: Indian rosewood or ebony (depending on date of manufacture) with pearloid dot inlays, 240mm (9.5”) radius FRETS: 22, narrow jumbo HARDWARE: Nickel tune-o-matic anchored 6-saddle bridge and stop tailpiece, 18:1 ratio closed die-cast tuners STRING SPACING, BRIDGE: 54mm ELECTRICS: 2x Guild LB-1 humbuckers, 2x volume, 2x tone, 3-way pickup selector toggle switch WEIGHT (kg/lb): 3.4/7.11 OPTIONS: None RANGE OPTIONS: None LEFT-HANDERS: No FINISHES: Cherry Red (as reviewed), Shoreline Mist Selectron UK 01795 419460 www.guildguitars.com PROS This reboot of a throwback offers sweet looks, tonal versatility, and one of the most playable 12-string necks we’ve encountered CONS There’s really…

The UK Guitar Show 21 to 22 September UK Business Design Centre, The Angel, London Prog maverick Devin Townsend (pictured) has joined bassists Nick Beggs (Steven Wilson, The Mute Gods) and celebrated teacher Ariane Cap on the bill as the first artists announced for our show, which now encompasses the London Bass Guitar Show, too. Devin will perform on the Guitarist stage on the Saturday, and anyone who was lucky enough to catch his sold-out solo acoustic tour earlier this year will know to expect jaw-dropping musicianship alongside plenty of laughs from the Canadian. Elsewhere at the show, you’ll find our Vintage Zone, which will feature some mouth-watering originals from the Seven Decades show. We’ll be announcing even more additions in our next issue and on our social media channels…

With festival season upon us, many working musicians will be emailing backline requests hoping at least 25 per cent of what they ask for turns up in some vague sort of working order, whether this is headlining Glastonbury or the Real Ale & Jazz Festival at the Kebab & Calculator in Somerset. Making my living primarily from recording work means I’m not quite as experienced as possibly some of you might be in this regard, so this has been a learning curve for me in some respects. The last month has seen me mostly on ‘tour’ (well, quite a few gigs in a row) with firstly Beverley Knight and then Anastacia. Beverley’s regular guitarist and musical director Paul Reid found himself unavailable at the last minute, so I received a…

This stripping down of excess harmonic content is common – particularly on the guitar. These chords are a mixture of dense extended harmony and user-friendly shapes. I’ve stuck mostly with A and E so you can hear the root note for context, but these shapes are movable, too. major 3rd can seem a strong presence that distracts from more interesting stuff going on in the higher register, so why don’t we dispense with that, too? We can still call it a C13 chord, because it contains the b 7 (dominant 7), the 9th (D) and the 13th (A) from which the chord takes its name. When we extend chords, we don’t always use every scale tone or things might become too harmonically dense: play C, E, G, B b ,…

When Molly’s new album, When You’re Ready, landed in the Guitarist office a few months ago, it brought our working day to an immediate standstill. We were amazed at the guitar playing from the first track onward and, still not quite believing what we’d just heard, jumped onto YouTube to see her in action. Her right-hand technique alone is enough to make players twice her age hang up their acoustics in shame – and that’s before you consider the purity of her voice and the power of her songwriting. After a brief dalliance with the piano and violin as a young child, things shifted gear for Molly dramatically when her father presented her with a Baby Taylor when she was eight years old. He showed her some chords and melodies,…

“I have a real passion and love for recording with little amps, but there’s something to be said for big powerful heads. I can’t believe they’re not more popular, but I guess it can be difficult to contend with that much power. I use load boxes to make it more manageable. I’ve got a Fryette that’ll handle 200 watts; you can bring it down, volume wise, and mic up a cab while also getting a direct line. I’ll also use the [Universal Audio] OX in combination with a cabinet. That way, I’ve got the mic lines as well as the [cab] simulation. “The Marshall at the top [of the image] is a 50-watt PA head [model 1963] and the one near the bottom is a 100-watt PA head [model 1968].…

What Tele mods make a good starting place? “I’d say the weakest link in the Tele electronics is probably the neck pickup. It’s always been predominantly weak compared with the bridge, so that leaves it kinda open to whatever you want. Anything else – anything from humbuckers to P-90s, Charlie Christian pickups – you name it, you can put it in there and it’s acceptable. Whereas if you try to do that to a Strat, people get upset. So that has become a free zone for modification. Definitely the neck pickup would be first order of business for many modders.” What are good options to tweak neck-pickup tone if you want to keep to the traditional Tele pickup format and look? “You could start with the Twisted Tele Custom Shop…

How suitable are Gretsch guitars for customisation? “I believe that Gretsch guitars are among the best to customise because you can go either way: if you want to go traditional, with white nitrocellulose binding, any kind of classic Custom Colour… or you could do something new and crazy with sparkle binding and so on. You’ve got a great palette [of options] for that. It just all seems to work like that. You can really let your imagination run wild.” What are some good starting points for modding a Gretsch? “A lot of people will start by upgrading to locking tuners. With pickups, you can go any way you want. TV Jones has a wide selection of different types of Filter’Tron. Some people have put regular humbucking pickups in them –…

