Indholdsfortegnelse for March 2024 i Guitarist

Future Publishing Limited, Quay House, The Ambury, Bath, BA1 1UA Telephone 01225 442244 Email guitarist@futurenet.com Online www.guitarist.co.uk Reading this month’s cover feature with John Squire, I was struck by a comment his album co-star Liam Gallagher made in our sidebar interview with him: “When people go on, like [tortured artist voice], ‘I went to the depths of the universe to bring you this music’. F**k off, man. We’re not curing f**king cancer. We’re making music. It’s either good or it’s bad.” It may be bluntly expressed, but it chimes with what Stones legend Keith Richards has to say on page 61: “If I sit down with a guitar or a piano and just start playing, eventually a song comes…” Because the curious thing about music is that sometimes a song…

We first heard about Shropshire‑based luthier Rich Jones in early 2023 when he visited our studios bearing two of his recent builds, an OM and parlour. The subsequent review was enthusiastic, to say the least, as we were extremely impressed by both the craftsmanship and the sheer musicality – not to mention the value for money – of both instruments. Back in issue 499 our verdict read: “We like both of these guitars a lot. Each has its own particular charm – the Parlour is slight in body and big in voice, it looks great, the build quality is very good and that aged cedar top sets the guitar off well. The OM is more the all‑rounder with plenty of volume and a good dynamic range.” The Orchestra model went…

FIRST PLAYFLATTLEY DG FUZZ The last Flattley pedal we looked at was The Ace tone booster in issue 495 but now the company has returned with a closely related release. The brand says this new version of its DG Fuzz is effectively a double pedal: a 60s-style fuzz that now incorporates a simplified version of The Ace and a typical period tone stack in one four-knob enclosure. The pedal has its roots in the Fuzz Face circuit of the late 1960s. Featuring BC108 transistors, it’ll give you a taste of that silicon Fuzz Face experience from drive sounds to fully saturated and decent volume-knob clean-up. However, it goes beyond that with fine-tuning of the tone via pre- and post-fuzz EQ and increased output. The inclusion of a buffer also means…

Pre-NAMM releases From £32.99 CONTACT Various WEB See below Welcome to 2024 where, following a few years of slight disruption to our regular influx of new year releases, we now find ourselves in something of a NAMMdemic. By the time you read this, the world will once again have convened in Anaheim with a slew of new gear. We’ll bring you a more detailed report next month, but, for now, here are some of the early-bird releases that have grabbed our attention. HEADRUSH FRFR MKII From £285 If you haven’t already, then 2024 might well be the year that you start seeing and hearing a lot more about full-range flat-response speaker cabs. HeadRush was one of the first in the sector, with its powered FRFR guitar cabinets designed to be…

Artist: Philip Sayce Album: The Wolves Are Coming (Atomic Gemini/Forty Below Records) After the release of his seventh solo record, Spirit Rising, in 2020, Philip Sayce took to the internet to promote it in lieu of being able to play live during the pandemic. Incredibly, and in no doubt due to a very faithful fanbase, the album received more than 13 million streams on Spotify. Now, with business relatively back to normal, Philip’s return to the live stage finds him at the top of his game. Furthermore, a new studio album waits in the wings. We took the opportunity to chat with him via a Zoom call to his home in LA to find out what went into the making of The Wolves Are Coming. The writing for the new…

RAISING THE TONE...Opinion It’s hard to pinpoint the time when the belief that glue is good and bolts are bad took hold. The cynic in me might suggest that it was instigated, or at least propagated, by some traditionally minded guitar manufacturers in response to a Californian company that sent shockwaves through the industry in the early 1950s. By the 1970s, sustain worshippers were even making the case for dispensing with neck joints altogether and making guitars from continuous lengths of wood. The main beneficiaries of this simplistic thinking were Fender fans, who could pick up vintage examples of their beloved instruments for next to nothing. Even if you buy into the argument that glued necks offer superior sustain, it’s harder to make the case for superior tone. This is…

