Guitar Stuff » Guitar Equipment

Protect Your $20,000 Relic with a Great Display Case

Matt — Sat, 26 May 2007 15:31:15 +0000

If you are buying a $20,000 aged Blackie guitar, I doubt you are planning on playing it at gigs and jams. One thing is for sure, you aren’t going to want to stick it into a case in the back of your attic or closet. I know you’ll want to flaunt your excessive spending to all of your friends and family. Who wouldn’t?

That would be the entry cue for Great Case Cabinet Company. They build sealed glass wall cases that provide a controlled humidity environment for your sensitive instruments. In all seriousness I hate storing my guitar in it’s case. I like to have it displayed out in the open where it can call me from across the room to play it.

The company makes a range of wall cases for acoustic and electric guitars, violins, harps, mandolins, and whatever else you might want to stick in there. If need be they will also make you a custom case to your own specifications. I know a few people who have hanging guitar mounts for their wall. Well why not have a humidified case to go around that? It’ll be like your guitar never left the guitar store.

Like I said, the cases come in a few different standard sizes, but the company does take custom orders. They offer a selection of woods, finishes, fabrics, hinges, and latches with pricing that ranges from $425USD to $1125USD and up for custom jobs.

[Via Harmony Central]

Gibson Updates Website for Zakk Wylde Custom V

Matt — Sat, 05 May 2007 01:44:37 +0000

Gibson’s marketing department always seems to be a few steps behind, but they have finally updated the Gibson Custom website with details about the Zakk Wylde custom Flying V guitar.

There aren’t really any more details beyond what was known before, but they have release a [huge ass] 6MB 2 page PDF that displays it all in one inconveniently large package. Here is the little marketing writeup from the PDF:

THE CUSTOM SHOP DIFFERENCE
It burns in the heart of every player who purchases
a Gibson Custom Shop guitar… and it burns in the
heart of every employee who helps build our
world-class instruments.

We vow to continue infusing every instrument that
passes through our doors with that same passion.
It’s what makes our guitars the best.

From initial wood selection to final assembly, we
sweat the details so that when you pick up your
guitar, your dream, it exceeds every expectation
you could possibly have.

For 2007, we will continue to strive for excellence,
remain faithful to our history, and never lose sight
of our goal to build the fi nest guitars in the world.
Pick one up for yourself. Feel the passion that we
put into our guitars and release yours.

From what I can see they are still only making 100 of these bad boys. This is guaranteed to be a Gibson Vintage in about 50 years.

[Via Electric Guitar Review]

What’s the deal with pre-aged replica guitars?

Matt — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 13:00:28 +0000

I am going to go on a bit of a rant right now and just toss this out there. Can someone please tell me what the appeal of a replica guitar is? Ok, so signature guitars are one thing. You want to sound as close to your guitar idol as humanly possible, so you buy all of their gear including their brand new INSERT GUITAR MANUFACTURER HERE Signature guitar. But I just don’t get where guitar makers are finding a market for all of these replica guitars complete with every scuff, stain, and scratch of the original.

The first one I saw was ESP’s James Hetfield Truckster. It comes complete with the same wear marks that are found on James’ original. Ok… sort of a cool idea, I’ll dig it. Then I came across Dean’s Dimebag Darrell Dean from Hell ML replica. Again… ok, even though I have issues with Dean taking advantage of Dime’s now legend status to sell guitars after his untimely death (RIP Dime).

Then the big announcement at NAMM was Eddie Van Halen worked out a deal with Fender to produce a limited number of exact replicas of his Frankenstrat guitar. Now… I don’t think I need to point out the obvious, but I will anyway. The original wasn’t even a Fender. In fact it said Charvel right on the headstock. So is fender going to go as far as to find the same original parts that went into making the original Frankenstrat? I really don’t think so. Never the less, they will sell for thousands of dollars.

Even as I write this I came across this Gibson Custom Limited Run Zakk Wylde Bullseye Aged Les Paul. Again, who wants to pay $7,999USD for scuffed up replica?

Les Paul Classic Antique – Gibson Guitar of the Week #2

Matt — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 06:32:19 +0000

Gibson has released their second Guitar of the Week and man is it stunning. Gibson announced the Les Paul Classic Antique at this years NAMM ~~Gibson has been making it for years~~. Look at the amazing finish on this guitar. Gibson calls it Fireburst and I think it is just freaking amazing.

