Table of contents for February 2019 in Guitarist

The letters we received about the Fender EU Master Design guitars we tested back in issue 439 (see Feedback, p43) got me thinking about the gear that guitarists take to gigs. Gigging’s an interesting test of one’s rig and many is the perfectly fettled home-use rig that gets torn to pieces and totally re-jigged after being tested in the crucible of live performance. For one thing, a number of factors come into play that have nothing to do with tone. Weight is a perfect example – heavy amps get tiresome after only a few back-crippling journeys from car boot to basement bar. More subtly, our cover star Joe Bonamassa (see feature, p66) draws attention to the fact that the added adrenaline of a live show, when tense fingers are apt…

PRICE: £1,769 (inc case) ORIGIN: China TYPE: Single-cut, solidbody electric BODY: Carved maple top on 1-piece mahogany NECK: 1-piece mahogany, glued-in SCALE LENGTH: 629mm (24.75”) NUT: Bone FINGERBOARD: Bound ebony, Pearl crown inlays FRETS: 22, Jescar (FW47104-P), medium jumbo HARDWARE: Gotoh GE101A-NI Relic tune-o-matic-style bridge with Gotoh GE104B-NI Relic stud tailpiece, vintage Kluson-style (Gotoh SD90) tuners – aged nickel-plated STRING SPACING/BRIDGE: 51.5mm ELECTRICS: Lollar custom-aged soapbar single coil (bridge) and Lollar underwound custom-aged soapbar single coil (neck), 3-way toggle pickup selector switch, individual pickup volume and tone controls WEIGHT (kg/lb): 3.6/8 OPTIONS: None RANGE OPTIONS: Also in vintage nitro is the SB57/n (£1,950. Other single-cuts include the gloss-nitro SB59 (£1,599) and the antique varnish SB59/v (£1,999) LEFT-HANDERS: No FINISHES: Gold Top (as reviewed) – vintage nitrocellulose Eastman Musical Instruments Europe…

PRICE: £749 (inc case) ORIGIN: China TYPE: Tonare Grand electro-acoustic TOP: Solid Sitka spruce with X/ Classical bracing and abalone purfling BACK/SIDES: Figured maple (laminate) MAX RIM DEPTH: 110mm MAX BODY WIDTH: 394mm NECK: Mahogany SCALE LENGTH: 643mm (25.3”) TUNERS: Chrome PRS-Designed NUT/WIDTH: Bone/43mm FINGERBOARD: Ebony with bird inlays, 300mm (11.8”) radius FRETS: 20, medium BRIDGE/SPACING: Ebony with bone saddle/56mm WEIGHT (kg/lb): 2.2/4.9 PICKUP/PREAMP: Fishman GT-1 with under-saddle pickup RANGE OPTIONS: All electro-acoustic: TXE20ENA Natural (£549); TE40ENA Natural and TE40ETS Tobacco Sunburst (£649); TE55EBG Natural top and Black Gold Burst back & sides and TE55EBH Abaco Green (£829); and TE60ENA Natural (£879) LEFT-HANDERS: No FINISH: Vintage Sunburst (as reviewed), Natural (top) with Black Gold Burst (back & sides) PRS Europe 01223 874301 www.prsguitars.com PROS We’re sold on the…

PRICE: £999 ORIGIN: UK TYPE: All-valve preamp and power amp, with valve rectifier OUTPUT: 30W RMS VALVES: 3x 12AX7, 2x KT66, 1x GZ34 DIMENSIONS: 660 (w) 260 (h) x 220mm (d) WEIGHT (kg/lb): 18/39 CABINET: Ply CHANNELS: 2, parallel non-switching CONTROLS: Bass, mid, treble, presence, volume 1, volume 2 FOOTSWITCH: None ADDITIONAL FEATURES: None OPTIONS: Available in regular or short chassis: £1,100 each. Adding a tremolo circuit or a buffered FX send and return with level pots takes the price to £1,225, or there’s a spring reverb version for £1,250 (available on large cab only) RANGE OPTIONS: None David Amplification 01474 350856 www.handwiredamps.co.uk PROS Old-school hand-wired circuit; built to last; the quality sounds that you’d expect CONS Nothing really, although even at its rated 30 watts it…

Weight Relief Sometimes termed ‘chambering’, this refers to the practice of boring out cylindrical chambers from the body of an electric guitar that remain hidden by the guitar’s top when the build is complete, but which bring what might be an otherwise weighty design down to a pleasant target weight. Gibson uses a nine-hole system. Too much chambering can result in a weak midrange, but you have to do some quite serious excavation before that becomes a palpable issue and most players will welcome the lighter load on long sessions.…