SC Relics does lots of business with home-build guitar makers. For ease of construction, many of these home-builders choose to assemble Fender-style electrics from parts, because the bolt-on nature of these designs makes them relatively easy to get to grips with. But even bolt-on neck electrics have their hidden challenges, as Scott explains. “Get the body and neck at the same time, from the same supplier,” Scott recommends. “Because the fit between them needs to allow for the finish, which people sometimes forget. For example, people will sometimes look at the specs of a neck and a body from two different suppliers and go, ‘Well, the neck-pocket spec on this body says 56mm and this neck heel is listed as 56mm, too. Happy days.’ But if they’ve bought that neck…

While the original eight-guitar range started simple and became progressively more detailed as the levels and prices rose, these new models seem rather oddly priced. For example, the hand-brushed satin finish was previously only featured on the 620, 720B and the 820CR, and we’d presume that the extra hand-work after the guitar is actually buffed and polished would rightly add an uplift over a standard gloss finish. Now, however, both the new 702B and 720BX models have that ‘lower grade’ gloss top finish, despite their top-of the line price, while the previously gloss-only 502T gets the upmarket flame maple/satin makeover but with zero price increase. And isn’t the 702B at £995 – with the exception of the added inlays, Bigsby B50 and locking tuners – exactly the same as the…

PRICE: £995 (inc gigbag) ORIGIN: Indonesia TYPE: Double-cutaway, solidbody electric BODY: Mahogany with thin maple cap NECK: Mahogany, glued-in SCALE LENGTH: 629mm (24.75”) NUT/WIDTH: Black synthetic (Urea) FINGERBOARD: Single-bound rosewood with cream dot inlays, 350mm (13.75”) radius FRETS: 22, jumbo HARDWARE: Satin nickel-plated Tone Pros AVT-II adjustable wrapover bridge and enclosed tuners STRING SPACING, BRIDGE: 52.5mm ELECTRICS: 2x YGD-designed VH5+ covered humbuckers, 3-way lever pickup selector switch, volume and tone (with pull/push ‘Dry Switch’ high-pass filter) OPTIONS: In Rusty Rat and Steel Rust with copper-coloured pickguard at same price RANGE OPTIONS: The RS620 (£772) also uses a wrapover bridge. The Japanese-made RSP20CR with IRA treatment costs £1,493 LEFT-HANDERS: No FINISHES: Brushed Black (as reviewed) and Brushed Teal Blue w/ black anodised aluminium scratchplate and ‘hand-cut steel wool’ top finish PROS…

PRICE: £696 (inc gigbag) ORIGIN: Indonesia TYPE: Limited-edition double-cutaway, solidbody electric BODY: Mahogany with thin maple cap w/flame maple veneer NECK: Mahogany, glued-in SCALE LENGTH: 629mm (24.75”) NUT/WIDTH: Black synthetic (Urea) FINGERBOARD: Single-bound rosewood with cream dot inlays, 350mm (13.75”) radius FRETS: 22, jumbo HARDWARE: Satin nickel-plated tune-o-matic-style bridge, height adjustable aluminium tailpiece, enclosed tuners STRING SPACING, BRIDGE: 52.5mm ELECTRICS: 2x YGD-designed VP5 single-coil soapbars, 3-way lever pickup selector switch, volume and tone (with pull/push ‘Dry Switch’ high-pass filter) OPTIONS: Also available in gloss Bowden Green and Black at the same price RANGE OPTIONS: The RS502 (£598) has an adjustable wrapover bridge and satin top finish in Billet Green and Shop Black LEFT-HANDERS: No FINISHES: Ash Grey (as reviewed), Vintage Japanese Denim PROS Same positive design and build; its soapbars…

PRICE: £4,299 (inc case) ORIGIN: UK TYPE: Single-cutaway, carved-top solidbody electric BODY: 1-piece Spanish cedar with figured maple top NECK: 1-piece flamed maple with central rosewood laminate, glued-in SCALE LENGTH: 648mm (25.5”) NUT/WIDTH: Bone/43.8mm FINGERBOARD: ‘Exotic’ ebony, mother-of-pearl dot inlays, 305mm (12”) radius FRETS: 22, Jescar medium jumbo HARDWARE: ABM tune-o-matic-style bridge, aluminium stud tailpiece, Gotoh 510 tuners w/ ebony buttons – nickel-plated STRING SPACING, BRIDGE: 51mm ELECTRICS: Bare Knuckle Riff Raff (bridge) and Stormy Monday (neck) covered humbuckers, 3-way toggle pickup selector switch, individual volume and tone controls (w/ coil-split pull-switch) for each pickup WEIGHT (kg/lb): 3.69/8.19 OPTIONS: The Classic is also available with all-mahogany carved top construction and mother-of-pearl block inlays. Numerous other options available on request RANGE OPTIONS: The Shoreline bolt-on (from £2,799), Nautilus Standard (from £2,999),…

ORIGIN: USA TYPE: Digital delay & reverb pedal FEATURES: True or Buffered (with Trails on) bypass, 128 onboard presets, MIDI control, tap tempo CONTROLS: Delay Mode selector, Reverb Size, Reverb Mix, Routing selector, Dynamic Expression, Tweak plus 2x selector buttons (LPF/HPF/ SAT + Depth/Rate/Blend), Delay Time, Delay Feedback, Delay Mix, Trails on/off button, Bank button, Preset button, Tap/Presets footswitch, Bypass footswitch CONNECTIONS: Standard inputs (L, R), standard outputs (L, R), MIDI In, MIDI Thru, USB POWER: 9V-18V DC adaptor 150 mA (not included) DIMENSIONS: 142 (w) x 130 (d) x 55mm (h)…

