Innehållsförteckning för September 2017 från Guitarist

As we went to press with this issue, we learned of the passing of Glen Campbell. Known to millions as the voice of Wichita Lineman and Rhinestone Cowboy, fewer people knew that he was also a very fine guitarist. Campbell was an original member of the famous Wrecking Crew – a group of first-call LA session musicians who defined the sound of hits by Phil Spector and who ghosted on tracks by The Byrds and The Beach Boys where their magic touch was required. We’ll be remembering Glen properly next issue. No less saddening was news that master luthier Bill Collings (see Obituary, p32) also left us, in July. He created some of the finest instruments we’ve had the pleasure to play – guitar-making at that level requires an extraordinary…

Sonny Landreth 24 September 229 The Venue, London Anyone who needs a reminder as to why the Louisiana bluesman is regarded as one of the most expressive players to ever wield a slide would do well to pick up the recently released Recorded Live In Lafayette. And while that showcases a master at work, it’s refreshing to hear that Landreth had to work hard on his chops just like the rest of us. “God, my slide playing was awful at the start,” he reveals. “I don’t know if it was harder on me, my family or my dog. I knew I was getting a little better when he quit barking! The thing with slide is that it’s a totally different approach than traditional guitar, and the fact that you gotta…

Back in the day, even pretty big pros had way fewer guitars in their collections than many of today’s weekend warriors. And weren’t things simple, eh? You turned up to your gig with your guitar, amp and maybe a bag of leads and a couple of effects. Today, we all obsess. ‘Hmm, do I need a Strat for this gig, a Tele for that song, or do I need my ES-335, or maybe an ES-175, for those jazzier numbers in the set?’ Before you know it, you’ve got three or more guitars on the back seat of the car – all need to be working and probably restrung, too – and you’re off to a gig that pays peanuts and the ‘stage’ is the corner of a pub, bar… or…

I write this column after returning from a very memorable weekend at the Steelhouse Festival in Ebbw Vale, South Wales. Friday night saw biblical weather conditions that almost resulted in health and safety closing the stage down. Luckily, this didn’t happen, and my acoustic set on Saturday afternoon offered up some fleeting sunshine, although it didn’t stick around for long – the heavens opened again after I finished my set. The deluge on the Welsh mountain continued. I was planning to drive home after the gig, but the promoter approached me backstage. Unfortunately, Alan Nimmo, a mate of mine, had lost his voice and so his band King King had to cancel. The promoter asked me to stay and play another set on the Sunday afternoon with my pals Hand…

Turning The TabLeS HiGuitarist, love the magazine! While I was reading your article on CITES, my wife was watching one of those antique programmes on TV. My attention was got when the presenter said,‘Here’s a beautiful table made of Brazilian rosewood’. He went on about it then said it was worth about £60! It made me think – could that be used to make fingerboards? You could probably get five or six out of that tabletop! How would it work if a small guitar maker decided that he was going to use some old table for fingerboards? Keep up the good work! Chris Wilkins, via email Hi Chris, yes, on the face of it it’s rather maddening that so many pieces of more-or-less neglected vintage furniture are built out of…

 What was your first gig? “I did this mandolin solo and my guys made a Stonehenge, lowered it from the rafters and our Irish merch guy came out and danced around it” “It depends on what you call my first gig… If we’re talking about ‘the road’, it would be probably a place in Athens, Georgia and they fired us. We were supposed to play three nights and they fired us because they were used to show bands – y’know, really slick hard-rock bands. Then they didn’t pay us, and when I tried to get the money I got a pistol in my face. And so it didn’t go all that well! I’d played gigs before that, sort of hitchhiked around Texas, but getting out with a band and trying…

Scientist Roger Mayer is one of the few original innovators of rock ’n’ roll from the 1960s who is still at the cutting edge of sound research and design. After acquiring his first guitar (a good old Hofner Senator), it wasn’t long before the instrument was in bits and under close scrutiny in order to be rebuilt with his own upgrades and modifications. While working for the UK government in acoustic analysis in his teens, he turned his hand to developing and inventing revolutionary guitar tones with the likes of Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page for 60s hit records, and later struck up a close friendship with new kid on the block, Jimi Hendrix. Roger first approached Jimi with his latest invention, the Octavia pedal (as debuted on Hendrix’s Purple…

