Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2021 i Guitarist

How rock was born is one of the most interesting parts of guitar music history. At the start of the 60s, Apache by The Shadows topped the charts. Just seven years later Jimi was setting fire to his Strat as an astonished Monterey Pop Festival crowd looked on. The musician sang Wild Thing before committing the most famous act of instrument vandalism in music history. In many ways, that moment captures what made rock different – born of blues and its unruly child, rock ’n’ roll, it was louder, harder and faster than any of its influences. Yet rock’s most famous players, such as Angus Young (see interview, page 48), remained in touch with the roots of rock throughout their careers, and that kept their playing authentic and emotionally powerful…

PRICE: £749 ORIGIN: Indonesia TYPE: Offset double-cutaway solid body electric guitar BODY: Basswood w/ 6mm maple top NECK: Roasted maple, bolt-on SCALE LENGTH: 648mm (25.5”) NUT/WIDTH: Graph Tech Black Tusq/42.13mm FINGERBOARD: Roasted maple, 305-406mm (12-16”) radius FRETS: 24, jumbo stainless steel HARDWARE: Chrome-plated Cort CFA-III 2-post 6-saddle vibrato with push-in arm, Cort staggered-post rear locking tuners STRING SPACING, BRIDGE: 52.5mm ELECTRICS: Seymour Duncan JB (TB4, bridge) and Jazz (SH24, neck) direct mount humbuckers, 5-way lever pickup selector switch, master volume, master tone, WEIGHT (kg/lb): 3.47/7.6 OPTIONS: None RANGE OPTIONS: The swamp ash/ figured maple-topped G290 FAT (£599) is recommended with versatile twin VTH-77 covered humbuckers. The new alder/figured maple G280 (£579) goes for an HSS configuration. Both have two colour options each LEFT HANDERS: No FINISHES: Vivid Burgundy metallic (as…

Acoustic ‘models’ We’ve seen plenty of great attempts at hybrid electric/acoustic guitars over the years, most recently PRS’s excellent SE Hollowbody II Piezo. The difference here, though, is that rather than starting with an electric guitar and adding a piezo transducer, the Acoustasonic has been designed with many acoustic guitar attributes from the start. This results in not only a more acoustic base, but makes the processing for the acoustic ‘models’ much more faithful than ‘acoustic-like’ sounds from an electric guitar.…

NEW DREAM THEATER GEAR & MUSIC John Petrucci is using an eight-string guitar for the first time to record a new Dream Theater song – and it’s a prototype Ernie Ball Majesty signature model. “We have two prototypes so far. I was able to use one to write and record with,” he told Ultimate Guitar about the new DT album sessions. “We’re still working some things out to get it perfect. But it will be on the record… I don’t have a release date yet, but it’s awesome. It’s totally inspiring and I can’t wait for people to hear it. I’m so glad it made it on the new record.” FLEETWOOD & BUCKINGHAM REUNITED? Mick Fleetwood has reportedly reconciled with former Fleetwood Mac guitarist Lindsey Buckingham and is open to…

Artist: John Smith Album: The Fray (Commoner Records/Thirty Tigers) “I’m really happy with it,”John Smith declares at the beginning of our conversation about his new album, The Fray. The title refers to recent turbulent times in John’s life, with the cover summing up everything with a bright yellow flower that’s seen better days. But writing and recording the music seems to have been a cathartic experience for the singer-songwriter.“I went with that brash yellow because it’s optimistic, it’s a happy colour. The whole time my wife has been calling the record ‘Sad songs, happy man’.” The Fray’s creation was fast, with John and co-producer Sam Lakeman spending only a week at Peter Gabriel’s studios just outside of Bath. “Yes, well… Real World isn’t cheap, y’know,” John says. “I fund my…

