Innehållsförteckning för Summer 2017 från Guitarist

This month’s cover feature on Gibson’s enticing trio of signature semi-acoustics (see p88) got me thinking about what makes a guitar uniquely your own. I doubt there’s a guitarist reading this who hasn’t idly dreamed of what their own signature series guitar would look like, how it would be fitted out, who it would be made by and so on. One player’s meat is another’s poison, of course, and we’ve even heard tales (possibly a bit shaggy round the edges) of well-known players who became virtually the only person in a given country to buy their own official signature model… A niche market, indeed! But reading Rod Brakes’ entertaining interview with two legends of British rock, Wilko Johnson and Norman Watt-Roy (see p56), I got another viewpoint on what makes…

YAMAHA A3R ARE £793 WHAT IS IT? An update to Yamaha’s A Series of stage performance models with the new SRT2 pickup system YAMAHA A5R ARE £1,279 This top-of-the-line A Series model is made in Yamaha’s home country of Japan Any acoustic player wanting to play on stage will know it can lead to a fundamental compromise. There is traditionally a gap between how we enjoy the sound of our guitars and the way they’re represented plugged in. Piezos, transducers and magnetic soundhole pickups are all avenues players can take, based on their tastes and needs, but none can represent the character and tonal detail of their guitars like a large diaphragm condenser mic. It’s the recordist’s choice, but one that presents too many obstacles of feedback and positioning in…

Walter Trout 6 to 21 October Various UK venues The bluesman’s comeback since the serious illness in 2013 that threatened his life has been nothing short of remarkable. Now Walter is making every moment count. But while 2015’s Battle Scars tackled his troubled period head on, he’s having fun on the follow-up album, We’re All In This Together, which is released ahead of these 13 dates across England and Wales. And he’s invited 14 all-star guests to join in. “Now was the right time for this record,” says Walter. “Battle Scars was such an intense piece of work, written with tears coming down my face. I needed a break from that, to do something fun and light-hearted. This album was joyous for me.” The guest list is certainly a joy…

Many working guitar players – including myself – find that the size of our pedalboards can be an issue. The majority of my work takes place in either a recording or TV studio, and frequently with orchestras, which (especially with the latter two situations) hardly ever provide you with enough room. I’ve lost count of the amount of times I’ve played at the Royal Albert Hall with the Royal Philharmonic or the BBC Concert Orchestra, where you’re expected to cover every style known to man in one concert, and then they provide you with the same amount of room as the second viola player. Therefore, when an email advert for a new bit of gear popped into my inbox, it piqued my interest. For those of you who haven’t seen…

LET THE CHILDREN PLAY I have a small but fine selection of Taylors, Martins, Gibsons and Fenders picked for their sound, feel and look. All the second-best guitars, budget deals, value-for-money axes had to go long time ago. Recently, my 14-year-old daughter Helen started to play the guitar. She is a talented singer, too. Being a good dad, I even provided her with a new Squier Mini Strat and a decent no-name acoustic guitar. Electric or not? Her choice. Coming home the other day, I found the Taylor from my wall covered with stickers on the neck. “What is that?” I asked Helen, feeling annoyed. “That’s a Tori Kelly song,” she replied with the sweetest teenager voice. She grabbed the Taylor and started singing the song All In My Head.…

It’s a hot, sunny May day at Arlington Arts Centre in Berkshire and things aren’t going well for Eric Gales. The band’s soundcheck has been going on for a couple of hours owing to a recurring earth loop problem having temporarily defeated the sound crew. The Guitarist team is in a room adjacent to the stage, playing a waiting game. We’ve already been out for ice cream, awarding Waitrose’s Salted Caramel Lollies an honorary Guitarist ‘Choice’ award in the process… but now, all we can do is wait. The tour manager pops his head around the door and apologises for the delay, telling us that they think they’ve found the problem, but it’s a further 40 minutes before a very hot and bothered Mr Gales joins us in the room.…

