Innehållsförteckning för July 2024 från Guitarist

Future Publishing Limited, Quay House, The Ambury, Bath, BA1 1UA Telephone 01225 442244 Email guitarist@futurenet.com Online www.guitarist.co.uk This month everyone at Guitarist was saddened by three losses close to our hearts. Firstly, we learned that Dickey Betts of The Allman Brothers Band, whose obituary can be found on page 47, had died aged 80. Then, almost as we went to press, we learned with a sense of shock that Duane Eddy had also passed, aged 86. That these two greats of American guitar were so close in age seems somehow surprising – a fact that, in itself, speaks of how far and fast guitar music evolved after 1957, when a 19-year-old Duane recorded his first hit Moovin’ n’ Groovin. Gretsch in hand, Duane became essentially the godfather of modern electric…

FIRST PLAY DONNER/THIRD MAN HARDWARE TRIPLE THREAT Jack White has got involved in pedal design before via his Third Man Hardware brand, having previously worked with CopperSound and MXR among others, but this time he’s teamed up with budget Chinese company Donner. Enamoured of its Alpha range, Jack felt that the company would be ideal for creating “something very cool that was not going to break the bank for a beginning musician”. The result is the Triple Threat, a solidly built multi-effects pedal that starts with a distortion, followed by a phaser and a delay, all for less than £100 for the Black edition. The effects are based on some earlier Donner pedals, but these have upgraded circuit design and tonal qualities dialled in to Jack’s specifications. The Distortion has a…

Artist: Sophie Giuliani Soloing masterclasses: Pickup Music Australian-born and Los Angeles-based Sophie Giuliani is a 23-year-old session guitarist of high order, having played with Olivia Rodrigo, Empress Of and Mayer Hawthorne among others, and she recently took to the Coachella stage with R&B pop artist Thuy. She is also a popular online guitar tutor (check out her Pickup Music masterclass). But her route to guitar playing took some surprising turns. “My interest in music came from ballet,” Sophie explains. “I hated it and was more interested in the music being played, so then I did a hip-hop class. But once I started playing guitar I knew it was something I really wanted to do.” Coming To America Sophie didn’t hang about – by the time high school hit in Victoria,…

NEVILLE’S ADVOCATE As you will know if you follow my scribblings in this tome, for the past five years or so I’ve been using digital systems for my main gig – first a Line 6 Helix and lately a Blackstar Amped 2. I do love them and the many benefits they offer, especially when playing theatres and using in-ear monitors, as we do. But for pub gigs and the occasional dep you can’t beat the simplicity of sticking a combo on a chair, a few pedals on the floor, and hanging a guitar on its stand. It looks way more rock ’n’ roll, too. And on that subject you’ve doubtless heard me tell about how I acquired a Mark II Boogie in 1980. A good friend was mates with the…

SUBSTITUTE AUDIO http://bit.ly/guitaristextra The term tritone refers to an interval that spans three whole tones. For example, this could be: C to D, D to E then E to F#. However, another way of looking at it could be as an augmented 4th (C to F#) or a diminished 5th (C to G b). As you can see, these are all different names for one specific sound. Once we get into chord progressions and ‘diatonic speak’ such as II-V-I, you may well come across the term ‘tritone substitution’. All this actually means is that a chord within a progression (usually the V) has been exchanged for another with the root a tritone away. Let’s explore this with a couple of examples. First, a jazzy II-V-I in C major would be…

HISTORIC HARDWARE If you’re a fan of the late Bernie Marsden, then Gardiner Houlgate Auction Rooms in Corsham, Wiltshire is the place to be on 11 June. With over 250 lots comprising everything from high-end electrics and amps to pickups, prints, posters and other assorted paraphernalia, there’s a chance for everyone to snag something from the collection. It’s not all upper-tier equipment, either. On the contrary, alongside the vintage Gibson and posh PRS guitars there’s humbler fare on offer, including several PRS SEs and the Fender Squier Stratocaster you see here, for instance. When we were given the chance to have a look around the warehouse-sized storage facility that is currently the home of the collection at Gardiner Houlgate, we were spoilt for choice. Eventually, after opening many cases, we…