What? Original 1962 Fender Stratocaster (refin) Where seen? ATB Guitars, Cheltenham Price? £10,495 Description? This is almost identical to the white Strat I bought in 1971 and used through that old AC30 and, less successfully, into the Dual Showman.This one was refinished decades ago and was in the same family for 46 years. Okay, 10k-plus is not to be sneezed at, but have you seen what Master Built Fenders are fetching these days? Almost everything else on the guitar is ‘correct’ with gorgeous green celluloid guard, beautifully patina’d hardware and almost black Brazilian rosewood ’board with dirty clay dots. It comes with the original Selmer style case, too, is visually stunning and apparently plays and sounds amazing, too. Now where did I put that lottery ticket?…

Learning all the chordal and melodic options on the fretboard is a lifelong task, and the ‘CAGED Chord’ system is a great way of exploring the scales and chords. The premise of CAGED is that there are five chord shapes to cover all ways of playing a chord. From there, we subdivide into minor/7th/maj7th/9th and so on. As well as the different chord shapes around the fretboard, there are, of course, scales, arpeggios and patterns that can link not only harmonically with different chord voicings, but geographically in the same place on the fretboard. Here are three to get you started. Example 1 This potentially uncomfortable chord is shown here to demonstrate how, using the CAGED concept, we can create an E major chord using a C major ‘shape’. It…

“They only made them in that colour for a short time,” says Brandy. “It’s a really good guitar.” The original catalogue description boasted that the Rebel was “built of laminated maple, with celluloid bindings on top and back edges”. The catalogue also touted the fact that “the electronics were designed in co-operation with DeArmond… The Rebel’s stick-shift volume and tone controls are the newest development in the guitar field… now you just move your stick-shift on straight line for a new ease and accuracy in producing your favourite effects.”…

PRICE: £999 (inc gigbag) ORIGIN: USA TYPE: Single-cutaway solidbody electric BODY: Alder NECK: Maple,‘Modern C’ profile, bolt-on SCALE LENGTH: 648mm (25.5”) NUT/WIDTH: Synthetic bone/43.02mm FINGERBOARD: Maple, black dot markers, 241mm (9.5”) radius FRETS: 22, jumbo HARDWARE: 3-brass saddle strings-through-body Tele bridge, Fender ClassicGear tuners – chrome/nickel plated STRING SPACING, BRIDGE: 54.5mm ELECTRICS: Fender Yosemite single coil (bridge), Double Tap humbucker (neck), 3-position lever pickup selector switch, master volume, master tone with pull-switch to voice humbucker/single coil mode of neck pickup WEIGHT (kg/lb): 3.58/7.85 OPTIONS: Rosewood fingerboard in Aubergine and Satin Surf Green RANGE OPTIONS: The standard Telecaster with two Yosemite single coils costs £999 LEFT-HANDERS: Not currently FINISHES: Gloss Three-Colour Sunburst (as reviewed), Gloss Vintage White bodies, natural satin necks PROS Same deal as the Strats with some nice upgrades,…

WARWICK ROCKBOARD £VARIOUS CONTACT High Tech Distribution PHONE 01722 410002 WEB www.rockboard.de There are many advantages to owning a pedalboard, not least turning up at a gig and having all your pedals in one place ready to go with a minimum of faffing about. That said, while putting a pedalboard together can be a labour of love, it can also be a frustrating and time-consuming one, too, with plenty of decisions to be made along the way. So, how big a ’board do you need – just large enough for current pedals or with space to expand? Do you make a ’board yourself, get a friendly carpenter involved, or do you go for one of the commercially available options? What cables are you going to use, and do you need…

PRICE: Various (see review text) ORIGIN: China TYPE: Modular pedalboard range FEATURES: Slotted design for easy pedal mounting, angled and plain pedalboard surface, includes self-adhesive hook (50mm wide), loop tape (25mm wide) and cable ties CONTROLS: None CONNECTIONS (MOD1): Standard connections (TRS stereo) x 5, XLR, barrel connector (2.1 x 5.5mm), IEC POWER: Whatever you choose DIMENSIONS (QUAD 4.1): 470 (w) x 330 (d) x 90mm (h) PROS Full range of pedalboard accessories in one place; solidly built pedalboard; slots allow easy cable access; patchbay modules keep connectivity tidy CONS Nothing of note…

