Happy Canada Day Guitar

So, today's Canada Day; and to celebrate there's always a big shindig held in the nation's capital city of Ottawa, where a bunch of speaching and music playing ensues. At this year's celebration there was a special guest; Canadian luthier George Rizanyl's Six String Nation Guitar will be played on stage. What makes this guitar so special are the materials that were used to construct it. Example; bridge pins made out of Canadian hockey player Paul Henderson's hockey stick, Narwhal tusk, and one from Wayne Gretsky's stick. Every material in the instrument is from a uniquely Canadian material.
From the Canadian Press;
"•THE NECK: Decking from the Bluenose II; Papineau Manor (built by Louis-Joseph Papineau who led the Lower Canada Rebellion); a bagel shibba from Montreal; oak from St. Boniface Museum (in the building where Louis Riel went to school).

•INSIDE: A piece from Fan Tan Alley (Canada’s first Chinatown in Victoria); Olympic medallist Nancy Greene’s childhood skis; Pierre Trudeau’s canoe paddle.

•MAPLE LEAF PICK GUARD: Part of cowboy John Ware’s cabin; part of basketball inventor John Naismith’s house; an inset of a wooden nickel made out of the third Maid of the Mist built in 1885; red ochre stain from Newfoundland; Paul Henderson’s stick; Wayne Gretzky’s stick; a seat from the Montreal Forum.

•BRIDGEPINS: Henderson and Gretzky’s sticks; slate from a slave chapel in St. Armand, Que.

•THE HEAD: Decorated with a diamond-shaped inset of B.C. jade.

•FIRST FRET: Stone from the monument to Shu-kwe-wee-tam/Almightyvoice (Saskatchewan aboriginal hero); raw silver from Cobalt, Ont.; a piece of the oldest rock in the world (Acasta gneiss, found at Great Bear Lake, believed to be nearly 4 billion years old).

•THIRD FRET: Decorated with labradorite; moose shin; copper from the roof of the library of Parliament

•NINTH FRET: Decorated with moose antler from Pick River First Nation on Lake Superior; blue labradorite from Nain, N.L.; a gold dot from Rocket Richard’s Stanley Cup ring of 1955-56."

Burns Guitars of London

Wow! I've always been kind of attracted to ugly beautiful elements of guitar design, and the Burns London line of retro modern cool guitars definitely fit into the category. Burns is actually well known on the other side of the pond, but not so much here in North America. But what a bunch of cool guitars! Check out the "Shadows Bass 1964", Sonic"", and the Jet-Sonic'" (all below). Cool.

Fender Pro Tube Series Super-Sonic audio samples

I really like audio and interactive displays that showcase new guitar products. The web has many unexplored possiblities to allow consumers to get a better feel for their next possible purchase. The better you're informed, the happier you'll be when you finally slap that cash down on your local music store's glass counter.
Fender has embraced macromedia technology to bring us this great interactive, sound generating device which gives me a good look at Fender's Pro Tube Series Super-Sonic Guitar amplifier. It's great. As for tones; even on my Mac's built in speakers, you can't mistake that distinct Fender twang and sparkle. What a great tone. Try the "Bassman Baltimore" for a great, pure Fender clean sound, the "Texas Tea" for SRV sting, and the "Lo-Fi Fuzz' for instant - well, for instant Lo-Fi cool.

Free guitar!

Acoustic Guitar Magazine is a great read, and now their giving away a Martin Special Edition OM-28JM John Mayer Signature Edition Guitar. This is a serious instrument; Engelmann spruce top, East Indian rosewood back and sides, scalloped bracing, herringbone, and a Spanish cedar neck. You can enter at Stewarguitars.com/stowaway

Stewart Guitar's Stow-Away Guitar

Detachable guitar necks which fit into a special stow-away slot on the back of the body; travel guitars that fit into a carry on attache case. Cool.
Check it out at Stewarguitars.com/stowaway

Happy Birthday Fender!

Fender guitar afficiendos, the inimitable Jeff Beck, and the rockin' John Mayer - along with appearances by Eric Johnson, Train, G.Love and Special Sauce, the Gin Blossoms, and Vertical Horizon - all rocked out for the 60th Anniversary of Fender Guitars. According to Fender News, it was a great success. I'm sure it was.

