Premier DL

auGusthiGhliGhts
sponsored by Prs Guitars
Ken ParKer
archtoPs
ForGotten heroes:
cornell DuPree
Photo by Jean-Philippe Piter
Keith urban
Contemporary-country superstar Keith Urban reflects

on how Waylon Jennings indie spirit inspired him more
than 20 years ago in Australia, why Mark Knopfler
became his first guitar hero, and how he rehabilitated
many of his treasured vintage axes after the tragic
Nashville flood of 2010.
Besides playing on so many sessions and hits that they called

him Mr. 2500, Cornell Dupree
was a favorite of major-label
producers and superstars alike
because he could come in and
lay down tight, soulful tracks for
Aretha Franklin, and then show
up the next day to hit a home run
for Paul Simon or Miles Davis.
stanley clarKe
inseParable
Photo by Brenda Ahearn
Guitars often help their

owners get through tough
times, but few have seen
times as tough as those faced
by British Royal Air Force
pilot and prisoner of war
Alf Binnie and his 1940s
German archtop.
2011 ny
amP show
Premier Guitar treks

to Piscataway, New
Jersey, to scope out
the annual boutiqueamp extravaganza.
REVIEWS
Though he shook up the industry in 1993 with the Flythe

most unique solidbody design
the electric world had seen in
yearsfor more than 30 years
now his primary passion has
been advancing the art and science of archtop luthiery.
Photo courtesy of Concord Music Group
Fusion legend Stanley Clarke talks about

his double-bass roots, his bevy of Alembic
electrics, why all bassists should jam with
other 4-stringers, and his recent reunion
album with fellow Return to Forever bandmates Chick Corea and Lenny White.
Photo by Jeremy Saffer
last chance to reason
Maine-based mathcore brainiacs Last Chance to Reason meld facemelting chops with mind-bending music theory and their own
epic Metroid-style video game to mutate every notion you have
about youth, metal, and gaming culture.
Gibson Les Paul Studio Baritone

Kustom KXB500 and DE115NEO
Batson No. 5 Metal Pedals
HardCore XXX Reverend Thundergun and Justice Anacon
Technology Zagray! Trombetta Tornita! Fernandes V-Hawk Elite
81 P R E M I E R G U I T A R AMulti-Drive
UGUST 2010
w w w. p re m i e rg u i t a r. c o m
Empress
Vox TB35C2 Bruno
NY Amp Show Cornell Dupree Ken Parker

august 2011
Review-O-Rama!
11 Sizzling-Hot Guitar & Bass
Products Go Under the Microscope
Keith
Urban
Finger-lickin
Good Country
Last Chance
to Reason
Prog Metals
New Hope?
Stanley
Clarke
The Fusion
Bass God
Goes Acoustic
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2011 FMIC. Gretsch is a registered trademark of Fred W. Gretsch Enterprises, Ltd. and used herein under license. All rights reserved.
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EDITORIAL
Editor in Chief Shawn Hammond
Senior Editor Andy Ellis
Gear Editor Charles Saufley
Senior Art Editor Angela Cox
Senior Art Editor Meghan Molumby
Web Content Editor Rebecca Dirks
Associate Editor Chris Kies
Associate Editor Rich Osweiler
Associate Editor Jason Shadrick
Video Editor Steve Worthington
Acoustic Editor Gayla Drake Paul
Assistant Editor Liana Prudencio
PRODUCTION & OPERATIONs

Operations Manager Shannon Britcher
Circulation Manager Lois Stodola
Production Coordinator Luke Viertel
sALEs/MARKETING
Advertising/Artist Relations
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Director of Business Development
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Director of Retail Sales
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Marketing Manager Nick Ireland
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Multimedia Coordinator Seth Hansen
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6 PREMIER GUITAR AUGUST 2011
premierguitar.com
TuninG uP
Banishing Gollum (or Discovering Your inner Punk)

BY shawn hammond
ave you ever noticed how

the early work by many
of your favorite musicians,
actors, comedians, writers, and
other kinds of artists blows
your mind, while their later
work is often less engaging and
somehow lacking? This is an
oversimplification that cant
be applied to all creative types
across the board, of course.
But all of us can think of a lot
of once-amazing artists who
are now more likely to draw
attention for something bizarre
in their personal life than for
their most recent workwhich
is often more likely to incite
a yawn or a guffaw than an
inspired sigh of wonder.
To be clear, when I think
about this phenomenon with
guitarists, Im not talking about
physical facility on the instrumenti.e., chops. Anyone with
time and the will can develop
impressive dexterity. That said,
Im fully aware of how daunting
Photo courtesy of New Line Cinema
it must be to maintain a continuously amazing repertoire

and certainly not from personal
experience. I also understand
the statistics associated with creative lightning striking twice
for one individual (say, with a
huge hit song), let alone once.
But something doesnt have to
be a hit or achieve widespread
acclaim to be electrifying.
No, what Im talking about

is something more endemic to
creative types with a tendency
toward perfection. Its what Ive
decided to call Gollum Syndrome.
For the three of you reading
this who are unfamiliar with the
infamous character from J.R.R.
Tolkiens The Lord of the Rings
trilogy and/or Peter Jacksons
masterful film adaptations of it,
Gollum is a creepy-as-hell, uglyass freakazoid who was at one
point a regular, happy-go-lucky
hobbit called Smeagol who loved
ale, pipe-weed, and singing in the
pub every bit as much as the next
four-foot-tall, hairy-footed fellow.
But then he discovered a
magic ring that happened to
have the power to destroy the
world and do lots of other cool
stuff, like keep him alive for
500 years. Whats not to love
about that? There was just one
problem: The ring, which also
housed the soul of pretty much
the most powerful and evil
demigod ever, transformed him
into a crazy ghoul with a huge
head and an urge to kill anyone
who stood between him and his
precious (the term functioning
here as a noun, not an adjective).
In my opinion, thats pretty
much the crux of the problem
for a huge swath of players and
right-brained people in general
these days. Not the murderous
ghoul part, but the obsessing over one or two aspects of
their art partthe tendency to
become so preoccupied with
our precious that our craft
is morphed into an endeavor
so inwardly focused and selfabsorbed that all the seemingly
extraneous aspects of life that
previously seeped into it and
made it as much fun as a carefree hobbit dancing on a table at
the pub are gone and replaced
with unnatural obsessing that
stifles our previous unpredictability and freshness.

Some might be inclined to
think this freshness and zeal
naturally slips through our
fingers like the sands of time
as we ageor, worse, that such
youthful abandon is immature,
unrefined, and undesirable
and that the only logical way
to counter either scenario is to
woodshed endlessly in pursuit
of better chops and relentlessly pursue the rarest, most
expensive gear extant in order
to get better tone. But I call
B.S. on that. A lot of incredible musicians started out with
either crappy or mediocre gear
and somehow made it not
just work, but made it theirs.
Further, weve all witnessed
players (or bands, actors, etc.)
who just seem to get more and
more badass with agewhile
retaining their youthful zeal
regardless of the technology or
gear involved. Thats because
these people have discovered
their inner punk.
You dont have to like punk
rock to discover your inner
punk. I happen to love punk.
The best punk bandsincluding Bad Brains, the Sex Pistols,
the Clash, Dead Kennedys,
the Circle Jerks, the Ramones,
Fugazi, and the Misfitsliterally saved rock n roll from suffocating in the sap-filled folds of
its own bloated and predictable
excess. In essence, they raised
the middle finger, aurally and
literally, to the establishment
and insisted on doing things
their own way. And if people
didnt like it, they could take a
walk off a cliff.
If you trace the etymology of
the word punk, you find that
its modern meaning grew out of
a reference to youthful inexperience. Sounds bad at first, right?
But youthful inexperience is

fantastic when it leads you to
wondrous discoveries you never
wouldve found if youd worried
about experts preconceived
notions about how things
should be done.
Thats why I contend that all
of musics true legends and icons
were punks, regardless of their
genre of choice. They took a
good look and listen at what was
going on and said, No, thanks.
Ill do it my way. And they
reveled in that finger-flipping
abandon, too. Django, Robert
Johnson, Charlie Christian, Les
Paul, Sister Rosetta Tharpe,
Dick Dale, Page, Beck, Hendrix,
Van Halen, Rhoads, Yngwie,
Tom Morello . . . all punks at
heart. Thats what made us fall
in love with them in the first
place. They slapped us awake
and saved us from drowning in
a sea of sameness.
Only one thing can save
music (and the arts in general)
and assure us a future of continual discovery and excitement:
A mutual, concerted effort to
find your inner punk. Once you
doonce you set her or him
freetheres no telling where
itll lead you.
Save the Smeagols!
Shawn Hammond
shawn@premierguitar.com
premierguitar.com
TABLE OF COnTEnTS > FEATURES & REVIEWS
92
FEATURES
81
Last Chance to Reason
Stanley Clarke walks the walk and talks the talk with one of his many
Alembic basses at a Return to Forever gig. Photo by Martin Philbey
135 Inseparable
Guitars often help their owners get through tough times, but
few have seen times as tough as those faced by British Royal
Air Force pilot and prisoner of war Alf Binnie and his 1940s
German archtop.
Maine-based mathcore brainiacs Last Chance to Reason meld

face-melting chops with mind-bending music theory and their
own epic Metroid-style video game to mutate every notion you
have about youth, metal, and gaming culture.
92
Stanley Clarke
144 Keith Urban

Contemporary-country superstar Keith Urban reflects on how
Waylon Jennings indie spirit inspired him more than 20 years
ago in Australia, why Mark Knopfler became his first guitar hero,
and how he rehabilitated many of his treasured vintage axes after
the tragic Nashville flood of 2010.
Fusion legend Stanley Clarke talks about his double-bass roots,

his bevy of Alembic electrics, why all bassists should jam with
other 4-stringers, and his recent reunion album with fellow
Return to Forever bandmates Chick Corea and Lenny White.
100 2011 NY Amp Show

Premier Guitar treks to Piscataway, New Jersey, to scope out the
annual boutique-amp extravaganza.
111 Forgotten Heroes:

Cornell Dupree
Besides playing on so many sessions and hits that they called him
Mr. 2500, Cornell Dupree was a favorite of major-label producers and superstars alike because he could come in and lay down
tight, soulful tracks for Aretha Franklin, and then show up the
next day to hit a home run for Paul Simon or Miles Davis.
122 Builder Profile:

Ken Parker Archtops
Though he shook up the industry in 1993 with the Flythe
most unique solidbody design the electric world had seen in
yearsfor more than 30 years now his primary passion has been
advancing the art and science of archtop luthiery.
REVIEWS
156
161
164
167
170
175
179
182
185
188
Gibson Les Paul Studio Baritone

Kustom KXB500 and DE115NEO
Batson No. 5
Metal Pedals XXX Distortion
Reverend Thundergun and Justice
Anacon Technology Zagray!
Trombetta Tornita!
Fernandes V-Hawk Elite
Empress Multi-Drive
Vox TB35C2 Bruno
premierguitar.com
Heres how it works. You start playing small clubs. You post videos on the web. Your fan
base grows and bigger venues come calling. All you need is a little help from the pintsized Olympus LS-20M. Easily capture hours of magnificent high-definition video and
give it an edgy, stylized look with built-in movie effects. Like all Olympus LS recorders,
the audio sounds more amazing than anything youll hear on a CD. The Olympus LS-20M.
Promoting yourself just got ridiculously easy.
For reviews, tips and tricks, visit olympusamericaaudioblog.com.
TABLE OF COnTEnTS > LESSONS & DEPARTMENTS
LESSONS
DEPARTMENTS
65
Inside Jazz
17
Opening Notes
Gigging & Recording >
By Pat Martino
Alphabetic Junctions
25
News
34
Fretboard
Workshop
26
Letters
28
Staff Picks
66
PG editors and Guest Picker Tommy
By Adam Levy
Connecting the Dots
69
Beyond Blues
By Jeff McErlain
The Bends
73
30
192 New Products

196 Gear Search Gallery
1983 Alembic Spoiler
Rhythm & Grooves

By Andy Ellis
Guitar George
Media Reviews
ALBUMS: Kenny Wayne Shepherds How I
Go, 311s Universal Pulse, Fountains of Waynes
Sky Full of Holes, White Denims D, and New
Universe Music Festival
Shred Your
Enthusiasm
By Paul Gilbert
Thanksgiving at
Ted Nugents House
76
Emmanuel talk about their dream band

lineups.
By Paul TFO Allen

The Heavy Tone Equation
36
200 Modern Builder Vault
38
161
By John Bohlinger
The Rules of Improvisation
On Bass
By Dan Berkowitz
Risk... And Survival
40
Guitar Tracks
By Mitch Gallagher
Instant Capture
Tech Tips >

42
The Dark Side

By Randy Parsons
Zombie-Proof Your Guitar ... Now!
44
State of the Stomp

By Kevin Bolembach
Tell Me a Story
Drew & Sebastian Guitars
208 Last Call
On Track
By Rich Tozzoli
Secrets of Compression, Pt. 1
198 Guitar of the Month

1958 Fender Precision Bass
Tone Tips from the Road
46
Esoterica Electrica
By Jol Dantzig
Playing Buzzword Bingo
48
Acoustic Soundboard
By Larry Fishman
Acoustic Amplification, Pt. 1
Kustom KXB500 bass head and DE115NEO cab review
50
Ask Amp Man

By Jeff Bober
Tweaking a Carvin Nomad Combo
52
Mod Garage
By Dirk Wacker
The ABCs of Guitar Switches
Vintage & Upkeep >

54
Bottom Feeder
By Will Ray
T. Hiles Cigar-Box Guitar
182
56
Vintage Vault
By Dave Rogers, Laun Braithwaite,
and Tim Mullally
58
Trash or Treasure
By Zachery R. Fjestad
Gibson J-160E Norwegian Wood
Fernandes V-Hawk Elite review
60
Restoring an Original
By John Brown
Bridge Work on a 74 Gibson Flattop
62
The Low End

By Kevin Borden
The Gibson Thunderbird
One of the Greatest!
premierguitar.com
Extendingyourtonelife
like no other string.
Every time you play your guitar, tiny bits of you are left to invade the windings to
contaminate your strings and kill your tone. Elixir Strings are the only strings
that keep dirt out of the windings by coating the entire string. Our patented micro
thin NANOWEB Coating provides a clean, smooth feel while increasing string
tone life 3 to 5x longer than ordinary strings.
Hear more from John Paul Jones and find out why he loves his Elixir Strings:
www.elixirstrings.com/jpj
Photo Credit: Sarah Bastin
Elixirs are great. I dont have to

change them all the time and they
still sound fantastic.
-JohnPaulJones
WEB ExCLuSiVES
Your guide to the stories, reviews, galleries, and videos

appearing on premierguitar.com/aug2011 this month.
Inside Godin:
Video Factory Tour
Take a tour through Godins electric and acoustic factories in

Canada to see how the company attains their rare blend of
quality and affordability across the Godin family of brands,
including Richmond, Simon & Patrick, Seagull, Art &
Lutherie, Norman, and LaPatrie.
George Lynch, Kenny Wayne

Shepherd, and Keb Mo
New Gear from

Summer NAMM
Its a hot summer full of blazing licks, and three of the axe-slingers
providing new tunes are Lynch, Shepherd, and Mo. In three
brand-new interviews, each guitarist shares the details on recording
their new albums and the gear theyre relying on for their tone.
Wondering about the hot new gear released in Nashville?

PremierGuitar.com has all the details first! From news
updates to photo galleries to comprehensive video coverage, we let you read, see, and hear the new gear first.
ONLY ON FACEBOOK...
Head to facebook.com/premierguitar, Like us, and click on the Fans Only tab for exclusive access to all of this and more.
Bonus Feature Photos
FACEBOOK PHOTO OF THE MONTH
Want to see
more photos
from this issues
artist and gear
features? Look for the image
above in select articles in
this issue and then click on
the Photos tab on our
Facebook page to access
additional pictures for that
piece. This month, you can
see more shots of Stanley
Clarke, Cornell Dupree, and
Last Chance to Reason.
This months fan photo comes from Kevin

Burbulak, whose budding musician son picked at
his extra-special Les Paul. See the signature in the
lower left? Thats an autograph from Les Paul himself, signed just two months before Pauls death.
Thanks, Kevin, for sharing your treasured axe
and adorable babymay he grow up to do that
guitar justice!
For next months Facebook Photo of the Month
contest, post your best guitar-related photocool
gear, concerts, your band, you reading PG in
unique places, or anything else youve got legal
rights to poston our wall and well pick one
winner to feature here in the magazine and on our
Facebook page.
premierguitar.com
WEB ExCLuSiVES
Video Reviews Abound!
How to Replace
Your Output
Transformer
In addition to our written online-only reviews, were

doing more video reviews than ever! Head online to watch
video reviews of Squier Vintage Modified Jaguar Basses,
Fender 60th Anniversary Telecaster, Wampler Pedals
Leviathan Fuzz, Bogner Brixton, Bogner Panama, Bogner
Barcelona, HardWire HT-6 Tuner, Strymon Lex Rotary,
Gibson Les Paul Studio Baritone, Fernandes V-Hawk
Elite, Metal Pedals Hard Core XXX Distortion, and Black
Cat Mini Tremall in beautiful 1080p high-definition.
Adventures in Amplification
columnist Tim Schroeder
discusses why you might
want to upgrade your amps
transformer, what kind of
changes you can expect,
and how to perform the
upgrade in his latest column.
Remember, amps contain
potentially lethal voltages, so
do not attempt this yourself
if youre not completely
comfortable!
Show Us Your
Gear: DIY Builds
From your take on pedal

kits to amp circuits of
your own design, we want
to see your handiwork.
Email up to three pics
as well as a caption that
identifies the gear and tells
both what went into it and
how it sounds to
rebecca@premierguitar.com
for your chance at being
featured in our next gallery.
WIN IT!
Facebook fans get exclusive

access to weekly giveaways.
Log on and click on the
Contests tab to enter.
Go Backstage with New Rig Rundowns
Our Rig Rundown videos are now rolling out weekly, so check back
often for the latest looks into the rigs of the stars. The latest videos
include Keith Urban, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, Stanley
Clarke, Lynyrd Skynyrds Gary Rossington, and Korn.
MxR 78 Custom
Badass Distortion
August 17
POLL OF THE MONTH
What string gauge do you use

on your main electric?
Lightfoot Labs Goatkeeper 3

August 814
1%
.008s or
lighter
27%
5%
.009s
.012s or
heavier
SKB PS8-PRO Pedalboard*
18%
.011s
*Pedals not included
49%
.010s
Make your voice heard in next months

poll questionand other discussion topics throughout the monthby clicking the
Questions tab on our Facebook page!
premierguitar.com
August 1521
GEAR IN OUR STUDIO
Want to see whats coming up? Check out

our Gear In Our Studio album by clicking on the Photos tab. The album features
photos of hundreds of review candidates and
other cool gear thats passed through our
doors, and is updated regularly with the latest and greatest from PG HQ.
Austin Speaker Works

KTS-70 12" Guitar Speaker
August 2228
PREMIER GUITAR AUGUST 2011 15
OF THE
FEATURING
HEAD TO SCHECTERGUITARS.COM AND ENTER FOR YOUR

CHANCE TO ROLL IN STYLE TO THE 2011 UPROAR FESTIVAL
AND WALK AWAY WITH A SET OF SIGNATURE MODEL
GUITARS FROM AVENGED SEVENFOLD AND SEETHER.
TREY AnASTASiO
OPENING NOTES
June 3, 2011
DTE Music Theatre
Clarkston, MI
Photo by Ken Settle
Using his latest Paul Languedoc custom guitar, nicknamed Ocelot, Trey
Anastasio pleases the loyal Phish followers while performing Wolfmans
Brother. This koa hollowbody features
an intricate headstock inlay of an ocelot and is one of many guitars built
for Anastasio by the former long-time
Phish soundman. Languedoc also built
a pair of custom 2x12 cabinets in the
80s for Anastasio, which are currently
in use on this tour.
premierguitar.com
OPENING NOTES
BOnO
June 18, 2011

Angel Stadium
Anaheim, CA
Photo by Lindsey Best
On the third and final leg of U2s

360 tour, Bono shows off his new
Tele during a sold-out show at Angel
Stadium of Anaheim while drummer
Larry Mullen Jr. rocks steady behind
him. Handmade in the Fender Custom
Shop, Bonos guitar features doublebound f-holes, TV Jones pickups, a
chambered thinline body, and Bonos
signature at the 12th fret.
premierguitar.com
OPENING NOTES
premierguitar.com
OPENING NOTES
ROBin TROWER
June 2, 2011
House of Blues
Cleveland, OH
Photo by Ken Settle
British blues legend Robin Trower is

shown here during his tour stop in
Cleveland. Trower is playing his go-to
Fender Custom Shop Stratocaster, complete with a 70s- era large headstock.
While he carries two additional Strats
on the road, Trower prefers to use this
cream-colored axe for the entirety of
his set. Trower plugs into two Marshall
Vintage Modern 100-watt heads, two
Marshall 1936 2x12s and one 4x12.
premierguitar.com
OPENING NOTES
RAY LaMOnTAGnE
June 10, 2011
Bonnaroo
Manchester, TN
Photo by Wayne Dennon
At the 2011 Bonnaroo festival in

Manchester, Tennessee, acclaimed singersongwriter Ray LaMontagne flatpicks
his Bourgeois Custom DS-260. With a
slope-D design and an Adirondack spruce
top and Indian rosewood back and sides,
this is one of four Bourgeois guitars that
LaMontagne has purchased. Hes also
currently working with Dana Bourgeois
on a signature model.
premierguitar.com
OPENING NOTES
PAuL LAnDERS
May 20, 2011
LA Forum
Los Angeles, CA
Photo by Lindsey Best
At a recent show in Los Angeles,

guitarist for the German industrial metal band Rammstein, Paul
Landers digs into his Gibson
Custom Les Paul. A prototype for
his soon-to-be released signature
model, this matte black, grey-bound
axe is outfitted with EMG pickups
and one Volume knob.
premierguitar.com
the originals
1957
1958
1960
1961
1963
1964
1964
1965
1965
1965
the reissues
Custom 57 Relic
57 Reissue
Custom 60 Relic
62 Reissue
62 Reissue
and everything in between

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the Strat, Tele and P Bass are trademarks of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. 2011 Reverb Music, LLC. All Rights Reserved. 3316 N. Lincoln Ave Chicago, IL 60657 (773) 525-7773
nEWS
Glen Campbell
Diagnosed With
Alzheimers,
Announces Farewell
Album and Tour
BY ReBecca diRks
Iconic singer/songwriter/
guitarist Glen Campbell
has announced that he has
recently been diagnosed with
Alzheimers disease. The disease is still in its early stages,
and Campbell has said he will
release a final album, Ghost on
the Canvas, and then complete

a tour dubbed The Glen
Campbell Goodbye Tour.
The new album will be
released on August 30 on
Surfdog Records, and it features
appearances by Chris Isaak, Dick
Dale, Billy Corgan, Brian Setzer,
Rick Nielsen, Roger Manning,
and the Dandy Warhols.
Campbell was a part of the
go-to 60s and 70s group of session musicians referred to as the
Wrecking Crew, and he played
on countless hits of that era
before achieving success as a solo
artist with songs like Gentle

on My Mind and Rhinestone
Cowboy, as well as with an acting career that has included films
such as True Grit and The Glen
Campbell Goodtime Hour.
The editors of Premier Guitar offer up some unsolicited

opinions about guitars and 6-string life.
MARTin
RECEiVES
TRADEMARK
On HEADSTOCK
DESiGn
BY ReBecca diRks
nAzARETH, PA Martin
announced in June the trademark of the headstock configuration the company has used on
its guitars for more than 161
years. This trademark is part of
Martins ongoing effort to protect intellectual property, including guitar design, manufacture,
and production innovations.
The clean, simple, iconic
shape of the Martin guitar
headstock has long been recognized by consumers as one of
the primary identifying brand
and design elements of our
guitars, said C. F. Martin &
Co. Vice President, Corporate
Operations Gregory Paul.
Use of this shape by others
can only be intended to create
confusion in the marketplace.
The headstock configuration
used as far back as 1850 is now
protected by US Trademark
Registration No. 3,048,307.
martinguitar.com
premierguitar.com
Googles Les Paul

Doodle Google celebrated Les Pauls birthday with a playable,
recordable guitar doodle
that proved so popular
Google kept it online
indefinitely.
Oranges Music
Aid for Joplin In
response to the tornado
that killed 153 people
and destroyed the town
of Joplin, Missouri,
Orange organized an
auction highlighted by
a Union Jack half-stack
and Rush-signed gear.
Leslie West
Undergoes Leg
Amputation The
legendary Mountain guitarist lost his leg to complications of diabetes. We
wish him a swift recovery!
PosessedHand
Device Makes You
a Robot The forearm band and electrode
pads send impulses to
your muscles to control
your hands motion,
making users play more
accurately. We say, Just
practice your #*@%&*!
Instrument!
New ZZ Top Album

This Year Gibbons
told a Texas news station that the new tunes
produced by Rick
Rubin are loud and
fast and a return to
the roots.
To the people
who stole my Les
Paul After a
Canadian musicians
highly modified
53 Les Paul
was stolen,
his heartfelt
Craigslist
plea spread
like wildfire
(including on Peter
Framptons Facebook page).
Heres hoping all the attention leads the guitar home.
LETTERS
A GREAT inTERViEW,
BARRE nOnE
I agree with
Martin Barres
comments on
vintage guitars
Rhoads
Bonamassa
Revisited
& Hughes
[July 2011
web-exclusive].
[Theyre] a tool,
and practically
10
any piece of
wood and wires
can be set up to play great. I do admire
the vintage instruments. But after having
three of mine stolen, I have mixed feelings
about them. Martin, you are indeed a
master guitarist. Cheers!
STEVE CROPPER HARVEY REID MY MORNING JACKET
JULY 2011
JULY 2011
Jacksons Mike Shannon

on Randys Custom Vs
PLUS! Amazing
Close-Up Pics!!
Get Wicked on Black Country

Communions New Album
BLUES
LESSON
Unlock Hexatonic
Scales
Oranges 1970s
Digital Rarity
Instructional Seasoning
[Deep Blues: Old Blues, New Chords, July

2011 web-exclusive] is the kind of knowledge you can expect from sitting with a
seasoned player. Very powerful, very practical. Well done, Dennis [McCumber] . . .
look forward to seeing you at the National
Guitar Workshop in a couple of weeks.
Gary
via premierguitar.com
Exclusive Details and

Photographs from
The Book of Orange
premierguitar.com
GEAR REVIEWS
$5.95 U.S./Canada
Bogner, Fret-King, 3rd Power Amps, Genz Benz,

HardWire, Artinger, Wampler, DVK, and More!
John Arevalo
Always loved Martins tone and feel.

Saw them five times as a kid. Hes right,
95 percent comes from the PLAYER.
Better to leave the 58 in the vault and
take something else on tour. Martins got
it down and has always been one of my
favorites. Good luck with the tour.
Ricky Rue
Thanks for the great interview. Martins

ability to play all the different styles
required in Tull, from rock to folk and
everything in between, is amazing! In
the days of inflated egos, it speaks volumes about a person of Martins talent
to be able to let Ian run the show for
over 40 years. Take a listen to his solo
work on his album Stage Left to really
appreciate his versatility.
Greg Miller
Thanks, guys! Its great to get such

well-articulated feedback on the stories
we plan and craft so carefully. Let us
know what youd like to see covered
next at info@premierguitar.com or at
facebook.com/premierguitar
Youre welcome, Gary. We know how important it is for you to have audio the way you
want it, which is why were now offering
lesson audio as both streaming and as a download, and streaming review audio examples.
Were going to be streaming a lot more audio
and video online soon, too. So stay tuned!
After-School Amp
to the 3rd Power
I had saved all my money from working

after school and intended on buying my
first car. A demo of the British Dream
[reviewed July 2011] changed my plans. I
tried it and was blown away! I bought the
amp and scrapped the car [plans] and have
no regrets. None whatsoever! I have to hitch
rides to get to band practice, LOL! But hey,
a lot of people have cars . . . [but] I have
the BEST guitar tone of anyone!
Tony V
I know the feeling, Tony! I decided to spend all

my money on guitar gear as a high-school student, too, and I never regretted it a bit (though I
was kind of bummed my parents never decided
to spoil me with a free set of wheels). When I
look back at the gear I ended up buying, however, Im pretty sure none of it was as great as the
amp you purchased. See, this was in the 80s
not a decade particular famous for its juicy tones.
Heres to helping you wisely invest more of your
money in the future! Shawn Hammond
Fender 60th Anniversary Tele

Web Review
It looks like a great guitar and I am keen

to get my hands on one. I am SO glad
this one has the six individual bridge
pieces instead of the traditional three.

Not being able to individually intonate
each string is a non-starter for meI cant
abide a guitar that is slightly out of tune
due to intonation issues. This has been
the one sticking point that has kept me
from purchasing a Tele. Kudos to Fender
for addressing this defect in an otherwise
perfect guitar.
Sky
Although certain Tele aficionados would beg

to differ, Sky, were just glad you dug this webexclusive review. It takes all kinds! Let us know
if you take the plunge and buy onewed love
to hear whether it meets your expectations!
Staff Picks Turn-Ons
For me, its Michael Bloomfields Your

Friends [that epitomizes my tonal
approach]. Like [PG senior editor Andy
Ellis] said, when I heard that, there was no
turning back. Staff Picks is a great idea . . .
might turn us on to something we havent
listened to before, and it gives context to
the equipment reviews and other commentary from the staff at PG. Thanks!
Tim G
Thanks, Tim! Thats exactly why we do Staff

Picks. Further, the regular question about what
were listening to gives us more opportunities
to talk about cool new albums we get but just
dont have enough room to cover.
Correction
We misidentified some of the people in a

photo in our July 2011 Steve Cropper feature [The Royale Treatment]. The caption
on p. 172 should have read: The MGs and
friends hard at work in the studio in the
mid to late 60s. Left to right: Isaac Hayes
sits at the piano while Sam Moore and
Dave Prater lean on the piano, Duck Dunn
plays his Fender bass in the background,
Booker Jones plays the tuba, and Cropper
plays through what appears to be a blackface Fender Deluxe Reverb. We apologize
for the confusion.
Keep those comments coming!

Please send your suggestions, gripes, comments, and good words directly to info@premierguitar.com.
You can also send snail mail to Premier Guitar, Three Research Center, Marion, IA 52302.
Please remember to include your full name. Selected letters may be edited for clarity.
premierguitar.com
PA AND MONITORS. COMBINED.
THE BOSE L1 MODEL II SYSTEM

THE MOST ADVANCED L1 SYSTEM FOR MUSICIANS
More than just a speaker system this represents a different

approach to live sound. The Bose L1 Model II system delivers our
widest and most uniform sound coverage. Add the T1 ToneMatch
audio engine and youll get access to an extensive library of
ToneMatch presets, custom EQ capability and a suite of studio-class
effects and processing. Using proprietary Bose technology, L1
systems combine PA and monitors into a single, highly portable
solution. So whether you choose the L1 Model II, the original
L1 Model I or the L1 Compact system, you fill the room with
your sound in a way no ordinary speaker can.
The L1 Compact
portable line array
system is the latest
and most portable
addition to the
Bose L1 product line.
This system fills the
room with only one
speaker, can be
carried in a single trip
and set up in less
than one minute.
Take your live sound in a new direction. Find out how at Bose.com/live11 or call 1-800-905-1852.
2010 Bose Corporation. C_008984
STAFF PiCKS
Since the term supergroup was conceived, weve all thought about whom we would love to play with if
time, space, and willingness were things we could control at will. This month, we pose that question to our
PG editors and Guest Picker Tommy Emmanuel. Send your dream lineups to info@premierguitar.com
Joe Coffey
Andy Ellis
Shawn Hammond
Editorial Director
What am I listening to?
Moreland & Arbuckle,
Just a Dream. This threepiece out of Kansas fuses
Southern rock with delta blues. The album
does a good job of capturing the Foos-like
rawness of their live shows.
Who would I want in my dream band?
Get this: Jimi Hendrix out front, Dave
Mason on acoustic, Tommy Shannon on
bass, Chuck Leavell on B3, Vinnie Colaiuta
on drums. Id try to keep up on rhythm
and eventually pick up a cowbell.
Senior Editor
The Beatles, Love. Giles
Martins creative remix
does justice to the Fab
Four and his father George, and each listening reveals something new about the
Beatles cosmic oeuvre.
Bekka Bramlett on vocals, Levon Helm on
drums, Robbie Shakespeare on bass, Mike
Finnigan on Hammond, and Id play baritone guitar. The music? Memphis soul classics reborn as dub reggae.
Editor in Chief
Random punk and funk
bands on Pandora Radio.
Who would I want in
my dream band?
Amy Winehouse on vocals, Darryl Jenifer on
bass, Brian Blade on drums, and John Paul
Jones on keys would be a hoot. But I could
dream up a lot of cool lineups. Im a firm
believer that awesome stuff happens when
you bring together open-minded players who
are stoked to jam despite having very different MP3 collections.
Seth Hansen
Chris Kies
Rich Osweiler
Multimedia Coordinator
Superdrag, Head Trip
in Every Key. When
summer comes around,
I love crunchy, guitar-driven pop. This is
about as good as it gets. I could put Im
Expanding My Mind on repeat the whole
summer and be satisfied.
Nick McCabes lead work soaring over tight
rhythm from Johnny Marr, with Robert
DeLeo laying the groundwork on bass. Add
a pocket drummer and minimalist singer to
fill in the rest.
Associate Editor
Nick 13, All Alone. Nick
13 countrifies Tiger Army
originals while going
Bakersfield-style two-stepping on the rest of
All Alone. He does a great job of reviving the
Nudie-suit era of country on his solo debut.
William Elliott Whitmore and Johnny
Cash (vocals), Brent Hinds and Jerry Reed
(guitars), Marshall Grant (standup bass),
and Drifting Cowboys Jerry Rivers (fiddle)
and Don Helms (steel guitar), creating a
country-psychobilly freak-out ensemble.
Associate Editor
Superchunk, Heres Where
the Strings Come In. This
recently remastered gem
from 1995 captures Superchunk at their finest. The fast-and-furious power pop doesnt
let up all the way through.
John Bonham on drums, Jimmy Page on
guitar, John Paul Jones on bass, and yes,
Robert Plant doing the vocals. Id handle
whatever theyd let me playor I'd simply
watch and listen.
Tommy Emmanuel
Charles Saufley
Jason Shadrick
Guest Picker
Ive been listening to
country music on satellite radio, artists like
George Strait and Allison Krauss. I listen
to everything. I once drove from New
Orleans to Nashville listening entirely to
the Elvis station. Sometimes I go to the
70s or 80s channel.
Steve Gadd on drums, John Patitucci on
bass, Larry Goldings on keyboards, and Pat
Bergerson on rhythm guitar.
Gear Editor
White Denim, D.
Theres not much they
dont do. All these dudes
have mad chops, but guitarist James Petralli
channels Ollie Halsall, Jimmy Page, and
Tony McPhees rapid-fire, clean-Strat tones
into furious lead and rhythm work that
supports the bands funky-prog-Skynrdmeets-summery-indie-art-pop-blooz attack.
Ill take any combination of the MGs and
White Denim.
Associate Editor
Phish, Live Bait Vol. 5.
This is a free collection
of the bands shining
moments from all of their festivals dating
back to 87. The 34-track exploration covers everything from dirty NOLA funk to
spacey, Dead-inspired jams.
Stanton Moore on drums, Audley Freed
on guitar, and Page McConnell on keys.
The set list would contain mostly 70s soul
tunes and classic rock anthems.
premierguitar.com
p r em i er b ui l d er
r s g u iil
l d p l at i n u m de a l er s
Chicago Music Exchange
Chicago, IL
chicagomusicexchange.com
The Music Zoo
Little Neck, NY
themusiczoo.com
Wild West Guitars

Riverside, CA
wildwestguitars.com
Humbucker Music
Fort Oglethorpe,GA
humbuckermusic.com
World Music Nashville

Nashville, TN
worldmusicnashville.com
ProGuitarShop
Tigard, OR
proguitarshop.com
Willcutt Guitars
Lexington, KY
willcuttguitars.com
Infinity Guitars
Houston, TX
infinityguitars.com
Diffusion Audio/Boutique Tone

Montreal, QC, Canada
diffusion-audio.com, boutiquetone.com
For a co m p le t e lis t of b 3 G ui t ar de a le rs s ee p rem i erb ui l ders g uil d. c om
Destroy All Guitars

Fuquay Varina, NC
destroyallguitars.com
Deluxe Guitar Exchange

Greenville, SC
deluxeguitarexchange.com
MEDiA REViEWS
ALBuM
The Kenny Wayne

Shepherd Band
How I Go
Roadrunner Records
Some Kenny Wayne Shepherd fans have been waiting for this
album since the 90s. Thats when he stormed out of the gate with
three platinum-selling albums of guitar-driven blues and blues-rock
that went to No. 1 on Billboards Blues chart and produced a halfdozen Top 10 hits on the mainstream rock chart. Thats not to say
that his material from the last few years wasnt fantastic. But last
years offering, Live! in Chicago, was a live album and 2007s stellar
10 Days Out (Blues from the Backroads) was more of an exploration
of traditional blues. And his 2004 album The Place Youre In rocked
a bit harder than most fans were expecting. So, really, he hasnt
done a studio album in this vein since 1999s Live On.
The new albums lead single, Never Lookin Back, sets the
tone for the record by drawing on the mojo from his early materialbut youll notice theres a playful irony at work as Shepherd
also looks back, musically, at other great artists from the past:
Its opening riffs are an obvious homage to Keef, the driving
rhythm pays respect to Billy Gibbons, and the nods to Stevie
Ray Vaughan are plentiful, including a few quoted licks from
Tightrope. Guitarists will enjoy Shepherds carefully crafted
formula of showing his reverence for the great players and styles
that came before him while also employing the approach that
put him on the map. His cover of the Beatles Yer Blues puts
to good use the woodshedding he did to pay homage to Jimi on
the most recent Experience Hendrix tour. It fuses Hey Joe-ish
elements with the When the Levee Breaks-type groove that
undergirds some of his best soloing on the album. His supercharged tone on that track is to die for.
ALBuM
311
Universal Pulse
311 Records/ATO Records
Universal Pulse
311s tenth studio
releaseis rife
with their signature
tasty-waves-and-acool-buzz vibe. The
Omaha, Nebraska,
bunch acknowledges that much of their success
and fan base has been built off years of relentless touring, so word is they took to their Hive
Studio looking to create stage-ready songs.
Songs like Cold and Show Me the