MANUFACTURER BMF EFFECTS MODEL MARC F’N FORD OVERDRIVE/BOOST PRICE £229 CONTACT WWW.BMFEFFECTS.COM The Magpie Salute guitarist has been a fan of BMF Effects for years and this signature pedal is an inspired combination of two preexisting circuits. The company’s founder, Scott Kiraly, tells us: “I was talking to Marc one day and he said, ‘Did you ever try a germanium boost going into the Purple Nurple overdrive? You should check that out because it’s really cool!’ “It was something Marc discovered years ago around the time of the Holy Ghost [solo] album,” Scott continues, “and when The Magpie Salute first came around, he really wanted to explore the idea further. So I built him a couple of units and those are the ones he takes out on tour. Ultimately, what…

THE BACKGROUND ADAM OSCAR, GUITARIST READER: I’ve been a guitarist since the early 80s and started collecting guitar pedals almost as soon as I started playing. Handily for me, this was when nobody wanted to use pedals any more, due to the advent of rack multi-effects and electronic synths. As a result, I managed to accrue around 100 really tasty vintage pedals including an EHX Ram’s Head, Triangle and Op-Amp versions of the Big Muff, Arbiter Fuzz Face (both silicon and germanium versions) and some amazing vintage modulation pedals, such as the Boss CE-1, EHX Electric Mistress and Mu-Tron III envelope filter. The problem I have is they are too big, too noisy, have weird power requirements and, in some cases, they’re just too valuable and…

Earlier in our Mod Squad series a reader had asked – in a nutshell – how he could get his HSS Strat to sound like a Les Paul by swapping out his pickups. If only. Why do we imagine we can forget all about the neck and body woods, construction style, scale length and hardware believing it’s just the pickup that creates ‘the sound’? That was an extreme example, however. More realistically, we can focus on improving what we have and quite often we do. But aim too high and you’ll be disappointed, right? How many of us have thought that instead of spending serious money on that dream guitar, can’t we just take a look-alike and turn it into the real thing, from copy to Custom Shop? Well, let’s…

1. SERIAL NUMBER Five-digit number (usually in the 27000 to 30000 range) ink-stamped onto label located on inside back 2. HEADSTOCK Single white binding; T-roof Gretsch logo; horseshoe inlay 3. BODY Hollowbody archtop; 16 inches wide x 2 7/8 inches deep; laminated maple; rounded single-cutaway, two double-bound (b/w) f-holes; double-bound (b/w) top and back; ‘amber red’ finish 4. PICKUPS Two Filter’Tron humbuckers; circa 4kohms DC resistance; three-way selector switch; independent volume pots (lower treble bout); master volume pot (upper treble bout); three-way master tone preset switch 5. HARDWARE Three-a-side Waverly tuners; ½-inch diameter adjustable metal bar bridge; Bigsby vibrato; three arrow-through ‘G’ knobs; plain pickup covers; two three-way selector switches; side-mounted jack socket 6. PLASTICS Black and white laminated truss rod cover; signpost and signature pickguard with T-roof Gretsch logo;…

Electrics BC Rich Warlock USA 1984. Very rare rosewood headstock model. Near mint condition, Cherry Sunburst. Thru neck. Floyd Rose. £1,500 ono. Call Terry on 07960 338086 or email andrealewis425@btinternet.com. Romford Burns Shadows Custom Signature (2005) Limited Edition no. 149 of 500. Fiesta Red, excellent Condition, home use only. Custom case complete with goodies. £1,000. Call Tony 01342 323386. Sussex Fender Acoustasonic Telecaster. Ivory. USA. Acoustic and electric pickups. Stereo Ycable. Maple neck/rosewood ’board. Hard case. Unused, mint condition. £1,000. Contact Arthur on moorearthur194@gmail.com or 07391 190601 Middlesbrough Gibson Les Paul Deluxe Gold Top 1976. Good condition for year. Mahogany body, maple neck. OHSC. £2,500 ono. Call Terry on 07960 338086 or email andrealewis425@btinternet.com. Romford Gibson Les Paul Fireburst. Hard case. Never gigged. £500. Martin 07930 573568 Gibson 1998 LP…

Jumbo Tone Rod Brakes looks into the surprisingly poorly documented history of Gibson’s majestic J-200, a true American icon among acoustic guitars p84 Graham Nash He’s one of the legendary triumvirate of Crosby, Stills & Nash and a mine of songwriting wisdom. Hear his insights on Neil Young and more on p58 Atkin Guitars The Kent-based luthier is one of Britain’s growing success stories in acoustic guitar making. Find out how the team builds tone into every guitar on page p122…

