Indholdsfortegnelse for Summer 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 For many of us, at least on a day-to-day level, playing guitar means picking it up and having a bit of a noodle. It’s therapeutic, it keeps us from going rusty and it may well spark off a new idea or two. While that’s certainly all good stuff, it can end up being a comfort zone we never leave. Again, nothing wrong with that if pleasant recreation is what you want from guitar. But if you’re of a mind to do it, playing guitar for other people really raises your relationship with the instrument to another level – even in the most informal of settings. I was reminded of that when I did…

FIRST PLAY CHARVEL PRO-MOD SAN DIMAS STYLE 1 RELIC HH FR PF It’s a crowded table in the Fender household. Outside of the obvious Fender and Squier-branded instruments sit its ‘specialist’ brands, including Gretsch, Jackson, EVH and Charvel. Excluding the former, which wears its unmistakable niche indelibly, you might think that the latter three brands present quite the overlap: three very well-respected names that all have their roots in hard rock and metal. However, each one also has to fight for its place, and we think it’s pretty clearly delineated. The EVH brand is very pointedly an execution of Eddie Van Halen’s ethos, which appears to be continuing faithfully under the watchful eye of Wolfgang Van Halen. Jackson has things covered at the more contemporary, heavier end. Which just leaves…

CONFESSIONS OF A LUTHIER Ding! “I had an idea for your YouTube channel last night,” reads the text message. I’m in my workshop working on a mandocello repair, and I glance over at my phone. Another message shortly follows, containing a single word: “Homebass”. While I would welcome surprise messages pertaining to lutherie from just about anybody, the sharing of unsolicited guitar-making fantasies are a regular feature of my relationship with Oli, my oldest school friend and witness to the twists and turns of my guitar-making career since the very beginning. His previous ideas included an electric guitar blasted with high-voltage fractal patterns (the “Guitarmageddon”), a guitar with a giant carved mahogany hand for the body (the “Epic Smack”), and an eight-necked instrument that you can actually climb inside of…

STAR LETTER LAND OF PLENTY I have been reading the magazine since its very first issue and like many of your readers I have grown up with it as a musician. I was fascinated to see in your recent survey how the number of guitars that readers own has increased. Same for me. At the time of your first edition I was the very proud owner of one of the very first JV Telecasters. It was the only guitar I had and I loved it. They were different times and the idea of a ‘guitar collection’ was an alien one. All those in their 50s and 60s back then, with the means to acquire guitars, were different from us today. They hadn’t spent their youth watching Johnny Marr on Top…

Ian Bairnson was already a successful session musician before he joined the band Pilot back in the early 1970s. The band’s single Magic was an instant hit on its release in 1974 and served to introduce Ian to Alan Parsons, who produced the early Pilot albums. This led to Ian becoming a member of The Alan Parsons Project, playing on all the band’s album releases. Sadly, Ian was diagnosed with a progressive neurological condition in 2018 and passed away in 2023 after a long battle with dementia. His family then took the tough decision to put his instruments up for auction in June at Gardiner Houlgate in Wiltshire. Among them was this 1974 Les Paul Custom, which has the added distinction of being featured on Ian’s solo at the end…

Two Sides of Gary Moore Tutor Richard Barrett | Gear used Knaggs Choptank, Knaggs SSC, Marshall JTM45 reissue & Keeley Boss SD-1 Difficulty 20 mins per example IT’S OFTEN SAID that the sound comes from the player rather than the guitar. For example, there’s a well-travelled anecdote about Ted Nugent picking up Eddie Van Halen’s guitar at a soundcheck and sounding like Ted Nugent, even through Eddie’s rig. While there’s a lot of truth in such stories, it’s also correct to say that different guitars can influence how we play. Gary Moore’s differing approaches to playing a Strat or Les Paul are great example of this. While still unmistakably Gary Moore, there are ways he explores the different tone and features of each instrument, some of which I’ve aimed to…

FIRST PLAYNEWMAN 5 STRING As we documented back in our Blueprint feature in issue 509, Ted Newman Jones III has a unique place in rock ’n’ roll history. A fledgling guitar maker and modder, he started touring with The Rolling Stones in 1972 as ‘guitar tuner’ and in conjunction with Keith Richards created a five-string open G-tuned electric that featured in many Stones shows during the early to mid-70s. Ted developed the design and, with initial funding from Keith, set up shop in Austin later in the 70s where he and a small team began making guitars for local players and plenty of rock stars. Ted passed away in 2016, but prior to this current Newman owner, Jeff Smith, worked with him to digitise the design, which Ted approved. Since…