What? Epiphone ‘Inspired By Gibson’ Hummingbird Where seen? Peach Guitars Price? £749 If you desire an acoustic that’s about as handsome as an acoustic can be but don’t fancy selling your grandma to get it, then Epiphone’s new take on the Hummingbird might just fit the bill. Built from all the right timbers – solid mahogany back, sides and neck with solid Sitka spruce top in Aged Cherry Sunburst and the fabulous ‘hummingbird and flowers’ pickguard – from a distance you’d be pushed to know it wasn’t the real thing. Bridge and fingerboard are Indian laurel, a worthy rosewood substitute, while the guitar comes fitted with the effective Fishman Sonicore pickup. Tuners are classic Kluson-alikes and there’s a great demo of the complete ‘Inspired By Gibson’ Epiphone range on Peach’s…

Re Jamie’s editorial (issue 469). After many years of playing and listening to jazz I agree that a decent amount of theory can be helpful, but don’t allow yourself to get hung up on it. Major and minor scales are good to know, but don’t get trapped into playing them in solos, even more so with modes, which some players seem to think are an end in themselves. They’re just tools, not rules written in stone to be followed regardless of their suitability to the music at hand. Don’t just listen to guitar players, either – many of my favourite musicians are saxophonists, pianists or trumpeters. Most important of all: listen. It takes a long time for the sound of jazz to become embedded, but it’s worth it. Find players…

“[The ideas] were things [Malcolm and I] knew were good, and so we put them aside and said, ‘We should get them down on record at some point.’ And I thought, maybe now’s the time to go through and pick out all those ideas” Back In Black, the home of rock ’n’ roll staples like You Shook Me All Night Long, Hells Bells and the title track, turned 40 in July 2020, and the landmark album received a fitting birthday celebration, with artists including Slash and members of Alice In Chains and Lamb Of God testifying to its greatness and influence, Gibson giving away a very Angus Young-like rig headlined by a Custom Shop 1961 Les Paul SG ‘Red Devil’, and the internet awash in plenty of think-pieces and retrospectives.…

1 We’ve seen this before, correct? Indeed. The Studio first appeared way back in 1988 as an all-mahogany Standard but with a humbucker at the bridge and two conventional single coils – the first production PRS guitar to feature true single coils. A maple-top version was added the following year, but the model left the line in 1990 (although the Studio’s pickup configuration was offered as an option until 1996). 2 Wasn’t there a later version? Yes, in 2011 it reappeared sporting the then new 57/08 full-size humbucker in the bridge position and two 57/08 Narrowfield humbuckers – the original version of the two narrow aperture pickups we see today. 3 Seems like lot of guitar, but it’s a heck of a lot of money… The base price is £3,885…

PRICE: From £3,885 (inc case) ORIGIN: USA TYPE: Offset double-cutaway solidbody electric BODY: 1-piece mahogany back with carved flamed maple top NECK: 1-piece mahogany, Pattern profile, glued-in SCALE LENGTH: 635mm (25”) NUT/WIDTH: Synthetic friction reducing/43.25mm FINGERBOARD: East Indian rosewood, bird inlays (green abalone centre/vintage ivory outline), 254mm (10”) radius FRETS: 22, medium jumbo HARDWARE: PRS Gen III vibrato, PRS Phase III locking tuners STRING SPACING, BRIDGE: 52mm ELECTRICS: PRS 58/15 LT full-size humbucker at bridge; PRS Narrowfield humbucker at neck and middle positions. 5-way lever pickup selector switch, master volume and master tone (with pull-push switch to split the bridge humbucker) WEIGHT (kg/lb): 3.62/7.96 OPTIONS: The base price of the Studio is £3,885. The only option is the 10-Top w/ hybrid hardware (as reviewed), which adds £615 RANGE OPTIONS: See…

12-FRET PRICE: £3,475 (inc case) ORIGIN: Northern Ireland TYPE: S-type acoustic TOP: Red cedar BACK/SIDES: Walnut with sycamore bindings MAX RIM DEPTH: 105mm MAX BODY WIDTH: 374mm NECK: Mahogany with rosewood splices SCALE LENGTH: 630mm (24.8”) TUNERS: Gotoh 381 NUT/WIDTH: Bone/45mm FINGERBOARD: Ebony FRETS: 18 BRIDGE/SPACING: Rosewood w/ bone saddles/55.6mm WEIGHT (kg/lb): 1.7/3.74 OPTIONS: Various pickups/minor build variations are available when ordering. See website for details RANGE OPTIONS: The 12-fret S body size comes in a variety of body wood combos across the Lowden S range from the S-22 red cedar/mahogany (£3,365) and S-25 red cedar/Indian rosewood (£3,475) up to the S-35 Adirondack/Cocobolo (£5,975) LEFT-HANDERS: Yes FINISH: Matt Natural PROS Petite good looks combined with an excellent airy voice and tone in spades CONS We’ve really nothing much to say…

