Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2025 i Guitarist

Future Publishing Limited, Quay House, The Ambury, Bath, BA1 1UA Telephone 01225 442244 Email guitarist@futurenet.com Online www.guitarist.co.uk Jamie has asked me to share a few reminiscences about Gary Moore this month, to tie in with this issue’s cover feature, as our paths crossed several times during the 90s and early Noughties. I first met Gary soon after I took over as editor of Guitarist in 1994 when he asked me to write the liner notes for his Blues For Greeny album. This involved us having lunch together in a hotel in Holland Park where he told me how important the album was to him as it formed a tribute to one of his principal influences – not forgetting, of course, that Peter had virtually given Gary the famous ‘Greeny’ Les…

Walrus Audio’s first foray into looping is the Xero Polylooper, a dual-channel stereo looper that the brand says is designed to fully explore the creative possibilities of multiple loop channels. It’s a practical-sized pedal that offers two identical looping channels with three available modes to determine how the two are synchronised. Each channel has its own volume slider, plus a Pan knob to fix its own location in the stereo field – a great feature that can deliver a real sense of space and clarity if you’re running in stereo. For effect, each channel can be independently switched to run in reverse and/or at half or double speed with the consequent octave pitch change. The control surface of the Xero is simple enough with no menus to navigate, but the…

Artist: Laura Cox Album: Trouble Coming (earMUSIC) You don’t have to be a blues fanatic, or even a guitar player, to enjoy the latest release from Anglo-French singer-songwriter Laura Cox. On album number four, titled Trouble Coming, she’s penned her most universal collection of songs to date – traversing her way through swampy vintage blues into contemporary rock. The Parisian started her career on YouTube with note-perfect renditions of classics by Lynyrd Skynyrd and Guns N’ Roses, but in recent years she’s established as an artist in her own right. Her latest efforts will broaden those horizons even further. Swamp Music While she’d be the first to admit she’s still making guitar-oriented music, this latest body of work sees Laura focusing more on the songs at the heart of the…

I recently moved from Bath back to north Essex where I lived on and off from infants’ school up to my late 30s. Bath, of course, is beautiful and I have some great friends there. But here is where my oldest mates and colleagues reside. Already, I’m collaborating with a few to get the creaky wheels oiled and to climb back on that musical horse – to mix a metaphor or two. Our research suggests that many readers fall, as I do, into the ‘people of a certain age’ category. So my minor struggles with learning new songs for this project made me ponder whether you experience the same issues I do. I’ve said before how my single biggest career regret was not learning to read music. I’ll confess that…

Previously, we’ve looked at what happens when you swap around the notes in a triad and put the 3rd at the bottom (first inversion), or the 5th at the bottom (second inversion). In this next instalment, we’ll look at third inversion chords. To create these, we add a dominant (aka flat) 7th to a triad/chord and move that to the bottom. In practice, these are generally notated as slash chords. For example, in an A/G chord (see Example 1), the b7 (G) is moved to the bottom. Like suspended chords, this definitely feels like its leading somewhere – try following up with a D/F# (D first inversion) and you’ll recognise a very popular chord move, heard across multiple genres. Slash chords are a convenient way to notate the various inversions,…

Some guitarists are remarkable for making their name with one guitar that is synonymous with their whole identity as a musician. Brian May, or perhaps Hank Marvin and his Red Strat come to mind. Other players loom larger than individual instruments they own, or even genres. By turns taciturn and ablaze with feeling, Gary Moore shifted stylistic gears with remarkable ease. From his roots in Belfast blues with Skid Row to barbed Celtic rock in Thin Lizzy and a 90s return to his roots in Peter Green’s sound, Moore’s intensity lit up any track he played on. It was this burning thread that tied together the whole tapestry of his career. Perhaps unsurprisingly, his guitar collection kept pace with his changing sound. He was a prolific collector, though always to…

Though Gary Moore clearly gravitated to Gibsons for much of his work, Fenders nonetheless play a significant role in his music, including this intriguing ’63 Tele. Acquired by Gary at some point prior to 1988, it has a ’63 body with a replacement neck and was used on the opening track of Moore’s much-loved Still Got The Blues album, a song entitled Moving On. Steve Clarke picks up the interesting story of this modded workhorse. He begins by explaining that he initially recorded quite a mismatch in the outputs of the bridge and neck pickups, which gave readings of 6.32k and 3.59k respectively. “What I found quickly with that Telecaster is that the front pickup seemed to be dead, but I fixed it. And I found there was a short…