1 What was the first pedal you built and how did the design come about? Colt Westbrook: “Walrus was started by Brady Smith in 2011. He’s an amazing designer. The first Walrus pedal was the Voyager [preamp/overdrive] and it had some great endorsements from people like Ed O’Brien, Joe Bonamassa and Nels Cline. Brady ran Walrus until 2014 when he formed Old Blood Noise [Endeavors]. At that point, Jason and I came in to run the business and develop products. There wasn’t an in-house engineer before Jason; it was being outsourced to other people, but everything’s happening here now.” Jason Stulce: “We thought, ‘Let’s design and build this stuff in-house.’ The first pedal that Colt and I worked on was the Descent [reverb/octave]. Brady started the project and we finished…

Writer DAVE BURRLUCK Guitarist, Gear Reviews Editor A busy gig schedule has meant our Fender has been sitting on the subs bench for far too long.Time to take a closer look… I’m beginning to think this Telecaster might be the ultimate spare. I’ve taken it out on a few occasions recently, only for it to stay in its case. What’s going on? Right guitar, wrong gig? I doubt I’m alone in buying a guitar then finding it doesn’t quite fit the music I’m actually making. It’s not the guitar’s fault, or is it? “A two-pronged attack is in order: to try to enhance its acoustic voice and tweak the electrics at the same time” In my world of constantly learning new songs, this Tele has had some serious play time.…

Q I need some advice. I’m looking for a great electric 12-string guitar. Despite my best efforts, I can’t stretch to a Rickenbacker 360/12. Not even a secondhand one. I’ve managed to lay my hands on a grand to make this happen. What would you recommend? James Pearce, via email A Every 12-string nut wants a Ricky but even a pre-loved example will blast a £1,500 hole in your savings account. The good news is that we’ve found three old-school beauties that will give you the chime of your life, all within your budget. All together now: “Hey, Mr Tambourine Man…” 1. Italia JF12 Jeffrey Foskett Signature £999 To answer your question, Jeff plays with The Beach Boys. But, more importantly, his Cobalt Blue signature 12-string has active…

September 1962 Prototype developed; 2x 5881, 3x ECC83 & 1x GZ34 valves Late 1962 2x 5881 or KT66, 3x ECC83 & 1x GZ34 valves; all-white front; red-on-silver metal badge logo Early 1963 ‘JTM 45 MK II’ branding; no polarity switch on front; wider-input jack spacing 1963 2-tone black/white front Early 1964 2x KT66 power valves standard Mid- 1964 to mid- 1965 All-black front; gold Plexiglas front panel; red-on-silver then black-on-gold Plexiglas logo 1965 Park 45 (rebranded Marshall JTM 45 MK II) available Late 1965 Plastic script Marshall logo; metal cap knobs standard 1966 Discontinued 1989 JTM 45 Lead amp reissued…

KIRK FLETCHER Shades Of Blue Kirk has become widely known for his take on funky, jazzy chord voicings in a modern blues context. Check out the opener, Blues For Boo Boo, for some of this, plus some cool sliding chords on Country Girl. On The River’s Invitation, he keeps things more taut and funky, but you can hear the thinking behind the triads and doublestops, interspersed with lots of melodic lines. ROBBEN FORD Bringing It Back Home Robben always comes up with interesting lines and chords – and this album offers no exceptions. Check out the chords, doublestops and melody lines on Birds Nest Bound, and the chord accompaniment on Slick Capers Blues. On Trick Bag, Ford keeps this simple but effective by moving intervals a semitone to give different…

Richard Fortus He’s been a full-time member of GN’R longer than Slash, but he’s as mad about great guitars as the day he started. We tour his collection on p64 Molly Tuttle She’s one of the most flat-out impressive pickers we’ve ever seen, so if you’ve not checked out this extraordinary American guitarist, head over to p54 Bah, humbucker! David Mead visits Bare Knuckle to learn the exacting art of pickup winding from Cornwall’s finest, picking up insights on tone along the way p94…

PRICE: £1,599 (inc hard case) ORIGIN: Japan TYPE: Small-bodied folk TOP: Cedar BACK/SIDES: Koa MAX RIM DEPTH: 105mm MAX BODY WIDTH: 350mm NECK: Mahogny SCALE LENGTH: 630mm (24.8”) TUNERS: Gold/amber buttons NUT/WIDTH: Bone/42.5mm FINGERBOARD: Rosewood FRETS: 20 BRIDGE/SPACING: Rosewood/ 53mm ELECTRICS: CTP-3 CoolTube WEIGHT (kg/lb): 2/4.4 OPTIONS: None RANGE OPTIONS: Other Takamine New Yorkers include the CP3NYK with similar spec to the CP400 but with a 45mm nut and traditional Takamine headstock (£1,399), and the EF407 with an all-koa construction and a 14-fret neck joint (£995) LEFT-HANDERS: No FINISH: Satin natural (as reviewed) Korg UK 01908 304600 www.takamine.com PROS Small-bodied good looker that reveals some fire in its belly when plugged in CONS The narrow nut will prove a hazard for some fingerstylists…