Words David Mead Photography James Cumpsty  Travelling back in time to Monday 11 April 1994, we’re currently enjoying a cup of coffee with Eric Clapton in the cafe at Olympic Studios in Barnes, Middlesex where EC is recording his From The Cradle album. We’re here to talk to Clapton about his thrills-and-spills career, but he’s also given us unprecedented access to ‘Blackie’, the black Stratocaster that was his faithful stage companion throughout the 1970s. “There were stacks of Strats going for virtually nothing because they were so unfashionable and unwanted. I bought a big pile of them” ERIC CLAPTON Although the tale has been told a number of times, we ask Eric to relate how he found his most faithful accomplice. “I was in Nashville and I went into this…

Jamie Dickson Guitaristeditor 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. Mick Taylor Ex-editorofGuitarist,Mick haswieldedAllenkeys, screwdrivers and sandpaper from an early age; he also has a worrying obsession with pedalboards. Neville Marten EditedGuitaristfor 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 a wealth of experience gained from collecting, repairing and restoring all kinds of guitar-related audio. Emailus…

Over the past decade, offset guitars – a classification broadly defined as any instrument with a body shape similar to that of a Fender Jaguar or Jazzmaster – have exploded in popularity. While today’s guitar market overflows with modern offsets of every sort, the original Jaguar and Jazzmaster, introduced in 1962 and 1958 respectively, remain the essential templates of the format. Though similar, these Fender models differ in two main ways: their scale length and pickup set. The Jaguar was built with 24-inch scale length compared with the 25.5 inches of the Jazzmaster, and incorporated two shielded single-coil pickups, as opposed to the Jazzmaster’s feedback-prone soapbars. On today’s vintage market, Jazzmasters remain the more in demand of the two as a result of a general preference for the longer scale…

The Tenor Of Tiny Grimes Dif ficulty 10 mins per example Tutor: Chris Corcoran | Gear used: Framus Broadway archtop (with flatwound strings) through a Honeyboy 5 amp LLOYD ‘TINY’ GRIMES was an important figure in the jazz and R&B worlds. Born in Virginia in 1916, he began playing during the 1930s, adopting the four-stringed tenor guitar as his main instrument after an initial foray into the world of music playing drums and piano. His career in jazz saw him playing with Art Tatum, Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker and Coleman Hawkins, to name but a few. In fact, we recommend that you rummage through YouTube to find the rare footage of Tiny duetting with Art Tatum in order to give you more of an insight into his style. Grimes remained musically…

Electrics BurnyLes Paul RLG55Z, Honeyburst flame top, zebra pickups, Thomann case. £275 ono. For details, contact 07821 525277 or robbrady2014@gmail.com. North Wales DeanFlying V, made in Korea, hard case. Set neck, Cherry Sunburst, vgc. £300. For pics and details, contact robcollington@hotmail.com or 07785 527151. Yorkshire Fender1979 Anniversary Stratocaster. Silver. Maple fretboard. 5-position switch. Very good action, vgc. Original case. £1,800 ono. Call Paul on 01323 831720 or email jackiwill@btinternet.com. Hailsham FenderCustom Shop ’57 Strat Heavy Relic Sunset Metallic. Little home use, as new, with case. £1,795. See Mansons Exeter. Contact nickwilliams4@hotmail.com. Devon FenderTelecaster Custom in Walnut. Complete with case. £900. Email joannelson4@hotmail.com FenderUSA Telecaster Thinline Deluxe, Natural. As new. £975. Call 07950 641157. Essex Gibson1967 ES-330. Sunburst, excellent condition. Gibson case. £2,950. Contact Matt on 07772 107574. Essex Gibson1976 Les…