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE NEW SOUNDS OF IDA MAE?  Chris Turpin (guitarist): “It’s kind of serene, chilled-out acoustic Americana – rootsy blues meets blue-eyed soul with lots of resonator guitar, including my 1931 National Duolian single-cone. Ethan played drums and some other instruments, like a 1924 Martin T-28 Tiple, on one of the songs, which was pretty amazing. The first song we’re planning to release, Feel Them Getting Closer, is actually an electric track, the only amp’d up song we’ve done so far, recorded using an old Teisco Audition guitar through a Cornell Plexi 7, with an Analog Man CV7005 Sun Face and a 70s Ibanez Phase Tone. It kind of sounds like Little Feat meets The Black Keys.” HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE PROCESS OF RECORDING WITH ETHAN?…

Patrice Vigier’s Expert is his most Strat-like dish, but its taste has a note of modernism, perfect function, intonation and some slightly different sonic flavours What You Need To Know 1 Vigier: high quality, made in France. Correct? Absolutely. Patrice Vigier and his team have been building superb guitars in small numbers since 1980. They’ve just upped their prices, but the guitars remain hugely competitive in terms of their quality. 2 But are Vigier for shredders? They do attract numerous progressive players, but if your tastes lie in a more vintage style, as we found, the Expert Classic Rock is really worth checking out. 3 Has the world gone bolt-on mad? It’s certainly shaping up that way. Fender’s American Professional Stratocaster reset the benchmark for the production bolt-on earlier this…

1 What was the first pedal you built and how did the design come about? “When I first started building guitar effects, I was working for the government. I had friends like Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page and we were interested in producing new sounds. The first pedal I built was a treble booster using a germanium transistor that went on to become the [Dallas] Rangemaster. I also invented the Octavia circuit, which Tycobrahe copied, and that was first used by Jimi Hendrix on Purple Haze. A few of my early designs got, shall we say, ‘acquired’ [laughs].” 2 What’s your best-selling pedal and why do you think that is? “I would say the Voodoo-1 and Voodoo-Bass. They’re very versatile pedals. An awful lot of players use the Voodoo-Bass pedals.…

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‘Reverse’ style single mini- Spring 1963  humbucker Firebird I; two-piece mahogany through-neck October 1963 Earliest models registered (serial numbers in 131,000s) Late 1963 Nine-piece laminated mahogany/ walnut through-neck with smaller, squared-off heel 1963 80 Firebird I guitars shipped 1964 497 Firebird I guitars shipped 1965 ‘Reverse’ style Firebird I discontinued May 1965 New ‘Non-reverse’ style Firebird I with glued-in neck and black P-90s 1965 800 Firebird I guitars registered shipped (‘reverse’ and ‘non-reverse’) 1970 Firebird I discontinued 1991 Custom Shop reissue of ‘reverse’ style Firebird I with single mini-humbucker…

Dominating The 7th Dif ficulty 10 mins per example Tutor: Richard Barrett Gear used: Knaggs Choptank, Friedman BE-OD, Vox AC15C1 Though many of the greats play by instinct, often not knowing the ‘official’ names for the sounds they are creating, getting acquainted with a few general music harmony and theory terms can save the aspiring soloist time. This is not to deny the many solos that have been created using a ‘pure’ pentatonic approach, but the opportunity to expand our vocabulary is one we usually can’t resist… So to get a little theoretical (unartistic even!) for just a second, if we were to compile a list of the most frequently used musical devices in the blues, the dominant 7th would feature very close to the top (depending on the player).…

t a time when we’re told the music industry is on its knees, the Warner Bros office in Kensington is a reassuring beacon of luxury. This is how a record label HQ should look: a world of chrome, leather and macrobiotic juice, where great glass elevators shuttle you skywards, to the room where Sheryl Crow awaits, finishing a croissant. Encounters with global superstars can be disappointing affairs, all the spontaneity sucked from the air by autopilot answers and juicy lines of enquiry shut down by attendant press officers. But as she dispatches her manager to the adjoining room and kicks her feet up on the sofa, it’s clear that Crow is exactly how you hoped she might be: friendly, funny and frank about the hopes and fears that drive her…

 TAKEN from Gordon Giltrap’s album Troubadour, The Lord’s Seat is a beautiful, haunting solo guitar piece. Remarkably, the original recording was made at home by Gordon himself. But, without further ado, we’ll hand you over to the master for the story behind it and a few technical hints to help you navigate your way through. “The Lord’s Seat was written many, many years ago for a documentary on the working aristocracy for BBC Two. The title refers to a beauty spot in the Lake District and I felt I wanted something kind of medieval and John Dowland-ish; that’s the kind of brief I was given and I think that’s the reason why they approached me. “It was originally composed on a little Rob Armstrong baby guitar in what…

