Inhoudsopgave van September 2019 - Guitarist

This month’s Woodstock feature got me thinking about the importance of the audience in making great music happen. Surely only the musicians make the music, you might ask? On the contrary, the audience play an under-acknowledged role in summoning up magical performances on stage. An ecstatic response from the crowd sometimes elevates a gig from merely great to historic. That’s because experiencing live music is not a passive activity, like watching the television. If the performance is good, the crowd roars and that spurs the band to greater heights – completing a feedback loop that brings thousands of people together in a glorious moment of shared worship at the alter of music. That’s how it should be, anyway. Sometimes you wonder if the modern gig-goer is losing the knack of…

PRICE: £1,499 ORIGIN: China/UK TYPE: 12-fret parlour acoustic TOP: AAA-grade Cedar BACK/SIDES: Rosewood MAX RIM DEPTH: 109mm MAX BODY WIDTH: 350mm NECK: African mahogany SCALE LENGTH: 635mm (25”) NUT/WIDTH: 44mm (1.73”) FINGERBOARD: Ebony FRETS: 18 STRING SPACING, BRIDGE: 59mm/Ebony ELECTRICS: Bradley Clark Supernatural Preamp WEIGHT (kg/lb): 1.8/3.9 OPTIONS: None RANGE OPTIONS: An all-mahogany version (Artist Mahogany Emily Rose), is available plus a spruce-top/maple-body version (Emily Rose Golden Sunburst Spruce), a spruce-top/ mahogany-body version (Mahogany Emily Rose) plus a slightly lower-spec cedar-top mahogany-body variant (Neo Emily Rose) LEFT HANDERS: Yes, to order FINISHES: Natural, Tobacco Burst PROS Great amplified voice and a surprisingly expansive unplugged tone for a parlour-size guitar CONS Not necessarily what some might expect of a parlour, tonally – but that’s their loss…

PRICE: £999 (inc gigbag) ORIGIN: USA TYPE: Offset solidbody electric guitar BODY: Alder NECK: Maple with ‘Modern C’ profile, bolt-on SCALE LENGTH: 610mm (24”) NUT/WIDTH: Synthetic bone/43mm FINGERBOARD: Rosewood with white dot inlays, 241mm (9.5”) radius FRETS: 22, jumbo HARDWARE: Nickel/chrome Mustang bridge and vibrato, Fender Classic Gear tuners STRING SPACING, BRIDGE: 53mm ELECTRICS: 2x Yosemite Mustang single coils, master volume, ‘Greasebucket’ tone, 3-way pickup selector toggle switch WEIGHT (kg/lb): 3.4/7.6 OPTIONS: None RANGE OPTIONS: See Jazzmaster LEFT HANDERS: No FINISHES: Vintage White (as reviewed), Penny, Satin Sonic Blue, 2-Colour Sunburst – gloss polyurethane body, satin neck Fender Musical Instruments EMEA 01342 331700 www.fender.com PROS It couldn’t look cuter if it was wearing an Easter bonnet; the killer playability and punchy pickups mean it’s not just a pretty face CONS…

NAME: Chris George Guitars PHONE: 01400 275040 WEB: www.chrisgeorgeguitars.com FOUNDER: Chris George LOCATION: Lincoln, UK STATUS: Fully professional (from 1999) EMPLOYEES: None FIRST GUITAR SHIPPED: 1963 CURRENT OUTPUT: Approx. 12 per year STYLE: Bolt-on and glued-neck electrics and acoustics CAD/CNC: No PICKUPS/HARDWARE: Bare Knuckle, Lollar/TonePros, Bigsby USA FINISHING: In-house; virtually all nitro-cellulose REPAIRS: Yes CUSTOM ORDERS: Completely – each guitar is made from scratch DEPOSIT/BUILD TIME: £500 deposit/ Approximately 6 months WAITING LIST: 3-4 months DEALERS: No, direct-order only PRICE-RANGE: From approx. £1,800 upwards, depending on specification/style…

One of BB King’s Lucille Gibson ES-345 guitars is set to be auctioned alongside other personal items of the late blues legend. The prototype signature model was given to King on his 80th birthday, almost nine years before his death, and is said to have been his main touring guitar in his later years. It goes on sale in Los Angeles at Julien’s Auctions in Beverly Hills on 21 September with an estimate of between $80,000 to $100,000. A touring van, jewellery and clothing are also among King’s belongings up for sale. Another icon with a guitar auction looming at Julien’s is the late Steely Dan co-founder Walter Becker. The auction will be held over two days on the 18 and 19 October and will include a wide range of…

JANGLED NERVES Having read Ed Mitchell’s review of the Guild Starfire IV ST-12 in issue 449, I feel I must comment (lightheartedly) on his statement that players view 12-string guitars as of limited use, centred around 60s sounds. I play a lot of open-mic nights and am known for the use of a 12-string. I have around 20 of them, some top-end but mostly middle-to-low end instruments. I play a variety of music, from 30s to rock ’n’ roll, rock, blues and ballads, all on a 12-string. The guitars I take out to play are all acoustic-electric, but no jumbos or dreads. I get a good audience response from my versions of Titanium (David Guetta), Journey (Duncan Browne), and also Little Red Rooster, with a slide in standard tuning, and…

