Indholdsfortegnelse for Summer 2021 i Guitarist

Few guitarists are completely immune to the rock ’n’ roll heritage that is part and parcel of classic guitar brands such as Fender, Martin or Gibson. But, as this issue’s crop of review guitars highlights, the thrill of the new is still a vital part of what makes the world of guitar exciting. Choosing an entirely new model of guitar, such as the beautiful and adaptable PRS Fiore (examined in depth on page 74), also says something significant: you’re buying it purely because you think it will meet your musical needs in ways that older designs can’t – there’s no nostalgia in the decision to buy a new design, after all, just a solid focus on musical utility. The fantastic Eastman Romeo LA, reviewed on page 20 is a perfect…

Eastman’s Romeo is one of the most beguiling guitars we’ve had on test for some time. It’s very much in style for a brand that has really brought the ‘jazz archtop’ into the modern age, a downsized and very functional thinline that is designed to feel more like a regular solidbody strapped on or seated with its almost Tele-inspired upper body. Powered by Lollar Imperials, it sounded as regal – and surprisingly versatile – as it looked when we reviewed it back in issue 459. It doesn’t surprise us to learn that the Romeo, introduced in the summer of 2019, has been Eastman’s best-selling electric for the past year. However, at nearly £2k, not least due to its carved solid spruce top, Gotoh hardware and those Lollars, it’s hardly an…

PRICE: £1,499 (inc case) ORIGIN: China TYPE: Single-cutaway thinline semi-hollowbody BODY: Spruce laminate top with mahogany laminate back and sides NECK: Maple,‘traditional even C’ profile SCALE LENGTH: 629mm (24.75”) NUT/WIDTH: Bone/44.65mm FINGERBOARD: Ebony, pearl dot inlays (with half circle pearl side markers), 305mm (12”) radius FRETS: 22, medium/jumbo (Jescar FW47104) HARDWARE: Göldo vibrato (TLT2N), with Göldo 3-Point-Vario ‘tunamatic’ bridge (HW2GN) and Göldo rear-lock tuners (MGDBL33N) STRING SPACING, BRIDGE: 52mm ELECTRICS: 2x Seymour Duncan Radiator Phat Cat P-90 single coils, 3-way toggle pickup selector, individual pickup volume controls, tone control for bridge pickup only WEIGHT (kg/lb): 2.82/6.2 RANGE OPTIONS: Original Romeo (£1,999) features a solid spruce top and Lollar Custom Wound Imperial humbuckers; Romeo-SC (£1,950) swaps Lollar pickups for a Seymour Duncan Tele-style Vintage Stack at neck and full-size ’59 at…

Moustache bridge Gibson’s distinctive Moustache bridge made its debut on the SJ-200 in 1937, which was built for country and western singer Ray Whitley. It began life as an ‘open’ moustache shape, complete with four mother-of-pearl stripes. The ’tache changed to a solid closed design in the 60s, incorporating a tuneo-matic bridge in place of a standard acoustic saddle, which, while enhancing convenience, also divided opinion when it came to tone. Gibson moved away from the moustache during the 70s, but current SJ-200s include the iconic open design, as does this Noel Gallagher J-150.…

IN MEMORY OF MICHAEL LEONARD We are saddened to report the passing of former Guitarist editor Michael Leonard from cancer on 2 July. Michael was an editor for over 300 magazine issues during his 30-year career in publishing. He spent nearly a decade at our parent company, Future, with successful tenures at titles including Guitarist and Guitar Techniques, and was the launch editor-in-chief of MusicRadar.com in 2007. His writing talents saw him contribute to Mojo, Q, The Independent, Rolling Stone and Billboard Publications, and he spent five years as a European editor for Gibson.com. He achieved Guitarist’s highest circulation in a decade during his time as editor in the early 2000s until 2007, broadening the magazine’s artist scope significantly. “Mike was a stickler for detail, always correcting my sloppy, unstudied…