VELA SEMI-HOLLOW SATIN £2,079 The Semi-Hollow Satin variant of our reviewed Vela will no doubt be another lightweight guitar. Aside from the different body construction, though, everything else is the same, including the bridge and pickups. If satin’s not your bag, there are five ‘Standard’ nitro gloss colours at £2,259. STANDARD 22 £2,050 A subtly different ride from the 24 we have on review, this Standard 22 model otherwise sticks to the same specifications and is also available in five Standard gloss colours (including this Antique White) and, of course, four satin nitro hues (at £1,925). The gloss finish Standard 24 is the same price, too. CUSTOM 24 £2,465 Sticking to PRS history, the Custom 24 adds a maple top but keeps the same asymmetric bevel carve. We also get…

What was the first serious guitar you bought with your own money? “That was a Sunburst Les Paul. I got a loan from my dad and paid it back for many years. I believe the inspiration was photos of Duane Allman.” What was the last guitar you bought and why? “The last guitar I bought was a Suhr Modern Antique. I need a great bridge/middle combo for a lot of the shows I’m playing now, but I was always compromising with my Washburn Parallaxe 24-fret. I thought I couldn’t get the sound I wanted because it was a 24-fret neck, and you couldn’t get proper Strat spacing. “Then I was sharing the stage with the phenomenal Brazilian guitarist Leandre Gomes; he had me play his Suhr Modern Antique 24-fret guitar…

VIDEO & AUDIO http://bit.ly/guitaristextra Hendrix On Rhythm Tutor Richard Barrett | Gear used Lewis Guitar Works Pequeno Bastardo & Marshall JTM45 MkII Reissue Difficulty | 20 mins per example IT’S WELL KNOWN that Jimi earned his living and learned his trade as a sideman before stepping into the spotlight himself, though there had already been times he’d been in trouble for upstaging the main act. To the mainstream press, Hendrix became the guitar-burning wild man of rock – the result of orchestrated publicity stunts to capture the public’s imagination and compete with contemporaries such as The Who. However, to those in the know he combined an unprecedented range of influences from Elvis through to Albert King, Curtis Mayfield and Bob Dylan. His overdriven Strat tones, delivered through walls of blisteringly…

Pablo van de Poel The ebullient Dutch guitarist behind the soulful retro-rock of DeWolff shows us his go-to Firebirds and a ’board brimming with fuzz pedals p68 Cedric Burnside A latter-day exponent of the so-called ‘hill country blues’ of Mississippi, Cedric joins us to talk about his arresting new album on p34 Spirit Of ’57 We join vintage restoration expert Huw Price as he lifts the hood on a 1957 Strat and embarks on the careful process of fettling it back to life p118…

Ancoats’ guitars are made by David Roberts in a converted shipping container in Pollard Yard, Manchester. “It was an old parking lot or something, but it now has around 130 shipping containers – just a lined empty container with patio doors on the front – and everyone’s turned them into their own start-up businesses,” David tells us. After attending an evening class at Merton College in London about a decade ago, before relocating to Manchester, David sold his first Ancoats guitar around three years ago and now splits his time as a radiographer and guitar maker 50/50. The New Islington – which, like the brand, is also named after an area in Manchester – was David’s first original design, and the guitar you see here is the recently upgraded version…

New Releases From £189 CONTACT Various WEB See below This month’s new gear releases reveal the continuation of a few emerging trends in different areas, from rockers turning to the full heft of a semi-hollow (see also the Epiphone Dave Grohl DG-335 and EVH SA-126 models), to single-pickup UK-made guitars, studio-style compression and even the second doubleneck we’ve seen in 2024! Effects wise, we’re getting another ‘chameleon’ pedal thanks to IK Multimedia, meaning we can have even more flexibility on our ’boards without having to rearrange our existing pedals. [SW] WALRUS AUDIO MONUMENTAL HARMONIC STEREO TREMOLO £269 We’re not sure when the fine folk at Walrus find time to sleep, but we’re glad they appear to be forsaking the shuteye. The latest pedal for us to get our tusks into…