FIRST PLAYWALRUS AUDIO MONUMENTAL HARMONIC STEREO TREMOLO Walrus Audio’s original Monument tremolo has a varied feature set for anyone wishing to explore a wide range of tremolo sounds and put them to use on stage. The major shift with this expanded version, the Monumental Harmonic Stereo Tremolo, has been adding stereo operation so that, besides standard mono, the new pedal offers stereo in/stereo out and mono in/stereo out with a Pan knob to determine stereo width. Other changes include additional wave shapes and tap divisions, plus, instead of a switch to select Standard or Harmonic tremolo types, you now get a knob to blend from one type to the other. You can also save and recall three onboard presets, and the Tap footswitch now also offers a momentary ramp (up…

Fender Player II Series From £619 to £769 CONTACT Fender Musical Instruments EMEA PHONE 01342 331700 WEB www.fender.com JARGON CRUNCHING Rolled Fingerboards Arguably pioneered by Paul Reed Smith, rolled ’boards are a modern addition to our guitars, designed to remove the ‘sharp’ feel of the ’board by rounding off the edge on both sides. This simulates the feel of an older, played‑in guitar, making your trips up and down the neck a lot smoother. Player II? Sounds like a video game reference! These are the all-new, second iteration of Fender’s hugely popular Player Series guitars, which launched in 2018, replacing the long-standing Standard Series guitars. There are 12 electric models (including the left-handed versions) in the range, along with a trio of basses, all of which include a host of…

Artist: Louise Patricia Crane Album: Netherworld (Peculiar Doll) The album feels like a journey into another realm – full of dreamlike stories and folkloric elements. How did you begin to weave that together? Louise Patricia Crane: “I think I knew from the off that I wanted it to have an overarching storybook feel to it. Magical realism is a big favourite thing of mine, Pan’s Labyrinth and the works of Angela Carter and stuff… I also knew that I wanted it to be autobiographical, go back and revisit memories, specific moments in time throughout my life from childhood to adulthood. I wanted a real sense of going somewhere – of a journey. “I would always start out with guitar – or for pretty much 90 per cent of the tracks…

RAISING THE TONE Opinion Just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so great amp tone surely resides in the ear of the listener. Peruse your record collection, witness a stonking gig, or play an amazing piece of equipment and you’ll know it’s true. One such epiphanal moment for me was hearing Robben Ford’s album, Talk To Your Daughter. I recall the exact moment I slipped the tape the record company had sent me into the slot of my car’s cassette deck and cranked it up. Bloody hell! Mick Taylor and Daniel Steinhardt recently had Robben, and the very Dumble Overdrive Special that made those iconic tones, on That Pedal Show. The two were clearly in awe of the guitarist but also of his amp. So I wondered,…

INTERVIEW Reverent references to Duane Eddy, Pops Staples, Scott Walker and other giants of the vinyl era are never far from Richard Hawley’s lips. But with his new album, In This City They Call You Love, Hawley has produced a work that deserves to stand alongside that of the legends he has always admired. You’d never hear him say that himself, of course, as there’s a genuine and abiding humility in his approach to music. But the tender, yearning ballad I’ll Never Get Over You is a song that Roy Orbison might easily have penned, while Hear That Lonesome Whistle Blow sounds like a lost, lovelorn Eddie Cochrane ballad. Yet Hawley somehow manages to wear his influences lightly, like a well-fitting jacket that suits him and that he makes his…

MESA/BOOGIE MARK VII 1X12 COMBO £4,199 CONTACT Gibson WEB www.mesaboogie.com What You Need To Know 1 What exactly is this? It’s a small three-channel, feature-packed valve 1x12 combo, the flagship of the current Mesa line-up, that’s versatile enough to handle virtually any musical situation. Gibson acquired Mesa/Boogie back at the start of 2021, although original founder, Randall Smith, is still at the helm. In fact, this new Mark VII is seen as his “magnum opus”. 2 Why was there no Mark VI? There was – but only as a prototype. Mesa felt this amp represented such a progression that it deserved to skip a generation. 3 How loud will it go? Enough to blister paint at 30 paces! There’s plenty of clean headroom, too, but typically you have a good…

COLT HS £419 With a strong nod to the Mustang design, the Colt HS comes with hum/single Alan Entwistledesigned pickups and a Mustang-style vibrato, and uses okoume for the body. Other Colts – all bolt-ons featuring a 629mm (24.75-inch) scale length – include the SS (£399) with dual Entwistle Astrosonic single coils, while the HH (£449) features a cut-off T-style hardtail bridge with three compensated brass saddles and a pair of Wide Range-style HV72 Entwistle humbuckers. Available in Blueburst (pictured) and Fiesta Red. VISION £449 This model – shown here in Trans Orange and also available in Black and Two Tone Sunburst – is based on a previous Alan Entwistle design that he conceived for Revelation Guitars. This maple bolt-on one uses a full 648mm (25.5-inch) scale length with 22…

