First off - Damn, Cary at EGR is fast. He has already posted an article about Gibson’s Les Paul ‘59 USB Drive giveaway.

Second - How is it possible that I didn’t know that Gibson had a mini Les Paul that was a flash drive and came with it’s own little case? I’m the biggest geek I know. Well - maybe not, but I AM the biggest gadget whore I know. I’m just checking out the Gibson website and they have a few geeky products I didn’t know about. For example CD-Rs and DVD-Rs that come in a fancy tin case and 500GB external hard drives that glow blue Gibson logos.

Anyway, Gibson is giving one of these flash drives away this month. I would enter the contest to win one, but once again it’s only open to yanks. So all you Americans, can visit the Gibson website to try and win yourself one of these bad boys.

The drive is a 1GB flash. It’s a ‘59 Les Paul replica (Sorry no Relic versions available). It’s USB 2.0, comes with the cable and a tiny guitar case. As of now I cant seem to find anywhere online to buy one, but I’ll be keeping my eyes out.

Good Luck!

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?

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.

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.

Well… I was going to post a trackback to Cary Miller at Electric Guitar Review and his post from a few weeks ago on the Gibson Digital HD.6x-Pro guitar to announce that it has finally been released. However, as I hit his front page I see that he beat me to the chase. So please head over to his post about the release of the Gibson HD.6x-Pro. He has all the juicy details.

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.

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.
Continue reading My Guitar Gear Past, Present, and Future

The Les Paul, one of the greatest guitars ever created has been the choice for guitar legends including Jimmy Page, Zakk Wylde, Toni Iommi, and many more for decades. The Gibson Les Paul is the guitar to buy if you want a heavy, crunchy sound to your music, but many guitarists don’t have thousands of dollars to shell out for a multi-thousand dollar Gibson guitar. Thanks to the Epiphone, guitar players who want a more entry level guitar can still have the great sound of a Les Paul. Starting at around $500, instead of $1500, the Epiphone Les Paul Standard has a great bang for its buck. It’s the guitar I chose and I love it.

The Epiphone Les Paul Standard sports features such as a mahogany/alder body, carved maple top, rosewood fingerboard, chrome-covered humbuckers, cream body and fretboard binding, and chrome hardware. Musicians Friend gives the guitar a 9 out of 10 and I’d have to agree.
Continue reading Epiphone Les Paul Standard Reviews