CONFESSIONS OF A LUTHIER If guitars could talk, I’m certain the instrument laying across my bench would recount innumerable tales of late night rock ’n’ roll excess and half-remembered gigs. One can imagine the countless ballads accompanied in smoke-filled folk clubs, or hear thrashed powerchords on a sweaty open mic night. The corrugated surface of the cedar top was worn away beyond the finish long ago, scarred by the relentless attack of plectrums and fingernails digging into the soft timber. This instrument is an icon and celebration of the power and energy of live music. Unfortunately, though, it has strummed its swan song. A long split along the treble side of the soundboard creaks open as the strings are detuned. A gnarled nut falls off the guitar in a couple…

STAR LETTER STRAT’S THE WAY After 20-odd years of playing guitar, this year has provided the biggest surprise in that I have finally found a Strat I get on with. I was a late starter at 45 and, as a humbucker fan, my little collection is almost all humbucker-equipped, although there is a P-90 in one of Chris George’s beautiful creations. At various times through the last 22 years I have thought, ‘I need a Strat,’ but all attempts – Fender, Suhr, Music Man, even a custom build – have resulted in me moving them on as I simply could not get on with them. I never got on with the extra tension of the longer scale and had also decided that I didn’t like maple ’boards, the big Fender…

George Vjestica is part of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, having first lent his licks to 2013’s Push The Sky Away before coming on full-time for Skeleton Tree (2016). Considering Cave’s restless creative muse and Vjestica’s following a player like Mick Harvey, his integration into the Bad Seeds machine is no small feat. But then again, the guitar is as much a part of Vjestica’s soul as a tool; just ask him: “It’s been a constant in my life since I was nine,” he tells Guitarist. “Rarely does a day go by when I don’t pick up a guitar and have a play around. There’s something so magical for me in those six strings.” He adds: “I felt so sad when Jeff Beck died, and I really got stuck…

SQUIER PARANORMAL ESQUIRE DELUXE £375 What’s cooler than a regular Tele? A Telecaster with a 70s-style full-face scratchplate. In fact, this poplar-body/maple-neck reimagined Esquire tells the tale of Leo’s blueprint model, had it been designed 20-odd years later. As such, it’s got a Wide Range humbucker, but there’s some switching tricks up its sleeve with a coil-split as well as control bypass positions on the three-way rotary control. Get it in the none-more-70s Mocha or Metallic Black finishes.www.fender.com GRETSCH G2215-P90 STREAMLINER JUNIOR JET CLUB £399 This model boils down everything we’re after in a multi-purpose single-cut to a, frankly, ridiculous price. Let go of your ‘tonewood’ snobbery; £399 gets you more than a taste of the Gretsch vibe, with a Broad’Tron BT-2S humbucker at the bridge, the added ‘neckiness’ of…

SHEERAN LOOPER+ £299 CONTACT Sheeran Loopers WEB www.sheeranloopers.com What You Need To Know 1 Sheeran? I’ve heard that name somewhere before… We dare say you have! Ed Sheeran has got together with HeadRush to create a couple of loopers to his own specifications and under his name. 2 Did you say a couple? Yes, the flagship Sheeran Looper X with all the bells and whistles, plus this compact + model, which gives you the essentials at a much more affordable price point. 3 I can’t see myself taking one of these on stage... Live looping isn’t for everyone, but this is a fine resource for general creativity and home practice, too. There can be few people who’ve done more to raise the profile of live looping than Ed Sheeran. For…