Like I said the guitar is a run of the mill Classic Antique complete with ‘57 humbuckers, ’60s slim taper profile, rosewood fingerboard, and antique binding. The Les Paul is no different from others keeping the 3-way pickup toggle switch and volume/tone controls in their standard positions.

Obviously we can’t expect Gibson to be putting out a totally unique Custom each week, but I hope we get to see some more variations from their standard product lineup in the future. Again though, I am all about this finish. I think it’s stunning.

Gibson Guitar of the Week 2007

Matt — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 16:08:55 +0000

Every Tuesday every week Gibson plans to announce a new limited edition guitar that will only be available for that week. They are calling the program Gibson Guitar of the Week. A maximum of 400 of each model will be made and after that, there will be no more.

The first model to come out is the SG Supreme Bass. Interesting that they choose to do a bass for the first “Guitar of the Week”. I’ll be keeping up with the guitars that come out of this program.

NAMM 2007 Has Come and Gone

Matt — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 16:01:30 +0000

Well, it’s that time of year again and NAMM Show has come and gone…. and I missed again. It’s not like I missed the actual show, because I’m not a NAMM member, but I did miss all the fresh news about products and such.

For those of you not in the loop, NAMM used to stand for “National Association of Music Merchants”. These days they have dropped the full name and just go by the acronym. Basically they are a global organization for the musical equipment industry. Each year they hold a trade show that exhibits all the great new music making products from every company. It is not open to the public, you have to be a NAMM member to attend and to be a NAMM member you have to make, buy, and/or sell musical instruments and products. Right now I am just playing a little catch-up, so lets see what I can find about this years show.

On the official NAMM Show website they have a recap of each day including pictures.

Play Guitar Now has a load of great pictures from each day of the show.

Cary at Electric Guitar Review linked to another NAMM 2007 picture gallery at Modern Guitars Magazine that also has a whole bunch of great shots.

Line 6 unveiled the Floor POD Plus basically combining a POD 2.0 with a huge list of premium effects in a portable stomp box floor set.

Gibson announced 11 new guitar models including the digital HD.6X-Pro. Modern Guitars Magazine has all of the details.

Fender showed off the VG Stratocaster, a modeling guitar. It is equipped with a digital pickup, a modeling dial with 37 different models, and a tuning knob that allows you to select from 5 alternate tunings.

Eddie Van Halen and Fender announced a signature EVH Frankenstein replica. The replicas play like a dream but physically feature every nick and mark the original has.

Man, I could probably go all day reading up on all the great stuff to come out of the show… I guess I still have a lot of reading to do.

Christmas Gift Idea: Chromatic Guitar Tuner

Matt — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 08:00:08 +0000

A great gift that I received for Christmas when I was just starting to play guitar was a chromatic tuner. I had taught myself how to tune the guitar by ear, but my hear wasn’t really trained that well. So even though I tuned my guitar it was generally off. A chromatic tuner was an excellent gift because it helped me learn songs easier by having a guitar that sounded like it was supposed to.

A chromatic tuner has a lot of other uses, like introducing you to alternate tunings and lower tunings like drop d and half or full step down.

The Korg GT-3 digital guitar tuners are a great buy, but pretty much any chromatic tuner will do.

Guitar Gear: Alexi Laiho of Children of Bodom Guitar & Amp Setup

Matt — Sat, 21 Oct 2006 13:00:37 +0000

Alexi Laiho is definitely one of my favourite guitarists. While his sound might not be as unique as that of Eddie Van Halen or Zakk Wylde, it is different enough to pick out. Someone once said to me “How does he make his guitar sound like a Nintendo?”. I believe they were mistaking the keyboard in the song for Alexi, but thats what I like about it. His sound really does harmonize with Children of Bodom’s keyboard very well.

The surprising thing is Alexi Laiho’s rig is very simple. From the single EMG-H4 pickup in his signature ESP to the effect free rack setup, it is literally just plug-and-play. One thing you may have noticed about Alexi’s guitar sound is it has above average amount of base. This is due to a custom gain boost built right into his guitars (copy of a Jackson boost made in the 80s). I personally like that sound a lot, it adds that extra ka-chunk to his rhythm riffs.

Alexi’s setup starts with an ESP Signature Alexi Laiho guitar. As I said above, this guitar is unique because of its single EMG-H4 passive pickup and the built in boost. Alexi uses a Shure UHF Marcad Diversity MKII wireless receiver for connectivity. He patches that through a Lee Jackson Perfect Connection GP-1000 tube preamp and further enhances his low end with an RSP 2400 Hush/Enhancer/Exciter. Alexi splits his signal into stereo using a Rocktron Intellifex and then sends it to his VHT Two/Fifty/Two Stereo tube poweramp. The whole unit is hooked up to a Marshall 1960B straight front 300W stereo 4×12 cab with 75watt Celestion G12T-75 speakers. Yeah, I know, like I said… it’s a simple setup.

