Innehållsförteckning för August 2022 från Guitarist

The story of Squier, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year (see cover feature, page 68) is one of unintended consequences. Firstly, when Fender first introduced solidbody electrics to a sceptical music industry in 1950, it was probably hoping just to get its upstart designs accepted in the US. How could the company have known that, 30 years later, one of its biggest problems would be competition from cheap Japanese-made clones of the now hugely popular Strat, Tele, Jazzmaster and so on? In a strange way, Fender went from outsider to victim of its own global success in just three decades. But by creating an affordable sub-brand, Squier, to take the heat off the flagship Fender guitars that were threatened by the creations of Tokai and others, the company created…

PRICE: £4,910 (inc hard-case) ORIGIN: Northern Ireland TYPE: 14-fret Lowden small body size with cutaway TOP: Red cedar BACK/SIDES: Walnut MAX RIM DEPTH: 106m MAX BODY WIDTH: 375mm NECK: 5-piece mahogany/ rosewood SCALE LENGTH: 650mm (25.6”) TUNERS: Gotoh Classic Gold with ebony buttons NUT/WIDTH: Bone/48.46mm FINGERBOARD: Ebony, 508mm (20”) radius with side dot markers FRETS: 21 BRIDGE/SPACING: Honduras rosewood w/ bone saddle/58mm WEIGHT (kg/lb): 1.9/4.18 ELECTRICS: LR Baggs Session VTC OPTIONS: None RANGE OPTIONS: The standard Jazz models are the S-25J (red cedar/East Indian rosewood, £4,910), S-32J (East Indian rosewood, £5,260) and WL-35J (Alpine spruce, Guatemalan rosewoods, £6,485). For 2022, along with the S-23J are the S-34J (Alpine spruce/koa, £5,485) and S-35J (Alpine spruce/Guatemalan rosewood, £7,180) LEFT-HANDERS: No FINISH: Hand-rubbed natural satin George Lowden Guitars Ltd +44 (0)28 44 61…

A massive plus point of this multi-function pedal is the amount of adjustability you get The M1 is latest in the Mako series and follows the same dual-footswitch, six-knob, three-switch format of its siblings (the R1, D1 and ACS1). What you’re getting is a multi-function modulation pedal with six algorithms that include chorus, phaser, tremolo, vibrato, rotary and filter – but, surprisingly, no flanger. A massive plus point, however, is the amount of adjustability you get: three different programs (effect types) for each algorithm, plus a further 11 parameters accessible via the front panel, as well as the standard Rate and Depth knobs. There are also nine onboard preset slots with a full 128 accessible via MIDI, which also allows control over most of the M1’s parameters. There are mono…

Bogner’s La Grange (£215) overdrive pedal is named after a ZZ Top song and designed to emulate Marshall Plexi amps from the mid-60s. There’s an independent footswitchable boost with its own level control in series after the drive section. Elsewhere, the Dunlop BFG07 Siete Santos Octavio Fuzz (£189) is not an overdrive but a wedge-shaped signature octave fuzz pedal, which features a seven-band graphic EQ for tone-shaping over a wide spectrum of frequencies (100Hz to 6.4kHz, by ±18dB). Finally, check out the Chupacabra from Mythos Pedals (£199), another drive specifically designed to replicate the tones of the first ZZ Top records – it’s built around the classic CD4049UBE chip and features just Output and Gain controls.…

You won’t be surprised to learn that my love affair with the Fender Jazzmaster was somewhat short lived. I’d had this bee in my bonnet that I needed to overcome my irrational fear of them, so typically I went in at the deep end and bought one. Lake Placid Blue, matching headstock, white pickups and ’guard, and several upgrades specified by the previous owner. I further upgraded it when I realised that knocking the volume control back, even a touch, drained the thing of any top-end. I contacted James Gascoigne at Home Of Tone and he made me a top-spec replacement wiring loom with treble bleed. After accidentally soldering the switch backwards and James spotting what I’d done when I sent him pics, I had the guitar exactly as I…

Colour me hypocritical, but I’ve all too often ignored the advice I’ve given to readers in these pages, namely: always try a guitar in person before you buy it, if possible. Anything less and it’s a roll of the dice whether you’ll click with the guitar you’ve bought sight unseen. And so it proved to be when I bought a Martin DR Centennial online from Coda Music in Stevenage recently. Let me start by saying that Coda’s service was amazing, and the used DR Centennial I bought from them was in beautiful condition and perfectly set up. And in many ways it was a great buy – a pukka rosewood dreadnought by Martin with some very nice added extras, including an Adirondack Spruce top, plus vintage-style forward-shifted bracing. Its top…