Recently, I’ve had to put together three different setups for three separate gigs happening around the same time. First is a West End show over the next three months at the London Palladium, and presents the easy choice of a Kemper Profiler Stage loaded with slightly tweaked Michael Britt profiles – amps are generally no longer welcome in West End pits for the benefit of the sound department. “I’d recommend the Boss Super OverDrive. What a gem – it easily holds its own against any boutique overdrive I’ve owned” The other two situations are a general studio setup, where I can bring the proverbial kitchen sink and not have to worry about space, and the last is a ’board that I can leave on a Beverley Knight outdoor festival tour,…

“It seems crazy to build a guitar from protected South American timber when there are so many interesting woods on our own doorstep” A few months ago I hinted in this column about a new project I am undertaking to visit the ‘50 Great British Trees’, as designated by The Tree Council in 2002. With my furniture-making friend Danny in tow, we decided that in addition to seeing each of these unique trees in person, we would pay homage to every one in the form of a piece of woodwork. In my instance, this leaves me with the daunting task of somehow building 50 guitars before my own time runs out. The trees are standout examples from a diverse range of species; timeless yews, lofty sequoias and a quirky mulberry…

These dramatic, jazzy-sounding chords can correctly be referred to as the half diminished or m7 b 5 chord. As we go through some different voicings, you’ll see that there are some you might prefer to see as ‘slash’ chords, too. The reason for the different names is not particularly about theoretical ‘correctness’; it’s more about context and ease of understanding what is going on harmonically. Each player or arranger has their own preferences and it’s good to understand this. So, why ‘half’ diminished, you may ask? It’s all about the 7th. A half diminished chord consists of: Root, b 3rd, b 5th and b 7th, but a diminished chord flattens the 7th by a further semitone – a b b 7th! This is where some people struggle… You’d be correct…

We’ve analysed, scrutinised, discussed and argued our way through the process of selecting the shortlist for our home builder competition. Many flagons of coffee and sundry packets of Hobnobs were consumed during the process, but now, at last, we’re able to publish a list of the six finalists drawn from the multitude of entries we’ve had flooding into the magazine’s mailbox. It’s been an amazing journey and we’re overwhelmed by the woodworking talent, imagination and design prowess we’ve witnessed during these final stages. Now, the shortlist will be sent over to StewMac for its judges’ adjudication and we will be announcing the winners soon. Stand by! PETER CROUT WENGE WONDER Peter chose a combo of maple and wenge for his build. It’s a neck-through-body design, “removing the necessity of a…

If you’re into your PRS guitars, the new 2021 Studio (£3,885) is the only other HSS in the line-up, although the ‘single coils’ are PRS’s ‘Narrowfield’ side-by-side humbuckers. Outside of the bubble, oh, there’s Fender! The company offers the American Professional II Stratocaster HSS (£1,799) with its roasted pine body and two-point vibrato, the American Ultra Stratocaster HSS (£2,019), and the American Ultra Luxe Stratocaster Floyd Rose HSS (£2,399), another classic flavour of the ‘SuperStrat’ genre. Suhr is obvious competition with the HSS Classic S (£2,499 from guitarguitar, with a special offer price on the lightly reliced Antique finish version of £2,599). Elsewhere, James Tyler’s builds epitomise the hot-rod bolt-on style and the Japan-made Studio Elite (approx. £2,299) includes an active mid-boost and ‘colour shifting’ Shmear finish. Ibanez’s well-received AZ…

Why did you end up choosing swamp ash for the body of Mark’s guitar? “I think that came from Mark, with his familiarity with that wood and guitars that he had played in the past – it was one of his choices. Any time there’s a request for a specific material, we want to accommodate the artist, but we also have to take a look at long-term availability and manufacturability. So, obviously, we’ve worked with swamp ash before and we still do on various Wood Library instruments, Private Stocks, limited runs, and, of course, the run of swamp-ash specials that we’ve had over the years. Mark liked the qualities of that wood and the kind of response and snappiness that’s associated with guitars that have been produced in the past…

