Sommaire pour March 2017 de Guitarist

As we go to press with this issue, I’m returning from the 2017 NAMM show in Los Angeles. Teeming with visitors, it is packed with every instrument imaginable, from samplers to cymbals – and, of course, there are lots of guitars, from nameless Strat clones to exquisite handmade acoustics you could spend a lifetime getting to know. There are also plenty of famous players knocking around, too, and you never know who you might encounter. As an example, someone I was chatting to at the show nodded to a long-haired guy noodling very skilfully on an electric guitar at one of the stands. “You wouldn’t think it, but that guy’s more famous than the president is in Uruguay,” my companion said. “He’s on giant billboards everywhere and he’s got 50…

MESA ENGINEERING TRIPLE CROWN TC-50 HEAD £2,450 WHAT IS IT? The latest release from the Californian inventors of high-gain amplification, which uses EL34 power valves instead of Mesa’s usual 6L6 output stage Depending on your generation, Mesa Engineering means one of two things. It’s either the company that invented high gain in the early 1970s, in the shape of the small but outrageously versatile Mark Series Boogie amplifier, or the company that redefined the sound of modern rock and metal in the early 1990s with the all-powerful Dual Rectifier. With such a track record for genre-changing products, any new amp from Mesa is important. One of the world’s biggest users of the 6L6 output valve, Mesa has experimented with the EL34 before. Now, there’s an amp in the catalogue that…

After working together on the Private Stock Super Eagle last year, it was always on the cards for an amp to follow from the mutual appreciation between John Mayer and PRS. And as he’s a Two-Rock and Dumble connoisseur, the new J-MOD 100 (£6,595) has high standards to meet. “I think amplifiers are such interesting, complex animals,” ponders Mayer. “The J-MOD 100 is the result of a lot of searching… What is my sound? What are the elements of all these amps I own that should be chosen to go together in one amp and have this really distinct voice?” After a year of development with Paul Reed Smith and PRS senior amp designer Doug Sewell, the sonic quest has brought him here. “What we ended up with is a…

When I began writing this column over a year ago, I let it be known on my website that I was interested in what people might want to see me write about. A student of mine came up with several well thought-out questions, which I’ll discuss here. First up: “Does it matter where artists/ working musicians live any more?” Also, “Where to find a creative campus if artists are going to be priced out of the ‘world’ cities?” It’s true many people are priced right out and are ready to give up on big cities such as London, and so the same must be true of New York, LA, San Francisco, and so on. To begin with, where to live? If you are young, footloose, fancy-free and looking to build…

“The one thing I know is I’m learning all the time. I hear new people and I hear people who died before I was born and I’m learning from all of them” 1 What was your first guitar and when did you get it? “It was a very cheap Spanish guitar from a music shop in South Wimbledon. I got it in about 1956 and we didn’t have a lot of money, so I imagine my father bought it on hire purchase. Quite a few of my friends from school and from youth club got guitars around the same time, so we all started strumming. First of all, Lonnie Donegan and then the rock ’n’ roll hits. Two of my friends got electric guitars, so I bought a pickup, or…

Some of the most exciting launches at NAMM this year came from British amp maker Orange, including a compressor pedal that offers a huge degree of tonal control and studio-quality sounds to guitarists. Here’s what Orange have to say about it: “The Kongpressor is an analogue Class A compression pedal with a very natural sound. It has an incredibly satisfying, springy playing response with attack and release times that can be adjusted to suit. At low compression levels the pedal’s effect is transparent, yet somehow fattening, adding glossy sheen to the core tone. “Like all Orange pedals, the Kongpressor doubles its operating voltage internally to 18V. This drastically increases the headroom, resulting in super clean compression. Even at extreme settings, where most compressors start to suck the life out of…