Emily Breeze Rituals Sugar Shack Records Immaculately twisted post-punk glamour from the starlets of Bristol’s underground Produced by Massive Attack’s Stew Jackson, this spirited collection of dystopian anthems for the 21st century rock ’n’ roll rebel sees Bristol sensation Emily Breeze unleash with a new line-up in exquisitely trashy style. Hot-blooded, razor-tongued and hilariously sharp, Rituals is an affectionate ode to the disaffected that cuts to the heart of modern life’s daily horror show. From “smoking skunk in the daytime and skim-reading Socrates” (Call In Sick Today) to “intricate revenge fantasies on the No 2 bus” (Ego Death), Breeze’s dissonant tales of love and hate are echoed with profound resonance in the brazen chops of guitarist Rob Norbury. [RB] Standout track: Ego Death For fans of: Pulp, Patti Smith, Siouxsie…

For Graham Nash of Crosby, Stills & Nash, Woodstock was something of a baptism of fire as the group took the stage on only their second live performance together. Nash recently auctioned off much of his guitar collection, including the 1969 Martin D-45, serial #249131, that he used down on Max Yasgur’s farm in the same year it was built. Nash bought the guitar with some of the advance he received from the group’s debut deal with Atlantic Records. Stills and Crosby also bought their own D-45s, which sat, then as now, at the top of Martin’s standard product line. “I felt so great when I could afford to buy this,” Nash said of the guitar, which fetched $162,000 at the Heritage Auctions sale in Dallas on 20 to 21…

For most of us, Woodstock was purely a cinematic experience with the release of Michael Wadleigh’s film of the event that hit theatres the year after the festival. It was already the stuff of legend as music fans worldwide feasted upon highlights from the amazing line-up that included The Who, Santana, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Joe Cocker and a host of others. The guitarists in the audience waited eagerly for a glimpse of the festival’s headline act, Jimi Hendrix, and his explosive rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner, but many were stopped in their tracks earlier on in the movie by Ten Years After’s I’m Going Home. Despite some chart success in the UK, TYA were not as well known on this side of the Atlantic as they were in the…

PRICE: £1,198 (inc case) ORIGIN: Japan TYPE: Traditional Western acoustic TOP: Sitka spruce with ARE treatment BACK/SIDES: Mahogany MAX RIM DEPTH: 118mm MAX BODY WIDTH: 412mm NECK: African mahogany SCALE LENGTH: 634mm (24.96”) TUNERS: Gotoh open gear NUT/WIDTH: Bone/44mm FINGERBOARD: Ebony, small dot inlays, 400mm (15.75”) radius FRETS: 20 BRIDGE/SPACING: Ebony/54mm ELECTRICS: No WEIGHT (kg/lb): 2/4.4 OPTIONS: FGX5 (with Atmosfeel pickup) costs £1,418 RANGE OPTIONS: Yamaha’s Red Label Series includes the smaller bodied FS5 (£1,197), FSX5 (£1,418), FSX3, (£976) & FS3 (£798) LEFT-HANDERS: No FINISH: Semi-gloss (as reviewed) PROS Well made, versatile, all-solid woods acoustic pitched at a satisfying price point CONS The action could be set slightly lower – but not by much…

“Arguably, the Lace Alumitone is the most radical designed magnetic pickup developed,” offers Jeff Lace of Lace Music. “The Alumitone has – like all other magnetic pickups – copper wire and magnets and it picks up the vibrations of the strings as you strum your guitar. But this is where the similarities end.” The frame of the pickup is made of aluminium that is “acting as a giant single turn of wire to make the circuit”, continues Jeff. “And like all magnetic pickup designs, it needs a magnet to create the flux field. Ceramic 8 magnets are the choice here. “The aluminium frame is called the pickup exoskeleton. This is then coupled to a series of laminations that are in turn coupled to a dual micro secondary pickup coil. This…

PRICE: £1,099 ORIGIN: Indonesia TYPE: Single-cutaway solidbody electric BODY: Mahogany (or ash) NECK: Maple, glued-in SCALE LENGTH: 629mm (24.75”) NUT/WIDTH: Synthetic FINGERBOARD: Single bound pau ferro, block inlays, 305mm (12”) radius FRETS: 22, medium HARDWARE: Tune-o-maticstyle bridge,‘stairstep’ tailpiece, 3-on-a-strip vintage-style tuners with cream plastic ‘butterfly’ buttons STRING SPACING, BRIDGE: 51.5mm ELECTRICS: 2x Supro Gold Foil pickups, 3-way lever switch, master volume and tone controls OPTIONS: Ash bodies are used on the Natural Ash and Daphne Blue models. A Supro Premium gigbag costs £59 RANGE OPTIONS: The David Bowie 1961 Dual Tone Limited Edition costs £999 (inc gigbag) with dual Vistatone single coils LEFT-HANDERS: No FINISHES: Transparent Red (as reviewed), Daphne Blue, British Racing Green, Ash Natural – gloss body and headstock with satin neck back PROS Tidy build with modernised…