PRICE: £3,619 ORIGIN: USA TYPE: 14-fret dreadnought acoustic TOP: Solid Sitka spruce, scalloped bracing BACK/SIDES: Solid flamed maple MAX RIM DEPTH: 118mm MAX BODY WIDTH: 405mm NECK: Mahogany SCALE LENGTH: 648mm (25.5”) TUNERS: Gotoh ‘keystone’, gold plated NUT/WIDTH: Bone/43.82mm (1.725”) FINGERBOARD: Indian rosewood, bound, with split rectangle inlays, 12” radius FRETS: 20 medium BRIDGE/SPACING: Indian rosewood with bone saddle/54mm ELECTRICS: LR Baggs Element VTC, with soundhole volume and tone, endpin jack WEIGHT (kg/lb): 1.70/3.74 OPTIONS: None RANGE OPTIONS: None LEFT-HANDERS: Yes, £3,610 FINISHES: Vintage Sunburst, Antique Natural PROS Fabulous-looking, big-sounding acoustic with balanced range of sophisticated tones, both plugged and unplugged CONS Hefty price tag if you believe Epiphone to be Gibson’s ‘sub’ sister brand…

LINE 6 POD GO WIRELESS £549 CONTACT Yamaha UK PHONE 01908 366700 WEB www.line6.com The Line 6 range of floorboard amp and effects processors has become quite expansive with the various Helix/HX models each offering a different subset of facilities to suit players’ needs and budgets. But if budget is your main consideration, you may wish to take a look at the Pod Go. This unit first appeared last year, but Line 6 was unable to get a review unit to us at the time due to Covid and other factors. We’ve now not only got our hands on one, we’ve also got the brand-new alternative version: the Pod Go Wireless, which adds wireless connectivity in the form of a built-in version of the Relay G10 system. Apart from the…

Beetronics has a history of octave fuzz pedals with its standard series Octahive high-octave fuzz and Whoctahell low-octave fuzz. Now the California-based company has introduced an octave fuzz pedal into its Babee series of smaller-format pedals. A compact wedge-shaped pedal with its knobs on the front edge, the Vezzpa (crossing the species barrier to be named after a wasp) has an op-amp at the heart of the action and features two different sounds: Fuzzzz mode is the pedal’s standard fuzz, while Stinger adds an aggressive high octave. The volume knob has plenty beyond unity gain if you need a bit of a boost when the pedal is kicked in, and the intensity of the effect is adjusted with the Sustain knob. Fuzzzz mode gives you sputtery gated fuzz – it’s…

There’s a tendency to associate certain pedal types with specific genres. TS-style overdrives often get lumped into the blues box, when they are actually instrumental for tight metal tones as well. A compressor is almost chained to the country genre, when it often plays a big part in ambient/post-rock to make swells and arpeggios more consistent and balanced. Chorus lived a long life in the cheesy 80s pop-rock container, when it’s also a cornerstone in the lush, layered soundscapes of ‘dream pop’. And for me, filters and auto-wah have been synonymous with funk and only funk for a long time. Oh, how blind I was! Now, don’t get me wrong. I like funk, it’s just not a genre I personally play, and hence I had never really seen a need…

In the hard-rock era of the 70s, the sound of overdriven Marshall stacks filled stadiums around the globe (and terrified the parents and neighbours of bedroom guitarists everywhere). These were the good old days of LOUD – when tone equalled eardrum-splitting volume and rocking guitar players were, for better or worse, antisocial by nature. Hot on the trail of a more practical solution, amp designers on both sides of the pond increasingly looked towards giving guitarists the option of valve distortion at lower volume. In the US during the early 70s, Randall Smith of Mesa Engineering answered the call with his ‘Mark I’ Boogie amp featuring cascading preamp gain. And in England, in 1975, Marshall’s Steve Grindrod developed the company’s first ‘master volume’ model, the 2203. Meanwhile in Japan, the…

1. SERIAL NUMBER Six digits stamped onto the neckplate 2. HEADSTOCK Wide profile; CBS Fender logo, ‘Stratocaster’ and ‘Original Contour Body’ decals; one patent number; natural poly finish; nitrocellulose clearcoat (front) 3. BODY Alder; double-cutaway; rounded edges; forearm and belly contours; Candy Apple Red poly finish 4. PICKUPS Three height-adjustable single-coil ‘floating’ pickups; master volume pot; neck pickup tone pot; middle pickup tone pot; one tone capacitor; three-way selector switch; front-loading jack socket 5. HARDWARE Micro-Tilt system; ‘bullet’ truss rod nut; two ‘butterfly’ metal string trees; Synchronized Tremolo vibrato system with six fully adjustable saddles; two metal strap buttons; chrome-plated: six ‘F’ logo tuners; jack plate, three-bolt ‘F’-logo neckplate, detachable vibrato arm and ‘ash tray’ bridge cover 6. PLASTICS Three-layer (w/b/w) pickguard with 11 screw holes; three white pickup covers;…