Alexi Has 3 guitars for his live shows, all of them being Alexi Laiho ESP Signature models. The guitars all have Dr. Tite-fit JH-10 set strings and are tuned down one whole step with drop-d. The guitars also feature a Floyd Rose bridge.

Just to overview the setup, here is what Alexi is sporting:

3 ESP Alexi Laiho Signature guitars
Shure UHF Marcad Diversity MKII wireless receiver
Lee Jackson Perfect Connection GP-1000 tube preamp
RSP 2400 Hush/Enhancer/Exciter
Rocktron Intellifex
VHT Two/Fifty/Two Stereo tube poweramp
Marshall 1960B Straight front, 300W Stereo 4×12 Cab
2 75-watt Celestion G12T-75 Speakers

I think this is probably one of the simplest rigs I have seen, but it defiantly gets the job done. I think there is something that can be said about simplicity. It lets you focus on the important thing: playing guitar.

Guitar Gear: Adrian Smith of Iron Maiden Guitar & Amp Setup

Matt — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 13:00:14 +0000

We have all had our Iron Maiden phase right? I know I have… It came just slightly after my Metallica phase and just before my Zakk Wylde phase… Although, I don’t know if I can call it a Zakk Wylde phase if it never ended. Anyway… back to Adrian Smith. Maiden was always known for their harmonizing guitar licks. So lets see what Adrian uses today to bring his music to the ear.

Adrian Smith’s Guitar Rig

Adrian uses a combination of Marshall all tube heads (30th Anniversary) and digital effects to create his sound. One thing that is uncommon is for a guitarist to go both ways… thats right, I’m talking about Fender and Gibson. Adrian uses both American Fender Stratocaster’s (with Floyd Rose) and Gibson SG Standard’s. He has two of both, a main and a backup. The SG is usually tuned to drop-D and is stock. The Strat has SRV Texas Special pickups in the neck and middle pickups with a DiMarzio in the bridge and is in standard tuning. Adrian says that he prefers to use a patch cable to connect his setup to his guitar as opposed to wireless. In fact, he usese a 60-foot Peter Cornish patch cable. He says that he just prefers the sound, whether it actually makes a difference or not, he’s not sure.

From Adrian’s guitar he hooks into a Whirlwind Multi-Selector 4-channel selector which is then fed into a Dunlop DCR-1SR Rack WAH. From there he hooks in a Mike Hill B.I.S. Isolation box, a Digitech Whammy Pedal, an Ibanez TS-9 Tube Screamer, and ends on his Marshall 6100LM 100-Watt All-Tube Head. On the FX loop of the Marshall head he has a Peavy Tubefex Tube Preamp & Multi-FX Unit. The FX unit hooks into a Yamaha MFC10 Midi Foot Controller which also allows him to switch channels on the head via the head’s MIDI facility. This MIDI function is exclusive to the 30th Anniversary Head.

Finally everything is broadcast using two 300-watt Marshall 1960A angled-front 4×12 cabs sporting 75-watt Celestion G12-T75 Speakers. All in all it is a pretty impressive setup.

String Master Robotic Guitar Tuner

Matt — Fri, 21 Apr 2006 13:00:31 +0000

There are many different guitar tuning tools out there ranging from chromatic tuners to self-tuning guitars. The String Master Robotic Guitar Tuner falls somewhere in between.

For the guitarist who doesn’t want to tune his guitar, but doesn’t want to buy a whole new bridge and nut system that’s required for a self-tuning guitar, the Robotic Tuner is here for you. The tuner acts the same way a standard chromatic tuner does, but comes with a tuning peg attachment that tightens your strings for you.

All you have to do is plug your guitar into the tuner, put the tuner over a tuning peg on your guitar. Then pluck the string and the tuner will do the rest. The tuner’s motor turns the tuning peg up to pitch and then will beep when it is in tune. The unit runs off of a 9-volt battery.

Guitar Gear: Michael Amott of Arch Enemy Guitar & Amp Setup

Matt — Sat, 15 Apr 2006 22:33:53 +0000

In about 2 hours time I will be heading down to the MacEwan Ballroom at the University of Calgary to see Arch Enemy with guests Chimaira. I’m pretty excited for this show, I have never seen Arch Enemy play and I think Michael Amott is a wicked guitarist. In light of this I thought I’d do a post up about Amott’s guitar setup.

