Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2021 i Guitarist

Last issue’s Gear Of The Year round-up got me thinking about buying another guitar again (it’s a bit of an occupational hazard, that) and, while mulling possible choices, I started reflecting on the whole tangle of emotions, musical requirements, gut feelings and carefully reasoned motives that goes into the average guitar purchase. In a purely rational world, we’d choose guitars solely for their musical utility – but thankfully people are more complex than that and it’s amazing how a particular guitar can creep into our dreams even if we don’t have a sensible use for it. Guitars are always, in some measure, about the heart as much as the head. The flip side of that, however, is that it’s healthy to remember that many of the greatest musicians in the…

First up, how did your involvement on the business side of Manson Guitar Works come about? “It really all started from Hugh retiring and him passing it on to me to keep it going. It’s run by Adrian [Ashton, Manson CEO] and there’s about four or five employees there. It was good timing, too, because at the time the band was finishing a tour [in 2019] and it seemed like a good time to put some focus into this. It’s close to my heart because it’s a small company based in Devon, where I’m from. The factory is just down the road from where I went to school. So it’s nice to be part of a small business in Devon; that’s my homeland.” How important is it to you to…

PRICE: £1,899 (inc case) ORIGIN: Czech Republic/Germany TYPE: Single-cutaway, centre-blocked thinline electric BODY: 2-piece mahogany, chambered w/ centre block NECK: Mahogany, glued-in SCALE LENGTH: 629mm (24.75”) NUT/WIDTH: Bone/43.2mm FINGERBOARD: Ebony, pearl dot inlays, 305mm (12”) radius FRETS: 22, medium HARDWARE: Aged nickel tune-omatic-style bridge and stud aluminium tailpiece (by Gotoh), individual Schaller GrandTune classical-style tuners w/ oval grained ivoroid buttons STRING SPACING/BRIDGE: 51mm ELECTRICS: Nickel-covered Amber Spirit of ’59 humbuckers, 3-way toggle pickup selector, individual pickup volume and tone controls WEIGHT (kg/lb): 3.06/6.73 OPTIONS: Order with either humbuckers or single-coil P-90s RANGE OPTIONS: Little Wing range also includes: flat-top Non Cutaway (£1,879); Arched Top version is available in both non-cutaway (£2,095) and cutaway styles (£2,160) LEFT-HANDERS: No FINISHES: Midnight Sunset (as reviewed), Earl Grey, Havana Tobacco, Honey Pie and Ice…

Members Only Guitarists offer exclusive content for fans on Patreon With most of 2020 a wipeout for gigging guitarists, more players are looking for ways to connect with fans and gain support via Patreon, a subscription service that offers perks to members. We take a look at what the Patreon schemes for some of the world’s finest guitarists have to offer… Eric Bibb patreon.com/ericbibb £7 per month (plus VAT) One of the greatest acoustic bluesmen around offers weekly mini-gigs of three to four songs to fans for a truly intimate experience, while also allowing Eric to keep playing shows and support his craft, despite being off the road. Jim Campilongo patreon.com/jimcampilongo £Give what you can (min of $5 recommended) With gear showcases, performances and lessons (some even include tab), this…

Rura Live At The Old Fruitmarket Rura Music Wonderfully energetic live folk Rura is a four-piece folk outfit from Glasgow. Far from being a new act, last year they celebrated their 10th anniversary, but as is often the case with artists working within the folk genre, they’re kind of a best-kept secret. Legend has it they’re best experienced as a spirited live act and, if this album is anything to go by, it’s most certainly the case. Instrumentation includes guitarist Adam Brown on DADGAD-tuned acoustic, Steven Blake on pipes and keys, David Foley on bodhrán and flute, and Jack Smedley on fiddle. Moody ambience builds to a climax on tracks such as Mary and Weary Days whereas Catriona’s treads the more traditional fiery path. The album is a wondrous celebration…

Now here’s a thing. I’ve spoken before about strings and how when there’s a consistent run of gigs I invariably find myself going up a gauge. I’ve also mentioned how my playing had became somewhat stagnant during lockdown and the tier system – meaning I hadn’t exactly been doing much. You’d therefore be forgiven for breaking into a sly smirk when I admit that I was genuinely surprised recently at how soft and painful my fingertips had become. “My playing had became somewhat stagnant during lockdown and I was surprised recently at how soft and painful my fingertips had become” You see, I have to go and put a few guitar tracks down on my mate’s project. He plays keys and does harmony vocals on my stuff and we always…