PRICE: £3,250 (inc case) ORIGIN: Finland TYPE: Single-cut, solidbody electric BODY: Figured Arctic birch top on Spanish cedar back NECK: Spanish cedar, glued-in SCALE LENGTH: 629mm (24.75”) NUT/WIDTH: Moose shin bone/43.2 FINGERBOARD: East Indian rosewood,‘clay’ dot inlays FRETS: 22, stainless steel, medium jumbo HARDWARE: ABM 3024 wrapover bridge (with Lock-Thru-Body studs), Gotoh SE700 open-back tuners – nickel-plated STRING SPACING/BRIDGE: 51.5mm ELECTRICS: 2x Häussel 1956 P-90 soapbar single coils, 3-way toggle pickup selector switch, individual pickup volume and tone controls WEIGHT (kg/lb): 3.41/7.5 OPTIONS: As a custom maker, just ask RANGE OPTIONS: For a more classy single-cut vibe, check out the Unicorn Classic (around £5,250) LEFT-HANDERS: Yes FINISHES: Bare Bone Faded Cherry (as reviewed), Bare Faded Yellow – numerous colours/finishes available The North American Guitar 0207 835 5597 http://ruokangas.com…

PRICE: £879 (inc case) ORIGIN: China TYPE: Angelus Cutaway electro-acoustic TOP: Solid Sitka spruce with X/ Classical bracing and abalone purfling BACK/SIDES: Ziricote (laminate) with curly maple binding MAX RIM DEPTH: 110mm MAX BODY WIDTH: 394mm NECK: Mahogany SCALE LENGTH: 643mm (25.3”) TUNERS: Chrome PRS-Designed NUT/WIDTH: Bone/43mm FINGERBOARD: Ebony with abalone bird inlays and curly maple binding, 300mm (11.8”) radius FRETS: 20, medium BRIDGE/SPACING: Ebony with bone saddle/56mm WEIGHT(kg/lb): 2.2/4.9 PICKUP/PREAMP: Fishman GT-1 with under-saddle pickup RANGE OPTIONS: All electro-acoustic: AE20ENA Natural (£599); AE40ENA and AE40ETS Tobacco Sunburst (£689); AE50EVS Vintage Sunburst and AE50EBG Natural top with Black Gold Burst back & sides (£799); AE55EBG Natural top with Black Gold Burst back & sides and AE55EBH Abaco Green (£829) LEFT-HANDERS: No FINISH: Natural (as reviewed) PROS Playability, tone, build quality,…

Gibson 2019 Les Pauls £675 to £3,099 CONTACT Gibson PHONE +44 (0) 1435 205050 WEB www.gibson.com FINGERBOARD Perhaps surprisingly, the High Performance has a Richlite fingerboard. This is not a cost-saving measure but spec’d for stability, as on the Alex Lifeson ES-Les Paul. Other 2019 Pauls have a more traditional rosewood ’board, however TOP Gibson USA seem to have reserved its best AAA+ grade maple tops for the 2019 High Performance Les Pauls. Standard and Traditional Les Pauls get AAA and AA tops, respectively PICKUPS 2019’s High Performance Les Paul comes with Burstbucker Lead Pro+ and Rhythm Pro pickups TUNERS Robot tuners are out, to the relief of many, and locking ‘Keystone’ tuners are in ELECTRONICS HP-4 circuitry with push-pulls on all four control knobs and internal DIP switching, offers…

Last November I had the distinct pleasure of playing a concert at the London Palladium with one of my favourite soul singers, Beverley Knight, whom I’ll be touring with in late 2019. This particular concert was celebrating the music of Stevie Wonder. The band comprised Ed Richardson on drums and Jethro Tull’s Jonathan Noyce on bass (sporting a beautiful ’62 Precision – I did a fair bit of drooling over this), as well as a full brass section, keys and string section. The combination of a great band, great music and a great singer all playing live together doesn’t happen to me every week, so I knew it was going to be a night to remember. I’ll also use any old excuse to buy a guitar. So I decided, after…

Last month, we joined amp-design wizard Adrian Emsley of Orange to find out more about how the major types of power valve influence the tone and performance of your amp. Taking up the theme again, Adrian explains that as valves near the end of their useful life they can let your amp down tonally – and, ultimately, it will fail altogether. Simple knocks and bumps are likely to take their toll first, he explains: “The main thing you’ll see is mechanical loosening up of the insides of the valve. This will manifest itself as rattles and microphony and things that sound like they’re being shaken. Or pops and crackles, if you’ve got a loose connection within the tube. And in a combo, that’s probably the first thing that’s gonna happen,…

Wille & The Bandits Paths Fat Toad Records Blues-rock three-piece land new album They’ve toured with Deep Purple, Status Quo, Warren Haynes and Joe Bonamassa and yet many people are still unaware of the blues-rock powerhouse that is Wille & The Bandits, despite being voted one of the top 10 bands to see play live at the Glastonbury Festival. Led by slide-player supreme Wille Edwards, the band mixes the influences of classic rock bands including Led Zeppelin with a distinctly modern vibe. “I feel that we have finally managed to capture the various soundscapes and unusual instrumentation of our sound on one album without losing the raw, live energy…” Wille told us – and he’s right. Tracks such as Retribution and Make Love sound like weathered stadium anthems in the…