While it will always seem incongruous to modern eyes, the first SG-shaped twin-humbucker electrics Gibson made were, of course, originally badged as ‘Les Pauls’ before Lester’s name was removed in 1963 and the model became the SG proper. Gary possessed a notably clean example, Steve Clarke explains. “This is a lovely guitar,” he says. “Again, you’ve got [Patent Applied For pickups] on it. The bridge pickup is 7.53k and the neck is 8.45k. Really nice nickel plating [on the covers], by the way. It’s also got the retaining wire on the ABR-1 bridge [first introduced in 1962] and I also made a note that the bridge is showing signs of dipping in the middle, so that would need straightening. I have straightened [old ABR-1s] a few times; it’s a bit…

PRS SANTANA RETRO £5,169 Before Paul Reed Smith started his production company in 1985, he made one-off guitars (with a couple of assistants) for many big names such as Ted Nugent, Howard Leese and, most famously, Carlos Santana. This current Retro model references that time with its pre-Custom shape and earlier headstock design. With the help of John Mann, Paul created his own vibrato ‘system’ with its slippery nut and locking tuners, initially to satisfy Carlos. Somehow, the Santana-style model didn’t make the PRS production line-up until 1995. PRS CUSTOM 24 FROM £4,589 From those early guitars Paul redrew the outline of what would become the classic curly-maple-topped Custom when he launched the company; the bird inlays were originally just an option. Over 40 years on that original unique outline…

What’s the first serious guitar that you bought with your own money? “I bought it from Lyon & Healy in Chicago. It was a Martin 00-21 acoustic six-string. It cost me, like, $165. At the time, I bought it because I was going to the Old Town School of Folk Music; [co-founder and folk musician] Frank Hamilton played one just like it, and so did Josh White [Jr]. I thought it was the quintessential folk guitar at the time, and I still have it! It’s hanging on my wall, still plays and sounds really good.” Tell us about the last guitar you bought and why you decided to buy it? “Well, I’ve got some signature models made up for Martin on both 12-string acoustic and seven-string acoustic, which I designed…

With Triads In Mind Tutor Richard Barrett | Gear used Fender Stratocaster & Vox AC15 Difficulty | 10 mins per example WHILE SCALES ARE GREAT for getting your fingers and brain in shape to play single-note solos and melodies, there are situations in which a knowledge of the chords you’re working with is a big advantage. One good example of this is the trio format, where you might only have bass and drums for support. There is a limit to how much a bass guitar can convey harmonic details (such as a major or minor chord) without forfeiting its main function of keeping a consistent low-end, so it’s down to the guitar in this context to provide more harmonic and melodic content. A single-note solo played over just bass and…

Introducing Bioscope Marillion guitarist Steve Rothery tells all about his new recording venture with Tangerine Dream’s Thorsten Quaeschning on p38 Sound Of The 70s Celebrating the return of the Les Paul Custom to Gibson’s USA roster. Do they still have that magic – and are they still as heavy? p86 Birthday Blues The 30th anniversary of the Fender Blues Junior valve combo comes with a number of special tweaks and it’s dressed for a party! p8 COVER IMAGE BY PHIL BARKER, ROGER MCGUINN PHOTO COURTESY OF C.F. MARTIN & CO ABOVE: STEVE ROTHERY PHOTO BY THOMAS ECKE…

Back in issue 517 we reviewed Furch’s innovative Little Jane travel guitar, which came with a detachable neck that fitted inside the instrument’s body. It also came with a diminutive gigbag meaning it was possible to stow the guitar away in an aircraft’s overhead locker and avoid the somewhat capricious attitude that some airlines have towards passengers travelling with guitars. What made the Little Jane even more remarkable was that when you reassemble the guitar it stays in tune. We tested it and, sure enough, once the neck was reattached to the body, and with only the very slightest tweak, it was up to pitch and ready to play. The guitar itself was a joy to spend time with, experiencing none of the tonal compromises inherent in some of the…