Last issue reader David Hughes asked for advice on creating an inspiring practice room at home. This column normally focuses on the finer points of tone, so I decided to look into what setup might provide the best combination of incredible sounds, ease of use and living-room friendly looks. We’ll need to make a few working assumptions. First, we’re going to assume that most players don’t have a large dedicated practice room in their home – so we’re probably looking at a spare bedroom, loft space or communal lounge. We’ll also assume that high volume levels won’t be easy to achieve due to neighbours, flatmates or family being in the general vicinity. “Having our effects aboard the amp makes sense, to minimise the clutter of separate units and maximise one-stop…

Steep Learning Curve “My first guitar was an eight-quid Eko made in Italy. It was pretty cheap and didn’t sound that great, either. All the problems you have learning the guitar were quadrupled by the fact it had such a high action, and I didn’t understand what strings to use or what gauge. So I was trying to keep my fingers down and make the notes as clear as possible. I was trying to do The Kinks’ You Really Got Me... But it was way too fast. My fingers just wouldn’t react quick enough… It was just too much of a challenge, so I gave it up. But then I came back to it and, when I did, I found I mastered it more easily. I don’t know why that…

PRICE: £399 ORIGIN: China TYPE: Double-cutaway solidbody electric BODY: Mahogany with rounded edges NECK: Mahogany, medium C profile, glued-in SCALE LENGTH: 628mm (24.72”) NUT/WIDTH: Graph Tech NuBone/43mm FINGERBOARD: Indian laurel, unbound with pearloid dot inlays FRETS: 22, medium jumbo HARDWARE: Epiphone LockTone tune-o-matic bridge and stud tailpiece, Epiphone Deluxe tuners with ivory buttons STRING SPACING, BRIDGE: 52mm ELECTRICS: 2x Epiphone P-90 Pro ‘soapbar’, twin volume and tone controls, 3-way selector WEIGHT (kg/lb): 3.1/6.82 OPTIONS: Colours only RANGE OPTIONS: Coronet and Crestwood Custom, as reviewed LEFT-HANDERS: No FINISHES: Cherry, Black (as reviewed) PROS As Coronet, but the Wilshire is more versatile due to that second pickup CONS Ditto Coronet…

1 What’s going on? Has Guitarist gone shred? Like many, we’ve been relistening to plenty of the ridiculous skills of Eddie Van Halen these past weeks, but you don’t need us to tell you how the world of shred and all its sub-cultures is a fine place to discover some seriously incendiary guitar chops. 2 You mean, like Henrik Danhage? That’s about the size of it. Henrik is a key member of Swedish progressive metal band Evergrey. He’s a very amiable chap and clearly has fine taste in guitars judging by his beat-up signature. 3 It looks like just like the sort of thing Eddie played before he went proper… Exactly. This signature looks like Eddie screwed it together for Henrik back in the day. But Eddie moved on via…

PRICE: £1,089 ORIGIN: Mexico TYPE: Double-cutaway arched top solidbody BODY: Sassafras NECK: Baked maple, graphite reinforced, Wolfgang profile, bolt-on SCALE LENGTH: 648mm (25.5”) NUT/WIDTH: Locking/41.5mm FINGERBOARD: Baked maple, black dot inlays, 305-406mm (12-16”) radius FRETS: 22, jumbo HARDWARE: Floyd Rose 1000 series double-locking vibrato (with brass block), EVH-logo’d Gotoh tuners – black STRING SPACING, BRIDGE: 52mm ELECTRICS: Direct mount EVH Wolfgang humbuckers, 3-way toggle pickup selector switch, master volume (Bourns low friction) and master tone (Bourns high friction) WEIGHT (kg/lb): 3.01/6.62 OPTIONS: None LEFT-HANDERS: No FINISHES: Satin Black (as reviewed) – satin urethane to body, hand-rubbed satin urethane to neck PROS Simply a great guitar design: lightweight, superb neck construction and feel, excellent tuning stability, and big sounds CONS No gigbag…