Pete Townshend has paid tribute to his guitar tech of over 40 years, Alan Rogan, whose passing, following a battle with cancer, was announced on 4 July by The Who. “My guitar tech, friend, saviour and good buddy Alan Rogan,” Townshend posted on Instagram with a picture of the two.“RIP. He has so many friends who will miss him and his lovely family have been wonderful.” Alan also worked with legends including George Harrison, Ronnie Wood, Keith Richards, Joe Walsh, Tom Petty, Graham Nash, Angus Young and Eric Clapton. Fender CEO Andy Mooney added his own tribute to him: “Anyone who knew Alan, knew him as someone who’d brighten every room and make every conversation fun, but Alan was also the consummate, professional guitar technician. Alan was gracious enough to…

A few issues back I talked about the futility of guitarists who play lightly, to ramp their strings up a gauge or two because someone down the pub says it produces “better tone”. This is because if you don’t whack them hard enough, they won’t vibrate and respond for you the way they would for a bigger hitter. Likewise, the other way around: a person who goes in all guns blazing on a set of eights is going to push them all over the place, causing tuning problems, fretting out and all sorts. Weirdly, a light acoustic fingerpicker plucking on 0.011-gauge strings is likely to elicit more tone and volume than they would trying to fight a set of telegraph wires. But, as I’ve also said – and as we’ve…

TUBE DREAMER Not a month goes by without seeing a new boutique pedal in the magazine. I currently have a basic setup, which includes a Tremonti Wah (I love the spring in the pedal), MXR Phase 90, MXR Analog Chorus and a compressor. The compressor is only really used as a boost for solos and after trying out a Tube Screamer clone, I’m going to swap it out. However, type ‘Tube Screamer’ into eBay and my wallet starts to cry. So I’m thinking about buying a kit. There are lots available that’ll apparently replicate a TS9 or 808 with the right chip. So how about an article on pedal kits? The TS would be a great place to start, as we know how it’s supposed to sound. You could perhaps…

Angie McMahon Salt AWAL Melbourne’s hottest singer-songwriter drops debut album Angie McMahon has been causing a stir in Australia in recent times, headlining sold-out 2,000-seat venues, scoring millions of plays on Spotify and Apple Music, and receiving heavy rotation on ABC’s alternative music radio station, Triple J. Self-produced with assistance from bandmate Alex O’Gorman, Angie’s debut album, Salt, was swiftly wrapped up during a week-long recording session and, as such, manages to capture the candid style and natural essence of an emerging young artist at their fullest and most authentic form. Raw, down to earth and, at times, painfully honest, this is music-making with vulnerability and strength in equal measure. [RB] Standout track: Keeping Time For fans of: Courtney Barnett, Tom Waits…

Patto Hold Your Fire Vertigo 1971 Any album featuring the mindbogglingly virtuosic guitar playing of Ollie Halsall is worth a listen and, for me, this is the best of the bunch. Patto formed from the remnants of 60s pop band Timebox in 1970, and released their eponymous first album to little commercial success that year. This, their better-sounding second release, is a pleasing mixture of rock, blues and jazz – all executed with a confidently loose feel, illustrating the superb musicianship on display. They seem comfortable and convincing whatever genre they are reflecting. On Hold Your Fire, Mike Patto’s wry lyrics and heartfelt delivery set the mood with his take on post-war Great Britain viewed through a hazy late-60s prism. The rhythm section of Clive Griffiths on bass and John…

WHEN WE SPOKE TO MOLLY and settled down to record the video, we asked her to improvise a couple of examples just to set the mood for the lesson. As it turns out, they were so good we decided to transcribe them both and you’ll find them in Examples 1 and 3. Ex 2 is a traditional fiddle tune that Molly chose to play as a demonstration of her right-hand technique. Take note of what she says about right-hand position in the video and take things slowly to begin with – best of luck! Example 1 Improvised Section 1 AS WE’VE SAID, this first example was fired off Molly’s fretboard from a standing start. It’s typical of her style, with bluegrass elements to the fore with the occasional nod…

“My personal favourite mod to make to a Gretsch – or any guitar with a tune-o-matic style bridge, to be honest, although mostly if it has a Bigsby – is to install a ‘rocking’ bar bridge, whether that’s a Gretsch one (brass), or one by an after-market maker such as Tru-Arc (choice of materials). Not only do they look great, but as one solid piece of metal, there are no rattling parts, and there’s a full, rich tone with bags of sustain. Plus it’s super-comfortable under the palm. “Intonation might be a compromise for some, but no more so than on a three-saddle Tele, for example, and with 10s or 11s I’ve experienced no issues that would bother anyone other than the most sensitive-eared possessor of perfect pitch. That’s why…

Finding the right parts to custom-build or modify a guitar has never been easier. With countless repro items and spares readily available and dot-com companies such as Reverb, eBay and Gbase offering a virtual treasure trove of original vintage rarities, it’s often worth looking online to see what inspires your own unique project. Having trawled the vintage market for a pair of DeArmond Model 2000 pickups and a Jaguar/Jazzmaster vibrato unit, Guitarist writer Rod Brakes stumbled across the irreparably battered remnants of an early-60s Epiphone Crestwood Custom. Keen to rescue its prized Brazilian rosewood fretboard, he decided to approach Joe Dobson of London’s Joseph Kaye Guitars who painstakingly put together Rod’s design for this altogether one-of-a-kind Epiphone/ Fender-style hybrid instrument. www.josephkayeguitars.com RECYCLED, RECLAIMED & REIMAGINED…