Example 1 THIS OPENING PHRASE is very much pentatonic based, but using the pattern as a basis for a more ‘vocal’ approach, rather than trying to create licks or patterns. I’m departing from the shape to bend up to that F at the start of bar 2 – and the B shortly afterwards is counterintuitive, though Clapton has often referred to a major 7th like this as a passing note. Jumping sition briefly down to the A minor pentatonic, there is a shift back up to C via a little reference to the F# diminished chord in bar 4. Example 2 WE’RE TREADING A FINE LINE in the first couple of bars, playing the C minor pentatonic over the A major chord with the only acknowledgement being the quarter-tone bend…

Tutor Richard Barrett | Gear used Gear Used Knaggs Choptank & Scott McKeon SM Fuzz Difficulty  | 10 mins per example THE 1980S ARE NOW LONG ENOUGH AGO TO GENERATE SOME LEGITIMATE NOSTALGIA. Those of us who were (ahem) there can recall heady summer days to the soundtrack of Journeyman-era Clapton, and Toto. There was also a fad for brightly coloured guitars with pointy headstocks and locking whammy bars… In John Mayer’s recent video for his own 80s-inspired journey, Last Train Home, he appears to have embraced the idea of bright pink guitars, but the phrasing is more Clapton inspired, with no divebombs! This Headlines is a look into that style – not an absolute clone of Mayer or Clapton but ‘vocal’ phrasing along those lines. Beware of the twist…

ERIC CLAPTON JOURNEYMAN Having taken a more song-based approach on the previous album, August, with a more subtle guitar presence, this follow-up features a more ‘Eric’ style, with melodic blues phrasing on Pretending, more typical blues-infused solos on tracks such as Bad Love and Old Love – I guess the similar names would have ensured caution reading the setlist on tour, but these are very different tracks! Note how melody and expression take a similar approach to a vocal. TOTO THE SEVENTH ONE Steve Lukather is perfectly capable of playing technical ‘outside’ jazzy lines, but frequently takes a more restrained bluesy approach, or takes a melodic line like a vocal. This album includes many great guitar moments: Pamela features some classic Lukather blues/rock licks; A Thousand Years transitions from clean…

The story behind this guitar is not at all straightforward, but bear with us – all will become clear shortly. The story goes that the PTU441 was originally available only in Japan, but with a different suffix – TBS (Tobacco Sunburst). Essentially, it’s the same guitar and one of the company’s New Yorker range. During our research, we even tracked down a YouTube video from 2016 that shows it being played in its native country, which bears the story out. When a representative from UK distributor Korg was on a visit to Takamine’s Pro Series facility in Gifu, Japan, in 2019, he suggested that the model might do well as a limited run on these shores. He also recommended that the finish be changed to satin as opposed to gloss,…

Though it’s smaller than a credit card (albeit thicker) the Mustang Micro can do a lot. It can serve as everything from a silent practice tool to a recording interface, with 12 classic amp models and an equal number of effects onboard, ranging from slapback delay to harmonic tremolo. Fender wanted the Mustang Micro to offer a feature-rich but intuitive user experience and, largely speaking, it achieves it – with one or two caveats. To get going, fold out the quarter-inch jack built into the unit, plug that into your guitar then plug your headphones into the Micro. A sliding on-off switch turns it on, whereupon four coloured lights fire up, each mounted above a plus/minus rocker switch on the opposite edge of the device. These switches select (from left…

