Innehållsförteckning för August 2023 från Guitarist

Back in the early 90s I was hanging out in the garage of a friend, Dan Hawkins, and both of us were earnestly trying to come up with indie-inspired riffs. Nirvana was a new band then, just rising to fame, there were eggboxes on the garage wall and a Boss DS-1 on the floor. Every now and then, Dan’s older brother Justin came in and played a hair-metal lick on his Jackson, which had a Kahler and a lone humbucker. We sighed and tried to carry on with our ‘serious’ guitar music. I can’t recall if there was an issue of Guitarist lying about, but there certainly was back home at my place. The mag had already being going for around a decade by that point and it was my…

ISSUE 500AUGUST 2023 DOWNLOAD YOUR EXCLUSIVE MASCOT LABEL GROUP GUITAR ALBUM WORTH £12 *Amount calculation based on the value of single-track digital downloads TRACK #1 BLACK STONE CHERRY Out of Pocket (Screamin’ At The Sky) TRACK #2 VANDENBERG House On Fire (SIN) TRACK #3 EDWARD REEKERS The Present Day (The Liberty Project) TRACK #4 DEWOLFF Night Train (Love, Death & In Between) TRACK #5 STEVE LUKATHER When I See You Again (Bridges) TRACK #6 JOE BONAMASSA Notches (Live) (Tales Of Time) TRACK #7 CONNOR SELBY I Shouldn’t Care (Connor Selby) TRACK #8 STEVE VAI She Saved My Life Tonight (Vai/Gash) TRACK #9 THE COLD STARES Got No Right (Voices) TRACK #10 PAUL GILBERT Man On The Silver Mountain (The Dio Album) TRACK #11 KRIS BARRAS BAND Chaos (Death Valley Paradise)…

FIRST PLAYHARLEY BENTON FUSION-T 25TH Some 25 years in the music instrument business deserves a bit of a celebration, and although Harley Benton seems considerably younger, owner Thomann did kick off the brand in 1998. Time flies! While the majority of its guitars are lookalikes (the 25th series boasts an S-style, T-style, JM-style and LP-style, for example), the pair of Fusion models, an S-style double-cut and our T-style here, at least show off a more contemporary style seemingly inspired by the likes of Charvel and Suhr. Each 25th Anniversary model comes in a Firemist satin metallic finish that’s more copper than gold, only slightly lighter-hued than the roasted maple neck and fingerboard. The 45mm thick black-edge bound slab body is made from something called nyatoh, a ‘utility’ wood apparently used…

Taylor Builder’s Edition 814ce Taylor Builder’s Edition 814ce £5,399 CONTACT Taylor Guitars WEB www.taylorguitars.com Taylor’s established flagship Grand Auditorium 814ce model has received an upgrade in the form of a Builder’s Edition. In other words, a guitar that has already breached the summit of the Taylor range has had some additional luxurious appointments lavished upon it. So what’s new, exactly? There are some structural refinements hidden under the hood, but as far as the parts you can see, Taylor has kept to the basic 814ce formula inasmuch as the top is spruce and back and sides Indian rosewood, but on this Builder’s Edition the spruce is Adirondack instead of Sitka. Furthermore, and possibly controversially, it’s a four-piece top. This might raise a few eyebrows among the acoustic purists, but Taylor’s…

SUBSTITUTE It’s good to know as many ways as possible to play each and every chord – not only to give us options when arranging chord accompaniments, overdubs and chord melodies for solo guitar arrangements, but also to enhance our knowledge of the fretboard in a different way from learning every conceivable scale and mode. The ultimate goal is to understand chord structures enough that an arpeggio or scale is always to hand – a constant work in progress, perhaps, but isn’t that at least partly what keeps us all hooked? Looking at different versions of what is ostensibly the same chord/group of notes also gives some interesting insights into the conventions used when naming them – and the sometimes profound differences between adding a note at the bottom, middle…

If plucking a ripe plum from a tree had a sound, it would resemble Carol Kaye’s signature tone – a tone that made her a ‘first-call’ bassist in the highly competitive studio session world. It wasn’t just that, though. Kaye is arguably the first bassist to exploit the instrument in a truly melodic fashion, a nod perhaps to her early days as a jazz guitar prodigy. Her ability to invent memorable and influential bass and guitar parts on the spot in a high-pressure situation took her to – and kept her at – the very top of the studio scene and onto more than 10,000 recordings. Carol Kaye was born into a musical family in Washington state on the Pacific Northwest in 1935, with both parents professional musicians. In 1942,…