ORIGIN: Japan TYPE: Digital delay pedal FEATURES: Buffered bypass, 128 onboard presets, MIDI control, tap tempo, switchable trails function, 3-band EQ CONTROLS: Mix/Ext 1, Feedback/Ext 2, Parameter Encoder, Soft Clipping Level, Soft Clipping on/off, Soft Clipping Gain, Instrument/ Line Level switch. Parameters buttons include Pan, Mod, EQ, Standby, Func, Output, Dly, A/B select, Stereo/Series, Display, Preset, A/B Tap select and Save. Tap/Presets footswitch, Bypass footswitch CONNECTIONS: Standard inputs (A, B), standard outputs (A, B), External, MIDI (switchable between In and Out) POWER: 9V DC adaptor 350mA (included) DIMENSIONS: 145 (w) x 120 (d) x 60mm (h)…

VIDEO DEMO http://bit.ly/guitaristextra Just about every tremolo pedal on the market aims to reproduce classic Fender-amp-style tremolo, but this new version of Effectrode’s Delta-Trem actually uses the correct vintage technology: photocell circuitry coupled to a valve signal path with a pair of glowing 12AU7 valves (although you can swap them out for, say, 12AX7s for different tonal characteristics). Its basic design ethic is to retain the benefits of an all-valve signal path while engineering out certain shortcomings of vintage amp tremolo units, notably the ‘ticking’ noise that can occur. It also goes beyond the limits of amp tremolo by offering optional stereo operation via twin LFOs, a massive range of waveforms for different trem flavours, tap tempo, and options to add accents for distinct tremolo patterns. Depth and Speed knobs…

1 What was the first effects unit that you built and how did the design come about? “I was experimenting with echo effects before there was such a thing as an analogue delay chip and came up with a slap[back] echo device that was like a hose with a speaker at one end and a microphone at the other. It grew from there. I graduated from Cooper Union Engineering School [in New York] in 1976 and later that year I got a job at Electro-Harmonix where I quickly rose up the ladder. I was there from 1976 to 1981. The first commercial product I worked on was an improved version of the Memory Man [analogue delay pedal] called the Deluxe Memory Man. It was very successful and Electro-Harmonix had a…

Seth Baccus built his first guitar in 2004, but by that time, he’d already been part of the guitar industry for seven years, working in Manson’s guitar shop. His stepfather is master luthier Andy Manson and so Seth’s formative years were set against the background hum of crafting guitars – it’s no surprise, then, he has ended up in his own dedicated facility near Falmouth in Cornwall, turning out some world-class instruments. If you caught our review last issue, you’ll have seen we awarded his Nautilus Classic a Guitarist Choice badge, with a score of nine out of 10. It was well deserved, too; the instrument was fabulous in every respect. We paid Seth a visit to find out more about what led him to make instruments under his own…

Jamie Dickson Guitarist editor Jamie is as happy with steel wool in his hand as he is with Steely Dan in his headphones, and loves vintage-gear restoration and ambitious signal chains. Dave Burrluck Guitarist’s assiduous reviews editor is also the author of numerous guitar books.Very handy with a fret file and indeed any aspect of a finely fettled six-string. Ed Mitchell After 18 years in guitar retail Ed turned to journalism as reviews editor ofTotal Guitar, then as a contributor toGuitarist. He’s also edited the mags The Blues and Country Music. Neville Marten Edited Guitarist for 13 years, after working for both Fender and Gibson as a repairer. From desirable Les Pauls to dream Strats, he’s owned and worked on the lot. Nick Guppy Guitarist’s amplifier specialist has built up…

1. HEADSTOCK Pearl inlaid Gibson logo and yellow silkscreen ‘Les Paul Special’ model name; black nitrocellulose face finish 2. HARDWARE Nickel-plated, angled, adjustable, stud-mounted ‘wraparound’ bar bridge/ tailpiece; three-on-a-plate Kluson Deluxe tuners; adjustable steel truss rod; two metal strap buttons 3. SERIAL NUMBER Five digits prefixed by the number 9 (denoting 1959 as year of manufacture) ink-stamped onto upper rear of headstock 4. NECK Single-piece Honduras mahogany; 22-fret, 12-inch radius, single-bound Brazilian rosewood ’board with pearl dot markers; 24¾-inch scale length; 1¹¹/16-inch nut width; joins body at 22nd fret; Cherry Red nitrocellulose finish 5. PICKUPS & ELECTRONICS Two ‘soap bar’ P-90s; Four Centralab 500k pots (rhythm/treble pickup volume and tone); two ‘bumblebee’ tone capacitors; three-way Switchcraft selector switch; Switchcraft jack 6. BODY Solid Honduras mahogany; flat top; double-cut, rounded horns;…