ORIGIN: USA TYPE: Reverb pedal FEATURES: 3 selectable bypass types (True bypass, DSP+True Bypass (trails), and DSP Bypass), 9 onboard presets, MIDI CONTROLS: Program selector, Decay, Swell, Mix, Tweak, Tune, Tweak switch (Rate/Depth/Pre Delay), Bank switch (A/B/C ), Tune switch (Lo/High/X), Sus/Latch footswitch, Bypass footswitch EFFECTS PROGRAMS: Spring, Hall, Plate, BFR, Refract, Air CONNECTIONS: Standard inputs (Left/Mono, Right), standard outputs (Left/Mono, Right), USB, MIDI in, MIDI out POWER: 9V DC adaptor (not supplied) 300mA DIMENSIONS: 73 (w) x 125 (d) x 60mm (h)…

What was the first serious guitar you bought with your own money? “Aha! Well, I was given some type of Sears & Roebuck classical guitar when I was seven years old by my mom. I quit playing after a couple of years and then got interested around the age of 13 again. My cousin Fred Waxler owned a pretty serious music store called Bananas At Large in San Rafael, California. He shipped me an acoustic guitar in 1975 called an Aspen. I had the guitar for the next few years. My first serious guitar was a mid-70s Telecaster I bought from somebody in 1980. It was cream and white. What I really couldn’t get into on that guitar was that the neck was like a baseball bat!” What was the…

1. SERIAL NUMBER A-prefixed five-digit number ink-stamped onto orange oval label on rear of back (visible through bass f-hole) 2. HEADSTOCK Unbound; pearl Gibson logo and crown inlays; black finish 3. PLASTICS Two-ply (b/w) bell truss rod cover; white keystone tuner buttons; white pickup selector switch tip; black rubber switch grommet; five-ply (b/w/b/w/b) bevelled edge pickguard; two black pickup surrounds; four gold ‘bonnet’ knobs 4. HARDWARE Nickel-plated zig-zag ‘T’-shaped tailpiece; height-adjustable compensated rosewood bridge; individual Kluson Deluxe tuners 5. PICKUPS & ELECTRONICS Two PAF humbuckers with independent volume and tone controls; three-way pickup selector switch; side-mounted jack socket 6. BODY 16 ¼ inches wide; 3 3/8 inches deep; laminated maple with pressed, arched top; single Florentine cutaway; three-ply (w/b/w) top binding; single-bound back; two unbound f-holes; sunburst finish 7. NECK…

You might feel it’s a little odd that Fender releases a range of guitars and basses to commemorate the formation of Leo’s company in 1946. After all, the first six-string didn’t materialise until 1950, and the equally radical four-string a year later. Still, we’re always happy to see another twist on the ever-malleable Tele theme, since that’s the model we have for review. In fact, there are two 75th Anniversary Teles on offer: a £1,839 US-made version in 2-Color Bourbon Burst, and the more affordable one we have here, built in Mexico and finished in Diamond metallic with matching headstock. Other instruments in the line-up include various Strats, plus Precision and Jazz basses. Instead of taking the vintage-correct route, Fender has if anything chosen to celebrate how the Telecaster’s seven-decades-old…

MXR ERIC GALES RAW DAWG OVERDRIVE £119 When it comes to modern blues players, there are few who capture the imagination – both technically and tonally – as much as Eric Gales. This is why we think the new Raw Dawg overdrive from MXR is a thoroughly good idea. It’s a micro-sized overdrive ‘inspired by’ a classic overdrive renowned for its “grit and crunch”. As such, the Raw Dawg features familiar Drive/Tone/Output controls, while the overall sound of the pedal builds on its inspiration by delivering a more even midrange and a higher gain range. Finally, the pedal is decorated with custom Raw Dawg artwork. www.jimdunlop.com WAY HUGE PENNY SAVER ROYALE £299 What do you get if you cross a Blue Hippo with an Overrated Special? Answer: a humourless punchline…