Although Charlie often loads up with a 12-string and a banjo along with a resonator both on record and on the road in the States, for this tour he came armed with just the Mule Resophonic Mavis, so it needed to be able to handle some tweaks and tunings.“This guitar has the capability to be strung with 16s and tuned three steps lower,” Charlie tells us.“Several songs on the record are tuned in a baritone range. It’s currently strung with standard 11s, though, so I’m using open D, open G, D minor and sometimes G minor. I use some standard, too, but I don’t like it as much because it’s the tuning I learned last. Eventually, I got to listening to people like Blind Blake and wanted to play ragtime,…

The glowing reputation of the very first set of Fender Squier Series Strats, Teles, P-Basses, and Jazz Basses – with the big Fender/little Squier logos – has only increased over time. The big-Squier-logo versions that followed immediately are more or less the same instruments, and they, too, continue to enjoy top-notch status for build and playability. The big-head Strat that changed the US market for Fender (in the UK it was known as the Popular Stratocaster and in Japan the Current Stratocaster) is another model from the first years of Squier that qualifies today as a prime collectable, alongside accompanying Telecasters and basses. Collectors today often refer to these early and highly praised Fender Japan guitars and basses – with the Fender or Squier brand, and wherever they may have…

1 What does Vintage Modified mean? Essentially, Fender has taken its age-old Strat and Tele formula so brilliantly reimagined in the original JV (Japanese Vintage) range and brought it up to date with modern-style switching and tips of the hat to other Fender eras with the Strat’s large headstock and maple slab ’boards on both guitars. 2 Do we need another Strat and Tele? Fender is clever at filling every conceivable price point with instruments offering features and options that don’t clash or conflict with one another. Hence you won’t find these exact specs on cheaper or more expensive Teles and Strats. So perhaps the answer is “yes!” 3 Basswood? What is that? Basswood (known as linden in Europe) is a North East American timber that’s a great woodworking material.…

PRICE: £1,249 (inc gigbag) ORIGIN: Japan TYPE: Double-cutaway, solid body electric BODY: Basswood NECK: Maple,‘thick soft V’ profile, satin finish with large headstock SCALE LENGTH: 648mm (25.5”) NUT/WIDTH: Bone/42mm FINGERBOARD: Maple ‘slab’ style with 241mm (9.5”) radius FRETS: 21, medium/jumbo HARDWARE: Nickel/chrome vintage-style Strat bridge with bent steel saddles; vintage-style locking tuners, 3-ply parchment pickguard with aged knobs and switch tip; Fender strap buttons STRING SPACING, BRIDGE: 54mm ELECTRICS: 3x Fender vintage-voiced single-coil pickups; volume and 2x tone controls, tone pot 2 is push-pull activating neck pickup in positions 1 and 2 WEIGHT (kg/lb): 3.34/7.35 OPTIONS: No RANGE OPTIONS: See left LEFT-HANDERS: No FINISH: Olympic White PROS Fantastic build; well priced; easy playability; great range of usable tones with clever switching CONS Pickups set too low (but a simple fix);…

If you’re after the same general standard of workmanship and value for money then check out Eastman’s full range on its website (www.eastmanguitars.com) as there are plenty of dreadnought and OO models available there. If you’d rather have Gibson on your headstock then the first place to look is the range of J-45s available, starting with the Studio that clocks in around the same price as the E20SS and moves upwards in price to the 50s model, which can be yours for around £2.5k. Gibson L-00s also have a Studio model for around £1,650, and a Standard will set you back about £2.4k. Set upon treading the path less travelled? Well, Alister Atkin does a cracking J-45-alike called ‘The Forty-Three’ for around £3k, and there is a range of OO…

This Longtermers test started some time ago when I had my first encounter with a pickup-swapping Cream T guitar. While I was writing the Blueprint column back in issue 477 I was sent the second prototype of what was to be called the Aurora. It was designed primarily by Billy F Gibbons and Cream T Pickups’ originator, Thomas Nilsen, with plenty of input from Cream T Guitars’ founder Tim Lobley and, of course, Leigh Dovey at PJD Guitars, whose job it was to turn the concept and rough sketches into a manufacturable instrument. “While [switching pickups], I haven’t even had to move from my chair” The Aurora was also the first glued-in neck guitar Leigh had constructed – at that point in the PJD Guitars story he’d only made bolt-ons.…

Most guitarists rarely give potentiometers a second thought, but they dramatically affect an instrument’s tone and feel, and changing them can be a very cost-effective upgrade. This issue, we’re telling you everything you need to know about pots, starting with an explanation of how potentiometers work in guitars. Potentiometers have three solder tags and the outer ones are connected via a conductive strip that has a preset resistance. The centre tag (tag 2) connects to a ‘wiper’, which tracks along the conductive strip when you turn a control knob. For volume control, tag 1 is connected to the pickup positive or selector switch output, tag 2 goes to the output socket, and tag 3 is grounded. If the wiper is turned fully in one direction, there will be no resistance…