Your playing style will dictate whether you need a cutaway to reach the upper frets, or indeed not. Traditionalists would argue that a cutaway means a tonal compromise compared with a non-cutaway model, but the sheer prevalence of the style among players would suggest any such compromise is more than outweighed by practical playability and live sound benefits. (Whisper it now: we reckon more decisions are made on looks than anything else!)…

When considering which electro-acoustic to go with, you need to think about how it’s generating your plugged-in sound… UNDER-SADDLE PIEZO PICKUP This is a thin strip of transducing material that’s sandwiched between the bottom of your string saddle and the wood of the bridge, in the saddle slot. Where can I hear one? Pretty much any mid-price electro-acoustic guitar. SOUNDBOARD TRANSDUCERS These are small transducers, usually attached to the underside of the top or bridge. They’re often mixed with another source, piezo or soundhole. Where can I hear one? K&K Pure Mini and Yamaha ART-equipped guitars. SOUNDHOLE PICKUPS These sit across your soundhole and, in many people’s opinion, sound more ‘natural’ than undersaddle piezos or soundboard transducers. Where can I hear one? Any guitar fitted with one – they’re very…

GAUGE & CORE Acoustic strings are usually thicker than electric strings, which means stiffer string tension. Broadly speaking,‘standard’ acoustic sets are 0.011 to 0.052 (extra light) 0.012 to 0.054 (light) and 0.013 to 0.056 (medium). There are many other variants and hybrid gauge mixes to suit different tastes. The wound strings’ steel core thickness has an effect, too: thicker core/thinner wrap gives you more volume and string tension; a thinner core/thicker wrap the opposite. MATERIALS There are two main types for acoustic wound strings: Phosphor bronze (typically 92 per copper, eight per cent tin) is the modern ‘standard’; a good all-round choice that sounds less bright than bronze when new, and maintains a more consistent tone over the strings’ lifespan than… Bronze (also called ‘brass’, 80 per cent copper, 20…

FISHMAN PLATINUM STAGE . . . . . . . . . . . . £229 This packs a lot into a small box; EQ modes for guitar and bass, three-band EQ plus a useful mid frequency control, phase switch, post-pre DI for stage-only EQ and a volume boost. HOTONE A STATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . £129 There’s an effects loop here for select pedals and an input for a mic to give you the option to mix it with your pickup sound for duel output tone. There’s a boost switch here, too. ASHDOWN AA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .…

TC ELECTRONIC BODYREZ . . . . . . . . £84 This mini pedal-sized ‘acoustic pickup enhancer’ for under-saddle pickups helps to deal with plasticky piezo ‘quack’ with one control for Body; the more you dial in, the more low end compression you get so it’s a matter of balancing that for your needs. XVIVE MIKE . . . . £109 The Mike takes a different approach to enhancement with nine presets that seek to reproduce the room sound of a number of different acoustic model/mic combinations. So it’s a matter of finding the one best suited to your guitar with a bit of careful tweaking. BOSS AD-2 . . . . . . . . . £99 Boss might call this a preamp but there’s no traditional EQ…

ONBOARD PREAMP Most electro-acoustic guitars are fitted with preamp circuitry. This can range from a discreet, internal preamp in the endpin socket of the guitar, through to a hulking great piece of plastic, bristling with knobs and switches in the side. OUTBOARD PREAMP If your guitar has a simple system, you might want to think about an external preamp to help shape your sound. They come in desktop, belt-clip, stompbox, multi-effects and rackmount formats, or built in to an acoustic amplifier. ACOUSTIC AMPLIFIER An acoustic amp gives you control over your sound and how you want to EQ it; it gives you a dependable onstage monitor and a good one will have a balanced XLR direct output that you can send straight the front-of-house PA.…

We continue with my thoughts about being totally prepared for your gig, acknowledging that ‘Murphy’s Law’ can and will undoubtedly strike when you least expect it. So with this in mind, here are some more tips. In my last column, we went into some detail as regards instrument cleaning, your strings and tuning. So moving right along… If you use a pedalboard, then we’ll assume that your connections are firmly in place and that your power supplies are optimal. Note that if you’re using mains power, you should be okay. If any of your devices rely on battery power, it’s best to keep on top of the condition of the battery. I still use the ‘sell-by method’ – each of my battery driven devices have a small piece of tape…