One of my latest sessions has been recording an album at Master Chord Studio in North London. For those of you who might have use for a mid-sized studio I can’t recommend them highly enough. I first worked there a few years ago on an album for Uriah Heep keyboard player Phil Lanzon. The owner of the studio, Michele Catri, goes out of his way to make you feel welcome and looked after, and all the equipment is state of the art and very well maintained. This project wasn’t really an album in the traditional sense. It was a sample pack, which is a collection of hundreds of audio loops recorded at various tempos, keys and levels of dynamics. These are then sold as download packs on websites, from which…

Idon’t think that I’m mistaken when I say that the guitar-slinging popstars I see on television these days seem to prefer a scaled down variety of six-string. Add to that the rise in prominence of the ukulele in the last few years, and it appears that smaller-than-usual guitar shaped instruments are very much in vogue at the moment. And yet I feel that there is one instrument that has been overlooked entirely, even though it was once the mainstay of the popular music scene over 100 years ago: the tenor guitar. Despite its prominence in the dance halls of the 1920s, many players were attempting to make the move from banjo to guitar, which was fast rising in popularity. The four-string tenor guitar was offered as an easy way for…

Anyone who has studied chord theory will confirm that the basis of a major or minor chord is the triad of root, 3rd (or b3rd) and 5th. Once we start altering or extending chords, though, the picture becomes slightly less clear. A sharp or flat 5th deviates from the norm, but it still refers to the ‘root, 3rd, 5th’ formula as a basis. Sometimes, one of the notes from the basic triad is omitted altogether. Power or ‘5’ chords omit the 3rd, blurring the lines between major and minor. In extended chords (7th, 9th, 11th and 13th) the 5th is usually omitted – partly to keep these chords from sounding too harmonically ‘dense’. The 5th is a very strong-sounding interval, lending itself more to rock than jazzy extended chords. Another…

Want to see something in the mag? Tell us at guitarist@futurenet.com The Archers? On The Repair Shop, the BBC recently showed a luthier completely renovate a broken, battered Levin archtop, which reignited my desire to own one of these much forgotten versions of the acoustic guitar. After much trailing through Reverb and eBay I was lucky enough to find just the job from a local store in Ashburton: a 70-year-old Besson Ariston. Clearly well used, the intonation and tuning were still solid as a rock, and the guitar has great tone and projection. I don’t recall a feature on these fabulous instruments. It would be good to see both new examples and a comparison with older models one may find secondhand, along with the possible pitfalls associated with buying old…

Rewind to February 1990. With the grunge cavalry still a distant rumble, it is a godless age of choking hairspray, tiger-stripe Kramers and gratuitous go-faster solos. And with an almost perverse sense of timing, it is now that the universe chooses to push The Black Crowes into contention with debut album, Shake Your Money Maker. In thrall to The Stones, clutching scuffed Teles and beat-up Goldtops, vocalist Chris Robinson and kid brother/guitarist Rich’s unapologetically retro brand of rock ’n’ roll is widely tipped for oblivion. If the prevailing music scene doesn’t kill them then the Robinsons – hot-headed Southerners who proudly tell the rock press that “we knuckle” – will surely do the job themselves. And yet, here we are, three decades later. The Robinsons are bona fide rock stars.…

You might think that a guitar called a Studio would be crammed with switches and knobs to create a wide palette of sounds. But no, this is a very simple setup and a regular PRS: a 500k volume pot with 181J (180 picofarads) treble bleed capacitor wired modern-style with the 500k tone control that uses a .033 microfarads capacitor. Only one side of the tone control’s pull switch is used, which takes the coil junction of the bridge humbucker to ground via a 2.2kohms resistor, a partial split as opposed to just dumping one full coil, and it voices primarily the neck-facing coil. As ever, there’s no shielding in the cavity. PRS doesn’t like to spill too many beans about its pickup designs, but the ‘low turns’ suffix of the…