All That Jazz Despite being almost never used for jazz, Fender’s Jazzmaster is an icon of cool and a real tone machine. Read how it evolved on p86 King Of The Hill It’s impossible to read Dave Hill’s account of his rise to fame with Slade and not admire his humble, hard-working attitude to guitar. Feel the noize on p80 Super Supros The latest batch of electric guitars from revivalist US brand Supro blends retro looks with slick playability – plus something for slide fans p102…

PRICE: £1,299 ORIGIN: China/UK TYPE: 14-fret OM-style acoustic TOP: Spruce BACK/SIDES: African mahogany MAX RIM DEPTH: 114mm MAX BODY WIDTH: 400mm NECK: African mahogany SCALE LENGTH: 655mm (25.7”) NUT/WIDTH: 43mm (1.69”) FINGERBOARD: Ebony FRETS: 20 STRING SPACING, BRIDGE: 54mm/Ebony ELECTRICS: Bradley Clark Supernatural Preamp WEIGHT (kg/lb): 2/4.4 OPTIONS: None RANGE OPTIONS: Cutaway and 12-string versions of the Austin are also available LEFT HANDERS: Yes, to order FINISHES: Natural, Smokehouse Auden Musical Instrument Co 01933 391234 http://audenguitars.com PROS Sweet, balanced tone makes it a great all-rounder that’s still a bit different; strong pickup system; great spec and build at this price CONS Nothing really – it’s a lot of guitar for the money…

PRICE: £1,049 (inc gigbag) ORIGIN: USA TYPE: Offset solidbody electric guitar BODY: Alder NECK: Maple with ‘Modern C’ profile, bolt-on SCALE LENGTH: 648mm (25.5”) NUT/WIDTH: Synthetic bone/43mm FINGERBOARD: Rosewood with white dot inlays, 241mm (9.5”) radius FRETS: 22, jumbo HARDWARE: Nickel/chrome Vintage Strat Synchronized vibrato, Fender Classic Gear tuners STRING SPACING, BRIDGE: 53mm ELECTRICS: 2x Yosemite Jazzmaster single coils, master volume, ‘Greasebucket’ tone, 3-way pickup selector toggle switch WEIGHT (kg/lb): 3.8/8.5 OPTIONS: None RANGE OPTIONS: The American Performer range kicks off with the Telecaster and Stratocaster at £999. The neck humbucking Telecaster Hum and the HSS Stratocaster are the same price LEFT HANDERS: N/A FINISHES: Penny (as reviewed), 3-Colour Sunburst, Satin Lake Placid Blue, Vintage White – gloss polyurethane body, satin neck PROS Modern playability; hi-fi vibe of the big…

PRICE: £2,200 (inc case) ORIGIN: UK TYPE: Single-cutaway, solidbody electric BODY: 1-piece African mahogany w/ 6mm Franquette walnut top NECK: 1-piece quarter-sawn African mahogany w/ 2x carbon fibre reinforcing rods SCALE LENGTH: 626mm (24.6”) NUT/WIDTH: Graph Tech/44mm FINGERBOARD: Bound Macassar ebony, 5mm diameter pearl dot inlays, 305mm (12”) radius FRETS: 22, medium (Evo Gold) HARDWARE: TonePros locking roller bridge, Bigsby B7 vibrato, TonePros top-locking tuners – nickel-plated STRING SPACING, BRIDGE: 50.5mm ELECTRICS: Duesenberg LittleToaster mini-humbucker (bridge), SingleTwin Mini noiseless single coils (middle and neck), 6-way Freeway toggle pickup selector switch, master volume, tone controls w/ Electrosocket jack output WEIGHT (kg/lb): 3.95/8.69 OPTIONS: As a true custom maker, Chris will consider any design, specification and colour LEFT-HANDERS: Yes FINISHES: Nitro-cellulose – natural gloss (body) and satin (neck) Chris George Guitars 01400…

After the success of last year, we knew we had to come back with an even bigger and better event for the 2019 UK Guitar Show. And so we’re excited to have Paul Gilbert, Eric Gales and Devin Townsend onboard to help us deliver it. Gilbert, of Racer-X and Mr Big fame, will show how diverse a player he is during his masterclass on Saturday 21 September. “I like to take difficult things apart and make them easier,” Paul tells Guitarist. “And I want to inspire with new ideas that open up your fretboard and your ears. I’ll open a few doors on how a metal person can get into the blues house, and even find a comfy chair. And I’ll show some forbidden jazz that even a teenage Black…

This week I’m preparing for a session at Mark Knopfler’s British Grove Studios in West London. It’s a fabulous studio with an enormous control room (where the producer and engineer sit behind the desk, along with any record company or film execs present), a live room big enough for a string section, and several booths around the edge in which there may be guitars, drums, vocals, etc, and anything else that requires sound separation from the band for mix purposes. You’d never know the studio exists because the entrance is just an unassuming door down a Chiswick side street. Which is fitting because, as much of a surprise as it might be for a passerby to learn there is a huge recording studio owned by a rock star behind the…