You may have heard me saying how I don’t collect guitars but merely get what I need by trading up to procure ever-improved instruments. I’ve also said how our colleague Jason Sidwell, when confronted by a glistening piece of temptation, always asks himself, “Is this a case of desire or require?” If it’s ‘desire’, he puts it to the back of his mind; if it’s ‘require’, he’ll search out the best instrument for the keenest price and use it to invest in his musical career. Of course, the ideal combination would be ‘desire’ and ‘require’. While it’s sad to think about, several friends have passed away in recent years, leaving guitars, amps, pedals and other paraphernalia for their families who, if they intend to sell on the gear, often have…

There are plenty of modders out there who wax lyrical about pickups and paper-in-oil caps, but far fewer people look to the guitar’s metal hardware for improvements in tone. And while a bridge or a replacement set of saddles may not be as charismatic as handwound humbuckers, you’d be foolish to overlook their impact on your guitar’s sound. Few guitar makers have examined the effect of individual components on an instrument’s performance as extensively as Paul Reed Smith. That’s why I decided to ask him what kind of difference the right hardware can make to your guitar’s overall tone. Why, for example, does PRS bother to design its own bridges and tuners, among other things? Surely it would be easier to buy in parts from established hardware suppliers? “I would…

I’m A Boy “As a kid, I’d already played the piano, the trumpet, all that. I didn’t like any of it, it was horrible. But guitar felt like a natural thing to me. I was only seven, and already had a guitar, when I saw Jimi Hendrix smashing up his Strat on TV – but that was only a visual influence, not a musical one. Next, I found a blues album in my mother’s collection by John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers and that was amazing. When I was eight, I got Deep Purple’s Fireball, and by the time I was nine I could play all that inside out, on my head. Then I started listening to old Genesis albums like Selling England By The Pound, and understood that the chord progressions and…

When fingerstyle guitar and lap-steel whiz Nick Jonah Davis isn’t teaching guitar, playing on other artists’ recordings or working as part of the District Musicians organisation, he makes albums that explore the art of solo acoustic instrumental music. When The Sun Came is his fourth album and his most refined and fully realised yet, leaning more heavily on his Weissenborn guitar to produce a set of beautifully played, intricately written pieces, self-recorded in his local Atlow church. Because of the record’s long gestation period, it’s refreshingly free of current anxieties. “It’s a strange time to release an album,” Nick says, “but I’m glad the recording was finished by early 2020. I had it all in the can, as they say, before lockdown happened, which means the actual creative process wasn’t…

PRS FIORE £2,599 John Mayer’s signature Silver Sky needs no introduction. However, bolt-on guitars go back to the very beginnings of PRS when the company was far from the household name it is today. While we detail that first attempt (the Classic Electric) later on in this feature, it’s book-ended here by the new 2021 Fiore, co-designed with PRS’s latest signature artist, Mark Lettieri. If the Fiore comes across as a Silver Sky with a bridge humbucker (not a bad idea, actually), in reality it’s quite its own thing. The two guitars do share that same bolt-on neck joint and full Fender scale length, but Mark’s vision of an HSS ‘SuperStrat’ is very different to John’s more vintage concept and, in many ways, actually seems more like a PRS, rather…

PRICE: £2,399 ORIGIN: Nashville, Tennessee TYPE: Double-cutaway hollowbody electric BODY: Maple-poplar-maple laminate NECK: Mahogany, medium C profile, glued-in SCALE LENGTH: 624mm (24.56”) NUT: Bone FINGERBOARD: Indian rosewood, bound with pearloid parallelograms FRETS: 22, medium jumbo HARDWARE: Epiphone tune-o-matic bridge and trapeze tailpiece, enclosed tuners with round buttons – nickel plated STRING SPACING, BRIDGE: 52mm ELECTRICS: 2x Gibson P-90 ‘dogear’ pickups, twin volume and tone controls, 3-way selector, orange drop capacitors WEIGHT (kg/lb): 2.54/5.6 OPTIONS: None RANGE OPTIONS: None LEFT-HANDERS: Yes, £2,399 FINISHES: Vintage Burst (as reviewed), Royal Tan PROS It’s back and built in the USA; great range of tones, distinctive from its ES-330 sister (and perhaps more desirable due to solid gold heritage) CONS Very little to report, although some might want to put height shims under the very…