With the exception of the entry-level 320, all the Indonesian range have the same controls and components. The volume control is rated at 500kohms; the switched tone pot is 250k with a .022 microfarad capacitor. The three-way lever switch sends the pickup output to the Dry Switch, which – via a 330kohm resistor and .0033 microfarad capacitor in parallel – applies a low-pass filter for a thinner but still hum-cancelling sound on the humbucking guitars. It works very effectively on the single-coil soapbars, too, although these aren’t hum-cancelling by design. The pickups were spec’d and voiced by Yamaha and made by Korean pickup giant G&B. The VH5+ ’buckers here (with four-conductor wiring) use Alnico V bar magnets, German silver baseplates and heavy Formvar coated 42-gauge wire. The neck has 5,300…

PRICE: £995 (inc gigbag) ORIGIN: Indonesia TYPE: Double-cutaway, solidbody electric BODY: Mahogany with thin maple cap NECK: Mahogany, glued-in SCALE LENGTH: 629mm (24.75”) NUT/WIDTH: Black synthetic (Urea) FINGERBOARD: Single-bound rosewood with split parallelogram inlays, 350mm (13.75”) radius FRETS: 22, jumbo HARDWARE: Satin nickel-plated tune-o-matic-style bridge, Bigsby B50 vibrato tailpiece, rear-locking enclosed tuners STRING SPACING, BRIDGE: 52.5mm ELECTRICS: 2x YGD-designed VH5+ medium output Alnico V humbuckers, 3-way lever pickup selector switch, volume and tone (with pull/push ‘Dry Switch’ high-pass filter) OPTIONS: No RANGE OPTIONS: The existing RS720B (£995) has dual Filter’Tronstyle humbuckers and Bigsby, available in satin-topped Ash Gray, Wall Fade, Vintage Japanese Denim and Shop Black LEFT-HANDERS: No FINISHES: Gloss Vintage White (as reviewed) PROS All the pros of the 820CR but with added Bigbsy and locking tuners – a…

NAME: Seth Baccus Guitars EMAIL: seth@sethbaccus.com WEB: www.sethbaccus.com FOUNDER: Seth Baccus LOCATION: Falmouth, Cornwall STATUS: Fully professional EMPLOYEES: From this year, one part-time assistant FIRST GUITAR SHIPPED: 2009 CURRENT OUTPUT: Approx. 20 per year STYLE: Bolt-on and glued-neck electrics CAD/CNC: Yes, for limited processes PICKUPS/HARDWARE: Mainly Bare Knuckle pickups, with TonePros, ABM and Gotoh hardware FINISHING: Currently outsourced. Mainly polyurethane but nitro-cellulose optional REPAIRS: No CUSTOM ORDERS: Not outside of the basic Baccus models DEPOSIT/BUILD TIME: 50% of agreed cost at start of build / Approximately 9 months WAITING LIST: Usually the quoted build time DEALERS: World Guitars www.worldguitars.co.uk PRICE RANGE: From approx. £3k upwards with the bolt-on Shoreline model…

Many of us wince when we see guitars with four-figure price tags, let alone when those four figures start to become a very noticeable chunk of your annual earnings. And yet you don’t have to look very far at the mainstream electric market from key players – such as Gibson’s Custom division, PRS’s upper-level core models (let alone its Private Stock division) and, increasingly, Fender’s Custom Shop – before £3k to £5k seems the going rate. But around and above that is a whole level of über-guitar, invariably made in small workshops by solo makers or small teams where that sort of figure might barely get you entry. This is a different and well-established world centred firmly on the art and craft of guitar making, and about as far as…

VIDEO DEMO http://bit.ly/guitaristextra The latest pedal from bee-obsessed US boutique pedal makers Beetronics is the Swarm, which the brand describes as “an analogue fuzz harmonizer that sounds like a thousand killer bees coming to get you”. A more technical description is that it turns your input signal into a square wave that is then processed (by multiplication and division of the frequency) to create nine possible harmonies, each with two voices in different octaves, which can then have modulation applied to them. The basic square wave fuzz sound comes courtesy of the Worker knob, which sets the level of the input signal. By itself, it’s thick, buzzy and full of sustain. It’s a full-on sound that appears to be gated to stop any background noise when you’re not playing –…

THE BACKGROUND JOCIE MARTIN-REED, Guitarist reader, via email I’ve been building myself a pedalboard that allows me to cover loads of genres from heavy rock through to all genres of modern metal. Suffice to say, it is jam-packed with loads of different drive, boost and fuzz pedals and a multitude of multi-effects units like the Strymon Mobius, TimeLine and BigSky. I like to stack up to four drive pedals at once to get some seriously heavy sounds. The issue is that I’m getting a lot of noise issues, feedback and hum. As you can imagine, this is less than ideal considering the amount of money I have sunk into my ’board. My friends have recommended I buy a noise gate – is this necessary? Or can…

ACE OF BASS I was surfing YouTube recently and came across a great clip of Glen Campbell performing Wichita Lineman on a 60s TV show. It’s a brilliant song anyway, but what really knocked me out was the guitar he was playing. I initially had his six-string pegged as a modified Fender Jaguar. It has three pickups instead of the usual two, you see. After doing some research I deduced that the thing he was playing was actually a Fender Bass VI, an old-school baritone guitar that just happens to have a Jag-style whammy. Anyway, I love the sound Glen gets out of a Bass VI on that clip and now I want one. I tried to get the sound using heavy strings on my old Tele, but it didn’t…