Back in 1988 when PRS originally introduced the Studio, the company had been in the business of making production guitars for less than three years. But if the new brand was beginning to make waves, it was also starting to illustrate a theme that has underpinned over 35 years of guitar building: choice. Even back then, PRS recognised the desire for something different, second-guessing the market and providing a different sound. The Studio was the first PRS guitar with three pickups – a Hot Vintage humbucker at the bridge and two regular single coils – and it was an attempt to entice the LA studio musicians into the PRS fraternity in the same way that the Special, with its back-routed vibrato cavity, was designed to attract the whammy brigade when…

12-FRET PRICE: £3,475 (inc case) ORIGIN: Northern Ireland TYPE: Small body ‘Wee Lowden’ TOP: Red cedar BACK/SIDES: East Indian rosewood MAX RIM DEPTH: 100mm MAX BODY WIDTH: 335mm NECK: Mahogany with rosewood splices SCALE LENGTH: 610mm (24”) TUNERS: Gotoh 381 NUT/WIDTH: Bone/45mm FINGERBOARD: Ebony FRETS: 18 BRIDGE/SPACING: Rosewood w/ bone saddle/56mm WEIGHT (kg/lb): 1.6/3.5 OPTIONS: Various pickups/minor build variations are available when ordering. See website for details RANGE OPTIONS: The 12-fret WL body size comes in a variety of body wood combos across the Lowden range from the WL-22 red cedar/mahogany (£3,365) and red cedar/walnut (£3,475) up to the WL-35 Adirondack/Cocobolo (£5,975) LEFT-HANDERS: Yes FINISH: Matte Natural PROS Small-bodied, tonally satisfying instrument with bags of charm and sophistication CONS After more boom in your bass? Look further up the range…

ORIGIN: USA TYPE: Amp and cab simulator pedal FEATURES: True bypass, 3 onboard presets, MIDI, 3 amp types, 6 factory IRs, IR loading CONTROLS: Bass, Mid, Treble, Volume, Gain, Room, Cab switch (A/B/C), L+R switch, Amp switch (Fullerton/London/Dartford), Boost footswitch, Bypass footswitch AMP & CABS: Fullerton (Fender), London (Marshall), Dartford (Vox); Cabs: Fender Deluxe, Marshall 4x12, Vox Green Back, Fender Super Reverb, Two Rock, Vox Blue Back CONNECTIONS: Standard inputs (Left/Mono, Right), standard outputs (Left/Mono, Right), mini-jack headphone output, USB, MIDI in, MIDI out POWER: 9V DC adaptor (not supplied) 300mA DIMENSIONS: 73 (w) x 125 (d) x 60mm (h)…

“My present setup is really simple, practical and actually quite versatile and fairly economical. I am blessed to have an endorsement with Orange Amps; I chose the Crush 120 combo. I gig a lot. I can’t use a road case due to many circumstances, so I favour transistor amps for reliability and your ability to achieve a very clean tone, which I do for rhythm work, and lead work for more jazzy tunes. I use a Boss Super Stereo Chorus for a lot of chording – I look for a big, lush sound. It can also give you a sort of [Hammond] B3 thing if you set it that way and a nice fusion-type sound for leads. I also like using delay pedals in place of reverb. I’ve been using…

Your strings taper from the bridge to the nut. Original pickups were one-size-fits-all when it comes to polepiece spacing, meaning that the poles can sit outside or inside the string spread. Sonically, it’s not as bad as it looks, in most cases, though it can be offputting to those who have a picky eye for detail. Many single-coil makers have cured this with different spacing: DiMarzio has its ‘F-spaced’ option, for example, and Seymour Duncan the Trembucker. Standard spacing, measured from the centre of the outer two poles, is 48.64mm (1.92 inches); the F-spacing is 51.05mm (2.01 inches). Now, on an old-style vintage tune-o-matic you get a 50mm spacing, a Fender was 55mm, while more modern designers have settled on 52.5mm. In practice, there’s variance, so measure your bridge spacing…

