Six string nation; Canada's guitar

Luthier George Riszanyl has created hand-crafted guitars for Keith Richards and James Taylor and is now nearing the completion of a ten year project of building a Canadian "National' Guitar made up of materials which hold unique, special places in Canada's history. Wood from Wayne Gretzky's Hockey Stick, a plank from the deck of the Bluenose II, and a canoe paddle which belonged to Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. Two Guitars are being built -all from materials culled from each of the provinces and territories of Canada including wood, bone, steel, shell and stones from different area's of Canada. One Guitar will be exhibited, and the other will travel the country. The second Guitar, named the Echo, will be equipped with GPS, environmental and biological feedback sensors, and a hand-writting recognition tablet. It will be passed from musician to musician, and will traverse the country, as it is tracked on a website, with blogs and video from it's built in webcams being broadcast.

link

tag; guitar

RKS The Wave Guitar; interchangable colored body shells

First the Smart car came out with interchangable exterior body panels, enabling a motorist to change his/her car colour with his/her mood. Now, RKS Guitars has released what they call "the first guitar to offer fully interchangeable body shells and pickguards. Undo a few screws and change the color of your guitar! It's so simple you could do it between sets." Very useful for those musician mood swings; swap from Ocean Pearl to Fine Lime to Lipstick Pink all in one night!

link

tag; guitar

Rare Guitar signed by all Four Beatles to be auctioned

This guitar is being added to an Scottsdale, AZ auction, and is purported to have been signed by all four Beatles. Dave Wakefield Sr. worked in event security during the 70's and 80's at various Baltimore City venues, and he obtained Paul's, George's, and Ringo's signatures on this guitar (looks like a Gibson LP) during this time. In 1980 he traveled to New York, in the hopes of obtaining the final signature. He hung out in front of the Dakota, and on the secound day -he claims- Lennon came out on foot, and Dave approached him. Lennon commented "...of course, he needed the most important signature", and added his signature.
It's being auctioned on April 1st; even if the story is true, another day might have been better.
tag; guitar

Gibson Music Rising Guitar

President Clinton presenting a limited run Gibson Music Rising Guitar to a recipient of the campaign. Music Rising is a campaign to aid Musicians affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and has some pretty heavy names attached; U2's The Edge, producer Bob Ezrin, Gibson Guitars, and the Guitar Center Music Foundation. A good cause.

link

tag; guitar

Elvis's Gibson SJ-200

There are a few holy grails of popular music out there floating in the pungent ether of private collections and lucite sealed museum boxes, and this Gibson SJ-200 would be counted in the selection if someone created a role call of culture shaping pieces. The guitarist who owned this one changed music as we know it, and his impact is almost immeasureable. Was he an incredibly proficient fret burner? A fiercely studied technician? Not sure; by all accounts he was fairly limited in his knowledge, and operated the guitar in support of his voice, but he was not without vision, and the fact alone that he slung a guitar on stage opened a million doors of interest to the guitar and it's possibilities, and let's not forget the incredible Scotty Moore, Elvis's long time guitarist.
You can see this guitar at Graceland; "Elvis '56" is a new exhibit that just opened.
Go cat, Go.
guitar

Fender 60th Anniversary Standard Stratocaster

The eptimome of the electric guitar is the famous profile of the Fender Strat. In celebration of thier Diamond Anniversary - 1946-2006- Fender has released a special series of Guitars and Basses; including this limited-edition 60th Anniversary Stratocaster Guitar in a unique Blizzard Pearl finish. Alder body, maple C-shape age tinted neck, Tex-Mex pickups, and a cool 60th Anniversary stamped neck plate.

Marshall DSL100 and 1960A Silver Edition 100W Half Stack

Silver Amp. Silver Cab. 100 Watts. Marshall. What else do you need?

How to build your own Effect Pedals

effect pedal, originally uploaded by url1.

A cool how - to i ran into while surfing.

Guitartone.net

There's not a lot out there that deals with the subject of building your own effects. I know a lot of guitarists just grab a digital do-it-all - and i'm one of them - but, it's very cool to go old school and roll your own, using transistors and real analog pieces. This book looks cool.



tags;guitar

Steven Seagal's Guitars

Steven Seagal - star of numerous kick ass movies, most notably from the 80's - loves and collects guitars? Yes, it's true; and

Vintage Guitar

magazine has a cover story on Mr. Seagal's guitar perpundities and his collection. Who knew? But why not; guitar nuts come in all flavours, and, besides, his movies have always been a guilty pleasure of mine.

Cats Eye ESP Hop Hed Fuzztone

Jimmy Page's tone back in the Led Zep days was partly shaped by the MK111 Tonebender. The Hop Hed Fuzztone is designed to help you create that the Led Zep tone. True Bypass switching, an intenal trimpot for adjusting the gain/output level, and heavy construction make for a cool pedal.