Way Back Home showcase Shepherds
ability to craft radio-ready songs that
can reach audiences beyond guitarnutdome. Thats no easy featespecially
now. Despite our love of the instrument, its a sad fact that very few guitarcentric songs end up in heavy rotation
on contemporary radio these days. But
just as Shepherd earned scores of fans via radio with hits like Blue
on Black and In 2 Deep back in the day, a number of well-crafted
cuts on this album seem destined to do the same. In fact, this album
is Shepherds strongest effort as a songwriter. Many people think of
him as a great guitar talent, but his penchant for finding the right
balance of lyrical and musical hooks is just as impressive.
Fans of Shepherds straight-blues side have plenty to sink their
teeth into with How I Go, too. Highlights include his Texasshuffle treatment on Bessie Smiths Backwater Blues, a funky,
wah-fueled rendition of Oh, Pretty Woman (Albert Kings
version, which was written by A.C. Williams, not the identically
titled song by Roy Orbison), and a hard-driving, horn-heavy
number called Dark Side of Love.
Shepherd made waves at an early age and is still subjected to
endless references about being a young player, despite having
toured for nearly 20 years. But the 34-year-olds maturity is notable on this record. He chooses his notes more carefully. His use
of space stands out. His soaring bends are fewer in number but
have twice the impact. The craftsmanship of each songs components on this albumthe heads, rhythm parts, turnaround riffs,
bridge rhythms, etc.reflects the work of a musician who is
really thinking everything through in order to serve each song.
The net effect of this kind of talent and effortnot to mention
the tremendous abilities exhibited by KWSB vocalist Noah Hunt,
drummer Chris Layton, and the rest of the bandis a soulful
experience that covers a lot of ground. This album is very much
worth the wait. Joe Coffey
With producer Bob Rock onboard

againhe also worked on 09s Uplifter
Universal Pulses guitar parts are larger and
thicker than life, with articulate crunch, and
they even tastefully dip into arena-rock mode
during guitarist Tim Mahoneys harmonized
solos in Rock On. Mahoneys gritty, skarock riffing on Time Bomb and Wild
Nights creates the familiar head-bobbinand-hypnotic vibes that go so well with the
good-time rhymes of Nick Hexum and S.A.
Martinez. The albums first single, Sunset
in July, has Mahoney going back to his bag
of riff tricks and conjuring a snake-charmerstyle intro that hearkens to Transistors
Beautiful Disaster. Its super-simple, groovin rhythm and sing-along chorus are
classic 311. While the album doesnt boast
any true balladssomething theyve excelled

at on previous recordingsTrouble starts
with P-Nut laying down a creeping bass
line thats countered by an intoxicatingly
barebones distorted guitar riff that carries the
song toward upstroke-driven euphoria. And
Count Me In is a fun-loving jam that has
Mahoney using his trusted Mu-Tron III for
bubbly tones la From Chaoss Amber. And
the funky arcade-game-like And a Ways to
Go is driven by a galloping, envelope-filtertreated bass line.
While Universal Pulse has only eight songs,
its more of the same tasty 311 cocktaila
shot of reggae, a shot of rock, and a garnish
of funkthats perfect for summertime
chillin, coastline cruisin, or afternoon grillin.
Chris Kies
premierguitar.com
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MEDiA REViEWS
ALBuM
Various Artists
The New Universe Music Festival 2010
Abstract Logix
Last November, in
a theater in North
Carolina, some of
the greatest jazz/rock
musicians alive came
together for the inaugural New Universe
Music Festival. These players all happen to be
signed to the Abstract Logix label, but this festival wasnt merely a showcase for their sponsorits more like a look at the history of this
genre and where its headed. The album opens
up with one of the young lions on the bill,
Alex Machacek whose trio includes Neal
Fountain on bass and Jeff Apt. Q258 Sipe
on drumscombining his angular, jarring
melodies with dissonant chords on Strafe.
Closing out the first disc is Widespread
Panics lead axe-slinger Jimmy Herring.
Rainbow kicks off Herrings set with
keyboardist Matt Slocum playing a pensive
piano intro before jumping into an oddtime riff that sets up Herrings absolutely
burning solo. Here, Herring mixes the
whammy-bar tricks of Jeff Beck with the
harmonic vocabulary of Coltrane. On the
second disc, Wayne Krantz appears with his
triobassist Anthony Jackson and drummer Cliff Almondand blurs the line
between composition and improvisation
with Why, a frenetic tune that combines
chord stabs with Krantzs signature intervallic soloing. Herring later returns as part
of Lenny Whites group to tear through
the odd-time madness of Joe Hendersons
Gazelle with guitarist Tom Guarna, and
the two guitarists come off like a futuristicsounding Allman Brothers.
The final guitarist on the album is the
Mahavishnu himself, John McLaughlin. His
band, the Fourth Dimension, is a tight and
nimble unit that can change directions at
will as if all the members are a single organism. McLaughlins amp-less tone sings its
way through the opener, Recovery, and
bassist Etienne Mbapp shows no shortage of chops on his turn in the spotlight.
Joining the group for some extra rhythmic
propulsion is tabla master Zakir Hussain.
On the album closer, Mother Tongues,
Hussain and McLaughlin bring back some

of that Shakti mojo with a 21-minute firestorm that lets everyone in the band stretch
out. It will take most listeners some time
to work through both discs, but the chance
to hear the evolution of jazz/rock guitar in
a live setting is well worth the investment.
Jason Shadrick
train wreck. Instead, the band and the

record leapfrog from hyperactive Skynyrdas-prog breakdowns and melancholy Moody
Blues-y balladry to passages reminiscent
of the Grateful Deads most fiery and illuminated moments with an ease and joyful
sincerity that make this one of the most
exciting and beguiling releases of 2011.
Charles Saufley
ALBuM
White Denim
D
Downtown Music
If you ever see Austins White Denim live,

theres a fair chance that at some point in the
evening youll witness the most rippin band
on the planet. Still, the real shape-shifting
beauty of White Denim has always been the
range of contexts to which they apply their
chops. They may do their share of free jammin, but they are a song-first band. That collision of aesthetics defines their fourth release
D, as well. These may be White Denims
strongest songs yet, and the playful and
inspired sense of
arrangement and
texture that the
band applies in
the studio simultaneously lends
ballast and make
these tunes soar.
The territory covered on D borders on
mind-blowing at times. Lead guitarist James
Petrallis deft and funkily nimble-fingered
fret work is built on a super-clean tone that
evokes Groundhog Tony TS McPhees
darting Stratocaster work on Who Will Save
the World, some of Jimmy Pages Presence
and In Through the Out Door sounds, and
Ollie Halsalls work with Patto (he even
nicks the guitar hook from Pattos Hold
Me Back on Its Him).
The rest of the bandJoshua Block
on drums, Steve Terebecki on bass, and
newcomer Austin Jenkins on second
guitarare a fantastically cohesive and
telepathic bunch. And the spacious productionwhich often has the clarity and atmosphere of the Flaming Lips grandiose later
workgives the band room to exhibit their
teamwork and tasteful virtuosity.
In the hands of a less skilled and inspired
bunch, D could have been a style-leaping
ALBuM
Fountains of Wayne
Sky Full of Holes
Yep Roc Records
With their first new

release since 2007s
Traffic and Weather,
Fountains of Wayne
carries on its critically acclaimed brand
of shimmery pop.
Formed in New York in 1996 and named
after a garden store in neighboring New
Jersey, this two-time Grammy-nominated
band was formed by songwriters Adam
Schlesinger and Chris Collingwood.
Interestingly, bassist Schlesinger penned
the title song for That Thing You Do, a
1996 Tom Hanks film about a 1960s onehit-wonder band. The title track became
a hit (unlike the film), and the band has
continued to churn them out ever since.
FoWs original lineup, which also includes
guitarist Jody Porter and drummer Brian
Young (formerly of the Posies), has remained
unchanged since their first tour.
Full of blazing power pop and acousticdriven ballads, Sky Full of Holes comes just in
time for late-summer fun. The stories remain
great, and the songs have the same feel that
longtime fans expect (check out Road
Song), with a gentle, lap-steel love song
quickly being taken over by a happy and
quacky pop song with a big horn section.
The different styles work well with this fun
and sometimes-clever group of tunes, many
of which sound destined for Top 40 radio.
The album doesnt have all the scrap and surliness of their earliest stuffthis outing has
its share of Hollywood glossbut then what
is crunchy power pop all about, anyway?
Fun, thats all. So if youre into Big Star, Evan
Dando, and Weezer, Sky Full of Holes is definitely worth a listen. Rich Osweiler
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GiGGinG & recordinG > Tone Tips from The road
The heAvy Tone eqUATion BY Paul TFO allen
very music genre has guitar

tones and gear associated
with it. Of course there are
exceptions, but a Telecaster or a
Gretsch into a blackface Fender
is certainly a good starting place
if you want a twangy country
tone. For classic rock crunch,
a Les Paul through a Marshall
will get you into the right
ballpark. Yes, these are broad
generalizations, but these combinations of amps and guitars
are good starting points that
you can modify as needed.
When it comes to a modern
heavy tone, I usually start with
a guitar that has heavy strings
and active pickups, and then
add a noise gate and a high-gain
amp to complete the equation.
Heavy strings and drop tunings both play a major role in
getting a powerful heavy tone.
I use .012.052 SIT Power
Wound strings on my Schecter
Hellraiser, which is tuned a
whole-step below standard
tuning to DGCFAD.
I have a loose rule of increasing each strings gauge by .001
for every half-step I tune it
below standard. That way, the
tension and feel of the strings
stay somewhat consistent to
that of a set of .010s tuned to
EADGBE.
The next order of business in
crafting a heavy tone is finding
the right pickups. My Schecter
is loaded with EMG 81 and 89
active humbuckers. These pickups have a ton of output and
complement a high-gain amp
very well. Because the tone will
usually diminish as the batteries
lose juice, the most important
thing to remember with active
pickups is to keep the batteries fresh. Another great set of
active pickups are the Seymour
Duncan Blackouts, which have
a more present high end, yet
also deliver plenty of output.
The next link in the gear
chain is the noise gate, and
LefT: A Mesa/Boogie Multi-Watt Dual Rectifier and a Mesa/Boogie Road King 2x12 cabinet join forces with a
Schecter Hellraiser to create fantastic heavy tone. riGhT: One of the most important components for a heavy
tone is a noise gate. The MXR Smart Gate keeps noise regulated and adds to the pumpy sound that is essential
in dialing up the heaviness.
there are a couple of qualities I

look for in a gate. The first
and most importantis that
the gate doesnt interfere with
my pick attack. Sometimes the
gate wont open up unless you
strike the string with enough
force, and this results in missing the front end of the note.
A sluggish noise gate gets in
the way of dynamic playing,
and the last thing anyone
wants is a piece of gear dictating dynamics. Second, I dont
want the gate to interfere with
a sustained chord by cutting
off the sound prematurely. The
MXR Smart Gate has a sensitivity knob that curbs both of
these issues. You can also set the
Smart Gate so that it only gates
out certain sounds. When Im
playing heavy music, I need to
have dead quiet spaces between
highly rhythmic blasts of
chords. And a good noise gate
will help me accomplish this.
There are a few different
aspects of my choice amp that
make it my choice amp. For
crushing crunch sounds, the
recently re-voiced Mesa/Boogie
Multi-Watt Dual Rectifier is my

go-to amp for heavy tones. The
Multi-Watt can be loaded with
6L6 or EL34 tubes. But for
modern heavy tones, I prefer
the more open and full sound
of the 6L6s, with the Modern
setting engaged on Channels 2
and 3. The biggest difference
between a modern country
tone and a modern metal tone
lies in the Midrange knob. For
modern metal, youll generally want to scoop the mids.
Contemporary country is the
exact opposite, since the mids
are pushed way up.
My cabinet of choice for
the Dual Rectifier is the Mesa/
Boogie Road King. The Road
King cab has a Celestion Vintage
30 and a C90 for speakers, and
the combination of these different 12" speakers adds a lot
of depth to the sound. The cab
also gives me the option to play
through the speakers individually
or together, which is a big plus
in the tonal variety department.
Because a wooden partition separates the speakers, the cabinet
responds more like two 1x12s
than a standard 2x12 cabinet.

This is useful because the low
end is tighter, and I prefer that
when playing heavy music.
Another useful aspect of this cabinet is the combination of open
and closed back panels, which
also adds depth to the sound.
Lastly, the biggest component
in creating a heavy tone is picking-hand technique. When you
have a loud amp thats saturated
in gain, you have to control the
strings with your palm. The
pick, your pick angles and velocity, and palm muting all play a
huge role in getting a massive
and heavy tone. I encourage you
to observe how different players approach their instruments,
technique, and gear. Then add
up what you learn and create a
heavy tone equation that works
best for you.
PAUL TFo ALLen
is a multi-instrumentalist
who has worked with Big
& Rich, Adele, Sebastian
Bach, 112, Jake Owen,
Larry the Cable Guy, and
many others. He also
has his own project called Ten Finger
Orchestra, and can be reached at tenfingerorchestra@yahoo.com.
premierguitar.com
GiGGinG & recordinG > on Track
SecreTS oF comPreSSion, PT. 1 BY Rich TOzzOli
n this first installment in a

two-part series, well take a
look at compression as it applies
specifically to us guitarists. For
starters, well talk about using
compression in the studio and
how you can apply it to your
tracks during mixdown. Next
month, well examine the differences between compression
pedals youd typically use in the
recording prodcess and plugins or hardware youd use after
youve finished tracking.
Briefly, compression is about
controlling the dynamic range
of your instrument. A compressor reduces your volume using
a set of controls that vary with
each type of device.
With your typical studiobased hardware unit or
software plug-in, the main
controls are Threshold and
Ratio. When audio peaks rise
above your chosen Threshold
setting, they are reduced.
Anything under the Threshold
setting is not reduced or
affected. Ratio determines
the amount of gain reduction
that happens after the audio
rises above the Threshold setting. For example, a typical
3:1 Ratio setting means that,
if the audio rises 3 dB above
the Threshold setting, the
compressor will hold that level
LefT: A screenshot of the Sonnox Oxford plug-in. riGhT: The control set on a Waves API 2500 plug-in.
how quickly it lets go of your

signal. Makeup Gain lets
you raise the overall output
level after youve compressed
the audio, thus maintaining
a robust signal even though
youve reduced its peaks.
With electric guitar, compression is not always necessaryespecially when mixing
heavily distorted parts. For
example, when recording with
distorted tube amps, youve
already got a lot of compression
built into the sound (courtesy
of the power tubes), and compressing the signal further in
the mix may make it mushy or
washy. In that situation, I may
compress very lightlyperhaps
using a 2:1 or 3:1 ratioand
then apply makeup gain to add
There is no right or wrong way to apply

compression. Whatever sounds right, is right.
to only 1 dB above the threshold, thus reducing the peak by
2 dB. Very high compression
ratios yield an effect called
limiting, which well explore
in further columns.
The other set of adjustable
controls found in most compressors are Attack, Release,
and Makeup Gain. Attack
determines how fast or slow
the actual compression takes
place, and Release governs
some volume. Even that may

not be required: My old Gibson
amps sound compressed right
at the speaker, so I tend not to
compress guitar parts recorded
on them.
But with lightly distorted,
clean, or acoustic parts, I compress a bit higher (4:1 or so)
and again use makeup gain.
In that case, I just want the
compression to barely hit, so
that only a few peaks that stick
out are reduced. Sometimes, Ill

choose not to use compression
at all and just let the sound ebb
and flow naturally. Or, I use
volume automation to bring
down specific spikes in a part.
Different makes and models
of compressors have unique
tonal qualities. For example,
the Waves API 2500 plug-in
sounds quite different from
the Sonnox Oxford plug-in.
Both are compressors/limiters,
but each has its own different
character. So dont think that
just one compressor should
be applied and thats that.
Try different types and see
what works. I think of the
Waves compressor as having
color, because it includes
tone-shaping options (as does
the API hardware version).
So Ill turn to that when I
want to control the texture of
a particular instrument, such
as a distorted electric guitar.
But with compressors like the
Sonnox Oxford (which models
a mixing console that costs
six figures), I think of them
as non-colored or transparent. I tend to turn to those
when I want to maintain clarity on acoustic guitar parts or
clean electrics.
Sometimes Ill put a
compressor on and set the
Threshold so it barely peaks
at all, using it simply as a gain
processor. You can do that

by turning up the Output
Gain (most compressors feature this control). Of course,
you can raise levels using a
Volume fader, but the difference is that if a part jumps
up suddenly, the compressor
will grab it and hold the level
down. The fader alone will
not do that.
Note that over-compressing
a part will squash the dynamic
life out of it and make it sound
dull. However, I do sometimes
record a distant room mic when
cutting guitar parts and then
intentionally over-compress
it during mixdown for effect
(especially using the Universal
Audio 1176). Panning the overcompressed room sound hard
left or right can deliver a wide,
ambient guitar tone.
There is no right or wrong
way to apply compression.
Whatever sounds right, is right.
Again, each type of compressor
has its own sonic thumbprint
and the only way to know what
it will do to your guitar part is
to apply it and listen.
rich ToZZoLi is a
Grammy-nominated engineer and mixer who has
worked with artists ranging
from Al Di Meola to David
Bowie. A life-long guitarist,
hes also the author of Pro
Tools Surround Sound Mixing and composes for the likes of Fox NFL, Discovery
Channel, Nickelodeon, and HBO.
premierguitar.com
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GiGGinG & recordinG > on bass
riSk And SUrvivAL BY Dan BeRkOwiTz
laying bass fills a good

piece of my non-work
time. For 15 years or so,
Ive had a regular gig with a
blues band, but the amount
of those gigs has been dwindling, along with the venues
to play them. I augment that
downtime with a variety of
other gigs on electric bass and
acoustic upright. My plan is
to keep playing bass as long
as my hands, arms, and mind
allowwhich requires a bit
of resourcefulness to unearth
other musical opportunities.
An important consideration for lining up a variety
of opportunities is the risk
involved. Without risk, theres
little chance for growth. Will
I get through the gig successfully? A lot of my playing
strategy for these one-off gigs
is aimed at not getting caught,
while also trying to make the
most of my musical abilities. I
think all of us have moments
of doubt and question our abil-
bass, Ive tried to assess my

strengths and play to them, so
that Im able to contribute. Im
not a particularly fast player, so
I work toward a simpler, solid
grooveand stay in a supporting role that the players up
front really appreciate.
Likewise, my music reading
skills are acceptable, but I cant
always sight-read a part and
nail it. Combining these two
challenges, I often simplify the
written part to bring out its
essence. As a rhythm section
player, I also pay close attention
to the other players, making
eye contact with each at some
point. I listen for their dynamics and if theyre getting busier
in their playing. I try to help
keep the tempo steady when
things are getting frenzied.
I know I wont ever be the
bass player who steps out with
the dazzling solo. But I have
the quiet confidence that Im
making a contribution to the
groups musical success by
An important consideration for

lining up a variety of opportunities
is the risk involved. Without risk,
theres little chance for growth. Will
I get through the gig successfully?
ity to get through a gig successfullythose thoughts of being
a musical imposter who will be
found out as somebody who
cant cut it. Despite a few close
calls, things have worked out
for me so far by keeping three
things in mind.
1. Contribute from your
strength. A bad way to avoid
getting caught is trying to stay
under the radar all the time.
When you do that, youre not
contributing to the overall
musical enterprise, and you
might not get called back. As
long as I have been playing
doing what I do best.

2. Do no damage. I learned
this idea from a couple of
experienced musicians, and it
comes out in two ways. The
first concerns playing music
beyond your ability. If a particularly difficult part comes
upone that I might make a
mess ofI try to find a way
around it that captures the
spirit of whats called for.
I recently listened to
a friends recording of a
blues trioguitar, bass, and
drumsthat was technically very good, but sounded
sterile. The bass player was

technically capable enough
that he could precisely double
the guitar players lines, but
thats not what blues bass
playing is all about. Had I
tried to double the guitar
lines, I certainly would have
done damage. But by simplifying and paraphrasing the
basic line, I could avoid doing
damage while also providing
the bass glue that makes the
music sound like blues.
A second way of doing damage is the way you get back
on track when lost. Simply
stopping can do damage and
confuse everybody. In these
situations, I try to avoid playing any clear root notes that
might be misleading, and
listen carefully for notes that
seem to mesh. Ill also watch
a guitar players left hand (a
valuable skill for bassists to
have), reading the chords being
played and hitting the roots
if possible. Ill listen for hints
from the drummer that suggest chord changes and phrase
endings and look for the beginning of a new verse or chorus.
Eventually, things will get back
on course and the damage will
be minimalized.
3. Study hard. There are
lots of resources out there for
learning about and preparing for your upcoming bass
experiences. Turn to legendary
performances on YouTube.
Buy a song or album from
one of the online MP3 stores.
Pick up a few versions of the
same song to learn about your
musical alternatives.
If youre facing a reading
gigbe it classical, jazz, or
whateverlisten to recordings while watching the music.
When I do that, complex
rhythms get simpler. Hearing
the context for a musical line
while reading that line really
helps. I also own a copy of
Endorsed by McCoy Tyner

and Ron Carter, Sher Musics
The New Real Book contains
hundreds of jazz standards
written out in an easy-todigest, condensed format.
Best of all, the tome is legal.
If youre looking to master the
classics, these composerapproved transcriptions will
help you reach your goal.
Band-in-a-Box and can usually

find a file with the song Im
after, complete with a passable
bass line. If I have multiple performances of the same project,
Ill try to go back and work out
a part I may have flubbed. As
the old saying goes, practice
makes perfect.
So wheres it all going? In
the next couple of months,
Ill be pondering how to get
through some risky situations
as a bassist. My upcoming gigs
are widely varied: A chamber
orchestra performance, a blues
trio at a winery, musical theatre, an outdoor gig with the
local uke club, a Real Book jam,
a folkie jam party, and more
blues gigs. And as I get into
these musical opportunities, Ill
keep the above three points in
mind, preparing for the next
opportunity to arrive.
dAn BerkowiTZ
is a professor by day and

a bassist when the sun
goes down. He plays
upright and electric bass
for blues, jazz, orchestra,
and musical theater.
Contact him at profdanb@gmail.com.
premierguitar.com
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GiGGinG & recordinG > GuiTar Tracks
inSTAnT cAPTUre BY MiTch GallaGheR
ow many times have you

come up with a great idea
for a lick, riff, or song and said,
Ive got to remember that,
but then promptly forgot it?
If youre like me, its happened more often than you
care to remember. For a long
time, I subscribed to the theory
that if something was good, Id
remember it. And if I lost it, it
wasnt worth keeping. But after
losing a number of ideas that I
thought were great, I debunked
my theory, and began a quest
for a good way to instantly
capture inspirationsome
method or technology that
would allow me to quickly and
easily save an idea before it
vanished into the ether.
First, I simply tried using
notation and tab to write
down my ideas. This works,
as long as youre fairly fast at
transcribing, and always have
paper and a writing utensil
at hand. But in the heat of a
jam session or noodling on
the couch, who wants to stop
everything to find paper and a
pencil or interrupt the flow to
do a transcription?
A better solution is to have
some sort of recorder so you can
quickly grab your ideas before
they disappear. If you have
a studio, then you obviously
have the technology. But the
problem with studios is that, in
most cases, it takes time to fire
everything up. Ive definitely
had the experience of coming
up with an idea while noodling,
and then stopped to boot the
computer, get a mic set up, turn
on the interfaces, preamps, and
monitors, launch Pro Tools, and
sit down to record. Voilthe
inspiration is now gone. Ive
streamlined my recording rig
so I can get it up and ready to
record in just a few minutes
(well cover this in an upcoming
column), but it still takes time.
So my search continued.
Capture Captured
Ive ended up with a threepronged capture solution. It
actually has four components if
you count my full studio rig
but I reserve that mainly for
serious work, not for quickly
capturing ideas. Maybe its
overkill to have multiple solutions and just one will cover
it for you. But I like having a
few options that let me swiftly
adapt to the situation at hand.
You could use one of those
little dictation recorders, but
those dont have an input for a
guitar and the sound quality is
pretty dismal.
Line 6 BackTrack
This little box was released by
Line 6 awhile back without
much fanfare, and it has flown
under the radar ever since. Its
a little recorder thats dedicated
to exactly what were talking
about hereeasily capturing
ideas played on a guitar or
bass. You simply plug your guitar into one side and plug the
other side into your amp. Turn
it on, and its always recording. Play an idea you like, hit
a button, and its marked for
later. When youre done, and
if youve got an idea or two
you want to keep, its an easy
matter to transfer them to your
computer via USB. Brilliantly
simple, affordable, and it really
works! Theres also a BackTrack
model with a built-in mic for
those acoustic guitar ideas you
want to save.
Roland R-05
There are a number of little
handheld digital stereo recorders on the market. I use mine
all the time for recording
rehearsals and gigs, recording
lessons, and for songwriting
sessionsespecially if theres
more than one musician playing. Just set it up, hit record,
and the built-in stereo mics
3
1. The Roland R-05 sports a pair of mics and records stereo MP3 and
WAV files. 2. Plug Line 6s BackTrack between your guitar and amp and
this always on device automatically records everything you play.
3. Cut demos on the fly: The Zoom R24 offers 8-track recording with
24-track playback, a drum machine, onboard effects, and a pair of mics
for field recording.
capture whatever gets played.

Some of this recorders even
have guitar inputs and built-in
amp simulation for better tone
while recording. Its easy to
transfer the recordings to your
computer later for further work
or archiving. I happen to use
the Roland R-05, which sounds
excellent for live recording, but
there are great models from
Zoom, Yamaha, Tascam, Sony,
and more.
Zoom R24
Even though I have a wellequipped studio, there are
times when you just want
to make a quick multitrack
recording to preserve ideas.
Maybe its because I came up
in the era of cassette 4-tracks,
but I find the new generation
of digital all-in-one multitrack
recorders to be perfect for this.
They boot up instantly, you
can plug in directly, and you
can quickly lay down a rhythm
part and a melody. Some even
have amp simulation. I use the
Zoom R24, which even has a
little onboard drum machine,
as well as two built-in mics
for those times when you have
a vocal line you want to lay

down or youre playing acoustically. You can plug the R24
into your computer to use as a
control surface, it works as an
audio interface, and you can
directly transfer files via USB.
In other words, it does everything. But what I really like is
that its ready to use as soon
as you power it on, it sounds
good, and it makes it easy to
lay down a couple of quick
tracks. Roland/BOSS, Tascam,
and others make similar devices
that work equally well.
These three particular devices work for me. You might
find similar (or not so similar)
units that do a better job for
you and the way you work.
It doesnt matter what you
usewhat matters is that you
capture those ideas quickly and
easily before the muse decides
to take flight.
miTch GALLAGher is
the former Editor in Chief of

EQ magazine and the author
of six books on recording
and one instructional DVD
on mastering. He operates
MAG Media Productions
and the Sound Sauna studio, and is
Sweetwaters Editorial Director. His upcoming
book is Guitar Tone: Pursuing the Ultimate
Electric Guitar Sound. mitchgallagher.com
premierguitar.com
Tech TiPS > The dark side
ZomBie-ProoF yoUr GUiTAr ... now! BY RanDY PaRsOns
ew dispute the apocalypse

is nigh. Its the method
of destruction thats being
debated. Some say the end will
be quick, while others say the
demise of our species may last
many, many years. Ive heard
folks in the latter camp claim
that during this prolonged
struggle, zombies will rule the
planet. Theres not much we
can do in a swift-exit scenario,
but preparing for a zombie
threat could be a smart move.
Oh, you laugh? Well, on
the internet I saw an authentic draft of the pamphlet
the Federal government is
preparing on how to defend
yourself in a zombie invasion,
so I dont really think this is a
laughing matter. The government plan was well written,
and although I agreed with
most of it, unfortunately the
authors fell a bit short. They
did not mention the guitar.
Instead, they focused primarily on protecting self, family,
friends, lovers, and pets. But
no mention of ones cherished
axe? Thats a huge oversight. I
mean, really.
The problem with the
guitar is that it can attract
zombies. So, lacking direction
from our leaders, its important
that we take matters into our
own hands and zombie-proof
our instruments. Heres what
you need to know:
1) Get in tuneand stay
there. Zombies are attracted
to unpleasant noises, especially
those that sound like a human
shrieking in fear (they either
think its the real deal or its just
a bit of a turn-on . . . its hard
to say for sure) or those that
induce people to scream out
yknow, like Pavlovs dog, and
all. Anyway, poorly tuned guitars rank high on the list of the
worlds most unpleasant noises.
There are several reasons
a guitar will not play or stay
in tune. First, not playing in

tune means that even after
youve tuned all six strings to
perfect pitch with an electronic
tuner, when you fret chords in
certain regions of the fretboard,
they dont sound right. This is
a problem of intonation.
Few people have perfect
pitch, so many guitarists are
unaware that their guitars are
not properly intonated. Spend
some time in a music store and
youll realize how bad the problem is. Why is it that the guy
who insists on playing the loudest usually sucks the most at tuning a guitar? These guys are bigtime zombie attractors. Please!
Get your guitar professionally set
up and learn to tune it.
The setup should include
bridge adjustment with a
strobe tuner, as well as other
intonation-improving procedures like checking the depth
of each nut slot, adjusting the
truss rod, and setting the correct action. These adjustments
are all interrelated. A pro
understands how changing one
element affects the others and
knows how to get the entire
system working harmoniously.
Then theres staying in
tunewhich is a very big
deal for humans reluctant to
join the ranks of the undead
(or their next meal). Do you
find your strings going out of
tune after a short period of
playing? If you aggressively
stretch the strings where the
neck meets the body, this will
work better than buying fancy
locking tuners. Pull up on
each string and wiggle it three
or four times, then tune it up
to pitch. Repeat this operation
until stretching the strings no
longer pulls them out of tune.
The G string usually needs the
most attention.
Get some key lock lubricant from the hardware store
and grease those nut slots. This
LefT: Ahhh!! Zombie loose in the workshopits Parsons Guitars

luthier Persia! Photo courtesy of RJB Photo riGhT: In the late 60s,
Baldwin developed The Exterminator amp, touting its ability to put out
a screaming treble that is almost unreal. Many guitarists bought this
250-watt behemothwhich had two 15", two 12", and two 7" speakersbelieving it was the ultimate zombie defense weapon. Unfortunately, they soon discovered that zombies are actually attracted to
unpleasant noises that mimic and/or induce a human scream.
substance is a black graphite

powder you can dab in the nut
slot under the string. You can
also use this to blind zombies:
Squirt the powder in their eyes
and then run like hell!
2) Use tube amps. Theres
credible evidence that zombies recoil at the sound of
loud second-order harmonics
(which humans seem to enjoy,
particularly in high-gain distortion) because they make
a guitar sound fat and rich,
rather than jagged and edgy.
Also, you can break the tubes
and use them as weapons, if,
God forbid, it comes to that.
In a worst-case scenario, you
might entice a zombie to stick
her hand inside the chassis and
fondle a filter cap. A shocking
thought!
3) Get a wireless system.
This one will be pretty controversial, but hear me out: A
wireless enables you to keep
jamming if youre forced to
escape to the safe room.
Other than that, I see no reason to use one.
4) Change your strings.
They dont get dirty from dirt,
they get dirty from DNA. This
is bad for two reasons: First, it

deadens your strings by causing intonation, sustain, and
tuning problems. Second, it
can undead-en you. Yup, your
dead skin and blood on those
strings can attract a zombie
from over a mile away.
5) Practice. See, if you
suck, thats just another form
of unpleasant noise. And we
know who goes for that, right?
6) Weaponize your rig.
Although any guitar can function as a blunt implement for
destroying a zombies head or
removing its brain, something
with sharp edges and a more
aerodynamic profilelike a
B.C. Rich or perhaps a V-style
axewill make the chore that
much easier and more effective. Speaking of axes, whatever you hear Mr. Simmons
say about the reasoning behind
his proprietary bass design,
dont believe itits safety first
for Gene!
rAndy PArSonS
builds guitars for Jack

White, Jimmy Page, Joe
Perry, and other adventurous players using
out-of-the-box materials
like bone, flowers, copper, and solid ebony.
premierguitar.com
Tech TiPS > sTaTe of The sTomp
TeLL me A STory BY kevin BOleMBach
d like to open this column

by saying its an honor to
have been chosen to write it.
When I was first offered the
gig, my initial reaction was,
Why me? With so many
better-known companies and
talented designers out there, I
was surprised that PG editors
considered me worthy of writing a column about pedals.
While I have some knowledge
of effect design, Im not an
engineerIm not even a guitarist (although I have been
known to slap da bass)!
When I asked a PG editor
about this, he said my experience marketing different effect
brands from around the globe
gives me a unique perspective on the effects industry as
a whole. I think this answer
confused me even more, but
it also got me thinking: Do
I have a unique perspective?
And if so, what is it? How did
it lead me to the various pedal
lines Ive worked with over
the years? Is there a common
thread running between all the
brands weve handled, and if so,
what is it? Did I see something
other people didnt, or was it
just dumb luck?
One thing I will say is
that sometimes not being an
engineer has its benefits. In
my experience, designers can
sometimes take a myopic view
of their creation and overlook
small aspects that could take
the design from good to great.
I do have a tendency to look
at the whole picture (or lack
thereof ), and this has certainly
worked to my advantage in
the past.
At this point, it might help
to offer a bit of background on
how I got into this business. I
owe my fascination with effects
almost entirely to one person
Mike Matthews from ElectroHarmonix. When I was a kid
in the late 70s, EHX was at
the height of their first round

of success, which was due in no
small part to Matthews ability
to write incredibly captivatingoften mesmerizingad
copy about his pedals.
A pedal that can make your
amp 10 times louder? Whoa!
How about one that makes
your guitar talk? Or sound
like a screeching harpsichord
whose strings are whipped
instead of plucked? These
were just a few of the amazing
benefits that vintage EHX pedals could bestow on the lucky
userat least according to
their catalog.
Keep in mind, there was no
streaming video or other ways
to preview pedals back then
(hell, there werent even websites). When it came to creating demand for a product, ad
copy was everythingand the
only thing.
The EHX catalog was more
mysterious and intriguing
than those grow your own
Sea Monkey ads in the back
of comic books. To a 13-yearold kid just starting to play, it
was better than porn. If youve
never seen a vintage EHX
catalog, I strongly urge you to
hunt one down on the internet and give it a read. Youll
witness a modern day P.T.
Barnum in action.
Years later, I was fortunate
enough to work for the resurrected EHX and help with
the launch of reissues like
the Memory Man and new
products like the Q-Tron. I
learned a lot working for Mike
Matthews, but probably the
most important thing I took
away from the experience was
that a product needs a good
story to stand out from the
competition.
Great sounds, the right
price point, and bulletproof
construction aside, its a great
story that really grabs peoples
An example of early-70s
Electro-Harmonix ad copy,
complete with references to
whipped strings and singing
hummingbirds. Image courtesy of Kitrae and the ElectroHarmonix forum.
attention. Once theyre hooked

by the story, they can be reeled
in by a products features and
benefits. Many of PGs more
conservative readers might
balk at this assessment. For
them, pedals are toolsnot
toys. However, keep in mind
that even that mindset is just
another story that appeals to a
particular type of player.
Would Fulltone have been as
successful if there werent photos of Mike Fullers Porsches,
Harleys, and vintage amps
plastered on their website?
Fulltone was selling the story of
successtheir product just had
the added benefit of being able
to help deliver it.
Oh yeah, so back to me
and my perspective. Looking
back now, its pretty easy to see
the unique feature or story
that each of our brands carries. In my view, each of these
attributes played a key role in
helping us bring these brands
to market without a major
financial investment:
Guyatone Micro Effects.

The totally cute, ultra-compact
size and candy colors were
what initially caught my
eye. In 1998, this had never
been done before (but it was
soon copied by a much larger
company).
Bixonic Expandora. The
round tuna fish can chassis
was a unique statement, and
an endorsement from one Billy
Gibbons of ZZ Top certainly
didnt hurt.
Maxon. The guys that
designed and manufactured
Ibanez pedals from 197498? Come on, this ones a
no-brainer.
As you can see, theres no
common thread between the
lines that weve represented,
except for the fact that each of
them had a unique quality or
story we could use to catch
peoples attention. From there,
the product itself did most of
the work.
So, I guess my perspective
is this: I like to view the big
picture and envision where and
how products can fit into the
market. Im able to recognize
a good story and this ability
coupled with a fair degree of serendipity and lots of hard work
has allowed me to be surrounded
by guitar effects for the past 12+
years and continue to earn a living doing what I love.
In future columns, Ill
expand on this idea and apply
it to other brands and products,
as well as trends in the effects
market. Until then, thanks for
reading. If you have any topics
youd like to see covered, please
drop me a line at kevin@godlyke.com. Rock on!
kevin BoLemBAch
is the President and

founder of Godlyke, Inc.
- the U.S.distributor for
many well-know boutique effect brands
Including Maxon,
Guyatone, EMMA and Providence.
premierguitar.com
Tech TiPS > esoTerica eLecTrica
PLAyinG BUZZword BinGo BY JOl DanTziG
he straw that broke the

camels back came with the
click of the mouse. An extremely
opinionated and vocal customers
judgment had been holding
sway over the discussions in our
marketing meetings for over a
month. On a hunch, I did a
little research to see what his credentials were. It didnt take too
long and his online post said it
all. Thinking of getting a P-90
guitar, he boasted. Should I
worry about the hum? I could
have been angry, but all I could
do was laugh. A roomful of
professionals who should have
known better were being held
hostage by a neophyte.
In the 21st-century business
world, company marketers prowl
the internet sniffing for ideas. For
them, the only thing as bad as
making a poor decision is missing
a trend. But marketing to trends
is like shooting at a moving targetby the time you get there,
the opportunity is gone. Fads
move quickly, so its important to
develop a good sense of detecting
if something is just a flavor-ofthe-month in order to stay away
from hanging your career on it.
This is true in both the business
of making guitars and the business of making music.
At the corporate level, decision makers like to see statistics in
order to feel comfortable before
pulling the trigger on a project.
Executives tend to ask others
for their opinion and often go
with the majority. Companies
poll the public directly now
through social media strategies.
The customer is always right
isnt a new mantra, but in the age
of group sourcing, it has been
taken to an all-time high. When
you use the internet for research,
it can be dangerous. The web
has given voice and weight to the
opinions of bedroom jammers
and seasoned professionals, but
there is often no way of determining one from the other.
The same kind of thinking

buried the American car companies. When polled in focus
groups, the US public said
they wanted vinyl-clad landau
roofs and hubcaps, while the
European and Japanese companies were fitting their cars with
independent suspensions, alloy
wheels, and disc brakes. That
was over three decades ago and
Detroit is still trying to catch up.
Good, bad, or indifferent,
music instrument makers tout
their latest and greatest with
fervor and conviction. Will a
new gizmo take your music to a
new level? How does a consumer separate useful information
from hyperbole?
Consider the source. The
story about wisdom is that it
takes roughly ten thousand
hours of application on a task to
be considered an expert on any
subject. Ill save you the math
and let you know thats 20 years
of 40-hour weeks with no time
off for vacations or holidays. Im
not saying this level of experience is needed to have a worthwhile opinion on the noise level
of a P-90 versus a humbucker,
but it does give you some pause
for thought. The takeaway is
that Id respect the views of a
seasoned pro tech before that of
a chain-store guitar salesman.
Its the economy. Things
are tough and builders large
and small are feeling the pinch.
Anything that gives them a perceived advantage in the marketplace could mean the difference
between success and failure. Is a
products selling point something
that actually makes music better?
Does it solve a real problem?
If a feature is a solution to a
problem that doesnt exist in the
practical world, why is it better?
If you need help determining
what is a real problem, consult
an expert. When in doubt, I
always apply the principle of
WWJP: What would Jimi play?
P-90s and humbuckers: Can you describe their sonic characteristics

and differences? Les Paul photos courtesy of Gibson Guitar
Examine endorsements. We
live in a wonderful time for
choice. There are lots of great
products out there and many of
them can get the job done. When
someone you admire lends his
or her name to a product in an
advertisement, you should immediately wonder why. Read interviews and look at live photos and
videos to see if an endorsed product is actually being used. This
can be tricky because some musicians will use fake cabinets or amp
heads in their backline to satisfy
endorsement commitments. Ive
actually had artists stick another
brands logo on a guitar that I had
built to do just that. If a big-name
artist endorses a small company, it
probably isnt about money, but if
they endorse a legendary product
it might be about pride. The best
and most honest endorsement is
one where the spokesperson isnt
being paid to endorse and they
dont appear in ads at all.
Determine the motivation.
Engineers and designers are just
as bad as marketing people when
it comes to championing an idea
that no one needs. Just because
the technology allows something
doesnt mean it should be done.
CNC machining is resulting in
some pretty complex and contoured instruments, but Im not
convinced that its an improvement. Ive never been a fan of
super-tech on guitars, but microprocessor-driven effects switching

is pretty useful. When a guy from
the aerospace industry crosses over
to music, the results might be
mixed. Just because Lexan makes
a great fighter jet canopy doesnt
mean it will sound good on a
guitar. I do like the way those Dan
Armstrong guitars look though.
There is a flip side to all of
thisgreat new products can get
killed off too. Just as you should
be wary of exaggerated claims,
realize that sometimes good ideas
get a bad rap. When the shoe
is on the other foot, comments
made against a product online
might be merely a territorial spat.
We all get very protective of our
individual product choices. Just
remember its not a zero-sum
game. Just because your choice
is good for you, it doesnt mean
my choice is wrong. Nothing
beats real world experience with
products in the kind of situations
youll be facing with your purchase. Thats where that expert
opinion can save your camels
back from being broken.
joL dAnTZiG is a
noted designer, builder, and

player who co-founded
Hamer Guitars, one of
the first boutique guitar
brands, in 1973. Today,
as the director of Dantzig
Guitar Design, he continues to help define
the art of custom guitar. To learn more, visit
guitardesigner.com.
premierguitar.com
Tech TiPS > acousTic soundboard
AcoUSTic AmPLiFicATion, PT. 1
hen the PG editors asked

me if I would be interested in writing a quarterly column
on acoustic guitar amplification,
my immediate thought was, this
sounds fun, but another commitment is clearly not something I
need at this point in time. The
more I thought about it though,
the more the idea began to
appeal to me. Since I have been
designing and manufacturing
acoustic amplification gear for
over 30 years, writing a column
would give me a perfect excuse
to actually sit down, reflect on,
and catalogue my thoughts on
the subject.
A quick look at todays guitar
market shows that acoustic guitars are still outselling electric
guitars, and that roughly half
of the acoustics being sold have
pickup systems already installed
by the manufacturer. The number of acoustic-specific amplification productspickups,
Once you grasp the

basic mechanics of
an acoustic guitar,
youll see why many
types of pickups can
be used to sense its
complex vibrational
characteristics.
preamps, effects pedals, and
amplifiersthat are available
are at an all-time high. Its very
clear that a large number of
players are focusing on amplifying their acoustics, but with all
the available choices, deciding
on what works best for you can
be a little daunting. In an effort
to help you select the best gear
for your needs, Ill first cover a
few amplification fundamentals
and then dig into some details
in each product category. So
lets get right to it, we have a lot
of ground to cover!
Why amplify in the first

place? After all, an acoustic
guitar is already an amplifier of sortsits a mechanical
amplifier. The source of an
acoustic guitars sound is the
vibrating strings. But when
you think about it, without
some sort of amplification, the
amount of air that the strings
can push around is quite small.
Additionally, the vibrating
motion of the string is sinusoidal in nature, and the resulting
sound it creates by itself is a
fairly pure tone. While certainly a pretty sound, its not really
that interesting on its own.
The roles the top of the
instrument and the sound
chamber play in enhancing
the string vibration are huge!
They add more volume by
pushing a larger amount of
air, and they create sonic complexity by adding resonances
and overtones to the sound
of the vibrating string. Taken
together, the result is a louder
and richer set of sounds that
are able to project into a room.
This is why each individual
instrument has its own unique
and characteristic tone.
Before we decide the best
way to further amplify this
sound by adding pickups or
microphones and amplifiers,
it is important to understand
the physical operation of the
existing mechanical amplifier.
Now please stay with me on
thisit will be important to
understand this later when you
are deciding on a system for
your instrument. Once you
grasp the basic mechanics of an
acoustic guitar, youll see why
many types of pickups can be
used to sense its complex vibrational characteristics.
I like to look at it like
this: First, when the string
is plucked, it creates a string
excitation force (SEF) at the
saddle. This force is dynamic
BY laRRY FishMan
This 1933 National Duolian represents an early effort to mechanically

amplify an acoustic guitar. A 9 1/2"-diameter aluminum conethe
Duolians resonatoracts like a speaker, enriching the sound of the
vibrating strings by increasing their volume and adding complex
overtones.
in nature, in that it changes

or pumps in relation to the
pulling and relaxing of the
stringthe string vibration.
This ever-changing SEF is then
transferred through the saddle
to the bridge, which responds
in a very interesting way.
Since the top of the instrument is a compliant structure
and is often asymmetrically
braced, it is going to move
when a SEF is applied to it.
Now the bridge, being excited
by the string, moves with the
top. This motion occurs in
three primary axes. (Think of
a ship on the ocean, where the
ship experiences pitch, rolling and heaving as it moves
through the waves.)
This complex motion of the
bridge causes several things to
occur. First, it causes the top
to vibrate. The vibrating top
moves a lot of air in the room
and adds richness and complexity to the sound due to the
addition of its own resonances.
Second, the moving top
excites the air chamber. The
chamber, being a Helmholtz
resonator, is designed to resonate at a frequency that enhances the amount of bass energy
coming out of the instrument.
If you like math, search for
Helmholtz resonance on
Wikipedia.com to learn more.
Third, the moving string

supportin this case the
bridgealters the initial vibration pattern of the string due
to something we call mechanical admittance. The result is a
more complex and interesting
overall tone shape.
Before I wrap it up, Id like to
leave you with a simple assignment: Determine what your
own guitar really sounds like by
having a friend play it for you.
If you do this and are surprised
that your guitar actually sounds
brighter than you expected, dont
feel badits a very common
misconception. Because you
are always sitting or standing
behind your instrument while
you are playing it, and because
the higher frequencies are very
directional and project away
from you, youre simply not
getting the whole picture!
Thats it for now. Ill be
back in a few issues, and thats
when well start looking at the
theory of operation for some
of the most popular categories
of gear.
LArry FiShmAn holds
more than 30 patents in
transducer and musical
instrument design. He is
president and founder
of Fishman Transducers,
which he began in his
garage in 1981. In the early 90s, he
also co-founded and managed Parker
Guitars (which was later sold to U.S.
Music Corp.) with his friend Ken Parker.
premierguitar.com
Tech TiPS > ask amp man
TweAkinG A cArvin nomAd comBo BY JeFF BOBeR