BLUEPRINT: Fender Player Series Back in 2018 Fender introduced the Player Series aimed very squarely at guitarists and bass players taking their first steps into the environs of a major brand. Familiar designs that had been seen in the hands of renowned artists for decades were now available to young players who wanted the classic sounds of their forebears with pro-level spec, including C-profile necks, modern 22-fret fingerboards, upgraded bridges and classic F-stamped neckplates. Another undoubted attraction was that the Player Series sat well below the £1k price tag and, most importantly, had that name on the headstock. During the ensuing five years, the Player Series has gone on to be Fender’s best-selling line, proving popular with a new generation of musicians whom the company continues to nurture and support…

The MODSQUAD This story starts in the late 60s when Seth Lover had jumped ship from Gibson to work for Fender. Pretty soon, he’d been tasked with coming up with a humbucking pickup design – something that Fender didn’t have. But not wanting to plagiarise his patented Gibson humbucking design, he took a different route. Crucially, the new design differed from Seth’s Gibson humbucker by using threaded CuNiFe magnetic polepieces, instead of an Alnico bar magnet – and the Fender Wide Range humbucker was born, gracing a trio of Teles in the early 70s (pictured below on the new American Vintage II 1972 Telecaster Thinline; pic 1). But what exactly is CuNiFe? “It’s an alloy of 60 per cent copper, 20 per cent nickel and 20 per cent iron,” states…

Gibson’s debut solidbody guitar line was introduced in 1952 with the Les Paul Model (dubbed the ‘Goldtop’ on account of its gold finish). The range was expanded in 1954 with the Les Paul TV and Junior student guitars along with the price-list-topping Ebony finish Les Paul Custom. The mid-priced Les Paul Special was added the following year. At this stage, Les Paul Customs featured an Alnico V pickup in the neck position paired with a P-90 in the bridge position, while all other Les Paul guitars were fitted with P-90s only. From 1957, Customs were fitted with a trio of PAF humbuckers (rarely two), while the Goldtop received a dual set. The next year, the Les Paul Model was renamed the Les Paul Standard and decked out in its now…

We’ve Had Issues... Guitarist contributors old and new look back on the heights and occasional howlers of making 500 issues of this tome p48 Carole Kaye A studio legend, her playing has graced thousands of hits, from Sinatra to Zappa. She tells us all about doing it her way on p54 Classic Rock Show Pete Thorn and James Coles shared the secrets to nailing the tones of iconic hits on stage when we joined them on tour earlier this year p74…

Can it really be 69 years ago that Gibson took the wraps off its bare‑bones Les Paul Junior? Well, it is, and while it might have been aimed at students back in the day, you don’t need us to tell you it’s powered many classic recordings to which Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong has certainly contributed. He’s been a Gibson signature artist since 2006, his latest was back in 2018, and there’s already an affordable Epiphone Billie Joe Armstrong Les Paul Junior. Billie’s take for 2023 is as much a celebration of his style as it is a viable new addition to the oeuvre in its pink plastic Protector case with leopard print interior, a stock Vintage Ebony finish or this show‑off Silver Mist metallic. The 2018 version used a…

FIRST PLAY KORG NU:TEKT PEDALS Sold as ‘kits’, the self-assembly aspect of the Nu:Tekt TR-S Power Tube Reactor and HD-S Harmonic Distortion is actually limited to screwing on the bottom plate, sticking four rubber feet on and putting the knobs in place, with the addition of a sheet of stickers to ‘customise’ your pedal. That far-from-difficult aspect aside, each pedal looks a most interesting prospect based around Korg’s Nutube, which, the company says, operates exactly as a triode vacuum valve. Besides a set of four knobs, each pedal has three front-panel trim pots to adjust various parameters. The Power Tube Reactor is designed to deliver the warmth and response of a valve amp. Its circuit design can mimic the sag of a vacuum valve power amp where the sound compresses…

Epiphone Casino, Sheraton & Broadway From £719 CONTACT Epiphone PHONE 00800 444 27661 WEB www.epiphone.com JARGON CRUNCHING Epiphonology It’s been 150 years, but you might still be wondering where Epiphone got its name. When Greek-born founder Anastasios Stathopoulos (who moved his family to New York in the early 1900s) died in 1915, his son Epaminondas took over and devised the portmanteau Epiphone from his name and the translation of ‘voice’. Oh, cool – some affordable Gibson replicas! Well, yes and no. As Epiphone turns 150, these three refreshed archtops celebrate the brand’s heritage – and while some inspiration for the originals came from the Gibson bloodline, we think they’ve been around long enough to be considered classics in their own right, rather than ‘the affordable Gibson’. There’s a Casino, Sheraton…