ENGLISH ROCK GUITARIST John Sykes has worked with a number of different bands through the years – Streetfighter, Tygers Of Pan Tang, Badlands, Thin Lizzy, Phil Lynott, Whitesnake and Blue Murder – and from 1994 to date he has worked under his own name as a solo artist. His long-awaited new solo album, A Brand New Day, is set for release this year. Stylistically, I’d describe John as a player who has great classic rock/blues feel and who is also a very accomplished composer and vocalist. He always plays with tons of attitude and passion and has a highly evolved technique that covers the whole range from slow and soulful to super-frantic and intense. His fast alternate picking – often heard in his rapid, nearly tremolo-picked soloing and also in…

It’s 23 August 1966. The Warwick Hotel in New York City. As a press conference with The Beatles draws to a close, a young man steps forward brandishing a guitar. Mark Dronge – the son of Guild Guitars founder, Alfred Dronge – mounts the platform where John, Paul, George and Ringo remain seated behind a long table. “George thought the guitar was for him,” Mark Dronge later recalled. “He was annoyed when I passed him and presented the guitar to John…” The guitar John Lennon received that day was a Guild Starfire XII, a 12-string double-cutaway semi-acoustic with a brown stain finish, gold hardware and a pair of DeArmond 2000 single-coil pickups. The idea to get the guitar into a Beatle’s hands, and score the big sales like Gretsch and…

PRICE: £1,699 (inc hard case) ORIGIN: Japan TYPE: OM cutaway TOP: American mahogany BACK/SIDES: American mahogany MAX RIM DEPTH: 105mm MAX BODY WIDTH: 388mm NECK: Mahogany SCALE LENGTH: 644mm (25.35”) TUNERS: Chrome Gotoh NUT/WIDTH: Bone/42.5mm FINGERBOARD: Ebony FRETS: 20 BRIDGE/SPACING: Ebony/53mm ELECTRICS: CTP-3 CoolTube WEIGHT (kg/lb): 2.5/5.5 OPTIONS: None RANGE OPTIONS: Other instruments in the Collectors’ Series include the EF75M-TT OM (£3,499), EF7M-LS OM (£2,149) and CP5DCO-AD Dreadnought (£2,199) LEFT-HANDERS: No FINISH: Shadow Burst Satin (as reviewed) PROS A well-made, large-ish OM with limited-edition appeal and a seriously cool preamp for stage use CONS It lacks the punch that guitars of its size should pack…

As we reported in our cover feature preview in issue 444, David Gilmour’s charity instrument auction was the kind of event rarely witnessed in the guitar world, and when the hammer fell at Christie’s in New York on 20 June it didn’t disappoint. The demand was feverish and the prices followed suit, including a new world record for the most expensive guitar ever sold being set for the star attraction: the highly modified ’68/’69 Black Strat. That iconic guitar – used on songs including Comfortably Numb, Money and Shine On You Crazy Diamond – sold for $3,975,000 (£3.13 million) to owner/CEO of the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts, Jim Irsay. A keen guitarist, Irsay has purchased key guitars over the years previously owned by Jerry Garcia, Prince, Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan and…

What? Kala KA-FMCG ukulele Where seen? Southern Ukulele Store, Bournemouth Price? £216 Description? It’s summertime, when garden barbecues and family holidays are in full swing.And what better way to entertain everybody than with a ukulele singalong? I’ve got a couple of ukes; I play a bit and I find them fascinating, so I occasionally trawl the net to see what’s around.You can buy a uke for £30 or £3,000, but a couple of hundred gets something decent sounding.This Kala model from Southern Music Store has a beautiful spalted flamed maple back and sides, mahogany neck and mahogany-bound rosewood fingerboard.At this sort of price, ukes really start sounding nice, so if you or your uke-playing kids fancy upgrading, truck along to SUS’s website or nip into the store in Bournemouth. www.southernukulelestore.co.uk…

HEAD TO HEAD After reading the ‘Off With Its Head’ question in the Q&A pages of Guitarist 447, I would like to add that building your own headless guitar is an option. I managed to build one in 2010 at the workshops organised by Thomas Stratmann (his real name!) in Hannover, Germany. Over the course of two weeks, participants built their own designs under his guidance. This guitar was my second one with Thomas and last year I did my sixth; guitar building can be very addictive! The headless [pictured below right] has a one-piece Scottish maple body with a walnut neck and a rosewood fingerboard. Hardware is from ABM and the pickups were hand-wound by me during the workshop. Meanwhile, the aluminium horn was done by a metalworking friend…

What was your first gig and how did it go? “I was 13 and playing in a band called Circus. I remember that I enjoyed playing guitar in the privacy of my own little bedroom and I loved creating fantasies about being a future rock star, so I was a rumour in my own room and a legend in my mind. When the reality that we actually had a gig set in I started to become petrified. I found myself so completely anxiety ridden that it got to the point where, two or three days before the show, I couldn’t sleep. “I remember the day of the gig: I’m doing a soundcheck and I was so nervous. I was practising The Star-Spangled Banner and the strap broke on my guitar…

It’s been 55 years since the release of George Benson’s explosive debut album, The New Boss Guitar Of George Benson, and this year, the jazz legend released an album dedicated to two of his childhood heroes, Chuck Berry and Fats Domino. Walking To New Orleans may seem somewhat of a departure for someone known for his jazz prowess and his string of pop hits in the 80s, but as it turns out, it’s just another day at the office for this open-minded and genre-busting legend… What prompted you to make the new album, Walking To New Orleans – your tribute to Chuck Berry and Fats Domino? “When I was coming up, it was the late 50s into the early 60s, and that’s the time period I was most familiar with…