Ronnie Baker Brooks began playing the guitar when he was just six years old, encouraged by his father, bluesman Lonnie Brooks. By the time he was 19, Ronnie had been drafted into his father’s band, opening up a wealth of experience for the fledgling guitarist. “It was like going to college!” he enthuses from his home in Chicago. “Every night I got to see how my dad did it, and when he was on shows with his friends I got to see how they did it. It enabled me to do what I’m doing today.” When Ronnie talks about his father’s friends, he’s talking about a who’s-who of blues legends. “I got to rub shoulders with a lot of them, man: John Lee Hooker, Albert Collins, Junior Wells, Buddy Guy,…

From his days in Humble Pie to the height of his fame during the …Comes Alive-era, Peter Frampton’s Gibson Les Paul Custom was his constant sonic companion. It was famously lost in a plane crash in 1980, but miraculously reappeared some years later and the two were reunited. The tale of how the ‘Phoenix’ found its way back to its owner is a mix of coincidence and blind luck with twists and turns aplenty. We’ll let Peter himself tell the story, so sit back and listen to a slice of guitar history, as well as some remarkable detective work… “The very first time I played the guitar was in 1970. Humble Pie was performing at the Fillmore West and the gentleman whose guitar it was at the time, Marc Mariana,…

Many of us will go misty-eyed to see the name Shergold back in our music shops. Rather like all those people who ‘attended’ the first Sex Pistols’ gig, everyone we speak to seems to have a Shergold story. “I know about Shergold,” laughs the brand’s new designer, Patrick James Eggle. “The first electric guitar I ever tried was a Shergold. I went shopping for my first electric guitar to a shop in Hendon and the first thing I picked up was a Shergold, but it was a 12-string so I didn’t buy it. I ended up with an Avon SG copy, as it happens. So I remembered them from back then, and I think I had a Shergold on one of my guitar posters back then, too.” Brian Cleary, joint…

DUMMYBUCKER I love my Vintage Thomas Blug V6, but would also love to install a single-coil sized bridge humbucker. Usually not a problem, but it has a dummy coil wired in through something called a ‘Bukka Switch’. How on earth do I wire it in as I can’t seem to find a schematic anywhere? Any help would be appreciated. Paul Trelford, Liverpool As you’re probably aware, Paul, the dummy coil is functioning as the second coil in a humbucking pickup… but without the magnetic parts and located away from the other pickups. The result is vastly reduced hum, but it retains a great deal of the classic single-coil sound. The ‘Bukka Switch’ – presumably so called after (hum)bucker – just turns the dummy coil on and off and is wired…

EASTMAN T58/V £2,039 WHAT IS IT? Single-cut hollowbody with Bigsby, Filter’Trons and antique finish EASTMAN T59/V £1,499 WHAT IS IT? Double-cut thinline semi with Duncan Seth Lover humbuckers and antique finish Founded in 1992 by Qian Ni, Eastman started by making violins in an apparently old-school environment, with “virtually no power tools aside from the bandsaws used to cut out the necks and the outlines of the tops and backs of instruments”, we’re told. Along with violins, stringed instruments, guitars and mandolins, Eastman also builds woodwind and brass instruments. The idea of the head of its European operation, Pepijn ’t Hart, however, was to combine the company’s heritage and expertise in violin making with its guitar making to create an Antique Series of currently three instruments (more are set to…

In a year when some of rock’s brightest stars were cruelly snuffed out, the death of Rick Parfitt on 24 December from sepsis was a bitter sting in the tail. The Status Quo guitarist was not a visionary like Bowie, nor a virtuoso like Prince, but the chunky chug of his rhythm work on the band’s 60-plus UK hit singles was among the most exuberant sounds in rock ’n’ roll, while his blokey bonhomie made him one of the scene’s best-loved figures. “It’s hard to find words,” tweeted Brian May. “You truly rocked our world.” Born 12 October 1948, and raised on the Elmbridge council estate in Woking, Richard John Parfitt was a self-described “typical naughty boy” whose mayhem often saw him thrashed by his insurance salesman father with a…