Amp Man,
For starters, let me say your column is the first piece I read
when PG comes in the mail each month. Its very informative
and easy to understand.
My question is about my Carvin Nomad, which I love
(even the Soak Channel, which some people knock). The only
thing that doesnt totally please me is that when I dime the
amp to get some nice power-tube overdrive, the sound gets
a little spiky instead of turning big and round. I assume this
is because of the EL84s, and Im wondering if larger power
tubes would solve my problem. Ive done some reading on
tube amps and realize that this isnt simply a matter of replacing one type of power tube with another. The tube sockets are
different and I may need to upgrade the power transformer
and output transformer. Am I heading in the right direction?
If so, could I get my 50 watts from two 6L6s with my current transformers? Im also not sure if the amps wiring would
allow me to install octal sockets in place of the 9-pin EL84
sockets. I work in a sheet-metal fabrication shop, so I could
do any required changes to the chassis, and Im confident I
could do the wiring too, while being safe. Any ideas?
Nick
Houston, Texas
Hi Nick,
Thanks for readingand for
writing. I applaud the fact that
youre looking to improve the
performance of your Nomad, but
Im not sure you realize what an
undertaking this would be. Ill
discuss this and also offer a couple
of options that would be easier
to execute while still getting you
closer to where you need to be.
Lets start with your question
about possible alternative output
tubes. Switching from the stock
EL84s to some other output tube
would certainly yield a sonically
different output stage, but Im
not 100-percent sure it would
remedy your issue. That said,
if I were to suggest a different
tube type, Id say the tube with
the closest match to the primary
impedance of the existing output
transformer would be a 6V6. The
problem here is that, as you said,
you would need to switch from
the 9-pin sockets to octal sockets.
On the surface, you being a sheet
metal guy, it may not be a problem for you to punch larger holes
in the chassis and install the octal

sockets. The wrench in the works
here is that the 9-pin sockets are
mounted on a circuit board, and
you would need to start from
scratch installing all the appropriate wiring and components necessary for the new sockets and tubes.
Additionally, you would need to
modify the bias supply to get the
increased voltage required to bias
the 6V6s. Thats not terribly difficult for a seasoned tech, but definitely something to consider.
You mentioned 6L6s as an
alternative tube type. While the
primary impedance of the output transformer in most amps
with four EL84s would be close
enough to work, it would not be
as close of a match as four 6V6s.
You also mentioned changing
transformers. The mains (power)
transformer should be fine, and
well address the possibility of
replacing the output transformer
in a moment. In order to alleviate all the chassis cutting and
rewiring required for the above
changes, let me suggest three
A rockin 1x12 combo: The 50-watt Carvin Nomad.
simpler (and cheaper) alternatives

you can try first.
1) Have the bias of the
output tubes checked and set.
[Warning: This requires working
around high voltages, so the procedure is not for a novice.] Carvin
recommends setting the bias for
a reading of 85 mA across the
Standby switch (in the off position). This seems a bit low for
four EL84s, though. Id suggest
setting it up closer to the 100
mA range. This will warm up the
output tubes a bit. To my ears,
EL84s always sound better when
theyre running a bit warm.
2) Experiment with different
brands of output tubes. Each
make has very different tonal and
distortion characteristics, so try
some Sovteks, some JJseven
some new-old-stock tubes, if
you have a little extra money to
spendor anything else you can
find. They will definitely make a
difference. Personally, Ive always
liked standard Sovtek EL84s in
the amps I build. Always use a
matched set, though, and remember you will need to reset the bias
when you change the tubes.
3) Install an upgraded
output transformer. An amps
output transformer makes a big
difference in the sound. The stock
transformer may do an adequate
job, but at higher output levelslike those needed to push

the output tubes to the point of
global meltdown and fantastic
tonethe transformer may be
saturating. Replacing it with a
better transformer may make a
very noticeable difference.
If you choose option number
3, search around and see what
you can find thats recommended
for using with four EL84s. A
Vox AC30-type transformer will
work, but you will be limited to
only 16 and 8 output taps
and youll need to cut a substantial hole in the chassis, because
the transformer is a lay-down
type. You may also have limited
chassis real estate due to the size
of the circuit boards in the amp.
If you cant find an appropriate stand-up type transformer,
contact me and well get you into
one of the transformers I use in
my 30-watt amps. That should
work well for your project.
There you have it. Hopefully
thats all youll need to bring that
Nomad home!
jeFF BoBer, one of
the godfathers of the
low-wattage amp revolution, co-founded and was
the principal designer
for Budda Amplification.
Jeff launched EAST
Amplification in 2010, and he can be
reached at pgampman@gmail.com.
premierguitar.com
Tech TiPS > mod GaraGe
The ABcS oF GUiTAr SwiTcheS BY DiRk wackeR
f you are really into guitar

modding, there is no way
around learning how switches
work. So this month lets
explore the basics.
Two types of switches are
commonly used for guitar mods.
One is a potentiometer with
a switcha push/pull, push/
push, or the Fender S-1and
the other is a common toggle,
which is available in different
sizes, shapes, and configurations.
When adding a switch to a passive circuit, you dont have to
worry about voltage and power
ratingsall that matters is that
switch will fit your guitar!
Though switches come in
various configurations, they
all have a single purposeto
turn a signal on or off. Many
variations are available, but well
concentrate on the four most
common guitar switches: SPST
on/off, SPDT on/on, DPDT
on/on, and DPDT on/on/on.
The first two letters of these
names indicate the number of
poles, while the last two letters
are the number of throws. So
a SPST (aka 1PST or 1P1T)
means single-pole/single-throw, a
SPDT (1PDT or 1P2T) means
single-pole/double-throw, and
DPDT (2PDT or 2P2T) means
double-pole/double-throw. There
are many more configurations,
including 3PDT devices used for
true-bypass switching in effects,
and Fenders 4PDT S-1 switch.
Found on push/pull or push/push
pots, the DPDT on/on switch
is by far the most common, and
mini toggles are available in an
endless number of variations.
Lets take a closer look at whats
known as the switching matrix.
A switchs poles are like separate
channels that arent connected
until you add a jumper wire
between them. A SPST or SPDT
switch has only one of these channels, while a DPDT switch has
two. Likewise, 3PDT and 4PDT
switches have three and four
channels, respectively. A switchs

throws are simply the different
sides of a switch. For example,
a DPDT on/on switch has two
channels (poles) with three lugs
on each channel. Engaging the
switch turns on one side or the
other. When one signal is turned
on, the other is turned off.
An SPST switch has only one
channel (pole) with two lugs. Its
the archetypal on/off switch for
simple projects like replacing a
5-way switch with three on/off
switches. In one switching position, the two lugs are connected,
while in the other theyre disconnected. Below is a visual representation of the SPST switch.
In one position, lug A and

lug B are not connected (that is,
the circuit is open). In the other,
both lugs are connected (the circuit is closed). To use our sevensound mod as an example: In
one switching position, both lugs
are not connected, so the neck
pickup connected to the switch
is not engaged. In the other position, both lugs are connected and
the neck pickup is engaged.
This is a great opportunity to
start working with a digital multimeter (DMM). Track down an
inexpensive DMM and make sure
it has a continuity function, preferably with an audible connection
indicator. You can then trace how
switches work by connecting the
individual lugs to your DMM
and seeing which are connected,
and then switching to the other
position and taking the same
measurement again. The beep that
sounds when youve made a connection is a great help when youre
taking these measurements.
A SPDT (1PDT or 1P2T)
on/on switch also has only one
channel (pole), but offers three
lugs instead of two. This switch
also works for the seven-sound

mod (if you leave one lug unconnected) or for the cap-switching
mod. Below youll see whats
going on in this type of switch.
In one position, lugs A and

B are connected (this is throw
1), while in the other position
lugs B and C are connected
(throw 2). So lug B is the common output of this switch,
while lugs A and C are inputs.
A DPDT (2PDT or 2P2T)
on/on switch has two channels
(poles), each having three lugs.
This is like having two SPDT
switches in one. Its the standard
configuration for most push/
pull or push/push pots, and you
can use it for almost all mods,
including the seven-sound mod
(if you leave one pole unconnected), coil-splitting a humbucker,
out-of-phase mods (by adding
some jumper wires from pole 1
to pole 2), a direct-through mod,
and countless others. Lets see
whats going on here.
In one switching position,

lugs B and C of pole 1 and lugs
E and F of pole 2 are connected
(throw 1). In the other position,
lugs A and B of pole 1 and D
and E of pole 2 are connected
(throw 2). Its exactly like a
SPDT switch, but with two
poles instead of one.
Finally, we come to a very
special but important type of
switch: the DPDT (2PDT
or 2P2T) on/on/on. Larry
DiMarzio made this switch
famous in the 80s, and this is
the device to use when you have

a four-conductor humbucker
and want to take full advantage
of all its wiring possibilities.
Its still a 2PDT switch with
two channels (poles) sporting three lugs each, but in
comparison to a DPDT on/on
switch with only two switching
positions, the DPDT on/on/
on switch has three positions.
This is often called a centeron switch, because it has a
third position in the middle
between the common left and
right positions.
Although the DPDT on/
on/on switch has the same
number of poles and lugs as our
previous DPDT on/on switch
(which means the illustrations
for these switches look identical), this version has an additional switch position.
In switching position 1 (left
throw), lugs B and C of pole 1
and lugs E and F of pole 2 are
connected. In position 2 (center
throw), lugs A and B of pole 1
and lugs E and F of pole 2 are
connected. Finally, in position
3 (right throw), lugs A and B of
pole 1 and lugs D and E of pole
2 are connected.
This switch facilitates three
sounds from a four-conductor
humbucker: both coils in series
(standard humbucking mode),
both coils in parallel (sounds
similar to a single-coil, but in a
hum-cancelling configuration),
and a true single-coil mode.
All rightthats it. I know
this is very dry, but its worth
investing some hours to understand switching basics.
See you next monthand
keep on modding!
dirk wAcker lives in
Germany and is fascinated
by anything related to old
Fender guitars and amps.
He plays country, rockabilly, and surf music in two
bands, works regularly as a
session musician for a local studio, and writes
for several guitar mags. Hes also a hardcore
guitar and amp DIY-er who runs an extensive
websitesinglecoil.comon the subject.
premierguitar.com
custom guitar eect pedals hand built in the U.S.A.

Brad Paisley Signature Overdrive Pedal*
Brad Paisley is currently touring with...
Signature* Paisley
Drive Overdrive
Faux AnalogEcho
Delay
Ego Compressor
...we actually recorded this (pedal) in the

studio, you know, trying it out. I turned up a
Trainwreck Amp that I've got and compared the
sound of the distortion and it was very, very similar.
And that's a very good test because any time
a pedal can mimic a great overdriven amp
then you're on to something...
Brad Paisley on the Wampler Pedals Paisley Drive
www.bradpaisley.com
www.wamplerpedals.com
* 100% of all artist royalties are donated to W.O Smith/Nashville Community Music School
vinTAGe & UPkeeP > boTTom feeder
T. hiLeS ciGAr-Box GUiTAr BY will RaY
or inexplicable reasons, Ive

been bitten by the cigar-box
guitar bug. At present, I own
eight CBGs and counting. It all
started when I was doing my
daily search on eBay for Kay
guitars, and this baby showed
up. It was a totally playable guitar made out of a cigar box and
some extra guitar parts, including a bolt-on neck off an old
Kay solidbody. I was intrigued
by how the builder had spraypainted some of the hardware red
to match the Kays headstock.
Pretty crafty!
So I bookmarked the auction and checked on its status
each day untilafter repeated
viewingsI knew I just had to
have it. So I sniped in the last
few seconds and snagged it for
$107 plus $25 shipping. When
the guitar arrived, I just marveled
at its construction: It had a Stratstyle bridge with six individually
adjustable saddles, a humbucking
pickup, Volume and Tone controls, and a jack mounted on the
face of a wooden Puros Indios
cigar box. How cool is that?
The action was kind of high
for my taste, so first I adjusted
the truss rod. Removing excess
relief lowered the action a bit,
but not enough. I could have
lowered the bridge saddles,
but then they would have
been very near the end of their
downward adjustment range.
Instead, I decided to shim
the neck and thus preserve
some latitude for lowering the
saddles in the future.
Bottom Feeder Tip #2287:
When you need to significantly
lower the action on a bolt-on
neck, never be afraid to use a
shim. Its a quick and easy way
to realign the neck angle to keep
your action low and the playability factor high. When shimming
a neck, I first loosen the strings,
place a capo on the neck around
the 12th or 14th fret to keep
the strings in place, and then
The instruments red hardware matches the Kay headstock.
This vibey cigar-box guitar

sports an old Kay neck. A
wooden Puros Indios cigar
box serves as the guitars
hollow body.
Serial #37 is signed and dated by its builder, Tom Hiles.
carefully unscrew the neck bolts

and remove the neck.
If I wish to raise the fretboard
towards the strings to lower the
action, Ill place a thin piece
of cardboard about 2" x 3/4"
long in the furthest end of the
neck pocket towards the bridge.
(Conversely, if I want to raise
the action, Ill position the shim
towards the headstock side of the
neck pocket. This tilts the end
of the fretboard down, dropping
it away from the strings.) Note:
A little bit of shimming goes a
long way, so use a thin shim at
first to see how much it changes
the neck pitch. Cereal-box cardboard is about the thickness I
prefer to start with.
When youre done shimming,
gently put the neck back into the
neck pocket, being careful not to
accidentally skew the shim. Then
fully tighten the bolts, tune the
guitar up to pitch, remove the

capo and see how your action is.
If its relatively close, go ahead
and use the height-adjustment
screws on the saddles to fine-tune
the action. If the action needs
more adjusting, fiddle around
with different size shims until
you get it where you want it.
So how is the CBG now?
Great! The action is nice and
low, its fun to play, and it always
turns heads whenever I bring it
out. The fellow who made it,
Tom Hiles, lives in South Dakota
and has built many CBGs (mine
is serial #37). I was so impressed
with his workmanship that I
eventually had him build another
CBG that incorporated some old
Fender Will Ray signature-model
guitar parts I had lying around. I
got to know him pretty well and
later recorded a YouTube video
of me playing one of his CBGs
in hopes of turning more people

on to his work.
CBGs are not hard to make
if youre adventurous, and there
are many kits available. Bottom
Feeder Tip #267: Always make
friends with gifted craftsmen you
run across, because you never
know when you may want to
use their expertise. This CBG
is part of my arsenal now, and I
look forward to getting more of
these instruments down the road.
They are fully functional guitars,
very light, sound great, and are
supremely fun to play. This ones
definitely a keeper.
wiLL rAy is a found-
ing member of the

Hellecasters guitar-twang
trio. He also does guitar
clinics promoting his
namesake G&L signature
model 6-string, and produces artists and bands at his studio in
Asheville, North Carolina. You can contact
Will on Facebook and at willray.biz.
premierguitar.com
The Cure for The Pedal Bored
Bass Boost Chorus
Boost Chorus
The Bass Boost Chorus gives bass players something

they have long deserved: a chorus that actually works.
On bass. This pedal has been optimized to avoid the
motion sickness side-effects of traditional chorus
effects. A key aspect of this design is the Detune control,
which adjusts the pitch of the choral voices to create
deep and lush chorus before you dial in any modulation.
Put some sweet on your low with the Bass Boost Chorus.
Roto Choir
The Roto Choir provides players with a hyper-realistic
emulation of a rotating speaker cabinet in a compact pedal.
Specially developed SansAmp technology recreates the
complex interactions of both the rotating lower speaker and
the treble horn. Even the tonality of the original tube power
amp and mic are included. A powerful control section allows
you to adjust all of these elements to create endlessly rich,
multi-dimensional modulations. Whatever instrument you play,
the Roto Choir will make it sing.
Based on the lush analog chorus effects of the 70s, this

design incorporates cutting-edge performance and unique
effect combinations to create a throughly modern pedal.
The comprehensive control array allows adjustment of every
aspect of the effect, including depth, speed, mix and tone.
A Pre-Delay control adds delay to the chorus to produce
a huge range of tones, including flanging and doubler
combination effects. When its time to bliss out, hit the Multi
Voice switch for a celestial ensemble-style effect.
Theres no shortage of effects pedals that can color your sound but, when it comes to building a tone that
inspires you, its all in the ingredients. Every Tech 21 pedal has incredibly detailed, organic tones and a
powerful control set to explore tons of great-sounding possibilities. These pedals are tour-ready devices with
rock solid construction and military-spec components that deliver world-class, studio-grade sound quality.
Turn your pedalboard into a delicious smorgasboard. Savor the tones of an inspiring range of Tech 21 pedals.
Boost D.L.A.
Create everything from clean

digital-style delays, to warm
analog bucket brigade repeats,
to grungy tape echo. Tweak your
heart out with the feature-packed
controls, including Tap Tempo,
Triplets and Trails functions, and
a boost of up to 9dB. If your tone
sounds D.O.A. bring it back to life
with the D.L.A.
Boost R.V.B.
From light shimmers to deep,

swampy atmospheres, the
R.V.B. emulates natural room
ambiances, spring reverbs
and vintage plate units. Add
some retro audio-gunk with
the Rumble control, engage the
Trails function or add up to 9dB
of clean boost for solos that pop.
Red Ripper
Want something new in a bass

fuzzbox? This wickedly dynamic
pedal gets meaner the harder you
play, shifting from enhanced lower
harmonics to buzz-saw, higher
harmonic distortions. The sinister
R.I.P. control drives your tone
from vintage fuzz to monolithic
distortion, into Brassmaster-style
octaver fuzz and Moogie-style
synth tones. Bloody amazing.
Double Drive 3X
with Private Stock Mod for 2011

Prefer the even harmonic roar of a Class A power amp being
pushed hard or the odd harmonic crunch of a Class A/B amp
with the master volume dimed? How about both? How about
both at once? With this 3-channel distortion pedal, you can use
them separately or cascaded together for mammoth tones.
Youll find even more aggressive tones, a tighter low end, and
a wider Level taper with the 2011 Private Stock Mod.
Designed and Manufactured in the U.S.A.

www.tech21nyc.com
vinTAGe & UPkeeP > VinTaGe VauLT
1956 GreTSch cheT ATkinS hoLLow Body modeL 6120
This stunning 1956 Gretsch Chet Atkins 6120 is serial #18527.
premierguitar.com
vinTAGe & UPkeeP > VinTaGe VauLT

BY Dave ROGeRs, laun BRaiThwaiTe, anD TiM MullallY
y the early 50s, guitar

virtuoso Chet Atkins was
a well-known Nashville studio
musician on his way to becoming a successful recording
artist in his own right. Seeing
his potential, the Gretsch
Company asked him to work
with them to create an Atkins
signature model.
In the middle of 1954,
Atkins received his first prototype, which was based on
Gretschs existing Streamliner
hollowbody model. He
approved, but requested the
addition of a Bigsby vibrato
and a brass nut to improve
sustain. After Atkins received
a second prototype with those
revisions, Gretsch began producing his signature-model
guitar in late 1954 to be ready
to sell in early 1955.
The 1955 Model 6120
included those features
requested by Atkins, as well
as a 22-fret neck (a few early
examples had only 21 frets) and
a 24.5" scale. The body was
15.5" wide and 2.75" deep. The
transparent amber red (orange)
finish and kitschy Western
designs were intended to appeal
to country music fans. Atkins
disliked the extra cosmetic
decorations and had them
gradually removed as he and the
guitar became more popular.
The 1956 Chet Atkins 6120
pictured this monthserial
#18527has features common
to the first two 100-unit batches of 6120s made for the 1956
retail year. (These guitars were
actually built in late 1955.)
The distinctive features include
a large truss-rod cover (which
replaced the bullet cover), a
fixed-arm aluminum B6 Bigsby
(replacing the gold-anodized
version of 55), a steer-head
headstock inlay, a rosewood
fretboard with steer and cactus
inlays, and a G brand near
the bass-side f-hole.
premierguitar.com
In 56, a fixed-arm aluminum B6 Bigsby replaced the gold anodized unit found on 1955 models.
The 6120s iconic G was literally branded into the top.
A steer-head inlay and a large truss-rod cover were

two new features on the 56 6120s headstock.
If youd like to dig deeper

into Gretsch 6120s, youll find
a wealth of detailed information in the 2010 book Gretsch
6120The History of the
Legendary Guitar by Edward
Ball. More on Gretsch guitars
A close-up of the steer-head fretboard inlay.
can be found in The Gretsch

Book: A Complete History of
Gretsch Electric Guitars by
Tony Bacon and Paul Day, and
also in Gretsch: The Guitars of
the Fred Gretsch Company by
Jay Scott.
dAveS GUiTAr ShoP
Dave Rogers collection is tended

by Laun Braithwaite and Tim Mullally
and is on display at:
Daves Guitar Shop
1227 Third Street South
La Crosse, WI 54601
davesguitar.com
Photos by Mullally and text
by Braithwaite.
vinTAGe & UPkeeP > Trash or Treasure
GiBSon j-160e norweGiAn wood BY zachaRY FJesTaD

Hey Zach,
I have a Gibson J-160E from the 60s that has seen quite a bit
of playing over the years. The serial number is 8419XX, but it
doesnt have the Made in USA stamp. Contrary to what many
players say, I think this guitar sounds great as an acoustic. Can
you give me a little history on the J-160E and what its value is
today? Also, I find it surprising that the J-160E is so popular, yet
I dont hear much about early Martin acoustic electrics. Thanks!
Mark in Denver, CO
Hey Mark,
Isnt it good, Norwegian wood?
Well, the guitar isnt made of
Norwegian wood, but the
famous Beatles song off of Rubber
Soulas well as many others
was played on a J-160E during
the mid 60s. Gibsons jumbo
flattop electric guitar was one of
the first acoustic/electric guitars
to be mass-produced, and it was
also one of John Lennons most
played instruments.
Electrified guitars were the
norm by the early 50s, but a
true flattop acoustic guitar with
a pickup had yet to be produced.
Gibson introduced the CF-100E
in 1951, which was an electrified version of the CF-100,
introduced shortly before. The
CF-100E featured one single-coil
pickup mounted at the bottom
of the fretboarda far cry in
design from the acoustic/electric
guitars of today. Both models
had a small body and sharp
Florentine cutaway, but were discontinued in 1958, as they were
not very popular.
In 1954, Gibson launched
an electrified version of their
hugely popular Southern Jumbo
(SJ) called the J-160E. Like the
CF-100E, it had a single-coil
pickup mounted right below
the fretboard with electric-style
Volume and Tone knobs mounted
directly on the soundboard. The
J-160E featured a 3-ply laminated
spruce top (the earliest models in
1954 were solid), a solid mahogany back, laminated mahogany
sides, and a neck that met the
body at the 15th fret, allowing

room for the pickup between the
fretboard and soundhole.
While the J-160E was certainly a dual-purpose instrument,
many collectors dont realize that
it was designed primarily as an
electric that could be used as
an acoustic. Piezo and internal
pickups were years from being
developed, so this is all Gibson
knew at the time. The laminated
top and ladder bracing were used
intentionally to prevent unwanted
frequencies and feedback. Also,
because the neck was moved up
to allow room for the pickup, the
bridge had to be moved forward
as wellso traditional X bracing
wouldnt work in this situation.
According to the serial number,
your guitar dates from either 1966
or 1969. The long-style pickguard
on your guitar was introduced
in 1968, so we can safely assume
your guitar is a 1969 model.
This was probably one of the last
J-160Es produced before Gibson
switched to the square shoulder
body style they adopted on nearly
all their acoustics in the late 60s
and early 70s. For whatever
reason, the J-160E was always a
bit late to adopt changes compared to other Gibson models.
Everything appears to be stock on
the guitar, including the bridge
and control knobs.
This 1969 J-160E, in the condition it appears (which is 70 percent or average), is valued today
between $1850 and $2250. If it
were mint, it would be a $3000
to $3500 instrument. Astute
LEFT: This well-played 1969 Gibson J-160E sports a single-coil pickup.

In an effort to reduce feedback, Gibson built the guitar with a laminated
spruce top. RIGHT: The J-160Es back is made of solid mahogany.
readers will know that the J-160E

is more valuable than an SJ produced during the same period.
The J-160E s value is higher
simply because of its association
with the Beatles, and this is fairly
typical of any guitar that a famous
musician or band is known for
using. Instrument association
has affected every instrument the
Beatles ever played, including
Paul McCartneys Hfner 500/1
Beatle Bass, John Lennons
Rickenbacker 325 and Gibson
J-160E, and George Harrisons
Rickenbacker 360 12-string.
So where does Martin fit
into all of this, given theyre the
granddaddy of American acoustic
guitar builders? Four years after
the J-160E hit the stores, Martin
introduced their first acoustic/
electric flattop guitars with the
D-18E and D-28Eelectrified
versions of the D-18 and D-28,
respectively. Both variations
featured two large DeArmond
pickups and four knobs (one
Volume and one Tone for each
pickup) mounted on the soundboard. The construction of these
guitars required ladder bracing
similar to the J-160E, and the

overall sound quality suffered
because of it. Those who have
seen these electric Martins know
they were clunky, and large parts
of the soundboard were removed
for the pickups. Production of the
D-18E lasted only two years and
the D-28E was produced through
1964. There is little collector
value with Martins first acoustic/
electricsroughly half of the
acoustic versions.
The J-160E will never replace
any high-quality flattop acoustic
in terms of sound, but as one of
the first guitars to allow a player
to use it acoustically and electrically, it succeeds wonderfully. Any
guitar associated with the Beatles
is a treasure in my book!
If youre interested in exploring this subject further, check out
Gibsons Fabulous Flat-Top Guitars
by Eldon Whitford, David
Vinopal, and Dan Erlewine.
ZAchAry r. FjeSTAd
is author of Blue Book of

Acoustic Guitars, Blue Book
of Electric Guitars, and Blue
Book of Guitar Amplifiers.
For more information, visit
bluebookinc.com or email
Zach at guitars@bluebookinc.com.
premierguitar.com
VINTAGE GUITARS & MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
Hundreds of fine &

vintage guitars and
musical instruments will
be offered for every level
of collector.
August 19-20, 2011 Dallas
Bid online at HA.com/7048
September 16-17, 2011 Dallas

Consignment deadline: July 27, 2011
For consignment information, please contact:
Mike Gutierrez
214-409-1183
MikeG@HA.com
David Mayfield
214-409-1277
DavidM@HA.com
Free catalog and The Collector's Handbook ($65 value) for new clients.
Please submit invoices of $1,000+ in this category, from any source. Include
your contact information and mail to Heritage, fax 214-409-1425, email
catalogorders@HA.com, or call 866-835-3243. For more details, go to
HA.com/FCO.
Annual Sales Exceed $700 Million | 600,000+ Online Bidder-Members

3500 Maple Avenue | Dallas, Texas 75219 | 800-872-6467 | HA.com
D A L L A S | N E W Y O R K | B E V E R LY H I L L S | PA R I S | G E N E VA
TX & NY Auctioneer license: Samuel Foose 11727 & 0952360. Heritage Auction Galleries CA Bond #RSB2004175; CA Auctioneer Bond: Leo Frese #RSB2004176. These auctions subject to a 19.5% buyer's premium. 20672
vinTAGe & UPkeeP > resTorinG an oriGinaL
BridGe work on A 74 GiBSon FLATToP BY JOhn BROwn
hen a customer recently

brought a 74 Gibson
flattop into our shop for
evaluation, I determined that
its rosewood bridge should
be replaced. The strings were
sloping over a bottomed-out
plastic saddle, and I could
hear that the strings were
getting slightly choked off
because the action was too
low. Additionally, I was concerned that the wafer-thin
bridge would develop cracks
between each bridge-pin
holeand also possibly bust
out at the front. I felt a new
bridge and saddle would
improve the guitar both sonically and structurally.
Last month, we looked at
the first phase of this operation
and discussed the tools, materials, and procedures required
for the job. (If you missed the
first installment, youll find it
in the July issue at premierguitar.com.) This time around,
well look at what it takes to
complete the project.
Bridge Installation.
Before gluing in the replacement bridge, its important to
clean the wood and remove
the oils, dyes, and any other
substances that could bleed
into the glue from the gluing surface and get absorbed
into the finish. I did so using
acetone, Scott Xtreme Rags,
and a good pair of protective
1. Ibex clamps secure the bridge while the glue sets up. 2. Using a specialized cutter to countersink and bevel
the bridge-pin holes. To protect the guitar top, Ive masked off the bridge. 3. Finishing the bridge-pin holes with
a 3-degree reamer. 4. Before routing out the slot for the new compensated saddle, I mark each strings intonation point with the Intonator tool. 5. Cutting the saddle slot with a Dremel rotary tool and saddle-routing jig.
6. Prestoa new bridge and bone saddle for this handsome 74 Gibson.
Ibex bridge clamps (#0682),

as well as a bridge plate caul
I cut out from 1/4" plywood
and wrapped in wax paper.
Saddle Location and
Routing. Once the glue had
cured, I removed the clamps,
chamfered the bridge-pin
holes with the bridge-pinhole chamfer tool (#0459),
Whether you do professional repairs or pursue luthiery as a hobby, the right equipment
is crucial to achieving superior results.
gloves. I repeatedly wiped the
bridge with acetone until the
cloth came away from the
wood clean.
For gluing and securing the
bridge to the top, I used several specialized guitar tools from
stewmac.com: a bridge-clamping caul (item #4600), two
and seated the pins using

a 3-degree bridge-pin-hole
reamer (#3227).
My plan was to route the
saddle slot into the bridge
after it was glued to the guitar
top. This way, I could be sure
the saddle would be optimally positioned for accurate
intonation. For starters, I used

the Saddlematic (#4462), a
tool that quickly and accurately finds the correct location
for an acoustic guitar saddle
slot. I like to finalize the intonation with the Intonator,
(#5245), another innovative
tool designed by Dan Erlewine
that lets you dial in the exact
position of the saddle route
and allow room for compensating the saddle later on.
For cutting the slot, I used a
saddle-routing jig (#4043), a
precision router base (#5260),
and a Dremel rotary tool
(#0358) with a 3/32" diameter
carbide bit (#5153).
A pair of camless clamps
with a 4 1/2" throat (#3708)
worked well to hold the saddle
routing jig in place as I moved
the Dremel base plate along
the jigs guide plate. Before
restringing the guitar and

trying out the new bridge,
I finalized the unbleached
saddle and seated the strings
properly using a set of bridgepin-hole slotting saws and
files (#5813).
All these tools help me
work efficiently and achieve a
high standard of quality craftsmanship. Whether you do
professional repairs or pursue
luthiery as a hobby, the right
equipment is crucial to achieving superior results. Its always
satisfying to get a guitar ready
to make sweet music!
john Brown is the
inventor of the Fretted/
Less bass. He owns and
operates Browns Guitar
Factory, a guitar manufacturing, repair, and restoration
facility staffed by a team of
talented luthiers. His guitar-tool and accessory designs are used by builders all over the
world. Visit brownsguitarfactory.com or email
John at info@brownsguitarfactory.com.
premierguitar.com
Jude Gold
Director of GIT, the Guitar

Program at Musicians Institute,
Jude Gold performs with
DeltaLab pedals.
Check out Jude playing
the entire DeltaLab line.
Visit youtube.com/
deltalabeffects
Introd
2 N ucing
stomp
EW
box
es fro
DeltaL
m
Shifte ab, the PS1
r and
FL1 Fl Phase
anger
!
Affordable sound-crafting for

the serious electric guitarist.
deltalabeffects.com
2011 DeltaLab. Photo Max Crace
youtube.com/deltalabeffects
vinTAGe & UPkeeP > The Low end
The GiBSon ThUnderBirdone oF The GreATeST! BY kevin BORDen
he Gibson Thunderbird is
the crazy drunk chick you
wont bring home to meet your
mama. Shes wild, shes the sexiest thing ever, she doesnt do anything all that great, shes fragile or
broken, and shes very expensive.
Shes a one trick pony in a bad,
bad way, and has a nasty attitude
(like showing up at the prom in
a leather jacket). She wont balance, wont intonate, and is big
and clumsythe bass equivalent
of a blown Chevelle.
All that said, no other bass
has the tone, sexiness, or attitude
of a T-Bird, and thats why Ive
played them almost exclusively
for 30 years. Anytime I talk gear
with my bros Tom Petersson or
Baz Cooper, the conversation
usually begins or ends by talking
about a T-Bird. However, not all
Birds are created equal, so lets
figure out whats right for you.
Thunderbirds come in two
variants and two shapes, and all
were built during one of four
series of production. The two
variants are the single-pickup
Thunderbird II and the dualpickup Thunderbird IV. The two
shapes are the reverse (which looks
rather like a cut-down Explorer)
and the non-reverse, which looks
like a melted boat oar. My rule of
thumb is to collect the IVs and
play the IIs, though I use both. A
cool thing about T-Birds is that
they are one of the few basses that
will sound great through an oldschool amp or a modern rig. Ive
The Four Eras of the

Gibson Thunderbird
1963-1965: Reverse body,
available as a II or IV model
(one- or two-pickup configuration, respectively).
1966-1969 (1970 models
are quite rare): Non-reverse
body available as a II or IV.
1976 (Bicentennial model)
and 1979: These basses
were available only as a
reverse IV model.
modern Thunderbirds:
Available only as a reverse
IV model.
used them through Ampeg B-15s,

SVTs, and Marshall Majors, as
well as contemporary rack rigs
with high-tech cabinets. Again,
the big consideration is whether
to play or collect. The majority of these basses have repaired
headstocks, but if its a good
bass with a stable and clean
repair, Ill buy it and use it.
1963-1965
These basses are the blue chip,
crme de la crme of all T-Birds.
They look great and sound heavenly with a midrange punchiness
that really cuts through the mix.
Keep in mind that trying to coax
a J-bass-like high end will not
happen with any T-Bird. These
basses have balls even at low volume. The construction technique
is shared with the 70s basses,
featuring a center plank that
runs from the butt to the headstock, with glued-in wings. The
neck heel is slightly squared and
is unique to this series.
The bridge has a separate
stop anchor mounted behind
the saddle unit, but the bridge
is mounted from the factory in
the wrong position, and perfect
intonation with the original unit
is nearly impossible. Upgraded
repro units are available, but to be
honest, the intonation issues never
really bugged me. The pickups on
these basses are to die for, and are
encapsulated in either nickel or
chrome covers, though I have seen
a mix of both from the factory on
the same bass. These pickups are
mounted to the body with two
screws and no mounting basket.
1966-1969
The second series of Thunderbirds
are by no means second-class
when comparing them to their
earlier counterparts. The construction technique and look of this
series is way different, and the
basses sport a solid body with a
glued-in necka technique very
similar to an SG. Because the heel
A killer pair of 76 Blackbirds.

Photo courtesy of Ray Mauldin/
Grinning Elk Music
shape is a glue-in, these basses will

not be confused with any other
T-Birds out there.
The hardware and intonation
issues are the same as the 63-65
basses. Quite a few 1966 and
some 1967 models have horrible
action. This is the result of a
design flaw from the factory, and
Im talking fit-your-pinky-underthe-strings action. Though the
neck is laser straight, the bridge is
bottomed outand you cannot
file out the saddle because you
will not have enough break angle.
The issue is simply that the neck
angle is wrong, and Gibson had
a habit of doing this on many
models in the first year of introduction. The only remedy here
is a neck resetnot a biggie if
you want a player. The tone on
these is a little different than the
reverse-style models. The tone is
still insane with this series, but
these basses sound a little more
open and have some singiness to
them. The mids are a little sweeter, and though these models dont
have the massive punch of their
forebears, they are still punchy.
1976 & 1979
Think Beatlemania Stage Show
versus the Beatles. Beatlemania
looked like the Beatles, kind of
sounded like the Beatles, they
were enjoyable to listen to like the
Beatlesbut at the end of the
day, they were an emulation of
the real thing. The construction
techniques for the 1976 and 1979
basses were identical to the 63-65
series. The obvious changes were
a rounded heel and the Gibson
3-Point bridge, which did a fine

job of intonating the bass. The
neck shape is rounded in a typical
70s fashion and is quite fast. The
tone of the bass is good, but does
not compare to any of the 60s
bassesthe pickups are sonically
level and lack the chutzpah of
the earlier models. The pickups
feature three screws connecting to
a mounting basket, and the basket
is held in place to the body. Yes,
these are good basses, but they are
not great basses when compared
to their predecessors.
modern birds
I bet you think Im going to slam
the modern T-Birds because they
are new. Youre wrong! I actually
love them. For the money, these
are a best bet in both the new and
used market. Structurally, they
are almost identical to the 70s
basses, and the biggest change is
that the headstock is about 35
percent smaller. This keeps the
inertia down if you hit something
and they will fit in a case properlysomething all the previous
basses could not do. The hardware is similar to the 70s basses,
except for the change to black
chrome, and the tuners are lightweight, narrow-shaft units. The
pickups are soapbars and produce
a unique tone thats modern,
middy, ballsy, and cutting. This
is a great rock n roll bass.
The Low down
Bottom line is that Muffy and
Timmy wouldnt be caught dead
playing these basses at the cotillion party. You also will not be
slapping and popping on them.
These are basses for shot-anda-beer players, but trust me, if
you get one, you will love it!
kevin Borden has
been playing bass since
1975. He is the principal and
co-owner, with Dr. Ben
Sopranzetti, of Kebos Bass
Works (visit them online at
kebosbassworks.com). You
can reach Kevin at kebobass@yahoo.com.
Feel free to call him KeBo.
premierguitar.com
case study
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Lollar Imperial Humbuckers
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lesson > INSIDE JAZZ
Alphabetic Junctions
by PAt MArtino
Since his first recording as a leader in 1967, Pat

Martino has constantly pushed the limits of jazz
guitar with his flowing technique and powerful,
muscular tone. Showing no signs of slowing
down, Martino still travels the world performing and giving lectures about his approach to
the guitar. Currently, Martino is working on an
autobiography and serving as adjunct faculty
at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.
For more info, visit patmartino.com.
chopS: Intermediate
thEory: Intermediate
LESSoN ovErvIEw:
Create musical motifs by
combining selected words
with a musical scale.
Develop new ideas based
on the C Ionian and A
Aeolian modes.
Create new motifs by varying
rhythms and using transposition.
repeats down the right column). Similarly, Fig. 2 pairs the alphabet with A natural
minor (or A Aeolian).
We can then use these templates to create melodic motifs based around selected
words. Fig. 3 illustrates the process using beautiful and ugly to produce a tonal
structure. Its simple: First, spell out each word, then find the note in the right column
that corresponds to each letter and enter that below it.
Once youve established the structure, you can introduce rhythm to create a basis
for your composition. Any scalar moduleor number of themcan be attached to
this system. You can transpose the motifs to create even more variations.
I had a student interested in John Coltranes legendary composition, Giant Steps.
In addition to studying the song itself (including linear substitutions through its chord
structures), we used this words-into-melody technique to create motifs. We chose the
words Coltrane, Tenor, and Blue and then transformed them into melodies using
the Aeolian mode. You can see how we applied this to Coltrane and Tenor in Fig. 4.
Notice how in both Fig. 3 and Fig. 4, we resolve the phrase using notes that were
generated from the respective words. In Fig. 4, we create additional melodic variety by
transposing E and G down an octave.
I used this example as the basis for the title track to my
Fig. 1
Fig. 2
2003 album, Think Tank. Visit the online edition of this
lesson to download a special solo guitar version of Think
Tank. Fig. 5 shows how I applied the melodic material I generated from Coltrane and Tenor in the pieces A section.
I encourage you to create your own combinations using this
method. Many times the right mixture of a certain scale or
mode with a few descriptive words can create a spark that will
lead to a new motif, melody, or even entire composition.
Fig. 3
B
E
L
U
G
L
Y
A U T I F U U

U
&
click here to hear

a solo-guitar version
of think tank.
nder any condition, imagination produces interesting alternatives. When

composing music, there are times when
creative continuity seems to fade and is
momentarily replaced with emptiness. In
this lesson, well look at a practical way to
jumpstart your creativity and replace emptiness with ideas.
Its rewarding to apply musical techniques to other forms of language. For
example, if we take the English alphabet
and display it alongside a scalar series, the
two separate systems become a device that
can translate the language of words into
one of melodies. Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 offer
two examples that will serve as the starting point for our exploration. In Fig. 1,
we combine the alphabet (shown in the
left column) with a C major scale (which
premierguitar.com
10
10
12
7
4
Fig. 4
U
U
U
U
Resolve

&
Fig. 5
& 44
&
& w
3
J J
5
5
A
2
2
3
j j J
j J
J
3
j
j J
w
w
lesson > FrEtboArD workShop
Connecting Chords
by AdAM levy
Adam Levy is best known for his tenure as the

featured guitarist in Norah Jones Handsome
Band. He played on her breakout 2002 CD, Come
Away with Me, as well as her subsequent two
albums. Levy has also recorded several albums
on his own. His latest isThe Heart Collector.
Visit adamlevy.com for more information.
chopS: Intermediate
thEory: Advanced Beginner/
Intermediate
LESSoN ovErvIEw:
Learn the basic principles
of voice leading
Discover new ways to play
through chord progressions
Explore inversions across
the fretboard
click here to hear
sound clips of
these examples
uitarists tend to think of chords in

terms of fretboard grips. But remember, the concept of chordal harmony has
been around a lot longer than the guitar.
Harmony began eons ago as the result of
people singing different notes together
that sounded naturally sweet to the ear. As
chords move from one to the next in vocal
music, the music flows most naturally when
each singer sings a smooth melodic line,
connecting the notes without awkward
leaps. This is called voice leading, and we
can approach chordal movement similarly
on the guitar, for similarly smooth results.
Play Fig. 1, a simple IIVVI progression in the key of C major. You can think
of the starting C major chord as four voices
(CEGC, low to high). Note that as we
move to the F major chord, the top voice
remains on the same note (C), the voice
below that moves just one whole-step (G to
A), and the next voice below moves only a
half-step (E to F). Tallying just those three
voicesand overlooking the movement of

the bottom voice for nowwe could say that
the cumulative movement is one-and-a-half
total steps (G to A, plus E to F). To hear the
voice leading most clearly, try playing Fig. 1
again, but sounding only the top three voices.
Note that the bottom voice leaps more than
the others. The bottom voice in voice leading
is often allowed more independence in order
to define root motion clearly (in this case,
IIVVI) or to follow its own melodic logic.
As we saw in the first example, voice leading takes care of itself, more or less, when we
play in open position. However, when we get
into keys where open-position chords arent
available, most guitarists default to using barre
Fig.
1
Fig. 1
chords, and smooth voice leading is given up

in favor of common memorized grips.
Try this: Play a IIVVI progression in
the key of B% major using common barre
shapes with no regard for voice leading.
Theres nothing wrong with this, yet you
can get a more lyrical flow by applying
voice leading to this progression. The first
step is to settle on a clear melody.
Check out Fig. 2 and start by playing
only the top voice of each chord (the notes
DE%CD). As in Fig. 1, the most direct
voice leading can be seen in the top three
notes, while the bottom voice moves more
freely. Go back and play the barre-chord
version of our B% IIVVI progression
1
0
2
3
1
2
3
0
0
0
1
0
2
3
j
b
b
j
b
b
3
3
3
1
4
3
1
1
2
3
3
3
3
1
& 44
Fig.
3
Fig. 2
4
& 4 b
b
Fig.43
Fig.
& 44 b
b
j
b
3
3
3
6
Fig.
Fig.54
j