Martin GPE Inception Maple £4,349 CONTACT Martin Guitars customerservice@martinguitar.com WEB www.martinguitar.com Maple has long been a bit of a puzzler for acoustic-guitar makers. It’s attractive and fairly abundant compared with tropical hardwoods and is thus both more sustainable and less likely to be subject to restrictions such as the CITES controls imposed on rosewood a few years ago. And though instrument-grade maple has been growing harder for luthiers to get their hands on, both Taylor and now Martin have seen potential for it to be useful for more than just J-200s. The problem is that, when used as a body wood for flat-top acoustic guitars, maple tends to generate a clear but not very complex note – useful for archtops perhaps but less so for instruments intended to be rich,…

Perfect guitar tone, string gauges, capacitor values, pickups… There is barely one aspect of the guitar that isn’t subjective to each and every musician’s personal taste and opinions. It’s part of the joy of the instrument that innumerable design configurations will shape the playing experience and sonic palette of each and every instrument out there. Guitar-forum junkies may debate everything from capacitor values to restringing methods, but it’s a certainty that no two players will agree on the ideal neck profile. So, as a luthier, how does one go about shaping the perfect one? Recently, a customer of mine dropped into the workshop with an emergency repair. An endorsed client of his had received a brand-new guitar just in time for a big tour, only to find that he really…

Steve Clarke has one of the best – but most exacting – jobs in the vintage guitar world. The author of Famous Frets is Bonhams’ authenticator for guitar collections such as Gary Moore’s and also sympathetically prepares the guitars for auction. Having featured guitars for major auctions such as the much-publicised sale of Rory Gallagher’s Strat, his workbench is no stranger to high-profile instruments. But Gary Moore’s ‘Red Strat’ is surely up there with anything he’s examined before in terms of iconic electrics. Looking at the guitar with the naked eye, a patch of forearm wear seems to show two distinct tones of red paint, one applied over the other. This has led some to theorise, over the years, that the relatively milky red that forms the visible majority of…

During our interview about Moore’s career, Neville Marten said, “Gary was great on a 335 – he really, really pulled the expression out of that guitar.” And it’s likely this particular 335 to which he was referring. Steve Clarke measured the guitar’s pickup output and says “the bridge is 7.32k and the neck is 7.16k”, a vintage output that partly explains the punchy but expressive performance of the humbuckers that Gary liked so much. And at 8.32lb (3.8kg), it’s as light as many Strats of the era. “The ABR-1 bridge has no retaining wire on it,” says Steve, which would most probably make it a replacement part; Gibson introduced the retaining wire in 1962, a year prior to this guitar’s manufacture. “And it’s also been refretted with 3.08mm wire. You’ve…

Some of the guitars in Gary’s collection represent the deep craft of heritage makers such as Gibson during the golden era of 50s and 60s lutherie. Others, however, reflect the road-forged pragmatism and rough prototyping that progressive musicians sometimes demand of their gear. This much-modified ‘bitsa’ Charvel San Dimas is a perfect example of musicians and their techs jury-rigging guitars to meet needs not catered to by off-the-peg instruments or the pressing needs of busy touring, recording and promo schedules. And it’s fair to say that this particular guitar gave authenticator Steve Clarke more headaches than some of the others, partly due to its hastily fitted mods. “It was faulty straight off,” Steve smiles. “Plugged it in, dead. So the ’plate comes off and I have a look around, see…

LES PAUL MODERN LITE £1,159 Currently the entry point into Gibson USA (aside from online only ‘Exclusives’), the Modern Lite uses a thinner all-mahogany body with quite trendy satin ‘open-grain’ finishes, with matching headstocks, in a choice of some six hues (from £1,159). Unlike the Music City Special, we have four controls for the well-loved 490R ‘Modern Classic’ and 498T ‘Hot Alnico’ uncovered buckers. And while it’s not the sharpest craft, it’s got some SG-like raw power. A good starter or gigging spare. LES PAUL JUNIOR £1,499 Launched the same year as the original Les Paul Custom, the single-pickup Junior is an undisputed classic of simplistic ‘student’ style. Offered in gloss nitro Vintage Tobacco Burst and Ebony, and TV Yellow (at £1,599) finishes, the current Junior remains a hard-to-beat rock…