Following its release in 1949, the 175 proved to be one of Gibson’s most popular designs. Author Adrian Ingram calls it “Gibson’s most successful electro-acoustic guitar” in his book The Gibson ES175: Its History And Players, quoting an estimated 37,000 having been sold within its first half-century of production alone. Like many classic guitars, the 175’s essential layout didn’t change a great deal after it came off the drawing board – its dynamic sound, comfy ergonomics and understated cool ticked all the right boxes from the start. This timeless design has consistently won guitar players over throughout the decades, and although it is perhaps more strongly associated with jazz virtuosos such as Joe Pass and Herb Ellis, it’s just as likely to be spotted in the hands of rock guitarists…

“This is a cool Champagne sparkle finish Duo Jet from 1962. A lot of people think of a Jet as a single-cut guitar, but double-cut Jets definitely have a place in rock ’n’ roll history, particularly with respect to the Malcolm Young connection. The AC/DC guys used to come into my store when we were in New York City and buy every double-cut Jet we had! Jets stayed with a single-cut until ’61. Which would remind you very much of the Les Paul changing over to the SG body style. They were all following each other. The Duo Jet came out in ’53, so it was only a matter of months after the Les Paul came out [in 1952]. Interestingly, the Duo Jet was the more playable guitar to begin…

KIRK FLETCHER LIVE AT THE BAKED POTATO – BURNING BLUES Live albums are always a great way to get inside the head of a player and see what they come up with in the heat of the moment. Kirk is known for being very comfortable switching between ‘rhythm’ and ‘solo’ techniques, and you’ll hear this to great effect on Rockwithme, El Medio Stomp and I’m In Love, the latter being a great example of how pentatonics, triads and the CAGED chord approach all interlink. CORY WONG CORY AND THE WONGNOTES A superb funky rhythm player, Cory also excels at bluesy pentatonic lines and unison riffs, all executed with precision. There are plenty of ideas to be borrowed from Merci, Tiki Hut Strut and Headin’ Down To Bunkers. Cory takes a…

PRICE: £889 (inc gigbag) ORIGIN: Mexico TYPE: Single-cutaway solidbody electric BODY: Alder NECK: Maple, medium C profile, bolt-on SCALE LENGTH: 648mm (25.5”) NUT/WIDTH: Synthetic bone/42mm FINGERBOARD: Integral maple, black dot inlays, 241mm (9.5”) radius FRETS: 22, medium jumbo WEIGHT (kg/lb): 3.6/7.9 HARDWARE: Modern-style Telecaster bridge with through-body stringing, block steel saddles; Schaller enclosed 6-a-side tuners. Includes neckplate with ‘75 Years’ inscription – chrome-plated STRING SPACING, BRIDGE: 54mm ELECTRICS: Fender vintage-style ’50s Telecaster neck and bridge pickups, master volume, master tone, 3-way selector switch OPTIONS: None RANGE OPTIONS: US-made 75th Commemorative Telecaster in 2-Color Bourbon Burst (£1,839) LEFT-HANDERS: No FINISHES: Diamond Anniversary metallic (as reviewed) Fender Musical Instruments EMEA 01342 331700 www.fender.com PROS An excellent modern Tele that looks, plays and sounds great CONS Nothing to speak of, but why a…

If you’re serious about your guitars, you’ll know that Cor-Tek produces instruments for numerous brands in its Indonesian super-factory. Not everyone wants to shout about that, of course, but plenty do, not least Manson Guitar Works here in the UK and Relish in Switzerland. PRS is also happy to praise its relationship with Cor-Tek in making its SE electric line; only in our last issue we gave a Cor-Tek-made PRS SE Custom 24-08 a 10-star Gold Award. Cor-Tek’s own brand, Cort, predates this huge Indonesian facility, yet now there is proper UK distribution we’re seeing more examples. We last caught up with Cort in issue 465 and here we’ve snagged one of the first of its new 2021 G Series models – and the electrics have some traction. The G300…

Will Stratton The Changing Wilderness Bella Union Singer-songwriter of pure class and quality We’ve sung Will Stratton’s praises before in these pages, but obviously didn’t sing loudly enough, hence his new album’s presence under the Start Me Up banner. It’s Will’s seventh studio release and yet he’s somehow managed to hang on to his ‘best kept secret’ status for all this time. Let’s just say that if deft fingerstyle guitar with warm vocals and thought-provoking lyrics are your thing, then you are in for a real treat with The Changing Wilderness. Hailing from Hudson Valley, New York State, Will undertook a four-year bout of intense soul-searching to create this album, the songs dealing with current world issues, invoking the spirit of the greats such as Leonard Cohen and Nick Drake…