Artist: Extreme Album: Six (earMUSIC) Nuno Bettencourt is bracing himself for the inevitable. Having turned in arguably the most dazzling solo of the post-millennium on Extreme’s recent single Rise – an unfeasible thrill-ride of scalded tremolo picking, whammy abuse and palm-muted undulations – the 56-year-old virtuoso must now face a global guitar press that demands to know how the magic trick is done. He’ll take the plaudits. But if there’s just a hint of amiable impatience in Bettencourt’s interview manner, perhaps that’s because the guitarist has been raising the technical bar since Extreme started out in mid-80s Boston, and new album, Six, is far from a one-trick pony. Do you enjoy being in the studio these days? “No, I fucking hate recording albums. There’s nothing more torturous to me. Why?…

STAR LETTER COMMUNITY SPIRIT I read with great interest Jamie Dickson’s column in issue 499 regarding the encouragement he has received from fellow guitarists in recording his acoustic album. This generosity of spirit struck a chord with me as I only took up the guitar seriously during lockdown and, to be honest, at an age where achieving some level of competence rather than mastery is probably my most realistic goal. I have, however, had the good fortune since then to make friends with a number of excellent amateur and pro guitarists, all of whom have been unfailingly supportive and generous with their time, knowledge and enthusiasm. Being able to spend time with friends whose level of ability and musicianship is beyond your pay grade really makes you up your game,…

MARTIN DJR-10E BASS £799 Don’t tell the four-stringers… but we all know that not all bassists are guitarists, while all guitarists are, in fact, bass players. So it makes sense that Martin has applied its Junior concept to acoustic basses. Ideal if you want to make the occasional jump down an octave without having to adjust to a full-size stretch, it’s got a 610mm (24-inch) scale length, spruce top, sapele back and sides, and is fitted with a Fishman Sonitone BT-1 system. It’s available in natural or sunburst. MARTIN 000CJR-10E STREETMASTER £799 The cost-of-living crisis is often overlooked when it comes to US heritage brands, but Martin hasn’t forgotten about the rest of us with its start-up models. Most recently, the 000CJR joins the affordable end of the Martin catalogue.…

Simple question: how am I getting on with this new Yamaha? Complicated answer: it’s a game of two halves. To be honest, while once upon a time I quite fancied being a guitar designer, today, I’m not so sure. First of all, there’s the instant love/hate on social media when a company, especially one such as Yamaha, launches a new range of guitars that would require a very thick skin at best. Next, how on earth can you design, create and market a guitar that’s not specifically aimed at one genre, that’s affordable enough to be a second instrument (if not a first), and then provide it with sounds that will suit everyone? As I discussed in the first instalment of this Longtermers test in issue 498, the build quality…

All valve amps have a sweet spot where they’re at their most touch-sensitive, notes begin to sustain effortlessly and dynamics start to compress. In an ideal world, our amps would always be dialled into that sweet spot, but that risks incurring the wrath of bandmates, sound engineers and the local constabulary. So, how can we crank our amps but never exceed acceptable volume levels? One solution is to use an attenuator. Amplifiers generate a lot of electrical energy, but the speakers actually produce the sound by generating sound waves. At the risk of grossly oversimplifying, the more power it’s fed, the louder a speaker will sound. Since the object is to reduce volume without compromising our amp settings, attenuation is usually achieved by placing a device between the amplifier output…

Vintage Icons “In my guitar youth, I was surprised one day at We Buy Guitars when someone brought in a Custom Telecaster. At the time, I didn’t know there was such a thing. But then I’d never looked through old catalogues – I just knew the guitars I’d handled. I was young, you know. But when I got this Custom Tele in the store, I couldn’t put it down. It was very worn and it had this great vibe. It was [the standard finish] sunburst, and it had a big armwear spot on the front and a belt-buckle rash on the back that was the size of a softball. It was very smoky and had been played in lots of bars and roadhouses. I think I paid $1,000 for it.…

Please note: physical gifts (coasters and poster) are only available on UK newsstands. ISSUE 500AUGUST 2023 FOUR LUXURY COASTERS Have a drink on us with four unique and collectible coasters featuring stunning images of vintage and classic guitars, including a 1950 Fender Broadcaster from the superb Seven Decades collection, a 1963 Lake Placid Blue Fender Strat that once belonged to Neville Marten, a beautiful Gibson Custom 1963 ES-335 reissue and Bernie Marsden’s 1959 Les Paul Standard aka ‘The Beast’. With commemorative 500th Issue logos on the reverse, these unique coasters are well worth raising a glass to. DOUBLE-SIDED A2 POSTER Decorate your home in style with our double-sided poster featuring Rory Gallagher’s iconic 1961 Strat on one side and a very special PRS 2011 Collection Series II David Grissom DGT…

FIRST PLAY BEETRONICS SEABEE HARMOCHORUS Beetronics has invented a new sub-genre in effects pedals by describing its new Seabee pedal as a ‘Harmochorus’. At its heart, this is an analogue bucket-brigade chorus pedal that has been complemented with digital control of the chorus delay time to make the chorus wave bounce up and down in precise pitches. This creates a pitch-shifting modulation that the company says has never been found in any other pedal. The knobs, toggle switches and footswitches, plus alternative functions, offer loads to get to grips with as there’s so much that can be dialled in, but, fortunately, the pedal has onboard presets, so any sound that you conjure up can be stored. The basic starting point is the Effect toggle switch, which lets you select Chorus…