The Pitch Fork+ provides two identical but independent pitch-shifting engines in a single pedal, both offering pitch up or down over a +/- three octave range and detuning of +/- 99 cents. There are separate volume knobs for each pitch shifter and for the dry sound, so there are plenty of options for totally pitch-shifted sounds or blends. Besides the main output you’ll also find an AUX output that has various signal routing options, including stereo pitch shifting and keeping dry and effected sounds separate, while a second (User) footswitch can be assigned to different functions such as toggling channels on and off, selecting presets, crossfades and more. Should you want more switching capability, there’s a connection for a triple footswitcher. There is a lot of creative sonic potential available…

There are many fine acoustic luthiers out there – but you’d be hard-pressed to find many who have the breadth of contrasting experience that Armagh-based guitar maker Ciaran McNally possesses. A protegé of George Lowden and then a key member of the Atkin Guitars team, Ciaran has worked on, by his estimate, several thousand guitars over the years, most of which were finely crafted, high-end instruments. But it all started out much more simply, he recalls: “I started making kits when I was 15/16 years old, and that was just on the kitchen table at home… “The story goes that I wrecked the kitchen table so much that my mum had to refinish it,” he continues. “She was better at finishing than I was back then [laughs]. So they were…

What was the first serious guitar you bought with your own money? “Now, here’s a coincidence and a half because one of your readers sent a picture in of himself playing a Dallas Tuxedo Burns Fenton Weill and he said the only other person you’d see playing one was me. Obviously, a long, long time ago… But today one came on eBay and I bought it straight away. It’s not mine: I’ve got a photo of me playing mine and I got a magnifying glass out and I can tell the one I bought today isn’t the one I played way back when I was 15 or something. “It’s a very sexy, pointy, space-age guitar and obviously that’s the only reason I bought it and I’m sure it sounded okay…

When I started swapping out pickups I knew zero about their design and what was under the cover. Today, we’re told what magnets ‘sound’ like, the advantages of different types of wire coating and gauge, machine- or hand-wound – on it goes. Everyone is a pickup ‘expert’, even if they’re incapable of using a soldering iron. What’s the problem? The only way you’re going to know what a pickup actually sounds like is when you’ve installed it in your guitar and you’ve played it through your own setup. I’d go so far as to say that pickup specs can be really unhelpful and could potentially even give us the completely wrong impression of sound or style. Many of us will turn up our noses when a pickup advertises a ceramic…

The Electric XII may not be Fender’s most popular or well-known guitar, but in terms of design it’s one of the best 12-string electrics ever made. Easy to play, stable and with an impressive breadth of tone, it’s hard to find a more practical instrument of its type. Although many people these days would be inclined to use a chorus pedal to conveniently simulate the tone of a 12-string, the natural complexity, shimmer and chime of multiple string courses is a wonderful sound that endures across various guitar-playing styles. 12-string acoustics were around for a long time before the advent of their electric siblings and became relatively popular after appearing in catalogues during the early 1900s. As inexpensive blues and folk instruments, they were adopted by some of the early…

JEFF BECK TRUTH As the focus of this month’s Headlines, the solo is inspired by Jeff’s playing on Let Me Love You. There’s no track to skip, really (except possibly Greensleeves, as it’s played on acoustic). Have a listen to his reworking of The Yardbirds’ Shapes Of Things and You Shook Me – the same song that appeared on Led Zeppelin’s debut within months. While this kind of rock/blues may be familiar now, this is largely where it came from. JEFF BECK BECK-OLA The follow-up to Truth, this has a slightly more polished sound overall, partly due to production, partly due to Jeff having recently toured the US and being in great shape! However, Jeff’s guitar is as raw and present as ever. All Shook Up and Spanish Boots both…

Steve Gunn The American indie songsmith takes us inside the sounds of his album The Unseen In Between on p34 Epiphone Rebooted A trio of new Epiphone solidbody electric reissues seriously impressed us – at a great price, too. Read the full review on p80 Martin Barre He was the guitar wizard behind Tull’s prog hits, and the affable Mr Barre has some great guitar-buying stories, too, on p114…