4
&4
F
j
b
b
4
3
5
6
5
3
3
3
3
j E
b
bb
8
10
10
10
8
10
6
8
7
8
7
8
6
w
nw
w
w
8
8
9
8
premierguitar.com
lesson > FrEtboArD workShop
and then Fig. 2 once more. Can you hear

the difference voice leading makes?
Now play Fig. 3, which is a variation
on Fig. 2, with same the melody on top,
slightly different chord voicings, and a less
adventurous bottom line.
While IIVVI progressions are fairly
common in pop music, voice leading can
be used to streamline chord progressions
that might otherwise sound herky-jerky.
Take, for example, the intro to George
Harrisons Something. The song is in
the key of C major, and the intro chords
are FE%GC. That E% chord doesnt
belong in this key, and going from E% to
G is not the most natural chord movement. As a general rule, chords move
most smoothly by a fourth or fifthsay,
from C to F or Gor by stepwise root
motionfrom C to Dm, for example.
We can use voice leading to sweeten the
sound of this chord progression, as shown
in Fig. 4. Notice that the top voice inches
upward in the last three chords as the bass
line steps downward.
Eric Claptons Bell Bottom Blues is

another classic song built on a progression
that contains an unexpected chord. In the key
of C major once again, the verse chords are
CEAmCFGFG. That second chord,
E major, is the odd man out, not belonging
to the key of C. On the original recording,
from the 1970 Derek and the Dominos
album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs,
Clapton uses open-position chords and a
descending bass line to gracefully connect the
dots. Fig. 5 is similar to his approach.
It may be tricky to appreciate the voice
leading here, as the chords are broken into
arpeggios. To focus on the harmonic motion
without any rhythmic distractions, try playing each chord without arpeggiating it. Now
we can more easily see how the top voice
in the first three chords goes chromatically
upward while the bottom voice goes downward scale-wise. Smooth move, Slowhand.
We can use the same sort of voice-leading
strategy on even thornier chord progressionssuch as Kurt Cobains Lithium
from the Nirvana album Nevermind. The
song is in the key of D major, and the verse

chord progression is DF#BmGB%C
AC. The chords D, Bm, G, and A belong
in the key, while F#, B%, and C do not.
Played as full barre chords, or as root-andfifth power chords (see Fig. 6), the progression has a punk-rock edge.
It takes on a breezier, almost Beatlesque
quality in Fig. 7, when we use voice leading
to string the chords along. Of course, sanding the rough edges off of Nirvana may seem
heretical to some, but thats not the point
here. The point is that harmony is universal,
and its laws apply across borderlines. Thus,
voice leading can be applied to virtually any
chord progression, regardless of musical genre.
Now its your turn to take voice leading
for a test drive. Apply it to the chords in
your own songs, or even just one section of
the song, so that the effect stands out. You
might also try re-arranging a cover song
with voice leading in mind. As with any
musical skill, voice leading gets easier the
more you work at it, so get at it and keep at
it until its second nature.
Fig. 5
6
Fig.
4
& 4 #

E/B
C/G
2
2
3
3
2
3
3
1
0
0
0
2
3
3
1
j

C
j

C
8
6
10
8
10
8
7
5
7
5
10
8
10
8
Fig.
Fig. 6
8
& 44
j
##
F
j B
7
5
11
9
11
9
Fig.
Fig. 7
9
7
5
premierguitar.com
j
b
9
7
5
3
5
3
##
#
7
7
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7
6
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4 #
& 4
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lesson > bEyoND bLuES
the bends
by Jeff MCerlAin
Jeff McErlain is a New York City-based guitar

player, producer, songwriter, and educator. He
performs regularly in NYC and abroad with
his trio and blues band. Jeff has a number of
instructional DVDs available at TrueFire.com,
and he is a featured instructor for the National
Guitar Workshop. Jeffs latest CD Im Tired is
available on iTunes or at jeffmcerlain.com.
chopS: Intermediate
thEory: Advanced Beginner
LESSoN ovErvIEw:
Combine whole-step, half-step
and minor-third bends.
Learn how to bend in tune
through a scale.
Develop phrases in the style of
Eric Clapton, Albert King and
Jimi Hendrix.
click here to hear
sound clips of
these examples
ending strings is one of the coolest guitar techniques, and when it comes to
playing blues, bends are essential. The most
obvious bend is the whole-step. What solo
would be complete without a bend from
the %7 to the root, as in Fig. 1?
But lets look a bit deeper, shall we? In a
minor-pentatonic scale, we have two intervals
we can use for bluesy soloing, the whole-step
and the minor-third bend. The scale formula
for the minor pentatonic is root%345%7.
Lets apply this formula to the key of C
(CE%FGB%) and look at the cooland
sometimes overlookedbending options.
There are two minor-third intervals
in the scale, CE% and GB%. The bend
between the root and b3 as shown in Fig.
2 was a staple of Eric Claptons playing
during the Cream era. This is often called
an overbend, but really all were doing is
bending within the scale. Ive got to say
I love this sound. Check out Claptons
premierguitar.com
playing on Wheels of Fire for a great lesson

on this particular bend. Actually check
out everything he plays on that album!
We move to the other minor-third
interval in Fig. 3. This is a classic sound
that I first picked up from listening to Jimi
Hendrix. Now we have covered whole-step
and minor-third bends, but lets go deeper.
In Fig. 4 we have a lick in the style of Albert
King that will add a blue note, which will

bring some half-step bends into the mix.
Make sure to keep each bend in tune.
In my previous column [The
Composite Blues Scale, June 2011], I
discussed the composite blues scale, which
is basically a scale derived from mixing
both the major and minor blues scales.
This adds some very cool notes that we can
Check out Claptons playing on Wheels of Fire for

a great lesson on minor third bends. Actually check
out everything he plays on that recording!
b fij
Fig. 1
C7
fij
&4
Fig. 2
11
fij b fij fij fij

1 1/2
Fig. 3
C7
& 44
10
& 44
1 1/2
1 1/2
1 1/2
1 1/2
1 1/2
11
8
10
10
12
12
10
13
10
lesson > bEyoND bLuES
bend up to and out of. In Fig. 5, I take

advantage of these half-steps by bending
the 6 to the %7 and ending with a very cool
bend from the %3 to the 3 of a C7 chord.
Fig. 6 is a slick little move that works
great over C7 and contains a bend from the
Fig. 4
& 44
j
fi
1/2
11
13
13
11
13
b b n
4
&4
1/2
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
10
15
1/2
13
13
13 13
C7
Fig. 5
you play them out of tune. As an exercise,

I suggest you first fret the note you plan to
bend to, then bend into that target note and
try to match the fretted pitch. If your fingertips are sore after checking out this lesson,
youre on the right track!
b b fi n #
n fij #
13
3 to the 4 in a very Jeff Beck-like fashion.

The last example, shown in Fig. 7, is a cool
move that advances chromatically from the
%3 up to the 5all done with bends.
Take your time with these examples.
Bends can very easily land you in trouble if
1/2
10
8
10
fij fij fij # fij
& 44 3
3
3
3
1/2
1/2
1/2
1/2
15
18
& 44
15
18
17
j
b fi
15
18
17
j
fi
1/2
16
17
18
17
j
n fi #
1/2
1/2
18
16
j
fi
1/2
20
17
premierguitar.com
t e
aye s
oi e
geddy lee
billy sheehan
guthrie govan
Guns n Roses
Music Strings
www.rotosound.com
lesson > ShrED your ENthuSIASm
thanksgiving at
ted nugents House
by PAul Gilbert
Paul Gilbert purposefully began playing guitar at age 9, formed the guitar-driven bands
Racer X and Mr. Big, and then accidentally
had a No. 1 hit with an acoustic song called
To Be with You. Paul began teaching at
GIT at the age of 18, has released countless
albums and guitar instructional DVDs, and
will remembered as the guy who got the drill
stuck in his hair. For more information, visit
paulgilbert.com
chopS: Intermediate
thEory: Intermediate
LESSoN ovErvIEw:
Learn how to superimpose
m7%5 arpeggios over
dominant chords.
Eliminate any fear of arpeggios
containing six syllables.
Develop phrases that fit over the
IV chord in a blues progression.
A year or so ago, I was giving a lesson to a

student. After exchanging a few pleasantries,
he said that his regular private teacher wanted
to know if I could play any m7%5 arpeggios. It
seemed like less of a musical request and more
like some kind of guitar-jousting challenge.
Something like, Yeah sure, you can play
widdly-widdly with your rock band, but can
you play an arpeggio that takes six syllables
just to pronounce?
I managed to squeak out something good
enough to defend my reputation. But since
then, Ive delved much deeper into this arpeggio, and I truly love how it sounds. This
month, I want to show you how to play it,
and why it sounds so good. First of all, I have
to comfort you by telling you that its an easy
arpeggio. Why do I say that its easy? Because
it only contains four notes. Only four! It has
more syllables than notes, for crying out loud.
We can breathe easily and safely turn our
brains back on.
Now Ill give you the benefit of my
research and take you to Fig. 1, which shows
the easiest fingering that Ive found. See, I
wasnt lying. It has just four easy notes. This

requires a couple of position shifts, but the
shape always stays the same.
I should point out that Im starting the
arpeggio on the %7 (E), not the root (F#). The
main reason for this is simply because I really
like the shape. I think its easy to play, easy to
visualize, and still covers all the notes I want.
If I rebuild the fingering to start on the root,
the shape becomes more difficult and the
sound doesnt improve in any noticeable way.
So Im staying with the easy one!
Thats a lot of finger talk. Lets turn on our
ears and listen to the arpeggio in context, by
playing it over a chord. Our chord will be a
D9, which is a common sound in blues, funk,
rock, and jazz. In Fig. 2 and Fig. 3, you can
check out the voicing I use along with our
arpeggio in context.
I think thats a nice sound. But you may
have noticed something odd. The chord is
in D, while the arpeggio is in F#. How does
that work? Here is where I should whip out
some heady music theory to explain the
details of chord substitution, intervals, and
Fig. 1
click here to hear
sound clips of
these examples.
rnold Schwarzenegger. Crosby, Stills,

Nash, and Young. Yngwie Johann
Malmsteen. Minor seven flat five.
Can you guess what the four names above
have in common? Ill tell you. They all have
six syllables. Ar-nold-Schwarz-en-egg-er. 1-23-4-5-6. Thats a lot of syllables to have in a
single name. Ive only got three in mine: PaulGil-bert. 1-2-3. All those names have double
what I have. Im a bit jealous, but thats not
why I brought this up. I want you to think
about this: What does your brain do when
confronted with a six-syllable name such
as minor seven flat five? I know what my
brain does. It shuts right off. Thats too many
syllables! Especially when Ive got simpler
alternatives to rely on like minor and major
(both with just two syllables). This leads me
to a story.
premierguitar.com
j
fi
#
6
1/2
< q__q = aq eb >

D9
4
& 4 #
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
< q__q = aq eb >
17
5
5
5
4
5
17
14
14
12
12
20
19
19
17
16
15
14
Fig. 3
A7
& 44 #
5
6
5
5
6
5
5
6
5
5
6
5
5
# #
#
# w
#
6
6
6
D9
5
5
5
4
5
17 20 17
17 19
14 17
14 16
19 17
17 14
14
16
12 15
12 14
lesson > ShrED your ENthuSIASm
extensions. But Ive made an executive decision to use a metaphor instead, and one that
involves Ted Nugent, lots of food, and of
course, the IV chord.
Playing a solo over the IV chord is like
going to a Thanksgiving party at Ted Nugents
house. Heres why: You know that Ted is
going to have a turkey. Hell have proudly
plucked it out of the forest with his bow and
arrow or possibly even his bare hands. Either
way, rest assured that there is a turkey in the
oven roasting away. So you, the guest, dont
have to bring any turkey to the party. You
might want to bring some cranberry sauce,
mashed potatoes, green beans, or strawberry
rhubarb pie. But you dont need to bring any
turkey. Uncle Ted has that under control.
After much playing and listening, Ive discovered that the same is true for the IV chord
in a blues progression. The bass, rhythm
guitar, piano, or organ will be playing the root
(the metaphorical turkey) of the IV chord. So
you dont have to play it in your solo because
its already there. It sounds more sophisticated
to play the musical equivalents of cranberry
sauce, mashed potatoes, green beans, and
strawberry rhubarb pie, while leaving the turkey to the accompaniment.
The notes in our F#m7%5 arpeggio are
the cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, green
beans, and strawberry rhubarb pie. If you look
at the four notes in this arpeggio they match
up exactly to the notes in our D9 chord,
with one exception. There is no D note in
our arpeggio. Were not playing the root in
our solo. We didnt bring the turkey! If youve
studied music theory, you know this is called
a substitution. If youre a guitar player, you
can just think of it as moving a shape a certain
number of frets to get a nice new sound.
Fig. 4
< q__q = aq eb >
To digest this idea, lets repeat what we

already did, but in some different keys. First
play the chord, then play the arpeggio.
There is some math at work here, and Im

tempted to start rattling off some notes and
numbers. But I think the best way to get it
is just to play these examples a few times. Im
going to spare you the explanation and trust
that youll play these chords and arpeggios for
five minutes. Even in that short time, the pattern should become quite obvious, and youll
no longer need any wordy explanation. Your
fingers and ears will already have it. How do
you know when you have it? Just try playing
dominant 9th chords in some other keys and
see if you can figure out where to put the
arpeggio. Im betting that youll nail it. Ill give
you five minutes to test it out now.
Youre back. Now lets do a variation.
Since this arpeggio shape is fresh in your
mind, I want to show you one more substitution idea. This is where guitar players
have a maddening advantage over piano
players. On a guitar, its quite easy to play a
chord and move it up and down chromatically. All you do is lock your hand into the
shape and move it up or down a fret. On a
piano, chromatic movement requires different shapes. This can be difficult to play and
also difficult to visualize. I suggest taking
10 smug seconds to gloat about this. Piano
players have so many other advantages, so
its nice when we can have one too.
All right. Gloating over. In a blues progression, there are lots of opportunities
to do this kind of chromatic movement.
It adds a nice tension and release to our
old familiar progression. Now lets use the
m7%5 substitution weve been playing to
outline some of this chromatic movement.
In Fig. 4, I want to focus on the B%13
chord. To outline this chord (without the
turkey), Ill play a Dm7%5 arpeggio. I want
to use the same shape that I showed you
earlier, but for variety lets start on the high
note this time. Isnt that cool? Ive never
sounded so sophisticated in my life. All I
did was go up a half-step for a moment and
leave out the turkey.
I was so excited when I started experimenting with this sound that I decided
to search for more fingerings and variations. Ill quickly show you a couple of
my best discoveries.
First, I found a more typical fingering for
a m7%5 arpeggio. I say its typical because it
stays in one position. For me, the fingering
shown in Fig. 5 is not as easy to play at top
speed, but its in such a convenient location
that I still find myself using it a lot. In Fig. 6
I play it over the IV chord and also over our
chromatic chord move.
Please make good use of these powerful
sounds, and if you missed my column last
month [The Super-Hendrix Scale, July
2011], I encourage you to go back and
have a look. Its all about soloing over the V
chord in a blues, and this will connect very
well with the ideas about the IV chord in
this column.
And if nothing else, remember that there
are only four notes in an F#m7%5 arpeggio.
Dont let that long name clobber you.
A13
# n n
A13
# n n 6
# n #
6
B13
#
& 44 #
7
6
5
7
6
5
Fig. 5
16 13
15 13
13 10
12 10
11 8
Fig. 6
10 8
A13
B13
A13
6
#
n #n
& 4 # #
# #
6
6
6
D9
8 12 8
10
5
5
4
5
9 11
10
9 11
10
8
10
11 9
10
11
7
6
5
6
7 5
7 5
6
6
8 5
9 12
8 12
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Jinxx and Jake play B.C. Rich Pro X
BCRich.com
Original Photography by: Sammi Doll Illustration By: Richard Villa III
lesson > RHYTHM & GROOVES
Guitar George
So I set out to learn as many chords as
I could. Along the way, I developed a little
game to help me expand my harmonic
vocabulary. Of course, since then Ive
discovered that no one really knows all
the chordsalthough the late Ted Greene
could be the exceptionbut I still play
the game.
The rules are simple: Choose a note
and then play as many chords as possible
that each include this particular tone in
the identical fretboard location. This common tone is the only fixed elementall
the other notes are up for grabs. When
playing this game, you suspend all
requirements for keys, cadence, or tonality. The chords dont have to make sense
as a progressionthats not the point.
Instead, the goal is to construct a chord
sequence based around one note thats
shared by every voicing. Each chord earns
you a point. How many can you build off
a given note before running out of ideas
... four? Eight? Or maybe 12 or more?
The only other rule: You must name
every chord you play. Gripping a shape you
cant identify is cheating.
Guitar George has different levels of
complexity. Ive found its easiest to begin
with a common tone in the highest voice
and build the chords below it. Fig. 1
illustrates the process. If you squint at
the notation, youll see that every chord
has E on the 2nd string as the top note.
For example, in measure 1, Fmaj7, Dm9,
C#m7, and B11 all share Ethis is the
anchor tone, if you will.
Likewise, the chords in measures 2, 3,
and 4 have E as the top note. Dont be
by Andy ellis
A veteran guitar journalist and senior editor at

PG, Andy is based in Nashville, where he backs
singer-songwriters on the baritone guitar. He
also hosts The Guitar Show, a weekly on-air and
online broadcast. For the schedule and links to
audio streams and archived audio interviews
with inspiring players, visit theguitarshow.com.
cHOpS: Intermediate
THEORY: Advanced
LESSOn OVERViEw:
Learn how to voice chords
around a common tone
Expand your harmonic
vocabulary
Play mind games with your
guitar buddies
To hear sound clips of
these examples, head to
premierguitar.com/aug2011
hen Sultans of Swing first hit the

airwaves in 1978, I remember going
ape over Mark Knopflers supple lines and
bell-like Strat tone. But something else struck
me as well, and that was the line You check
out Guitar George, he knows all the chords.
I thought, Wow, I wonder what its like to
know all the chords. I want to be that guy!
The rules are simple:

Choose a note and then
play as many chords
as possible that each
include this particular
tone in the identical
fretboard location.
fooled by the F% in measure 2s B%dim7.
Enharmonically, thats E, but the 5 of a
B% chord is F, so when you lower it to a %5
to create a diminished voicing, it becomes
F%which is an odd duck, I must say.
Because F% is also E by another name, I
havent broken the rules in this round of
Guitar George.
First published in 1971, Chord Chemistry established the late Ted Greene as
one of the great guitar gurus of modern
times. The pithy book offers years of
study to any guitarist looking for harmonic inspiration, and its still in print.
Greenes
fingerstyle
magic is documented on
YouTube, so
if you havent
yet explored
it, jump online
pronto.
Fig. 1
Freely
Fmaj7
& 44
5
5
7
8
Dm9
C#m7

##
5
5
3
5
B11
5
4
6
4
5
2
4
2
Bm11
E7b5 Bbdim7 Am7
Ab7#5
G13
F#m7
Fmaj7
##

Emaj7
# bbn
b
5
7
7
5
7
6
5
6
5
5
5
5
5
5
4
5
4
3
5
2
5
2
5
8
6
4
2
3
1
b
b

# n
# n
premierguitar.com
lesson > rhythm & GroovES
But I digress: When you play the 13

chords in this example, youll seeand
hearhow one note is the lynchpin of
the entire sequence. Notice how this
example is marked Freely, which simply
means theres no tempo. Take your time
with each chord and observe how the bass
descends in a more-or-less stepwise manner. Essentially, the middle notes get filled
in between the fixed high note and the
descending bass line.
Of course, in this game the anchor
tone doesnt have to be the top note.
In Fig. 2, the chord sequence revolves
around A on the 6th string. Once again,
the key is irrelevantall that matters is
keeping that low A as the bottom note in
each voicing. To make a chord sequence
more demanding, simply add rhythm to
it, as Ive done here. This makes the exercise a bit more musical and forces you to
practice the chord-to-chord movement to
nail the changes in time.
There you have itGuitar George. Its
fun, especially if you play the game with
a friend or two, and you challenge each
other to see how many chords you can
play and name based on a common tone
in a fixed fretboard position. Start off with
a common tone in the lowest or highest
voice to get a feel for the game, and then
see if you can play a sequence using a
middle voice as a common tone instead.
Or make it really challenging by declaring
two common tones. However you play
it, Guitar George will push your chordvoicing
chops to new heights.
Fig. 2
Aadd2
& 44
Chord-Tone Chart for Fig. 1
Fmaj7
root
root %3
%7
E7%5
B%dim7
G#
root
%7
%3
F#
root
%7
11
root
%7
%3
11
Chord-Tone Chart for Fig. 2
B%
G#
%5
%7
Aadd2
root
B%
D%
F% (E)
root
%%7
%3
%5
root
%7
%3
A%
G%
root
%7
#5
root
%7
13
F#
C#
root
%3
%7
Am7
A%7#5
G13
F#m7
Fmaj7
root
G#
D#
root
root
Emaj7
G/A
slash bass root 3
A6/9
Am7
E%
%7 %3
%5
F#
root
C F (E#)
Am7#5
root
%7 %3
#5
G C#
F#
%7
13
A13
root
Am7
root
%7 %3
%7
C# E
G#
Amaj7
root
A6/9
5
4
4
#
#
root
A13
C#
Am7#5
Am7%5
A
root
G/A
Am7b5
Want to make the Guitar George game

even more challenging? In addition to
naming each chordas required by the
rulesidentify each component tone,
both by note name and function. This
will put you in the Guitar George Hall of
Fame! To get you started and give you a
feel for the process, Ive charted out the
chords in this lessons two examples.
To reach the games ultimate level,
write your own chord book as you
go, mapping out all the voicings you
discover. Use tab and notation, and
then add each tones function above or
below the tab.
C#
Bm11
B11
&
Dm9
C#m7
Play for Keeps
Amaj7
# #
4
5
5
5
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5
5
5
5
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feAture > LASt chANcE to rEASoN
hen you think about the preponderance of formulaic

radio-friendly hits and the instant-gratification culture
were fostering these days, things like skill and discipline can
seem in short supply among up-and-coming performers. Some
players may wonder why they should labor for hours, day in
and day out, to become facile on their instrument and craft
compelling songs when any 10-year-old with ADD can cut
and paste GarageBand loops and become a YouTube sensation
faster than your band can get tight on that tricky verse riff.
Technically oriented players love to pine for the good ol
days when the art required major woodshedding. And the
current reliance on Auto-Tune and other computer-generated audio tricks only fires that nostalgia.
premierguitar.com
Yet while the current musical landscape may seem bleak,

all is not lost. Technology has made it easy to become lazy,
but some of todays bands are also churning out music that
is taking complexity to levels never before reached. Take,
Maine-based mathcore mavens Last Chance to Reason,
whose recent release Level 2 is so dense and abstruse that it
could give the guys in Dream Theater nightmares. Working
from the bands fully notated score, the concept album fuses
Arnold Schoenbergs 12-tone compositional theory with
Meshuggah-like mayhem and superhuman guitar pyrotechnics. From beginning to end, with its relentlessly changing
odd-meter sections and ultra-precise sixteenth-note sextuplets, the album is a virtuosic tour de force.
Last Chance to Reason (left to right): Chris Corey (bass), Tom Waterhouse (guitar), Evan Sammons (drums), Mike Lessard (vocals), Brian Palmer (keyboards), and A.J. Harvey (guitars). Photo by Jeremy Saffer
Last Chance to Reason was formed in

2003 at the University of Maine by guitarist
A.J. Harvey and drummer Evan Sammons
both jazz and contemporary music majors
and bassist Chris Corey, who was in high
school at the time. The band recorded
an EP in 2005, and in 2007 a full-length
album called Lvl. 1 followed. After several
lineup changes over the years, guitarist Tom
Waterhouse, a fellow University of Maine
alumni, entered the fray prior to Level 2.
Vocalist Mike Lessard and keyboardist Brian
Palmer round out the bands current lineup.
One of the more ironic things about
LCTR is that theyre heavily influenced by
an art form that might, at first, seem antithetical to their level of musicianshipvideo
games. Their 2007 album Lvl. 1 was heavily influenced by the 1994 Nintendo game
Super Metroidwhich inspired the song

titles Escape from Brinstar, Kraid Aint
Got Shit on Me, and Destroy Mother
Brain. Ever the overachievers, the band took
the video game component of their own art
a step further on this albumintroducing
a full-length video game thats synchronized
with Level 2s underlying tracks.
We caught up with Harvey, Waterhouse,
and Corey at their studio in the middle
of one of their six-days-a-week marathon
rehearsals as they prepare for their upcoming tour.
First off, what bands inspired you guys?
A.J. Harvey: Pretty standard stuff early
onElvis, Aerosmith, Van Halen, and AC/
DC. When I started getting older, I got
into heavier stuff.
Tom Waterhouse: Opeth, Dream Theater,

Rush, Meshuggah, and Porcupine Tree.
Chris Corey: I really like a lot of old prog,
like Yes, Genesis, and Rush.
And what about influences on your
respective instruments?
Harvey: In the beginning, I liked Kirk
Hammett and Dimebag [Dimebag
Darrell Abbott, the late Pantera guitarist]. It evolved from there. I like Allan
Holdsworth and Frank Gambales stuff
with Chick Corea. I like John Coltrane,
because he really shredded, for lack of a
better word. I really like the caliber of lead
playing or soloing that the jazz guys like
Coltrane haveits ridiculous.
Waterhouse: Also Randy Rhoads. Those
are probably our first influences.
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martinguitar.com/strings
Corey: On bass, my biggest influences

would be John Myung [Dream Theater],
Billy Sheehan, and Dan Briggs from
Between the Buried and Me.Interestingly,
probably the biggest influencethe guy
who took bass to a new extreme when
I was youngwas Ryan Martinie from
Mudvayne. He was the first guy I listened
to where I heard the bass and was like,
Wow, thats really, really awesomeI want
to focus on this! Before that, it was grunge
and very simple stuff. Then I heard Dream
Theater, and I just couldnt believe it. I
thought, I want to play like that. I played
a 5-string at the time, and then I saw John
Myung and he had a 6-string. So thats
what got me into playing the 6-string bass.
some jazz. I wouldnt necessarily walk

into a jazz gig and get a lead sheet and
say, Okay, here we go. Id say Im semicomfortable playing jazz.
How did your jazz interests meld with
your contemporary classical influences?
Harvey: I got introduced to the atonal
thing in school, and Evan, our drummer,
was into it, too. He, Chris, and I were writing in the practice room for Lvl. 1. All of
the songs on that album are based on different 12-tone rows that we would just vary
rhythmically throughout each tune. Once I
started learning about 12-tone stuff, I started listening to dudes like Schoenbergbut
not all the time. Its not a huge part of my

repertoire, I just throw it in here and there.
Can you explain the 12-tone row for
those who are unfamiliar with it?
Waterhouse: The 12-tone row stuff is
kind of simple in a sense, because its just
making a melody out of twelve notes. In
some cases, it could be just a riff in 6/8
or a riff in 6/4.
Is the same row used throughout the
whole album?
Waterhouse: Yeah, its loosely based on
it. Its a theme that occurs throughout the
entire thing.
How did you guys come to develop an

interest in jazz?
Harvey: When I was in high school, I
saw John Scofield play with Karl Denson,
which was great because it was a really good
crossover [act]. It was jazz, but there were
people dancing in the audience and there
were computers and all sorts of sampling
[going on]. It was a real jam-band audience.
At that time, someone turned me on to
[saxophonist] Joshua Redman, Mahavishnu
Orchestra, and Tony Williams. I first heard
the Brecker Brothers around then, too.
Those guys are sick.
Waterhouse: Also, jazz guitarists like Kurt
Rosenwinkel and Lenny Breau.
Corey: Im not as jazz-inclined as these
guys, butI do enjoy it and I can play
premierguitar.com
LoNg Life.
rich tone.
No SACrifiCeS.
Harvey: For Upload Complete, the first

riff is what I call a fragmented 12-tone
row, where it repeats the first four notes
twice, and then it adds three notes, and
then two more. The second riff is the
whole 12-tone row played in sequence,
in a simple rhythm [sings riff].That
same 12-tone row also appears in The
Prototype and Apotheosis, but just
starts on a different note.
Does it continue in sequence after the
displaced starting note?
Harvey: Yeah.
Waterhouse: But youve also got to stray
away from it here and there, and rhythmic
premierguitar.com
variation with Evan is a big part of that. It

gives way to creating a full song just using
a small idea, being able to create something
larger out of a small number of notes.
Is an intellectual understanding of
music needed to write and perform
music this complex?
Waterhouse: Well, a big form of communication with us is notated musicthats how
we usually get things across.
Harvey: Chris didnt go to school for music,
but even so he can still definitely communicate with us. Sometimes I just shout out the
notes to him and he memorizes it.
Chris, do you read notation?
Corey: Yes, I do read notation. Im not
spectacular at sight-readingits a constant
work in progress. I have a pretty good
understanding of the more in-depth parts
of theory. Ive kind of acquired it all just
from playing with these guystheyre all
very talented and very knowledgeable with
this stuff. I just try to play along and keep
up with the madness.
What was the writing process for Level 2?
Harvey: Level 2 wasnt written in the
practice room as much as Lvl. 1 was.
Wed record fragments and ideas, and
then Evan [Sammons, drummer] would
put together the song skeletons. He
would program drums, and then wed
go over it again and refine the parts a
little more. Then wed record them again.
Have it all in one string.

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Some things seem complex, but theyre

actually simple ideas.
Waterhouse: It was a collaborative effort.
We all have a strong understanding of
music theory, and everybody would
experiment and bring something different
to the table. After we all agreed on something, we would then move forward. A
big part of it was the 12-tone row that we
developed and used throughout the entire
album in different ways.
Corey: We also have a video game that is programmed to run with the album. Certain things
that happen in the game are accented by whats
happening in the song. For example, on beat
one, the skulls will drop, and on certain parts
with solos it will go into another section where
things are bright and things are falling upward.
Did you employ compositional techniques
like retrograde and inversion with your
12-tone rows?
The Rick Vito Signature

Dual-Pro bridge pickup.
Korina body and neck.
Ebony fretboard.
Pickup pan knob.
Locking "Stairstep" tuners.
Two-tone tapered case.
Harvey: We did more with retrograde

and inversions in Lvl. 1. Theres a song
on the new record called Portal, which
actually uses a different 12-tone row. It
starts out by repeating the first five notes
of the row, and then it busts into the
song and I play three different inversions
of the 12-tone row.
The repetitive structures in songs like
Coded to Fail, Temp Files, The
Linear, and The Prototype are
reminiscent of phrases you might hear
in the music of minimalist composer
Steve Reich.
Harvey: Yeah. For example, Coded to
Fail is based on three notes: C, B, and
F. Its just variations of rhythms on those
three notes, based around the time signatures 7/8, 7/8, 5/8, 5/8, 3/8, 3/8, 3/8,
3/8. The three notes are rhythmically
varied throughout the song and grouped
into riffs. For example, the first riff is
kind of a standard metal riff based on
those three notes, but it does throw in a
little run from F Lydian, too. Most of the
material is based on the notes C down
to B down to Fthe interval sequence
being down a half-step, then down a
diminished fifth.
Conventionally, 12-tone rows are atonal. But does your jazz background cause
you to think harmonically about what
chords the notes in your tone row could
fit over? For example, the C, B, and F
notes could function as the %7, 13, and
%3rd of Dm13.
Harvey: Were not really thinking about
the key when were writing the tone rows.
The Reeves Gabrels Signature

Korina body, flame maple top.
Custom uncovered bridge humbucker.
Dimarzio Fast Track 1 neck pickup.
Bass Contour control.
Push-Pull phase switch.
Rotatable toggle style pickup selector.
Wilkinson Tremolo.
But it sounds like there are also discernible pockets of tonality in your songs.
Harvey: Yeah, and the vocal melodies
will happen more in the parts where
there are chord progressions. In Upload
Complete, after we do the 12-tone row, it
goes into something thats more melodic,
with an E%5 pedal against Gsus accents.
And there are four other chords throughout that part. The chorus goes Amaj7#11,
C#min, Dmaj, and F#min, so its tonal but
its not all in one key.
Are those chords derived from the
tone row?
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Harvey: Not really. We transition into

it in some shape or form by combining
some of the material from the tone
row and some of the material from
the next riff.
Are the songs conceived in 4/4 with
superimposed meters, or is it all different
time signatures?
Waterhouse: Its all different time signatures. But one of the big efforts with this
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album was for it to be as close to 4/4 as

possible. So it would be, like, 15/16, but
if you play it four times through you get
that feel.
Tom and A.J., you guys seem to be
coming from different schools of shred
articulationA.J.s doing more alternate
picking, and Toms playing more legato.
Harvey: Yeah, John Petrucci was definitely
an influence. I mostly use alternate picking
in our materialall the sixteenth-notes and

sixteenth-note triplets are played that way.
Waterhouse: Im definitely more of the
legato guy, coming from my background
listening to Allan Holdsworth and Brett
Garsed [The Mike Varney Project, Derek
Sherinian]whos my favorite. Ive been
really working on his hybrid picking
technique and trying to incorporate it
into the riffs. Its more fluid and requires
less movement.
Photos by Jess Harvey
Guitars
Ibanez RG7321 7-string with an EMG 707 bridge
pickup and a tappable 707 TW in the neck position,
Eastman El Rey, Carvin DC747
Amps
Mesa/Boogie Triple Rectifier,
Boogie oversized 4x12 cabinet
Effects
Ibanez Tube Screamer, Empress Effects ParaEq,
Keeley Compressor, Boss DD-3 Digital Delay,
Boss RV-5 Digital Reverb
Strings, Picks, and Accessories
DAddario EXL110-7 sets (.010.059),
Jim Dunlop Stubby 2 mm or 3 mm picks,
Monster Cable, Levys Leathers straps
premierguitar.com
Guitars
Ibanez S7320
7-string with
EMG 707s
Amps
Peavey 6505 with
Mesa/Boogie tubes,
Peavey 5150 4x12 cabinet
Effects
Ibanez Tube Screamer,
TC Electronic G-Major 2,
Voodoo Lab Ground Control Pro,
Voodoo Lab GCX Audio Switcher
DAddario EXL1107 sets
(.010.059) or EXL110 sets with
an extra .059 or .060 for the low
B, Jim Dunlop 1 mm picks, ISP
Technologies Decimator ProRack
G Noise Reduction System, Furman
M-8 Power Conditioner, Korg
DTR-2000 rack tuner, Monster
Cable, Levys Leathers straps
Basses
Carvin BB76P Bunny Brunel
signature 6-string with piezo
saddle pickups
Amps
Ampeg SVT-3PRO head, Avatar
B410NEO and B212NEO cabs
Effects
TC Electronic G-Major 2, BBE
362 Sound Sonic Maximizer
DR Hi-Beams MR6-30 sets
(.030.125), Furman RP-8 Power
Conditioner, Korg DTR-1000
rack tuner, Monster Cable
premierguitar.com
How about when you guys play harmonized linesdo you articulate them the
same way?
Harvey: A lot of the things we harmonize
are more on the rhythmic side of things.
On those, yeah, wed be articulating the
same way.
Did you record the stuff in chunks, or
did you record whole passes?
Waterhouse: It was definitely chunks to
keep that consistency. To be on par with a
lot of other bands, we had to keep everything as tight as possible on the album.
Did you use click tracks?
Waterhouse: Yeah, we all do.
Do you have the click programmed into
all of the different meters?
Harvey: It depends on the part. If the odd
time signature is really characteristic of the
part, the click will change with it. But if its
an underlying thing that just creates more
syncopation, the click will stay in 4/4.
Waterhouse: The click track is intenseall
the accents, subdivisions, and time signatures are there. Evan actually plays the click
tracks live.
Harvey: Its on a sampler, and Evans got
headphones on. One reason we do that is
because theres so much atmospheric stuff
on the backing tracksynth layers, different
oscillators, distorted synth tonesthat goes
in sync with the music and comes in different parts throughout. The other reason is
because it keeps the tempo consistent.
Are the song tempos also preprogrammed
into your delay units?
Harvey: Yeah. For example, its 150 BPM
for the solo in Upload Complete. Then
the next bank is set at 180 BPM for the

leads I have at that tempo in Apotheosis,
and so on. I only use time delays on solos
and leads, and I have consolidated all of my
delay and harmony effects into two or three
banks on my TC Electronic G-Major 2.
I feel like anytime Ive played out of an

Ampeg 8x10, it just pushed a lot more
power and had a lot more balls. But cabs
are such a wide market that I havent really
decided. Because of touring, I can only stop
in a guitar shop so much.
This would be a good time to talk about

the rest of your gear.
Harvey: I have a new Ibanez S7320 7-string
loaded with EMG 707s that I play through
a Peavey 6505. I also push it with an Ibanez
Tube Screamer. Venue to venue, the rig
will have more or less gain for some reason
or another, so the Tube Screamers drive
is changed night to night, but its usually
between 1 oclock and 3 oclock, while the
level is between 12 oclock and 3 oclock.
Waterhouse: I have an old Ibanez RG7321
7-string that also has EMG 707sbut my
neck pickup is tappable. I have a borrowed
Carvin DC747 that is unbelievable, and
an Eastman El Rey hollowbody too. I use
a stock Mesa/Boogie Triple Rectifier with a
Mesa oversized 4x12 cab, and I have the controls pretty much all in the middle. I also use
a Tube Screamer to boost it a little bit and
tighten up the low end of the oversized cab.
Corey: I play a Carvin BB76P Bunny
Brunel signature 6-string. My B string has
a Hipshot Xtender that tunes it down a
whole step to A, and I use that on Taking
Control and The Linear. My amp is
an Ampeg SVT-3PRO head, and I run it
through Avatar B410NEO and B212NEO
cabs, which have speakers with neodymium
magnets so its light on the lifting. I like
them, but Im looking to upgrade soon.
Your music obviously demands incredible precision, but, live, theres no margin
of error. If somebody gets off by even a
sixteenth-note, you could have a train
wreck. Has that happened? And if so,
how did you recover?
Waterhouse: Its happened maybe once in
the past year. If we fall off that badly, Evan
can turn off the click track and continue. It
takes a lot of listening to everybody else and
making sure youre right in the pocket. The
jazz background helps in always knowing
how to get out of it as quickly as possible.
Ive seen the scores to some of your songs,
and theyre as complex as The Rite of
Spring. But, unlike orchestral players,
you guys play everything from memory.
How do you balance the showmanship
aspect of a concert with trying to keep
the music together?
Waterhouse: We do as much as we can
onstage, but its really important to us to
play the stuff correctly.
Harvey: At this point, we move to the
rhythms and look like were feeling it, but
not to such an extreme extent. We still try
to keep some ounce of showmanship in
there. We headbang, but we arent doing
guitar whipstheyre not as conducive to
sounding good.
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Feature > Stanley Clarke
Photo by Steven Park
premierguitar.com
Fusion legend Stanley Clarke talks about his

double-bass roots, his bevy of Alembic electrics, why
all bassists should jam with other 4-stringers, and his
recent reunion album with fellow Return to Forever
bandmates Chick Corea and Lenny White.
By Dan Berkowitz
or those in the know, the name Stanley Clarke brings

many things to mindbeautiful Alembic basses funky
slap solos a big Afro ... and, most likely, Return to Forever.
Founded by legendary keyboardist Chick Corea in 1972,
Return to Foreveralong with John McLaughlins Mahavishnu
Orchestra and Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorters Weather
Reportwas hugely instrumental (no pun intended) in establishing the jazz-fusion genre. Though RTF has included such
noted players as session drummer Steve Gadd and guitarists Al
Di Meola, Earl Klugh, Bill Connors, and Frank Gambale (who
currently plays with the band), Clarke is the only member other
than Corea whos been there from the get-go. Through this and
other vehicles, Clarke became one of a handful of 1970s bassists who brought electric bass to the forefront and gave it a solo
voice of its own.
In addition to RTF work, Clarkes prodigious musical accomplishments over the years include collaborations with the likes
of Jeff Beck, Ron Wood, Larry Carlton, Jean Luc Ponty, Stewart
Copeland, and fellow bass gods Marcus Miller and Victor Wooten.
He also has a formidable track record in film scoring with credits
including such feature films as Boyz N the Hood and Like Mike 2,
television series like Lincoln Heights and Soul Food, made-for-TV
movies such as Murder She Wrote and The Red Sneakers, and even
Michael Jacksons video for Remember the Time.
Considering that Clarkes stellar career as a bassist has centered
on the electric, the last thing you might associate with him is the
upright bass. But all of that changed when he and longtime RTF
drummer Lenny White reunited with Corea for this years Forever.
In fact, after 2010s Stanley Clarke Band album won a Grammy
for Best Contemporary Jazz Album, Clarkenow 60 years old
asserted that he might not be recording and performing on electric
bass again for quite a while.
I told Lenny that the worst thing in the world is for a guy over
60 years old to be playing electric bass. I get this picture of an old,
fat guy holding an electric bass, and I said, It wont be me.
premierguitar.com
While the thought of Clarke behind an upright bass may be new

for those used to seeing him groove on an Alembic, its nothing new
for him. He began his musical career at the age of 19, backing jazz
greats Horace Silver, Art Blakey, Dexter Gordon, Joe Henderson, and
Stan Getz in New York jazz clubs. I didnt formally study the electric
bass like the kids do today, Clarke says, but the acoustic bass is
something I studiedI was planning on joining an orchestra.
When you listen to Clarkes recent acoustic bass excursions on
Forever, his years of developing a unique electric bass style clearly
come through. Ive always viewed them as two completely different instruments, but the music I play on the electric bass and the
music I play on the acoustic bass have a kind of cross-pollination,
he says. Personally, I think [playing both] makes you a better
player on both instruments.
Forever comes with two discs. The first is a best-of collection
that includes tunes from the 2009 RTF Unplugged tour, jazz standards like On Green Dolphin Street and Waltz for Debby, RTF
classics such as Seor Mouse and No Mystery, and originals
by Clarke and Corea. The groups founder plays acoustic piano on
all these songs, while Clarke is mostly on upright. The second disc
features studio tracks from rehearsals for a one-off Hollywood Bowl
concert that kicked off their world tour. It includes Corea, Clarke,
and White, as well as Jean Luc Ponty on violin, singer Chaka Khan,
and original RTF guitarist Bill Connors. On this disc, the acoustic
tunes are mixed with electric-driven tracks in the more traditional
RTF vein, with Corea getting behind his synths and Clarke bringing out his trusty Alembics.
Rather than taking the trio back on the road, though, Clarke,
Corea, and White decided to support the US launch of Forever
with a new Return to Forever touring band that includes Ponty and
Australian sweep-picking master Gambale, who has recorded and
performed with Corea several times over the years.
We spoke with Clarke recently about the double album, his
collaboration with Miller and Wooten, his to-die-for gear, and his
philosophies on music as a vocation.
Although the first Forever disc

features acoustic-jazz instrumentation, you can definitely
hear jazz-fusion thinking
within the straight-ahead stuff.
Yeah. Its very difficult to have a
partition between genres. I think
thats true in all music today.
You really have to put your
mind into it, like Okay, its
straight-ahead and Im going to
do it in the style from 1960 to
1965 Miles Davis. Its difficult.
I think those days are over. One
of the things I love about young
players right now is that its all
there. You even hear hip-hop
influences in their stuff. Its cool.
One of the guests on Forever
is Chaka Khan. A lot of
people think of her as a funk
singer because of her groundbreaking work with Rufus in
the 70s, but on this album
she sounds like a seasoned
jazz singershe does some
sweet scat singing.
Chaka has always been a big,
big, big jazz fan. Shes a serious
musician, and whenever we call
her to sing, she loves to do it.
But you have to remember that
in the 70s, she and Rufus had
hits and managers that were
kind of controlling. Thats all
they wanted you to see. The
perception of an artist from an
audiences point of view is completely different from what the
guys and girls are really like. I
know country artists that, if you
go to their house, theyve got
Miles Davis and Coltrane on.
Bill Connors also makes a
return appearance.
At the end of the last RTF tour,
the band and Al Di Meola
decided to go separate ways. We
were wondering what we should
do for the guitar scene, and
Chick came up with the idea to
call Billy. I didnt even know if
he was still playing. We called
him up and he says, Yeah, Im
still playing. So he came in and
Stanley Clarke plays his Lemur Music-made upright through a Ampeg SVT-2PRO head and an Ampeg cab at
De Oosterpoort in Groningen, Netherlands, on November 13, 2009. Photo by Klaas Guchelaar
we messed around. He rehearsed

a bit with us and took some
music home. He came back
again and hung out. And so he
played with us at the Hollywood
Bowl. The thing I like about
Billy is that hes always a warm
playerhes a melodic player.
And he still has that.
Youve been playing with Lenny
White since you were teenagers.
How would you describe the
way you interact musically?
Were both predictable to each

other. That can be a good thing,
but it can also be a bad thing.
So we have to work on trying to
surprise each other and amp the
game up. Weve been together
40 years now. You know, you
have this musical mind and two
or three people can be the owners of that mind. And thats a
great thing. But what makes it
even better is when you challenge itwhen you go against
that mind. Everyone will start
smiling, and itll throw everybody back into playing games

its great. My logic tells me
that maybe it would be boring
because were both predictable
I know what hes going to do
and he knows what Im going
to dobut Im pretty sure what
were doing sounds great.
Your 2008 album, Thunder,
with Marcus Miller and Victor
Wooten is quite a contrast to
what youre doing now. What
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was it like playing with those

remarkable bassists?
You know, Ive been playing
with other bassists for a long,
long timeback to New York
in the early 70s with bass
choirs. I think its very important to play with other bass
players, because it forces you to
really bring your musicality up.
You cant just go in and survive
with technique. When I played
with Victor and Marcus, we
were lucky in that we had a natural orchestration. Marcus loves
to play low all the time. Victor
likes to play in the middle, high
well, hes kind of all over
the bass. I was playing tenor
bass and piccolo bass. I was the
guy laying out the harmony or
comping. If there was a melody,
I would either play it or support
the melody harmonically.
But it was a challenge trying to come up with music
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I told Lenny that the worst thing in the world is for a

guy over 60 years old to be playing electric bass. I get
this picture of an old, fat guy holding an electric bass,
and I said, It wont be me.
that works for three basses. I
dont think many people know
this, but some promoters actually didnt want to have us play,
because they thought we would
blow up their PA or that it
wouldnt sound musicalthat
it would be just a bunch of
rumbles and that we were just
taking advantage of our names.
Obviously, that wasnt the case.
It was a really fun experience
for me, because it forced me
and Marcus and Victor to really
play different. The only time
we played like ourselves was
when we played individual solos.

