Time to get your jug band on.  Saint Blues Guitar Workshop announced today the launch of the Woogie Board, the first production electric washboard in partnership with Cody Dickinson of the North Mississippi Allstars.   Cody is the son of legendary producer, Jim Dickinson, who worked with artists such as the Rolling Stones, the Replacements, and Bob Dylan.  Although it was his father’s love of roots, blues, and folk music that introduced Cody to the washboard, electrifying it and marrying with traditional guitar effects, was all Cody.

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Here’s a cool idea to help beginner guitarists learn their scales - put a magnetic strip along the top of the neck that shows the player where to put their hands to start playing a particular scale.  “My products are meant to be utilized alone or in conjunction with music theory and any educational tools available to stimulate the individual’s creativity that music offers,” says creator Jason Ellestad.

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John Prine is a national treasure.  He usually turns pretty straightforward and classic fingerstyle chord playing (think variations on G, C, F & D) into beautiful guitar tunes played alongside humorous or poignant lyrics.  While never a top-selling artist, Prine has enjoyed consistent success over the course of his 40 year career and he continues to tour.  He killed it in a concert in San Francisco in 2009.  Bob Dylan even named John Prine as one of his favorite songwriters.

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Orange is announcing new additions to the popular Rockerverb series of amps called the Rockerverb II.  The new Rockerverb II builds upon the original Rockerverb by adding enhancements to the reverb, F/X loop and controls.  They’ve also added EL34 valves to a 50-watt combo version of the amp.

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Epiphone is holding a giveaway for the relatively new acoustic-electric guitar called the Epiphone SST Studio.  The SST Studio has a solid mahogany body that has been chambered with sound cavities, that when amplified by an under-saddle pickup, produce an acoustic tone that’s feed-back free.

The Epiphone SST Studio has a street price for about $350.00 USD but everyone likes something for free.

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We covered TourSavant back in December but to refresh your memory it’s a “Virtual Road Manager” that helps you and your band plan a tour.  TourSavant has over 16,000 venues in it’s database and is integrated with Google Maps to help your build a roadmap.  The good folks at TourSavant are offering a free 90-day trial of the service.  If you haven’t signed up, now’s a good time to give it a try and see what you think.

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We stumbled upon an interesting article from USA Today that gives an overview of some Fender’s digital strategy.  The No. 1 guitar manufacturer is embracing the Rock Band phenomenon (we noticed this trend in 2008) by trying to bridge the gap between the casual gamer and the beginner guitarist.  The article is also interesting in that in gives some industry-wide figures on sales for last year.

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Tuned in Fretbase reader Matt sent us this video.  It features John Petrucci walking through what is probably the most amazing set of guitars and gear we’ve ever seen in our lives.  Seriously.  This guy’s rig is amazing.  You’ll have to check out the video to see what I’m talking about.

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We wrote earlier this month about the rumor that Recording King would be partnering with Eric Schoenberg on some new acoustics - and it turns out our source was in the know.  This week Recording King announced the release of the Recording King RP1-626 and the Recording King RP2-626 - a single 0 parlor size cutaway and a 00-size with a cutaway body respectively.  Both guitars are intended to provide players with an even frequency response, clarity and a winder neck with a cutaway providing good access to the upper frets.

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AXL (pronounced A.X.L.) makes pretty interesting guitars that feature distressed bodies that have a very unique looking relic to them.  These are U.S. designed guitars that are manufactured abroad, which helps to keep the price affordable.

AXL has upgraded their Badwater series with the AXL Badwater Pro with better hardware including a Trem-King bridge, 3 single coil EMG-designed Alnico pickups and Grover tuners.  You might remember the Badwater from AXL - it won Guitar World’s December 2007 Gold Award for Overall Value.

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