Back in the good ol’ days of the late 70s and early 80s, us keen modders were beginning to get the aftermarket parts our guitar-fantasies needed, not least pickups. Up to that point, unless you wanted to modify a humbucker yourself, you were stuck with one sound: you’d wire the ‘hot’ output to your volume pot or switch, and wire the earth to the back of a pot. All good. I don’t think Larry DiMarzio was the first person to offer up a different route, but in terms of my experience he certainly was, with the four-conductor hook-up cable. As each of the humbucker’s two coils has a start and finish wire (two coils, four conductors) it meant that, usefully, you could wire a humbucker’s two coils in different ways:…

We’ve covered quite a lot over the past few years here, but to break things down, if you’re looking to sculpt your sound using cabs and speakers there are a few key points to consider. First, you’re going to want to figure out if it’s open- or closed-back that works best for you. Remember: open will give you a more ambient sound, more like a combo, and a closed-back cab will generally give you a more controlled and direct low-end. Following on from this, you’ll need to decide if it’s a head and cab or a combo that you want. Combos are generally more compact and can give iconic sounds, but they’re also less versatile than a head and cab, mostly because a head will give you opportunity to use…

Since Dave Grohl made his post-Nirvana debut with Foo Fighters in 1995, there have been multiple eras of his favoured onstage guitars, with the common thread being that they’re more often than not an iteration of the classic Gibson dual-humbucker format – from the Les Paul Standards and Customs, Explorers and SGs, to the occasional Firebird. One of the few breaks in this chain came in the early Noughties around the band’s fourth album, One By One, where he briefly became associated with his Ampeg Dan Armstrong, temporarily introducing a whole new generation to the revered see-through Lucite model before moving back to his familiar Gibsons. In 2007 came the biggest constant for Grohl: the Gibson DG-335. It’s this guitar that we’ve seen him playing most often – in fact,…

FIRST PLAY WALRUS AUDIO FUNDAMENTAL AMBIENT We took a look at the Walrus Audio Fundamental series last year when the company released eight pedals simultaneously, all designed for affordability and ease of use and each covering a specific effects type: Drive, Distortion, Fuzz, Tremolo, Chorus, Phaser, Delay and Reverb. At the time, we wondered whether a flanger would follow, but, in fact, Walrus has actually gone with an ambient reverb pedal for the next release – perhaps not surprising as the brand has form in that area with the likes of the Slöer and several others. The new pedal offers three different atmospheric reverb algorithms – Deep, Lush and Haze – chosen from a front-panel switch. The sound can then be dialled in with centre-detented sliders that set the reverb mix…

GIBSON SLASH ‘JESSICA’ LES PAUL STANDARD £2,999 If there’s one thing we know about Slash, it’s that he’s partial to a Les Paul. Here, the top-hatted snake charmer has teamed up with Gibson for the latest guitar in his signature collection, a Les Paul Standard replication of the guitar he refers to as ‘Jessica’. The original is a factory version Slash received from Gibson in the late 80s and it’s gone on to become his most-used stage guitar. The production version has a non-weight-relieved mahogany body, capped with a three-piece maple top, a mahogany neck with a 50s profile, and Custom Burstbucker Alnico 2 pickups. It’s finished in gloss Honey Burst and comes in a Gibson hard case with a Slash pick tin and USA strap. www.gibson.com IK MULTIMEDIA TONEX…

Artist: Cedric Burnside Album: Hill Country Love (Provogue/Mascot) To those familiar with Mississippi’s distinct strain of hill country blues, Burnside is a name that carries weight. The big bang that started it all was the late RL, whose hypnotic grooves were the stuff of cult legend for more than half a century. But of the Burnside progeny keeping the hill country sound alive, few are rising faster than 45-year-old Cedric, who now follows 2021’s Grammy-winning I Be Trying with latest studio album, Hill Country Love. “To God be the glory,” he demurs, modestly, of this acclaimed new release, but the propulsive pulse of his guitar work surely deserves credit, too. For the benefit of anyone who is so far uninitiated in Mississippi’s hill country blues, what characterises the sound of…