Richard Fortus is at his home in St Louis, Missouri. He’s recently returned from a spate of club gigs with electronic rock experimentalists Headtronics, and is currently in the midst of producing the new album for The Psychedelic Furs, before heading back out on the road again later this year for an arena tour around the United States and Mexico with Guns N’ Roses, with whom he’s been playing since 2002. While being immersed in such a broad variety of gigs over the years, Richard has constantly strived to refine his tone and find inspiration with new sounds – often in the form of new guitars. After all, “We’re pushed and inspired by our own tone,” he reminds us. Guitarist swung by for a rare insight into some of his…

We all like to buy a shiny new toy – and guitar modders are by no means immune to the allure of expensive replacement hardware. But, argues Tim Mills of Bare Knuckle Pickups, you do yourself a disservice if you overlook your guitar’s basic electronic components, such as tone and volume pots, when you go hunting for tonal improvements. Best of all, such parts are relatively inexpensive and simple to replace. Many guitarists are deterred from making upgrades in this area simply because they don’t properly understand how changes in the spec of electronic components can enhance their instrument’s tone – and sometimes give unloved guitars a new lease of life. If you are one of the uninitiated, fear not. Pickup guru Tim Mills says the principles involved are pretty…

TIP 1. IT’S JUST A PHASE: A LES PAUL MOD Dan Coggins, the tone guru behind Lovetone pedals, shares his personal favourite phase-switching mod for getting Peter Green tones from your Gibson. It’s a little more complex than upgrading your pots, but well worth it – though bear in mind that a trained tech is probably best placed to undertake this one if you’re not handy with electronics… “I’ve always loved the out-of-phase sound on the early Peter Green Fleetwood Mac recordings and those influenced variants of it – such as Carlos Santana’s tone on Abraxas and Jimmy Page’s sublime solo on Led Zeppelin’s Since I’ve Been Loving You. “Although this mod is not necessarily how any of their guitars were wired, it’s given me a palette of very…

There are now several specialist firms that undertake guitar refinishing, and the services they offer range from factory-fresh refinishes to aged paint jobs that make your brand-new Strat look like it’s got five decades on the clock. Scott Cameron’s company, SC Relics, specialises in beautiful nitro-based refinishes and he says a refinish can be a relatively accessible way to give your guitar a unique custom vibe – provided you get the work done by a quality firm and go into it with your eyes open… What things should you consider before getting your guitar refinished? “The first thing to weigh up is whether you feel it’s worth doing a refinish on a particular guitar. We get all kinds of stuff in to refinish: everything from the body of a three…

1 BODY This Telecaster Custom-style body features white celluloid binding on the top and back. In a similar vein to some of the earliest Fender Esquires, it’s carved from pine and has been finished in black nitrocellulose lacquer. “It’s British Columbian Douglas fir and was probably felled in the late 1800s,” says Joe. “It was reclaimed from the roof joists of a building in Stoke Newington that was being refurbished. I sealed the grain by hand-brushing it with shellac in order to protect the wood during the dry build process. That way, you can test the guitar to see how it feels before it goes into lacquer. After that, it went into the spray booth for a single layer of black nitrocellulose before finishing with a few coats of nitrocellulose…

As we reported back in issue 402, Yamaha invested considerable time and money in the design of the Revstar range. South London design company, forpeople, began fleshing out the design ethos and periodically invited players, dealers and even journalists like ourselves to pass comment on progress. The key elements were based on Yamaha’s half-century of electric guitar making, concepts of contemporary Japanese youth and craft culture, alongside a motorcycle inspiration – Yamaha started making motorbikes back in 1955. The Café Racer-style influence came early in the process of what was to become Revstar: “a classic guitar that we’ve tuned up”, said Yamaha. As the months passed, the concepts increased and more evaluations took place in the UK, Europe and the USA. In January 2015, we saw the first 3D samples,…

PRICE: £995 (inc gigbag) ORIGIN: Indonesia TYPE: Limited-edition double-cutaway, solidbody electric BODY: Mahogany with thin maple cap NECK: Mahogany, glued-in SCALE LENGTH: 629mm (24.75”) NUT/WIDTH: Black synthetic (Urea) FINGERBOARD: Single-bound rosewood with split parallelogram inlays, 350mm (13.75”) radius FRETS: 22, jumbo HARDWARE: Satin nickel-plated tune-o-matic-style bridge, Bigsby B50 vibrato tailpiece, rear-locking enclosed tuners STRING SPACING, BRIDGE: 52.5mm ELECTRICS: 2x YGD-designed VP5 single-coil soapbars, 3-way lever pickup selector switch, volume and tone (with pull/push ‘Dry Switch’ high-pass filter) OPTIONS: No RANGE OPTIONS: See RS720BX. The Revstar range kicks off with the RS320 (£381) and the RS420 (£469) LEFT-HANDERS: No FINISHES: Gloss Black (as reviewed) PROS Exact same guitar as the 720BX but with good-sounding soapbar single coils CONS As with its stablemate RS720BX, tuning stability with Bigsby may need some attention…