Late 1957 ‘Polynesian’ prototype; German carve; no f-hole Early 1958 First production Capris (numbers V81-V111); flat tops; first 8 no f-holes 1959 Body depth reduced from 2” to 1½” 1960 John Lennon purchases 325 number V81 1962-1963 No short-scale Capris produced 1964 Split-level ’guard; 5x black ‘KK’ knobs; Ac’cent vibrato; Rose-Morris 325S/1996 1985 V-Series; 325V59 (Lennon/#V81 specs); 325V64 (Lennon/#DB122 specs) 2002 C series; 325C58 (Lennon/#V81 specs); 325C64 (Lennon/#DB122 specs) 2006 1996 (Rose-Morris reissue); Amber Fireglo sunburst finish 2022 325C64 available; Jetglo (black) finish…

When Page Met Bonamassa... Tutor Richard Barrett | Gear used Knaggs SSC, Keeley Boss SD-1 & Vox AC15 C1 Difficulty | 20 mins per example IN THIS MONTH’S BLUES HEADLINES, I’ve taken a Zeppelin-style blues-rock riff and played a solo, which tips the hat somewhat to Jimmy Page circa Led Zeppelin I and II, but also leans towards the techniques and tones of modern blues-rock players, such as Joe Bonamassa, Gary Moore and maybe Johnny Winter in terms of intensity. Yes, this is a bit of a workout at times, but completely justified in the spirit of cramming as many ideas as possible into a solo for the purpose of demonstration! A backing track such as this demands a confident (if not flamboyant) approach, so I’ve boosted the gain and…

Despite the old gag about only 10,000 Les Paul ’Bursts still surviving, informed production estimates for the 1958-to-1960 era average out around 1,500. Verified examples still fall short of that number. So where are all those missing ’Bursts? If a recent discovery in Cheltenham is anything to go by, they’re still out there in cupboards, garages and under beds. A few months back in April 2022, Mike Long of ATB Guitars received a phone call from a woman asking for an appraisal on her father’s guitar. She sent over some pictures, but they weren’t good enough for a proper appraisal of the instrument, so Mike suggested bringing the guitar into the shop. The 1960 Gibson Les Paul Standard that showed up – pictured in all its splendour opposite – is…

Why Buy Vintage? If you think old wood sounds better and all guitars improve with age, then we’re afraid you’re deluding yourself on both counts. And if you believe they don’t make them like they used to, you’re about 20 years out of date. Granted, vintage guitars can sound absolutely amazing, but the price premium is for rarity, collectability and history, rather than quality per se. Legitimate reasons for buying vintage include the thrill of owning a piece of musical heritage, being able to experience classic tones, the pleasure of restoring a vintage instrument, and making an investment that may increase in value as you enjoy playing it. Do Your Homework Thorough research will help you decide which type of Strat, Tele, Les Paul, and so on, you’re shooting for,…

Jeff ‘Skunk’ Baxter A musical man of all seasons and session ace supreme, Skunk Baxter talks about his stunning new album, Steely Dan and guitars on p62 Yasmin Williams An extraordinary acoustic artist who has found new ways to summon music from the guitar, Yasmin tells us all about it on p36 Charlie Parr A latter-day bluesman with a feel for the music of the past, Mr Parr is a magician with a resonator or flat-top acoustic. We met him on p56…

PRICE: £620 (inc gigbag) ORIGIN: Indonesia TYPE: Double-cutaway solidbody electric BODY: Mahogany, bound top edge NECK: 3-piece maple, wide thin profile, glued-in SCALE LENGTH: 635mm (25”) NUT/WIDTH: Friction reducing/ 42.94mm FINGERBOARD: Rosewood,‘old school’ bird inlays, 254mm (10”) radius FRETS: 24, medium HARDWARE: PRS patented vibrato (cast), PRS designed non-locking tuners – nickel-plated STRING SPACING, BRIDGE: 52.5mm ELECTRICS: PRS TCI ‘S’ Treble and Bass humbuckers (open coiled black bobbins); 3-way toggle pickup selector switch, master volume and tone, 2x mini-toggle coil-split switches WEIGHT (kg/lb): 3.38/7.44 OPTIONS: SE Standard (£590) RANGE OPTIONS: SE Custom 24-08 (£959), S2 Custom 24-08 (£1,999), Core Custom 24-08 (from £3,950) LEFT-HANDERS: Not this model; SE Custom 24 ‘Lefty’ (£920) FINISHES: Trans Blue (as reviewed), Tobacco Sunburst PRS Europe 01223 874301 www.prsguitars.com Guitarist GOLD 10/10 PROS Aside from…