KNAGGS DOUG RAPPOPORT KENAI £3,890 Superb solidbody signature single-cut with chunky muscular voice While many makers obsess about the replication of vintage ’Bursts, Joe Knaggs isn’t one of them. As this signature Kenai illustrates, it’s obvious where the inspiration lies. It’s the second Knaggs artist model, after Steve Stevens’, and regular Guitaristreaders should be very familiar with the skills of Doug Rappoport who joined us for a blues-rock masterclass earlier this year. Steve’s signature model slightly downsizes the Kenai blueprint, but here Doug’s uses the original plans with its almost Tele-meets-Les Paul outline measuring approximately 344mm (13.54 inches) across its lower bouts, with a trimmer-than-LP maximum depth of 52mm. It appears even trimmer (and is tapered from base to heel) when you look at the rim: while the top has…

Despite being a band with three guitarists for 32 years, no member of Radiohead has ever hinted at a signature model until now. Keen-eyed fans may have already spotted it at the band’s Glastonbury headline appearance in June, but now it’s official: Fender has partnered with the band’s Ed O’Brien to create the EOB Sustainer Stratocaster (£949) for a November launch and some tantalising sonic potential in its pickup configuration. As its name suggests, the most notable feature here is the Fernandes Sustainer pickup in the neck position. Providing near-infinite sustain, it’s further manipulated with three modes (Fundamental, Harmonic-Only and Blend) plus an intensity control. The other two pickup positions are further into classic territory – a Seymour Duncan JB Jr in the bridge and Texas Special single coil in…

For those of you who read last month’s column (pay attention at the back), you may remember that I was testing out a new bit of gear, the Boss MS-3, which I’d had integrated into a custom-made pedalboard. If you missed its arrival in the market, it’s essentially a three-loop switching system to integrate pedals, with all of the Boss effects onboard. This gives you the ability to either use it to switch effects on and off like a stompbox or – and this is the way I’ve been using it – to set presets, each involving multiple effects while only hitting one switch and avoiding the tap dance. The BBC series Pitch Battle, for which I’ve been in the house band, reached its climax with the live final last…

ThaT’LL Teach You I am a 15 year old who has been playing guitar for four years, starting on electric, contrary to the accepted advice. At first I was self-taught, reading online tabs and chord charts. It was only at 13 that I began to receive lessons through my school, where we learned chords and Beatles songs. After the first month, I noticed improvement and started to really dig the Ibanez that had been collecting dust. Eventually, I discoveredGuitarist. It was a Jimi Hendrix issue, with an extra Fender Custom Shop booklet (September 2016). For this mere apprentice of the axe, this was pure gold dust. Almost a year later, I still enjoy each issue as much as the last; it has been a huge boost to my drive in…

Adrian Belew’s latest project is a band called Gizmodrome that features Level 42’s Mark King on bass, The Police’s Stewart Copeland on drums and Vittorio Cosma on keyboards. “It’s Stewart’s material he’s been writing for 10 years with Vittorio, the keyboard player,” he tells us. “What they need from me is just to pepper it with lots of sounds and some smashing good guitar solos. Stewart is the storyteller and then Mark and I blend our voices together and give you a perfectly sung chorus!” Famous for the ability to conjure up the sounds of anything from wild animals to heavy machinery on his guitar, Adrian has developed unique talents that have seen him work with some of music’s most demanding artists. 1 First, Try To Find A Unique Voice…

“One of the hardest things to do, I think, in today’s world is to write an authentic-sounding blues song lyrically,” Kenny Wayne Shepherd observes as we sit down to a coffee at John Henry’s rehearsal rooms in London, where Fender keeps an office. Once a blond wunderkind of the blues scene, Kenny has matured into a thoughtful player with prodigious chops and a surefooted melodic instinct that has seen him praised by no less authorities than the late BB King and Stephen Stills. “If the lyrics and the story that you’re telling are authentic and you’re not sacrificing the quality of the message that you’re trying to convey to the listener, then I think that keeps the whole thing authentic,” Kenny adds. “My band is about the guitar. It’s guitar-based…