“Recently, I’ve been getting to grips with meditation, which I think has assisted my performance and made my playing a bit more meaningful” 1 What was your first guitar and when did you get it? “My first guitar was badged up as a Martin Coletti. It was an f-hole archtop, Tobacco Sunburst and completely acoustic. I have owned a pre-war Coletti in the past and they were superbly made handcrafted instruments, but this 1960 version was all laminate and not in the same league as the early ones. Later on I bought a pickup for it and I plugged it into the back of the family radiogram. I pestered my folks to buy me a Watkins Westminster amp, polka dot red, and then finally a Supersound tremolo arm so I…

When we mention to Sonny that it’s nice to hear him playing acoustic on his new album, he says: “A lot of people don’t know there was a two-year period in my career when I didn’t even pick up an electric guitar. I bought a Martin D-28 from a friend of mine and I had a metal-bodied Dobro – and that’s all I played.” So, in a way, Recorded Live In Lafayette is a return to his roots and a splendid opportunity to hear an often-overlooked side of an artist whose slide style is a wonder to behold. Recorded over three nights in an intimate club, the album revisits material from across the span of Sonny’s career, with an eclectic set of instruments, including a resonator guitar built around a…

There’s much more to Eric than the Hendrix-influenced end of the blues spectrum, as he demonstrates in this video lesson. You’ll see how he approaches rhythm and lead playing in a country and gospel vibe, as well as his take on classic blues-rock pentatonic lines. A very important part of Eric’s playing is the way he plays left-handed but without reversing the strings. This means the low E string is physically at the bottom, closest to his feet. Although this doesn’t impact too much on chord shapes or fingering patterns (with a couple of crucial exceptions, as you’ll see), it has a much more noticeable effect on fingerpicking or hybrid picking. Everything we know is suddenly meaningless… you’re now using your fingers to play bass notes, rather than your thumb…

“He put his hands on the neck [of the 1960/’61 Strat] and knew it was ‘the one’” GEORGE JONES Man were originally formed in the late 60s and, with their artful meld of blues, art-rock and extended live jams, have often been compared with fellow psych-rockers The Grateful Dead. Sadly, both long-standing guitarists in the band are no longer with us, Micky Jones having died in March 2010 and Deke Leonard in January of this year. On 10 June, a memorial concert was held for Deke at The Princess Royal Theatre in Port Talbot and Guitarist was invited to Swansea’s Sonic One Studios to view a range of instruments owned by Deke and Micky that were being prepped for the gig. Micky’s son, George Jones, was our guide to the…

FRET-KING CORONA FLUENCE £749 Trev Wilkinson’s Korean-made take on Fender’s finest is up-spec’d here to include a trio of Fishman ‘single width’ active pickups with dual ‘Vintage’ and ‘Hot Texas’ voices. The platform is standard: alder body, maple neck with rosewood fingerboard and excellent Wilkinson hardware. A lot of guitar with cutting-edge electronics. www.fret-king.com FENDER AMERICAN PROFESSIONAL STRATOCASTER £1,429 This year’s makeover of the long-running American Standard range makes great guitars even better. Numerous upgrades include the magnet-blended ‘V Mod’ single coils, modern ‘deep C’ profile, bone nut, two-point vibrato and staggered height tuners. The benchmark for the modern production Strat. www.fender.com JOHN PAGE CLASSIC ASHBURN SPECIAL £1,629 Typically detailed design and Japanese boutique construction make John Page’s small but perfectly formed Ashburn a must-try. In this 2017 version with…

MANUFACTURER MERIS MODEL MERCURY 7 PRICE £319 SOUND NETWORK 020 3008 7530 / WWW.MERIS.US The high-end digital reverb pedal such as a Strymon Big Sky or Eventide Space has become a much-coveted item for those wishing to add ambience with a classy sheen to their ’board – and the Mercury7 is the contribution from Meris, whose team includes a founder of Strymon. Derived from the 500-series module of the same name, and apparently inspired by the Blade Runner film and its Vangelis soundtrack, it is designed to deliver extra-long decays and lush modulated reflections. The pedal offers a choice of two algorithmic reverbs, Ultraplate and Cathedral, with a host of sound adjustment features including pitch and modulation parameters. Capable of mono and stereo operation, the pedal has two sets of…