Marcus did that along with a
bass clarinet thing. I chose to
play an acoustic bass solo, which
was great, because I was in front
of a lot of kids who were there
because of Victor and had probably never even seen an acoustic
bass. We plan to get back together again maybe at the end of
next year. I told those guys that I
dont know if Ill even be playing
electric bass by then well see.
I still play an Alembic bass.

They just made a brand-new
one for me. Its absolutely the
best Alembic bass I ever heard
in my life. Ive been with those
guys a long time. I like playing their basses. I would never
dare say that its the best bass
in the worldI dont believe
in that kind of thinking
but this bass is good for me
because Im used to it. Its got
a good sound.
Lets talk about gear. What

electric basses are you playing?
Tell us about your electricbass amp rig.
Click here to hear a song

from Clarke, Corea, and Whites
new album, Forever.
Clarke thumbs a ride with a triple-pickup Alembic Signature Standard. Photo courtesy of Concord Music Group
Ive been playing stereo bass

for a long time, so I have a
bi-amped system. My cabinet
configuration is either two 15s
on the bottom or 18s on the
bottom. And I have 10s, or
sometimes eight-inch speakers, to deal with the treble.
Now this is something I got
from Chris Squire: I split off
the treble into another set of
speakersusually small guitar
amps, just to give it a little
edge on the stage.
Because its a stereo rig, not
only do I have all the EQ possibilities on the bass and the amp,
but I also have the ability to use
phasing between the low pickup
and the high pickup. Essentially,
its like Im running two basses
at the same time. There are a lot
Its very difficult to have a partition between genres.

One of the things I love about young players right
now is that its all there. You even hear hip-hop
influences in their stuff.
of possibilities. And Im using a
TC Electronic G-System. I had
to find something really clean
because the Alembic bass isnt
naturally warm.
You used to play SWR amps, but
now youre endorsing Ampeg.
I like SWR a lot, but when we
travel today we sometimes have
to rent a backlineespecially
when Im doing my own tour.
Return to Forever is different.

Its a bigger scene, so we carry
our own equipment. When I go
into a city, for some reason the
Ampeg stuff is always newer. I
go into some towns in Europe,
and I just cant find the other
stuff. So Ampeg is a better
scene for me.
You played the more rocking
Seor Mouse on electric.
Did you think about playing

it on upright?
Ive surprised some people
with my upright playing in
rock formats. I finally found a
pickup that works for me, an
Underwood. Ive tried them
all. And I got a bass with a
removable neck made for me by
Lemur Music. They measured
my boyhood bassthe bass
Ive used on all the records Ive
premierguitar.com
doneand made 14 of them. I

kept seven of them. As an acoustic instrument, it sounds okay
it has a nice, sweet soundbut
when I put the Underwood
pickup on it, its a monster. I
think the removable neck is the
way to go for traveling, too.
What do you use to amplify
your uprights?
Ampeg works better for acoustic
bass, too. I can compete with
the loudest playersI dont
care how loud they are. And
this bass actually sounds pretty
good with the bow, too. I also
use a piece of equipment from
a company called EBSthe
MicroBass II. I think its the
best unit you can use for acoustic bass. It has two separate
EQs, and theyre really designed
for bass. Its a direct box, but it
also has EQ.
Clarke tracking his 2009 Jazz in the Garden album with pianist Hiromi Uehara and drummer Lenny White.
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Totally wicked and available now!

A new step in the Seven Witches chapter. Recorded at Lickman studios, Call Upon The
Wicked includes experts such as Mr. James Rivera (Helstar), Mike LePond (Symphony X)
and Taz Marazz. Jack Frost and the guys created a masterpiece with Joey Vera (Armored
Saint, Fates Warning) handling the mixing.
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Lets wrap things up by talking about musical careers.

What would you like to tell
young bassists today?
Try to be as honest as you can.
The more honest you are, the
more you open yourself up for
possibilities and opportunities. Sometimes youre playing
some music and youre, like,
stuck in one thing. If you look
around, youll find that probably some of the things that are
reinforcing that stuck feeling
are other people telling you
what you should dowhether
its your wife, your brother, or
your bandmate. Its not a bad
thingits nice to be thought
ofbut I think it helps to
really sit back and come up
with nine or 10 other things
that youre not doing. If you
try those nine or 10 things,
youll be surprised at what you
can get into.
In my case, film scoring was
completely an accident. I was
on this jazz-special TV show,
and the director said, Man,
Ive got this show and Ive got
a couple of episodes coming up
that I need some crazy music
for. Can you do it? And I said,
Yeah, sure. But I didnt know
if I could do it. I knew I could
compose, but.
Anyway, it turned out to be
Pee-wees Playhouse! And you
know what? I was nominated
for an Emmy Awardand it
was, like, by accident. I didnt
even know what an Emmy was.
Ive done 50 films, television
movies, and television series
I dont even know how many
of those Ive done. But it happened in a blink. If I had time,
Id write a book about the
things that happen in your life
at a blinkand the flip side,
the things you decide not to do
at a blink. So, to summarize
what I just said for a young
guy, dont pass up nothin. If
you have the ability to try it
out, try it out.
Clarke has multitudes of Alembics, but this Signature Standard is noteworthy because of its BIgsby tremolo.
stanLeY cLarkes gear bOx

BaSSeS
2008 Lemur Music custom
upright with removable neck
and Underwood pickup,
Alembic Series I short-scale
electric tenor bass (cocobolo top and back, padauk
core, maple-and-padauk
neck with ebony fretboard,
maple accent laminates),
Alembic electric (burled
buckeye top and back,
padauk core, maple-andpurpleheart neck, ebony
fretboard with mother-ofpearl barn-swallow inlays),
two custom 34" Spellbinder
Siblings electrics designed
and built by Thomas Lieber
and Rick Turner, Fender

Marcus Miller Jazz bass,
Lowenherz Stanley Clarke
signature model, Kenny
Smith Flying Vee, and various Alembics
ampS
Ampeg SVT-2PRO head driving a Pro Neo PN-410HLF
cab (for upright), Ampeg
SVT-4PRO driving two Pro
Neo PN-410HLF cabs and
two 1x10 cabs (for electric)
effeCtS
Two Alembic F-1X tube
preamps, TC Electronic GSystem, EBS OctaBass, EBS
BassIQ, EBS MicroBass II
preamp, EBS DynaVerb, EBS
Stanley Clarke Signature wah,
Rodenberg GAS 707B Boost
StringS
LaBella stainless electric
strings custom wound by
Richard Cocco, LaBella 7720S
SOLO double-bass strings
Stanley Clarke rig rundown

Click here to watch a video rig
rundown of Stanley Clarke walking
through his live gear.
facebook Bonus!
Stanley Clarke photos.
premierguitar.com
Feature > 2011 nY aMP SHOW
By Shawn
hammonD
PhotoS B
y ChriS k
ieS
ny amp Show Video Demos

Click here to view video demos
of the amps, effects, and guitars
in this article.
air or not, New Jersey is the butt of 90 percent of the jokes made
about the eastern USfrom jabs at the oft-unintelligible accent we
associate with its residents to cracks about the stomach-turning inanity of
MTVs Jersey Shore and its frighteningly clueless subjects, and references to
the Mob and the number of corpses floating in the Hudson River. Which
is probably why the organizers of the NY Amp Show fudge the facts a bit
and name it after the nearby city whose image has a lot more going for it.
Monikers aside, the Piscataway, New Jersey, gathering has something
pretty cool to offer guitar-gear junkies. Held June 4th and 5th in a bunch
of rooms on the first and second floors of the Embassy Suites hotel on
Centennial Avenue, the NY Amp Show brings together some of the most
notable boutique-amp builders in the business, in addition to several upand-coming amp designers and even a few representatives from big-name
companies. Youll even find a few effects outfits and guitar and bass luthiers
renting out rooms for the show in a smart attempt to offer attendees a
respite from all the blaring combos and half-stacks.
This year, traffic at the amp fest was more subdued than in past years,
but that didnt make the wares any less compelling. Smaller, low-wattage
heads and combos that are easy to transport continued to be a popular
platform, but there were also plenty of more powerful heads and cabs of
varying configurations, in addition to the occasional 3x10 combo.
Here we highlight some of the most eye- and ear-grabbing products
from the only situation in Jersey that a gear aficionado should consider
wasting his or her time on. Oh, and be sure to check out our stash of video
demos from the show at premierguitar.com.
premierguitar.com
Fractal Audios new Axe-Fx II has twice the processing power of the previous
version. Its dual processors enabled the Fractal team to start from square one
with new amp models that feature an unprecedented level of granularity. It
also features all-new USB recording capabilities and new low-noise 1/4" inputs and
outputs. fractalaudio.com
Long a favorite
supplier of cabs
for the budgetconscious tone connoisseur, Avatar wasnt officially
displaying its new 18-watt,
handwired EL84 head at
the show, but their pals
at Celestion brought one
along as a favor. We dug
its old-school British tones
through a 2x12 loaded
with George Lynchs new
signature Lynchback speakers. avatarspeakers.com
premierguitar.com
As one of the planets premier

speaker suppliers, Celestion
(celestion.com) is one of the
regular amp show exhibitors that has to sit
back patiently and hope you remember that
its products, though hidden inside cabinets,
are integral to the stellar tones youre hearing from their enviable collection of demo
amps. One of the most newsworthy of
these amps was the new Komet Songwriter
30. Based on the very last Trainwreck amp
design from the legendary Ken Fischer, it
features four cathode-biased EL84s and a
solid-state rectifier, and was designed by
Fischer to sound amazing with currentproduction parts rather than new-old-stock.
kometamps.com
The new 3 Monkeys Virgil

head is based on the BW119
head built for Aerosmiths
Brad Whitford, only instead of
6L6s it pumps out 30 watts via
four 6V6s. Unique features include
a front-panel UK/USA voicing control and a footswitchable variable
boost. 3monkeysamps.com
UK blues wunderkind Davy

Knowles has a new signature
octave-fuzz pedal from Freekish
Blues. The Chubb Up! features
dual footswitches for engaging
fuzz and octave effects together,
or just the fuzz. Other controls
include Fuz, Tone, and Vol
knobs, and a Thin/Fat toggle.
freekishblues.com
premierguitar.com
Booya! Amplifiers founder and

designer Jamie Simpson says hell
build your dream amp from the
ground up based on the tone of your favorite
player or a famous amp model. He also says
his approach is unique because hell use newold-stock (NOS) or current production componentsor a mix of both. This particular
head was built for a customer who wanted to
replicate early-80s thrash-metal sounds. Sour
Patch Kids and Jolly Ranchers not included.
booyaamps@gmail.com
The new Markbass Alain

Caron signature combo
features a bi-amped design
that sends 200 watts to its
compression tweeter and
800 watts to a 12" driver.
The tones are thumping
and articulate, and the
removable top hatch makes
it a cinch to access rearpanel jacks. markbass.it
premierguitar.com
Satellite Amps revived the White Higher

Fidelity brand with the new Model 80. Based on the early combo made for Forrest
White by Leo Fender, the Model 80 features a 6V6 tube for 4 watts of power, a
12AX7 preamp tube, and either a 5Y3 or a 5AR4 rectifier, as well as an 8" alnico-magnet
Jensen Special Design or a Voice of Rock speaker. satelliteamps.com
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Sandberg Guitarsa German brand with

a proud 25-year heritageannounced its
entry into the American market at the show.
The Umbo bass (left) includes Hussel pickups, a 3-position Tone switch, and Volume,
Balance, and Tone knobs, while the 5-string
Custom Thinline has a mahogany-and-walnut hollowbody with a flamed-maple top,
as well as a Delano Xtender pickup and a
Sandberg 3-band EQ. sandberg-guitars.de
Red Iron Amps point-to-point-wired

Bronx heads come in a mesquite cabinet and each features a trio of 6SL7GT
preamp tubes, a simple control scheme
(Volume, Bass, and Treble), and a footswitchable EQ-bypass function. Their 40
watts of 6550-derived power resounded
with surprisingly muscular, harmonically
rich corpulence through the burly 1x12
cab shown here. redironamps.com
premierguitar.com
The EAST Amplification Theater 30 head is driven by

four EL84s and features a Master Volume, a 3-band EQ
section, a Timbre knob, and a footswitchable variable Gain knob.
The cab (right) has two custom EAST Amps 10" and two custom 12" speakers in an X configuration, with one of each being
in the open-backed top section. eastamplification.com
You & 3 friends could attend a private party at John Varvatos Bowery NYC.
facebook.com/EastwoodGuitars1 or www.eastwoodguitars.com
premierguitar.com
Famous for its intriguingly

twisted and complex
designs, Pigtronix reversed
that trend with a new pedal thats
as simple as it gets: The Class A
Boost gooses any signal up to 20
dB with a 96 dB signal-to-noise
ratio. pigtronix.com
Navarro Guitars of San Juan, Puerto

Rico, showed its new Studio Pro
guitar, which features a Gibson
humbucker, Fender Custom Shop
69 single-coils, on/off toggles for
each pickup, a 5-position rotary
control for various bridge-pickup
tones (including split coils and
phase changing), Volume and Tone
knobs, and a Wilkinson tremolo.
facebook.com/navarro.guitars
premierguitar.com
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Feature > COrnell DUpree
CORneLL DupRee
G
By miChael roSS
iven his involvement with so many

chart-topping radio hits since 1965, it
is astonishing that so few peopleincluding
guitaristshave heard of Cornell Dupree.
Yet there is little doubt theyve heard him
play. For almost half a century, AM and
FM radio stationsand now internet-radio
channelshave been broadcasting tunes he
played on many times a day.
Commercial hits that featured his unique
playing include crooner Brook Bentons 1969
smash Rainy Night in Georgia, Aretha
Franklins soulful 1971 hit Rock Steady,
Paul Simons Kodachrome, and former
Mott the Hoople frontman Ian Hunters
Letter to Britannia from the Union Jack.
Jazz fans have heard him on records by everyone from Buddy Rich and Carmen McRae
to Rahsaan Roland Kirk and Miles Davis.
Cornell Dupree played on so many sessions
during his lifetime that his nickname of Mr.
2500 could easily be an understatement.
But those who have only heard him on a
hit record are missing much of the Dupree
experiencebecause, as his solo records and
band-fronting live shows prove, he was also
a skilled purveyor of singing melodies and
blues-drenched solos. It is in those contexts
that it is easiest to understand the words of
session bassist Will Lee (David Letterman,
Fab Faux), who did countless studio and
live dates with Dupree: He was pure heart
and soul.
the early years

Cornell Luther Dupree Jr. (December
19,1942May 8, 2011) was born to Cornell
and Bernice Dupree in Fort Worth, Texas.
Though Duprees father played guitar a bit
at parties, it was his grandfathers fiddle that
first caught the younger Cornells ear as a
child. Given his Fort Worth upbringing, its
not surprising that Dupree was exposed to
more country and western than R&Bsave
for his mothers gospel piano playing and the
blues and R&B on radio station KNOK.
Dupree soon figured out some boogiewoogie on the piano, but the first instrument that truly attracted him was the
saxophone. At 11, he began lessons and
premierguitar.com
Cornell luther Dupree Jr.

Born: December 19, 1942
Died: May 8, 2011
Best known for: Playing on countless hits by stars from across the stylistic
spectrum, including Aretha Franklin,
Buddy Rich, Paul Simon, Miles Davis,
Joe Cocker, Donny Hathaway, Wilson
Pickett, and Barbra Streisand.
Cornell Dupree Time Line

1971
1973
Records Young,
Gifted and Black
with Aretha Franklin,
yielding the hit Rock
Steady, in addition
to tracking Herbie
Manns Push Push
with Duane Allman
1964
Is joined in the
Kingpins by James
Marshall Hendrix
1942
December 19,1942, born

Cornell Luther Dupree Jr. in
Fort Worth, Texas
Records There Goes

Rhymin Simon with Paul
Simon, yielding the hit single
Kodachrome
1974
Tracks Joe Cockers I

Can Stand a Little Rain,
also records his own
first solo record, Teasin
1962
October 1, 1962,
moves to New York
City to join King
Curtis Kingpins.
played the horn through junior high school,

including in the marching band. But by
then Dupree had started frequenting local
venues where artists including Ray Charles
and B.B. King performed. On one of
these fateful nights, he saw the flamboyant
Johnny Guitar Watson at a Masonic Hall.
1965
Plays on the sessions for Wilson

Picketts hit In the
Midnight Hour, in
addition to opening
for the Beatles at
Shea Stadium with
the Kingpins
guitarist Wayne Bennett, as well as Billy

Butlerthe man who played the classic
solo on Bill Doggetts 1956 instrumental hit
Honky Tonk. Cornell bought the Doggett
single and learned the solo note-for-note
on his Gibson Les Paul Custom, which he
replaced with a TV-yellow Les Paul Junior
. . . every take would start with [Dupree] playing

a completely different, amazing guitar intro.
Will Lee, session bassist
Virtually overnight, he was begging his
mother for a 6-string.
Bernice obtained a sunburst Stella
acoustic from a pawnshop, and the
14-year-old Dupree started learning licks
from local pickers. By 1956, he had a
Harmony hollowbody with a DeArmond
pickup and hed formed a band with a
couple of guitar-playing friends named
Frank Lott and Calvin Love. The three
young musicians played a mostly instrumental repertoire at talent shows and at
local clubs on Sunday afternoons.
Two players whose influence is evident in Duprees style were Bobby Blands
1972
Plays on Donny
Hathaways classic Live
record recorded at New
Yorks Bitter End club
when the Custom was lost in a fire.

Duprees musical education continued when he was hired to play with U.P.
Wilsons band, where he played rhythm on
Wilsons Stratocaster while the leader soloed
on Duprees Les Paul Junior. The late 50s
found Dupree playing with Leon Childs
Hi Tones, as well as Louis Howard & the
Red Hearts.
While venturing out from Fort Worth
with these bands, Dupree was exposed to
music of many styles and crossed paths
with cream-of-the-crop Texas musicians.
These included blues artists such as T-Bone
Walker, Lowell Fulson, Albert Collins,
Lightnin Hopkins, Fenton Robinson, and

Clarence Gatemouth Brown, as well as
country stars like Ray Price, Bob Wills, and
Roger Miller. Dupree may have even run
across avant-garde jazz saxophonist Ornette
Coleman, who was also from Fort Worth.
king Curtis and Jimi Hendrix
In 1959, 17-year-old Dupree married
Erma Kindles. And country star Delbert
McClinton asserts that, by 18barely out
of high schoolDupree had a reputation as
one of the best blues guitarists in the area.
1961 would be a pivotal year in his career:
While visiting Texas, R&B sax player King
Curtis sat in with Louis Howard & the Red
Hearts at the Paradise Club. Before returning to his home base of New York City,
Curtis told Dupree to keep on practicing
and one of these days I will send for you.
True to his word, he called the guitarist
the very next year and had him audition
over the phone by playing Curtis then-new
hit Soul Twist, as well as the standard
Moonlight in Vermont.
Apparently, Dupree had been practicing,
because Curtis promptly sent him a ticket to
New York. On October 1, 1962, Dupree and
Erma arrived in Manhattan, leaving their two
children in the care of Duprees mother and
premierguitar.com
1991
Tracks Gadd Gang with

drummer extraordinaire
Steve Gadd
1976
Stuff records its

eponymous debut
1988
Signs with Island

Records and records
Coast to Coast
2002
Plays on former J.
Geils Band frontman
Peter Wolfs Sleepless
2008
Stuffs Live at Montreux

1976 released on CD
and DVD
1980
Records Guilty with

Barbra Streisand
2011
Dies of complications
resulting from emphysema
on May 8
2000
Completes the Rhythm &

Blues Guitar instructional
book/CD for Hal Leonard
carramps.com
MAN MAde iN pittsboro, NC

919.545.0747
premierguitar.com
Hallmarks of Duprees Style

F
the players evolved together, often discussing mutual influences like Curtis Mayfield
and Albert King.
He can make a guitar talk, is a
phrase that has been applied to a number
of players through the years, including
Dupree. Though he primarily played
rhythm guitar on the hits, on his own
recordsor sessions where a solo or
melody was called forhe displayed a
vocal-like tone and phrasing. That he supported so many great singers of the era is
probably not a coincidence.
Below are two figures that illustrate the
quintessential Cornell Dupree stylings.
or 35 years, Cornell Dupree made

his name in recording studios on the
strength of his ability to lay down tracks
combining rock-solid rhythm with perfect fills. Whether soloing or comping,
Duprees right utilized a unique hybrid
picking style where a downstroke often
alternated with upstroke brushes of the
picking-hand fingers. Check out Aretha
Franklins version of the Carole King
tune Oh No Not My Baby from her
1970 album Spirit in the Dark (its on
YouTube)you can hear how much of
Jimi Hendrixs rhythm style is essentially
Dupree on 10no surprise given how
Fig. 11
Fig.
& 44

17
17
15
15
15
15
12
12
10
10

J
J
5
3
3
10
10

#

#
Fig.
Fig. 22
4 # b
& 4 #
# n
Fig. 1 echoes the type of parallel fourths

that grace Brook Bentons Rainy Night in
Georgia. Theyre over a G chord here, but
they can be employed over Cmaj7 and D
major chords, as well. In the last measure,
we use a little slight-of-hand by only striking the D on beat one and the A on beat
two and sliding into the final double stop.
Fig. 2 illustrates the types of parallelsixth fills Dupree liked to play in both
R&B and country tunes. In the first measure we stay within the diatonic scale except
for the E% on the and of beat three. This
chromatic move sets up the implied G7
sound (F and D) to give it a bluesy feel.
3
11 12
12 10
12 10
Search YouTube for Cornell_Dupree_-_Signed_Sealed_Delivered.avi to see this 1992 video of him playing with Stuffs RIchard Tee and bassist Will Lee.
114 PREMIERGUITAR AUGUST 2011
premierguitar.com
. . . when Dupree, the pride of Fort Worth,

came to our rescue, it was bye-bye to multiple
guitarists becausemiraculously, it seemed
to meone man playing rhythm and lead at
the same time took the place of three.
Jerry Wexler, Atlantic Records producer
grandfather. The day after his first plane ride,
the Texas guitar man was onstage with King
Curtis and the Kingpins and learning the rest
of the repertoire onstage. The Duprees lived
with Curtis, and the Kingpins played weekends at Smalls Paradise in Harlem.
At his first recording session, Dupree
shared guitar duties with the same Billy
Butler whose solo he had diligently learned
and who he would replace in Curtis
performing band. Switching to a Gibson
ES-335, Dupree would sit with Curtis, who
played a Guild Starfire, and the two would

work out licks and arrangements for the
band. Eventually, the sideman exchanged his
Gibson for a Guild like his boss.
From 1962 to 1966, Dupree worked with
Curtis backing soul stars of the day. On a
1963 tour supporting Sam Cooke, Dupree
ended up on the singers Live at the Harlem
Square Club, 1963 album. These tours often
featured Cooke and other artists like Fats
Domino and the Isley Brothers. Dupree
would trade licks and songs with Cookes
Cornell Dupree in the late 70s or early 80s with

his modified Fender Telecaster. Photo courtesy
of Gordon Edwards
Comfortably curvy and dripping in tone.

The New ResoMax Wraparound Bridge. resomaxw.com
premierguitar.com
guitarist Clifton White and Roy Montreal

from Fats Dominos group. He also worked
on string bending with the Isley Brothers
guitaristJames Marshall Hendrix.
Hendrix left the Isleys in 1964 and
bounced around the Chitlin Circuit with
other R&B acts for a bit before Curtis saw him
playing with Little Richard and added him
to the Kingpins. Playing alongside Cornell,
Hendrix helped fill out the sound of the thenkeyboard-less band. The showy Hendrix fell
naturally into the soloing slot, leaving Dupree
to cover rhythm. As with many of his early
gigs, however, Hendrixs deafening volume,
flashy dress, and punctuality issues led to
his dismissal from Curtis group. By 1965,
when the Kingpins opened for the Beatles
in Canada, Los Angeles, Chicago, and the
famous Shea Stadium gig, Hendrix was gone.
Meanwhile, Dupree kept building his
resume. That same year, he joined another
legendary session guitarist, Steve Cropper
of Booker T. & the MGs, in the studio to
back Wilson Pickett on his first hit, In the
Midnight Hour. At that point, Dupree was
playing a Standel thinline equipped with
humbuckers through a blackface Fender Twin
Reverb. Neither he nor Curtis were happy
with how Cornells guitar fit in the mix, but
This ATCO promo shot shows Dupree with saxophonist King Curtis and James Marshall Hendrix
(playing a right-handed Fender Jazzmaster upside down at far right) at a May 5, 1966, record-release
party for Percy Sledge. Photo by William PoPsie Randolph
he had yet to discover the instrument with

which he would come to be identified.
Having earned enough to buy a house
and a car in Texas, Dupree left King Curtis
band and moved back in 1966. Bassist
Chuck Rainey, whom he had met while in
the Kingpins, had also left the band but

had stayed in New York and was getting
a lot of session work. Rainey convinced
Dupree to return to The Big Apple in 1968,
where he rejoined Curtisand started playing sessions for other artists.
eSSenTiAL LiSTeninG
Cornell Dupree played on so many tunes that you could spend countless hours learning from themif you could easily decipher
which were his. Here we cherry-pick some of his choicest work.
Teasin
Duprees first solo record is awash with

bluesy Texas soul. The song Okie
Dokie Stomp pays homage to another
Lone Star guitar greatClarence
Gatemouth Brown.
Uncle Funky
Will Lee, Richard Tee, and Eric Parker

help Dupree amply prove that he is not a
mere studio phenomenon.
Stuff s Live at Montreux 1976
Duprees jazz-funk outfit was great in the

studio, but they really cooked liveget the
CD and the DVD.
premierguitar.com
in Sessions
Recommendations from Rainey and guitarist Eric Galewho would later become
Duprees bandmate in the jazz-funk band
Stuffbrought Dupree a steady stream of
session work in New York. More fortuitously,
Atlantic Records producer Jerry Wexler, who
had first met Dupree at a live recording date
at Harlems Apollo Theater in 1965, was soon
using the guitarist on sessions in New York,
Miami, and Muscle Shoals, Alabama. In the
liner notes to Duprees 1994 solo album, Bop
n Blues, Wexler described what made him so
valuable in the studio: It was our practice to
use three or even more guitarists on a record
session. Time and again what we would get
into was a hellacious mess as the three guitarists got in each others way, said Wexler.
So when Dupree, the pride of Fort Worth,
came to our rescue, it was bye-bye to multiple
guitarists becausemiraculously, it seemed

to meone man playing rhythm and lead at
the same time took the place of three.
Duprees big breakthrough came in
1969, with a session he did for another
Atlantic producer, Arif Mardin, in 1969.
He backed Brook Benton on the Tony Joe
White tune Rainy Night in Georgia, and
the flowing, parallel-fourth double-stops
and sliding-sixth fills hed played on the hit
had his phone ringing off the hook.
By 1971, videos show that Dupree had
started playing a Fender Telecaster to help him
cut through dense live and recorded mixes.
The pickguard had been removed, and the
screw holes had been filled with large metal
bolts that gave it a studded appearance. It
also had a Gretsch-style DeArmond pickup
between the neck and bridge pickups. An
additional control plate under the original
appears to have held an extra knob and switch,

no doubt to control the middle pickup.
Dupree eventually collaborated with
Yamaha and began playing a Tele-style
instrument that was marketed as the
Cornell Dupree model. And with a humbucker in the neck position, a single-coilsized blade humbucker in the middle, and
a Tele-style bridge pickup it was a versatile
machine. Toward the end of his career,
Dupree was seen primarily with Yamaha
Pacifica Tele-style instruments.
The 70s and 80s saw two decades of
constant session work with some of the biggest names in the business including Aretha
Franklin, Barbra Streisand, Donny Hathaway,
and Mariah Carey. But he wasnt just playing
for commercially successful vocalists. He also
tracked sessions with heavyweight jazz artists such as David Fathead Newman, Les
MuST-WATCH
MOMenTS
Wordsand even audiocan only elucidate a players style so

much. To truly appreciate their mastery of the instrument, you
have to see how they pull it off live. Cornell Dupree was no different. The following videos will give you an idea of the easy, funky
grace he had onstage.
a rare video of Dupree using a les Paul to tear up a blues number in the late
80s. the fact that you can hear him singing along with his solo is a testament
to his vocal-style phrasing. Check out the middle-finger tremolo picking at the
end of his solo too!
YouTube search term: Cornell Dupree with Jon hammond & Bernard
Purdie 1989 mikells
Check out how Duprees plectrum and three picking-hand fingers seem to
work independently.
youtube search term: ridin thumb king Curtis & the kingpins (live)
honky tonk is one of the first tunes Dupree learned. here he nails Billy
Butlers original solo on one of his early yamahas.
YouTube search term: Steve Gadd - Cornell Dupree
this clip features one of the funkiest soul guitar licks ever, even if it is a little
out of tune. Check out the big bolts that replaced the pickguard screws on
Duprees pickguard-less telecaster.
YouTube search term: memphis Soul Stew (live) king Curtis & the kingpins
here Dupree turns in a beautiful version of way Back home on his yamaha
Pacifica. note how theres little flashbut every note is in the pocket and
dripping with soul.
YouTube search term: (Different) Stuff - way Back home (1998)
premierguitar.com
McCann, Eddie Harris, Herbie Mann, Grover

Washington Jr., Billy Cobham, and Sonny
Stitt. And his rock and pop gigs included stints
with Joe Cocker, Ian Hunter, and Carly Simon.
Will Lee recalls the sort of inventiveness
and spontaneity that led to Duprees firstcall status. I can remember my first Cornell
experience vividly, says the legendary bassist. It was on Don Covays Overtime Man
session. What was astounding was that
every take would start with him playing a
completely different, amazing guitar intro. I
said to him, That was greatbut why did
you change it from the one before? He said,
Because I have no idea what I played.
the Solo years
By 1973, Duprees star had risen enough for
Atlantic to offer him a solo record deal. His
debut, Teasin, is rife with soulful blues excursions and signature Dupree double-stops.
Through the 70s, Dupree also played live
gigs around New York City with longtime
friend and bassist Gordon Edwards group
the Encyclopedia of Soul. Edwards echoes
Wexlers assessment of Duprees ability to
A snapshot of Dupree at a session in the 1970s. Photo courtesy of Gordon Edwards
cover multiple chairs. Pianos were rough

in those days, most of the time half the keys
were gone and if they werent they were out
of tune. With Cornell, I could fire the piano
player because he played chords and melody
at the same time, says the bassist.
The Encyclopedia of Soul evolved into

a session-player supergroup called Stuff
that consisted of Dupree, Eric Gale, pianist
Richard Tee, and drummers Steve Gadd
and/or Chris Parker. A regular gig at a
Manhattan club called Mikells allowed
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the members to keep busy in the studios

during the day. We played onstage just
like we played behind the artists, says
Edwards. If we laid down a groove in bar
one, by bar 955 we were still playing that
same groove.
The band was signed by Warner
Brothers and released six records for the
label. Though it occasionally sounded like
they were vamping until the singer entered,
musicians appreciated the records as a master class in soulful band interaction. We
never stepped on each others toes, recalls
Edwards. It was like a polite conversation.
In 2008, a DVD of a 1976 Montreux gig
was released, offering a close-up look at
this monster groove machine to those who
missed them in their heyday.
Stuff s breakup in 1982 coincided with
a dip in New York session work, which
prompted a move to Beverly Hills. The

Los Angeles scene proved hard to crack,
but Dupree eventually landed a gig backing Bonnie Raitt, as well as a chance to
cut the theme to The Cosby Show. With
more work coming from New York than
Los Angeles, Dupree moved back in 1985,
where he did dates with jazz musicians
including Hank Crawford and Michael
Franks, and vocalist Lou Rawls.
In the latter part of his career, Dupree
focused on live performance with various
groups. Live work in Europe and Japan
kept him busy through 2010, and he played
his last gig at New Yorks Iridium club on
September 26th, 2010, at which time he
was suffering from chronic emphysema.

Dupree decided to return once more to
Texas to work on his last solo record, but
once he was there his health steadily deteriorated and he died May 8, 2011, at the
age of 68.
musical immortality
Cornell Duprees name may never spread
much farther than a select cadre of musicians and liner-note aficionados, but there
is no doubt his combination of Lone Star
grit and Big Apple sophistication will continue to be widely enjoyed as the hit records
he helped make are playedin whatever
formin perpetuity.
facebook Bonus!
Cornell Dupree photos.
Dupree picks an early-60s Guild Starfire III with two DeArmond single-coils and a Bigsby B6 tremolo as he shares the mic with King Curtis at a 1966
record-release party for Percy Sledge. Photo by William PoPsie Randolph
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Builder profile > KEN PARKER ARchtoPs
Ken Parker
Archtops
Though he shook up
the industry in 1993
with the Flythe most unique
solidbody design the electric world
had seen in yearsfor more than three
decades now Ken Parkers primary
passion has been advancing the art
and science of archtop luthiery.
By Gayla Drake Paul
premierguitar.com
Ken Parkers Fig model features a

Sitka spruce top, Big Leaf maple
veneers (on the back, sides, and neck),
ebony bridge and pickguard, and an
anodized aluminum tailpiece.
hough most players know Ken Parker

because of the innovative guitar he
and Larry Fishman designed and introduced under the Parker Guitars brand in
1993the Flyhe has been obsessed with
archtops for decades. Given the Flys striking ergonomics, composite-covered body,
carbon-fiber fretboard, and proprietary,
multifunction tremoloall of which made
it one of the most unique and successful new solidbody designs of the last 20
yearsit should come as no surprise that
Parkers obsession is now advancing the art
and science of archtop guitars. But that
shouldnt overshadow the fact that he does
it all because hes striving to inject the playing experience with real joy: To me, if a
guitar isnt fun to playif it doesnt put a
grin on your face and beckon you from the
corner of the roomwhat is it for?
To provide insight for this article, Parker
sent a guitar for us to spend some time
with and get the hands-on Parker archtop
experience. The first touch is extraordinary.
premierguitar.com
Its featherlight and incredibly comfortable

to hold. The neck is smooth, wide, easy to
play, and devoid of anything that might create tension. When I played an Em chord,
there was so much . . . everythingso much
bass, so much liveliness, so much sustain.
Everything we think the opposite of when
we think archtop. And yet, its all archtop.
clockwork
Parker trained as a toolmaker for a grandfather-clock making company before he
started building guitars. This beautiful guy
kind of took me under his wing, because
they didnt have somebody to do all the
tooling they needednot the wooden
parts, the metal parts. It was like going to
grad school. I did four years worth of training in a year and a half.
That training and facility for machining
custom parts would play a vital role years
later. Today, Parker handbuilds almost every
piece of his archtops. That is really a huge
ingredient of who I am nowit was an
Though Ken Parker still uses the same headstock shape found on the Parker Fly, the simiarlities to his current archtop designs end there,
and he no longer has a stake in Parker Guitars.
incredible playground, says Parker. I was

a sponge. It was just thrilling to me. I
had dropped out of college, because I
was studying philosophy and physics
and I didnt know what I was going
to do with that. But I sure knew
I liked to build things. I used my
brain, my imagination, my body,
my coordination, my balance, my
eyesall that stuff. It seemed so rich
an endeavorI just loved it.
Parker also did serious repair work
as a guitar tech in those early years. One
of the first and most troubling things he
learned on that job was the appalling state
of fretwork on even guitars right off the
shelf. Its better now than it was 30
years ago. I was doing refrets on
brand-new, made-in-America
guitars that were unplayable.
I was offended. I felt that
those companies werent
taking musicians and
their needs seriously,
and it really bothered me.
That eventually
led to the nowlegendary stainlesssteel fretwork on
the Parker Fly. I
had done thousands of fret jobs
by the time I started
that company. And
one of the original
design goals I told my
partner, Larry Fishman,
was If I cant build a guitar
that doesnt need fretwork, I
dont want to do it.
Evolution of a Revolutionary
Parker got serious about playing jazz guitar
when he was 22, and he took group lessons
with a teacher named Dick Longale. One of
the most important things that happened in
those lessons was that they gave him his first
exposure to a good archtopLongales Gibson
L12. It was beautifully balanced, rich sounding, complex . . . We were all trying to turn
the knobs on our guitars to try and sound like
Dick, but we couldnt. So I was intrigued.
The other significant development was
Parkers realization that he wasnt going
to be a player. No matter how much I
This Brownie model features a red

spruce top, curly mahogany veneers
(on the back, sides, and neck), and a
European spruce neck core.
practiced, I was still struggling after two or

three hours a night. So I said, Well, maybe
Ill just try and make one of these things.
That was in 1974.
Parkers Brief Archtop Primer
Being in the New York area was a boon for
Parker and his aspiration, because it offered
him many opportunities to get his hands on
archtops. He quickly became an avid student.
The archtop guitar is one of the very few

instruments on our planet that was not the
product of an intensive period of competition by competent builders. You can count
on one hand the number of people who
built archtop guitars by hand before 1975.
And thats just weird. The pianoforte came
from these little carry-around-in-a-suitcase
instruments, and it took 300 years to develop. The violin went through a huge period
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Case included with

every Wechter guitar.
[Jimmy DAquisto] said, This is the

best first guitar I ever saw . . . Youre
crazy if you stop building guitars.
of developmentwere talking centuries. And even the classical guitar is still evolving. But the archtop
was basically stillborn.
By that, Parker means that many of the
earliest archtops left a lot to be desired.
They weighed a tonthey were made like
packing crates. Then all these marketing
geniuses got together with all these German
craftsmen in Kalamazoo, and they made

some pretty cool stuffmandolins, flattop guitars, archtop guitars in the model of
[Orville] Gibson . . . but they made them
better. And then, in 1922 they hired this
genius [named] Lloyd Loar. He was only at
the company for about 26 months, and in
that time he invented and perfected the