Joe Walsh The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get ABC Probe 1973 Joe Walsh’s very precise, stylised guitar playing has been the cornerstone of a 50-year career from his beginnings in The James Gang to his solo albums, and his 40-plus years playing in the Eagles. Joe is never profligate note-wise, always plays in support of the song and his lines are memorably melodic. He is a great slide player, too, and was initially taught by Duane Allman! I first became aware of Joe via the TV show, The Old Grey Whistle Test, which featured a manically gurning Joe, grinding his way through Rocky Mountain Way, the opening track here. Already a star via The James Gang, this album propelled Joe to a much bigger audience. It is credited…

An hour or so before showtime, we joined Joe on stage to walk around his live rig and take a look at some of the well-worn vintage hardware he’s renowned for playing, including ’Bursts, Dumbles and other rarities that, to his credit, all see extensive use on the road. While we took a look, we chatted with Joe about how he sets up and uses his gear to get the most from it. We picked out some to share with you below. Even if you don’t play blues-rock, it’s an illuminating insight into getting great live sound from a man who’s spent a lot of time experimenting in the laboratory of live sound. Here’s what he had to say… “The Dumbles seem a lot of money, but they’re an extension…

PRICE: £999 (inc gigbag) ORIGIN: USA TYPE: Double-cutaway solidbody electric BODY: Alder NECK: Maple,‘Modern C’ profile, bolt-on SCALE LENGTH: 648mm (25.5”) NUT/WIDTH: Synthetic bone/42.86mm FINGERBOARD: Maple, black dot markers, 241mm (9.5”) radius FRETS: 22, jumbo HARDWARE: 6-Saddle vintage-style synchronised vibrato, Fender ClassicGear tuners – chrome/nickel plated STRING SPACING, BRIDGE: 52.5mm ELECTRICS: Fender Yosemite single coils x3, 5-position lever pickup selector switch, master volume, tone 1 (neck and middle), tone 2 (bridge, Greasebucket) with pull-switch to add neck to positions 1 & 2 of pickup selector WEIGHT (kg/lb): 3.36/7.4 OPTIONS: Rosewood fingerboard in Arctic White and Honey Burst RANGE OPTIONS: See Stratocaster HSS LEFT-HANDERS: Not currently FINISHES: Gloss Penny (as reviewed), Satin Lake Placid Blue bodies, natural satin necks Fender Musical Instruments EMEA 01342 331700 www.fender.com PROS Price, build…

PLAYER STRATOCASTER £559 Previously known as the Mexican Standard but refreshed in 2018, this 22-fret alder-bodied Stratocaster features redesigned Player Series Alnico 5 single coils, a two-post vibrato, plus a modern tone setup with neck/middle tone controls and a separate tone for the bridge pickup. There are seven colour options available and a pau ferro-only 241mm (9.5-inch) radius fingerboard with medium jumbo frets. CLASSIC SERIES ’60S STRATOCASTER £729 A great series to experience vintage Fender style with 184mm (7.25-inch) radius pau ferro fingerboard, 21 small frets, an alder body (with three colour options), staggered vintage-style single coils and six-screw vibrato. There’s a nitro lacquer-finished version (£1,009) and a Road Worn option (£1,129), plus maple fingerboard options and upgraded Classic Player versions, of course. AMERICAN PROFESSIONAL STRATOCASTER £1,479 Leapfrogging over our…

1 What’s this? It doesn’t look like it makes a noise... No, but it will help you make a noise – it’s a pedalboard for easy mounting of all your pedals. 2 How is this different from other brands? It’s a modular system encompassing the ’board and all the accessories (cables, fixings, and so on) that you need to put a pedal rig together. 3 So, do I need this? Well, if you’re still carrying your pedals, connectors and power supplies in a Tesco carrier bag and gaffer-taping them to the stage, it probably wouldn’t be a bad idea to take a look.…

Hot Drive’n Boost MK3 £149 Denmark’s Carl Martin is synonymous with understated quality. With a 20dB boost, the Hot Drive’n Boost MK3 builds upon its predecessor’s reputation for ultra-realistic valve amp-style overdrive, without colouring your guitar tone. King Of Klone £225 What could be better than one Fredric Effects Zombie Klone? Two, of course! With two identical circuits in one pedal, the King of Klone is the Klonnoisseur’s choice for gain-stacking crystalline cleans and eloquent overdrives. Brothers £349 Chase Bliss Audio’s Brothers is the ultimate all-in-one distortion toolkit. Featuring six independently tweakable analogue boost, overdrive and fuzz circuits with 33 routing options, it’s one of the most flexible dirt pedals to date.…