After spending the last few days in front of a computer screen writing demos for my forthcoming debut solo album, I’ve emerged, blinking, into the afternoon winter sun in search of fresh air, caffeine and a nice spot to write to you lovely people. It occurs to me often during these kinds of episodes, that composing and recording jazz/rock instrumental music, with slight influences from drum ’n’ bass and The Rolling Stones, is not really a money spinner, or any real way for a grown man with two kids and a mortgage to spend his days. The main reason (unless you’re Pat Metheny or John Scofield) is summed up by the old joke, ‘How do you make £1 million out of jazz? Start with £2 million.’ To this end, the…

NOW HEAR THIS Hi chaps, I am old enough to remember finding it funny that my ears rang for a day after watching early gigs by Led Zeppelin and The Who. This was when noise levels and amplifier numbers were a badge of honour among bands and fans. These days, laughably, I have to turn up my own little Marshall combo because of my acute deafness. Indeed, this week I counted a total of three hearing aids among the four members of my own band. So it’s worth reminding those readers who can still hear the message: deafness is a one-way street. It would also be valuable to offer advice on hearing protection and perhaps, more generally, how to keep ourselves safe. Probably not cool but valuable. And, on the…

On first impression, Middle Of The Road seems a strange choice of album title for Eric Gales. From his ferocious 1991 debut to this soulful return, the Memphis bluesman has never been mediocre, twisting the rules on a flipped right-handed electric and tearing off solos that led Dave Navarro to declare: “How he isn’t the hugest name in rock guitar is a total mystery.” In fact, it’s not hard to pinpoint why Gales hasn’t scaled quite the same heights as such consummate blues professionals as Joe Bonamassa. As the 42 year old explains, that album title refers to his intent to stay on the straight-and-narrow following lost periods of addiction and incarceration. “Good things are happening in life for me now,” says Eric, “and when you allow yourself to receive…

To the window-shoppers of London’s Tin Pan Alley, it was a new arrival to quicken the pulse. The jet-black lustre of the hourglass body. The shimmer of 24-karat hardware. The twinkle of the diamond headstock inlay. It was 1959, and with the lifting of restrictions on US imports, the mythologised Gibson Les Paul Custom was suddenly a tangible reality. “When I was a kid,” Steve Hackett tells us, “I used to walk down Shaftesbury Avenue and Denmark Street, staring in the windows, looking at instruments I couldn’t afford. And I used to think anyone who’s got a Les Paul Custom has already made it.” And that, of course, was what the Gibson boardroom wanted players to conclude when faced with the Custom. The firm had already planted its flag deep…

It’s a misty and damp day at Bare Knuckle Pickups HQ in Cornwall and we sit cradling mugs of tea while talking about that most cherished artefact: the PAF pickup. Sound is a very subjective thing, but most players will agree that there is a certain undefinable magic connected to Seth Lover’s mid-50s invention. Originally designed as a means to battle troublesome mains hum, with the PAF, Seth heralded in a golden era of tone and something that manufacturers everywhere have been battling to reproduce ever since. Few people know more about the goings-on inside a PAF than Bare Knuckle’s Tim Mills and our first question concerns the nuts and bolts of a PAF… Just what are the physical components that constitute that sought-after sound? “It’s down to the gauge…

The so-called ‘Alnico’ or ‘Staple’ pickup was designed by Seth Lover on request from Ted McCarty. Although Lover had previously worked at Gibson, at the outbreak of WWII he’d enlisted in the US Navy. He rejoined Gibson in 1945 before he realised, in 1947, he could get a better job in the new Kalamazoo Navy training centre. In early 1952, however, the Navy decided you had to move from base to base – not something Lover wanted to do. Around the same time, he was contracted by Ted McCarty to do a ‘special job’ on designing a pickup – a direct response to the DeArmond 200 that was already in use by Gretsch as the DynaSonic, with its height-adjustable magnetic polepieces. Using the same 10,000 turns for its coil as…