F5 mandolin, the Mastertone banjo, and
the L5 guitar. He is my hero.
The L5 did get some improvements
after Loar left Gibson in 1924. The examples that are most highly prized by people
who listen were made in 27, 28, and
29, Parker continues. You could make
an argument that no one seriously built an
acoustic archtop since 1929 except for two
people, DAngelico and Stromberg, because
in 1938 Charlie Christian came along.
He was like an evangelist Get a pickup
guys! And everybody did!
After that, archtops were built heavier to
avoid feedbackbut that made them less
responsive and rich sounding. They were
really electric guitars with air inside, Parker
says. I dont mean to say there werent
premierguitar.com
Mrs. Natural has a red spruce top,

rift-cut Big Leaf maple veneers (on
the back, sides, and neck), a bronze
tailpiece, and snakewood veneers on
the fretboard, headstock, strap
buttons, and bridge.
some brilliant
guitars made by these
guysand hats off, because
when they came out great, they were
great. But a lot of them were pretty clunky,
quiet instruments.
Achieving Knighthood
In 1976, a young Parker tried to get an
apprenticeship in Jimmy DAquistos shop.
He took the first archtop hed made to
show DAquisto that he was serious. He was
turned down, but DAquisto clearly saw
premierguitar.com
something magical in the

instrument Parker had made.
He said, This is the best first
guitar I ever saw, and on my way out
the door he said, Youre crazy if you stop
building guitars. I walked out of there
going, I guess Im a guitar maker. He
knighted mehe knighted me in his
shop in 1976.
Thus began the obsession. This is what
I think about before I go to bed, what I
think about in the shower. Ive worked on
thousands and thousands of guitars. Ive
seen all the good stuff and all the funny
stuff, and Im trying to make my contribution to the field and make a better guitar.
One of Parkers innovations is his bridge.
The majority of the response from any
acoustic guitar comes from the topnot
only the two pieces of wood that normally

make the top, but also the braces and the
bridge. For reasons I dont understand, most
people dont think of the bridge as a transverse brace. But that is exactly what it is.
On the classical and flattop, its bonded to
the top, and on an archtop its forced down
against the top. Its well known that the
material in the bridge, the size and weight
of the bridge, and the configuration of the
bridge impact the sound of the instrument.
And not only is the bridge a transverse
brace, its also a transducer that changes
vibrational energy into sound energy by
delivering the vibrations to the top. Its a
key part of the signal path from the strings
to the top. So why are we taking this holy
piece of material, cutting it in half, and putting a couple of hokey pieces of 6-32 brass
rods and adjusters in there? It never made
any sense to me.
A cable is not
supposed to have
such an impact.
...But it did.
Better definition in every
aspect. Harmonics flew out
eagerly, the characters in
my sonic story were more
colorful and present. I cant
believe it. The claims made
by Vovox were apparent.
The lowly cable made an
obvious difference. The
best comparison to my
fellow guitar players is that
the change was on the
level of swapping out a
pickup on your guitar.
Max Mobley - www.crawdaddy.com
swiss engineering - swiss made
www.vovox.com
Parker makes most of his bridges out

of ebony. They start out at 120 grams, but
he hollows them until to 2124 grams. It
would blow off a bench in a little breeze. It
is no thicker than an eighth of an inch, and
many places are much thinner than that.
Thats partly what contributes to the low
end of the dynamic range. You havent got
a lot of mass to accelerate, so you tickle the
string and its very happy to light up and
make a sound.
Since these miniscule bridges cannot be
adjusted to change the action, Parker decided
to make action height adjustable by the

player, on the fly. The neck literally floats
over the guitars topthe only thing touching the body, aside from the bridge and tailpiece, is a carbon-fiber neck pin that extends
into a thin-walled receptacle of aluminum
tubing bonded inside the neck block. On the
back of the guitar is a small, round grommet
through which a hex wrench can be used to
move the neck up for ridiculously low action
or down to, say, play slide.
With [that design], I got all these
other great features: incredible access to
premierguitar.com
[An archtops bridge] is a key part of the signal

path from the strings to the top. So why are we
taking this holy piece of material, cutting it in
half, and putting a couple of hokey pieces of
6-32 brass rods and adjusters in there? It never
made any sense to me.
the second octave because there is no heel,
de-mountability for repair or travel, lots of
room for a neck-end-mounted electromagnetic pickup, and the ability to fit another
neck to the guitar for a different scale, a different number of strings, or whatever.
It took Parker nearly a year to perfect his
neck system. I start with a neck core out
of my favorite stuffbeautiful-sounding,
perfectly quartersawn Douglas fir or spruce.
This one-piece core is only visible on the
side of the headstock, but it goes all the
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way to the end of the neck. The back of the

neck has a hardwood veneer that matches
the sides. Between the veneer and the neck
core theres quite a bit of carbon fiber set
in an aerospace resin that needs two hours
at 275 degrees Fahrenheit to cure. Roomtemperature resins just arent rigid enough
to do that job. Its kind of challengingyou
have to make a metal mold, you have to get
the resin pretty hot, and its kind of tough
to control all those things and have them
all come out looking gorgeous at the end.
I cant tell you how happy I am with the

result. It works just beautifully.
hold Your head(stock) high
Parker makes every single component of his
archtops except the tuners and the strings.
For the tuners homethe headstockParker
machines a strop of aluminum that resembles
the Parker Flys headstock, has it anodized,
and then, unlike most archtops, positions the
tuning pegs in a row. But he doesnt use this
arrangement for aesthetic or branding reasons.
The braces are there not to

keep the top from collapsing,
theyre there to unify the
behavior of the top so
that it doesnt get
out of phase with
itself and create
dead spots and
wolf notes.
The Fig flaunts its incredibly figured

Big Leaf maple veneers. Note the hexwrench port for adjusting neck
height and action.
He says there are two things that can change

the dynamic tension of a string: the angle
over the bridge and the nut, and the after
lengththe distance between the bridge
and the termination at the tailpiece, and
between the nut and the tuning peg.
Thats why, in one mans opinion, a
three-and-three headstock is just plain-old
physically wrong. Parker reasons that it
doesnt make sense for the tension of the
high-E and the B strings to be the same as
the low-E and A strings. I think it makes
the strings feel wrong. You have to get everything right in order to create an extraordinary experience for the player, and I really
try to get this balancing-the-string-tension
thing right. Its not my ideathis is a
European idea from hundreds of years ago
but the only way to do it is to put all the
strings in one line, so the

top string is more supple
than it would be otherwise,
and theres a nice, even
progression in tension.
He says that arrangement facilitates greater
customization, too. For
example, if you primarily
play rhythm guitar, and
you dont care so much about
bending strings, Im going to
make you a left-handed headstock for your
guitar so you can put huge strings on the
bottom and they wont feel too tightand
theyll drive the pickup crazy.
Parker says his headstock angle makes
the instrument feel more playable, too.
Gibsons is 14 degrees. Mines four and
a quarter. Its as low as you can get it and
not [have the strings] come out of the nut

slots and start behaving badly. And I know,
because Ive explored it!
Wooden Boxes
Arguably, one of the sexiest things about
the Parker archtop is the way hes cut the
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soundhole into the shoulder

instead of putting f-holes on either
side of the bridgealthough hes certainly
not the first luthier to shift the soundhole or change its shape. Now, I realize
I said Lloyd Loar is my hero, and it was
his idea to [put f-holes on the top] in the
first place. Having said that, it still doesnt
look like the right place to me, because
thats valuable real estatethats part of
my speaker cone. I put the soundhole in
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Alumitone
Humbucker
Right: This view of the Fig reveals its

Douglas fir neck core, as well as the
Waverly gears set into Parkers custom-made anodized aluminum strip.
Below: The soundport offers a look at
Mrs. Naturals immaculate interior.
what I call the least-worst

place. Its as far away from the
bridge as I can get it, and its as close to
the player as I can get it. It delivers this
immediate sound that makes people feel
so confident. A lot of low end is available
to the player.
I have been able to create a guitar that
has very, very even output, note to note
and string to string, and very, very good
separation within chords. You can play a
chord with consonant or dissonant notes,
and you can hear all the notes. It doesnt
turn into a bunch of stirred-up warm ice
cream. Note separation, clarity, and evennessthose are big targets for me.
Parkers optional pickup was designed
by Scottish archtop builder Mike Vanden,
who collaborated with Larry Fishman to

create the Fishman Rare Earth soundhole
pickup. For his archtops, Parker takes the
pickup apart and puts the coils in an ebonyveneered box that rests unobtrusively at the
end of the fretboard. He hides the batteries,
1/8" jack, and controls under the pickguard.
The whole assembly weighs 100 grams, and
it serves these guitars beautifully through a
variety of amps. With an L.R. Baggs Core
1, it sounded stunningly clear, brilliant, and
full. Plugged into a Vox AC15, it produced
a wildly satisfying growl while retaining the
richness that defines the guitar.
As for the main box on a Parker archtop, its gloriously empty. Look inside the
soundhole, and you see nothing but handbent kerfing and an X-braced top with two
delicate pieces of spruce. When I brace a
guitar, I put in two braces, Parker explains.
Theyre off-center, for nefarious reasons of
my own, and they dont touch. I glue one
brace on first and tune it, and then I glue

on another brace that hops over the first
brace. They taper out to little tiny whiskers
at the glue line. If you dont do that, you
wont get a big, supple low endperiod.
The braces are there not to keep the top
from collapsing, theyre there to unify the
behavior of the top so that it doesnt get out
of phase with itself and create dead spots
and wolf notes. If theres a trick, if theres
a secret, its getting those five pieces of
woodthe two sides of the top, two braces,
and one bridgeto work together to be an
efficient structure so that you can get some
real dynamic range out of the guitar.
As for the wonderfully natural-looking
and satin-soft finish on his guitars, Parker
says its clean, easy to apply, and environmentally safe. He first applies an epoxy
sealer, wipes it off, and then applies an oldfashioned oil varnish thats designed for gun
stocks. If you put on a few coats, it looks
kind of satiny and dry, and if you put on
twenty coats it looks glossy and wet. And
its repairable in a way that other finishes
simply arent. If you get a dent in the top
but you havent busted any fibers, you can
pretty much take the dent out with an iron
and a wet cloth.
the Goose Bump Dance
When all is said and done, its no exaggeration to say that Parker doesnt just walk the
line between artist and scientist, he dances
along it. His archtops are handmade, utterly
unique masterpiecesfrom the strap button
to the tuning-gear strop. He sums up his
motivation and mission statement by saying,
I want to build instruments that give people
goose bumpsand I dont really care that it
takes me a long time. Because when people
play my archtops they say, This makes my
Martin sound like theres a blanket over it.
And thats what I want to hear!
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the EL34, theres a Series One amp for you. Each offers multiple channels and switchable
modes, delivering the broadest range of tones, from incredible high gain performance to
sparkling boutique cleans. The DPR circuit provides full-on gain at any output level; ISF lets
you customize the EQ to quickly dial in the sound in your head.
feature > INsEPARABlE: Alf BINNIE AND hIs ARchtoP
pril 26, 1942, was a day of anticipation

and relief for the Allied prisoners of war
at Stalag IX-C in the central German
town of Bad Sulza. It was relatively early
in World War II, and the POWs had no reason
to believe they would be released anytime
soon. They lived a squalid, crowded existence and were emaciated from meager
rations of cabbage soup and hard bread.
But that Sunday marked a rare occasion
for smiles: The inmateswho came from
many nations, including Poland, Belgium,
and Francehad been given permission
to put on a concert, complete with a
stage, sets, costumes, and lights. Dubbed
Strike up the Band, the evening gala
featured sets by a rag-tag orchestra by
the name of Jimmy Culley and the Stalagians, and
a smaller jazz quartet billed as the Four Bilge Brothers.
premierguitar.com
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Above: Alf Binnies archtop features a rich

antique burst finish and a pearloid pickguard.
Left: Alf in a photo taken of his POW camp
band, Jimmy Culley and the Stalagians.
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One of those brothers was Alf Binnie, a guitar-playing Canadian

pilot serving in Britains Royal Air Force. Hed recently marked the
one-year anniversary of being shot down over Holland, and just a
few weeks before this rare performance, Binnie had miraculously
acquired a new handmade archtop guitar from a music store in
Weimar, Germany. Acquiring a good guitar is special for any guitarist, but for Binnie it was part and parcel of how he survived the
most grueling trial of his life. Somehow, the guitar survived too.
The story of Binnies POW guitar came to light earlier
this year in the tiny Daily Inter Lake newspaper in Kalispell,
Montana. An editor there became aware of Leslie Collins, a real
estate agent in nearby Whitefish who had been helping Alf s
widow, Joan, find the best home for Alf s small, precious collection of wartime belongings. The collection, now in the possession of the Canadian War Museum, includes a poster from the
Strike up the Band concert at Stalag IX-C, a photo of one of
Alf s prison-camp bands, the original bill of sale for the guitar,
and, most remarkably, the guitar Alf acquired in February of
1942. It stayed with him through four more prison camps and
The March, during which thousands of POWs were forced out
of their camps and sent hundreds of miles on foot to flee from
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the invading Russian army. We recently spoke with Collins and

Joan Binnie to find out more about this remarkable story about a
man and his guitar.
More Adventure than he Bargained for
Alfred E. Binnie was born in Montreal, Quebec, on January
6, 1920. His father, a reporter for the Montreal Star, was also
the long-time organist and choirmaster for a large church. Joan
believes Alf had a ukulele as a boy and perhaps a guitar, and
he was an avid fan of Django Reinhardt and Louis Armstrong.
Apparently Alf never harbored a desire to become a professional
musician. When pressed to find work during his teenage years,
he opted for adventure and a short-term commission in the
Royal Air Force of Great Britain, an option open to Canadian
citizens. By the time he got to England in 1939, the Germans
were on the march across Europe, and in September, Britain
and France formally declared war on the Nazi regime. Alf s program was suddenly eliminated, but with some persuading and
patience, he was accepted into the RAF as an officer and pilot
Left: The printed program from the April 26, 1942, Strike up the Band
performance for the guards at Stalag IX-C. Inset: Alfs pilots log indicates
he was shot down on March 11, 1941, over Alkmaar, Holland. He was one
of two survivors from his seven-man crew, but his leg was wounded badly
and subsequently saved by German doctors.
premierguitar.com
the Royal Air Force

one Alf began piloting for
ton Mk II bomber like the
ling
Wel
ers
Vick
a
of
r.
to
lic-domain pho
nds in March of that yea
A British government pub
ical treatment for his wou
n, captured, and given med
in 1941. He was shot dow
in training. By 1941, he was co-piloting missions in a Vickers

Wellington Mk II bomber.
Its unclear how many missions Alf flew before he was shot
down, but it wasnt many. On March 12, 1941, his plane took
enemy fire and, with a badly wounded leg, he bailed out over
Holland. Only one of his fellow crewmen survived. Alf managed
to bury his parachute and walk to a farmhouse, where a family
called a doctor. After looking at Alf s wounds, the doctor said
there was no alternative but to call the German authorities, both
to get access to a proper hospital and to ensure the family wasnt
called out for harboring an enemy combatant. Joan Binnie says
the Nazis showed surprising respect and compassion for enemy
officers and pilots. The next three months in the German-run
hospital were agonizing, but several surgeries did manage to
save Alf s leg. When hed recuperated, he was processed in the
German city of Oberursel and then sent to Stalag IX-C.
The prison camp was part of a complex that held as many
as 47,000 inmates in horribly overcrowded conditions. Some
reports say as many as 150 people lived and ate in 120' x 60'
rooms. Prisoners were sent to work daily in nearby salt mines
and stone quarries. Disease was rampant, and Joan Binnie says
Alf felt fortunate to have never gotten dysentery, which was
commonplace. Alf also avoided the hardest manual labor by virtue of being an officer. But he didnt escape the prisons ghastly
dentistry, on one occasion having the wrong tooth pulled before
passing out. They (also) gave them very little to eat, which was
very hard on them, Joan says. Mostly just soup and hard bread.
I asked Alf how they managed to exist, and he said it was only
Alf managed to bury

his parachute and
walk to a farmhouse,
where a family called a
doctor. After looking
at Alfs wounds, the
doctor said there was
no alternative but
to call the German
authorities . . .
because they were so young. Nineteen or 20. He said you could

take a heck of a lot [at that age].
A light in the Dark
Alf s 6-string deliverance was made possible by a remarkably
unusual circumstanceat least for a jazz musician: He didnt
smoke. Cigarettes were literally currency in the camp, and
inmates could either smoke their meager tobacco rations or use
them to buy personal effects. Somehow (Joan attributes it to a
particularly compassionate camp commandant), Alf s desire to
premierguitar.com
Alfs guitar features a bound headstock with

a handsomely aged pearloid
veneer that, unfortunately, bears no labels
or marks to indicate who made
it. Note the well-worn tuning buttons and
the zero fret.
spend his saved-up cigarettes on a guitar moved up the chain of

command and was approved. A prison guard apparently bought
it on his behalf. The receipt from the August Becker Musical
Instrument shop specifically notes that The aforementioned
instrument is the property of A.E. Binnie (inmate 39159). He
has bought and paid for it out of his own means, or resources.
When Alf got the guitar, says Joan, he just about fainted.
Because it was a beautiful thing and it was just handed to him.
He was absolutely floored. It was a copy of a Gibson L series, but
nobody has been able to find a makers mark on it, so its provenance is unknown. A luthier who repaired its neck after the war
said it is a very fine instrument. One can only imagine the solace
and the relief from boredom such an instrument could afford. Not
to mention the camaraderie that came from being able to form
bands, whichaccording to accounts and photographswas not
uncommon. Performances, however, were rare, and life in camp was
interrupted by lockdowns after escape attempts and outbreaks of
Simply
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imi
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itie
Speaker Cabinets
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L series archtop
guitara copy of a Gibson
Above: At some point, Alfs
ng to his widow,
ordi
Acc
ilt.
rebu
be
to
ed
need
was damaged and the neck
ity instrument.
qual
a
was
it
said
it
ired
who repa
Joan, the Canadian luthier
guitar.
Alfs
of
back
le carves on the
Left: A detail shot of the supp
runs parallel to the strings
that
k
crac
ine
hairl
a
of
Opposite: A close-up
iece. Note the
the anchor of the trapeze tailp
all the way from the f-hole to
e.
piec
le
sadd
le
stab
the adju
clean, art-deco-like lines of
disease. But it does seem that Alf was able to keep the guitar and
play it basically when he felt like it. Joan relates that, at some point,
Alf ran out of guitar strings and his father corresponded with one
of the Dorsey Brothers (a popular jazz group from the 1920s and
30s that was fronted by Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey), who helped
arrange for delivery of a care package that included new strings.
The latter stages of the war should have meant the worst was
over, but the opposite was true: Russian troops had purged the
Nazis from their homeland and were marching west, liberating
countries in eastern Europe as they went. This led to a frenzied
evacuation of prison camps all over Poland, Czechoslovakia,
and eastern Germany. About 80,000 prisoners were sent on
foot across hundreds of miles in the dead of the coldest winter
in decades. Thousands died, some from starvation or exposure,
others to friendly fire incidents when Allied planes strafed the
columns of men they mistook for retreating German troops. Alf
saw friends and comrades die in such a manner.
All this time, Alf kept his guitar slung on his back, covered
with some of the inadequate clothes still in his possession.
Rations were literally scavenged from fields and farms en route,
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Alfs desire to
spend his saved-up
cigarettes on a guitar
moved up the chain
of command and was
approved.
and it was never enough. As his group reached Gresse, east of

Hamburg, their long-awaited deliverance arrived.
They were on the road, and it was miserable because it was
wet and raining, she says, but all of a sudden the guards all left,
and then they heard that the war had ended. He and this friend
went into this small town and took this soldiers motorcycle. The
Americans were coming towards them, and they [the prisoners]
were waving at them. They had a white flag. They stopped that
first night at a German farmhouse and took a ham [from it].
011_ad.pdfThey
4/26/11
PM
stayed 1:23:20
in the barn
and they werent bothered. But those
guys were somethingthey took the ham, but they left cigarettes
[as payment]!
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for a guitar that surthe binding, but its not bad

ens a bit as it approaches
wid
separating from the
ar
be
guit
to
Alfs
ears
of
app
top
ing
the
: The bind
LEFT: The crack in
end of the war. MIDDLE
the
at
le working as a
whi
ch
Mar
met
e
he
Th
m
and
n, who
vived both a POW camp
n. RIGHT: Alfs widow, Joa
ditio
con
d
goo
bly
arka
e in rem
med with guests.
body a bit, but its otherwis
hotel where he often jam
The two later ran a small
ski instructor in Quebec.
lifelong companions
Alf recuperated in England and returned home to Canada, where
despite his wounded leg he went back to his passion for skiing.
He bought a small hotel and became chief ski instructor at a
larger resort called Jasper in Quebec. Thats where he met Joan.
I was working in Montreal, she says. I went up every Friday.
Although many things that brought back memories of life in
Stalag IX-C were repugnant to Alf throughout the remainder
of his lifefor instance, he couldnt stand the smell of boiled
cabbagehis guitar stayed with him as a source of joy till the
end. He had the neck repaired when he was back home, and he
often played for hotel guests, sometimes alone and sometimes
sitting in on informal jam sessions with musicians who came up
for breaks from New York or Montreal. It was romantic, Joan
recalls. I dont think I appreciated it enough at the time.
Around 1950, Joan and Alf moved to a more practical life in
Long Beach, California, where he became a real-estate appraiser
for a bank. Upon retirement, they moved back to snowy climes
in the town of Whitefish, Montananear the Canadian border
and more great skiing. Alf continued to love jazz and some hillbilly country, becoming a fan of Chet Atkins and Glen Campbell.
He played the guitar until nearly the end of his life. Sometimes
it would sit unused for a while, but then, says Joan, All of a
Thousands died, some

from starvation or
exposure, others to
friendly fire incidents
when Allied planes
strafed the columns
of men they mistook
for retreating German
troops All this time,
Alf kept his guitar slung
on his back. . . .
sudden, something would come on the radio or TV or something

and hed go upstairs. Hed play quite often by himself up there. He
would rush up there to get it. I used to love when he did that. The
guitar was a big part of his lifeall of his life.
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feature > KEIth uRBAN
premierguitar.com
Contemporary-country superstar Keith Urban reflects

on how Waylon Jennings indie spirit inspired him more than
20 years ago in Australia, why Mark Knopfler became his first
guitar hero, and how he rehabilitated many of his treasured
vintage axes after the tragic Nashville flood of 2010.
By tHomas sCott mCkenzie
PHotos By Bill Bernstein
ith his scruffy surfer-heartthrob looks,

his celebrity lifestyle (he regularly shows
up in paparazzi pics with his wife, actress
Nicole Kidman), and his incredible string of
hitswhich includes 15 singles on the US
charts, 10 of which went No. 1Keith Urban
is one of those success stories thats so big its
hard for serious musicians to take seriously.
But that probably says more about the
skeptics and haters than it does the man
himself. See, although Urban has been a
mainstay on the American contemporarycountry scene for the past 12 years or so, he
started slogging it out as a session guitarist in
his native Australia 20 years ago before scoring a record deal with his band the Ranch
in the late 90s. And though most of us are
used to seeing him singing and wearing an
amazing vintage guitar on a TV program or
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in a Target endcap display, that guitar isnt

just a stylish pendant. The man is a hardcore
playerand not just of acoustic and electric
guitar: He also plays bass, banjo, keyboards,
mandolin, drums, bouzouki, and sitar.
Given that Urbans audience is a lot larger
than the worlds population of guitarists, its
natural that people focus a lot more on his
singing and songwriting abilities. Reviewers
point out that his recent albums focus primarily on love. His November 2010 release, Get
Closer, is a largely upbeat affair full of happy
songs dedicated to the positive influences of
a solid relationship. He sings about putting
his woman in a tune, taking her for a drive,
loving her since the first day, and savoring the
change she introduces into his life. Gossip
magazine readers quickly assumed these songs
were all about him and Kidman.
However, given Urbans enviable collection of vintage guitars, these sentiments

could just as easily apply to his love of the
instruments he uses onstage each night.
Many of those axes were tragically damaged during the catastrophic flooding in
Nashville, Tennessee, last year. As a guitarist who felt more like a caretaker of fine
instruments than an actual owner, Urban
was heartbroken when his guitars floated
in dirty river water for days. He and his
team struggled to resurrect the instruments, making the lyric, Hiding from the
world with a broken wing, But you better
believe you gonna fly with me particularly
meaningful to this conversation. Currently,
many of those rehabbed guitars accompany
Urban on his 50-plus-city Get Closer 2011
world tour.
Knopfler, Vintage Guitars, and Old Cars

Urbans musical career began not on a wellloved guitar but on a simple instrument
more aligned with soothing island rhythms
than with searing solos.
My dad bought me this ukulele when
I was four, he says. I dont know why he
bought it for me. He comes from a musical
family, so maybe he just thought it would
be a cool thing. I used to strum that in time
with the radio, so he thought, When the kid
gets older, maybe well get him a real guitar
to learn some chordsbecause he seems to
have rhythm. It was just a progression from
that little ukulele I used to hack at.
As his musical endeavors grew, Urban
initially focused more on songs, chords,
and rhythms than on obsessively scrutinizing guitar heroes. I just wanted to learn
songs, he recalls. I learned a lot of songs
that I heard on the radio, and I would not
have a clue who was playing guitar. I was
not really thinking about the lead guitarI
was just playing chords and singing.
But that all changed when Urban discovered Mark Knopfler while playing in a band
as a teen. An older bandmate suggested he
check out the Dire Straits axe slinger. I just
fell in love with his playing, Urban says.
Mark had a real clean, compressed, Strat
style that was right at home with the kind of
country music I was listening to. He had a
melodicism and a touch and feel that was like
nobody else. It was such a recognizable tone.
Today, Urbans love of vintage guitars,
amplifiers, and automobiles is well documented. The fascination with cool rides comes
from his father, who owned a Pontiac, a
couple of Chevys, and some classic Lincolns.
Old cars were part of my family, he
recalls. But I never thought much about
vintage guitars until I had some money.
Suddenly, I got to play somebodys Les Paul
or old Strat, and it was just a whole different thingtheres nothing quite like it.
One of Urbans favorite acquisitions is
the iconic black-and-white, leather-wrapped
Fender that outlaw legend Waylon Jennings
made famous. Added to his arsenal in late
2009, the 1950 Broadcaster is particularly
special not simply because of its historical
significance. Theres a very personal tie-in to
Urbans life and career.
I grew up listening to Waylon and,
ultimately, I probably have a career today
because he had the courage to come to
a town like Nashville and do it his way,
Urban inspires a toast from a fan with his double-cutaway Les Paul Junior.
Urban says. He wanted to use his own

band, he wanted to choose the studio,
he wanted to choose the songs, choose
the producerand that was not the way
things were done. So many of us have that
freedom today in Nashville, and we really
have Waylon to thank for that. So that
guitar represents so much to me about just
following your path. Even if you come up

against the system, you can stay true to
yourself. When I plugged it in and played
it, it was just amazing. Its so full of mojo.
While Jennings Broadcaster obviously
stays at home, Urban uses a number of
pricey vintage guitars on tour. And several
of thoseincluding a 1952 Gibson Les Paul
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Brian Nutter (left) backs Urban on 6-string banjo while the boss takes a solo on one of his Teles.
Standard and a 1962 Gibson ES-335were

damaged in the Nashville flood.
The Les Paul was submerged for four
days. It has some flaking that happened after
it got out of the water and started drying
out, Urban says. From the goldtop around

the pickups, there are huge chips that have
come off since then, and it has bits flaked
off all around the neck. That is particularly
worn from all of the flood damage. The
ES-335 was also a flood victim that has been

salvaged. It does not look overly damaged,
but it has a muted look to the lacquer and
got more worn lookingmuch more so
than before it went into the river.
Urbans main stage instrument was
also waterlogged but successfully revived.
Nicknamed Clarence, its a Fender 40th
Anniversary Telecaster obtained at Mannys
Music during the musicians first visit to
the United States. According to Urbans
guitar tech, Chris Miller, over the years
the guitar has had every pickup combination under the sun put in it at one time or
another. During the restoration process,
Miller set about returning the instrument
to its original state before subsequently
launching new pickup experiments. Of
course, no guitar could go through so
much physical devastation and remain tonally unchanged. However, Urban says the
tone has changed for the better as a result
of the flood and restoration.
I think it sounds a little more unique
now than it did prior to going into the
river, Urban says.
Tres
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The Aussie star strums an Em chord on an Eric Clapton Signature Strat with Lace Sensor pickups.
Asked about his ultimate tone, Urban

says he loves amps that have lots of headroom without sounding sterile. To that end,
he owns many revered amplifiersincluding a Dumble Overdrive Special and an
EL34-driven, 45-watt Trainwreck Express,
both of which feature prominently on Get
Closer. However, hes sticking to old Fenders
and Marshallsa purple 100-watt 1969
Marshall Super Bass head and a mid-60s
blackface Fender Showmanon the road.
Miller says the amps are routed through
two vintage Marshall 4x12 speaker cabinets
loaded with Electro-Voice speakers and two
Alessandro open-backed 2x12s, so that each
head goes through six speakers, as loud as I
can get them without them breaking up.
No Vintage Snob
Despite his drool-inducing collection of
old 6-strings and amps, Urbans arsenal also
includes some offbeat acquisitions.
He has a thing for cheap guitars with a
funky, lo-fi vibe, guitar tech Miller laughs.
He owns several old Airlines and Teiscos
that were damaged in the flood and have yet

to be put back in working order. He recently got another Teisco that [Nashville tech]
Joe Glaser is improving so it can be used
during a gigthe bridge is a little dodgy.
Urban himself ascribes the habit of
buying these overlooked instruments to a
Charlie Brown-like desire to take care of an
item everyone else ignores.
I often buy or go to the store and look
for the ugliest runt guitar and bring it home
because I feel sorry for it, he says. I often
think about the 10-year-old kid at our concert who is checking out all the brands of
the guitars. I always loved Tom Petty and
those guys with the quirkiest, weirdest guitars. I like to remind kids that if youve got a
hundred bucks, you can go and buy a great
guitar that is going to get you where you
want to go. You dont have to have thousands of dollars to get a solo happening!
Taking It on the Road
Typically, studio versions of tunes
are rearranged and adjusted for live
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performancesfor instance, maybe a long

intro is shortened or adjusted to make up
for lack of an orchestraand to a limited
degree, Urban has done so for his current
tour. For example, he kicks things off with
Put You in a Song, the first single from
Get Closer. Urban says the song has been
stretched and elongated to the point of
functioning almost like a remix. He also
explains that other tunes have to be tweaked
because delicate lines and musical textures
arent necessarily going to translate well to
large arenas.
Like in Long Hot Summer, which
begins with a warm, Andy Summers-like
arpeggio, the important piece is the
electric riffs, Urban says. The banjo has
a nice sound to it on the record, but its
not something you would miss live. So I
would probably put my guy onto some
other instrument that sounds more needed
in a live situation. As for the songs
Police-esque vibe, Urban says, It definitely comes from that Message in a Bottlekind of place, but the actual lyrics were
inspired by a song called Short Memory
by Midnight Oil. Short Memory is completely different, but the arpeggiated intro
always stayed with me, and this is sort of
a sped-up version of that with a couple of
chord changes.
Other than the live adjustments made
to Long Hot Summer, Urban says his
set doesnt require as much alteration as
you might think. Ive gotten to the point
where I record songs like I would probably
play them live anyway, yknow? he says.
Like long solos on the outros, if the songs
require them. Thats definitely an ode to the
Dire Straits records I grew up with, which
had three-minute outrosalmost like a part
two of the song.
Other than Knopfler, one of Urbans
big guitar influences is U2s the Edge, as
evidenced by the shimmering, echo-y part
that gently floats under the piano in All
for You.
The Edge is absolutely one of the
greats, Urban says. We were just playing todaywe were trying to get a muted,
arpeggiated, single-string thingand I was
trying to get my other guitarists to get the
right guitar to make it nice and woody in

the middle. I said, Yknow, like the Edge
that kind of thing. Then, I actually came
to the conclusion that it was probably more
David Gilmour than the Edge because of
that single-string thing.
Following in Waylons Footsteps?
Urbans current Get Closer tour affords
fans plenty of opportunities to check out
his guitars and be inspired by either the
vintage gear or the quirky stuff. The concert features an entirely new stage set, new
production, and a new look that fans are
going to loveincluding multiple stages
that enable Urban to get closer to fans all
over the venue.
During one of those forays into the
audience, its entirely possible that some
young boy, an eager and determined young
musician, might look upon Urban and
Clarence the Tele with the same reverence
that the Aussie once bestowed upon Waylon
Jennings and that leather-clad Broadcaster.
It would be a huge honorId better
take care of it!
Your pedals are worth it.
PEDALTRAIN
www.pedaltrain.com
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Keith Urbans Get Closer toUr Gearbox

PHotos By anDy ellis
(Left to right): A pine-bodied Fender Tele with a

rosewood fretboard, a Fender Custom Shop La
Cabronita Especial whose TV Jones Classic has
been swapped for a mini humbucker, and a Dan
Strain-built T-style Danocaster used for Kiss a
Girl, Im In, Jeans On, and Days Go By.
Urban tunes this 62 ES-335 down

a half-step for Sweet Thing.
A 64 Strat Urban grabbed

to test an amp withand
promptly boughtat a store
in Australia.
Urban uses The Mirror Tele,

which tech Chris Miller says
is very light, every night for
Somebody.
Guitars
Pine Fender Telecaster with rosewood fretboard,
Fender Custom Shop La Cabronita Especial
with mini humbucker, Dan Strain T-style Danocaster, 62 Gibson ES-335, 64 Fender Strat,
custom Fender Tele nicknamed The Mirror, 57
Gibson Les Paul Junior, stock Fender Custom
Shop La Cabronita Especial, Fender Custom
Shop 60th Anniversary Snake Head Tele, Martin
OMJM John Mayer signature acoustic, Maton
acoustic, Yamaha nylon-string, and, according
to tech Chris Miller, a zillion other guitars that
are constantly going in and out of rotation
Amps
Dumble Overdrive Special (studio), 45-watt
Trainwreck Express with EL34s (studio), two
mid-60s Fender Dual Showmans (live, one
is a spare), 69 Marshall Super Bass, two
vintage Marshall 4x12s with Electro-Voice
speakers, two Alessandro 2x12 cabs, Marshall Valvestate power amp (for cabs)
Effects
Demeter COMP-1 Compulator, Wampler Ego
Compressor, Analog Man Juicer, Wampler
Paisley Drive, two Boss GE-7s, MXR Distortion
III, T-Rex Alberta, B.K. Butler Tube Driver, two
Klon Centaurs, Pro Co Rat, MXR GT-OD, XTS
Custom Pedals Precision Overdrive, Boss CE-
To prevent this rosewood-fretboarded Tele from ringing out too

much when strummed hard, Urban places a piece of folded-up
foam under the strings and just behind the nut.
2, Ernie Ball Volume Pedal, Custom Audio Electronics RS-10

MIDI Foot Controller and an RS-10 Expander Module, Cry
Baby DCR-2SR rack wah, RJM Music Technology Effect Gizmo
loop switchers, Lexicon MPX 1, two TC Electronic G-Major 2s,
Avalon Design U5 DI/preamp (for acoustics)
stings, Picks, and Accessories

DAddario .010.046 sets (for Fenders), DAddario .011
.049 sets (Gibsons), DAddario EXP13 sets (steel-string
acoustics), DAddario EXP46 sets (nylon-string), Planet
Waves cables, Shure UR4D Dual Wireless receivers, Radial
Engineering JX44 Air Control, Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2
Plus power supplies (for pedals), APC Smart-UPS 1500
Fender Custom Shop 60th Anniversary Series Snake Head Tele with
1.5" pine body.
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This 57 Les Paul Junior is one of

Urbans preferred axes for the song
Stupid Boy from his 2006 album
Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing.
Miller says this all-original Fender

Custom Shop La Cabronita Especial was Urbans go-to guitar for
most of 2010.
3RDPOWER.COM
FACEBOOK YOUTUBE TWITTER
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Although there are numerous pick-holding solutions on the market these days, Urban still prefers to
secure his Herco picks to the upper bouts of his guitars with rolled-up gaffer tape.
Urbans 100-watt 1969 Marshall Super Bass head features a multitude of strategically placed tape
to block the lower-right 1/4" input (note the jumpered inputs), to indicate desired knob settings, and
to elucidate proper Power and Standby toggle positions.
The Marshall and Fender heads are each routed through one vintage Marshall 4x12 loaded with
Electro-Voice speakers and one Alessandro 2x12. The 4x12s are micd with Shure KSM32, while
SM57s kiss the Alessandros grilles.
premierguitar.com
Urbans main mid-60s

Fender Dual Showman
(the bottom one is a
spare) has almost as
much setting-reminder
tape as his Marshall
Super Bass.
Kr a u t s t e r
The Krautster totally nails the sound
and sheer power of raw music.
Its design and craftmanship,
meanwhile, demonstrate massive
scope and breathtaking ambition.
Disguised as a plain, down-to-earth
guitar, the Krautster comes proudly
stripped of everything but the very
essence of Rock!
www.nikhuber-guitars.com
premierguitar.com
Urbans stage rig includes (left rack, top to bottom) two Shure UR4D
Dual Wireless receivers, a Radial Engineering JX44 Air Control
guitar-signal manager (note the two outputs at right labeled Showman and Plexi), an Avalon Design U5 class-A DI/preamp for his
acoustics, a Jim Dunlop Cry Baby DCR-2SR rack wah, an RJM Music
Technology Effect Gizmo loop switcher, and two stompbox drawers
(detailed below). The rack at right includes (top to bottom) another
RJM Music Technology Effect Gizmo, another pedal drawer (see
below), a Rack Systems Preset 210 phase and level controller, a
Lexicon MPX 1 multi-effector, two TC Electronic G-Major 2 units (one
is a spare), a Marshall Valvestate power amp, and an APC Smart-UPS
1500 uninterruptible power supply.
The first stompbox drawer in Urbans rack is loaded with a Demeter COMP-1
Compulator, a Wampler Ego Compressor, an Analog Man Juicer (which is a
replica of Dan Armstrongs vintage Orange Squeezer compressor), a Wampler
Paisley Drive, and two Boss GE-7 graphic-equalizer pedals. A Voodoo Lab Pedal
Power 2 Plus powers all the stompboxes.
An adjacent rack features a pedal drawer with an early-80s Pro Co