A list of Lowden acoustic artists reads like a roll call of some of the finest instrumentalists and songwriters operating in music today: Thomas Leeb, Pierre Bensusan and Richard Thompson spring readily to mind, but there are, of course, many more. We settled back for a chat with George about the current goings on at his Downpatrick workshop and the first topic to come up was the foremost burning issue among guitar makers at present, namely the new CITES restrictions on the import and export of rosewoods – one of the staple timbers for acoustic guitars worldwide. “I actually think it’s important that we go down this road from the point of view of restricting the use of some of these woods that have been overused,” says George. “We should…

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Vintage guitar commentators often view the original 1963 Firebird as Gibson’s answer to Fender offset models, such as the Jaguar and Jazzmaster, introduced in 1958 and 1962 respectively. If this was indeed the case, Gibson’s strategy was an aggressive one, as 1963 saw the introduction of not one but four distinct Firebird variants. Each brought a different complement of hardware to a shared angular body shape with common features, including an ambitious neck-through design and mini-humbucker pickups. The original Firebird I, III, V, and VII designs would remain the same up through mid-’65 when the body was quite literally flipped on its head. For collectors, this body shape reversal marks the major cutoff for pricing and desirability. While first-year models do earn a small premium, guitars from 1963, 1964 and…

Electrics Burns Shadows Custom Signature Limited Edition, Fiesta Red, with grey crocodile effect case complete with goodies. Excellent condition, never gigged. £1,100. Call Tony on 01342 323386 Fender 1954 Anniversary Stratocaster, 2014 Limited Edition, sunburst ash body. All case candy. 99% mint. No trades. £1,325. Contact newnicholson@gmail.com Fender Deluxe Telecaster, Maple neck candy apple body, S1 switch, case. Never gigged in new condition. Best over £800. david.coulthard@homecall.co.uk Fender Strat, Team Built 1956 Custom Shop NOS in Fiesta Red. Vintage case with all candy. Never gigged, in as new condition. Ill health forces sale. Save hundreds on current price. £1,750. Call Paul 01296 435520. Aylesbury GibsonLes Paul Custom, 1989, wine red, gold h/ware. Exceptional condition inc original brown/pink h/ case. Offers over £2,000. Contact Trev 07813257667 trevor.jessop@ntlworld.com Swansea GretschElectromatic Pro Jet…

Tommy Emmanuel is undeniably one of the most accomplished acoustic players in the world. But ask him how he gained his enviable chops on the instrument and he’ll explain that they came via some hardcore practising. He’ll also tell you that he thinks people hold some misconceptions about how best to spend their time in the woodshed, a lot of the time being wasted covering old ground while resisting the urge to try something new. “When people say to me, ‘What do you practise?’” he tells us, “I always say, ‘I play songs.’ I practise the songs that I want to play well over and over. Having something good to practise keeps you motivated. If you just sit around and play modes and scales, you’ll get bored with that pretty…

FAITH NOMAD MINI-NEPTUNE . . . . . . . . . . .£469 A 590mm scale length Mini Neptune with solid mahogany top, back and sides. Its Faith CnR3 preamp and piezo pickup system features a three-band EQ, phase button to help fight feedback, and an onboard featured tuner. VINTAGE VIATOR USB PAUL BRETT SIGNATURE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . £233 Known for its fresh approaches to design, the beefy sound the Viator offers plugged in via its Fishman Matrix pickup is only part of the story; it offers USB connectivity for direct recording too. CORDOBA MINI O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .…

MONO M80-AD . . . . . . . . £195 This brand’s reputation for quality is well earned, and this surprisingly light hybrid shell case is a significant but worthy investment with patented Headlock to stabilise the headstock in the case during transit. TAYLOR WARE 61030 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . £78 It’s not just Taylor owners who can enjoy its gigbags. This distinctive tan case is made from water resistant 600-denier nylon and it offers reassuring protection inside with high-density closed-cell foam and an inner sponge absorber. ARMOURDILLO DELUXE LIGHT CASE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fr £49.99 Somewhere between…

