Bruce Springsteen’s Fender Esquire: Workhorse, Cover Model or Both?
Sunday, May 31st, 2009
Archive for May, 2009
The End of a Legend: Manny’s Music
Thursday, May 28th, 2009
Manny’s Music, probably one of the most famous music stores in the United States, is closing it’s doors at the end of May. Located on West 48th, the store was the supplier of choice among Jazz and Rock’s most famous players. Dizzy Gillespie and Barney Kessel both shopped there and were good friends with the store’s owner Manny Goldrich. Later when the store was run by Manny’s son, Henry, everyone from The Beatles to Jimi Hendrix to The Who came to Manny’s to buy equipment and try out the latest gear.
In an effort to preserve Manny’s Wall of Fame
VHT Announces The Handwired “Standard 36″ Head (w/ audio)
Wednesday, May 27th, 2009
VHT Amplification has annouced a new amp to their “Standard” series - The Standard 36. The new head is a 36-watt, two channel head that’s driven by three 12AX7 tubes on the preamp side and four EL84 tubes for the power amp with a 5U4G rectifier tube that gives the amp a classic American voice but in a high quality, hand-wired construction that ensures road-worthiness and many years of gigging glory.
VHT hand builds the amps at their factory in Brisbane, CA and each one is carefully tested by the team to ensure a high quality, consistent amplifier. Check out the sound clips…
DBZ Releases The Croc Skin Bolero Guitar
Tuesday, May 26th, 2009
DBZ Guitars has announced a new addition to their Bolero series of guitars. In case you haven’t been paying attention DBZ Guitars, a relatively new guitar manufacturer, was founded by legendary guitar designer Dean Zelinsky. Zelinsky, not to be confused with Ray Zalinsky the “auto-parts king”, is well known for starting Dean Guitars in 1976. He launched DBZ Guitars at this past Winter NAMM show.
The new Croc Skin Bolero model has a very unique design. The guitar features a textured maple top that has been designed and painted to look like real reptile skin. Full story…
How a Gibson Guitar Helped Create Spinal Tap
Monday, May 25th, 2009
This story does not go to eleven (mandatory opening line for a story related to Spinal Tap). The New York Times had a great story yesterday about how the original three members of Spinal Tap - Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer - are going out on a tour billed as “Unwigged and Unplugged.” Of course the original drummer can’t join them since he died after choking on vomit - oddly, not his own vomit. The article describes how founding members Christopher Guest and Michael McKean first bonded in the late 1960’s over a certain model of Gibson guitar they both owned. Care to find out which one? Read the whole story.
Jimmy Page Talks About His Les Paul
Saturday, May 23rd, 2009
We stumbled upon this great little clip of Jimmy Page talking about his #1 1959 Gibson Les Paul. It looks like the clip may have been filmed by the folks at Gibson when they did a series called the Jimmy Page Signature Model back in 2004. That series was limited to 25 guitars that were hand selected, played and then signed by Jimmy Page himself.
It’s pretty cool to hear Jimmy talk a little bit about the back story of the guitar, some of customizations like the Grover tuners and some of the push/pull pots for the pickup switching. Definitely worth checking out. See the video…
Why My Wife Should Worry About Guitar Affair
Monday, May 18th, 2009
You know what it’s like. You are traveling on business. You decided to fly with only carry-on so that you could keep it light. It is you, some clothes and your razor. After a full day of really boring meetings you are getting awfully lonely. You miss her. You head into the hotel bar and order a drink and drown your sorrow in your pretzels. It doesn’t help. You miss her more than ever. You wonder why you took this job. You wonder why it makes you travel so much. You wonder when you’ll see her again.
You miss your guitar.
Sheila is her name (wait, that’s just me). You cry out to her. “Sheila, Sheila, Sheila. Why?” You feel worse.
Well, thanks to Guitar Affair, just because you don’t have Sheila doesn’t mean you have to be lonely. You can Love The One You’re With. Whole Story…
Free Music From Wilco and Coldplay
Sunday, May 17th, 2009
Coldplay is thanking their fans by giving away an album online. Just head over to Coldplay’s website and click on the butterfly labled “Free Download”. You just have to trade an email address and you can even opt-out of the marketing stuff. The album is title “LeftRightLeftRightLeft” and they are also handing out free copies at all their shows.
Wilco’s new album “Wilco (The Album)” is set to be released June 30th but you can stream a high quality version off their website - look for the link in the upper right corner. More and more bands have been using free streams as a way to help generate interest in the upcoming release of an album and we like it.
Pearl Jam’s Bassist Robbed
Friday, May 15th, 2009
Pearl Jam’s bass player, Jeff Ament, was robbed by a group of three thugs armed with knives. The incident appears to have happened sometime in April when Ament was pulling into the Pearl Jam studios in Atlanta, GA. The good news is that Ament was only slightly injured in the incident - he received a cut on his head when he was tackled by one of the assailants. The bad news is that no one has been arrested yet.
When Ament arrived at the back entrance of the studio, along with an employee of the band, the three men dressed in black stormed the SUV. Ament tried to escape and was tackled as he ran from the truck. In all they reported losing $3,000 in cash and $4,320 in other goods.
Security cameras caught the whole incident on tape. Yahoo! has the video.
T-Rex Releases Two New Pedals
Wednesday, May 13th, 2009
Guitar pedal manufacturer T-Rex has announced two “new” pedals to their lineup. The Gristle King and the Diabolic Gristle Tone Manipulator (DGTM). The new line of Gristle pedals were the result of the collaboration between technician Tim Jauernig and guitar player Greg Koch and at least the DGTM has been around for a while to players.
It looks like T-Rex “adopted” the Gristle line and has now made it a part of their family. The Gristle King has a street price of $279 and the Diabolic Gristle Tone Manipulator goes for around $139. Full story…