PRICE: £569 ORIGIN: Indonesia TYPE: Single-cut bolt on solidbody electric NECK: Canadian hard maple, satin finish SCALE LENGTH: 650mm (25.5”) NUT/WIDTH: Plastic/42mm FINGERBOARD: Indian laurel, 305-406mm (12-16”) radius FRETS: 22 HARDWARE: Cort/Manson tune-omatic-style bridge and stopbar, Cort locking tuners – chrome-plated STRING SPACING, BRIDGE: 51.5mm ELECTRICS: 2x Manson humbuckers, volume, tone, 3-position switch, kill switch WEIGHT (kg/lb): 3.6/7.9 RANGE OPTIONS: Available via Manson Guitar Works: Manson aluminium control knob (£25), coil-split mod (£55), Sustainiac Sustainer upgrade (£369), Manson Mother Superior quad-rail pickup upgrade (£189), Manson gigbag (£45) LEFT-HANDERS: Not currently FINISHES: Satin Black (as reviewed), Starlight Silver Manson Guitar Works 01364 653751 www.mansonguitarworks.com PROS Slick, playable, versatile and affordable; kill switch; primed for modding but equally great as is CONS Some would lose the kill switch in favour of a…

Gibson Slash ‘Victoria’ Les Paul Standard Goldtop £2,999 CONTACT Gibson WEB www.gibson.com What’s this all about, then? Have you ever heard the phrase ‘You can never have too many guitars’? Well, our favourite tab smokin’, Les Paul totin’, top-hatted guitar legend is testing the boundaries of the gearhead’s mantra by adding another signature model to his Gibson Slash Collection, launched for 2020 at the NAMM Show. This time it’s a Goldtop named – as many iconic guitars are – after a woman. A collection? How many variations on a Les Paul can there be? The Gibson Slash Collection is the first signature range that the company has worked on. Slash officially became Gibson’s first ‘Brand Ambassador’ a few years ago, and a lot has changed at the company since. The…

SLOWHAND AUCTION Bidding started at a cool $1 million for Eric Clapton’s 1954 ‘Slowhand’ Strat, which went to auction in the US in November, hosted by Gotta Have Rock And Roll. Clapton bought the hardtail Sunburst model in 1979 and tuned it to open G for slide, and it was in regular circulation until 1985. The serial number reads ‘7431’ and under the neck butt it reads ‘T-G-54’ in pencil, ‘TG’ standing for Tadeo Gomez, the Fender employee who shaped the neck. Failed to sell, though. TOTO-LLY FOR TECHNIQUE Steve Lukather believes knowledge of music theory has been essential to his creativity over the years. “It has really helped my playing” he told Ultimate Guitar,“especially back in the day when I had to come up with parts on the spot.…

Artist: Steve Gunn Album: The Unseen In Between Steve Gunn is one of those artists who you happen upon one day and discover, with joy, that they have a long back-catalogue of great recordings – but his latest, The Unseen In Between, is one of the best. Combining the art-house cool of a latter-day Tom Verlaine with thoughtful, introspective songcraft, Gunn is a troubadour for our times. He’s a great electric player, who was a member of fellow Philadelphian Kurt Vile’s band, but the spiritual heart of his music is unplugged guitar. We joined him to talk about how he achieved the rich acoustic sounds of the album’s standout tracks such as Vagabond and Stonehurst Cowboy and learn what his next studio project will be. Vagabond is a really beautiful…

What? Squier Paranormal Cabronita Thinline Tele Where seen? www.coda-music.com Price? £349 The guys at Coda Music recently posted some new Squier guitars on their Facebook page and I thought they looked stunning, especially this Paranormal Thinline in Fiesta Red with cream Jazzmaster pickups and matching scratchplate. Crafted in China and at just £349 it might be the perfect purchase for those who, for obvious reasons, received a few quid by bank transfer this Christmas. It has a strings-through-body hardtail bridge plus single volume and tone controls mounted direct to the body. Thousands of kids take up guitar at this time of year and with its slim gloss-finished maple neck the Paranormal Thinline might also be the perfect electric for younger hands. An instrument like this would have been a dream when…

In September 2020, Yusuf/Cat Stevens released Tea For The Tillerman2 , a reworking of his most famous long-player from 1970. Here he explains the reasoning behind the new record: “It was very much a spark of an idea that came from my son because we were coming up to the 50th anniversary and time has flown so fast,” he says. “Anyway, I thought it was quite cool. I certainly wasn’t aiming to make it kind of a replica of the [original] album, but just to kind of bring it up to date to where we are today and how we feel today and how incredibly the songs relate to the condition of the world and to my own spiritual vocation. So that was where it came from.”…