One of the most compelling pro-grade effects makers to hit the scene in recent years, Walrus Audio has consistently impressed with the stellar sonics of its pedals – and its creatively inspiring features. That’s why we’ve teamed up with the good folk at Walrus to offer Guitarist readers the chance to win three of the company’s finest creations, with a collective value of £537. The Slö Multi Texture Reverb, which won a Choice award from reviewer Trevor Curwen a few issues back, offers three core reverb algorithms that can be modulated into an infinite variety of atmospheric soundscapes. The Monument Harmonic Tap Tremolo V2, meanwhile, is the updated version of Walrus’s superb tremolo effect, offering evocative tremolo sounds in five wave shapes in both standard and harmonic trem. The latter…

What was your first gig and how did it go? “One of my first official gigs was when I ended up getting a weekly thing hosting a jam night in Kansas City. All the musicians would come out to town and play. I did that for a couple of years, but my first real super-high-profile gig that I was excited about was at this place called Knuckleheads, where I used to go and see bands when I was 17. Frank [Hicks], the guy who owns that place, gave me a gig there and that was that. It’s like a saloon, a honky tonk… they do blues, Americana, country.” Describe your current stage rig… “I’ll start with amps. Right now I have a boutique company called Category 5 that provides amps…

Roger Mayer was instrumental in helping Jimi Hendrix achieve his extraordinary live tones and lay down some of the finest guitar sounds ever heard on record. He’d been out on the road in 1968 with Jimi following the recording of Axis: Bold As Love the previous year, and in 1969 the pair relocated from London to the States. Roger, newly married, moved to New York City, while Jimi later decamped Upstate to the hamlet of Shokan ( just outside of Woodstock) to set about writing and rehearsing with a new band line-up prior to their Woodstock festival debut. How did you modify Jimi’s Strats? “It was a case of making sure the bridge and nut were adjusted for left-handed playing and sometimes I disconnected the tone pots, because it makes…

4<962›97 Alvin buys a Gibson ES-335 from a Nottingham music store for £45, including a fitted case 1967 By this time, Alvin had started experimenting with an extra pickup between the two PAFs 1968 The first and most iconic ‘ban the bomb’ sticker appears on the guitar’s upper bout 1969 On Sunday 17 August, Ten Years After appear at Woodstock, their set having been delayed for a few hours due to a torrential rainstorm Pdufk# 1970 Alvin replaces Big Red’s Bigsby with a TP-6 tailpiece May 1970 The movie of Woodstock is released in the UK, catapulting Ten Years After to fame and Alvin to guitar superstardom 4<:52›:6 Big Red’s neck is damaged on stage and returned to Gibson who replaces it and lacquers over the guitar’s stickers 1986 After…

My First Guitar “My first guitar was a really dreadful acoustic from the Kays catalogue. I was only 13 and I knew I had music in me, but it wasn’t the piano, it wasn’t the violin, and it certainly wasn’t the recorder. I spoke to dad and he said, ‘I don’t want to be wasting money buying expensive guitars if you’re not going to continue with it. I’ll buy you this one [in the catalogue].’ “It turned up in a cardboard box and, because I’m left-handed, I tried playing it upside down, so dad said, ‘I think you’re going to need some lessons. There’s a jazz guitarist at your school and he’s teaching a few kids how to play acoustic. I’ll tell you what, as it’s five bob a lesson,…

1 What’s the significance of the red label, then? Yamaha’s initial range of FG acoustics was launched in 1966 and came with a red label inside the soundhole. Since then, the ‘red label’Yamahas have become quite sought after on the collector’s market and so the company has decided to release a tribute set of guitars inspired by its initial foray into the acoustic guitar market 53 years ago. 2 Are these straight reproductions? No, Yamaha has added some twists and tweaks along the way in order to bring their historic range into the 21st century. There have been changes to the bracing, for instance, and the tops are ARE treated to simulate ageing, but the models retain their classic look right down to the distinctive headstock shape. 3 How does…

PRICE: £975 ORIGIN: China TYPE: Traditional Western electro-acoustic TOP: Sitka spruce with ARE treatment BACK/SIDES: Mahogany MAX RIM DEPTH: 118mm MAX BODY WIDTH: 412mm NECK: African mahogany SCALE LENGTH: 634mm (24.96”) TUNERS: Gotoh open gear NUT/WIDTH: Urea/44mm FINGERBOARD: Ebony, small dot inlays, 400mm (15.75”) radius FRETS: 20 BRIDGE/SPACING: Ebony/54mm ELECTRICS: Atmosfeel 3-way pickup/ preamp system w/ Mic Blend, Bass EQ and Master volume controls WEIGHT (kg/lb): 4.85/2.2 OPTIONS: The acoustic FG3 model costs £798 RANGE OPTIONS: See FG5 LEFT-HANDERS: No FINISH: Semi gloss (as reviewed) PROS A good-sounding acoustic with a powerful pickup system for slick performance CONS That action, like on the FG5, could be set lower…