CRAZY TUBE CIRCUITS MIRAGE £285 CONTACT FACE bvba WEB www.crazytubecircuits.com What You Need To Know 1 That looks like two identical pedals, side by side… Yep, that’s about the size of it! The Mirage gives you two reverb circuits that can be used separately or together. 2 Are the reverbs in series when used together? Yes, it’s about stacking reverbs for layered and evolving spaces, but this pedal has flexible routing options so you can also have independent left and right channels with a different reverb in each. 3 What are all those symbols around the Voice controls? We guess there was no room for conventional lettering – so each symbol represents a different reverb algorithm in the two banks of eight. Technically speaking, Crazy Tube Circuits’ latest pedal, Mirage, is…

It’s fair to say the Southern Jumbo is looking worse than it did before I started this project, at least from the front anyway. I was looking forward to stripping the top back to clean wood, and I was also hoping that those pickguards that were once added hadn’t left telltale ‘shadows’ on the spruce. But first, I needed to make and fit a new bridge plate. Despite the skewed placement of the original bridge plate, the fact it came out intact was a massive help in making a replacement. The ends provided an accurate indication of the position and angle of the X-braces, and the pin and machine screw-hole positions showed exactly where the bridge would need to be glued back on. “I was hoping the pickguards that were…

Since its birth in 1995, the Fender Blues Junior has matured into the small valve combo to judge all others by. It found its niche as a cost-effective, all-valve, spring-reverb-equipped combo with the authentic Fender sound in a throw-and-go, pub-gig-sized format. The amp’s inception serendipitously coincided with the winds of change blowing through guitar music at that time, away from the clinical and processed tones of the prior decade towards a looser, more organic flavour as heard in the US grunge movement and the UK’s Brit-rock scene. These sounds were well suited to the amp’s comfortable range of classic clean to ‘edge of break-up’ tones. Judging by its popularity alone, it’s clear that the 15-watt 1x12 package found a niche in the amp world by balancing the factors of cost,…

The Nobels ODR-1 overdrive flew under the radar for quite some time, but that’s no longer the case as its well-documented use by a coterie of US session players, particularly in Nashville, has increased awareness and take-up of the ‘other’ green pedal. We last looked at a Nobels in issue 464 with the release of the ODR-1 BC (BC standing for bass-cut), which featured a dip switch in the battery compartment to attenuate the bottom-end. This latest iteration offers more flexibility on that bass-cut by giving the facility its own mini knob. What’s more, it also can deliver more gain than previous ODR-1s via a Gain Boost button. The ODR-1X has standard Drive and Level knobs, but like its predecessors it facilitates EQ changes with a Spectrum knob, a double…

Gretsch Synchromatic Nashville & Falcon £1,149 & £1,299 CONTACT Fender GBI PHONE 01342 331700 WEB www.gretschguitars.com Gretsch Synchromatic? I’d forgotten about these! Yep, at the tail end of last century, Gretsch repurposed the Synchromatic name – taken from its archtop model of the 1930s – and used it to usher in a more affordable range of imported guitars. Now, after a couple of decades of us becoming familiar with the Electromatic and subsequent Streamliner series, the Synchromatic name is back and it’s brought two models with it (to quote their full names): the Synchromatic Nashville Hollow Body Single-Cut with Bigsby and the Synchromatic Falcon Hollow Body Single-Cut with Bigsby. Falcon? As in, the Gretsch model I’ve always wanted but could never afford? That’s the one. Previously, it’s been caged as…

Artist: Bioscope Album: Gentō (earMUSIC) Gentō is a new album by Bioscope, a collaborative project from Marillion’s Steve Rothery and Tangerine Dream’s Thorsten Quaeschning. The pair first met aboard ship during 2014’s Cruise To The Edge, which saw a variety of prog bands perform on the high seas in front of a hoard of like-minded music fans. Later on it was mooted that a possible musical alliance might be forthcoming and now the project has come to fruition, with a little help from Elbow’s Alex Reeves on drums. The album is an immersive experience with broad cinematic soundscapes conjured from Thorsten’s bank of analogue synths and Steve’s ever melodic guitar. But let’s start at the beginning… “Thorsten would set something going with some interesting chords and I would come up…