1 Who is Seth Baccus? Pretty much guitar-making royalty. The stepson of veteran maker Andy Manson, Seth grew up surrounded by guitars then worked in retail for Andy’s brother, Hugh Manson, before starting to build his own guitars. 2 So, he just makes high-end £4k-plus single-cuts? Not at all. Seth’s range kicks off with the bolt-on Shoreline, plus there’s a more Les Paul Special-style Nautilus Standard (see spec list). Seth has added a new Shoreline bolt-on for this year with a more offset-style – Jazzmaster-style single coils and Mastery vibrato. 3 Who’s gonna play this? Anyone who enjoys the art and craft of the luthier and needs a completely pro-level instrument.“I’ve got younger customers from early 20s upwards, then I’ve got what is probably the core demographic for guitars of…

Nik Huber and his small team need little introduction. The Orca is the most Les Paul in style and prices are from approximately £5k upwards. The more LP Special-inspired Krautster starts around £3k. Patrick James Eggle has a long history in electric and acoustic building, but is now concentrating on the former. Again built by a small team, the Macon Single Cut starts around £4.2k and the simpler-style Macon Junior and Special start around £2.9k. It’s 10 years since Joe Knaggs left PRS to start his own guitar-building venture. Yet another small team (including many ex-PRS employees) crafts a wide range of guitars in three Tiers, from 3 up to 1. The Kenai model (starting around £3.5k) also blends some Tele style with a Les Paul and includes signature models…

Jamie Dickson Guitarist editor Jamie is as happy with steel wool in his hand as he is with Steely Dan in his headphones, and loves vintage-gear restoration and ambitious signal chains. Dave Burrluck Guitarist’s assiduous reviews editor is also the author of numerous guitar books.Very handy with a fret file and indeed any aspect of a finely fettled six-string. Ed Mitchell After 18 years in guitar retail Ed turned to journalism as reviews editor ofTotal Guitar, then as a contributor toGuitarist. He’s also edited the mags The Blues and Country Music. Neville Marten Edited Guitarist for 13 years, after working for both Fender and Gibson as a repairer. From desirable Les Pauls to dream Strats, he’s owned and worked on the lot. Nick Guppy Guitarist’s amplifier specialist has built up…

Q I read your article on guitar mods from issue 436, as I have recently purchased a ’93 Fender Japan ’62 reissue Strat. The guitar has a lovely neck, but I was expecting to improve things by changing the pickups to something like Bare Knuckle Apache single coils. I’m now unsure as the article indicates that just changing pickups may not have the desired effect. I was trying to achieve a cheaper alternative to a Custom Shop model and notice Neville Marten’s mods on a Mexican-made Strat worked out well, albeit with quite an investment. Any thoughts? Kevin Larcombe A The answer to that is a yes. In our experience, an upgrade to Bare Knuckle will definitely improve the quality of the single-coil tone you’re hearing. If you include upgrades…

1. CODES ‘Bass’ scratched into rear panel; normally ‘SER’ prefixed four-digit serial number (beginning with ‘2’ in 1964) and Lead/Bass/PA designation stamped or scored on rear panel 2. METALWORK Aluminium front panel with black lettering branded ‘JTM 45’ (on right) & MK II (on left); aluminium rear panel; 2½-inch aluminium chassis with external cabinet anchors 3. CIRCUIT Perforated Tufnell circuit board; two KT66 power valves; one GZ34 rectifier valve; three ECC83 preamp valves (including one phase splitter); Radiospares RS De Luxe output transformer (30 watts maximum rated output); 45 watts RMS power rating; one 500pF Bass model voicing capacitor 4. ORNAMENTATION Black Tolex cover; two-tone black-and-white ‘sandwich’ front; gold front strip; metal ‘coffin badge’ with red-on-silver capitalised Marshall logo; four original black-plastic vee knobs (two replacements); leather handle 5. POWER…

Difficulty 10 mins per example Tutor: Richard Barrett | Gear used: Knaggs Choptank, Vox AC15 C1 Soloing With Chords I’VE ALWAYS FOUND IT FASCINATING to hear players imply the harmony of the underlying chord progression when soloing. In fact, the backing track for this month’s Headlines is purely drums and bass (in the old-school sense), so it leaves things open for this kind of playing. It also makes it necessary to create a sense of harmony and movement. Listen to any trio and you’ll hear the interesting ways people meet this challenge. Jimi Hendrix developed a fascinating lead/rhythm style, and Jack Bruce played up a storm to keep things full under Eric Clapton’s solos. In this solo, the bass is only stating the root notes, so it’s all on you……

Electrics Fender American Standard Telecaster HH. 3 Tone Sunburst, cream scratchplate, rosewood neck, Fender hard case, plus extras, mint condition. £950 ono. Call Graham on 0161 973 8406. Sale, South Manchester Fender Custom Shop Hank Marvin number 15 1992 Strat. Home use only and in excellent condition. £3,500 or nearest offer. Call Paul on 07802 896577. Email paclints@yahoo.co.uk for photo requests Knaggs Chesapeake Severn tier 2 trembucker, coil-split , excellent condition, serial number 220, Knaggs fitted case. £1,895 ono. Contact Kevin on 07900 932673. Chelmsford Acoustics Larrivée D-40 Legacy series in mahogany. Excellent condition, great set-up and quality woods. Larrivée fitted case. £895. Contact Kevin on 07900 932672. Essex Martin D-28 Marquis guitar with a sunburst top. Premier Indian rosewood back and sides, with Adirondack top. Comes with Martin Deluxe…