We’ve been closely monitoring the re-emergence of the Supro brand in recent months. First came their superb range of amplifiers, then the ’50s chic guitars and now, a range of effects pedals that aims to complement the excellent tones held within the amps themselves. Our trio comprises Drive, Fuzz and Boost – they’re chunky, they’re funky and all three are definitely worthy of your attention. Next, in this month’s selection of sonic accessories, we find two units from Radial Engineering’s Tonebone stable and, continuing our theme of drive and boost, the Canadian company has delivered a pair of units that we like rather a lot. To begin with, there’s the Regency, a pre-boost and drive pedal that offers up no less than three levels of drive at the mere flick…

1 WALRUS AUDIO DEEP SIX £185 ORIGIN: USA TYPE: Compressor FEATURES: True bypass CONTROLS: Level, Sustain, Blend, Attack, bypass footswitch CONNECTIONS: Standard input, standard output POWER: 9V DC adaptor (not supplied) 8.9mA DIMENSIONS: 74 (w) x 121 (d) x 58mm (h) FACE bvba +32 3 844 67 97 www.walrusaudio.com Walrus Audio says that its Deep Six is an 1176-inspired studio-grade compressor in stompbox form. The range of compression here runs from just keeping levels consistent to a pretty heavy clamped-down squash, not dissimilar to that achieved by an MXR Dyna Comp. The Deep Six, however, is much more versatile than that type of two-knob compressor in that, besides the standard controls to set the output level and the Sustain knob for the strength of the compression, it has…

“The tone is what you expect from something sporting that logo. It’s raw and natural, but never harsh or unmusical” Writer NEVILLE MARTEN Editor, Guitar Techniques After its Guitarist demo where Nev dimed the little combo with a Strat, P-90 Les Paul and an SG, this issue is about how the Marshall Mini Silver Jubilee fares in a home-rehearsal situation, using a Les Paul Custom and Line6 G10 wireless system The last time I wrote about the little Marshall, you may recall that for the demo, I used our actual review model, which was in fact a prototype and Marshall was keen that I have a full production version as my long-termer. However, all my intentions to use it for band rehearsals and on our 30-date rock ’n’…

Q I’m a working musician who has never owned a top-end guitar before. I’m a huge Pink Floyd/David Gilmour fan and I also play a lot of classic rock and blues. Despite all that, I am still a stranger to the world of high-end electric guitars and I need help! I’m the lead guitarist in my band and I use a lot of vibrato/string bending. I have been eyeing up Strats at my local store… but I need some advice on what else I should look at. My budget is up to 2,000 quid. Patrick Henderson, via email A Blimey, Patrick, that’s a tough call, because the high-end guitar world is so varied. You don’t say what guitar you are currently playing so we’re going to assume it’s a mid-price…

7th Heaven Difficulty 15 mins per example Tutor: Martin Taylor Gear used: Martin Taylor Vanden Caprice archtop HELLO AND WELCOME to the fourth instalment of my series on jazz blues. We’ve been looking at filling in some of the ‘missing notes’ from the minor pentatonic scale – the 6th, 9th and major 3rd – and seeing how they work against the backdrop of the well-known I IV V blues progression. I hope you’ve been experimenting with these added notes and finding out how they can embellish a straightforward blues and begin to make it sound altogether more jazzy. This month, we’re going to look at another note that we can add to the assembly, the major 7th. This note is a little bit different to the ones we’ve looked at…

Gary Moore Still Got The Blues You’ll never go wrong picking up tips from Gary Moore. Particularly relevant are the title track, Oh Pretty Woman and Walking By Myself. It’s easy to miss, but many of those beautifully executed faster blues licks employ this technique, fleeting though they may be. Watch out for the end of phrases when he’s heading for a big string bend – this was one of his favourite places to do this. BB King Live At The Regal There is a lot to be learned here, whatever technique you’re concentrating on, though it’s inspiring to think of it in the context of the mid-60s, before many of the solos that have now become benchmarks were recorded. Many a solo was influenced by this recording. Listen for…