DENNY LAINE 29 October 1944 – 5 December 2023 Brian Frederick Hines was born in Tyseley, Birmingham, later adopting the stage name Denny Laine, the surname chosen to reflect his sister’s love of pop crooner Frankie Laine. He took up the guitar early on, inspired by Gypsy jazzer Django Reinhardt, and made considerable headway on the instrument, culminating in him giving his first public performance at the tender age of 12. Later, and with a professional music career set firmly in his sights, Denny formed his own band, the Diplomats, which soon found a following in the Midlands and featured future ELO drummer Bev Bevan. “Denny was an outstanding vocalist and guitar player. He will be missed by all his fans and remembered with great fondness by his friends” PAUL…

HISTORIC HARDWAREGibson Custom Shop Jimmy Page #2 Les Paul Standard One of the most striking developments in the guitar market has been the emergence of high-end Les Pauls that command the kind of prices that, just a few years ago, original 60s or even 50s examples used to cost. Built as part of limited-run ranges such as the Collector’s Choice series, such guitars are not simply aged to resemble generic ’Bursts of the golden era but are crafted to closely resemble specific celebrated guitars – from the instruments Jimmy Page used with Led Zeppelin to ’Bursts that have no artist associations but have become known among collectors as particularly fine examples of Gibson’s late-50s and early 60s handiwork. Not simply reissues, Gibson’s Custom Shop Artist and Collector’s Choice guitars (the…

BLUEPRINT: Ivison Guitars In recent years, we’ve seen more than a few canny luthiers – such as Dennis Fano and Patrick James Eggle – blend together elements from classic vintage guitars to create modern electrics that are built to an exacting contemporary spec yet sound and feel as if they were made in the 50s. Now, another name can be added to the wishlist of anyone who enjoys the blend of usability and vibe such guitars offer: Ivison Guitars. Based in Worcestershire, Neil Ivison is its proud founder – but he says it’s almost by accident that he fell into making his high-end, vintage-style electrics. He must be doing something very right, however, because bands such as The Hives and Guns N’ Roses have started using his guitars. The Dakota…

There is an ever increasing narrative that the wood or materials your speaker cabinet is made of don’t make a difference. I’m not entirely sure where this started, but I have a feeling the two main culprits are YouTube and some cabinet design theory. Some popular YouTube videos illustrate a lack of difference in sound between two cabs made of different materials. There’s nothing quite like listening to examples, of course, so at first this seems to prove a point. But these videos usually rely on a clean tone, which can be an issue. In the room you may hear the difference, but when close mic’ing cabs you often need a more complex signal – usually one with more gain – for a clear illustration. So, while a compressed file…

“This guitar has a very interesting backstory because it’s a 1960 Lake Placid Blue Telecaster that was owned by Alvino Rey. He was a fantastic multi-instrumentalist and an electronics pioneer who was involved with developing pickups and effects for electric guitars. But besides the provenance, the finish predates the official introduction of Lake Placid Blue by around 23 months. Fender’s custom colour chart came out in November 1961, so any Fender with a non-standard finish made before then was usually a trade show guitar or made for a famous player. “Lake Placid Blue replaced San Marino Blue in Fender’s line-up, but when San Marino was being used it wasn’t an official option. Starting in 1957, there was a little blurb in the Fender catalogue that said you could custom order…

Blue Melody We take a look at a seminal 1960 Telecaster clad in Lake Placid Blue, whose finish predates the official debut of that colour by two years p124 Vintage Tones Is it possible to get the custom shop vibe in a guitar under £1,500? Vintage’s ProShop makes a good case on p84 Mighty Minis They may be small, but boy do they pack in a lot of tone. Huw Price explores the interesting history of the mini-humbucker on p118…

FIRST PLAYPJD ST JOHN STANDARD PLUS Production-style methodology has always been at the heart of PJD: clean craft and design, well executed and far from expensive. In fact, its new Standard range – which kicked off in 2023 and includes the single-cut Carey, the S-style Woodford, the original-shaped T-inspired York and PJD’s previously best-selling offset St John – actually kicks off at just £1,299. The next Standard Plus tier all include vibratos at £1,499, while a lightly worn-looking ‘spray over’ finish, available on both levels, adds between £250 and £300. The York-based brand has also recently installed a Plek machine to add further consistency as the company slowly ramps up production. It’s a long way from the ‘man-in-shed’ style of many Brit makers. But while the build is purposely streamlined,…