Artist: Juni Habel Album: Carvings (Basin Rock) Juni Habel is a Norwegian singer-songwriter based in Rakkestad, in the south of the country. She crafts beautiful hazy folk songs, centred around her acoustic guitar picking and with minimal backing. The acclaimed Carvings is her second album, following 2020’s All Ears. “Both of my albums have been based around the guitar playing and vocals,” Juni tells us. “My vision for them was very minimalistic; I just wanted to play my songs. If anything else fitted then we could add it, but it was mainly about the song.” Just Enough This minimalist approach gives Juni’s work a sound that feels timeless and suits the rural nature of her surroundings. “I’m very conscious of keeping things away,” she says. “It can be very tempting…

CONFESSIONS OF A LUTHIER Guitar making is a world of repetition: whether it’s buffing out frets, French polishing the soundboard, or fine-tuning nut slots, lutherie offers plenty of opportunities to meditate and reflect. So it came to me – prompted by the realisation that Guitarist was nearing the publication of its 500th issue – that I was approaching a milestone of my own. The guitar I am currently building is (depending on how you count it) my 50th hand-built acoustic guitar. “Almost all of the significant developments in guitar design originated in low-output ateliers, so I feel we have a duty to continue the tradition” Given that I was drawn into the world of guitar making by the sounds of Django Reinhardt, it feels appropriate that the instrument taking shape…

“I want it to be loud, a little out of control,” says Pete Thorn, in his urbane Los Angeles drawl. “There needs to be some feedback.” Even if you’ve never watched any of Pete’s highly regarded YouTube videos exploring the world of cutting-edge guitar gear, you’ve almost certainly heard his playing before. He’s been a first-call session and sideman for huge acts such as the Eagles, Chris Cornell and Alicia Keys. Now, however, he’s reflecting on what it takes to recreate rock’s greatest hits on stage without the music becoming too predictable or sanitised. “There’s got to be some balls…” agrees James Cole, with refreshing directness. James is Pete’s musical partner in the noble (and reassuringly loud) enterprise that is The Classic Rock Show. A veteran racing driver who has…

While bolt-on guitars go back to the early days of PRS, the John Mayer Silver Sky cracked the code. “The Silver Sky was a retooling of an historic device,” says Paul Reed Smith today. “It was a goal to get somebody incredibly comfortable with our instruments. This [the new MK and NF 53], on the other hand, is after a feel and sound in a different way. “We’ve been talking about it for a decade,” Paul reveals, “because our artists want that sound in their arsenal, but the thing that was not okay with me was the hum [from the single-coil pickups]. Very often with those instruments the hum can be louder than the guitar.” Myles Kennedy bought his first PRS in 1998, the red McCarty that he still uses…

Bought & Sold What was the first serious guitar you bought with your own money? “I played a lot of really shitty guitars when I was young. I started out with a Kay acoustic guitar, which was like five bucks at a Thrifty Drug Store. The action was so far off the neck, it was painful to try to get a noise out of – guitars were not very sophisticated in the early 60s. Then the first electric guitar I got was another Thrifty Drug Store guitar called an Astrotone. That one fell over and broke its neck – somebody let somebody play it and they dropped it. My old man goes, ‘Well, you’re gonna have to play it with a broken neck…’ “So what I used to do was…

TALKING LOUD As a cabinet maker, I’m often approached by amp companies to produce their shells. Some just want a specific look, which often greatly narrows the scope for build or construction methods. Now, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, especially if the cabinet design is integral to how the amp sounds (as with the case of Fender’s Tweed amps, which we’ll look at later on). But this is mostly the case for copies of existing amps. The really interesting work comes from amp designers who want to use cabinet design to emphasise their amps’ qualities and play around with how different design aspects will work with their own ideas of how the amp should sound. For the amp makers who want to recreate old designs, most of the work…

Gary Moore Tutor Richard Barrett | Gear used Gear used Knaggs SSC, Keeley Boss SD-1 & Vox AC15 C1 Difficulty | 20 mins per example MORE THAN A DECADE after his untimely passing, Gary’s fiery, emotive playing remains a benchmark for guitar players of all stripes. At various points in his career, Gary experimented successfully with heavy rock, jazz fusion, Celtic rock and ultimately blues – which had been his first love all along. The example solo here is inspired by Gary’s playing around the time of his Still Got The Blues album (released in 1990), which represented quite a change in direction at this point, though a quick spin demonstrates that Gary had retained all the power and force in his playing. To be more specific about the technical…