"Freebird" goes into overtime

Jef Sarver in Chicago is trying to break the record for the longest Guitar Solo ever. He's been at it since 3:15pm on Wednesday, and he's picked Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Freebird" (what else could it be?) to break the record with. I'm just wondering if there's a secound award for continuously-played-worn-out-pick award he's missing out on. Found on cbs2chicago.com

Gary Kramer TomCat Guitar

The issue of ergonomics within the realms of guitar design are regarded by and large to be epitomized in the classic (existing) guitar designs of the past. Fender got it right in a lot of ways; the body scoop, beveled forearm area, controll layout. Gibsons - even with their extra bulk - fit like a well worn pair of slippers, and are well designed with players in mind. Expanding, or redifining these standards is a tough go. Guitarists, by nature, are fairly entrenched in their use of these well worn designs, and are kind of a sticky bunch when it comes to change in design, This guitar; the TomCat, by Stewarguitars.com/stowaway, is a bit of a departure from the tried and true. The name is justified; the TomCat definitely has a "inflight" design element to it's body, and it sleek and fast looking. Maple top, medium jumbo frets, 12" radius, pair of Dimarzio 'buckers.

Guitar and Bass Plug-In Tour hosted by IK Multimedia

A free tour is being kicked off and will last all summer, and will feature known guitarists. Its called the Guitar and Bass Plug-In Tour, and is being put on by IK Mutimedia. IK are the folks who bring you the Ampeg SVX and Amplitude 2 Plug in's, and if a SVT shaking the walls isn't rock and roll, then what is?
From Mix Magazine; and if you ever feel like buying a non guitar mag - pick it up (or steal your soundman's copy!)

Genz Benz Shenandoah Shen Pro Acoustic Guitar Amp

The Genz Benz Shenandoah Acoustic Guitar Amplifier is built with a 12AX7 Tube under the hood of the PreAmp which warms up the sound considerably; it adds a dimension of roundness, and a genuine organic feel to the sound of your amped Acoustic Guitar. 200 Watts, 12" Neodymium speaker, and a cab made of Baltic Birch plywood. The cab's rear ported, it has two inputs with a 1/4" and XLR each, and a 3 band EQ.

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Clapton Signed Bellezza Bianca Martin

Martin Guitars has released the limited edition "White Beauty" Martin Bellezza Bianca; designed in collaboration with Eric Clapton and Hiroshi Fujiwara, the guitar is signed by Clapton, C.F. Martin IV, Hiroshi Fujiwara, and Dick Boak; Martin Guitar's Director of Artist Relations. The guitar is a OOO size Martin; book matched Spruce Top, Maple back and sides, Herringbone Purfling, Silver Plated mini tuners and buttons, and a polished Black African Ebony Head Plate with the same Abalone Pearl Inlay as that as of the 1902 Martin 00-45S.

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Washburn B52SW Solid Wood Travel Guitar

Travel guitars have become a niche unto themselves, lately, and Washburn has added another worthy contender to the frey. The Washburn B52SW is a travel size guitar, but what sets it apart from many of the others is that this small guitar is made of all solid wood; Solid Spruce Top, and Solid Mahogany Back and Sides. A Mahogany neck with a Rosewood fingerboard rounds out the woods on this great guitar. Used to be a travel guitar automaticly meant cheap construction; with the release of the B52SW, Washburn raises the bar.

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Intel/Fender Telecaster

I guess it was just a matter of time before someone got the idea to formally combine a guitar with a computer, and here it is; the Intel/Fender Tele. The Tele has been routed out in the back and a Hewlett-Packard TC1100 tablet laptop - equipped with 1.25GB of RAM, an Echo Indigo I/O sound card, and wireless capability - has been set in. The laptop gives the guitarist the choice of emailing, web sourcing, recording, or Webcaming - oh yeah; you can also play guitar.