Michael Amott uses some complex midi switching on his live setup. Since he does a lot of switching in his songs and he didnt want to go with a multi-effect setup, he settled on a MIDI-controlled Providence looping/switching system.

From Guitar to Amp

It’s not that simple to describe Michael’s setup in list form since he uses multiple effect loops connected to his MIDI switch, but I’ll do my best.

His guitar is an ESP Ninja V Michael Amot Signature and he hooks it into his effect rack with a Shure ULXP4 Wireless Unit. The following effects are all hooked into the loop connections on a Providence PEC-2 Routing System.

Jim Dunlop Custom Rack Wah DCR-2SR
Rocktron Hush Super C Noise Gate
Roland SDE-3000 Digital Delay
Ibanez AD-9 Analog Delay
Boss OC-2 Octave Pedal
MXR Phase 90
Ibanez TS-808 Tube Screamer Reissue
Boss TU-2 Chromatic Tuner

The output from the MIDI controller is then sent to two Krank Krankenstein heads and then out to four Krank Revolution 4×12 Straight cabs with Celestion Vintage 30s.

With this setup, Amott has a chromatic tuner and a Providence PEC-2 routing system controller with him on stage. He also has a wah pedal near his PEC-2 and one at center stage.

Michael Amott’s Guitar Setup

On his guitar Amott uses D’Addario custom set 11-15-18-32-44-59 strings tuned down two whole steps (C F Bb Eb G C). He uses a Seymour Duncan ‘59 (SH-1N) pickup in the neck and a Seymour Duncan JB (SH-4) pickup in the bridge.

Intel/Fender Telecaster Concept Guitar

Matt — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 02:43:31 +0000

I know this is a few months old but Popagadget has a post about the new digital internet enabled guitar by Fender and Intel.

Fender and Intel have partnered to create a concept of an internet-enabled super guitar. The new revisited Fender Telecaster will incorporate Intel Centrino mobile technology to allow Internet access on the go. The TELECASTER guitar contains a Hewlett Packard TC1100 tablet laptop with 1.25ghz RAM and an Echo Indigo I/O soundcard.

With the new Fender every musician will be able to download music directly on their “super-guitar”, record new ideas on it and email them directly to whoever they want. It is supposed to even incorporate a webcam, so you can stream yourself rocking onstage to the whole Internet world.

The guitar has a full computer in it with the LCD screen in the back of the body. Watch out for those belt buckles, cause that’s right where the display is.

It sounds like an interesting enough idea to me, but I don’t think it is really innovative enough to sell. I am much more interested in the Gibson digital guitar.

Here is a link to the Intel/Fender Telecaster Concept Guitar on Fender’s website.

Guitar Gear: Mark Morton of Lamb of God Guitar & Amp Setup

Matt — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 13:06:57 +0000

Mark Morton’s stage setup is really geared towards mastering the mids. He splits his guitar signal into two channels using a Whirlwind Selector and then runs it through two Mesa/Boogie Mark IV heads. He then sets one of the heads with the mid frequencies scooped and the other with them boosted. Before each show he and his sound tech work together to balance the two heads and get the best sounding mid frequency.

Morton uses three different guitars. His main guitar is a Jackson MM1 Mark Morton Signature. His second and third are a Jackson Swee-tone Archtop and a Jackson RR5 Rhoads. Each guitar has a Seymour Duncan Invader pickup in the bridge and a Seymour Duncan Jazz in the neck. GHS Boomer 10 – 46 gauge strings are strung on the guitars and tuned in either a drop-d (D-A-D-G-B-E) or a double drop-d (D-A-D-G-B-D).

From Guitar to Amp

Jackson Custom MM1 Mark Morton Signature
Sennheiser EW100 Wireless Unit
Boss TU-2 Chromatic Tuner
Whirlwind Selector

From this point on the guitar signal is split into two channels. Each channel goes through the compressor, a noise gate, and into the Mesa/Boogie heads.

DBX 266XL Dual Compressor
2 Mesa/Boogie Mark IV Heads
Rocktron Hush Super C Two-channel Noise Gate via the FX loop of the Mesa/Boogie heads
9 Mesa Rectifier Straight-front traditional 4×12 cabs with Celestion Vintage 30’s

I think the idea for splitting the sound between two heads is really sweet. I would love to have a chance to play around with something like that one day.