PRICE: £319 ORIGIN: USA TYPE: Modulation pedal FEATURES: 3x selectable bypass types (True bypass, DSP+True Bypass (trails), and DSP Bypass), 9x onboard presets, tap tempo, MIDI, 60ms to 2s delay time CONTROLS: Program selector, Rate, Depth Lo-Fi, Tweak, Tune, Tweak switch, Bank switch (A/B/C), Tune switch, Tap footswitch, Bypass footswitch EFFECTS PROGRAMS: Chorus, Phaser, Trem, Vibe, Rotary, Filter CONNECTIONS: Standard inputs (Mono, Stereo), standard outputs (Mono, Stereo), MIDI IN, MIDI THRU, USB POWER: 9V DC adaptor (not supplied) 300mA DIMENSIONS: 73 (w) x 125 (d) x 60mm (h) FACE bvba +32 3 844 67 97 www.walrusaudio.com Guitarist CHOICE 9/10 PROS Compact size; useful range of modulation effects; plenty of tweak-ability; onboard preset storage; tap tempo CONS No flanger onboard; no expression pedal input…

Artist: Yasmin Williams Album: Urban Driftwood (Spinster) Discovering the guitar through the Guitar Hero II computer game, North Virginia native Yasmin Williams is now fully ingratiated into the solo instrumental acoustic genre. With a singular style that maximises the solo sound, she is willing to throw many a curveball at the usual tropes, playing kalimba (thumb piano) alongside guitar, using a dulcimer hammer on her strings, and even creating makeshift percussion wearing tap shoes. Her most recent album, Urban Driftwood, demonstrates many techniques and styles across its 10 tracks and is a reassuring reminder that solo guitar music is still very much alive and kicking. Style & Substance Citing Jimi Hendrix and Elizabeth Cotten as indirect influences and examples of unique performers, Yasmin is well aware of her unorthodox style…

Artist: John Scofield Album: Solo (ECM) Another product of the enforced time off the road that the recent pandemic brought with it, John Scofield’s latest album was pretty much a happy accident. Whereas we might be more accustomed to hearing Sco in full-on fusion mode, ripping it up with a band, on Solo we find him in a more introspective mood. Moving between jazz standards and self-penned tunes, it’s an album of many colours and moods and one that seems to have inspired John to seek out new and entirely different levels of creativity. It’s always a bold and daring move to strip music back to a very basic level in this way… How did the idea for Solo come about? “I had played a couple of solo gigs with…

WHERE DO THEY ALL GO? I’ve had a conundrum for some time, which I may have finally solved. Electric guitars have been around for some 70 years. Production numbers have fallen and risen – lower in the earlier years of Gibson, Fender and others, but rising dramatically in the rock and pop era of the 60s and through to this day with an ever-increasing number of models and manufacturers who come and (sadly) go. And, my question is: where do all these guitars go? The number of guitarists worldwide has probably stayed roughly the same for decades, as older players move on to the ‘great jam session in the sky’ and younger players begin to get their first callouses. So, the number of guitars out there, old and new, seemingly…

Jeff ‘Skunk’ Baxter had a good 70s. Part rockstar, part lab technician, moustachioed and toting a self-modded Fender, his extraordinary playing helped two formidable yet contrasting bands, Steely Dan and The Doobie Brothers, to their best work in that halcyon decade. But Baxter’s obituary, when it is eventually written, will reference more than the effortless solo on Rikki Don’t Lose That Number. At 73, his session résumé is Lukather-long, spanning from Ringo Starr to Donna Summer, while his 360-degree curiosity has sparked sidelines both apt and unlikely: you’re as liable to find him co-designing a guitar synthesiser as advising the US Congress on missile defence. This year, Baxter’s status in the rock ’n’ roll firmament is underscored by what is, remarkably, his first solo album, with Speed Of Heat finding…

“Back in 1982, Martyn Booth and I worked together in what had been Gibson’s UK repair department. The company had moved its European operation to Rotterdam so we set up on our own, and negotiated with both Yamaha and CBS Fender to do their work, as well as private repairs. “One day, our Fender contact arrived with four cardboard boxes. On opening them our jaws dropped. These were the first JV Squiers, with a large ‘Fender’ and a small ‘Squier’ on the headstock. They were closer to the originals than anything we had seen before, including the revered Tokais. “We were told Fender Japan had received the original blueprints; it certainly looked that way, though this was never confirmed. The Strat was a rosewood neck, three-tone sunburst ’62 style, and…