PRICE: £1,099 ORIGIN: Indonesia TYPE: Single-cutaway solidbody electric BODY: Mahogany NECK: Maple, glued-in SCALE LENGTH: 629mm (24.75”) NUT/WIDTH: Synthetic FINGERBOARD: Single bound pau ferro, block inlays, 305mm (12”) radius FRETS: 22, medium HARDWARE: Tune-o-maticstyle bridge,‘stairstep’ tailpiece, 3-on-a-strip vintage-style tuners with cream plastic ‘butterfly’ buttons – gold-plated STRING SPACING, BRIDGE: 51.5mm ELECTRICS: 2x Supro Vistatone pickups (neck and middle), Super Alnico single coil (bridge), 5-way lever pickup selector, master volume plus 3x individual pickup volumes OPTIONS: None RANGE OPTIONS: See Ozark and Silverwood, left LEFT-HANDERS: No FINISHES: Jet Black (as reviewed) PROS Modernised historic style; tidy build; the trio of single coils offer Supro’s take on a Strat CONS No colour options, gigbag or lefty available…

The second Thorpy pedal designed in collaboration with former Lovetone boffin, Dan Coggins, is named after naval slang for the sea, no doubt in honour of the waves of modulation it is designed to deliver. It’s a fully analogue chorus/vibrato pedal with plenty of parameters to adjust without being overcomplicated, and it has two outputs, so if you want to stray from the standard pedalboard mono in/mono out scenario you can send the wet and dry signals to separate amps. Besides the Rate and Depth knobs that you’d find on any chorus or vibrato pedal, the Deep Oggin also has a Blend control that runs from fully dry to fully wet – key to dialling in the effect. Chorus relies on a blend of dry and modulated sounds whereas vibrato…

FULLTONE Supa-Trem ST-1 £185 Not a valve in sight, but this pedal is based on genuine photocell circuitry. It has footswitchable Hard and Soft waveforms and footswitchable Full/Half speed, plus adjustable output volume. KINGSLEY Bard $300 If you must have a tremolo pedal with a valve in it but would prefer bias tremolo (as typically found on Fender ‘tweed’ amps) rather than opto, then this US-made pedal ticks those boxes. WALRUS AUDIO Monument V2 £189 No valves, no photocell. But this latest (smaller) V2 pedal could satisfy all of a compact ’board’s tremolo needs with its tap-tempo footswitch, standard and harmonic tremolo, and five waveforms.…

THE BACKGROUND DAN WORTHINGTON, Guitarist reader, via email I’ve recently suffered several injuries as a result of a car crash and this means my lower back and shoulder are now a lot weaker than they used to be. Up until now, I would load my gear in to gigs myself, but with my injuries the band have had to do it for me. Suffice to say, my monster setup of a 100-watt Orange Head, 4x12 and a spaceship-sized pedalboard are now starting to annoy the other band members. Consequently, I’ve been looking to shrink everything, but it’s clear from my first browsing efforts that I won’t get the sound I want. Can you help me – is it possible to have a small rig and sound…

Writer DAVID MEAD, Guitarist, Deputy Editor With his tuning challenges in the past, David plugs in and delves into the baritone’s electric voice with the help of a few pedals… So far in this test on the Ibanez AE255BT baritone acoustic, I’ve changed the strings to a lighter gauge – 0.056, 0.045, 0.035, 0.030, 0.022, 0.016, bass to treble – and settled on a tuning that is full of promise. A close relative of DADGAD, I’ve landed in Bb C F Bb C F, which involves placing a partial capo at the 5th fret, covering the top five strings. It sounds complicated, but you soon get used to these loony tunings in the acoustic world. “The combination with the Walrus Audio Slö proved inspired – it provides you with instant…

1955 Year of release; single cutaway; pale ‘limed mahogany’ finish; switch on upper bass bout 1956 Tailpiece studs reinforced with threaded inserts; stronger yellow/ beige-tinted finishes common 1958 Opaquer, yellower ‘banana’ finishes common; Double cutaway (with rounded horns) prototype displayed at NAMM in July Early 1959 First double cutaway models shipped; plastic fretboard/pickup spacer; switch above ‘rhythm’ knobs Spring 1959 March-April Gibson Gazette announces “new cherry red finish” Late 1959 Switch adjacent to pickguard/bridge November 1959 Designated SG Special (‘Les Paul Special’ decal removed from headstock) Early 1960 Rhythm/neck pickup routing further towards centre of body 1961 Contemporary SG-style double-cutaway with pointed horns; Cherry Red or Opaque White finish…

Difficulty 10 mins per examole Tutor: Richard Barrett | Gear used: Knaggs SSC, Whirlwind Gold Box Distortion, Vox AC15 C1 Channel The Spirit Of Woodstock IT’S HARD TO SAY whether the 400,000-plus people who descended on Bethel, New York in August 1969 realised they were witnessing history in the making, but it is clear in hindsight that this was a defining moment. 32 of the top acts of the day appeared: a diverse selection, including Richie Havens, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and Ravi Shankar. Of course, it is also remembered for the incendiary sets by Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, The Who (when Pete Townshend wasn’t hitting Abbie Hoffman with his SG Special) and Mountain, featuring Leslie West. Loud electric guitars (a relatively new phenomenon at this point) were front…