1 This looks sort of familiar... You may have seen a Pod Go before, but look closely at that lump in front of the pedal treadle and you’ll see this one’s equipped with wireless. 2 Why would I want wireless built in? Plenty of reasons, really: wireless technology has come on a lot since the days of getting taxi transmissions through your amp and you’ll get a solid signal without being tethered to your rig by a cable. 3 But do I have to use wireless all the time? No, you can still plug in a conventional guitar cable and, if you are really dead set against wireless, you could always buy the standard version of the Pod Go, which will save you about £150.…

DANELECTRO 3699 £159 An updated version of the vintage Foxx Tone Machine, this features a standard bypass footswitch and another to bring the octave in. There are also two different midrange settings. REDBEARD EFFECTS Honey Badger £199 An aggressive fuzz with footswitchable octave: this time, though, you get lower octave action with either -2 or -1 octaves down or a blend of the two courtesy of the Divide knob. WAMPLER Fuzztration £189 With a footswitchable octave that can be pre- or post-fuzz, this is a versatile pedal that offers a choice of two distinct fuzz voices and separate bass, middle and treble controls.…

What was the first serious guitar that you bought with your own money? “It was an Ibanez DT250 – they called them ‘The X-Series’. The story is that we had some horses and I wanted to get an electric guitar and my dad said,‘Well, I’ll tell you what. I’ll give you a dollar for every stall you clean…’ So I cleared horse manure for nine months, saved up my money, and bought my first electric guitar, which, to this day, when I see that guitar I smell horse manure! “About three years after I bought it I was playing in the school jazz band, which was funny because this guitar was totally heavy metal and didn’t belong in a jazz setting, but it was all I had. I left it…

A friend of our art editor had asked for some modding advice and in a rash moment I said, ‘Sure! Send the guitar over and I’ll take a look.’ Said guitar is a Squier Showmaster, ‘Crafted in Indonesia’ circa 2002 (according to its serial number) and not one I’d previously encountered. Judging from a few For Sale ads I found, it’s not exactly desirable or worth much more than £120 and, in this condition – dusty, at best – probably a bit less. The strings had been attached to the tuners in what I can only call a ‘creative’ style. The vibrato, which should float parallel above the body, PRS-style, was raked back so it touched the top of the body, and the block saddles resembled a pirate’s teeth. Advice?…

The 1970s didn’t get off to a great start as far as the guitar world goes. Jimi Hendrix died, The Beatles split then both Peter Green and Eric Clapton went AWOL. Meanwhile, over the pond at Fender, the old guard continued to file out following the sale of the company to CBS in 1965. During 1970 – just months after his business partner Don Randall threw the towel in – Leo Fender cut all ties with the brand he started back in 1946. It was officially the end of Fender’s ‘golden era’. Nevertheless, the Stratocaster was experiencing unprecedented demand bolstered by the influence of Hendrix. Guitar production of such magnitude was effectively a work in progress, and while today’s advanced manufacturing technology allows laser-precise production at high volume, back in…

“These Gretsch 6134 White Penguins are incredibly rare. It’s estimated Gretsch made 12 to 15 single-cutaway and eight to 10 double-cutaway 6134s. Back in the day, Gretsch really didn’t advertise them, but I think if they had marketed the White Penguin, it would have been a successful guitar. I imagine these guitars were custom ordered. I mean, this model just wasn’t hanging around in music stores. “The White Penguin came out in 1955 – the same year as the White Falcon – but they weren’t even put on the price list until 1959. They were cheaper than the White Falcon, but not now! This ’58 single-cut has got an appraisal from 1986 by George Gruhn for $88,000. Nowadays, they go for anything between $125,000 to $150,000. Gibson Explorers sell for…

PRICE: £1,499 (inc hard case) ORIGIN: Japan TYPE: Parlour TOP: Spruce BACK/SIDES: Rosewood MAX RIM DEPTH: 105mm MAX BODY WIDTH: 355mm NECK: Mahogany SCALE LENGTH: 629mm TUNERS: 3-a-side open gear NUT/WIDTH: Synthetic/42mm FINGERBOARD: Rosewood FRETS: 21 BRIDGE/SPACING: Rosewood/54mm ELECTRICS: Takamine CT-4BII WEIGHT (kg/lb): 1.95/4.29 OPTIONS: None RANGE OPTIONS: The PTU441-MTB is a limited UK-only run and differs in spec from Takamine’s other New Yorker models of which there are many with varying spec and body woods. See website for details LEFT-HANDERS: No FINISH: Satin Tobacco Sunburst Korg UK Ltd 01908 304600 www.takamine.com PROS Nicely priced, compact, well-built little instrument CONS That narrow nut and lack of boom in the bass might trouble some players…