John Mayer Strat

When first heard John Mayer's acoustic based pop, i thought that he wrote OK pop songs; then I was watching TV late one night and i saw him in concert playing a strat-and playing it well! i thought the guy was one heck of a guitarist, and i've since heard more of his electric playing and i was impressed. Fender has released a signature strat in his name, and i think it's well deserved. Alder body, maple C shaped neck and new Big Dipper single coils.

Quasar Phaser Pedal

This stompbox was created to produce the full gamut from "leslie" style swirling sounds, to 'bouncing" filter effects. This pedal has true bypass switching, noiseless opto based circuitry, and operates on a 9 volt or AC adapter.

Audiotech PD-1 Pro-Verdrive Pedal

PD-1-Pro-Verdrive, originally uploaded by url1.

The PD-1 Pro-Verdrive from Audiotech is another pedal designed to add overdrive to your sound, but not to colour or alter your tone. Manufactures of overdrive and distortion pedals have been developing guitar pedals which don't "tread" on a guitarist's carefully worked out tone. Audiotech has built the PD-1 to work this way; when stepped on, the pedal adds an overdrive boost, but it doesn't significantly change the basic tone.

Ibanez AK75DGD

AK75DGD, originally uploaded by url1.

Here are two new addition to Ibanez's Artcore series of large body, full hollow guitars. The AK75DGD is sports a cutaway, a beautiful gold finish, and two set in the body pickups.

The AF84EDVS sports a floating pickup and has the traditional, full body design.

Martin M3M George Martin model

M3M George Martin_f, originally uploaded by url1.

Martin has developed a guitar with Sir George Martin (yeah, that one; the Beatle's producer). It's a beautiful guitar, and a bit pricey, but it was designed to be the ultimate recording guitar and all the features fulfill that mandate. The top is an extremely rare Italian alpine spuce, the sides and back are mahogany, and the guitar is built of an M body. The neck is also mahogany, and is 1 and 3/4" at the nut. Martin is accepting orders for this guitar until Sep23rd.

Planet Waves Pedal Board Kit

Pedal-Board-Kit-sm, originally uploaded by url1.

Most guitarists I know carry their pedals -and the connecting cables they need for them- around in a snake pile of mess. Planet Waves has come out with a solderless cable-making system. You get 10 ft of instrument cable, 10 right angled plugs, and a mini cable cutter; all so you can create your own lengths of connecting cables for you pedal board, of stand alone pedals. Good idea.

Music Man Steve Morse Y2d signature model

smy2d_forum2, originally uploaded by url1.

Steve Morse and Music Man have been partnered now for 20 years, and to celebrate the occasion, Music Man has released the new Steve Morse Y2d signature model. Did you check out Morse on Live 8 this past year on stage with Deep Purple?

I thought it was one of the better performances, and Morse rocked out hard on his Music Man. Decent sound; considering it was live, recorded, and played back through my tv's speakers. Even in this setting the Music Man sounded great.
The Y2d builds on that original guitar design that Morse has been playing since '85; this guitar is fashioned out of a Poplar body with a maple top and a clear pickguard to show off the quilted or flamed maple. The back is solid black. Loaded with three Di-Marzio's; a humbucker in the neck and bridge, and a custom wound single coil in the middle position. One small detail that screams Morse is the placement of the volume control; Steve likes to wrap his little finger around it as he plays.
This is a cool guitar.
Steve Morse Y2d link.

tags;guitar

Moog MF-104Z Analog Delay

MF-104Z-Analog-Delay, originally uploaded by url1.

Man, this is one blast from the past...I remember when all electronic equipment was built this way; the silver topped black dials, the script and print on the user face, and the built-like-a-tank, wooden sided construction. Most home entertainment systems, and radio shack mixers looked like this- and the sounds they all made were groovy. Dig this, then; Moog has the longest Analogue, stand alone, delay module on the market with this puppy. There is a full one secound delay sandwiched between those wood sides, and this Moogerfooger is built to handle most inputs, from low level guitars and vocals, to high output drum machines and the like. Far out.
Moog link.

tags;guitar

Epiphone Custom Chrome Les Paul

epicustomchrome, originally uploaded by url1.

This is one hip new offering from Epiphone. Epiphone models of classic Gibson offerings are a great alternative to laying down the major bread needed to purchase the real mccoy from Gibson. This Les Paul is a unique twist on the Les Paul format; the Epiphone Custom Chrome Les Paul comes with chrome pickup mounting rings, hardware, inset knobs, and a chrome pickguard. Loaded with Alnico classic himbuckers. A great looking guitar.
Epiphone Guitars link.

tags;guitar

Epiphone Paul McCartney 1964 Texan

texan, originally uploaded by url1.

Paul McCartney worked with Gibson (who owns Epiphone) to develop an recreation of his own '64 Epiphone Texan, which he had used in both the Beatles and Wings.

The first run of 40 were very unique, special guitars; the run was overseen by Macca himself, and the serial #001 and #002 were donated to the Adopt a minefield organization, and were signed by Paul himself.