For many years I’ve taught at the International Guitar Foundation’s Summer School, passing on whatever knowledge I’ve gained over the years. As long as the technical demands aren’t too high, that is… You see, playing fast is not something I’m particularly brilliant at – although I can conjure up a fair pace when pushed, when panic sets in, or when lack of inspiration finds me floundering. But that’s the cheap option and rarely shows a guitarist in their best light. Of course, there’s the occasional moment when a following wind provides enough assistance to pull a speedy passage together, and that’s a welcome and pleasing moment. So, yes, a cleverly constructed flurry of 16th or 32nd notes can be beautiful and exciting, but executed poorly it’s cringeworthy for player and…

Last issue we looked at how to get the most from your amp’s effects loop when using it as a home for your delay and reverb effects. Plus we also examined the 4-cable method that lets you use delay and reverb in the loop while keeping the pedals themselves at your feet, where they are easy to adjust. Our guide was effects expert Dan Steinhardt of The GigRig, who is also one half of the hugely popular That Pedal Show on YouTube, alongside former Guitarist editor Mick Taylor. Dan rejoins us this month to talk about what other uses your amp’s effects loop can be put to – because it’s not just time-based effects that belong there. Quite a few readers will have seen preamp pedals on the market, often…

MASTER OF DISASTER I was so pleased to read Neville’s column in issue 470 as it made me feel so human knowing that at least one other person has experienced what I have. It was New Year’s Eve 2018/’19 and a gig in our local pub. There were two sets. I started with our ukulele band, The Kettleleles (we come from Kettleburgh and we play ukuleles), using a basic rig of a PA for vocals and separate amps for instruments. Then a short break before my solo effort as ‘Squibnocket’ where I use two amps for the guitar through a pedalboard, the same PA for vocals and homemade backing tracks made on Boss drum machines, recorded on a MiniDisc player. At the start of the break I set up my…

There’s little doubt that Paul Reed Smith has got considerable mileage from a guitar he designed back in the early 80s. Having a quick tot-up of the flagship Core USA model range for 2021, there are 17 guitars, 14 of which use this shape, one earlier design (the Santana Retro) and two later Singlecuts. Surely, this reliance on one outline has to be unique in the history of the instrument, doesn’t it? This design polarity is often cited by those who don’t ‘get’ PRS: ‘They’re all the same!’ The thing is, they’re not. The differences lie in a host of features, even though that outline remains constant and has done over 36 years of production guitar making. Yet many invisible changes – often unannounced – continually push PRS forwards. Is…

Before you look elsewhere, PRS itself provides plenty of rivals. The new PRS Fiore (£2,599), Mark Lettieri’s new signature model, looks and sounds more like a classic HSS Superstrat with its swamp ash body, 22-fret maple neck and a two-post vibrato with special pickups and tricky wiring. Yup, a hot-rod! The new Narrowfield mini-humbucker is also used on the Special Semi Hollow (from £4,055) paired with a pair of 58/15 LTs. It uses the 24-08-style pickup switching via two mini-toggle switches providing nine sounds in total. PRS is not just about offering humbucker and single coils; the piezo-loaded guitars have long been part of the range. The Core Custom 24 Piezo (from £4,195) and the Hollowbody II Piezo (from £4,939) are stellar examples. On a tighter budget, the Chinese-made SE…

Over the past couple of years, one of the biggest trends in the pedal industry has been synth pedals. These devices are far from a new thing, though – Roland started experimenting with the genre all the way back in 1977 when it released the GR-500. However, modern technology has seen synth pedals become super compact and much easier to use, while sporting impeccable note tracking and sound quality. I love this phase we’re in! Things can’t get synthy enough for me. If you’re like me and you want your guitar to coax actual synth sounds from a single pedal, then definitely dive into boxes such as the Meris Enzo, Boss SY-1, Keeley Synth-1 or EarthQuaker Devices Data Corrupter. But if you just want to add a touch of synthetic…