The sharply styled Squier Tele that graces this month’s cover belongs to a two-pronged 40th Anniversary range specially designed to commemorate four decades of affordable tone. Its official moniker is the Gold Edition 40th Anniversary Te lecaster and its deft styling includes a few features not commonly found on workaday Teles, including a bound fingerboard with block inlays, gold anodised aluminium pickguard and an engraved anniversary neckplate. Its amplified tone comes courtesy of Fender-designed Alnico V pickups, while the 21-fret maple neck is topped with an Indian laurel fingerboard, a tonewood that’s now widely used by Fender as a substitute for rosewood. The latter features a 241mm (9.5-inch) radius that offers an ideal middle ground between vintage and modern, flatter-radius fingerboards. The Gold Edition 40th Anniversary Tele comes in high-gloss…

Fender’s Vintera ’50s Modified Strat and Tele (£999 each) have revoiced, higher-output pickups, C-shaped (Strat) or ‘soft V’ (Tele) necks with 241mm (9.5-inch) radius and medium-jumbo frets. Bridges are contemporary two-point with bent steel saddles on the Strat and vintage-style for the Tele, whose Twisted Tele neck pickup packs a Strat-like punch (four-way switch and out-of-phase facility, too). Moving down the scale a little, the Player Series Strat and Tele (both £719) are built in Mexico, come in a range of finishes and fingerboard types (maple and pau ferro with 241mm radius). Pickups are designed by Tim Shaw. Extraordinary quality and value-for-money balance. The Squier Classic Vibe ’50s Strat and Tele (both £389) are made in Indonesia and take cues from models from this decade, with maple necks, vintage-style bridges,…

PRICE: £1,949 (inc case) ORIGIN: China TYPE: 00 Size TOP: Adirondack spruce BACK/SIDES: Rosewood MAX RIM DEPTH: 101mm MAX BODY WIDTH: 375mm NECK: Mahogany SCALE LENGTH: 628mm (24.75”) TUNERS: Open-gear PingWell V93N NUT/WIDTH: Bone/43mm FINGERBOARD: Ebony FRETS: 20 Jescar-FW43080 BRIDGE/SPACING: Ebony/55mm WEIGHT (kg/lb): 1.81/4 OPTIONS: None RANGE OPTIONS: A non-reliced E20OO is available with a plain top or the E20OOSS with a sunburst finish (both £1,679); the E10OO has a plain top with mahogany back & sides and E10OOSS with mahogany back & sides and a sunburst finish (both £1,399). The E10OOSS/v has the same spec but with an antique violin finish LEFT-HANDERS: No FINISH: Antique violin PROS A mini-brute in terms of performance capability that will handle any number of styles. It’s a good looker, too CONS Under-saddle pickups…

BOSS GX-100 GUITAR EFFECTS PROCESSOR £499 CONTACT Roland UK Ltd PHONE 01792 702701 WEB www.boss.info Boss launched the flagship GT-1000 back in 2018 and, although we’ve had the GT-1000Core in the meantime, it feels like it’s time for a new model in the GT range. It’s now here, only this time it’s got a GX prefix. While in many ways the GX-100 is a streamlined and more cost-effective sibling to the GT-1000, what gives it the (G)X-factor is a full-colour touchscreen designed to make quick and easy work of editing. Touchscreen aside, there’s plenty that’s familiar. Amp models and effects are derived from the GT-1000 and include 23 AIRD (Augmented Impulse Response Dynamics) amplifiers and more than 150 effects. There are 300 memory slots onboard, 100 of which hold factory…

What was the first serious guitar that you bought with your own money? “The first guitar I ever bought with my own money was actually a Les Paul Custom, like the Mary Ford SG with three pickups. I got it at this weird shop in Franklin [Ohio] called Fretware. I was in a car accident and I got settlement money, so I just went in to get a guitar and the guy was really nice. I was really young and I was playing a Captain Beefheart song or something, and the guy gave me a great deal on it. It was awesome. I mean, usually when you go anywhere [to try or buy a guitar], especially when you’re younger, it’s like you’re terrified of any interaction with an older person…

It’s hard to stress how much the onset of high-quality, low-powered small amplifiers has changed how we use our gear and helped the musical equipment market evolve into something more user-friendly – and, honestly, something more sensible. It’s true that sometimes that wall of sound can be fun (remember that full stack we all used to have?), even if just for the person making all that noise. But it’s just not practical any more. Luckily, the answer to our problems doesn’t involve as much sacrifice as you would think. For years, the go-to gigging cab was a 4x12. 4x12 cabinets are mostly square boxes, two speakers on top of another two speakers, and wide enough to fit any amp on top. With a few exceptions they tend to be large…