IntroducingNew and unsung artisans making their mark on the scene ... While he was studying as a furniture maker, James Yarde (the ‘e’ is silent), found it was necessary to learn 3D CAD (Computer Aided Design). “With a great technical team around me, I learnt how to harmonise modern CAM [Computer Aided Manufacturing] processes and traditional techniques to produce accurate products with character,” he tells us. It’s not the traditional lutherie route, granted, but one that informs James’s thoroughly modern guitar craft. “I was initially inspired by the pillars of the industry, but I wanted to do something a bit different. This is when I focused on the headless/multi-scale electric guitar.” And after some years of prototyping, the Tamar is the result. Yes, it’s a bolt-on and uses proper bolts (not…

What was the first serious guitar you bought with your own money? “The first was basically half of my own money. I saved up half and the other half came from my uncle, who used to live with us. I really wanted a Rickenbacker because I was a massive fan of The Jam and The Beatles. I’d been around all the shops in the north east of England, and my uncle ran in one day, saying, ‘There’s a shop that’s got a Rickenbacker,’ and the first thing I said was, ‘What colour is it?’ I’d saved about 100 quid and I think he put in about 200 quid; I think I was about 15. I loved it so much that I used to sleep with it under my bed!” What…

Whether it’s a humble Epiphone SG or a vintage Fender, every refinishing project begins with dismantling the guitar. For a Stratocaster, all that’s needed are large and small crosshead screwdrivers and a soldering iron. It had been a while since I looked under the pickguard of this guitar, but it was nice to be reminded that there are two Stackpole potentiometers with fourth week of 1957 date stamps. The volume control had been replaced with a 1964 CTS pot, which isn’t a bad alternative. I’ll need a period-correct reproduction capacitor, but I installed a vintage switch not long after I acquired the guitar. It’s actually a CRL 18672, rather than a period-correct 1452, but it looks exactly the same and only cost me £25. Even 10 years ago when I…

FIRST PLAYFURCH VINTAGE PURE SM & VIOLET DELUXE SM Furch – a maker that has been on our radar for some time – has featured in these review pages before and we’ve been greatly impressed by the level of craft and tone on display. Both the models we have before us now are representative of the lower end of the Furch price list – an OM from the Vintage Pure category and a Grand Auditorium from the Violet catalogue. For the uninitiated, Furch has categorised its different price bands colourfully with Violet at the low end of the spectrum, ascending through Blue, Green, Yellow and Red as the models become gradually more higher end and feature laden. It all culminates with the Rainbow Series, which, according to the company, “gives…

FIRST PLAYIK MULTIMEDIA TONEX ONE IK Multimedia’s Tonex is a software application that uses AI machine modelling to capture the sound of rigs comprising various combinations of amps, cabinets and drive pedals. If you wish to use the sounds (known as Tone Models) on stage, there’s the three-footswitch Tonex Pedal. Size constraints could give some players second thoughts about incorporating one of those into a pedalboard – but there will be no such qualms about the latest member of the family. The Tonex One is in the familiar mini- or micro pedal space-saving format while retaining the same audio quality of its larger sibling. The Tonex One can store 20 Tone Models that you can drag and drop to it from the software via a USB computer connection. It comes…

Artist: The Last Dinner Party Album: Prelude To Ecstasy (Island) The Last Dinner Party have seen a meteoric rise since their debut album, Prelude To Ecstasy, dropped into the UK No 1 album slot earlier this year as the biggest-selling debut in nearly a decade. Tours with Hozier and Florence & The Machine, along with a BBC Sound of 2024 award, have seen the band hit dreamy highs, a sharp trajectory for guitarist Emily Roberts. “I did a degree in jazz guitar before going on to work as a session player for a few artists,” she tells us. “It was Covid when I graduated, so once things got more back to normal I started the job on [West End show] Six The Musical, which I quit to join the band.”…

NEVILLE’S ADVOCATE Recently, I saw the much heralded update of The Beatles’ Let It Be film. I’d heard it was a tougher watch than Peter Jackson’s epic Get Back trilogy, which I’ve now seen three times. Funnily enough, a good mate had always had a thing about McCartney, saying he was a show-off who couldn’t take a back seat. While I can see that side to some degree, Paul acted as the driving force when the other three Beatles seemed pretty passive. He strived to make the music the best it could be and that meant, as he admitted himself, that it could make him ‘annoying’ at times. But I’ve always adored his total musicality, which came across in spades in Jackson’s huge three-parter. “George was left trying to find…