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Analog Devices' Hot Hand for Guitarists

Analog Devices has developed a unique Guitar controller that fits a small, wired (wireless being developed) "ring" with the power to control a Wah device. Guitarists have had very active hands - versus other musicians; in terms of not just finger movement, but gross hand movement - for many years now; ever since Townshend learned to windmill, and James Hetfield trained himself to down pick, and taking advantage of the subsequent movements outside of picking makes sense. Just don't get too crazy until they come out with the wireless version.

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Pantera and David Allen Coe

After the untimely passing of Dimebag Darrell Abbott in December of 2004, there has been talk of the release of any recordings he might have been involved in prior to his death. "Rebel Meets Rebel", features the last known completed recordings of Abbott, and features his brother; drummer Vinnie Paul, and Rex Brown - both of Pantera - and outlaw country singer David Allan Coe.

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David Gilmour's Black Fender Strat up for auction

David Gilmour's black Fender Statocaster is up for auction. The slightly "used - good conditon with some scuff marks" strat is signed by Gilmore and the "Save The Earth, David Gilmour" was scrawled on the guitar backstage at the Paramount Theatre in Oakland on April 17th this year, while David was on his recent North American tour. Proceeds will go to the Save The Earth Foundation, and the bidding has already reached over the $2,650.00 mark. If you have the wallet, you can still place a bid on either this guitar, or guitars signed by Carlos Santana, Fleetwood Mac or BB King up to this Sunday evening; savetheearth.net
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Built To Spill's new album

Built To Spill has released a new album, and the guitar is alive and well in the band. The new album, titled; You In Reverse, features a band which still believes the guitar is capable of creating interesting, fresh sounds. For 13 years BTS has been a group, and have cranked out 8 albums. It's good to see a band still playing guitar after so many years, and still injecting some new life into the instrument.

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electro-harmonix HOG Guitar Synthesizer

Guitar Synthesizer? Seems almost an oximoron; aren't most guitarists trying hard to get back to the guitarist-basicist sound right now? Witness Jack White of The White Stripes et al. Or maybe that was last year, maybe EH has the word that a polyphonic guitar synthesizer, with capbilities up to 10 interval pitches, dedicated filtering and envelope control - and it works with any pick-up and EH even claims it doesn't glitch - is the new old thing. Hmmm; I've heard similiar claims before (minus the "any pick up") from other companies in decades past; Roland comes to mind. In the seventies and eighties it was cool to not sound like a guitar, is it time again?

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PRS Corvette Standard 22 Guitar

Paul Reed Smith has released an updated version of the PRS C6, which was released in 2005; the Corvette Standard 22. Carved mahogony body with a 25" scale length mahogany neck with a rosewood fingerboard. Comes loaded with two Dragon II pickups, and volume and tone controls and a 5 way switch. The color selection is right out of a new performance car show room; Le Mans Blue, Daytona Sunset Orange, Machine Silver, and Velocity Yellow (this one).

PRS's website shows this graphic to describe the Dragon II Treble Pick Up, and here's a link to thier website to hear a sample of the Pick Up at work.

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Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris release All The Roadrunning

Mark Knopfler has always been a favorite guitarist of mine. His sense of space, and his unique fingerstyle lead guitar style have always captured my ear. His style is outstanding; when you hear even a note or two, he achieves what all great guitarists do and all other guitarists strive to do - you instantly know it's Mark playing. His attack, via his finger plucked style, is truly in a class by itself. After the success of Dire Straits, Knopfler has been busy developing a song based style, with leanings toward barer bones and stripped down arrangements, and it's opened doors to different roads for him.
Mark has been working on the concept of an album with Emmylou Harris for ten years now. and it's release has now been confirmed for 24 April, 2006. The album, named All The Roadrunning, is an interesting pairing, but it does make a lot of sense. Both Harris and Knopfler are in their late 50's (Emmylou is 59, and Mark is 56), both have weathered marriages and divorces and have children. This, then will be a marked mature album. Plenty of guitar and the lilting melodies of Harris. This will be good.

From a guitarists point of view; Mark has taken delivery on a new Pensa Suhr; a Pensa Custom MK11. Dated 3rd of June, 05, serial number 0260. Single coils, strat shape. If any body has any further info, I'd be interested; comment below.

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