WOODSTOCK 50 Back To The Garden – 50th Anniversary Collection As you’ll have noticed in the competition at the end of our Woodstock cover feature, the festival’s golden anniversary is being celebrated with a host of remastered releases. If you don’t have the budget (or indeed the 36 hours of time!) for the 38-CD package, then this three-disc CD collection will do a grand job of transporting you to the fields of Bethel with 42 tracks from the weekend’s performances, including Freedom (Motherless Child) by Richie Havens, Janis Joplin’s Piece Of My Heart and Soul Sacrifice by Santana. THE WHO Live At Leeds Recorded a few months after Woodstock, in the early part of 1970, this album showcases Pete Townshend’s contrasting wild lead solos and super-accurate rhythm playing. It’s worth…

While there is much pleasure to be had in owning guitars, which are undeniably beautiful things, nothing will enhance your enjoyment of the instrument more than learning how to play it a little better each day. The clue is in the name: it’s an instrument, designed to help you express your musical ideas with grace and precision, not sit gathering dust in its case. And improving is easier than you think – especially when you have expert advice to help you acquire new skills quickly and effectively. That’s exactly what we’ve set out to do here, in a one-stop power-up for your fretboard skills. Working with our colleagues at Guitar Techniques, a fantastic mag for anyone seeking to hone their playing, we’ve selected no less than 200 powerful exercises and…

One of the few Guitarist Gold awards we handed out last year went to Auden’s cracking Austin 12-string acoustic, so it was with a keen sense of anticipation that we took delivery of the six-string version – the Austin Artist, along with an intriguing parlour acoustic named the Emily Rose. Both guitars are made with Auden’s hybrid build process, in which the woodwork is done in a small nine-luthier workshop in China, but the final neck-set, finishing and setup is completed at Auden’s HQ here in the UK at Higham Ferrers in Northampton. You wouldn’t necessarily notice straight away that the Austin we have in our hands now is almost the same guitar as the 12-string we tested last year. The latter’s stealthy ‘smokehouse’ finish is replaced here by a…

It’s 1957. Fullerton, California. You’re Leo Fender. Within the last decade you and your team have invented the Esquire, Telecaster, Stratocaster, Precision Bass and the Bassman amplifier. Your competition is floundering. Compared with the Gibson Les Paul and the Gretsch Duo Jet, your Stratocaster guitar looks like it was beamed down from a passing flying saucer. Business is brisk. But you’re Leo Fender. The Strat is already three years old! You need to stay on top. The big question is: how do you follow a guitar like that? Fender’s response is the Jazzmaster. Released in 1958, the new model combines important Fender trademarks (bolt-on maple neck, six-on-one-side tuner layout) with a recent addition to the Fullerton factory’s spec options – a rosewood fingerboard. The Jazzmaster is intended to be Leo’s…

Longtime readers of Guitarist will be familiar with Chris George, who seems to be able to turn his hand to acoustic or electric guitars – tailored to your needs – with equal success. We threw out a challenge: we’ve got £2k to spend, make us a guitar. Some weeks later, and perfectly on time, this triple-pickup ‘concept’ guitar arrived sheathed in its Hiscox case, which is included in the price. This latest build is typical of many of Chris’s electrics we’ve seen and played over the past few years. Hugely detailed with not a hair out of place, this very functional piece is based on a true Gibson-like scale length, the glued-in neck and body are African mahogany, while the body – slightly chambered under those two resonator-inspired soundholes –…

The UK Guitar Show 21 to 22 September Business Design Centre, London With every week of updates, our UK Guitar Show steps up a gear, and you can see on the opposite page just how high the calibre is this year. But the show will offer so much more than world-class players – though we’ll have plenty present with our own team of contributing tutors hosting classes for you there, too. Great gear is definitely guaranteed with Fender, PRS, Marshall, ESP, Framus, Martin, Gretsch, Vox, Walrus, Takamine and EarthQuaker as just some of the brands bringing great gear to the show. And after reviewing the standard of entries this year, we’re especially excited about the four category finals for the Guitarist Of The Year competition – clearly the future of…

Sizzlers from Summer NAMM £Various It used to be that the Nashville-based Summer NAMM show was a quieter affair than the giant January show – but in things have hotted up a bit in Tennessee recently. This year’s Summer NAMM yielded a droolsome crop of new guitars, effects and amps. Our six faves are below but also of note were Fender’s new Tonemaster amps, which put digital modelling tech in Twin and Deluxe Reverbformat combos, plus Wild Customs’ innovative Gyrock guitar, which mounts multiple pickups on a rotating cylinder for quick changes. Fender Vintera 60s Stratocaster Modified Burgundy Mist Metallic £799 The new Mexico-made Vintera range marks a bracing sea-change at Fender, taking over from the erstwhile Classic Series and Classic Player ranges with a vibey selection of…