Electrics Epiphone Wilshire 60s reissue, approx. 2009, black, faded, mini-humbuckers, Bigsby B5 retro-fitted by Bristol luthier. £250. Email nas1552003@yahoo.co.uk Bristol/Bath Fret-King JV Corona, customised neck (totally eliminated heel), set up , push-pull pot. Immaculate, never gigged. Maple neck. £500. Call 01323 737493 Fender Japan Telecaster ’69 Reissue Blue Flower vgc. Light home use. No case. £750. Email migofer@talktalk.net York Fender Japan Telecaster ’69 Reissue Pink Paisley vgc. Light home use. No case. £750. Email migofer@talktalk.net York Gibson Night Hawk Cherry, 3 pups, no Bigsby, jazz/ blues delight, hard case. £750. Pick up only. Call 01277 626595. Essex PRS Custom 24 Leprechaun Tooth (green/black). 2014 model in shop condition, unblemished, never gigged, PRS hard case and tags. £1,500 ovno. Contact Martin at martinjkelly58@gmail.com or text 07999 308218 Squier Telecaster Custom II,…

TAYLOR 814CE DLX £5,392 WHAT IS IT? A new version of Taylor’s Grand Auditorium modern benchmark cutaway model with three upgraded features, including Adirondack spruce bracing When Taylor’s master luthier Andy Powers took a leading role in redesigning the company’s 800 series back in 2014, it was a landmark in the company’s story of innovation, refining and enhancing a popular series with a combination of technological advancements. And the Grand Auditorium 814ce (reviewed in issue 380) was the jewel in the cutaway crown. The original model that helped make Taylor’s reputation was always likely to be the first on the wishlist for Powers to work on and it was eventually chosen to debut the second iteration of Taylor’s Expression System. The mission statement centred on maximising the potential for tonal…

Bristol Jazz & Blues Festival 16 to 19 March Colston Hall and The Folk House, Bristol With an even stronger presence of blues in the line-up of internationally renowned artists, this year’s festival schedule is looking to be the strongest yet for guitar fans. And Guitarist has a vested interest, too. Our very own Jamie Dickson will be joined by magazine alumni Mick Taylor and Neville Marten to perform a set entitled ‘Jimi Hendrix (Slight Return)’, a celebration of the 50th anniversary of his groundbreaking debut with the Experience band. The weekend will also feature sets from Robben Ford, Muddy Water’s son Mud Morganfield with Kirk Fletcher (the latter who will also host a guitar workshop), Gypsy jazzers Remi Harris and Robin Nolan, and the city’s own Bristol Bluesmen will…

1 Fender Custom Shop Eric Clapton Journeyman Relic Signature Stratocaster £3,749 The story of Fender’s most popular signature series continues, now in the relic’d Journeyman finish for its Two-Colour Sunburst and White Blonde options to give it that toured-in look and feel. That applies to the worn back of the neck, too. There are other variations to the established Custom Shop model as well: the change from alder to two-piece ash for the body echoes the 50s, a rift-sawn neck is chosen for a stronger, more stable cut compared with flat- and quarter-sawn, plus there’s the use of nitrocellulose lacquer as opposed to urethane for a worn finish. www.fendercustomshop.com 2 Mooer Devin Townsend Ocean Machine £TBC The Chinese company’s partnership with Townsend on this delay/reverb/looper is surprising – Mooer has…

RELIGHT THE FIRE I’m writing with a bit of a dilemma and something I just can’t seem to put right no matter what I do, so I’m hoping you can help! Have you ever considered selling all your gear because you’ve lost ‘the feeling’ playing guitar used to give you? I’m at a bit of a crossroads and I don’t enjoy playing any more – I find it a bit of a chore. I’ve tried buying new gear, but as soon as it arrives, it lies there, in its packaging, unplayed. Sad, isn’t it? Not withstanding the amount of money I’ve spent and lost when I’ve sold gear in shop condition just a few months later. Is it just me? Is there anything I can do to get that feeling…