FIRST PLAYEVENTIDE RIPTIDE The sound of a Uni-Vibe combined with dirt (whether that be a driven amp, a fuzzbox or a combination of both) is one of those classic rock tones that is instantly familiar. Eventide has attempted to capture that in a single DSP-based pedal by including independently footswitchable Vibe and Drive circuits. What’s more, the company has settled the perennial question about whether to put drive before or after the vibe by giving you the choice to change the order via a front-panel switch. This leaves you to compare which variation best suits the musical task at hand. The Riptide can be run in mono or stereo and there’s nothing in everyday operation that you can’t do from the intuitive front panel. Both Vibe and Drive have alternate…

Artist: Tenille Townes Album: Train Track Worktapes (EP; Sony Music) Tenille Townes has been on the country music scene for many years, steadily gathering a fanbase and releasing music with her first collection, Real, dropping in 2011. 2022’s mini-album, Masquerades, saw a new side to her songwriting. “I’ve always enjoyed songwriting from the storyteller’s perspective,” Tenille says. “The pandemic forced a period of self-reflection, so I couldn’t help that the songs were more personal.” Her current EP, Train Track Worktapes, was created on the road across Canada, where she was born and raised. Breaking Out Tenille’s breakout album, 2020’s The Lemonade Stand, started the shift in focus from a ‘birdseye view’, which she previously used, to a more introspective bent; a transition that took some getting used to. “I wrote…

NEVILLE’S ADVOCATE... One of the interesting things about playing in the band of someone well known, as I have been fortunate enough to do for many years, is that occasionally we get to do a special gig. Take December of last year. Marty Wilde is a member of the SODS, or Songwriters Of Distinction Society. He wrote or co-wrote a number of hit singles including: Status Quo’s Ice In The Sun; I’m A Tiger for Lulu; his daughter Kim’s Kids In America, Cambodia and others; as well as Jesamine by The Casuals, which was only held off the top spot by The Beatles’ Hey Jude. Marty asked his keyboard player, Adrian, and me to join him at the SODS event at London’s Landmark hotel. We were to perform just two…

SUBSTITUTE... When rock ’n’ roll was being invented, the guitars used were often the hollowbodies that were originally designed for jazz – just check out early photos of Scotty Moore, Chuck Berry and, of course, Eddie Cochran. In many cases, the harmonic sophistication of jazz found its way into some guitar parts and solos, too, which you’ll hear on the early Elvis recordings, plus Bill Haley’s Rock Around The Clock. Brian Setzer is a great example of a more contemporary player who clearly has a good knowledge of his jazz voicings, as evidenced on Stray Cat Strut or his version of Route 66 with The Brian Setzer Orchestra. We’re not getting quite that complicated here, but these voicings certainly give you some nice options. While they don’t have to be…

What was the first serious guitar that you bought with your own money? “When I was eight years old, I started saving up for my first guitar, and then on my ninth birthday my grandma paid the extra 50 euros that I needed to buy a Squier Affinity Series Telecaster. I think it was, like, 400 euros. I was heavily into Metallica and that was the reason why I wanted to play guitar as a nine year old. I had my first guitar lessons and my guitar teacher put some sheet music in front of me and said, ‘Okay, this is the first song you're going to learn,’ and I was like, ‘This is not what I expected…’ I just wanted to play Metallica and shred! Then, when I was…

Lonnie Mack & SRV Tutor Richard Barrett | Gear used Knaggs Choptank & Vox AC15 C1 Difficulty | 20 mins per example LONNIE MACK is something of an unsung hero in the development of the modern guitar solo. He had a somewhat chequered career, reportedly through being difficult to pigeonhole and subsequently market, and it sounds as if he didn’t really play the ‘fame game’. Lonnie’s top priority was playing the music he wanted to play, not pandering to record companies for the sake of bigger profits. Having said that, he did record several albums over the course of his career, the first of which, The Wham Of That Memphis Man!, introduced his loud, fast and precise technique to a generation of incredulous players. Unfortunately, the British Blues Invasion and…

FIRST PLAYPRS MT100 HEAD Mark Tremonti is one of PRS’s most prolific and dedicated artists; his boundless talents are more than one or even two bands can satisfy. Having found global fame with Creed, Tremonti went on to form Alter Bridge in 2004 with Myles Kennedy, followed by a solo album project in 2010 that turned into the band Tremonti. All three projects are still on the active list, with Creed set to reform again for a tour in 2024. The guitarist is just as busy on the gear front, with Core and SE PRS models alongside the well-received MT 15 head – which is now joined by a new addition, an amp that Mark has been deeply involved with through the design and test phases and is now using…

