Gibson’s custom shop has released a Zakk Wylde signature model Flying V featuring a bullseye paint job and EMG pickups. I have not been able to find anything about it on Gibson’s website, or Gibsoncustom.com. I think it should show up under “Inspired by” on Gibson Custom, but I don’t think they update their site very often. Nevertheless, I did find a post on the Zakk Wylde forums about it.

It looks like they are available now. Gibson has done a limited run of 100 of this guitar and they are quoting a MSRP of $7056.00. Someone by the handle BUHZERKER has reported that Midtown Music in GA is letting them go for $4500.00USD.

Like everything else he puts his name behind, Zakk Wylde worked closely on the development of this guitar. Zakk feels that if he can’t pick one up off the shelf and play it at a show, then he won’t back it. Personally, I’m not a huge fan of signature guitars when they have a matched “unique” paint job. However, getting a guitar that has the same physical specs as your idol is fine. When trying to mimic the sound of someone, there is no better way than to use the exact same guitar that they use.

Some people on the forums were complaining about the placement of the pickup switch. Personally I don’t really see what the issue is with that. Having it up by the neck would put it in a bad place for being hit by the pick. The only other option to me would be to have it down in the lower half of the V by the control knobs. Either way, I personally think it is a non-issue.

Continue reading Zakk Wylde Gibson Custom Bullseye Flying V

A big announcement at this year’s NAMM Show was that of the release of the Stratocaster VG, Fender’s first modeling guitar. After spending a few days researching Gibson’s digital guitar, I figured I might as well take a look at what Fender is offering.

The Guitar

This guitar starts off like any other American Stratocaster. It has an alder body, maple neck, and rosewood or maple fingerboard. It has 22 medium-jumbo frets and three American Strat single-coil pickups in the standard fashion. You get your familiar master volume and tone as well as a 5-way pickup selector switch. The bridge is an American 2-point synchronized tremolo. The hardware and pick guard are all in standard Strat form. Like I said, it is exactly what you would expect from a regular tried and true American Strat. The sound is output through a standard 1/4″ analog jack on the front of the guitar.

In addition to all that normal Strat stuff, there are a few extra components which make this a modeling guitar. First there is a Rolland VG hex pickup right between the bridge pickup and the bridge. This hex pickup allows for each string to be individually sensed and processed. There are also two additional 5-position knobs; one for selecting a modeling mode and one for selecting a tuning. The last difference is a little blue battery indicator light. That’s right… I said battery. The VG requires 4 AA batteries to power the internal processing unit. So what does all this jazz do? Well, each string is individually processed and modeled depending on which tone and tuning you select, then that modeled signal is output through the 1/4″ analog jack just as it always has. This means that you don’t need any extra equipment to use the modeling features, just plug it into your amp and go.

Continue reading Fender VG Modeling Stratocaster Guitar In Depth

The Gibson HD.6x Pro Les Paul has been available for a few months now. Still there is a lot of vague and sometimes inaccurate information on the net about it. In fact, after all I have read I still had a bit of confusion about what exactly this guitar can and can not do. So I decided to do a bit of research.

Just to reiterate what has been talked about on countless websites, this is the first digital guitar from Gibson. Now, digital guitars have been available from a few different manufacturers for years, but I find the term Digital Guitar has been used to describe a wide variety of products. Line 6 for example has had the Variax digital modeling guitar for quite some time. So what exactly is the Gibson 6x.HD Les Paul?

Continue reading Gibson HD.6x Digital Guitar In Depth

Jackson has just unveiled a new signature guitar for Mark Morton of Lamb of God. If you head over to jacksonguitars.com right now you’ll see their little showcase. The guitar is a customized version of the Swee-Tone Jazz’r that Mark himself helped design.

Jackson has lost a few artists to ESP over the last few years… well basically since they were bought by Fender. This shows some artists still have faith in the Jackson brand. The guitar, which Mark Morton helped design really is run of the mill though. If you look on Jackson’s site, all of the unique features are in the aesthetics. You’ll see though that it has all of the standard metal guitar features including Seymour Duncan pickups, jumbo frets, and neck-through-body design.

Set aside the amazing finish and unique body design. The thing that stands out at me is both the bridge and neck position have the same pickup. To be hones the first thing I would do after buying this guitar would be swap out one of the pickups with a different Seymour Duncan to increase the range of sound. On the other hand, this IS a signature guitar… if you are going to buy it my guess is you are trying replicate Morton’s sound. Either that or you are like me and are having strong sexual feelings towards the guitar due to it’s stunning finish.

Continue reading Jackson Mark Morton Dominion Signature Guitar

The Schecter C-7 Blackjack is essentially a 7 string version of the Schecter C-1 Blackjack. The 7 string solid body guitar was originally introduced in 1990 by Steve Vai and Ibanez. Steve experimented with adding a high A string to the standard guitar, but ended up going with a low B as the A was prone to breaking.

Since Steve Vai’s original guitar, several other manufacturers have introduced their own 7 string guitars. This one along with the Schecter 007 are both used by Nevermore’s Jeff Loomis. Like any high quality guitar the construction is the same, the body is made with mahogany, the neck with maple and the fingerboard with rosewood. As with the C-1, this guitar has 24 X-jumbo frets for better range and bends. The fingerboard is accented with black pearl dot inlays.