“Some acts are just going through the motions up there on stage, but I think if you’re into what you’re doing and it’s authentic, audiences will pick up on that” What was your first ever gig and how did it go? “Oh God, I don’t even remember! It would have been some local gig in Worcester with The Jaguars. I honestly don’t remember exactly what it was. I would have been about 16 and I was born in ’46, so we’re talking about 1962… Yeah. Exactly. There you go!” Describe your current stage rig… “I use a Bob Bradshaw rig. It’s a custom rig: a preamp with the effects post, like a studio. I run it through a Fender Blues DeVille, but I don’t use the preamp stage, I just…

You know that feeling when you’ve witnessed a performance so electrifying it sticks with you for months afterwards? This was our experience when we caught St Vincent’s act at The Green Man Festival a while ago. Her music is a beautiful collision of adept, otherworldly guitar parts and propulsive electronica – though falling short, comparisons with artists such as Bowie, 70s Roxy Music and Talking Heads are a starting point, should anyone be unfamiliar with her music. In fact, she has recorded and toured with Talking Heads’ David Byrne – a fruitful meeting of kindred spirits on the wilder shores of art-rock. She’s also responsible for one of the boldest guitar designs of recent years: the Music Man St Vincent guitar, pictured here, looks like no other – its clash…

Now, as in 1954, the Les Paul Custom is an aspirational choice with a price tag to match. Head to the Gibson website in 2017 and – putting aside the signature guitars – you’ll find two choices. Of these, the top-dollar option is the True Historic 1957 Custom, putting period-correct features and twin-humbucker performance in your hands for circa £5,500. That’s undercut by the stock Custom, which offers a credible 490R/498T configuration and a choice of finishes for south of four grand. If that’s still a little too ‘executive’ for your liking, the answer could be an Epiphone. Priced around £440, the Les Paul Custom Pro looks the part, approximates the roar of PAFs with its coil-splittable ProBuckers and is available as a lefty. Epiphone is also your cheap ticket…

1. Magnet & Windings Despite the original patent stipulating the use of an Alnico 5 bar magnet, Alnico 2, 3 and 4 are the most commonly found, with the latter being common to ‘Holy Grail’ variants. The ‘magic formula’ for a PAF was (approximately!) 5,000 turns of 42 AWG plain enamel on each of the two coils; it was generally either more or less 2. Polarity The screw coil is south polarity (ie, at the top of the pickup) and the slug coil, north – something that subsequently became a build standard for humbuckers 3. Fillister No 5 Pole Screws These are either nickel- or gold-plated, depending on which guitar the pickup was headed for. The gold-plated covers therefore meant gold-plated screws 4. Baseplate This is made from 21 AWG…

A few weeks ago, Guitarist dropped by the Steam pub in Bristol to find Innes Sibun – freshly returned from touring Europe with blues singer Sari Schorr – absolutely thrilling a room full of punters with his powerhouse blues style. Innes just doesn’t know how to give less than 100 per cent, whether he’s playing stadiums with Robert Plant or slapping smiles on the faces of pub-goers on a weekday night. Backed by an excellent band, he romped through Rory Gallagher and BB King classics like a man possessed, pinning his heart to the fretboard throughout. Now, that’s the kind of player we like – so we invited Innes down to Guitarist during one of his rare quiet spells to talk about giving the performances of his life in Schorr’s…

Flurry Vs Hurry Difficulty 10 mins per example Tutor: Richard Barrett Gear used: Knaggs Choptank, Vox AC15C1 When improvising, it’s nice to have the freedom to add a ‘flurry’ of notes now and again. Listen to how sax players often begin a phrase, or tail off at the end, and you’ll see what I mean. Rather than it becoming a full-on shred moment (not that there is anything wrong with that, of course), the flurries should sound effortlessly thrown in within the context of an otherwise understated blues solo. That’s our objective anyway… One way to achieve this is to rake across a triad, a device used by Mark Knopfler and David Gilmour. Another way could be adding in a couple of rapid notes after a big sustained bend, as…