Many acoustic players worldwide will agree that the acknowledged golden era of guitar building was from the pre-war period. But the cost of these instruments is infamously prohibitive and so how does a contemporary player access those celebrated sounds of yore without breaking the bank? Enter Alister Atkin whose instruments acknowledge the building traditions of yesteryear and look, feel and sound like they could have been built more than 70 years ago. Subtle ageing processes complete the illusion and the Atkin guitars we’ve reviewed in the past have always scored highly for their classic tones and played-in, lap-friendly appeal. The workshop boasts a six-man team that combines years of hands-on building skill with up-to-date technology, which includes a CNC machine for shaping necks, a vacuum press for setting bracing and…

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…

1954 Prototypes developed; introduced as Chet Atkins Hollow Body in ‘amber red’ 1955 16" wide & 2/ 8" deep single-cut body; longhorn steer headstock inlay 1956 Horseshoe headstock inlay; plain block fretboard inlays 1957 Humped block fretboard inlays; ‘G’ logo on lower bass bout disappears 1958 Filter’Trons added; fretboard changes to ebony; ‘thumbprint’ fretboard inlays 1959 Gretsch-logo Bigsby; zero fret; bone nut 1960-’61 2/ 8" body depth reduced to 2½", then 2¼"; double-cut; simulated/painted f-holes; leather back pad 1964 Renamed ‘Nashville’; nameplate on headstock 1970s Renumbered 7660 (’71); open f-holes (’73); curved tubular Bigsby arm (’75)…

Ariel Posen 16 to 28 February Various UK dates One year after The Bros Landreth guitarist last visited the UK in a solo capacity, there’s now a big difference: he will have finally released his debut solo album. Due out this month, How Long is a showcase of a singer, songwriter and the sublime slide work of a modern Americana player stepping fully into the spotlight. And he can’t wait to share it all with us. “I am counting the days for this February UK tour,” he tells Guitarist. “I had such a great time last February and now that I finally have some music for you guys to take home, I’m even more excited. This album has been a big part of my life for the past two years…

ROTOSOUND ULTRAMAG STRINGS £TBC The market for high-performance premium strings has bloomed in recent years and now the celebrated British maker Rotosound has come up with its own contender. Rotosound hasn’t released the Ultramags yet, as they’re due to launch at NAMM in late January, but the company has leaked some details of the new range. To set them apart from some of the other recent high-end strings we’ve seen, such as Ernie Ball’s Paradigm range and D’Addario’s NYXL, Rotosound has turned to the highly magnetic Type 52 alloy of 52 per cent nickel and 48 per cent iron. This, Rotosound claims, gives accentuated mids and low-end, plus excellent corrosion-resistant properties. Although official prices haven’t been announced, expect the Ultramags to come in around £15 per set, putting them on…

This month’s missive is yet again the result of office chat. Having silently been ruminating, Jamie piped up with, “So, what’s your perfect rig?” He meant real amps and pedals, and generously offered the luxury of one electric guitar (my red Custom Shop Strat, obviously). If you’ve followed these columns you’ll know I use a modeller but keep an amp and small ’board for pub gigs. Since that’s what I’ve arrived at, it probably does represent my ‘perfect rig’. But I’ve gone through the gamut. The first amp I played live was a mate’s 1963 Vox AC30. My ES-335 flat out through the ‘normal’ channel was sonic nirvana. Why, then, when I’d saved up for my own amp, did I buy a Fender Dual Showman with a 2x15-inch JBL cabinet?…

Orange VT1000 Valve Tester £349 //You needn’t be in any doubt as to the health of a valve again with Orange’s Valve Tester. This digital device instantly checks the functionality of preamp and power valves of all major types used for guitar amps, checking automatically for a wide range of fault conditions and giving an instant diagnosis. Lehle Little Dual £165 //Want to use a two-amp rig flexibly? The Little Dual lets you toggle between two amps or use both simultaneously.The components are designed to eliminate ground loop hum thanks to the LTHZ transformer at the heart of the design. A simple but high-quality way to unleash double-amp goodness. Universal Audio OX £1,048 An advanced reactive attenuator and load box for valve amps, the OX allows you to“play and record…