1. SERIAL NUMBER Two-letter prefix (denotes year/month) followed by three-digit production number; stamped on jack plate 2. BODY Maple; semi-hollow construction (routed from rear); solid glued-on back; 1½-inch depth; deep double cutaway; unbound f-hole; unbound top and back; vibrato ramp; Fireglow/Fireglo cherry sunburst finish 3. NECK Maple; glued-on; 21-inch scale; 21 frets; unbound lacquered rosewood fretboard with dot markers; dual truss rod system 4. HARDWARE Ac’cent vibrato; Kluson Deluxe tuners; adjustable bridge with six adjustable saddles 5. PLASTICS Split-level white pickguard; white truss rod cover with black Rickenbacker logo; five black ‘KK’ knobs; black switch tip 6. PICKUPS & ELECTRONICS Three ‘toaster’ single-coil pickups; three-way pickup selector switch; five CTS pots; side-mounted jack Guitarist would like to thank Vintage ‘n’ Rare Guitars in Bath for showing us this beautiful example.…

LED ZEPPELIN LED ZEPPELIN II Though this album is more frequently cited as one of the classics of our time, it’s even more fascinating to go back and listen with fresh ears in 2022 and imagine you’re hearing it for the first time way back in 1969. Jimmy’s solos on Whole Lotta Love, Heartbreaker and Moby Dick speak for themselves, but a special mention should also go to his seamless switch from rock and blues to a 50s rock ’n’ roll vibe in The Lemon Song. JOE BONAMASSA DUST BOWL Among Joe’s many albums full of accomplished playing, this one seems to draw particularly on the late-60s influences of Jimmy Page/Led Zep (with its strong backbeats), Paul Kossoff and Free (with the cover of Heartbreaker, sung by Glenn Hughes) and…

Earlier this year PRS released the Indonesian-made SE Silver Sky in trumpet-waving and near internet-breaking style. Another pair of releases went under the radar: the USA-made S2 Custom 24-08 and this little gem, the SE Standard 24-08, which is £30 shy of being the lowest-priced electric guitar currently offered by PRS. The Standard goes right back to the birth of PRS Guitars in 1985, although at that time it was simply called the PRS Guitar: an all-mahogany version of the maple-topped Custom. It became known as the Standard from 1987 and was always less expensive than the Custom – and today it remains the most affordable model in both the S2 and SE ranges, though it’s no longer a top-deck Core model. The ‘24’ suffix was added from 1994 when…

The Lowden nylon-string Jazz first appeared in 1996, based on the small-body ‘S’. It was revoiced around 2003, benefitting from George Lowden’s continuing research into classical guitar construction that had begun in earnest in the late 80s. But despite being quite rare birds, for 2022 the Jazz Collection has been expanded to include this red cedar/ walnut model, as well as the S-34J (Alpine spruce/koa) and the S-35J (Alpine spruce/ Guatemalan rosewood). “What we’ve seen in the last three years is just sustained popularity and growth on these Jazz models,” explains Lowden’s Alastair Simpson, adding that although these nylon-strings account for under 10 per cent of Lowden’s production, that figure has risen from under five per cent about five years ago. “We’ve done very little to promote it, which is…

The latest drive pedal from J Rockett takes some influence from the classic tones of ZZ Top’s Billy F Gibbons and is named after the mainman of the Tres Hombres. The company says that the pedal’s genesis came about around the same time as Eddie Van Halen’s passing in late 2020. Aware of ZZ Top’s influence on Van Halen, J Rockett’s designers were listening to early ZZ Top records to see if they could hear those influences and then evolved the new pedal from an older design that they’d been working on, which was originally developed to emulate Van Halen sounds. Like similar J Rockett pedals, this one is nicely compact and reassuringly robust in its construction. It has a basic three-knob control layout with the standard Volume and Gain…

As well as her Skytop acoustic, Yasmin can be seen with a striking-looking Timberline harp guitar in her lap.“Yeah, it’s pretty cool,” she agrees.“I like it because of the extra bass strings, which give the guitar another dimension. I’m still experimenting, but I’d like to use the harp guitar to play songs that I cannot use the regular one on. That’s the point to me: I see a lot of harp guitarists play things that they could use a regular six-string for, which kind of defeats the purpose. I doubt it will ever become my main instrument, but it’s certainly one I enjoy playing.”…

“Moving to the stage outside Buckingham Palace the first problem we were, rather predictably, going to have to deal with was the British weather” I’m writing this from my recovery position on the sofa after being in the house band for the BBC’s Platinum Party At The Palace on 4 June in honour of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. It’s been a very interesting experience being part of such a huge machine, where – despite my efforts to make the guitar parts as important as possible – your contribution is dwarfed by the apparatus of the state to such an extent. For instance, it’s the only gig I’ve ever done where the mobile phone reception was turned off during the show by the security services, and because of the presence of…