FIRST PLAYBOSS KATANA-AIR EX COMBO Since its introduction in 2016, Boss’s Katana range has become a byword for quality, affordable guitar amplification, with products to cater for every need, from the flagship Katana-Artist to the Katana-Air desktop combo, the world’s first totally wireless guitar amplifier. The Katana-Air removes the need for cables and leads, creating a cleaner and less cluttered home environment as well as providing the freedom to take your amp anywhere. Now Boss has added a new addition to the range with more of a professional focus, the Katana-Air EX. The most obvious difference between the Air EX and the original Air is the larger ported wood cabinet, which houses a pair of five-inch specially designed loudspeakers that are intended to produce a bigger, richer sound. The cosmetics…

Walter Trout Broken Provogue/Mascot Label Group (release date: 1 March) 9/10 With health problems now firmly behind him, the unbreakable blues master returns If anyone deserves the epithet ‘veteran bluesman’ here in the 21st century, it’s Walter Trout. He’s been an essential part of the blues-rock scene for more than five decades since serving his apprenticeship by accompanying John Lee Hooker, Big Mama Thornton and Joe Tex, among others, way back in the 1970s. Stints with Canned Heat and John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers rounded off Walter’s blues education and since then he has been one of the most prolific artists on the scene. Broken – his 31st album – sees Walter joined on a couple of tracks by Beth Hart and Twisted Sister’s Dee Snider, the latter seeming a strange choice,…

CONFESSIONS OF A LUTHIER... Let’s make this clear from the outset: I am a wood addict, a self-confessed ‘dendrophile’. 13 years of guitar making has made me this way compounded by an already unhealthy addiction to playing and collecting guitars, so maybe you’ll be able to relate to my obsession with hoarding timber, too. As someone who runs two businesses, both making guitars and teaching lutherie, keeping a healthy stock of materials is essential. However, it also gives me a reason to compulsively empty my bank account on a whim every time an opportunity to acquire wood presents itself. Such an event occurred not once but three times this month, one of which happened when I was contacted out of the blue by my old design and technology teacher from…

STAR LETTER VALVE PRESSURE? Interesting comment made in issue 506 in the article The Future Of Valves. The writer says: “Valves wear out, while DSPs don’t” and while that’s technically true, it’s more than a little misleading. Valves do wear out, but if looked after properly, avoiding physical shocks when hot or warm, not only can they last many years, but they usually give notice before failure. They can become noisy or microphonic or simply lose gain. But the good news is, if available, valves can be easy to change, even by the user. Conversely, DSPs don’t wear out, but they do die. And there’s the rub. If a DSP fails it won’t be user-replaceable. Specialist tools are needed to replace a large circuit processor and in some cases the…

This must be the place. Deep in the sheep-sprinkled Cheshire moorlands, behind an unassuming farmhouse door, a creative whirlwind awaits us. Model aeroplanes swoop from the rafters. Craft knives, toy robots, aerosols and half-finished energy drinks jostle for desk space, while an art supplies cupboard spills with tins, palettes and brushes. Perhaps most revealing of all, in this rock ’n’ roll edition of Through The Keyhole, is the paint-spattered canvas in one corner: a dead giveaway for anyone who came of age amid the bucket hats and loose-limbed beats of summer ’89. This can only be the home studio of John Squire: sometime guitarist for Manchester’s seminal Stone Roses, latterly acclaimed visual artist, now offering a handshake and apologising for a border terrier he warns is liable to hump our…

Mini-humbuckers Gibson acquired the Epiphone company in 1957, along with all the tooling, and shipped everything over to Kalamazoo when production ceased on the East Coast. At that time, the quality of Epiphone guitars was on a par with Gibsons and – according to Gibson’s current vice president of product, Matt Koehler – Epiphone was purchased in order to tap into new markets. Epiphones couldn’t be seen as mere rebranded Gibsons, and one way to establish the difference was to equip them with an exclusive pickup. Earlier in the 1950s, Epiphone had developed a single-coil pickup with off-centre pole screws and a rectangular metal cover. Gibson’s later PAF humbucker looked a bit like a scaled-up version of Epiphone’s ‘New York’ pickup, so it has been suggested that Gibson decided to…