BEST BAR NONE Nev Marten raised some familiar grumbles about the decline of pub venues in his column in issue 441. Fortunately, there are still a few places trying to reverse the trend. One such venue is Filling Factory No. 1 in Buckshaw, Lancashire. From the outside it’s a modern factory unit and during the week it’s a beer-bottling plant. But at the weekend it morphs into a bar. The locals love it and the place is buzzing. Each Friday and Saturday night a stage is pulled together from pallets and the bands move in. Okay, it has the acoustics of a warehouse, but it has atmosphere in spades. The funk and soul band I play in gig there a few times a year and we love it. Hopefully there…

What was the first gig you played and how did it go? “The first gig ever I booked for myself when I was just 16 turning 17. I started playing guitar and writing songs at about 15 and a year later I wanted to put a gig on. I don’t know what had made me want to do the show; it was compulsion to share what I’d written. They said that because I was underage I could go into one of their back rooms and take just a few friends in there at seven o’clock or six or something. One of my friends, Siobahn, worked at the local woollen mill and she worked with King Creosote, aka Kenny Anderson, who was working in the woollen mill as well. He ended…

Brandy Row is musing on the spirit of rock ’n’ roll that drives his music. “It’s just a raw intensity and a passion,” he reflects. “And I guess that every decade you see it in different forms – but it all comes from the same kind of wildness.” We’ve joined the Essex guitarist at Park Studios JQ in Birmingham. It’s the kind of place that might have been called ‘happening’ back in the 60s. At the top of some concrete stairs, in an old industrial building, a fashion shoot is taking place amid the battered amps and oriental rugs that fill the live room. When not being used as a set, the studio is a recording complex and it’s where Brandy cut his new album, Crazy World. Like all music…

“WE’RE travelling light on this, just the four acoustics here,” explains tech John Gonzales as he guides us to the rack of instruments he tends for the CSN legend. “We’ve got Graham’s Martin signature-edition 000, which is the main guitar. It sees most of the work, generally in standard tuning. The Gibson J-50 here, this is from circa 2000 or something like that; it’s relatively new. It’s a little more beefy, little more lower end, so we use it on some of the more driving rock tunes and things like that. Then we’ve got the O25 Jumbo Lowden here, which we use for some fingerpicking things. It’s got a cedar top and stuff like that. So, that’s set up for fingerpicking and lighter stuff. Then there’s the S 35, which…

“This came into Guitar Center in Hollywood about four or five years ago. It was a guy, and I think he took it to a few different shops in LA and nobody wanted it because it had a humbucker. Most people would restore something like that. Guitar Center took it in and hung it on the wall. I walked in and went, ‘Whoa, that’s right up my alley.’ There’s something about that Nocaster that’s a cut above the rest… There’s something about that lead pickup that’s a cut above. “So, that’s the one I play. The humbucking pickup in the front is out of an SG Custom, like a 1961, so it’s got a gold cover. It doesn’t look like gold, but it’s gold. It’s a PAF, but it’s an…

PRICE: £999 (inc gigbag) ORIGIN: USA TYPE: Double-cutaway solidbody electric BODY: Alder NECK: Maple,‘Modern C’ profile, bolt-on SCALE LENGTH: 648mm (25.5”) NUT/WIDTH: Synthetic bone/42.66mm FINGERBOARD: Maple, black dot markers, 241mm (9.5”) radius FRETS: 22, jumbo HARDWARE: 6-saddle vintage-style synchronised vibrato, Fender ClassicGear tuners – chrome/ nickel plated STRING SPACING, BRIDGE: 52.5mm ELECTRICS: Fender Yosemite single coils x2 (neck, middle), DoubleTap humbucker (bridge), 5-position lever pickup selector switch, master volume, tone 1 (neck and middle), tone 2 (bridge, Greasebucket) with pull-switch to voice humbucker/single coil mode of bridge pickup WEIGHT (kg/lb): 3.63/7.97 OPTIONS: Rosewood fingerboard in Three-Colour Sunburst and Aubergine RANGE OPTIONS: The American Performer range also includes the Mustang (£999) and Jazzmaster (£1,049) LEFT-HANDERS: Not currently FINISHES: Gloss Black (as reviewed), Satin Surf Green bodies, natural satin necks PROS Same…

Designing a new pickup and making it in your shed can be a fun pastime. But designing a pickup that will be part of the biggest electric guitar company’s Big New Launch is an entirely different matter altogether. Tim Shaw seems to take it all in his stride. It certainly helps that he’s been doing it a while and, based in Nashville, he has some helpful and talented friends – such as Grammy Award-winning producer Dave Cobb who unwittingly helped Tim onto the trail that would lead to the new Fender Yosemite single coils. “Fender wanted stuff [for the new Performer series] with flush polepieces, which I thought, ‘Okay, that de-complicates a bunch of stuff, but aside from that I was pretty much given free rein,” Tim explains. “It occurred…