In this age of algorithms and automation it seems it’s become increasingly important to draw boundaries around different disciplines, often distinguishing people we know as ‘arty’ or ‘academic’ types, and jobs being designated to specific ‘sectors’. One of the things I love most about guitar making is the way it sits right in the middle of that beautiful, multidisciplinary space that encompasses art, science, music and even (at times) psychology. “The trouble with voicing a top is you have to do it without a finished guitar in front of you… [so] a scientific approach [is] rather appealing” This week I return to the workbench after some time away and I’m reminded of this because I’m straight in the deep-end, faced with voicing the tops of the two acoustic guitars I…

Inversions is the ‘classical’ name for what we often refer to as ‘slash’ chords, in which the lowest note is something other than the root. In theory, an A major with a Root-3rd-5th of A-C#-E features the notes in ascending scale order with the root on the bottom. But if we flip this triad to have the 3rd on the bottom, then this gives a ‘first inversion’, or A/C# (C#-E-A). A ‘second inversion’ flips things again, so we have the 5th on the bottom (E-A-C#). Expanding slightly on this concept, how about adding a dominant 7th, giving us a G in addition to the major triad? A ‘third inversion’ puts this 7th on the bottom, giving us G-C#-E-A. We are also free to experiment with any other alternative bass notes…

It’s before soundcheck in a cool (in both senses) cellar at Bristol’s Exchange venue and prolific blues stalwart Charlie Parr is part way through a UK tour, his first since the pandemic. We immediately get to talking about tour exhaustion and finding the time to play guitar, something Charlie has managed to remain consistent with for decades. “Yeah, playing guitar is something I do every day, no matter what,” he says, firmly. “The nice thing about lockdown was that I got to practise – because when you’re touring you never get to do the kind of practice that you do at home. Soundchecking and performing are definitely not practising; your focus is on something different and the rest of the day is spent travelling, so you can’t play.” Charlie’s dedication…

In the early 1950s, Fender was in the vanguard of innovation, revolutionising the guitar world with a new wave of solidbody electric instruments that stood, as usurpers, on turf that Gibson and Gretsch thought belonged forever to the hollowbody archtop. In fact, Leo succeeded so well in popularising the solidbody guitar, that only 30 years later his designs were being copied extensively by guitar manufacturers in Japan – who built their clones so diligently they began to seriously threaten Fender’s share in the market they had created. The prognosis didn’t look great. At the start of the 1980s, during the final years of CBS ownership, quality control was faltering in Fender’s US factories, and Fender had a hill to climb in convincing guitar buyers that its flagship American instruments were…

When reader Paul Baker kindly sent us his 1982 JV Strat to be included in this feature, we happened to have the new JV Modified ’60s Stratocaster that Neville Marten reviewed on page 82 to hand as well. And while these guitars aren’t aiming to emulate the same year-class of Strat, it was interesting to compare their vital statistics side by side. What emerges is a picture of changing tastes in the guitar market over the past four decades. The 1982 Strat has notably hotter pickups, for example, and we’d venture to say that the newer JV is more faithful to original 60s Strat pickup outputs in that regard. The new JV’s flatter fretboard is a typically modern feature, however, as most players want the ease and utility of a…

PRICE: £1,249 (inc gigbag) ORIGIN: Japan TYPE: Single-cutaway, solid body electric BODY: Basswood NECK: Maple,‘thick soft V’ profile, satin finish SCALE LENGTH: 648mm (25.5”) NUT/WIDTH: Bone/42mm FINGERBOARD: Maple ‘slab’ style with 241mm (9.5”) radius FRETS: 21, medium-jumbo HARDWARE: Nickel/chrome vintage Tele bridge with 3x brass ‘barrel’ saddles; vintage-style locking tuners, gold anodised pickguard, Fender strap buttons STRING SPACING, BRIDGE: 54mm ELECTRICS: 2x vintage-voiced Fender single-coil Tele pickups, master volume, tone control with push-pull option that puts pickups out of phase; 4-way selector (position 4 puts pickups in series) WEIGHT (kg/lb): 3.175/7 OPTIONS: No RANGE OPTIONS: Fender JV Modified ’50s Stratocaster HSS (£1,299) in 2-Color Sunburst; JV Modified ’60s Custom Telecaster in Firemist Gold (£1,299) with bound body and rosewood fingerboard LEFT-HANDERS: No FINISH: White Blonde PROS Super build, fit and…

1 These two look familiar… As Eastman says, it’s hard to avoid family resemblances when striking out to design an acoustic guitar because you’re inevitably going to end up looking like a Gibson or Martin. Sometimes, it’s just easier to go with the flow and add a few flourishes of your own, which is exactly what Eastman has done here. 2 So we’re talking J-45 and L-00 here, are we? Yes, we are, but rather than release precise lookalikes Eastman has taken a look at the recipes and swapped out a few ingredients – and the result is rather appetising. 3 Is that some relicing we can see? Yes, and it’s all part of Eastman’s antique violin finish, which is a very thin coat of varnish that the team merely…