“The Les Paul is a fine R&B guitar, but Gibson’s marketing wasn’t necessarily well directed” GEORGE GRUHN Hot on the heels of Fender’s 1950 Broadcaster and Esquire releases, Gibson debuted its own solidbody electric in 1952. “Designed by Les Paul – produced by Gibson – and enthusiastically approved by top guitarists everywhere,” read the advertisement. “The Les Paul Model is a unique and exciting innovation in the fretted instrument field; you have to see and hear it to appreciate the wonderful features and unusual tone of this newest Gibson guitar.” The Les Paul Model sported two cream-coloured soapbar P-90 pickups, a trapeze tailpiece, a bound carved maple top, a solid mahogany back and a one-piece mahogany neck with a bound Brazilian rosewood fingerboard, and was finished in gold as standard.…

“On paper, it has a lot going for it – its street price is tempting and its innovation creates a guitar that embodies the key elements of the Les Paul and moves it forward” Gibson’s mainstream assault on our hearts and wallets comes from its USA division, not to be confused with its Memphis and Custom Shop brands. Yes, all the instruments have Gibson on the headstock, but – certainly to an outsider – it’s almost like three different guitar factories working in isolation. And while certain price-points overlap, it’s the more affordable USA division’s guitars that most of us will experience. The USA line is upgraded, changed and tweaked on an annual basis and in recent years – 2015, in particular – it took a modernistic turn that seemed…

Jaguars were marketed to appeal to the younger, apparently more adventurous generation Appearing in music stores in a striking range of custom colours in addition to the regular Sunburst finish, Jaguars first arrived in mid-1962 and topped the price list of Fender’s solidbody electric guitar line at $379.50 – a major difference in cost at the time when compared with its $259.50 Stratocaster and $209.50 Telecaster. But Strats and Teles were the popular choice behind the burgeoning rock music scene of the mid to late 60s as far as Fenders go, and the Jaguar subsequently fell into relative obscurity. Jaguars did, however, prove to be a popular choice for surf musicians in the early 60s – The Beach Boys’ Carl Wilson being one notable player – and were generally marketed…

l ORIGINAL PICKUPS The pickups on Jaguars are very important to collectors. Original 60s Jaguar pickups were designed and built specifically for this model; they are not just Stratocaster transplants. Non-original pickups on a vintage Jaguar can lower value even more than other Fenders of the same period. l SLAB VS VENEER ’BOARD In 1962, Fender began to transition from a thicker-style fretboard, now known as a ‘slab ’board’, to one made using a thinner, curved piece of wood, a ‘veneer ’board’. Since the Jaguar was introduced in 1962, there are only a select few vintage specimens with the more desirable slab style. Original Jaguars with this feature will usually sell for around 20 per cent more than those with the more common veneer style. l FINISH As with all…

William Ralph ‘Bill’ Collings, founder of Collings Guitars of Austin, Texas, died on 14 July 2017, aged 68, after a short but severe battle with cancer. He was much loved and highly respected both within the guitar industry and by a loyal group of customers worldwide Bill Collings’ story began in August 1948 in Midland, Michigan, born into a family of engineers. His parents encouraged him towards medicine, but after a stint as a pre-med student in Cleveland, Ohio, he took a job at a machine shop, fascinated by the process of manufacturing. He moved to Houston, Texas in the mid-70s where his interest in “figuring out how to make stuff” became increasingly focused on acoustic instrument building, albeit in his spare time. Arriving in Austin in ’79, his building…

When I was a young aspiring player, I always dreamed of owning a great guitar amp setup. As time progressed, I worked my way up the chain of cool guitar amps, eventually favouring a hybrid ‘Frankenstein’ of four Fender Super Reverb amps, with the insides modified to give me 100 watts RMS. The tone was superb; the sheer amplitude was overwhelming. And it did some permanent damage to my hearing. As the years rolled on, all kinds of new creations surfaced – and within the realm of guitar amplification came some very interesting developments. Let’s talk about three cool examples of miniaturisation in the guitar amplifier species. Here are three examples of what I’m talkin’ about. The Pignose This mini-amp made its first appearance at the 1973 NAMM Show, and…