Gibson Noel Gallagher J-150 £3,799 CONTACT Gibson PHONE +1-615-871-4500 WEB www.gibson.com That’s a very nice-looking Gibson jumbo! As the product name suggests, this is the Gibson Noel Gallagher J-150, a signature electro-acoustic for a mildly mannered singer-songwriter whose work you might be familiar with. It’s a tribute to Noel’s Vintage Sunburst J-150 – the acoustic he’s used on stage as well as a go-to songwriting tool. You might also recognise it from Oasis’s Little By Little video.We’ve heard rumblings about this guitar for the past couple of years, and now it’s finally here, released as a 200-unit limited-edition model. So, what’s the, ahem, story behind the original guitar? Noel chanced upon his original J-150 in a guitar shop. “It was just hanging up and I picked it up and I…

Artist: Robben Ford Album: Pure (earMUSIC) What were the main differences in your process whenyourecorded Pure? “Well, the main difference was that, rather than take a band into a studio and cut a record, I built the tracks from the ground up with my co-producer, Casey Wasner. Then I’d bring in a bass player to put a bass track down after I’d already laid something down that dictated the approach, you know? I just had to have complete control. So we would literally build the track, Casey and I. “There are three songs that we recorded with bands: the slow blues Blues For Lonnie Johnson, a song called Go, and If You Want Me To. They were done in a studio with an actual rhythm section, but for everything else…

What? Epiphone Casino, Vintage Sunburst Where seen? www.gak.co.uk Price? £529 Not the US-made Casino reviewed on page 94, this is one of those Asian-made models that Little Barrie mentions in his sidebar to the feature. While Bill Collings says “all plywoods aren’t equal”, just like the genuine article, this one is made from pressed laminated timbers. With mahogany neck, Alnico V pickups, trapeze tailpiece and bound rosewood fingerboard with parallelogram markers, only a knowledgeable person could tell it’s not the real thing. Should you want to upgrade to more ‘special’ pickups, fine. But good luck getting the wiring loom back through that rear pickup cavity and into place!…

Regarding Dave Burrluck’s first visitation of the Acoustasonic [Jazzmaster] as a long-termer. Since its introduction, the Acoustasonic seems to have been a classic opinion divider. What Dave has unquestionably proven, however, is its immense value as a flexible friend in the studio. And it doesn’t take a great leap of imagination to see its value as a live instrument – if not as an acoustic replacement then as a great all-rounder backup guitar. The elephant-sized fly in the ointment is, of course, the price. I suspect many guitarists will think, ‘I can get a rock-solid acoustic and two MIM (or top-end Squier) Fender solidbodies for that outlay.’ And it’s hardly the ‘fall in love’ eye candy that, say, a US Strat in Antique White with mint green pickguard and roast…

“When The Sun Came is on Weissenborn in DGDGBD,with a floating capo on the 5th fret, which gives it a slightly muted tonal quality. Ramsons is Weissenborn again, in A E A F# A C#, which is really taking things below what makes sense. I had to use some funny slants to keep things relatively in tune with each other round the neck; the strings flub about like rubber ropes. All Them Symbols is Weissenborn but in CGCGCD and with a large knitting needle threaded through the strings, played with a slide in the left hand and a dulcimer hammer in the right… “The Muckle Master is played on my Strat in DGDGBD through a lovely underrated Fender Super 60 amp and a really old cheap and nasty – in…