Guitar Gear: Phil Sgrosso from As I Lay Dying Guitar & Amp Setup

Matt — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 15:53:13 +0000

When recording As I Lay Dying’s 2005 album Shadows are Security, guitarist Phil Sgrosso was introduced to the Krank Revolution Series One head by the album’s mixer Andy Sneap. Since then he wouldn’t dare use anything else for live shows. He is often told how much the live shows sound like the album, which is always great to hear.

As far as live setups go Sgrosso’s is pretty simple and straight to the point. The main focus of his setup is distortion. He has two Krank Revolution Series One 100-watt tube heads (a primary and a backup) hooked into four Mesa/Boogie Recto-Standard straight-front 4×12 cabinets. The cabs house Celestion Vintage 30s. Something that is interesting is that the two upper cabs are not even plugged in.

From Guitar to Amp

Phil Sgrosso’s setup from his guitar to his amp goes like this:

2005 Black Cherry Gibson Les Paul Standard
EMG 85 Active Pickups (both neck and bridge)
Sennheiser EW 172 G2 Wireless Receiver
Boss TU-2 Chromatic Tuner
Maxon OD808 Overdrive
Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor
Krank Revolution One Series 100-Watt Head
2 Mesa/Boogie Recto-Standard Straight-Front 4×12 cabinets with Celestion Vintage 30s

Phil Sgrosso also has 1 backup Krank head and 2 cabs which he doesn’t use.

Guitar Strings and Tuning

On both of his guitars Sgrosso uses 11-15-20-34-44-56 gauge strings. The guitars are tuned down one whole step with an extra drop-D (from low to high: C G C F A D).

My Guitar Gear Past, Present, and Future

Matt — Mon, 20 Mar 2006 14:33:20 +0000

Dolan Trout has an interesting post on his blog titled My Guitar History and has encouraged his readers to comment with their current and past gear. This has sparked me to do the same, although I have not owned many guitar’s, I have owned a few, and am now in the market for more!

My first guitar was a gift from a family friend. It’s a Yamaha FG-450SA acoustic that he was storing at our house. While it was at our house I had decided I wanted to learn to play it. When he came back a month later he heard me playing and was impressed with how much I had picked up on my own, so he gave it to me.

That guitar has seen better days… I moved from BC to Alberta and did not pay attention to proper humidity and the guitar dried up and cracked. Currently there is a split in the soundboard and two nicks out of the back. Also the fretboard is in dire need of new frets. The guitar was probably $700 new and has been a great guitar. It does have some sentimental value, so I could see myself getting the repairs done for that reason despite the fact it is only an entry level acoustic.

My second guitar was an electric that I purchased almost 4 years after playing only acoustic. I got some money gifts for graduating high school and used them to buy the guitar. It is a bottom of the line Epiphone model and strangely enough it is a strat copy. I purchased it for $185CAD and a little 10-watt Traynor amp for $80.

My third and current favorite guitar is an Epiphone Les Paul Standard. I had gone to the guitar store a few times when I was thinking about buying it. I had a white one picked out and was just going by on payday to pick it up. When I got there they had just received a new shipment of guitars and another LP caught my eye. First I noticed its honey-brown finish, which I love. As soon as I picked it up I knew it was the one, the body was at least 10% lighter than the others I had tried. Although I like the weight of the Les Paul, I have to admit, this one just feels right.

I was still playing the guitar through my little 10-watt Traynor amp with no gain (which was no fun). So I went to the local pawn shop and bought a BOSS Metal Zone MT-2 to spice it up. About a month later I was given a Line 6 Spider II 210 for my birthday. I really love this amp.

About 6 months after buying the Les Paul I upgraded the pickups from the stock ones to a set of EMG Zakk Wylde 81/85 pickups. Since my style was quickly changing from Classic Rock to Metal, the pickups gave me the extra noise I needed.

What the future Holds

I’m currently looking for adding to my instrument collection. I have a few ideas for what I would like to get. Since I play a lot of metal that is tuned down, I would like to get a second electric guitar that I can leave tuned a full step down, maybe a Jackson RR3 or an ESP. Lately I have also been lusting after a Line 6 PODXT Live as well. Although, I do not know how well it would go with my Spider II. I’m not sure how they interact or what happens when you put an amp modeling floor unit into an amp modeling amp. So I’ll have to read up on that. If I do not get either of those I have also been thinking about getting a phrase looper. Lately I have wanted to jam more and more, and this would be a great tool to help me improve my improvising techniques.

So that is my gear past, present, and future. What have you guys got?