Pedaltrain is probably the best-known brand when it comes to pedalboards, with ’boards available in many sizes. The design is different to the RockBoard in that, instead of many small slots in the mounting surface, these have larger continuous slots, running the full horizontal length on the smaller ’boards. If you’re looking to connect your pedals together with solderless cables that you can trim to size, you may wish to look at offerings from George L, Evidence Audio or Lava Cable. Finally, for quality ready-made connections between pedals, try EBS Premium Gold flat patch cables, available in four lengths.…

MANUFACTURER FENDER MODEL VARIOUS PRICE VARIOUS CONTACT 01342 331700 / WWW.FENDER.COM During 2018’s NAMM show, Fender launched six new pedals developed by lead designer Stan Cotey’s team, who had previously worked on some custom Fender amps for the likes of Eric Clapton and The Edge. We took a look at those (Pugilist Distortion, Marine Layer Reverb, Mirror Image Delay, Santa Ana Overdrive, The Bends Compressor and Level Set Buffer) last summer – three more pedals have since been released, designed, says Fender, to deliver heavier and more gritty rock tones. Featuring all-original circuits, these pedals have the same curvy anodised aluminium housing as their predecessors with ‘jewel’ bypass LED, offset input and output jacks for closer spacing, plus an easy battery-changing function that makes use of a magnetically latched hinged…

1 What was the first pedal that you built and how did the design come about? “I started out modifying pedals, but the first pedal I built was back in 2002. It was a basic overdrive using Veroboard from one of those DIY websites. Gosh, that goes back some years… I’ve slept a few nights and had a few beers since then! Eventually, I bought a breadboard and learned my way around circuits from building them and experimenting. Originally, my company was called IndyGuitarist and the first pedal – which sold more than two or three units – was called the Blue Fuzz. Eventually, as the company started growing, I followed in Robert Keeley’s footsteps and branded it after my name, so we became Wampler Pedals.” 2 What do you…

Writer DAVE BURRLUCK Guitarist, Gear Reviews Editor It’s now been three years since Yamaha embarked on its biggest guitar launch to date with the Revstar range of guitars. Dave reacquaints himself with the instrument to see how it stacks up Reviewing guitars can often feel like a production line. We get a new instrument, spend a few weeks with it (or sometimes less), do our thing and then it’s on to the next one. However, writing about Yamaha’s Revstar was a little more involved this time… A while back, Yamaha invited a few of us to give our thoughts on some new guitar designs as they emerged, and so I found myself involved in the design process. Over a two-year period, Revstar came into focus and I was invited to…

Q I’m in the market for a new echo box. I’d like something with a tap tempo function, but what’s most important is the switching. I want the delay trails to fade away naturally when I turn the effect off. I think it sounds weird when they just cut out. Do you have any suggestions? H Barker, via email A When looking for a new pedal, guitarists have become conditioned to look for true bypass circuitry on the specs list. But, in your particular case, to satisfy your needs and avoid your delay trails being cut off in their prime, you need to limit your options to a delay that has buffered circuitry. Good news is we’ve done the hard work for you: here’s a trio for you to consider.…

TOTO Toto Just 20 years old when recording this album, Steve brought both a Les Paul and Strat, plus his recognisable style and a versatile, song-based approach. Hold The Line showcases his powerchords and nimble soloing, but he is just as comfortable adding melodic slide on the jazz/funk-influenced Georgy Porgy, or dishing out powerchords and riffs over the odd time signatures in I’ll Supply The Love. TOTO Toto IV By 1982, Toto had become a more slick production, involving orchestral overdubs and more mainstream ‘pop’ type material. Steve’s guitar is still all over this, though, as anyone who’s ever heard Rosanna will testify. Elsewhere, I Won’t Hold You Back (also written and sung by Steve) features a melodic, restrained guitar solo that was definitely an alternative to the pyrotechnics that…

Guide example to formatting your adverts CATEGORY: Electrics ADVERT: Fender Stratocaster, USA Standard, 2001, black, white scratchplate, three Lace Sensor pickups, vgc, never gigged, Fender hard case, £435 ono. Phone Joe on 01234 567890, email joebloggs@youremail.co.uk, Runcorn Send your ads to: guitarist.readerads@futurenet.com PLEASE NOTE: Due to the section’s popularity there can sometimes be a period of around a month before your advert will appear. We are unable to send a notice of receipt for your advert. Guitarist magazine reserves the right to omit or change any reader ads which fail to meet the above guidelines or infringe any company’s registered trademarks, ie Strat copy, Gibson copy, and so on. Please write concisely and double check phone number and e-mail address! You get 21 words max, and they’re all free!…