Rat, an MXR GT-OD overdrive, an XTS Custom Pedals Precision
Overdrive, and a Boss CE-2 Chorus powered by another Voodoo Lab
Pedal Power 2 Plus.
The next drawer down features an MXR Distortion III, a T-Rex Alberta overdrive,
a B.K. Butler Tube Driver, and two Klon Centaur overdrives, all powered by a
Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 Plus.
Onstage, Urban controls his rack with a Custom Audio Electronics RS-10 MIDI Foot Controller and an RS-10 Expander Module (the latter is an add-on unit
that expands the RS-10s capabilities with two extra columns of footswitches above the PS-5 and PS-6 labels). The RS-10 is flanked by a Boss FV500H expression pedal (left), an Ernie Ball Volume Pedal (right), and a Boss FS-5U momentary footswitch (far right).
premierguitar.com
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Planet Waves is a registered trademark or trademark of DAddario & Company, Inc. or its affiliates in the US and/or other countries. 2011 DAddario & Company, Inc. All rights reserved.
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review > GIBsoN
GiBson
LEs PAuL
sTuDIO
BARITOnE
By JorDan WaGner
500T bridge humbucker
he electric baritone guitar has been

popping up on pop, rock, and country
records for almost as long as the standard
6-string. Brian Wilson was a huge fan, utilizing its unique tone and capacity for lower
tuning registers to help create the expansive textures of many classic Beach Boys
cuts. Danelectro baritones were a staple of
Nashville recording studios. And players
as diverse as Pat Metheny, Peter Buck, and
Duane Eddy have used electric baritones
as a secret weapon of sorts. Its also found
favor among modern heavy rock and
metal players, most notably Stainds Mike
Mushok and Metallicas James Hetfield, the
latter of which used one for rhythm tracks
on Sad But True.
Gibson built 6-string basses decades
ago, but only in the past decade has the
company combined the qualities of the
baritone guitar with their classic Les Paul
design. The initial run was a short one, but
theyve revisited the concept with the new
496R neck
humbucker
Volume and
Tone controls
for each pickup
premierguitar.com
review > GIBsoN
limited-edition Les Paul Studio Baritone

and the results are no less impressive than
they were the first time around.
Devilish Details
Despite the original Les Paul Baritones
short life on the market, it found a lot of
fans. After it went out of production, prices for the original pewter-finished instruments more than doubled the original
price. The demand is rooted in much more
than novelty and collectability, though
the marriage of Les Paul humbucker heft
and the long scale makes the Les Paul
Studio Baritone a unique and formidable
sonic tool.
This new bari Les Paul has a lot in
common with Gibsons original release. It
employs the same 28" scale, which means
its one-piece mahogany neck is a full 3
1/2" longer than a standard Les Pauls.
This keeps the string tension tight in lower
tunings such as C (CFB%E%GC), B
(BEADF#B), and A (AEAD
F#B), while retaining the percussive snap
and low-end tightness that you lose when
tuning a standard-scale guitar down that
low. Its a sound and feel that cannot be
completely replicated by simply throwing
a heavier set of strings on your regular Les
Paul and dropping the tuning.
59 neck profile
premierguitar.com
. . . the marriage of Les Paul humbucker heft

and the long scale makes the Les Paul Studio
Baritone a unique and formidable sonic tool.
Because of the extra 3 1/2" in scale
length, two additional frets have been
added, giving the Les Paul Studio Baritone
a 24-fret, two-octave runway. Like the first
Les Paul Baritone, the necks profile is the
companys standard rounded 59 shape.
And the body is finished with a thin coat
of nitrocellulose lacquer for maximum resonance and wood breathability.
The guitars chambered, two-piece
mahogany body is remarkably light,
thanks to internal tone chambers. Because
of that and the longer scale, I expected
it to be neck-heavy. But it remained balanced when I adjusted the strap to tilt the
neck a little higher than the body. The
beautiful two-piece maple cap is finished
in Honeyburstthe only color available
at this timeand the edges are stained a
lovely golden hue that gives the guitar a
subtly luxurious vibe.
Gibson made some very practical
changes to the electronics in the newest
Baritone. The original version had 490R

and 498T humbuckers with alnico 5 magnets and metal covers. However, because
a prominent treble response can give baritones a more balanced sound and keep the
inherently pronounced low-end frequencies
tight and audible while adding detail and
emphasis to highs that would otherwise
be a dull thud, Gibson installed a pair of
uncovered ceramic-magnet humbuckers
a 496R in the neck position and a 500T
bridge pickupthis time around. The
belting out some power-chord-fueled metal

riffage, and the sound was tight and huge,
with the thick, solid midrange that Les
Pauls are known for and highs and upper
mids that cut through like a bolt of lightning over the thundering low end. Rather
than an overbearing, sludgy tonality, the
guitar sounded firm and full, with the low
end serving as a foundation for the mids
and highs rather being the dominant quality. Tonally, this guitar is very balanced,
despite its specialized function.
The Baritone came strung with
Gibsons standard .013.060 baritone
strings and tuned to the key of C#.
Intonation was spot-on, and the superb
setup made the guitar exceptionally playable. The extra scale length made the
thicker strings feel as slinky as .010s,
and playing one-and-a-half-step bends
in the middle of the neck was almost
496R and 500T are much hotter and

brasher sounding than the vintage-voiced
490R and 498T in the original, but their
ability to handle low frequencies and
enhanced highs alike gives them an edge
over their lower-output predecessors.
lay It Down
I tested the Les Paul Studio Baritone by
plugging into a Bogner Brixton head and
a Bogner 2x12 cabinet. I couldnt help
review > GIBsoN
effortlessso much so that I had to be

careful not to bend double stops too
sharp. It takes some mental recalibration
to get used to the added neck length, but
the guitars playability of the instrument
speeds the process considerably.
The Baritones comfort and surprising
ability to handle note separation led me in
very unexpected directions. From downtuned metal, I moved to bluesy single-note
runs and arpeggiated rock melodies, and
the amount of detail and bounce in every
note was astonishing.
I spent the next hour recording an
impromptu song in the vein of the Cures
Burn, with its chugging, sixteenth-note
pattern, to see how the LP Studio bari fit
in a band mix. I coaxed a glistening clean
tone out of a Bogner Barcelona 40-watt
combowhich was surprising, considering the 500Ts hot outputand the guitar
sat beautifully in the multitrack mix. Not
only did it make a great complement to
the two standard electric guitar tracks, it
also lent more definition to the bass track.
The tone was even more expansive when I
Rating:
switched to the neck pickup. However, the
496R can sound so big that I found myself
wishing for a coil-tap switch. Some of the
best baritone-guitar recordings were made
with single-coil-equipped guitars after all,
and their piano-like qualitiesespecially
on the low stringscan make a baritone
much more manageable in the studio.
the Verdict
Gibsons new Les Paul Studio Baritone is
much more than a flash-in-the-pan rock/
metal machineand its more than a
Nashville studio tool, too. Its a vibrantly
tuneful and wide-ranging guitar that
can work in countless musical settings
thanks to its versatile tones and inviting,
familiar-feeling ergonomics. Though a
coil-tap function would give the wellmatched pickups even greater range, careful manipulation of the Volume and Tone
knobs yields a variety of usable sounds.
If youre looking for tones that are even
more burly and muscular than a standard
Les Paul, this unique instrument can definitely deliver.
Buy If...
you crave the punch of lowered
tunings but arent willing to sacrifice
treble and mid response.
skip If...
you prefer single-coil-fueled
bari tones.
Gibson Guitars
Street $1389
gibson.com
CLICKHere
or use a mobile device to watch a
video review of the guitar at
premierguitar.com
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premierguitar.com
review > Kustom AmplificAtion
Kustom amplification
KXB500 and
dE115nEO
Dan BerKowitz
ts called Occams razorthe simplest

solution to a problem tends to be the best.
Its a good route for choosing a bass rig, too.
Add too many features and you have a better
chance of doing damage to your tone. In fact,
the longer Ive played bass, the less I twiddle
with an amps knobs. When I do decide to
twiddle something, Ill do it in moderation.
The rig reviewed here does a good job of
following the Occams razor principle. You
might remember the Kustom bass amps,
ubiquitous in the 60s and 70s with their
legendary tuck n roll auto upholstery, that
were offered in an array of sparkly colors
and decked out with chrome ports and a
cool script-like name badge. The appointments may have been fancy looking, but
Kustom bass amps were downright humble
when it came to knobs. This new Kustom
bass rig retains that simplicity while knocking down the weight considerablythanks
to the use of some newer technologies.
the KXB500:
A tidy, Basic package
The first key technology contributing to
big power in a lightweight form is the use
of a class D power amp. The KXB500 uses
a Bang & Olufsen ICEpower module that
puts out 500 watts RMS at 4 all in
a package measuring a mere 12" wide, 8"
deep, and 2.5" high.
Despite its diminutive stature, the
KXB500 has all the features the average
bassist needsOccams razor in action.
On the front panel sits one Input jack, one
input Gain control, a 3-band EQ, and a
Master volume. Kustom includes a pushpull switch on the Midrange knob that toggles its center frequencies between 500 Hz
and 700 Hz, both useful for bass, though
a little close together. The front panel also
includes a handy Mute switch (with a red
light that flashes when engaged), a 1/8"
premierguitar.com
Aux In and
Headphone jack
Mute Switch
and Indicator light
Aux In jack (for practicing along with your

iPod), and a similarly-sized Headphone jack.
The Bass control offers +/-20 dB at 40
Hz, right at the bottom of the E strings
range. On the high end, the Treble control
has the same amount of control at 20 kHz,
adding snap to your slap. In between, the
Midrange knob allows up to +/-12 dB of
scoop or presence.
On the back of the KXB500, theres a socket for a removable power cord, a pair of output
jacks (speakON and 1/4"), and an XLR DI
out thats switchable pre/post with ground lift
and level controls. There is also a Tuner Out
jack, effects loop Send/Receive jacks, and a
Footswitch jack for both the mute and effects
loops. Everything a bassist needs is there.
Plugging in, I found it a simple task to

get a good basic sound by centering the easyviewing EQ knobs, turning the input Gain
up to around noon, and adjusting the Master
to taste. I found that the EQ knobs had plenty of sound-shaping ability, with tonal centers
at musically pleasant frequencies. It would
have been nice, though, to have center detents
on the three tone controls. The input impedance, at 690k , is a little low for acoustic
piezo-based pickups, but should be fine for
magnetic pickups on electric basses.
Though the Master control seemed to
get loud a little quicker than Id prefer,
Kustom states they used an input stage that
could accommodate a very wide range of
input signals, allowing for clean tones and
still having enough gain to overdrive the
system. All said, it was still easy to adjust to
my desired level, and I found the KXB500
to have a neutral voiceone that would
be useful for a lot of musical situations.
Kustom does include rack ears if youre so
inclined, but keep in mind that a rack case
would likely weigh more than the amp itself.
Deep End DE115nEo cab: Yet
Another tidy, Basic package
This Kustom Deep End Neo cab is both
lightweight and compact, thanks in part to the
Eminence neodymium magnet speaker that
weighs far less than a conventional ceramic
magnet design. The use of plywood over particleboard also keeps the weight in check, especially by going with rear ports that eliminate
about 6" or so of height necessary for front
shelf porting. This cab ends up a little smaller
than many others with a 15" speaker, measuring 24" high, 20" wide and 16" deep.
The DE115NEO uses an 8 speaker,
which allows the amp to put out 300
watts RMS. A second Deep End 115 Neo
would be needed to reach the amps full
power. The jack plates connections had a
review > kustom amplification
somewhat unusual configuration, though,

with two 1/4" jacks and one speakON jack.
Compared to a 1/4" jack, speakONs offer a
much more secure and reliable connection,
which is especially good for high-power
bass amps like the KXB500. Because the
head and cab each have only one speakON
jack, its not possible to hook up a second
cab with speakON cables for both.
The cabinets sound was round and full,
with a focused bottom and clean attack, yet
not edgy. The piezo horn has a simple on/
off switch. If you want a little string noise
and bite in your sound, turn on the horn. If
youre more of an old-school player, turn off
the horn for a rounder and well-defined tone.
If there was one thing I would change about
this cab, it would be raising the side handles a
touch higherI kept reaching for a handle that
wasnt there, and when I did find the handle,
the balance was not ideal. I should add that the
handles are plenty sturdy. They have metal grip
bars attached to the cab, with machine screws
and T-nuts for extra dependability. I also would
have liked the cab to have sockets or interlocking corners on top for stacking a second cab.
I first tried this rig with my trusty P

bass, outfitted with a Duncan Quarter
Pound pickup. With the tone knobs set
flat, the sound was clear, punchy, and
round, and I didnt sense any boominess. It pushed out plenty of volume and
should be fine for moderate-level gigs. I
then tried a G&L 5-string. Once again,
the rig provided a sound that instilled
confidence, handling the low B string well
at moderate volumeI didnt try to push
the rig to the point of distortion, but
again, it put out a lot of volume.
the Verdict
In all, this affordable rig is nothing fancy in
terms of features, but it gets the job done
and does it well. The build seemed sturdy
and should stand up to regular gigging with
a reasonable amount of care. If you poke
around the web, youll be hard-pressed to
find many other amps with this power level
priced under $400. Likewise, few bass cabs
under 40 pounds with an Eminence neodymium speaker check in at $300, making
this rig a good value all the way around.
Rating:
Buy If...
you want a big sound from a
simple, sturdy package thats
easy to lug around.
Skip If...
you like a bass rig with heft and
lots of bells and whistles.
Kustom
Amplification
Street $399.99 (KXB500);
$299.99 (DE115NEO)
kustom.com
HEADOnline
or use a mobile device to download
audio clips of the amp at
premierguitar.com
W
E
N
... LOUDER
than uncoated strings.
DRAGON SKIN strings have a proprietary patent pending coating from

K3 Technology Coating that makes them the rst coated strings
that sound as good or beeer than uncoated strings.
TM
TM
Players comments include:

the rst coated string that sounds louder than uncoated strings
Im not complaining, I just dont understand how a coated string
can sound beeer, and louder than my uncoated strings. Doesnt that violate
some law of nature?
you managed to make the rst coated strings that denitely do not sound muddy.
All six (6) strings are coated for improved performance and corrosion resistance.
review > BAtson GuitAr co.
Batson Guitar co.
nO. 5
Upper-bout
soundport
By charles
harles saufley
volution is slow in the guitar universe.

And when you consider how many
50-year-old instrumentsor even 150-year150
old instrumentshave come to represent
design perfection, you can understand
why. But while guitar purists may look
askance at any attempt to improve the
dread, the OM, the Les Paul, or the
Telecaster, many engineering minds still
consider the 6-string a blank slate calling
out for revision.
Nashville-based Cory Batson is clearly of
this more irreverent school. A woodworker
and student of electrical engineering,
Batson is also a self-trained luthier. And hes
nabbed the attention of players such as Phil
Keaggy and fingerstyle wiz Don Ross with
guitars distinguished by side soundports,
truss bracing, and cantilevered fretboards.
With the help of his woodworking
brother and business partner, Grant Batson,
Cory has built Batson Guitars into one
of the more respected new acoustic guitar
companies in a Nashville music community
that can be wary of innovation. Batson guitars have never been inexpensive, however.
Though its not cheap, the brothers latest
model, the handbuilt No. 5, is an effort to
make their offerings more affordable.
the sum of changes
The mahogany-and-spruce No. 5 we
received for review is evidence that Batson
hasnt taken any shortcuts on the innovations that have made their instruments special from the beginning. The guitars bridge
looks like it was inspired by the organic
shapes in 70s furniture design, with fluid
curves that are both comfortable for fingerstyle playing and practicaladding mass
and structural reinforcement where the
strings pass through the bridge from saddle
to tailpiece.
Our No. 5 is built around a traditional
grand concert-style body profile. But similarities to any cookie-cutter version of that
style end there. The most overt difference
is the lack of a center soundhole. Though
ShorTail
tailpiece
this is more common on boutique guitars

than it used to be, it still gives the No. 5 an
oddly minimalist visage that takes a minute
or two to adjust to.
Theres also an architectural bent to the
Batsons design. The cantilevered fretboard,
which hovers free of contact with the top
past the 14th fret, evokes some of the more
intriguing bridges on modern roadways, as
does the portion of the guitars bridge that
resides behind the saddle. Similarly, the
ShorTail tailpiece is suspended above the
soundboard by a space the width of a few
business cards.
The architectural and engineering influence is even more apparent when you peek
through the oval soundport on the upper
treble bout. Rather than Martin-style X
Batson
lattice
bracing
or A bracing, youll find that the top is

diaundergirded with a grid of smaller, dia
mond-shaped trusses that resemble bracing
used by some modern classical builders.
According to Batson, this signature lattice
bracing is more flexible and responsive, giving the guitar a greater dynamic range.
Batsons effort to make the No. 5 more
affordable involves a few aesthetic sacrifices,
depending on your view of such things.
The choice of materials is still top-shelf,
but the luxurious finish seen on pricier
Batsons is replaced here by an ultra-thin
satin finish that seems a little ordinary for a
guitar in this price range. Inside our review
model, there were a few errant spots of glue
and some bracing joints that werent quite
flushfactors that dont affect sound or
premierguitar.com
review > BAtson

Atson
A
tson Guit
GuitA
GuitAr
Ar co.
Cantilever
fretboard
playability but that are somewhat surprising

given the price. Elsewhere, however, fit and
finish were superb to flawless.
rumbling, ringing, resonant
If youve never played an acoustic with a
soundport, your first experience can make
your ears do a double take. In general, the
literguitar will sound louder and, quite liter
ally, more in your face. The No. 5 is no
exception, and the difference can require
compensating adjustments to pick attack
and touch dynamics. Once you do so, its
plain that the No. 5 is a very sensitive and
articulate instrument.
As the lack of pick guard might suggest, it works best as a fingerstyle guitar.
The softer tones of the mahogany back and
sides mean you might have to put a little
more oomph behind your picking to get a
really kicking midrange. But bass and treble
notes resonate and ring with definition and
sustainthe guitar truly captures the best
warm and bright qualities of the mahoganyand-spruce combination.
Fingerstyle players who play in alternate
tunings with dropped fifth and sixth strings
will discover an expansive range of color
and dynamics to work with in the No. 5.
The guitar has an impressive bass presence
premierguitar.com
in standard tuning. Tuning down to D and

even C, however, makes the No. 5 growl
like a lion. This is where you sense that
Batsons bracing, cantilevered fretboard, and
tailpieceall designed to maximize vibrationreally pay sonic dividends. Sustain
and overtone content were impressive in
DADGAD and CGCFAD, and
when I wobbled the neck a little here and
there, it made a single chord sound wondrously colorful and multidimensional.
The No. 5 feels especially fast and playable when detuned. Hammer-ons on the
sixth string brim with a deep, funky, almost
baritone-like quality, and peppering lazy
legato moves with sitar-style bends was
perfect accompaniment for the big, droning
bass notes. However, the Batson feels slinky
in standard tuning, too. While I wasnt pulling off full-step bends with the same ease
I would with a lightly strung Les Paul, I
was still able to play some pretty expressive
blues runs. Batson claims this is because the
extra string length behind the bridge makes
a given string gauge feel lighter.
If theres one the thing the Batson is less
than ideal for, it might be the heavy strumming that tends to find a singer-songwriter
type opting for a big dreadnought. The
Batson is loud and bossy enough for the
job if you want it to beand it also retains
a lot of its low-end characterbut heavier
strumming can obscure the overtone minutiae and low-end detail that are the guitars
greatest strengths.
the Verdict
Batsons quest to create a better-sounding
guitar through unconventional bracing
and other non-dogmatic design moves
pays off in a guitar thats full of character
and responsive to nuanced playing. In that
sense, its a fantastic fingerstyle guitar, and if
the soft midrange of our mahogany model

is a deterrent to fingerstylists that crave
popping mids, the rosewood-backed version
may well do the trick.
If theres any one beef to pick with this
Batson, its that, at $2800, its still a bit
pricey for whats ostensibly a more affordable guitar. That said, an American-made,
handbuilt guitar is rarely an inexpensive
proposition, and innovation doesnt come
cheap. And, if youre jazzed about the
potential of evolutionary guitar engineering and creative woodwork, youll consider
the No. 5 a piece of art just as much as you
consider it an instrument.
Rating:
Buy If...
your need for a sweet-sounding fingerstyle machine are matched by a
thirst for artful, innovative design.
Skip If...
you wish theyd stopped tweaking
the look of git-fiddles back in 32!
Batson Guitars
Street $2800
batsonguitars.com
CLICKHere
audio clips of the guitar at
review > mEtAl pEDAls
metal peDals
HaRdCORE XXX
By JorDan waGner
etal music and distortion-generating

stompboxes can be odd bedfellows.
So much of what we think of as metal
tone is generated by big, high-gain amps
that pedals sometimes seem redundant. But
not all of us have the luxury of an expensive,
200-watt monster to generate the biggest
metal sounds, nor do most players have
either the inclination to regularly transport
such a beast or the appropriate space in
which to unleash it. And even players who
do own those pricey high-gain amps and are
adventurous enough to want to add a distortion, fuzz, or overdrive stompbox to the
equation find that many units on the market are less than perfectly suited to the slicing, mid-heavy environs of modern metal.
In sum, its hard to find a good all-in-one
metal distortion that will turn smaller amps
into raging animals and bigger amps into
more versatile behemoths. New Jersey-based
Metal Pedals is one company thats unafraid of
the challenge, though. In fact, the HardCore
XXXwhich has massive amounts of gain
meets the challenge quite admirably.
feature creature
With seven knobs arranged across its adultthemed surface, the XXX looks way more
complex than your average fuzz or overdrive. But its actually a fairly simple circuit.
Most of the controls are dedicated to the
super-flexible 5-band EQ thats one of the
fundamental strengths of the pedal. Other
than the EQ, there are Gain and Volume
knobs and a 2-way switch that engages a
noise-reduction circuit.
The most interesting and unique aspect
of the XXXs controls is the EQs midrange
section, which gives the pedal a tonal
expansiveness that helps emulate voicings
from the upper midrange of a Marshall
JCM800 to the signature low mids of a raging Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier.
strength Beyond strength
Many of the pedals that cater to the metal
crowd are voiced on the brighter end of the
spectrum. But the HardCore XXX can be
quite dark if you need it to be. In fact, with
a Les Paul Custom and a Bogner Barcelona
40-watt combo, the XXX tended to sound

a little too dark. Compensating with the
pedals Hi and Mid-Hi controls helped,
because both have tremendous range and
an incredibly powerful effect on the tone.
However, with the Les Paul and Bogner, at
least, they never seemed to totally transform
the XXXs basically dark voice. It seems
that the XXX was designed with a brightly
voiced amp in mind. That was confirmed
when I plugged the pedal into a Fender
Twin Reverb reissue. While the Twin is
light years from a metal amp, the XXXs
dark tone was a great match for the bright
Twinhighlighting the sustain and highend detail of my single-note leads.
In general, the XXXs tone and feel
is very amp-like and responsive to pick
attack, which makes it a blast to imitate
various metal styles with. By tweaking
the L-Mid and Mid-Hi knobs, I was able
to approximate everything from classic
Motrhead to early Metallica and mid90s Pantera. The XXX was especially
good at generating the cutting qualities
5-band EQ
Noise-reduction
on/off switch
premierguitar.com
review > metal pedals
of thrash-type tones without sacrificing

dimensionno mean feat, given the highmid content that typifies the style. Given
the current trend toward thrashier distortions with a razor-sharp high end, this was
a welcome surprise.
The only trouble I encountered with the
XXX was trying to find a sweet spot that was
perfect for both rhythm and lead. When the
XXX was set for an inspiring, sustaining lead
tone that could rip the paint off the walls,
chugging riffs played with the same tone
seemed to have raspy, unrefined edges. Most
of the time I could cure this by decreasing
the gain, though that also stole away some of
the violin-like sustain I loved so much.
The XXXs noise-reduction circuit is
pretty phenomenal. Instead of clamping
down on the end of notes like a steel trap,
it quickly rounds off the ends into silence.
It sounds exceptionally natural, so much
so that at times I forgot I even had it
turned on. Even so, I would have liked to
be able to alter the circuits settingssuch
as the threshold. The manual recommended that I keep the switch off when using
Rating:
lower gain settings, and I could hear why:
The gate shut down a little too quickly
on the ends of notes, sending them crashing to earth instead of shrieking into the
stratosphere. With the gate off, I was able
to summon some really smooth and purring low-gain tonesprovided the Hi control wasnt set too high.
the Verdict
Guitarists have been searching for years
for a one-stop pedal that can convincingly
cover everything from old-school metal to
stuff at the thrashier end of the headbanging spectrum. If youre on that quest, the
Metal Pedals HardCore XXX is definitely
worth a look. Its versatile, flexible, easy
to use, and works really well with brightvoiced tube amps. Some minor tweaking is required to get a good balance of
rhythm and lead tones, but the powerful
EQ is up to the task. For those who have
spent countless hours and dollars trying to
achieve killer metal tones beyond those that
lurk in their amps, the search may well end
with the XXX.
Buy If...
you want to add a variety
of tight, fluid metal tones to
a brightly voiced amp.
Skip If...
you require a dual-channel pedal for
contrasting lead and rhythm tones.
Metal Pedals
Street $215
metalpedals.com
HEADOnline
video review of the pedal at
premierguitar.com
NiteV
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review > rEVErEnD
reverenD
JuStICE and
tHundERGun BaSSES
By Dan BerKowitz
ometimes youll see a new bass and it seems

familiaran instrument youve gotten used
to over the years. But then you look again and
realize your first glance deceived you. Thats
the case with the new series of basses from
Reverend, the company that brought you the
legendary Rumblefish before leaving the bass
business in 2004.
Reverend basses are back, but are now
being produced in a high-end Korean factory rather than their US headquarters. The
designs and specs still spring from the brain of
Reverends founder Joe Naylor, who aimed for
seasoned woods, tight tolerances, and highquality components. Naylor also designed his
pickups with specific tonal characteristics in
mindso that the bridge and neck pickup
each bring something unique to the sonic palettebeyond what comes naturally from their
onboard locations.
Like the original Reverend basses, these
new axes bring a fresh take on design, but have
only a slight resemblance to their predecessors.
Two of the five new basses were designed with
a set-neck, while the other three use a more
conventional bolt-on. For this review, Reverend
sent one from each group.
The set-neck Thundergun bass is reminiscent of a well-known bass that also begins
with Thunder, while the Justice bass reminds
you of an old standby model that also has the
letter J. The two basses share some common details including a 1 21/32" nut width, a
two-way locking bridge, a korina wood body,
and a bound-and-blocked five-piece maple/
walnut neck with a rosewood fretboard. The
bi-directional truss rod, tuners, and knob set
are the same too. But after that, the similarities
depart pretty significantly.
the thundergun: old-school
meets modern sound
This bass has a striking look that makes you
want to go a little bit nuts by playing a little
harder and driving the music a little more.

Its like getting behind the wheel of a muscle
car and feeling the need to drive a little more
aggressively. The Thundergun has a familiar
and sturdy feel in the hand, yet weighs in
lighter than expected at about 8 pounds. Its
Vintage Clear glossy finish was applied very
evenly, with nary a glitch on some of the more
difficult finishing spots like the raised lip of the
bodys center section.
The setup was carefully adjusted, and the
control knobs and tuners felt solid, smooth,
and consistent. One of my pet gripes about
many basses is that the nut slots arent cut
deeply enough at the factory. That wasnt the
case with the Thundergun. The wiring in the
control cavity was tidier than most basses I see,
with less excess wire and a tie keeping things in
place. Shielding was accomplished via a good
coat of conductive paint.
As I mentioned, Naylor created pickups for
this bass with a specific sound in mind. The
Split Brick neck pickup is essentially a P-style
pickup in a humbucker casewith mighty
big magnets. Sound-wise, this pickups voice
is aimed toward the lows and mids. I thought
it served decently when soloed, much like a
P-style pickup should. The Thick Brick bridge
pickup, in contrast, provides mainly mids and
highs. I cant imagine its somewhat nasally
sound being very useful on its own, except for
the muddiest of rooms.
Blending the bridge with the neck pickup
created several useful sounds with both body
and bite. This task was made easy with the
black plastic Blend control, along with the master Tone and Volume controls. On most basses
with two pickups, there would be two volumes
and one tone instead. When the pickups were
balanced evenly right at the detent, I noticed
that the volume went down a little, but thats
normal for any two-pickup, parallel-wired bass.
I can see this bass working well when edge
is needed rather than thump, as most of the
sounds lean toward the modern, but a simple

Tone knob adjustment imparted more warmth
and thump when needed. Another thing to
consider is the body edge shape, which is slab
cut on the front side. If youre the type of
player who rests your wrist on the body top
while playing, the sharper edge could create a
pressure point on your wrist joint.
the Justice: A twist on the
familiar
From the moment I pulled the Chronic
Blue Justice from its case, I puzzled over
J-Rail humbuckers
premierguitar.com
review > rEVErEnD
1 21/32" nut width
Set-neck design
the simultaneous familiarity and oddity of

its design. Reverend admittedly dubs the
Justice their take on the classic J setup,
and there should be an emphasis on take
rather than copy. Ive played a Fender Jazz
since the late 70s, so I know its nuances
well. Like a J bass, the Justice bears a pair
of skinny pickups in the neck and bridge
positions. On closer look, these are not
the usual noise-prone single-coils, but
instead have a humbucking rail design and
are appropriately named J-Rails. Unlike a
J bass, youre free to blend the pickups to
any proportions without inducing hum
the neck or bridge can even be soloed
with confidence.
This emphasis on take carries over to
some other features. The body is certainly
a departure, both in its shape and slabcut top. The usual J-style design includes
a pickguard thats separate from a metal
control plate, but the Justice combines
everything on one plastic plate much
like a P-style axe. One of the attractions
of a J bass is the skinny nut width, usually
specd at 1 1/2". Instead, the Justice sports
the same nut width as the Thundergun at
1 21/32". And the Volume-Tone-Blend
Justice Rating:
Buy If...
you like a bass designed from
tradition yet with a take all its own.
Humbucking Split Brick neck pickup
and Thick Brick bridge pickup
Skip If...
you need a bright, aggressive bass,
both in looks and sound.
Reverend Guitars
Street $998
reverendguitars.com
CLICKHere
audio clips of the bass at
premierguitar.com
review > rEVErEnD
setup is yet another departure from a traditional J bass with its Volume-Volume-Tone
arrangement.
Some other design features help out in
the resonance category. The bridge (same as
the Thundergun) has a solid feel going well
beyond the customary bent plate of a J bass.
Locking saddles enhance the transmission
of energy from the strings to the body, and
stringing can go through the body or through
the back of the bridge for a somewhat different
attack and sound. On the flip side of the body,
the neck is attached with six screwsrather
than the usual four also enhancing the
instruments resonance.
Tone-wise, Reverend once again designed its
pickups to work with the characteristics of their
locations. They created a bridge pickup that
emphasizes highs and mids, and a neck position pickup that covers the lows and less of the
highs. In an instrumental blues rehearsal with
electric guitar and drums, I favored the sound
of the neck pickup with its warm and focused
tones. Even though the neck pickup didnt produce a lot of highs, its note definition made it
easy to hear in the mix.
thundergun Rating:
In all, the Justice might be a good choice
for a J bass player looking for something a little
differentboth sonically and visually. And
unless youre a J bass traditionalist, the added
benefit of humbucking pickups makes the
Justice all the more appealing.
the Verdict
Reverend has returned to the bass scene after
several years with some new designs that
build on bass guitar traditions, yet head in
new directions without blasting off to another
planet. Like their predecessors, these basses
bring a quality build with top-drawer components. While they are no longer made in the
US, they are set up in Michigan by Reverend
veteran Zach Green (look for the ZSG in
silver ink alongside the serial number on the
back of the headstock).
Although their appearance is based on
familiar designs, the sound is not. Be sure
to give a good listen to the Reverend youre
considering to make sure it meets your needs.
The pricing is just on the brinkhigher than
a typical import, but a little lower than basic
models built in the US.
Buy If...
youre after a dependable bass thats
eye-catching on stage and you like
some edge to your sound.
Skip If...
youre a traditionalist in both sound
and design.
Reverend Guitars
Street Thundergun $1098
reverendguitars.com
CLICKHere
audio clips of the bass at
premierguitar.com
NEW
Jeff Stinco & Sbastien Lefebvre of
SIMPLE PLAN
May 2011
Planet Studios - Montreal, Quebec
Canada's Simple Plan is known for their

classic punk energy and addictive pop
hooks. The band has been hard at work
working on their fourth studio album,
"Get Your Heart On!" which features
collaborations with Weezer's Rivers Cuomo,
Natasha Bedingfield, K'NAAN, and others.
To achieve an array of perfect tones for
their new album, guitarists Jeff and
Sbastien trusted T-Rex Effects.
Get Your Heart On!

In Stores Now
simpleplan.com
t-rex-effects.com
review > AnAcon tEchnoloGY
anacon technoloGy
ZaGRay!
By steve ouimette
nacon Technologys Aleksander

Niemand is a restless and very busy
man. When hes not tinkering in his workshop in Gothenburg, Sweden, hes chiming
in on amp discussion forums. But, by now,
most probably know him for the Zagray!
amp, which was unveiled in its prototype
stage at the 2010 New York Amp Show.
The Zagray! experienced a very public birth. The much-discussed 23-watt,
7591-powered head went through a variety
of well-documented circuit tweaks and redesigns before it was ready to ship. So when
the amp arrived, I already knew a lot about
the Zagray!s development and designer
enough to have me twitching at the chance
to check it out in my own studio.
scandinavian style
The Zagray! is a cool, unique marriage of
modern and industrial design, Art Deco
motifs, and a Scandinavian wood-andsteel aesthetic that looks like an antique
radio scrambled up in a future-bound time
machine. The chassis is built of powdercoated steel, a steel cage keeps the tubes
ventilated well, and rolling, wood handles
are handy, comfortable, and lend a touch
of country craft. If desired, it can be fitted
with optional flanges so it will fit into a
into a standard 19" 5U rack.
A peek through the steel cage reveals a
12AY7 and four 12AX7 preamp tubes, two
7591 power tubes (a favorite of Gibson
and Ampeg designers in the 60s) and two
toroidal transformers. The circuit is laid out

on two double-sided PCBs, and switches,
pots, and tubes are mounted to the chassis
and handwired to the board.
While oodles of amps returning to
minimalist designs of late, the Zagray!
bucks that trend by loading the amp with
more options than you can shake a stick
at. The control layout is both interesting
and unconventional as a result. But while
at first glance the ten knobs and four
switches look intimidating, theres a sound
logic behind it all. Next to the single
1/4" input theres a three-way mini toggle
labeled SC/90/HB for matching singlecoil, P-90, and humbuckers to the input.
Next up is a Bottom knob with a two-way
Dual 7591 power tubes
Pickup optimized
input switch
premierguitar.com
Midrange shaping section
Overdrive channel
review > AnAcon tEchnoloGY
mini toggle above for Trim/Bottom, then

Bass and Treble controls, and a Gain
knob. The real meat of what helps the
Zagray! stand apart, though, is the powerful midrange tone shaping section, which
rivals any amp Ive encountered.
A four-way Range control selects
between midrange points spaced half an
octave apart, and just above it is a Mid
knob used for boosting or cutting gain.
To the left of the Mid knob youll find an
Accent toggle, and to the right is a Midboost toggle. Together, the four controls
give players authority over just about every
midrange tweak a guitarist could imagine.
Volume controls are just right of the mid
section. Theres a Drive knob followed by
Crystal and finally Clean Vol (clean mode
volume) and Xod Vol (overdrive mode
volume). Knob type helps to differentiate
function. Tone-shaping knobs are black
chicken head-style and the volume-based
are larger, circular knobsa brilliantly simple design concept once you get used to it.
Around back, an FX loop with Send,
Level, and Mix controls can be used in
series or parallel. A toggle also offers 15 dB
of buffered gain on the return signal. And
speaker outputs can be switched for 16, 8,
or 4 operation.
mids machine!
While the Zagray! proved to be an amp
of stunning versatility over the course of
testing, it works beautifully in the simplest
settings, and loves nothing more than a
Stratocaster driving the amp in clean mode.
From squeaky-clean to spanky and edgy
and powerful, the Zagray! was a great blank
slate for the many voices of a Strat. For a
country session, setting the Stratocaster to
the bridge/middle pickup position had the
Zagray! quacking with authentic Blackface
tones. And the midrange controls gave me
so much flexibility that it literally felt as if

I was dialing in different amps throughout
the process. By pushing the clean output,
the tone got hairier and heavier, edging into
the territory covered by Roger Fisher on
Hearts Magic Man. I even dialed in some
of those elusive Jimmy Page, Presence-era
tones through manipulation of the midrange controls.
A 74 Les Paul Custom and a switch to
HB mode pushed the Zagray! harder into
mid-gain territory in clean mode. And
with the Drive up all the way, the tone was
muscular and tight, prompting thoughts of
Montroses Rock the Nation. Activating
the Mid Boost kicked the drive up another
notch, which also beckoned me to switch to
Xod mode. Its in this environment that the
Zagray! both surprises, and at least to my
ears, feels most at home. Its huge and powerful sounding, with an edgy confidence
that makes individual notes jump and command attention. There are really no lousy
tones to be found here. Whether I cut the
Mid Boost, switched the four-position Mid
control or backed down the Mids altogether, there wasnt a bunk sound in the batch.
A Hamer Korina with P-90s was a great
fit for Xod mode, toodelivering sort
of a Steve Marriot Humble Pie crunch
crossed with a Billy Gibbons Jesus Just
Left Chicago tone that barked with sweetness. Piling gain on top of high volume
in Xod mode made the tone edgy but
refined and controllable, and it was easy
to create beautiful harmonic feedback that
bloomed with raw complexity and significantly broadened my tone vocabulary. The
amps dynamic response is, well, dynamite,
and notes exploded off the pick with a
vengeance when I put a little aggression
behind my attack.
Easing back the Gain and pushing up
the Drive reveals tones that are biting yet
premierguitar.com
Rating:
Zagray! puts at your disposal all on its own.
The footswitchable FX/boost mode offers
15 dB of gain that can be used to kick solos
up a notch so they stand above the mix.
intense, and reinforces how much range is

available just through the use of these two
controls. Combining the two in both clean
and Xod modes gives you anything from
light-gain, blackface-like tones to overthe-top Marshall grind or thick, buttery,
Dumble-like notes.
The super-quiet FX loop offers multiple
options for blending in color. And the Mix
control is great for blending in FX that
dont already have mix controls on them,
which expands the versatility of your existing gear beyond the huge menu of tone the
the Verdict
Few amps Ive played over the past few
years offer the flexibility, performance, tone
shaping options and pure fun of the Zagray!
If I had to choose a single studio amp for
my work, this might be it. It works as comfortably with a 1x12 cab as it does with a
4x12. The power is just right for pushing
it into harder territory without blowing
your ears out, and its midrange capabilities
smoke just about every amp on the market. Whether your needs are country-clean
twang or hard, driving rock, youll find a
way to get it with the Zagray!
It was a sad day at the studio when
I packed up the Zagray! and sent it off
to the New York Amp Show. Its quite
simply a knockout thats sure to rise to
the top of a lot of wish lists. Its on mine
right now, and it hasnt even left the
building. Dang!
Buy If...
flexible, clean-to-mean ripping tones
with super-versatile midrange control
and bells and whistles to spare are
what you crave.
Skip If...
all you need is a volume and tone knob
anacon technology
Direct $2900
anacon-tech.com
CLICKHere
DESIGNED AND MANUFACTURED IN THE USA
www.tech21nyc.com
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review > pAul tromBEttA DEsiGn
paul tromBetta DesiGn
tORnIta!
Bias control for gating, smoothing, and clipping fuzz
By michael ross
outique manufacturer Paul Trombetta

came to the effects business via a pretty
traditional path. His pedals, though, are
anything but typical. At 16, he started wiring his own guitars and rehousing effects. By
2003, he was modifying Electro-Harmonix
Big Muffs and Pro Co Rats for friends, and
in 2005 birthed Paul Trombetta Design to
market pedal creations of his own.
Trombetta says his primary design motivation is to provide cutting-edge tonesin
pedals that are also capable of generating
more recognizable and universally useful
sounds. His Mini-Bone, for example, offers
fat, dynamic Fuzz Face-style drive, yet also
yields trumpet and trombone sounds, low
octaves, and can harmonize a fifth down.
All Trombettas pedals aretrue bypass,
handwired, point-to-point, with carefully
selected and matched components. And as
many as half the pedals he sells are ordered
with custom paint or engraving. Theyre real
works of art, from both an aesthetic and
musical perspective. So its little surprise
that Trombettas work drew the attention
of experimental guitarist and soundtrack
composer David Tornor that he and
Trombetta would conspire on a pedal to suit
Torns needs. The result is the Tornita!
torn and paid
Torn and Trombettas relationship dates to
2009 when Torn (David Bowie, k.d. lang,
John Legend, Tori Amos, Bill Bruford, Mick
Karn, David Sylvian, Meshell Ndegeocello,
Don Cherry) ordered a Mini-Bone from
Trombetta. Pleased with his purchase, Torn
had Trombetta send him one of the now-discontinued Donita pedalsa six-knob, highgain distortion that could produce self-oscillating feedback. Discussions ensued between
Torn and Trombetta concerning modifications
to the Donita designthings like latching
and momentary feedback buttons, and foot
adjustable feedback pitch control. The inclusion of these options and the layout of the
resulting stompbox created something that
was as much an instrument as a guitar pedal.
premierguitar.com
Phase
switch
Oversized Blend knob for improved foot control
Though Trombetta produces over 200

pedals a year, the appearance of our test
Tornita! retains a DIY aesthetic: The word
inlike all the pedals detailsis handcarved into the brushed metal casing to
indicate the whereabouts of the input, a
circle with a line across it (presumably representing negative tip) marks the adapter
input, and the big Blend knob looks like it
was pulled off a piece of gear from the 50s.
The controls include Volume and Bias,
as well as the oversized and unlabeled Blend
knob. The Bias control creates cool bitreduction effects and affects the way the
feedback reacts to both your playing and the
fuzz sustain. There is a 3-way, mini-toggle
Presence switch on the back, which has a
very subtle mid-boost effect. A mini-toggle
Feedback phase switch offers Up and Down
modes. Up emphasizes the upper frequencies
in feedback mode, while down favorsyou
guessed itthe lower ones. Either mode
has the potential to unleash auto arpeggiating patterns, low octaves, and droning. The
Momentary feedback footswitch enables you
to engage the feedback effect for as long as
you hold it down. The Latch mode holds and
sustains feedback so you can use your foot to
adjust the Blend knob for pitch changes and
other surprises. The Tornita! operates on a 9V
battery and standard 9V adapter.
chaos theory
I tested the Tornita! with a Fernandes Stratstyle and a Fender Stratocaster run through
an Egnater Rebel 30 and an Orange Tiny
Terror. I also recorded some samples by
running the Tornita! directly into Ableton
Live using Lives Amp and Speaker plug ins
to warm up the recorded tone.
With the Bias all the way up, the straight
fuzz sound of the Tornita! was fat, warm,
and reed-like, with plenty of sustain.
Backing off the Volume thinned and cleaned
up the sound significantly, creating a sharp
cutting tone that sliced through a mix.
Turning the Bias down transports you to
more experimental realms. A slight nudge
counterclockwise added a cool crackle to the
fuzz and shortened the sustain considerably.
Turning it almost totally down transformed
my guitars tone into an electronic blip.
Moving beyond the straight fuzz setting,
I entered a world of character-rich tones
that are definitely designed with the more
adventurous guitarist in mind. Stepping on
either the Latch or Momentary Feedback
switches gave me pitch shifts, random
arpeggios, and synth-style oscillator sweeps
that I could controland I use the term
looselywith my pickup selector switch,
guitar volume and tone knobs, and/or the
pedals Blend control. As I began to change
review > pAul tromBEttA DEsiGn
the relationship between the knobs and

switches, the tones started mutating thick
and fast, and I found dozens of really musical, if unorthodox sounds.
The one hitch may be in trying to recreate them. Getting the same tone twice
isnt always just a question of recalling
the position of each knob and switch.
And what felt like the same notes or licks
on the guitar would often yield different
effects each timeeven with identical settingsas the Tornita! picked up nuances
in attack and intensity.
It didnt take long to embrace the chaos,
and I had hours of fun exploring the different squeals and squawks emanating from
my axe. I found that with the guitar volume
full up it was possible to play lines over
the feedback, and that reducing the Bias
brought out more arpeggios.
The Tornita! is a blast for creating
unusual-sounding passages for recording
projects. And editing some parts yielded
inspirations for whole songs. For live applications, its worth taking the time to learn
which settings yield predictable, repeatable
results (changing the position of the 5-way

on the Strat, with the guitar volume all the
way up, was one of my favorites), but a big
part of the fun of the Tornita! is the surprise
factor for both you and your audienceif
youre willing to take a few chances.
the Verdict
Tornita! is not for everyone. If your music is
more experimental in nature, this pedal is a
must-have, but if you just want the straight
fuzz sound, you might opt for Trombettas
Fudge fuzz or any number of more traditional fuzzes instead. Should you want to
combine the far-out with the traditional,
Trombettas FeederBoneMachine offers a
version of Tornita! combined with a MiniBone in one pedal.
The effects world is rife with distortion
and fuzz pedals, making it hard to come
up with something new. Paul Trombetta
has not only come up with fresh noises, he
manages to make them sound great. The
Tornita! pushes the envelope of what a
distortion/fuzz can do and fuzz freaks and
outer-limits players alike should rejoice.
Rating:
Buy If...
you want thick, musical fuzz and
want to create strange effects with
guitar knobs or pickup switches.
Skip If...
you just want fuzz.
Paul trombetta
design
Street $229
paultrombetta.com
CLICKHere
audio clips of the pedal at
premierguitar.com
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review > fernandes guitars
Fernandes guitars
V-Hawk Deluxe
By Jordan Wagner
Neck-through-body construction
etals visibility among the wider

record-buying public ebbs and
flows. To many, it probably seemed like
metals torch was extinguished right
around the time that spandex sales bit the
dust. But the explosion in metals popularity in the last few years cant be denied
even if its no longer an MTV-fueled
phenomenon. And the hard-hitting tones
that are the signatures of thrash doom and
gloom drive not just a flourishing metal
underground, but a thriving segment of
the gear industry that serves the players
behind it. Fernandes is among the guitar
builders the new metal guard favors. And
the new V-Hawk Deluxe reviewed here is
built to give metal players aggressive tones,
fast playability, and radical styling in a
quality package that wont break the bank.
talons of tone
Although the Snow White-finished, allmahogany V-Hawk is so light that it makes
the neck feel a little heavy when worn with
a strap, the guitar feels amazing played sitting down in a quasi-classical positionfast,
legato-style runs were a breeze! Whether
youre sitting or standing, the neck-through
construction and 14"-radius ebony fretboard
feel fantastic, with a near-perfect setup and
a combination of mass and thin profiling
that begs for shredding. All 24 jumbo frets
are carefully dressed and highly polished,
and the ebony fretboard is encased in white
EMG 81
neck pickup
EMG 85
bridge pickup
binding. I couldnt find a single buzzy spot

on the neck, and the extended cutaway on
the lower bout of the neck gave me unhindered access to the guitars upper registers.
The body is home to two EMG humbuckersan 81 in the bridge position and
an 85 in the neckwhich suits the guitars
thrash-metal mission. Output is controlled
by Volume and Tone knobs, and a 3-way
selector. A tried-and-true Tune-o-maticstyle bridge and stopbar tailpiece round
out the hardware complement.
White Hawk Cries