PRICE: £1,949 (inc case) ORIGIN: China TYPE: Dreadnought TOP: Adirondack spruce BACK/SIDES: Rosewood MAX RIM DEPTH: 114mm MAX BODY WIDTH: 406mm NECK: Mahogany SCALE LENGTH: 628mm (24.75”) TUNERS: Open-gear PingWell V93N NUT/WIDTH: Bone/43mm FINGERBOARD: Ebony FRETS: 20 Jescar-FW43080 BRIDGE/SPACING: Ebony/55mm WEIGHT (kg/lb): 1.99/4.4 OPTIONS: None RANGE OPTIONS: The E10SS is available with mahogany B/S (£1,399) and the E10SS/v offers the same spec with an antique violin finish (£1,599) LEFT-HANDERS: No FINISH: Antique violin PROS An absolute beast of an instrument that has just about everything you need in a punchy, toneful dread CONS Nothing to declare here – though the slight relicing might put off some purists…

1 Looks like a new Boss GT multi-effects processor… It sounds and functions like one, too, but this is a GX unit, rather than a GT. 2 Why GX? Well, Boss already has a GT-1000. The GX represents a move forward because it’s the first Boss floorboard with a touchscreen, so why not move on up the alphabet? 3 Isn’t a touchscreen just a gimmick? Absolutely not. We’re all used to touchscreens now with mobile devices and this sort of unit really benefits from having one. It’s much more intuitive than data wheels and cursors, and makes short work of the editing process.…

Over the past few years, you’d be forgiven for thinking that using a valve amp was a bit like owning a classic car. Yes, you get all the charm and charisma of the ‘real thing’ but also some less desirable old-fashioned attributes, including heavy weight, limited compatibility with digital recording setups and a fraction of the variety of tones achievable with digital modelling devices. Ever the innovator, Blackstar has taken a fresh look at some of those basic assumptions and tried to make an amp that looks and sounds completely classic and yet, under the bonnet, is both significantly lighter, more tonally flexible and tech-compatible than any the company has made to date. For example, if you’re into recording nuanced valve amp tones, you won’t need to mic these up…

What’s that saying? Your past always catches up with you? Well, here’s a thing. It’s pretty rare to see a guitar you once owned, then sold, come back, isn’t it? The trouble is, when it all happened some decades ago, the ol’ memory isn’t quite what it was. What I do remember is visiting a guitar shop in around 1979 or 1980. Where? Somewhere out of London’s West End. Probably Southend or somewhere like that. To cut to the chase, our band’s manager, myself and a guitar-playing mate (who had a van) set out on an adventure. We purchased two guitars. One was an old Hofner (or similar) single-cut semi and the other was this one, a Kawai Rock’n’Roll Star. It became my second/spare guitar for a short period before,…

Rickenbacker’s 325 has a story like no other guitar. It’s hard to believe this quirky short-scale semi-hollowbody was a catalyst for the American firm’s meteoric success in the mid-60s (as people who’ve struggled to get to grips with the diminutive 325 regularly agree). But after falling into the nimble hands of a young John Lennon, this breakthrough design – the first in luthier extraordinaire Roger Rossmeisl’s brand-defining Capri range – helped raise Rickenbacker’s status from Californian guitar pioneer to global rock ’n’ roll icon. By a strange twist of fate Lennon acquired the first ever production 325 Capri. And thousands of miles away from California to boot. Having been exported to Rossmeisl’s homeland Germany in October ’58, it was hanging up for sale in a Hamburg music shop when the…

“When we’re talking about this guitar, we really need to talk about its previous owner, Eddie Bertrand. The instrument surfaced in 2014, shortly after Eddie died in 2012. I searched my records to see who I bought it from and it appears it was acquired from a person up in the Pacific Northwest. Eddie played with the Bel-Airs until he left and started Eddie & The Showmen who had some surf-rock hits back in the day. The reason Eddie left the Bel-Airs was because he liked that heavier, wet reverb sound like Dick Dale. They were different camps of surf music. “Eddie started his own band and that’s when he got this guitar – an original Dennis Swiden sparkle finish 1963 Fender Stratocaster. So it’s from the height of the…

Though nitro finishes may fade with time, the magic of playing and (for the lucky few) owning classic electric guitars never will. That’s why we’ve put together this richly illustrated 36-page guide to some of the most iconic vintage electrics in the world. Guitars such as Fender’s 60s Strats or Gibson’s late-50s Les Paul Standards have inspired thousands of imitations over the years, but to go back to source and touch, play and hear the originals is still a very special thing for most guitarists. By better appreciating such classics, we also come to better understand how the sonic archetypes we all rely on – from juicy humbucker tone to shimmering single-coil sounds – have evolved. And while we know much about the history of such guitars in this well-informed…