FENDER CD-60S ALL-MAHOGANY . . . . . . . £160 Fender is getting serious about value with its entry-level Classic Design dreadnought model here; low action and a lively, defined voice makes this a welcoming start for anyone. YAMAHAFG800M . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . £221 An all-matt finish gives this dreadnought more of a lived-in look with the all-rounder character we look for with projection and a good low end presence, thumpy low mids and crisp highs. WASHBURN HD10S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .£249 Is it worth spending a little extra for a little more guitar? Always.…

Torrefied guitar tops might be something you’ve read about already, and they’re a feature we could be hearing a lot more about in the coming years. Torrefaction is a process used by brands including Gibson, Martin, Takamine and Taylor, among others, and involves heating acoustic guitar tops at high temperatures, then super-drying them (some also bake the bracing) in controlled conditions to accelerate the ageing process. Torrefaction is the latest method designed to make instruments sound older, more mature… more vintage. The process essentially cooks the wood in a controlled way to remove the oils and resins on ‘new’ wood that would gradually disappear over years. Young tonewood tends to have more of a harder edge to its sound, but after years it can be enhanced with warmer vintage character…

LANEY A-DUO Laney’s latest value-packed combo is an 60-watter designed to be sat on, and its main controls are arranged at the side with this in mind. As well as a host of input and output features, the four EQ preset switches are useful. AER COMPACT 60 3 £889 AER’s celebrated mini-marvel is used by artists including Tommy Emmanuel (who now has his own signature version) and Martin Taylor, not to mention countless other professional players. It offers compact, powerful, twin-channel versatility and is our number-one choice for all-round pro use. MARSHALL AS50D £329 An absolute stalwart of the acoustic amplification world, what the AS50D lacks in sophistication, it more than makes up for in functionality, reliability and sheer value for money. Often used as a PA-in-a-box, you can sing…

One of this writer’s favourite guitar players, Waddy Wachtel, has been a session player and sideman for decades with a CV that includes stints with Linda Ronstadt, Stevie Nicks, The Rolling Stones and Keith Richards, Warren Zevon and many, many more. Known for his roots rock sounds, Waddy is notoriously ‘antielectronics’ and doesn’t like pedals getting in the way of his ‘pure’ tone. In his earlier career, he plied his trade on a 1960 Bigsby-equipped ’Burst that he’d purchased for $350 from Stephen Stills. While that guitar has been cloned in Gibson’s Collector’s Choice series, it came too late for Waddy who, in the mid-80s, found his heavily repaired ’Burst no longer roadworthy. He needed another. The one that spoke to him was a modded ’74 Deluxe with its distinct…

Charlie Watts once inadvertently summed up life on the road, when he answered a question about how long he’d been with The Rolling Stones. He said: “About 25 years. Five years of playing and 20 hanging about!” I know exactly what he meant, and many others will understand if they have ever been on the road. Sure, it’s a wonderful thing to play the guitar for a living, but never forget that it’s also a job. I’m not comparing it with clocking in at 8am every day of the week and leaving at 5pm, but at least there you know when work starts and work ends. When I turned professional at the age of 21 (at the end of 1972), everything was magical. I grew up in a town where…

Def Leppard Hysteria 30th Anniversary Edition (Mercury) 30 years on from its release, Def Leppard’s fourth album, Hysteria, still sounds like it could be a band’s greatest hits collection – a mix of Mutt Lange’s finely honed studio detail and genuinely infectious rock. For those who can’t afford to splash out on the packed Super Deluxe Edition package (which includes five CDs, two DVDs and four books), the good news is that the highlight bonus of the audio from the Live: In the Round, In Your Face video release, available for the first time in this format, is also included with the three-CD Deluxe Version edition. It’s testament to how well the definitive Leppard duo of Phil Collen and Steve Clark could deliver Hysteria live, and that the band could…