As youd expect, the V-Hawk is a metal
machine first and foremost. And through
a Mesa/Boogie Multiwatt Dual Rectifier
and an Emperor 4x12 cab, it pounded out
incredibly mean and percussive rhythm
tones. The EMGswhich proved their
worth in the metal world ages agowere
smooth and balanced, with a tendency
toward scooped mids, a tight low end, and
a razor-sharp top end that sliced through
like an indomitable battle ax. Further, the
premierguitar.com
review > fernandes guitars
14"-radius fretboard
EMGs hi-fi efficiency and power enabled

the V-Hawk to retain high-end sting even
when using a long cable.
If youre looking for a metal weapon
that also has a warm, soft side, however,
the V-Hawk may not be your implement
of choice. Even when using very different
settings on the Mesa, the V-Hawk emphasized mids and treble frequencies, which
tended to sound a bit one-dimensional
when I tried to play more sensitive licks.
There wasnt much tonal give or sag to
extend the expressiveness of the instrument
beyond a tighter-than-a-drum onslaught
of overdrive. Granted, the V-Hawk isnt
designed for classic rock and jazz, but it
was difficult at times to exploit the natural
advantages of a neck-through-body design
in non-bludgeoning, take-no-prisoners
contexts. Though the acoustic resonance

of the body and neck made me think that
digging into string bends at the right gain
levels would produce a pleasing, overtonerich bloom, the pickups consistently
imparted the indelible sonic fingerprint
their known for. Even with the gain turned
down to moderate levels, the tone was
a little too flat to play more nuanced or
bluesy licks or melodies. Plugging into a
1981 Marshall JCM800 half-stack added
some detail to the midrange guts, yielding
a tone perfect for thrashy mayhem. But,
again, it was difficult to summon tones
well suited to subtlety. To be certain, this
guitar wants to go full bore!
the Verdict
For those who need to lead their metal
forces into battle on a budget, the
Fernandes V-Hawk Deluxe is an excellent
choiceparticularly given the top-notch
construction. The guitar is a straight-up
. . . the neck-through construction

and 14"-radius ebony fretboard feel
fantastic, with a near-perfect setup
and a combination of mass and thin
profiling that begs for shredding.
fire-breather, with a comfortable, wellcontoured neck thats one of the best Ive
seen in its price range if youre looking to
scorch eardrums. If your metal preferences
lean more toward late-70s and early-80s
metal in the fashion of, say, Judas Priest,
you might find the guitars tone a little too
modern and focused. But if you need the
tight, raging tones that define mid-80s to
mid-90s thrash, the V-Hawk Deluxe is a
superior choice.
Rating:
Buy If...
youre on a budget and need
an aggressive, modern-voiced
metal weapon.
Skip If...
you need to occasionally chill your
molten metal tones down to warm,
classic-metal levels.
Fernandes Guitars
Street $799
fernandesguitars.com
HEADOnline
video review of the guitar at
premierguitar.com
BEYOND
THE
EXPECTED
Elite Small Luthiers
Handcrafted Instruments
Personal Attention To
Every Order
Instruments That Stand
The Test Of Time
Randy Lutz
Owner
JET
Earlewood
Infinity Guitars
LsL
Saticoy
www.InfinityGuitars.com
Houston, TX
281-759-4040
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KENDRICK AMPLIFIERS
531 County Road 3300
Kempner, Texas 76539-5755
+1 (512) 932 3130
www.kendrick-amplifiers.com
2011 Kendrick Amplifiers, All Rights Reserved
premierguitar.com
review > empress effeCts
empress eFFects
MultIDRIVe
By steve ouimette
f youre a pedal-crazed tone chaser who

has a hard time making decisions (is there
any other kind?), Empress Effects might
have just made life a little less difficult for
you with the Multidrive. The Multidrive is
three pedals in onea fuzz, overdrive, and
distortion. Thats far from a revolutionary
concept. But with a parallelrather than
stackedcircuit, the Multidrive offers a
lot more flexibility than a stacked multipedal or even a set of stompboxes in series.
This all-analog device effectively produces
panoramic tone-shaping power thats more
akin to what youd get from simultaneously
running multiple amps. And the end result
is a stompbox thats significantly easier to
control and tailor to multiple needs.
driving under Control
Housed in a gray, die-cast aluminum box
thats bedecked with 10 knobs, five 3-way
toggles and two stomp switches, there is a
lot happening in a relatively small enclosure
(3.5" x 4.5" x 2"). The controls are separated into the three drive sections Fuzz,
Overdrive, and Distortionfollowed by a
master EQ and output section. The Fuzz,
Overdrive, and Distortion sections each use
the same three controlsVolume, Gain,
and a 3-way filter switch (Low Pass, None,
High Pass), as well as a corresponding LED
(fuzz is red, overdrive is yellow, and distortion is green). The Distortion section adds
another 3-way toggle for selecting between
Crunch/Mild/Lead distortion types. The
master EQ section has Hi, Mid, and Low
knobs that cut or boost a given frequency
by 10 dB. In addition, a super-useful toggle
determines which midrange frequency500
Hz, 250 Hz, or 2 kHzis the zero position
for the Mid control. At the bottom of the
pedal are stomp switches for Select and True
Bypass, as well as a blue LED.
Another very important control set lurks
behind the back panel. Six DIP switches
configure the Select switch presets and dictate which combination of distortion, fuzz
and overdrive are activated for a given state.
premierguitar.com
Switches 1-3 are dedicated to State and

switches 4-6 are assigned to State A.
triple play
Running the Multidrive into a 3rd Power
British Dream on the 68 Plexi channel and
with my Hamer Korina Special at the ready,
I set the pedal up to combine all three gain
channels at once. This allowed me to dial in
as much or as little (or none) of each channel, as well as fine tune the tone of each
channel individually.
I tackled the Fuzz mode first. With the
filter switch off and all settings at noon,
the Fuzz channel coughed up a thick, gainheavy, stoner-rock chunk. Maxing the gain
thickened the tone considerably and created
sustain that seemed virtually endless. Low
notes on the 6th string held up well, though
they werent necessarily as tight as you might
find on the Distortion channel. Engaging
the Low Pass filter darkened the tone considerablylike shaving the top off almost
completelythough you could effectively
dial some highs and mids back in via the
master EQ section. Switching on the High
Pass dropped out the bottom almost entirely
and made the fuzz sound like it was coming
through a telephonea great potential effect
setting for an intro or breakdown in a song.
High- and
low-pass
filters
for each
channel
The Overdrive section is perfect for pushing a Stratocaster to the edge and getting that
extra punch to cut through a track. This gain
channel is the most dynamic of the three. It
cleans up beautifully by rolling off the guitars
volume control, and its inspiring, spanky,
and expressive. In the highest gain settings it
has enough headroom to feel powerful, but
not over-saturated. Engaging the Low Pass filter and cranking the mids from 2 kHz I was
able to get a killer, Ty Tabor Gretchen Goes
To Kansas rhythm and lead tone.
With my Les Paul running through the
Distortion channel, I set the distortion type
to Lead and pulled down the mids (500 Hz)
to get a Montrose Rock Candy sound. And
with a few tweaks and a bit of treble, it wasnt
hard to get into modern metal territory, even
though the bass isnt voiced quite right for
super-aggressive modern chunking. Too much
bass made the sound a little on the tubby
side, but that could also be attributed to the
Celestion Alnico Gold in my signal chain,
which is not a metal speaker by any standard.
Switching to mild distortion shaved off a ton
of gain and sounded fairly tame in comparison. But my favorite setting had to be the
Crunch position. Diming the Gain control in
Crunch mode resulted in a little collapse of
the signal, but backing off this control ever so
slightly resulted in a smoking tone that was
the very definition of heavy-rock rhythm guitar. Malcolm Young would have been proud.
Combining the three channels is a
process of investigation that could occupy
many happy hours. Over the course of my
time with the Multidrive, I was able to
pull out convincing takes on classic tones
from Kansas Carry On Wayward Son to
Switch for
variable midfrequency in
master EQ
Master EQ
section
review > empress effeCts
Rating:
Soundgardens My Wave to Dire Straits
Money For Nothing. Having the Low
Pass/None/High Pass filter for each gain
channel is a super-effective way to carve
out a distinctive sonic space for each gain
section. For instance, I engaged the High
Pass filter on the Fuzz channel, left the
Overdrive channel set to None, and the
Distortion channel to Low Pass. The extent
to which the 3rd Power took on the expansiveness of a three-amp setup was remarkableeach pedal channel claimed its own
frequency spectrum without stepping on
the toes of another.
With the fuzz searing on top, I could
mix in just the right amount of bottomheavy distortion and blast the overdrive to
give body to the guitars basic voice. Even
though Ive used pedalboards with multiple
drive units extensively, the Multidrive made
balanced blends of mixed-gain tones easier
than ever, thanks to its filters alone. The
highly functional tone-shaping with the
master EQ section is icing on the cake.
My quibbles with the Multidrive are
very few. The
Output knob is situated
Strymon_Lex_PG.pdf
3/2/11
5:25:03
directly above the Bypass switch and given

the easy travel on the knobs, more than
once I bumped it, and either pushed up or
dropped my volume by quite a bit. It would
also be nice to see the DIP switches on the
exterior of the pedal, where they could be
accessed more easily, and a few extra preset
states would be nice.
the Verdict
To say Im impressed by the Multidrive
would be an understatement. Its a genuinely
fun pedal that will take your playing in many
directions. Given that it packs exceptional
versions of the three most popular gain
effects and myriad options for combining
them into such a small footprint, it has the
potential to be the only pedal a lot of gigging
guitarists will haul to a show. The dedicated
filters for each channel make tailoring them
to a multi-gain environment easy, and the
master EQ section is a handy tool for shaping the collective output. Powerful, smart,
and compact, the Multidrive will be a serious
contender for the number-one pedal on a lot
of boards in the years to come.
PM
Buy If...
you want Fuzz, Overdrive, and
Distortion in one pedal, as well as
the ability to combine or switch
between them.
Skip If...
amp overdrive is all you need or you
already have a channel-switching
monster of an amp.
empress effects
Street $299
empresseffects.com
CLICKHere
audio clips of the pedal at
CM
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Faithful, Meticulous Rotary Speaker Algorithms

Adjustable Fast and Slow Speeds, Acceleration,
Drive, Mic Distance, Cab Direction, Horn Level
Rotary Brake, Bi-Amping Stereo Out
Expression Pedal Input True Bypass
rotary
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premierguitar.com
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KMZ Humbucker Guitar Pickups.
The best wire, magnets, components
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Alnico II or Alnico V
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premierguitar.com
review > VOX
vox
tB35C2 BRuno
By charles sauFley
hen boutique designer Tony Bruno

built the Underground 30the amp
that went on to be his signature pieceit
was often lauded for successfully adding
something of an American accent to the
classic Vox tonality. The appeal of an amp
that can live with a foot on either side of
the Atlantic is obvious. Its also easier said
than done. But its an idea that must have
stewed in the brains of Bruno and the folks
at Vox alike, because now, 15 or so years

after the Underground 30 hit the streets,
we have the first products from an official
mind meld between these two amplifier
legendsthe 35-watt TB35C 1x12 combo
and the TB35C2 2x12 reviewed here.
For those expecting these latest Voxes to
be an Underground 30 lurking in diamond
grille-cloth clothing, the TB35C2 may be a
surprise. With four 6V6s, its unmistakably
American-voiced at its coreeven with

twin, 65-watt Celestion G12-65 12"
speakers. But just as Bruno found a way
to sprinkle a little California valve flavor
on his EL84-driven Underground 30, the
TB35C2 has more than a little Vox tone
on tapas well as a lot of very unique
and individual tones that make it a worthy
canvas for everyone from heavy blues-rock
dudes to jangle-pop songsmiths.
premierguitar.com
review > VOX
dark disguise
Youd be forgiven for assuming that the
TB35C2 is some kind of custom derivative of the AC30 line at first glance. The
dimensions are virtually identical, and the
control-panel location and top-mounted
handles all are vintage Vox design elements lifted from the companys most
famous design. But there are subtle differences, too: Its covered in vinyl thats
smoother than the cloth-like texture of
the classic AC30 covering, theres no strip
of gold just above the grille, and the grille
cloth itself is crises-crossed by diamonds
of silver thread rather than Voxs trademark green, red, and white thread. As a
whole, the amp has a more aggressive, getdown-to-business stancesort of a surly
James Bond to the AC30s more refined
John Steed.
Once you begin to navigate the Brunos
controls, you realize youre most certainly
not dealing with a classic AC30-style
circuit. Theres a simple array of six
chicken-head knobs for Master Volume,
Reverb, Bass, Middle, Treble, and Volume.
premierguitar.com
[The TB35C2] ranges between the big,

bluntedbut still overtone-richclout
of a Hiwatt or Neil Youngs tweed tones.
But there are also three switches that can
have enormous impact on your tone. The
first is a ultra-valuable master volume
bypass (labeled MV Bypass), which
greatly enhances the TB35C2s flexibility
and headroom. A very self-explanatory
and useful Bass Boost switch is located
between the Bass and Middle knobs.
And the more curiously named (but apt)
Macho switchwhich can also be activated with the included footswitchboosts
both gain and midrange to effectively
give the single-channel amp a separate
lead channel, albeit without the benefit of
completely different EQ settings.
The guts of the amp look impressively
streamlined and built for power, with
three 12AX7 preamp tubes, and a 12AT7

and 12AX7 dedicated to the springreverb unit.
Bossy in Black
For players accustomed to distinctly
Vox or Fender tones, the TB35C2 can
confound in the most pleasant way.
With tone controls at high noon, Master
Volume bypassed, and Volume at about
10 oclock, the Vox was an agreeable companion to all of my test guitarsa Fender
E Series Stratocaster, a Rickenbacker
330, and a humbucker-equipped Gibson
SG. At these relatively neutral settings, the
TB35C2 is more blackface Fender than
anything elseharmonically even, but a
review > VOX

Bass Boost toggle
Master-volume bypass switch
little bit spongy like a bigger, brawnier

Deluxe or even a tweed Bassman, but not
as bright as a Twin.
Dial up a little more mids and treble,
though, and the TB35C2 comes alive
with a brighter, more articulate top
end that sounded lovely with ringing
R.E.M.- and Smiths-style arpeggios and
Heartbreakers-flavored jangling on all
three guitars, as well as round-but-biting
single-note stabs from the SG. Kicking on
the Macho switch gave the same lead lines
from the SG an enormously dirty and
long-sustaining girth that you could drive
to the brink of very controllable feedback
with a bump of the amps volume. While
big and certainly very present, the Macho
feature doesnt facilitate a lead tone nearly
as cutting as, say, Paul Kossoff stabbing
at a Marshall or Jeff Beck hurling sonic
daggers from a top-boost AC30or a
Fender Twin, for that matter. Instead, it
ranges between the big, bluntedbut still
overtone-richclout of a Hiwatt or Neil
Youngs tweed tones. The Macho switch
also does a fine trick of retaining detail for
high-gain chordingpreserving the chiming characteristics of the Rickenbacker, as
well as the Stratocasters bridge pickup,
while adding an impressively muscular
growl that could drive a 70s-style power
trio. Further, whether the Macho function is on or off, the amp always retains a
remarkable touch sensitivity.
Given the TB35C2s impressive bass
presence, it struck me as odd at first that
Bruno included the Bass Boost switch. If
you play in a power trio or duo, it will
give you substantially more weight, but
it can be a bit woofy unless you dial in
Macho gain- and mid-boost switch
a fair bit of high and mid contentand

it can swallow a lot of harmonic content
from humbuckers. Still, its an impressive
sound that also sounds great with fuzz or
an overdrive geared for Tube Screamerstyle midrange, and it could set your bass
player free to explore some Jack Bruceflavored runs high up on the fretboard.
Rest assured, the TB35C2 has a place in
more civilized environments, too. Its very
sensitive to volume adjustments on your
guitar, and it can be dialed back into zones
where the amp retains its full and impressive harmonic spectrum without taking on
a bullying presence in a band mix. Roll
back your guitar volume, and it remains
chiming and rich, again, provided youve
dialed up enough mid and high end. And
the Master Volume is effective for scaling
back the amps burlier characteristics
even though you do sacrifice a little of the
clarity you get in bypass mode.
with pronounced midrange. Those hoping

for a Vox-branded Underground 30 will
be better served opting for a Top Boost
AC30 or one of Brunos own amps, but
if youre interested in covering a lot of
stylistic ground with a single amp that
retains a distinct character and color, this
impressive collaboration will make a solid
cornerstone for your sound.
the Verdict
Versatile, beautifully designed, and relatively affordable, the Vox TB35C2 is an
intriguing intertwining of the Bruno and
Vox tone and design philosophies. The
fundamentally American voice of Brunos
6V6 circuit is rangy enough to flirt with
very Vox-like performance, but it also has
a personality all its owninhabiting a
kind of ideal tone zone where the rounded
edges and give of a Bassman live alongside
the sharp clarity and grit of an AC30.
There are lots of in-between-and-beyond
tones at your fingertips, depending on
your pick attack and how aggressively you
dial up the mid and highs. And it loves
pedals too, especially fuzzes and boxes
Vox amplification
Rating:
Buy If...
youre after a 6V6-powered, do-itall tube combo with a foot on the
British Isles.
Skip If...
you believe anything other than EL84s
in a Vox amounts to blasphemy.
Street $1399
voxamps.com
CLICKHere
premierguitar.com
new products
ere constantly hearing about manufacturers latest gear unveilingsstuff thats so new we havent personally laid eyes or
hands on it yet. Were as excited as you when manufacturers tell us about new toys coming down the pike (hellowere
Premier Guitar, after all!), so we figure the least we can do is pass the news along. Check back every month to get the scoop, and who
knowsmaybe well end up reviewing the stuff youre stoked about when its available.
J naylor LLC axe Balancer
Keeps neck in playing position with a tiny tungsten steel block
mounted to the body under strap button
Because block is mounted directly to body at the farthest possible
point from the headstock, it acts as an effective counterweight
Block is only 7 ouncesbarely visible when strap is on
For any guitar or bass, acoustic or electric
Street $39.99
neckheavy.com
schecter guitars
Hellraiser solo e/a
Mahogany body with a quilted maple
top, a 3-piece mahogany set neck with
24 jumbo frets on a rosewood fretboard
Accurate acoustic emulation via the
Fishman TuneOMatic Powerbridge
pickup and Powerchip preamp
Solid center block prevents feedback
from the EMG 81/89 active pickups
in highgain settings.
MSRP $1399
schecterguitars.com
go go tuners tt-1 tuner

Bright, easy-to-read LED screen
Green youre in and Red youre out
360-degree swivel for multiple
positions and easy visibility
5 settings: Chromatic, Guitar, Bass,
Violin, and Viola
Calibrates for alternate tunings
Street $29.99
gogotuners.net
KW Cabs artistic Creations Line

Poplar ST-2v design with exotic stain jobs
and interesting grille cloths
Ported design for huge sound and deeper
bass response
Partially removable back for open- or
closed-back tones
4 & 16 mono, 8 stereo, 8 single
speaker mono, and an extension output to
connect another cabinet
Loaded with standard speakersCelestion
Vintage 30 or Jensen Electric Lightningwith
optional wood and speaker upgrades available
Street $899
kwcabs.com
moog music mf-108m Cluster flux

analog fX processor
MIDI IN allows control of Delay Time, Range, Feedback, Output
Output
Level, LFO Waveform, LFO Rate, LFO Amount and Mix
LFO waveforms: Sine, Triangle, Square, Saw, Ramp, and Random
Random
Sync LFO modulation effects to MIDI Clock or Tap Tempo
Tempo
Send/Return Insert for external processing of BBD signals
MSRP $599
moogmusic.com
premierguitar.com
new products
radial engineering
tankdriver
enables
500 series module that enables
the user to use the spring
reverb in a guitar amplifier
and bring this unique effect
into a recording system
Designed to fit both the
Radial Workhorse and older
API-type racks
Features a wet/dry mix to
balance the signal and shimmer and boom controls to
add top-end or extra boom
to the tone
The Drive switch increases
the output to compensate for
older, less sensitive reverbs
For those equipped with a
Workhorse, the Omniport
adds a TRS insert point for
easy interfacing to a patchbay
List $300
radialeng.com
gretsch g6120de duane eddy signature

Hollowbody guitar
Bound single-cutaway hollowbody with a three-ply maple back,
sides and arched top
Outfitted with trestle bracing and bound oversized f-holes
Three-piece bound maple neck has a brass nut, lacquer finish and
slim profile based on Eddys original 57 G6120
12"-radius rosewood fretboard with 22 medium frets and hump12"-radius
block pearloid inlays
Dual DynaSonic single-coil pickups with 3-position switching
Dual
Modern Tru-Arc bridge and Bigsby B6CBDE vibrato tailpiece
Modern
with Duane Eddy-style DE handle
MSRP $4300
gretschguitars.com
towner usa Vibrato retrofit Kit

towner
Converts any guitar with a stop tailpiece to
Converts any guitar with a stop tailpiece to
use a B3, B30, or B60 Bigsby vibrato bar
Retrofit
require drilling holes
Retrofit kit doesnt require drilling holes
into guitars body during installation
Variable
tensions per the height
Variable string tensions per the height
adjustment of the studs
Street $40
townerusa.com
mXr noise Clamp

your
Eliminates hiss and excess noise from your
effects chain
threshold
Single Trigger knob sets the volume threshold
Capable of reducing noise up to 26 dB
gain levels
Maintains riff definition at extreme gain levels
Street $79.95
jimdunlop.com
sKB 1sKB-fn-8 footnote

amp designed by legendary amp designer Gary Sunda
Features a built-in 5W combo amp designed by legendary amp designer Gary Sunda
Built with a 6" Eminence speaker
access to the rear pedals
Boasts a 9"x12" mounting surface which is sloped for easier access to the rear pedals
cables
Powers up to eight 9V DC battery powered pedals with the supplied power cables
1/8" AUX/MP3 stereo line input for external audio playback and Headphone Output
for monitoring or silent practice and a Line Out that is ideal for live or recording use
Incorporates the same cable tester found on the SKB-PS-55 StageFive Professional pedalboard
Street $179.99
skbcases.com
premierguitar.com
b.y.o.c.
Wou
ld
you
like
me t
o tun
e
your
Paul
, De
ar? O
r do
you
feel
like
play
ing
the Te
le
Tonigh
t?
www.buildyourownclone.com
DIY Effects For Guitarists
2011 BYOC, llc
Photo by:Sloane Koller
Gear search Gallery
1983 alembic spoiler

By seth hansen
n 1973, after about four years of

successful experimentation with lowimpedance pickups, active electronics, and
custom instrument design, Ron and Susan
Wickersham launched Alembics standard
line of high-end instruments. Thanks in
part to a rather large hole in the highend bass market, and some star bassistsReturn to Forevers Stanley Clarke
and Jefferson Airplanes Jack Casady
purchasing their instruments, Alembic
quickly became known for their incredibly
versatile and unique basses. Sporting high
quality woods, neck-through bodies, brass
hardware, silent single-coil-style pickups,
and active electronics, the handmade
instruments were comparatively quite
expensive to other products at the time.
Demand was high for the Series I and
II instruments, but their coststarting
around $5000was slightly prohibitive
for many players at the time.
The Spoiler bass, like the one featured
here, was one of the many instruments
released throughout the 80s to shave off
the price of Alembics top models. Still a
high-end bass in its own right with little
change in the build process, the Spoilers,
initially released in 1981, featured simplified electronicsa four-way pickup selector, master volume and master tone/filter,
and a mini-toggle to activate the active
low-pass filter. Sporting a very common
32" scale length and ebony fingerboard,
this Spoiler shows a mahogany top with a
decent amount of finish wear in the right
hand playing position, but is otherwise in
great shape.
Thanks to Chuck Riley at Rumble Seat
Music for listing this bass on Gear Search.
Whether youre looking for a vintage
piece or the latest on the market, theres a
great chance youll find it at Gear Search.
More than 47,000 pieces of gear are
listed, including some of the rarest gear in
the world.
Click here to find your

dream instrument!
premierguitar.com
Great Gear Giveaways from

Enter for your chance to
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Ribbecke Guitar Co. Halfling

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Read full giveaway rules on PremierGuitar.com.
Guitar of the month
1958 fender
precision Bass
By chris Kies
uitarists would revere Leo Fender

the world if hed only designed the
Stratocaster and Telecaster. But you could
make the case that popular music fans over
the last 60 years are as much indebted to
Leo for the Precision Bass. The P Bass is
the seminal electric solidbody bass, even
if companies like Rickenbacker has flirted
with the idea before Fender. Leo built the
first prototype in 1950 and full production started a year later. The genius in Leos
design is evident not only in the P Bass longevity, but in the wide spectrum of players
that have carved new musical paths with the
P Bass as a foundationMotown Records
James Jamerson, Carol Kaye, Black Sabbaths
Geezer Butler, U2s Adam Clayton, The
Whos John Entwistle, Queens John Deacon,
Steely Dans Walter Becker, Flea, The Cures
Simon Gallup, Dee Dee Ramone, and Roger
Waters, to name just a few.
This particular 1958 P Bass is 100 percent original and is said to have been used
onstage with Boxcar Willies band and by
rockabilly legend Eddie Cochrans bassist
Connie Guybo Smith [see inset photo].
1958 was a year of transition for the P
Bass. And many features and appointments were only seen together for one year
because of the many alterations the P-bass
saw between 57 and59. The contoured,
second generation body has a two-tone
sunburst finish that was discontinued in
May 1958, while its one-piece maple neck
and fingerboard was replaced in mid 1959
by a maple neck and rosewood fretboard
combination. This instrument also sports
the gold, anodized aluminum pickguard
of mid 57 to late 59 and the P Bass
signature split-coil pickupa humbucking design thats connected in series but
magnetically inverted (N/S-S/N)though
in this case it uses raised-A pole pieces that
were discontinued and made flush in 1959
production models.
A special thanks to Greg Mayo of Gregs
Guitars in Atlanta, GA, for the opportunity to
feature this fine instrument and its story.
Have an axe that would make a great guitar of

the month? then email pics and your instruments
story to us at gotm@premierguitar.com.
premierguitar.com
black cat od-1

black cat mini trem
Dual function
Tremolo/Clean Boost
The famous
Freddie Fuzz
black cat bee buZZ
Rip Roaring Fuzz/Boost

based on the Bee Baa
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black cat super fuZZ

Modernized version
of the Univox classic
black cat bass octaVe fuZZ

Based on the Maestro
Bass Brassmaster
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Fuzz Face in one box
boutique Guitar effects since 1993
made in tHe usa
203.764.2644
2/15/11 9:47 PM
modern builder vault
drew & sebastian guitars

By liana prudencio
ptions, options, and more options.

Graham Drew, master luthier at Drew &
Sebastian Guitars in Virginia, says his company
offers various options for every detail on their
instruments, all the way down to how the pickups are wound. I think its our level of boutique
that really sets our guitars apartmost certainly
when people play and hear them, says Drew.
Trained as a carpenter in the UK, Drew came
to the US in 1999 and repaired guitars as a hobby
while playing in a full-time band. He learned
a lot about his craft from British luthier Bernie
Goodfellow while he was home visiting for a few
months in 2000. Three years ago, shortly after
opening Jade Guitarshis own guitar repair shop
in Virginia that is also the sole distributor of D&S
Guitars in the USDrew entered the custom guitar market after speaking with numerous customers and other musicians in the area.
He began by offering building services and
specializing in solidbodies inspired by the classics.
Drew has found that, while customers do request
a variety of custom features, most want to maintain the look of a traditional guitar. Guitarists
are a pretty conservative bunch, says Drew. And
speaking as a guitarist, Ill put my hand up and
say Im totally the same way. [Laughs.]
That hasnt kept Drew from toying around
with ideas like unconventional woods and configurations. For instance, hes currently building
a thinline Tele-style guitar with a neck made of
solid wenge. And his Avenger model looks like
a cross between a Fender Jaguar and Jazzmaster
but has the pickup and hardware configuration
of a Tele. Those are the kind of ideas that Ive
got, says Drew. I want to do something thats
familiar but different.
Drew & Sebastian Guitars offer vintage-style
hardware, like Kluson tuners, and more contemporary machines such as Grover, Gotoh, Schaller,
and Sperzel. The standard pickup options are
handbuilt by UK-based Wizard Pickups for each
guitar. Drew calls the guys at Wizard and they
determine how each set will be wound and produced using several criteriafrom the woods and
shape of the guitar to the customers playing style.
Standard specs on Drew & Sebastian guitars
are a 25 1/2" scale, 22 frets, and 9.5" fretboard
radius. Basses have a standard 34" scale, 20 frets,
and 9.5" fretboard radius. However, customers can always request alternative specifications,
electronics, and hardware.
eurOpa
The most popular D&S model is the Europa, a Tele-style guitar thats available
in Standard, Deluxe, or Special pickup
configurations. The Standard option
has two single-coils, the Deluxe option
features two humbuckers, and the Special option has three single-coils. Standard wood choices for the body are
alder or ash. The Europa has a maple
neck with either a maple, rosewood, or
pau ferro fretboard, and is also available
in a semi-hollow thinline version.
aVatar
The Strat-style Avatar model comes in
Standard and Deluxe configurations.
The standard woods are the same as
the Europa, and other standard options
include a Callaham Vintage S tremolo
and TweedTone, Texas, or Triple Cream
pickups from Wizard. The Avatar in the
photo was a tribute to Ritchie Blackmore
and features a swamp-ash body, 21
frets, and a Callaham Vintage S bridge.
premierguitar.com
modern builder vault
firenza
sWingmaster Bass
The Swingmaster sports a Jazz-bassstyle look with an alder or ash body, and
a maple neck with a maple or rosewood
fretboard. Customers have the choice
of Gotoh, Hipshot, or Badass II bridges.
The Swingmaster featured here has a
solid alder body finished in Torino Red
and a maple neck with a rosewood
fretboard. Drew also recently built two
semi-hollowbody Swingmasters (with
f-holes) that weigh around 6 pounds.
aVenger
This model got inspiration from the
Jazzmaster, Jaguar, and Telecaster.
With the same standard wood options
as the Europa and Avatar, the Avenger
is also available with a Jazzmaster-style
floating tremolo or a Jaguar-style 24"
scale. This Avenger has Velvet Alnico II
Wizard pickups and a Joe Barden compensated, vintage-style bridge.
The Firenza is Drews own creation and

was inspired by many classic guitars
including the Jaguar, Mustang, Tele,
SG, and Strat. With this model, Drews
goal was to incorporate elements from
as many guitars as possible into a
single instrument. Fittingly, the Firenza
is available with many different wood,
hardware, and pickup options. Additionally, it is available with a single- or
double-cutaway body.
drewandsebastian.com
priCing and aVaiLaBiLity

The starting price for most Drew & Sebastian guitars is $1650, and it goes up from there depending on the finish, woods, and other options. The
guitars featured here normally range from $1800 to $2200, with the pictured Swingmaster bass being $1750, and the Europa model being $1950.
At press time, 12 weeks was the average turnaround time for a D&S guitar. Visitors to the companys website can check out the For Sale section to view guitars currently available, or the Work In Progress section to see guitars that will be for sale soon.
premierguitar.com
Like JamHub on Facebook

cuz were giving away one
BedRoom model a month
NEXT MONTH IN
Photo by Sam Charupakorn

Play in one of the best sounding rehearsal spaces money can buy.
Every month in 2011 we will be giving away a JamHub BedRoom to some
lucky musician. All you need to do to enter is "Like" JamHub on Facebook
and comment on our wall. JamHubs give you the ability to play more, with
studio-quality acoustics and with great clarity and control.
Parents can't hear it, neighbors can't hear it, cops can't hear it and
you won't believe what the band hears.
matt sCHOfieLd
We sit down and talk with UK-based blues-rock sensation
Matt Schofield about the challenges of writing, recording,
and performing both the vocal and guitar work from his new
album, Anything But Time, as well as the gear he relies on
both on the road and in the studioincluding his trusty 1961
Strat, SVL guitars, and Two-Rock Custom Reverb amps.
the silent rehearsal studio
mOntreaL guitar sHOW

If youre into boutique guitars, theres no show thats
more amazing or prestigious than this invitation-only gettogether that takes place every Fourth of July. Well take
you there with words, pics, and online videos of the faceslappingly awesome guitars and their luthiers.
def Leppard
If youre a fan of the 80s hair-rock juggernaut, then you
already know they recently released their first-ever live
album. So we had to sit down with guitarists Phil Collen
and Vivian Campbell to get the scoop on how they did it
and whats next for them.
VieuX farKa tOur
Vieux Farka Tour, son of legendary Malian guitarist Ali
Farka Tour, just released The Secretone of the freshestsounding new guitar albums of the yearand it features
guests such as John Scofield, Dave Matthews, and Derek
Trucks. We talk to him about what went into the album
and what drives his unique take on the 6-string.
reVieWs, reVieWs, reVieWs
Gear investigations this month include the Kendrick
V-Front 212, Richmond Empire, Vigier G.V., Breedlove
Focus SE, Carvin V3M, Jack Deville Mod Zero, Ampeg
PF-350, Yamaha BB 1024VW, Crimsontone SE Mini, and
Electro-Harmonix Stereo Talking Machine.
be sure to read our

completely free digital edition at:
digital.premierguitar.com
premierguitar.com
ENTER FOR YOUR CHANCE TO
WIN AN EIGHT-PEDAL LINEUP

FROM
Enter on
Read full giveaway rules on PremierGuitar.com.
.com
ThIS
DOG
BITES
Red Dog
Overdrive
SEE THE VIDEO AT WWW.ROCKBOX.COM 408-279-9400
premierguitar.com
GREAT GEAR GIVEAWAYS ON
.com
Ribbecke Guitar Co. HalflingTM

& Retro Channel RR1
NEW GODIN MULTIAC ENCORE NYLON
Prize Value: $995
Boulder Creek Guitars ECR4-NS

Prize Value: $1,099
Wiring kits for Stratocaster. Fully solderless. Get Wired.

www.toneshapers.com
772-770-1919
To enter our gear giveaways by mail, legibly hand-print your first and last name,
address, age, and day and evening phone numbers on a 3x 5 card and mail to:
Sweepstakes
Gearhead Communications, LLC
Three Research Center
Marion, IA 52302
premierguitar.com
Tone comes in many colors.

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Delay
Fuzz
Tremolo
Overdrive
Fuzz
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Boost
More information at:
Lotus Pedal Designs
lotuspedaldesigns.com
Quality hand built effects pedals. Every Lotus pedal is point to point wired to give you
that vintage sound but uses the highest quality components.
Surf with the Squid today.
premierguitar.com
Compulator Pro
Grosh Guitars
Bring your ideas to Life.

Do you have a concept for a one-off custom build? Our experienced custom
build staff are players and collectors just like you. We specialize in: Gibson
Custom Shop, Fender Custom Shop, Martin Custom Shop, Taylor BTO,
New Orleans Guitar Co, Grosh Guitars and Batson Guitars. Call us or visit
us online today at www.napervillemusic.com/pg for a free consultation and
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The Compulator, compressor of choice for Ry Cooder, Eric

Clapton, David Gilmour, Pete Townshend is available in a
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Red Bear Trading Company

The worlds leader
in fine hand crafted
Guitar Picks.
THE closest to Real
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Big Jazzer, Gypsy Jazz
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last call
the rules of improvisation By John Bohlinger
n her book Bossy Pants, Tina

Fey discusses how her time
with Second CityChicagos
legendary sketch comedy theater
groupmade her the incredibly successful, confident, sexy
ruler of modern media she has
become. In her words: Studying
improv literally changed my life.
Fey dedicates a large section
of her book to the Rules of
Improvisation, which became
her personal precept and influenced her destiny by guiding
most of her decisions. As I read
the Rules of Improvisation, I
kept thinking, This is how the
best musicians approach their
art. Long direct quotes remain
the lazy writers best friend, so
here are some italicized goodies extracted from Feys book,
served up with light commentary by your humble scribe.
The first rule of improvisation is AGREE. Always agree
and SAY YES. When you are
improvising, this means you
are required to agree with
whatever your partner has created. If I say, Freeze, I have
a gun, and you say, Thats
not a gun, thats your finger,
our scene has ground to a
halt. Start with a YES and see
where that will take you.
Have you ever tried to make
music with a naysayer? Its about
as much fun as a root canal.
Start a slow blues groove and
Donnie Downer says something like, Can we please play
something with some changes?
Negative statements like that are
the verbal equivalent of a turd
in the punch bowlthey kill
the party. You cant really create
music when someone makes you
doubt your ability or direction.
The best music starts with a
yes, because this gives license
to the creators to chase their
muse. Bands usually break up
over direction, which is a nice
way of saying there is a lot of

no going around the rehearsal
hall. Yoko was probably not a
yes kind of girl when she was
destroying the Beatles. Just look
at those candid Let It Be video
clips, as she sits nearly on top of
John, glaring with disapproval
at Paul, George, and loveable
Ringo. Check out the Beatles
earlier candid videos or audio
outtakes, and you hear four best
friends encouraging each other.
The second rule of improvisation is not only to say yes, but
to say YES, AND. You are
supposed to agree and then
add something of your own.
If I start a scene with, I cant
believe its so hot in here, and
you just say Yeah, were kind
of at a stand still. [But if] you
say, What did you expect?
Were in hell. Or I told you
we shouldnt have crawled
into this dogs mouth, now
were getting somewhere.
Yes, and means you are contributing. Getting back to our
jam scenario, if I start a slow
blues and the other players leave
the stage to get a drink, begin
texting on their phones, or just
ignore the jam, we are done. But
if the drummer comes in with
a funky, Chitlin Circuit-type
groove, and the bass player starts
going all Billy Cox, then we have
at least 10 minutes of good times
with those three simple chords.
The Next Rule is MAKE
STATEMENTS. Whatever
the problem, be part of
the solution. Dont just sit
around raising questions and
pointing out obstacles. Weve
all worked with that person.
That person is a drag.
Most of us had bands when
we were teenagers, but rarely
keep bands going as we age.
Thats because naive teens with
ridiculous haircuts, limited ability, and crap gear make statements and go with them rather
than weigh the costs and point
out obstacles. Teens say things
like, Lets combine bluegrass
with classic Zep bass lines and
Brazilian drums. The rest of
the band responds, Great idea,
lets make a record. Will it
succeed? If success means having a good time while creating
something, then yes, this will be
a wildly successful project.
When approached with the
same enthusiastic fools errand,
older players respond with
something like, Brazilian drums
are so yesterday. That market is
already oversaturated. Besides,
we will never get the budget
together for a decent recording. Then everyone slumps
home to watch TV and nothing
is accomplished. Granted, the
GrassZepBrazil thing may sound
like a mistake, but this brings us
to Feys best rule:
THERE ARE NO
MISTAKES, only opportunities. Many of the worlds greatest discoveries have been by
accident. I mean, look at Reeses
Peanut Butter Cups or Botox.
Some of the most creative and
satisfying work stems from
what may at first sound like a
terrible idea or a full-on mistake. I recently did a track with
hick-hop star Cowboy Troy.
My cowriter, Dave Goodwin,
wanted to add harmonica to
the song, but he did not have a
harp in the right key for straight
or cross harp. I concealed my
skepticism, stayed true to Feys
agree rule, and let the man do
his thing. Goodwin ended up
playing the coolest, weirdest
part that far surpassed any trite
blues-harp solo I could have
played. It brought the song to
a much more exciting place,
because we took Feys advice to
Tina Feys Bossy Pants

offers invaluable tips for
improvising guitarists.
Start with a YES and see where

that takes you.
Fey explains that, if youre
performing with somebody, it
is your responsibility to make
your partner look goodand
thatll make you look good in
the process. Naysayers take a
perverse glee in pointing out
what they perceive as others
mistakes. This accomplishes
nothing. Yes people merrily
take over the world, while the
naysayers cynically watch from
a distance and bitterly mutter,
That band sucks. I know this
for a fact, because I use to play
with them. Im sooo much better than those idiots.
Fey doesnt exaggerate when
she says these rules changed her
life. People who say yes, agree,
make others look good, contribute, and find opportunities in
mistakes just seem to be happier
and more fulfilled. Lifes a stage
now get out there and play.
John bohlinGer
is a Nashville multi-instrumentalist best known for

his work in television. He
has been the bandleader
for the 2009, 2010, and
2011 CMT Music Awards,
all six seasons of NBCs hit program
Nashville Star, and on many specials for
GAC, PBS, CMT, USA, and HDTV. His
compositions and playing can be heard on
major-label albums, motion pictures, over
100 television spots, and even Muzak. Visit
him at youtube.com/user/johnbohlinger or
facebook.com/johnbohlinger.
premierguitar.com
12AX7
EL84
V3M
The V3M was awarded Gear Gurus Best of NAMM 2011

Best Overall Product because of its 19Lb compact size,
features and it nails Country, Blues, Jazz and Metal
tones. Its powerful 50 watts easily drives a 4-12 half
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3 channels
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50w, 22w, 7w - switchable
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Each channel incorporates its own character drive

switch, Bright to Soak on the clean channel and
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Lush Reverb, Effects Loop and Variable Boost are features
not found in other micro amps. Never before has there
been so many choices of tone in an amp this compact.
Order factory direct and try the V3M on Carvins 10-day
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V3MB 4U RACKMOUNT
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PRS Guitars presents
The
m e et a n d g r e et
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6 shows
Meet Carlos Santana
prs exclusive - enter for your
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Purchase any
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without making
a purchase, follow the instructions provided
at the bottom
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Purchase any
Maryland made
PRS amplifier
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meet Warren
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making a purchase, follow
the instructions
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Purchase any
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patch cable
and be entered
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to meet Davy
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enter without
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provided at the
b o t t o m of
this ad.
NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Open to legal U.S. residents currently residing in the 50 United States and D.C. who are at least the age of majority in their jurisdiction of residence as of June 20, 2011. Void where prohibited. Begins June 15, 2011 and ends August 31, 2011. To Enter:
Purchase new any one of the following products from an authorized PRS dealer: PRS Private Stock instrument, Maryland-made PRS electric guitar, Maryland-made PRS acoustic guitar, Maryland-made PRS Amplifier, PRS SE electric guitar, or PRS instrument, speaker, or patch
cable. On a 3x5 index card, write your name, mailing address (P.O. boxes not permitted), phone number and/or email address, and mail a copy of your receipt with the index card containing the complete information to: PRS Guitars, Attn: PRS Ultimate Meet and Greet, 380
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Limit one entry per person per day during the Promotion Period. Limit one prize per person per household. For complete prize details and Official Rules, please visit www.prsguitars.com/meetandgreet. Sponsor: PRS Guitars, 380 Log Canoe Circle, Stevensville, MD 21666.
Purchase any
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sponsored by Prs Guitars

Contemporary-country superstar Keith Urban reflects

Besides playing on so many sessions and hits that they called

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Guitars often help their

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Fusion legend Stanley Clarke talks about

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last chance to reason

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TABLE OF COnTEnTS > FEATURES & REVIEWS

Last Chance to Reason

Maine-based mathcore brainiacs Last Chance to Reason meld

144 Keith Urban

Fusion legend Stanley Clarke talks about his double-bass roots,

100 2011 NY Amp Show

111 Forgotten Heroes:

122 Builder Profile:

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TABLE OF COnTEnTS > LESSONS & DEPARTMENTS

Gigging & Recording >

PG editors and Guest Picker Tommy

192 New Products

Rhythm & Grooves

Emmanuel talk about their dream band

By Paul TFO Allen

200 Modern Builder Vault

Tech Tips >

The Dark Side