PRICE: £489 ORIGIN: China TYPE: Double-cutaway solidbody electric BODY: Mahogany with rounded edges NECK: Mahogany, medium C profile, glued-in SCALE LENGTH: 628mm (24.72”) NUT/WIDTH: Graph Tech NuBone/43mm FINGERBOARD: Indian laurel, unbound with large oblong inlays FRETS: 22, medium jumbo HARDWARE: Epiphone LockTone tune-o-matic bridge w/ nylon saddles, Tremotone vibrato tailpiece with Indian laurel insert, Epiphone Deluxe Vintage tuners with ivory buttons STRING SPACING, BRIDGE: 52mm ELECTRICS: 2x Epiphone Pro mini-humbuckers, twin volume and tone controls, 3-way selector WEIGHT (kg/lb): 3.2/7.04 OPTIONS: Colours only RANGE OPTIONS: Wilshire and Coronet, as reviewed LEFT-HANDERS: No FINISHES: Cherry (as reviewed), Polaris White PROS Gorgeous bright but ‘important’ tones, versatility, quirky but cool vibrato system CONS Ditto Coronet/Wilshire…

Removing the tight-fitting, recessed backplate of the Wolfgang you’ll see a considered, simple circuit that combines an EVH/Bourns 500k volume pot with a 250k tone pot. By design, the volume is lower fiction (looser in use), the tone is higher friction. The tone cap value is .022 microfarads and there’s a treble bleed capacitor across the volume – a TAD silver mica cap valued at 150 picofarads. The cavity itself is screened with conductive paint, while the cavity cover has foil shielding. The Charvel’s more simple circuit is a lot harder to access without removing the strings then the scratchplate, which sits under the fingerboard overhang. To be fair, though, there’s not much to see! The push-push switched pot is 500k audio taper as you’d expect, with a rat’s nest…

The combination of vintage British amp and treble booster (Dallas Rangemaster et al) as put into practice by the likes of Tony Iommi, Rory Gallagher and Brian May is a shoo-in recipe for a classic rock sound. It makes sense, then, to put a British amp-flavoured overdrive and a booster into the same pedal. And that’s just what Carl Martin has done here with the aptly named PlexiRanger, a pedal that provides separately footswitchable drive and boost sections that can be used independently or in tandem. The right-hand side of the pedal takes care of boost functions as well as low-end attenuation with a Lo-Cut switch. This switch offers two levels of bottom-end roll-off that work really well for taking the murk out of your tone or taming the excesses…

MERIS Hedra £319 Two voices not enough? Take a look at the Hedra from Meris, which offers three voices. Described as a rhythmic pitch shifter, it comes with tap tempo synchronised delay for esoteric effects. BOSS PS-6 Harmonist £129 This Boss compact pedal has the ability to create up to three-part harmonies and other pitch shifts, including detuning and the option of controlling the pitch via an expression pedal. EARTHQUAKER DEVICES Rainbow Machine V2 £225 This is the leftfield choice, built around a DSP pitch-warping engine that’s designed to be slightly imperfect and described by its makers as “totally not for purists and/or tone hounds”.…

“I do not believe people should buy [based only on] wood choice,” Ciaran McNally explains, reflecting on his pragmatic approach to guitar design. “I think they should decide the guitar maker they want to work with or the guitar brand they want to work with, because that is by far and away a bigger deciding factor. What two guitar makers do with one wood combination will be vastly different compared with what one guitar maker would do with two wood combinations. So I think you’ve got to find the guitar first and then the wood is the secondary last 10 per cent of the choice. “That said, I unfortunately do love all the classic combinations,” Ciaran laughs. “Sitka, rosewood and mahogany... I love Adirondack as well – but I love…

“The first Tone Bender is essentially a modified Maestro FZ-1 [Fuzz-Tone] and was designed by Gary Hurst in 1965,” says David Main. “When the Fuzz-Tone came out in ’62, they weren’t selling, but when (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction came out in ’65, everybody wanted a fuzz pedal. The story goes that Vic Flick took his FZ-1 to Gary saying it didn’t sustain for long enough. Basically, the UK cold was shortening the note decay and making it sound spluttery – which some people like! “Anything germanium is sensitive to temperature and the lower the voltage, the more sensitive it’s going to be. So Gary set about making a longer sustaining pedal and the difference is to do with the voltage: an FZ-1 is three volts, and a MK I…