1 Mark Lettieri – who’s he? A hugely talented guitarist who many will know as a member of the Grammy Award-winning jazz/world group Snarky Puppy, whom he joined in 2008. On top of that, he’s released numerous solo records, and formed the Fearless Flyers with Vulfpeck’s Cory Wong in 2018. Head over to www.marklettieri.com to find out more. 2 What's behind the Fiore name? Well, you’ve got to call a guitar something and ‘fiore’ is the Italian word for flower, coined by Mark’s daughter. Continuing the family affair, his artist mother contributed the graphic design on the guitar’s truss rod cover. 3 But it’s just a Silver Sky with a bridge humbucker, right? As we explore in this review, it does start with the familiar platform of the Silver Sky,…

PRICE: £2,599 (inc gigbag) ORIGIN: USA TYPE: Double-cutaway solidbody electric BODY: Swamp ash NECK: Maple, Fiore profile, bolt-on SCALE LENGTH: 648mm (25.5”) NUT/WIDTH: Bone/42.37mm FINGERBOARD: Maple, outline bird inlays, 254mm (10”) radius FRETS: 22, medium HARDWARE: PRS-designed 2-post steel block vibrato, PRS-designed vintage-style locking tuners – nickel-plated STRING SPACING, BRIDGE: 54mm ELECTRICS: 2x PRS Fiore-S single coils (neck, middle), Fiore-H humbucker (bridge), 5-way lever pickup selector switch, master volume, tone 1 (neck & middle) w/ pull switch to add bridge/neck and all-three pickups to be voiced, tone 2 (bridge) w/ series/parallel pull switch WEIGHT (kg/lb): 3.96/8.71 OPTIONS: None RANGE OPTIONS: CE 24 (£2,269), CE 24 Semi-Hollow (2,425), Silver Sky (from £2,569) and DW CE 24 Floyd Ltd (£2,639) LEFT-HANDERS: No FINISHES: Amaryllis, Black Iris, Sugar Moon (as reviewed) – gloss…

1 Isn’t Epiphone a ‘cheap’ brand? Although Epiphones have been built in Asian countries since 1970, from 1958 until that point they were built alongside Gibson guitars in Kalamazoo. Same materials and quality but with specific hardware to mark them as separate but equal. 2 Why would I buy an Epiphone over a Gibson (or any other top make)? There’s something about this brand that talks to the discerning musician. Why follow the herd when you can join a legion of legends including The Beatles and Stones, The Kinks, U2, Paul Weller, Gary Clark Jr and more? 3 Epiphone is an interesting name… In 1923, Epi Stathopoulo took over his Greek immigrant family’s stringed instrument company. Having an eye on the banjo and guitar market and wanting to modernise, he…

If you’re looking for a multi-effects unit with a treadle, there are plenty out there at comparable prices to (or cheaper than) the Pod Go Wireless. The Mooer GE300 (£509) and GE250 (£358), the Boss GT-100 (£375), the Zoom G5N (£289) and G6 (£369), and the Hotone MP-100 Ampero (£349) all spring to mind. Not bothered about the treadle and want some Line 6 action with a bit more flexibility? The HX Stomp XL (£599) will give you instant access to six effects. If you’re looking for a floor processor with a built-in wireless connection, check out the newly released Smooth Hound Siva (£989). Plenty of choice!…

“With Alter Bridge, it’s PRS guitars, sometimes Fender Teles, into either a Diezel Herbert or VH4. They’re awesome, I love them in that context. The solo realm I’m still getting figured out for the next few tours, but it’ll probably be a number of different things. Probably 335s. And PRS makes a really good amp right now and I’m going to try that in conjunction with the Diezel Schmidt – that’s the amp they don’t make any more, but it’s a great sound. It’s like a Vox AC30 on steroids and so I’ll probably try a combination of those.”…

1970 One-piece fretted maple necks replace maple fingerboard option 1971 Micro-Tilt system; 3-bolt neck; ‘bullet’ truss rod nut at headstock 1972 Second metal ‘butterfly’ string tree (3rd & 4th strings) 1973 Walnut finish introduced as custom colour (with black pickguard) 1974 Flush/non-staggered pickup polepieces 1975 Black pickguards, knobs and pickup covers (mixed with white parts) 1976 Serial number relocates from neckplate to headstock 1977 5-way pickup selector switch; Antigua and Wine finish options available 1979 25th Anniversary Stratocaster (4-bolt neck; truss rod nut at neck heel; locking tuners)…