Continue reading Schecter C-7 Blackjack Guitar

Schecter is another popular manufacturer of guitars used by metal guitarists. The C-1 model is one of their nicest aesthetically. As of late I have been really thinking about purchasing a second guitar. I currently own an Epiphone Les Paul standard which is a great guitar. However, sometimes I feel limited with its classic design. I am looking for a guitar that has 24 frets and a tremolo bridge. Also the design of the neck is very important, something with better access to the higher frets is important. This is one of the guitars that I have been looking at.
Continue reading Schecter C-1 Hellraiser FR Guitar

John Petrucci is one guitarist that until lately I haven’t paid much attention to. I knew of him and of Dream Theatre but had never had much exposure to his music. I recently got my hands on his instructional DVD Rock Discipline and I can’t believe what I have been missing all of these years. The guy is a god.

One of John’s many guitars is his own Ernie Ball Music Man John Petrucci Signature guitar. Petrucci worked very closely with Ernie Ball Guitars to develop a guitar that had a new level of style and practicality. The guitar comes in both 6 and 7 string versions and can be purchased with or without a piezo bridge. The body of the guitar has a sculpted neck joint for better access to the high frets and a contoured top for better picking arm support.
Continue reading Ernie Ball Music Man John Petrucci Signature Guitar

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.
Continue reading Guitar Gear: Mark Morton of Lamb of God Guitar & Amp Setup

When Fender bought out Jackson Guitars Alexi was told it would take 1 year for them to build him a new signature guitar. When ESP told him it would only take them 3 months it was a no-brainer for him to switch. The Alexi Laiho signature is basically a Jackson RR Custom clone with some added visual flair.

The design of the guitar plays on the black pinstripe on white look that the Jackson RR1 Rhoads has, but with a more stylized look. The shark fin points on the body are straighter and slightly curved as opposed to the true edges on the RR.
Continue reading ESP Alexi Laiho Signature Guitar

Dimebag had always been a Dean player in his youth. His first Dean was a cherry sunburst ML bought for him by his father and his second a Dean that he won in a playing competition. The guitar he won later became his most popular guitar, the custom lighting bolt painted Cowboy from Hell.

When Dean went out of business in the mid 80’s Dimebag became a Washburn promoter. In 2004, not long before Dime’s death the Dean company was reopened by Dean Zelinsky and Dimebag was brought back on as an endorser. The Razorback Tribute has been released along with a range of reissued ML guitars in Dimebag’s name.
Continue reading Dean USA Razorback Tribute Dimebag Darrell Signature Guitar

Randy Rhoads designed this guitar and approved its prototype before he passed. It’s a shame he didn’t live to see this wonderful guitar come to production. Randy will forever be known as one of metal’s most talented and influential guitarists. So many of today’s guitar players were influenced by the man who made Ozzy and the Jackson RR1 Rhoads Signature screams just like Randy would have wanted.

The RR1 is Jackson’s most popular signature guitar, and not only for its name. The alder body and maple neck are built together in a neck-thru design. Neck-thru gives the guitar much more sustain than the cheaper bolt-on neck option.
Continue reading Jackson RR1 Randy Rhoads Signature Guitar

ESP number 3 on the list of signature metal guitars is Kirk Hammett’s KH-2. The KH-2 comes in three different models, the Vintage, the Neck-Thru, and the Standard, all at different price points. There was a time when I thought there were none greater than Kirk Hammett. I have since discovered otherwise, however there is no denying his guitar talent.

The three versions of the KH-2 are very similar. They are 24 XJ fret guitars with a 25.5″ scale. Each guitar has an alder body with a rosewood fingerboard. There is an EMG 81 pickup in both the bridge and neck position and they are controlled with 2 volume knobs, 1 tone knob, and a three way switch. Everything is finished in black hardware and the fingerboard is inlayed with skull and crossbones markers. On the pick end the bridge is an original Floyd Rose tremolo.
Continue reading ESP KH-2 Kirk Hammett Signature Guitar

Unless you haven’t picked up on it yet, I’m a pretty big metal fan. I was thinking about doing a series of review posts on some guitars commonly used by metal guitarists.

To finish off the month of March, over the next 7 days we will look at 7 different signature metal guitars. Each of the signature guitars is from one of my favorite guitarists.

The guitars I plan on reviewing are as follows:

1. Guitar Reviews: March Metal Madness
2. Fender Stratocaster Yngwie Malmsteen Signature Guitar
3. ESP KH-2 Kirk Hammett Signature Guitar
4. ESP Ninja 600 Michael Amott Signature Guitar
5. Gibson Les Paul Zakk Wylde CAMO Signature Guitar
6. Jackson RR1 Randy Rhoads Signature Guitar
7. Dean USA Razorback Tribute Dimebag Darrell Signature Guitar
8. ESP Alexi Laiho Signature Guitar

So, check back tomorrow for first on the list, the Yngwie Malmsteen Fender Strat.