“Sometimes you’ve got to go through writing things that aren’t any good to get to the things that are interesting” 1 What was your first guitar and when did you get it? “My first ever guitar was just a cheap Spanish guitar, which I got for Christmas in 1989. I even remember the brand name: it was called Prince and it was 40 quid. My sister’s still got it, I gave it to her. I think it still has some of the same strings on from 1989 as well!” 2 Suppose the building’s burning down; what one guitar from your collection would you save? “My Cherry Red Gibson 330, 1962. That’s the guitar I’ve had for the longest… I mean, I’ve got other guitars that mean a lot to me,…

“Musically, what we’re doing is using sounds and stories so that people can visualise and make their own stories up in their own heads, as it were” Dave Brock, now in his mid-70s, is a bona fide space-rock veteran. Having founded the genre’s quintessential band, Hawkwind, in 1969, he’s the only original member still onboard and has remained in the captain’s seat during its wild ride over the decades. Emerging from the melting pot of London’s psychedelic music scene at the tail end of the 1960s, Hawkwind took a trip on the dark side and rapidly evolved with a distinctly heavier yet equally spaced-out sound. Mangling electronic oscillators with grinding guitar hooks, hard-rocking rhythms, effects-drenched streams of melody and futuristic, sci-fi lyrics, the band found strong favour within the UK’s…

Price £1,079 Contact Fender Musical Instruments EMEA Phone 01342 331700 Web www.fender.com WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW 1 What’s the skinny on Brad Paisley, then? Probably the hottest and most entertaining country singer, songwriter and guitarist to hit the scene in decades. Film star looks, unbelievable tone, technique and down-to-earth attitude have made him one of Nashville’s favourite stars. 2 And a paisley finish, too! What’s that? Although the name is derived from the famous Scottish textile town of the same name, the ‘twisted teardrop’ shape that characterises the design you see here is actually of Persian origin, where it was known as botehorbuta. 3 What wood does the body use? The body has a paulownia core. It’s an East Asian timber that’s used in furniture, for soundboards on certain…

GRETSCH G5435T ELECTROMATIC PRO JET £529 This Les Paul ‘clone’ that was never a solidbody kicks off the current Jet line and uses a chambered basswood back with arched laminate maple top, ‘Black Top’ Filter’Tron pickups and a Bigsby B50. Colour options are Black or Silver Sparkle, while a hardtail version (£445) and Professional Collection Duo Jets (from £2,359) are also available. www.gretschguitars.com SUPRO DUAL TONE £799 Part of the new Supro Americana series that hails from China, the Dual Tone emulates the original 60s model but with a moulded plastic ‘Acousti-Glass’ top and chambered mahogany back. The Vista-Tone pickups look like humbuckers, but are single coils that closely emulate the originals. There’s plenty more in this range and also the solidbody Island series, which starts at £899. http://suprousa.com GORDON…

1 What was the first pedal you built and how did the design come about? “The first pedal that I built under Electro-Harmonix was in late 1968 and it was the LPB-1 Linear Power Booster. I hooked up with a guy from Bell Labs who was working on a distortion-free sustainer, and when I went to check out the prototype I saw a little box plugged into the front of the amp. I asked him, ‘What’s that?’ and he said, ‘Well, I didn’t realise the guitar put out such a low signal, so I just built a simple one-transistor booster to stick in the front.’ When I hit the switch all of a sudden the amp was so loud! I said, ‘Wow! That’s a product!’” 2 What’s your best-selling pedal…

Mid 1962 Jaguar introduced with thick ‘slab’ Brazilian rosewood fretboard, ‘clay’ dot inlays and flat pickup polepieces August 1962 Veneer Brazilian rosewood fretboard 1964 Staggered pickup polepieces 1965 Bound fretboard and pearloid dot inlays 1966 Block fretboard inlays 1967 Kluson Deluxe branded tuners change to F-style and headstock Fender logo changes from black and gold to solid black 1968 Nitrocellulose finish changes to polyester 1975 Discontinued 1986 Japanese ’62 reissue introduced 1999 American ’62 reissue introduced…