Ushered in on Gibson’s 1963 reverse Firebird, this fully covered minihumbucker was just one of the raft of changes that the ’bird brought to the table. But overshadowed by car designer Ray Dietrich who’d conceived the design, its pickup seems more of an afterthought: Gibson needed something “different while keeping costs under control”, writes Andre Duchossoir in Gibson Electrics: The Classic Years. “Gibson’s reluctance to invest in the development of an entirely new pickup design quickly narrowed down the choice to the mini-humbucker devised by Seth Lover in the late 50s.” “Despite being seen as the ‘first’ minihumbucker Gibson had used, the Firebird version was actually the last to the party” Yup, that’s the mini-humbucker Seth designed for Epiphone, and which most of us became aware of on the Les…

June 1965 Electric XII solidbody released; standard sunburst finishes with white pearloid pickguard 1965 Sunburst with faux tortoiseshell pickguard; pearloid dot inlays Early 1966 Fender Coronado XII thinline introduced (final Antigua XII version discontinued 1973) Mid-1966 Electric XII with bound neck with block inlays (rare) 1969 Electric XII discontinued 1987-1990 Stratocaster XII 1993-1996 Strat XII 1995 Telecaster XII 2005-2009 Stratocaster XII 2019 Alternate Reality Series Electric XII…

Five Chords & The Truth Tutor: Richard Barrett Gear used: Knaggs SSC, Marshall JTM45 Difficulty 10 mins per example JEFF BECK’S DEBUT ALBUM, Truth, was recorded in two sessions and a total of four days in May 1968, after he resisted putting out any more solo singles in the Mickie Most approved Hi Ho Silver Lining vein. These days, most conversations about Jeff begin with how he has maintained consistent creativity and innovation over the years, particularly with his unique whammy bar approach – and fair enough. However, this Headlines is focused on his cutting-edge role in the British Invasion of the 1960s (before helping define jazz-rock going into the early to mid-1970s). Back then, he played a Gibson Les Paul with a pick, and even without a whammy bar…

Demystifying The Modes Part 2: The B Dorian Mode Tutor: Robbie Calvo Gear used: Yamaha Mike Stern Pacifica & Line 6 Helix Rack Difficulty 15 mins per example THE DORIAN MODE is the second mode of the major scale and can literally be seen as a major scale that starts on the second degree and ends on the same tone an octave higher. The A major scale is as follows: A B C# D E F# G# A. B Dorian contains the same tones as the A major scale but starts and resolves to the second degree (B). It’s that simple. The B Dorian mode (A major scale from B to B) is: B C# D E F# G# A B. When we harmonise the major scale (build chords from…

For decades, Hugh Manson’s custom builds pushed what we expected from a hand-built guitar. Attention to detail and meticulous selection of woods, hardware and components all added up to some of the finest UK-made instruments to pass through Guitarist HQ. But there was one association in particular that put the Manson name on the tip of guitar players’ tongues, and that was the long-standing relationship between Hugh, the brand and one Matthew Bellamy. As an upstart on the scene back in the mid-to-late 90s, Bellamy frequented Mansons Guitar Shop in Exeter, acquiring his first custom-made Manson guitar after receiving his initial advance when Muse were signed. Usually, we’d say the rest is history, but as we’ve seen since this was simply the origin of strumm-etry… Now, in a time where…

This writer’s head hit his laptop keyboard with a resonant thump after a request to review another copy guitar. As if our market doesn’t have enough of those already, here are some more. Maybach’s range covers the bolt-on and set-neck classics in some style, which are pretty similar to Eastman’s more ‘inspired by’ instruments, not least on price. Yet Maybach’s instruments aren’t made in Asia. They’re constructed in the Czech Republic and Germany and, from what we’re told, in a pretty old-school fashion, too. Sensing our reluctance to review what are pretty straight copies, however, brand CEO Toni Götz quickly suggested a more original model: this Little Wing with its cutaway 00/parlour-size body. The Little Wing is available with a flat or arched maple top in both cutaway and non-cutaway…