RAISING THE TONE Many years ago, in one of the first issues of Guitarist magazine I ever read, there was a report from a vintage guitar show. Among the pics of Paisley Telecasters and ’Bursts was a shot of a black Les Paul Custom fitted with what, to my inexperienced eyes, appeared to be an unusual neck pickup. It had chunky rectangular polepieces and looked like a relic from an earlier era. This, I later discovered, was Gibson’s Alnico V pickup, also known as the ‘Staple’ pickup because of those evenly spaced rectangular polepieces. It was not all that surprising that I didn’t know what it was, however, because it had a short life in Gibson’s guitars. Introduced in 1954, it was designed to take the warm tone of the…

Nick contributed his detailed, authoritative amp reviews in almost every issue of Guitarist for well over two decades. He came onto our radar after writing a letter to then Guitarist editor, Neville Marten, wondering if we needed someone to write about amplifiers. He included a review he’d written and, hugely impressed, Neville commissioned him on the spot. Born in December 1958, Nick caught the rock ’n’ roll bug early on, and although he attended Cheltenham Grammar School (like a certain Rolling Stone), his long-time friend Cos remembers him as “a bit of a rebel”. Neville remembers him as a “monster” guitar player, too, and he served time with many local bands, not least The Detonators during the 80s, toting his self-built guitar based on a Gibson SG. “Nick actually wanted…

Once upon a time, it was obvious where a company’s budget brand ended and its prestige brand began. Squier was to Fender what Epiphone was to Gibson – a respectable alternative for those who couldn’t afford, or chose not to buy, the full-fat version. If you didn’t mind going off-brand entirely, you could buy decent copies by the likes of Tokai. Today, however, things aren’t quite so simple. Take the Chinese-built Epiphone Kirk Hammett ‘Greeny’ 1959 Les Paul Standard, for example. Not only does it possess the classic ‘open book’ Gibson headstock shape (a thing hitherto denied to Epiphone buyers), but, at £1,499 it costs more than the current entry level Gibson USA Les Paul – the rather skinny and spartan Les Paul Modern Lite, which can be had for…

BLUEPRINT: .strandberg* Boden Essential BLUEPRINT Headless guitars have risen phoenix-like from the ashes in recent years. They came to prominence in the 1980s when the heavy through-neck slabs of cocobolo and brass that characterised guitar design in the late 70s fell from favour, and the whiff of patchouli oil that lingered around rock music went with them. The age of the synth had begun and, suddenly, rockstars were more likely to wear Armani suits than kaftans. Headless instruments by companies such as Steinberg, Yamaha and Warwick seemed to fit this clean-lined new aesthetic perfectly. They became so much a part of the look of that era that it’s easy to forget that pure functionality underpinned those headless designs – such as the use of then-novel materials such as graphite to…

I never imagined that I would own a 1950s Stratocaster. The closest I’d come was when my guitar-playing school teacher tipped me off about a 50s Strat for sale at Livewire Music in Cardiff. Having looked it over, I decided the scruffy black refinish and generally dirty condition didn’t justify the £200 asking price. Clearly, I wasn’t cut out for a career in finance, but in my defence, I must point out that this happened in 1983. Back then, you could still find all-original pre-CBS Strats for under four figures and nobody that I knew was doing relic finishes or selling vintage parts. Fast forward to the early Noughties and my youthful enthusiasm for SRV started gravitating towards his brother Jimmie’s subtler playing style as well as his taste in…

“The Fender Electric XII was by far the most recorded electric 12-string guitar. Everybody from Jimmy Page to Glen Campbell, Joe Perry, Joe Walsh, Pete Townshend, Bob Dylan and Tim Buckley played them. In fact, pretty much every 1960s or 70s record with electric 12-string guitar that wasn’t The Beatles or The Byrds was recorded with a Fender. “The Fender XII was available in sunburst and any custom colour that was available in 1965. This Sonic Blue is the only one I’ve seen, but I have heard about others. It’s from earlier in 1965 and it’s a very original guitar. By late 1965 they had changed from Klusons to the ‘F’-stamped Schaller tuners. It’s common to see mid-to late-1965 necks that were drilled for both sets of tuners. Look closely…