Kemper Profiler Stage Floorboard with Jamie Dickson Writer JAMIE DICKSON Guitarist, Editor-in-chief This month,Jamie uses the Kemper on its first pro session of the test as he creates some guitar parts for producer and solo artist Mr Benn While gigs may still be off the menu for most guitarists, lockdown hasn’t been entirely barren of musical jobs. Not long after taking delivery of the Kemper Profiler Stage for longterm testing I got a call from an old friend, Bristol producer and solo artist Ben Menter, aka Mr Benn, who’s on Nice Up! Records. Ben specialises in dance music influenced by Jamaican reggae and dancehall, as well as hip-hop and more besides, and he’s an established favourite on the stages of festivals such as Boomtown and Bestival. Every so often he’s…

“Fender amps are rooted in Leo Fender’s radio repair shop,” says Terry. “By 1940, he had a full-time business with several employees in Fullerton under the Fender name. It was very successful in the local area, and, according to Leo, they did over 10,000 repair jobs in 1943 alone. Around that time, Doc Kauffman – a local professional musician and inventor – would often go into Leo’s shop, which also sold records and sheet music, and they struck up a friendship. Doc came onboard full-time in 1942 and they ended up patenting a pickup [called the Direct String Pickup], so Leo used his existing knowledge of radio to adapt an amp for it. That’s when Doc starts making lap steels and Leo starts making custom amplifiers. “They also invented an…

It might have started with the Super Distortion, but the range of DiMarzio pickups and the artists using them is now vast. Namechecks here must go to Larry’s associate Steve Blucher, the sonic sorcerer who joined the company in the later 70s, and the likes of Eddie Van Halen, Steve Vai, John Petrucci, Paul Gilbert, Yngwie Malmsteen, Eric Johnson, The Edge, not to mention stadium pioneers such as KISS, even for a time Pete Townshend, and let’s not forget Leslie West and Earl Slick. Humbuckers, single coils, hum-cancelling single coils, soapbars, pickups for multi-string guitars – all are available and use numerous different design concepts, such as dual resonance coils and Airbucker technology to name but two. DiMarzio also makes pickups for guitar brands including Ibanez and Music Man, as…

1949 ES-175 released; single pickup; sunburst or natural finish 1952 ES-295 released; dual pickups; all-gold finish 1953 ES-175D released; dual pickups; sunburst or natural finish Mid-50s Some with ‘alnico’/‘staple’ pickups (rare) 1955 20 frets (previously 19) 1956 Zig-zag ‘T’-shaped tailpiece replaces pointed trapeze tailpiece 1957 PAF humbuckers replace P-90s 1958 ES-295 discontinued 1959 Natural-finish ES-175 discontinued 1971 Sunburst finish ES-175 discontinued…

THERE ARE VARIOUS ways we can view the patterns, scales and chords that live in the various locations of the fretboard – and the permutations are infinite. I guess that’s one of the things that keeps us all motivated to improve year after year! For this Headlines, I’ve taken a static one-note ‘jam’ in which the harmonic and melodic content is provided solely by the guitar over a repetitive bass and drum pattern. The D minor pentatonic/ blues scale will work well, but that’s only one possibility, and one which may not hold your (or any listener’s) interest indefinitely. Let’s do lots of soloing by all means, but in the context of an interactive ‘team-player’ approach. To that end, I’ve taken an approach of moving lots of rhythmic three-note chords…

THE MIXOLYDIAN MODE is the fifth mode of the major scale and can literally be seen as a major scale that starts and ends on the 5th note of the scale. The A major scale contains these seven notes: A B C# D E F# G# A The E Mixolydian mode contains the same seven tones as the A major scale but starts and resolves to the fifth degree, E: E F# G# A B C# D E Playing the A major scale from the fifth degree produces the E Mixolydian mode, which is a major scale with a minor 7th (b7th) degree, instead of a major 7th. It’s this minor 7th that gives the Mixolydian mode its unique flavour. Harmonising the Scale When we harmonise the major scale (build…