While many of us, myself included, grew up playing rock music, in my professional experience as a session musician, one of the most useful styles to have some experience of is jazz. Not only does it widen ones harmonic knowledge, but, in turn, it provides employment opportunities that might not have otherwise materialised. For example, before Covid hit, I did a show in a cut-down version of Robbie Williams’ band, stepping in for the fabulous Tom Longworth (Robbie’s regular guitar player), simply because Robbie wanted to combine a smaller jazz set into a set involving some of his well-known hits. I’ve also had similar experiences with artists including Gloria Estefan and TV shows using big bands, such as The X Factor and American Idol. “Familiarising yourself with some basic jazz…

The job of the small-scale luthier, as I see it, is not just to hand-build great-sounding guitars, but also to probe around at the very edges of guitar design. We are getting used to seeing side soundports, arm bevels and scoop-shaped cutaways, but, in my experience, nothing grabs the attention of a casual passerby like a fanned-fret guitar. “When confronted with such an instrument for the first time, most people tend to stare at the fingerboard with a look of uncertainty” When confronted with such an instrument for the first time, most people (whether they be guitarists or not) tend to stare at the fingerboard for a moment with a look of uncertainty, trying to comprehend whether such an instrument could ever actually work. Eventually, bewilderment gives way to curiosity…

Reader Keith Smart would like to see unsung and indie luthiers profiled in the mag I enjoy seeing the various self-builds featured in the Feedback page, and it gave me an idea... How about each month a reader sends a photo of an instrument built by a new or up-and-coming builder? I can start the ball rolling with Duncan Cruttenden guitars. A friend introduced me to Duncan, and I liked his ideas. He really brings out the grain in the guitars he makes. I commissioned an Esquire-style guitar [pictured above] with a swamp ash body based on Leo’s trusted design, with a few tweaks including comfort contours. A Bare Knuckle Yardbird pickup completes the package. Duncan emailed photos during the build, and the finished instrument gets a lot of comments…

PRICE: £349 ORIGIN: China TYPE: Double-cutaway solidbody electric BODY: Mahogany with rounded edges NECK: Mahogany, medium C profile, glued-in SCALE LENGTH: 628mm (24.72”) NUT/WIDTH: Graph Tech NuBone/43mm FINGERBOARD: Indian laurel, unbound with pearloid dot inlays FRETS: 22, medium jumbo HARDWARE: Epiphone Lightning Bar compensated wraparound bridge/tailpiece, ‘3 On A Plate’ tuners with ivory buttons and press in bushings STRING SPACING, BRIDGE: 52mm ELECTRICS: Single Epiphone P-90 Pro ‘dog-ear’, single volume and tone controls WEIGHT (kg/lb): 3/6.6 OPTIONS: Colours only RANGE OPTIONS: Wilshire and Crestwood Custom, as reviewed LEFT-HANDERS: No FINISHES: Cherry (as reviewed), Black PROS Fabulous value, brilliantly ballsy tones, great neck CONS Location of strap button makes it a tad headstock-heavy…

CHARVEL HENRIK DANHAGE SIGNATURE PRO-MOD SO-CAL STYLE 1 & EVH LIMITED EDITION WOLFGANG SPECIAL SASSAFRAS £1,519 & £1,089 CONTACT Fender Musical Instruments EMEA PHONE 01342 331700 WEBSITE www.charvel.com / www.evhgear.com Spending some time with these two guitars invariably took us back to the 80s when it seemed every guitar was little more than a fingerboard with a Floyd Rose vibrato. Many of the ‘big hair’ bands and their music has aged, ahem, somewhat awkwardly, and the guitars they played seem equally far from classic. But as those of us of a certain age will remember, it was an explosive time for the electric guitar, and many of the heroes it produced really haven’t been bettered. It might not be hip to admit it, but this writer is quite a closet fan…

PRICE: £1,519 ORIGIN: Mexico TYPE: Double-cutaway reliced solidbody BODY: Ash NECK: Maple, graphite reinforced, ‘speed’ profile bolt-on SCALE LENGTH: 648mm (25.5”) NUT/WIDTH: Locking/43.1mm FINGERBOARD: Maple, black dot inlays, 305-406mm (12-16”) radius FRETS: 22, jumbo HARDWARE: Floyd Rose 1000 series double-locking vibrato, Charvel logo’d die-cast tuners – chrome-plated STRING SPACING, BRIDGE: 52mm ELECTRICS: Seymour Duncan JB TB-4 humbucker (bridge), DiMarzio Area 67 DP419CR (neck), master volume (with ‘tone’ knob and a push switch to voice pickups: down, bridge; up, neck) WEIGHT (kg/lb): 3.51/7.72 OPTIONS: None LEFT-HANDERS: No FINISHES: White Relic (as reviewed) – semi-gloss lacquer to body, hand-rubbed satin urethane to neck PROS Great example of an 80s-style hot-rod ‘SuperStrat’; great weight and neck feel; contrasting pickups CONS Just one reliced colour; no gigbag supplied…