Those with a penchant for modding will have undoubtedly heard of Bill Callaham. Based in Virginia, US, Callaham’s eponymous company makes its own precisely engineered versions of classic Fender and Gibson electrics – from neck plates to bridges – and these parts have become go-to kit for many modders. Hot on the heels of last issue’s modding special edition, we joined Callaham to pick his brains about tone and the engineering philosophy behind his well-regarded components – starting with how he got into making hardware in the first place. “It was somewhat out of the necessity when we were building our own guitars,” he explains. “I needed to correct certain things that I wasn’t happy with in terms of the aftermarket parts that were available. We had to start making…

STRING ’EM UP! We all experiment with different strings and will often just choose one, which we will then stick with for years. There are now many different manufacturers offering latest technologies. It would be great to see a review of different strings comparing their different sounds. Maybe a group of guitars, Strat, Tele, Les Paul and a 335 could be fitted with the same strings and compared? Keep up the great work on the best guitar mag. David Edmondson, via email Hi David, you are clearly a mind-reader as editor Jamie’s Raising The Tone column is going to focus on a short series just about strings, from next issue. We’ll be looking at the effect of fitting strings of different gauges to different types of guitar, comparing top brands…

Former Guitarist editor Neville Marten looks back on his rendezvous with Hendrix’s white Strat: “Back in 1989, I was editor of Guitarist, having previously worked for Fender as its UK guitar repairer. Fender’s John Hill asked me to help with a new artist liaison centre in London, setting up the guitars that visiting guitarists might borrow. On arrival, John said that Mitch Mitchell was coming in with a guitar he’d like me to look at. It was Jimi’s Woodstock Strat and Mitch had had it since Jimi’s death in 1970. “I removed it from its case and examined it. It was clearly a righty strung lefty, and had all the hallmarks of a Jimi guitar: ciggy burns, shirt stain bleeding pink into the white finish, and so on. I cleaned…

Relaunching a heritage brand is never easy. Should the new instruments be exact clones of yesteryear or should they be brought up to date? That was the dilemma faced by Absara Audio, the ‘custodians’ of Supro – and rather like the company did with its contemporary amps, it chose to effectively embrace both scenarios with a 10-strong Americana range of guitars based on Supro’s fabled but short-lived Res-O-Glas models, and a trimmer three-strong range of updated models, the Island series. Further additions followed in the form of the Westbury and Hampton baritones, as well as the Huntington basses, and while the latter have been retained, both the Americana and Island series are gone, now called ‘Legacy models’ by Absara. Supro’s offerings for 2019, then, are based on specific historic models.…

PRICE: £1,099 (inc gigbag) ORIGIN: Indonesia TYPE: Single-cutaway solidbody electric, limited edition BODY: Mahogany NECK: Maple, glued-in SCALE LENGTH: 629mm (24.75”) NUT/WIDTH: Synthetic FINGERBOARD: Pau ferro, dot inlays, 305mm (12”) radius FRETS: 20, medium HARDWARE: 6-saddle through-strung bridge, 3-on-a-strip vintage-style tuners with cream plastic ‘butterfly’ buttons STRING SPACING, BRIDGE: 53mm ELECTRICS: Single Lace Music Aluma 90, volume and tone controls OPTIONS: No RANGE OPTIONS: The other ‘reissue’ announced for 2019 is the Triple Tone (£1,099, right) LEFT-HANDERS: No FINISHES: Arctic White – gloss body and headstock with satin neck back PROS Tidy repro of a Supro classic and a shoo-in for slide players; shines with a little grit CONS No colour options or lefty; niche appeal; a little pricey…

ORIGIN: UK TYPE: Tremolo pedal FEATURES: True bypass, mono and stereo operation, 48 LFO wave shapes, 8 different accented rhythmic patterns, tap tempo, CV (expression pedal) speed control CONTROLS: Shape, Depth, Speed, Rhythm, Filament/Fluid/Neon switch, Mono/Stereo switch, internal output trimpots, internal Dwell trimpot, bypass footswitch, Tap/Sync footswitch CONNECTIONS: Standard input, standard outputs (L and R), CV, External Tap POWER: 12V power supply, capable of use worldwide, included DIMENSIONS: 187 (w) x 125 (d) x 70mm (h)…

Dan, firstly I hope you are making a speedy recovery? Assuming you have latent injuries going forward, I think a total gigging rig rethink is sensible. If you can, obviously keep what you have because it’ll inspire you and if you recover you can go back to it. 01 Is it possible to have a small rig and sound massive? This really is down to your amplifier and cab choice, but I believe so. A lot of the smaller lunchbox heads offer loads of output. The Victory V30 MKII springs to mind as a 40-watt two-channel amplifier (clean and dirty) in a tiny package. If you couple this with a compact 1x12 ported cab with a lightweight neodymium speaker, you can achieve a much larger sound than its diminutive size…