The first time I had a pickup fitted to an acoustic guitar was a disaster. I didn’t know any better. It was an instrument that I loved and I had been looking forward to an amp’d up version of its voice, maybe a splash of reverb, some delay – keeping it tasteful, of course. Instead, what I got was the malignantly ugly quack and logarithmic anti-dynamic range of a primitive under-saddle pickup. Marvellous. Upon discovering that the installation had also affected the acoustic sound, I ripped it out with my bare hands and vowed never again. It was at that moment that I joined the legions of acoustic guitarists searching for a workable, musical plugged-in sound. I recognise that some readers will be hoping for hard and fast answers to…

In their three decades of playing together, Kilmarnock trio Biffy Clyro have become one of the most cutting-edge and far-reaching rock acts of their generation, blessed with an ability to write stadium-conquering anthems that thrill and mesmerise in equal measure. Their Strat-wielding frontman, Simon Neil, is someone who understands the power of the riff, as well as the importance of the musical information above it – with a proven track record for striking a perfect balance between intensity and melody. On this year’s 10th full-length album, Futique, it’s noted how the group still finds new ways to stretch that formula and experiment with the equation, dazzling and surprising us without ever running the risk of losing their identity. Early singles such as A Little Love, Hunting Season and True…

“Stripe? Oh, my God, was that something else!” Steve Clarke chuckles, referring to Gary’s well-played and honey-toned ’59 Les Paul Standard, which does not form part of the Bonhams auction of Gary’s gear per se but is being offered for private sale POA via Bonhams instead, at the behest of the estate. The origins of its nickname ‘Stripe’ remain obscure, but, thankfully, the rest of its particulars were easier to pin down. “Well, firstly I can give you some pickup measurements,” Steve says. “The bridge is 7.74k and the neck is 7.36k. That’s what they come out at,” he observes, agreeing that this is incidentally similar to how manufacturers would balance the windings of a pickup set today; typically, if you have a neck and bridge pickup of equal output,…

For Stephen Dale Petit, new album Be The Love holds a Molotov cocktail of emotions. The Anglo-American bluesman takes a deep breath and decides which one he’ll dredge to the surface first. There’s pride in an album that is hands-down the career peak of the man once dubbed a “blues hooligan” by Mojo, who has revved and ripped up trad-roots since he debuted with 2008’s Guitararama. There’s heartbreak bleeding across seven tracks that kick the hornet nest of a failed relationship. Alongside that, there’s gallows humour, which the 56-year-old draws upon more each day as he battles a life-threatening illness. “I didn’t start out trying to make a masterpiece,” he reflects. “But I was diagnosed with cancer in November 2022, within months of starting Be The Love. It certainly occupied…

When Fender unveiled the Blues Junior in 1995, few could have guessed it would become one of the company’s most enduring designs. The 15-watt model launched as part of the Fender’s ‘Tweed Series’, alongside the Blues Deluxe, Blues DeVille and Pro Junior, and was conceived as a compact, affordable way for working players to experience true Fender valve tone. With its EL84-powered circuit and simple controls, it quickly became the go-to amp for gigging guitarists who needed something portable yet versatile enough to handle blues, country, rock and more. Now, with 30 years of continuous production and a devoted following, the Blues Junior has become a phenomenon. It is no longer just the ‘affordable little brother’ of the Fender amp family and is arguably Fender’s best-selling valve amplifier of all…

“The Polaris White one is a 1961 EMS-1235 with a regular six-string neck and an octave six-string neck, and its most interesting and unusual feature is the Bigsby on the octave side. Gibson made these with Venetian and Florentine cutaways, but this one is Venetian. It is a hollow-bodied guitar with a carved spruce top and a flat back, and all three pickups are [Patent Applied For units]. There’s a single layer of white celluloid binding on the back and white/black/white around the top. “Both necks are mahogany with Brazilian rosewood fretboards and parallelogram inlays, but they feel very different. The regular neck is really fat and it feels very good to play. The octave neck is tiny and the string spacing is so tight that it’s quite tricky to…