WAMPLER Plexi-Drive Deluxe £219 This Deluxe version coaxes vintage Marshall-style tone from any amp, with plenty of adjustment available and a separately footswitchable pre-gain boost for Tube Screamer-style pushed mids. BOGNER La Grange £199 Presumably named after the ZZ Top song, this pedal is designed to emulate a range of ‘Plexi’ amplifier tones and sports an independent footswitchable boost in series after the distortion. TEISCO Distortion £134 Aiming to deliver Brit flavour, Tesico offers a footswitchable distortion channel here and a More channel, a cleanish boost to be used independently or stacked with the distortion circuit.…

THE BACKGROUND JOE REECE, Via email While my Christmas list was full of guitar pedals, I am still trepidatious every time I get a new one – the reason being that with a new pedal comes a new ’board layout and consequently a new litany of problems, incompatibility and troubleshooting for days. So how do you cope with adding new pedals to a ’board? How can I prevent problems? And do you have any methodology for troubleshooting when the inevitable problems do occur? THE QUESTIONS 1 HOW DO I AVOID ANXIETY WHEN ADDING PEDALS TO MY PEDALBOARD? 2 HOW DO I PREVENT ISSUES WHEN ADDING MY NEW PEDALS TO THE ’BOARD? 3 HOW DO I TROUBLESHOOT WHEN PROBLEMS DO OCCUR? THE ANSWERS Joe, thanks for the questions. It’s really…

On my daily (well, nearly) exercise walk I bumped into a local from a pub I’d played at a year or so ago. As a keen player himself, and a Guitarist reader, it was no surprise that our conversation went directly to guitars.“Every time I read your magazine it makes me want to buy something,” he laughed. I didn’t want to state the bloomin’ obvious and say,“Well, that’s the point…” but before I could answer he asked,“How are you getting on with that PJD?” It was a timely reminder that I had to write this column.“Is it as good as you say it is?” he then asked. “This PJD has certainly got play time, and practising, testing, recording is all good, but live?” In normal times I would have said…

Decades into their working lives, many Fender single coils continue to function quite happily while others have required a visit to the workbench for a spot of TLC. They may take quite a beating over the years, but the sweat, humidity, ageing process and general wear and tear can all take their toll. If a pickup does go down, it’s certainly not the end of the world, however, and there are usually plenty of things to consider. “Pickups can often be repaired without needing a rewind, especially when it comes to pre-CBS Fenders,” says pickup guru Tom Brantley of Tom Brantley Rewinds. “I’ll always look at what can be done, because it’s better for the customer and it’s better for me.” “In my experience, [using wire from the pickup] never…

1. SERIAL NUMBER F-series (‘F’ neckplate logo); six-digit serial number impressed into neckplate (usually 100000-110000 range for 1965) 2. HEADSTOCK Large ‘hockey stick’ headstock; six-a-side tuners; matching Firemist Gold custom colour finish; decal reads ‘Fender Electric XII’ 3. BODY Solid alder; offset contoured design; Firemist Gold custom colour finish 4. PICKUPS & ELECTRICS Adjustable dual split pickups; four-way rotary selector switch (individual, together and out-of-phase operation); master volume and tone controls (two 1meg-ohms pots and 0.022uF ceramic ‘pancake’ tone capacitor); front-loading jack socket 5. HARDWARE Chrome-plated: control panel; string-through-body bridge with 12 fully adjustable ‘barrel’ saddles; 12 individual ‘F’-stamped tuners; string guide 6. PLASTICS Three-ply (w/b/w) pickguard with bevelled edge; four black pickup covers; two black metal-capped Fender amp-style knobs; black selector switch 7. NECK One-piece maple; bolt-on; 25½-inch scale…