Wilko Johnson rose to notoriety in the 1970s as a founding member of the maverick, back-to-basics rock ’n’ roll band Dr Feelgood – his trademark no-nonsense guitar chops shooting straight from the hip in contrast to a soon-outdated backdrop of musical grandiosity. Having left the band in 1977, he went on to form Solid Senders, before joining The Blockheads a few years later. Meanwhile, in between carving out his own style as a session player for Roger Daltrey, The Clash and Madness, long-serving Blockheads bassist Norman Watt-Roy began a musical partnership with Wilko, which has – against the odds – survived to this day, as the pair have now been touring and recording together for more than 30 years. With a new album currently in progress and extensive touring underway,…

o#FINISH As with any 60s guitar, finish is central to pricing. This is true of Sunburst Firebirds, but especially important for custom finishes. An original non-Sunburst finish on a Firebird can raise the value anywhere from 60 to 90 per cent. o#NECK BREAKS As mentioned, headstock breaks are endemic to this model. Although repair jobs can ready any Firebird for takeoff, prospective buyers should check images and descriptions for breaks. As with other vintage Gibsons, a headstock repair – even a very good one – will reduce the value by around half. o#TREMOLO CONDITION For most, the stock tremolo system is the key differentiating factor between the models. The ‘Lyre Vibrola’ tailpiece on the V and VII is considered the best, though with any vintage tremolo system, there is the…

The Genius Of Jennings Dif ficulty 20 mins per example Tutor: Chris Corcoran Gear used: Framus Broadway archtop (with flat-wound strings) through a Honeyboy 5 amp In this new series of lessons, rhythm and blues guitarist Chris Corcoran will be looking at some guitar licks and solos that sum up the musical style that emanated from the USA in the 1940s and 50s, one that was personified by the music of artists such as Louis Jordan, Leroy Carr and Cab Calloway. As a player heavily influenced by this period himself, Chris’s incendiary and inventive jazz-blues style comes at us from a 50s junkshop archtop – and it’s a style that can be traced back to where the blues migration from the Southern states met with the burgeoning jazz scene blasting…

Welcome to Guitarist’s Acoustic Mastery supplement. Summer always seems to be the traditional season for dusting off the old dreadnought, parlour or triple-0 and heading off for family barbecues or other sundry gatherings for a quick busk in the sunshine. A few choruses of Wonderwall anyone? To inspire you further, in these pages you’ll find an exclusive interview with Sheryl Crow, plus a few features drawn from our quarterly magazine Guitarist Presents Acoustic. Here, we’re talking to one of the UK’s finest players Gordon Giltrap, plus the chance to learn his fabulous piece, The Lord’s Seat. We also get some valuable advice on practising from Tommy Emmanuel, and an overview of what’s what in the acoustic guitar market in our comprehensive buyer’s guide. Enjoy!…

hereas many ladies and gentlemen of a certain age might remember Gordon Giltrap as a lone acoustic guitarist, sitting and playing his hit Heartsong on Top Of The Pops, acoustic players all over the world know him as a composer with an amazing stockpile of wonderful tunes to his credit. A seasoned performer, his solo concerts are a must-see for anyone who loves acoustic music and his collaborations with musicians such as Rick Wakeman and Martin Taylor truly are a wonder to behold. We decided it was high time to catch up with all his latest projects. The first will see him take up the role of teacher on some very special weekend courses. “This year [2016] I’ve formed the Gordon Giltrap Guitar Academy, along with my friend Gary Burnett…

SITKA SPRUCE Picea sitchensis Found in North America and Canada, this is the most common wood for tops. It offers a good mix of strength, clarity and dynamic range over a variety of styles and looks. Find it on everything from budget boxes to high-end Martins. GERMAN SPRUCE Picea abies Not to be confused with Engelmann (right), it’s also often called European spruce (as are other European spruces!), and is popular for classical guitars, violins and, increasingly, flat-top steel-strings. Similar to Adirondack, many believe. ENGELMANN SPRUCE Picea engelmanni Native to western America and Canada, this is usually an upgrade from Sitka, albeit ‘different’ rather than ‘better’. It’s lighter and less stiff; it can give a subtly richer sound than Sitka, depending on guitar. ADIRONDACK SPRUCE Picea rubens The King Of…

Going straight through the PA live is all very well, but taking back some control of your sound and expanding your horizons is better. Boss may well have solved problems you didn’t even know you had with its VE-8 Acoustic Singer (£299) unit by putting a lot of features at your feet. For guitar, it offers reverb and chorus effects, plus a useful feature Boss call Acoustic Resonance – an effect that you dial in for more of a natural ‘acoustic’ sound for your piezo. There’s also a looper with 80 seconds of recording time for you to try out ideas when songwriting or add extra layers live (you can loop guitar and vocals independently). There’s a whole array of vocal features, too; an Enhance effect improves clarity with compression…