Archive for November, 2009
Monday, November 30th, 2009
Ry Cooder has been dominating my iPod lately. It all got started when I was listening to Sister Morphine off the Rolling Stone’s album Sticky Fingers. Ry Cooder provided slide work on both Sticky Fingers as well as Let It Bleed. Next thing I know I’ve got Ry Cooder’s Into The Purple Valley and The Ry Cooder Anthology in heavy rotation on all commutes and outings.
To share in the love here’s a quick video to whet your appetite for the guy Rolling Stone magazine ranked #8 in the “The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time” playing Dark End of the Street.
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Tags: rolling stones, ry cooder, videos
Posted in Songs, Video | 2 Comments »
Saturday, November 28th, 2009
It’s never the wrong time to start thinking about a good gift for that special guitar player in your life. With unemployment still being pretty high, we’ll assume you aren’t planning on getting your favorite guitar player a 1959 Gibson Les Paul and accordingly we’ll focus on some more cost-friendly options.
We have wracked our brains to come up with some good suggestions at a variety of prices to help you make sure that Santa Claus (or Hannukah Harry) brings the best item for that special guitarist. Here is our list for 2009. We hope you find it helpful. Read on for the entire list.
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Posted in Accessories, Instruction, Maintenance | 1 Comment »
Thursday, November 26th, 2009
Tomorrow represents one of the most important days in the holiday shopping season and many retailers look at the 4th quarter as a make or break time of the year. To help “juice” the season Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, is filled with deals and specials that can’t be found at any other time during the year.
We’ve put together a list of retailers and manufacturers that are putting on Black Friday deals as well as holiday specials to help you find that perfect gift for the musician in your life. Check it out.
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Tags: black friday, deals, shopping
Posted in Accessories, Amps, News, Retailers | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, November 24th, 2009
Inspired in part by Michelle Obama’s gift earlier this year of a Gibson Hummingbird acoustic guitar to Carla Bruni-Sarkozi, the New York Times has an article today suggesting classic guitars as a good item to buy or give as a gift this holiday season (we should all have friends or family like this). While the first lady gave Bruni-Sarkozy a new model Hummingbird, the article suggests that an original model from the 1960’s might have been a better choice.
According to a guitar-maker quoted in the story, “A Hummingbird from the 1960s would cost in the region of $6,000, about twice as much as the new model. They are both great guitars, but for the extra money you get a level of craftsmanship in the vintage version that has been lost.” Then, the author turns his attention to the guitar that continues to be far and away the most sought after vintage guitar.
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Tags: acoustic, Electric, Fender, Gibson, gibson les paul, gretsch, rickenbacker
Posted in Guitars, News | 3 Comments »
Sunday, November 22nd, 2009
Some guitarists pick a brand of guitar and stick to it. Think of Johnny Cash and Neil Young and their Martin Guitars or Bruce Springsteen and his Fenders and Takamines. But there has always been something different about Dave Matthews and it extends to the way he moves between manufacturers of guitars.
In a 1999 interview with Acoustic Guitar Magazine, Matthews said his main axe while on tour with Tim Reynolds was a Martin HD-28. In fact, at one point Martin even released a Dave Matthews signature guitar. But now it appears something has happened.
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Tags: acoustic, Dave Matthews, Martin, Taylor
Posted in Guitars | 9 Comments »
Wednesday, November 18th, 2009
We all know and love Metallica. Power chords, double-bass drums and swinging hair. And we all love Gallagher. Smashing watermelons, giant couches and newsboy caps. So what’s not to love about a mashup of the two, Metallagher?
That’s right folks we finally have a heavy metal band (albeit a cover band) that has infused it’s stage performance with prop comedy. You know Carrot Top is feeling validated right about now.
Check out the thrashing, smashing watermelon video!
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Tags: gallagher, metallagher, Metallica
Posted in Bedroom Rockstars, News, Video | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, November 18th, 2009
A number of press outlets are reporting that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has served a search warrant on Gibson Guitar while investigating the company’s importation of Madagascar Rosewood. Sources say the Nashville-based guitar manufacturer is being investigated for violating the Lacey Act (an environmental law) for importing the endangered species of wood.
Rosewood is a very popular wood for guitars and is used on a number of Gibson models including the Gibson J-45 Rosewood Modern Classic. We have reported before on the fact that high quality woods are getting harder to come by and it is too early to comment on Gibson’s role in depleting some classic types of wood. Read on for Gibson’s response.
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Tags: Gibson
Posted in News | 4 Comments »
Tuesday, November 17th, 2009
Tuned in Fretbase reader Tim sent us an article about a new effects pedal called OpenStomp. The pedal itself looks like any other boutique pedal but the OpenStomp is powered through programmable software that allows you to create and customize your own effects in a whole new way.
OpenStomp comes with software called OpenStomp Workbench that will allow you to build patches and assign functions to the unit’s four top-mounted knobs and two footswitches. But you can even take it a step further and use the software to create your own effects and sounds.
The catch? You’ll need to know something about programming to get very far in this endeavor. But there is a silver lining - it’s all open source code.
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Tags: open source, openstomp, pedal effects
Posted in Accessories, News, Technology | No Comments »
Monday, November 16th, 2009
Everyone loves free. Epiphone is holding a guitar giveaway contest for the new Swingster. The Epiphone Swingster is an arched top hollow-bodied jazz box with Swingbucker pups (Alnico V) with a parallel/series switch that’s geared toward rock-a-billy tones and jazz. We posted on the release of the Swingster a while back and think this guitar could make for a great alternative to the more pricey Gretsch models.
Register by November 30, 2009 for your chance to win the Epiphone Swingster. All you need is a working email address - it’s so easy. Head over to Epiphone.com to register.
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Tags: Epiphone, Giveaway
Posted in Guitars, News | No Comments »
Monday, November 16th, 2009
Gibson has announced two new versions of the Angus Young SG. The first is from Gibson’s Custom Shop and comes in a custom-designed Angus Cherry finish - kind of dark cherry. The second version of the Angus Young SG is from their US shops and comes in a high-gloss ebony black finish.
You might remember Gibson’s original Angus Young SG featured a Maestro Lyre Vibrola tremolo engraved with lighting bolts and “Angus”. These updates don’t have the trem bar but they do feature some nice lighting bolt inlays in the fretboard.
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Tags: Angus Young, electric guitar, Gibson, Gibson Custom Shop, gibson sg
Posted in Guitars, News | No Comments »