SUBSTITUTE AUDIO http://bit.ly/guitaristextra In this second instalment, we’ll look at five more chords that could be the secret ingredient to lift a chord progression or song from ordinary to extraordinary. As we’ve all surely heard time and time again, being complicated for the sake of it is no substitute for a simple, memorable idea. However, an unexpected twist here and there in the shape of an alternative chord voicing stops a fair way short of turning a I-IV-V based song into a jazz fusion odyssey... Writers such as Christopher Cross and Joni Mitchell have used alternative voicings (and tunings) as part of their music, rather than just an embellishment. James Taylor’s version of Joni Mitchell’s River is a great example of how a chord progression can be reimagined with alternative…

Somewhere in life, you may have experienced something like the following: you struggle to get your head around something for years – say, a particular skill that eludes you – until one day an expert in that subject explains things in a new way that suddenly makes perfect sense. That person’s unique take on a problem, combined with their experience, helps you leap forward several steps. And all you had to do was listen. At other times we gain strength from consulting a trusted mentor for exactly the opposite reason – they can tell us we are already on the right track and simply need to place more faith in our own instincts and abilities. All of the above applies to the art of playing guitar and that’s why we’ve…

FILLMORE 50 MEDIUM HEAD £2,199 Vintage-voiced and taking its name from the legendary US venues, Mesa/Boogie’s Fillmore is designed to provide responsive, rich, classic rock tone with retro authenticity. At the heart of its two channels is the ‘cloneable’ voicing, featuring Clean, Drive and Hi modes on both. The preamp circuit includes five 12AX7 valves, while the power stage takes a US flavour thanks to a pair of 6L6s. There’s a spring reverb built in and an effects loop around the back. Turn on, tune up and wail out. MARK FIVE: 25 HEAD £2,199 The Mark Series is Mesa’s ‘everyone’ amp, mainly because it covers so much ground. While the Mark VII is the new kid on the block, the Mark V amps are still available and definitely not to…

CRAZY TUBE CIRCUITS WHITE WHALE V2 £299 CONTACT FACE bvba PHONE +32 3 844 67 97 WEB www.crazytubecircuits.com What You Need To Know 1 That’s a bit of a chunky pedal… Yes, but it needs to be as it has to have the internal space to house a real spring reverb tank! 2 It’s not digital, then? No, this is an all-analogue pedal that features a metal tank with suspended springs that vibrate to create the reverb, just like you might find in a Fender amp, albeit with shorter springs. 3 Has it got tremolo like a Fender amp, too? It has. You get a choice of Bias, Opto and Harmonic tremolo sounds, all of which have been found in Fender amps at various stages. In the historical timeline of…

BLUEPRINT: Marshall Group You may not be aware, but the centre of the known universe is located on an industrial estate in the town of Bletchley, just opposite Aldi. Or at least, to the right player, that’s how it feels. There, inside the long, low building with a grey and white panelled exterior, lies the Marshall factory. And with it the heart of the British amp-making industry – not to mention one of the world’s most important guitar brands. The list of players that have used Marshalls reads like a who’s who of rock’s cornerstone players: Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Pete Townshend, Eddie Van Halen, Randy Rhoads, Slash, Ritchie Blackmore, Billy Gibbons. You can say the same of the list of products: from the JTM45, through to the…

The MOD SQUAD I was always taught that when it comes to boosting anything onboard a guitar you need an active circuit, and that needs power: a battery. And what is the thing that us electric guitarists really don’t like? A battery! It’s a little odd in that any of us who use our acoustics live invariably have a battery onboard to power our preamps; it’s the same thing with plenty of bass guitars, too. But switch back to the electric guitar and for many players it’s a total no-go. This ‘acoustic good/electric bad’ situation is reflected by the instruments we’re offered: very few production guitar makers employ active circuits, Music Man being a notable exception. Active pickups, which again need a battery, are another polarising choice. Some swear by…

“I’ve known this D’Angelico New Yorker since my early childhood. When I was a kid I played ice hockey for a team called The Green Machine in Syosset, New York, and we were coached by a gentleman called Frank Palma. His son Michael was one of my better friends and every time I went to his house, his father, who knew I played guitar, would show me his D’Angelico. I was always made aware that it was a special and expensive instrument. “The years passed by and we all went our own ways, and one day I got a call from Michael’s brother Anthony, who told me Michael and his father had passed on and this guitar had been left to him. Apparently, there was a note in the case…