Monday, March 15th, 2010
Just last November we wrote an article about Dave Matthews making the switch from Martin guitars to Taylor guitars. Well now it looks like that shift is complete. Today we learned that Taylor Guitars has released the Taylor DMSM - the Dave Matthews Signature Model.
Monday, February 8th, 2010
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.
Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010
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.
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010
The folks over at Electric Playground sent us this video interview with Stephen McSwain of McSwain Guitars. Stephen is a custom guitar builder that’s worked with artist like Slash and Tommy Lee (Motley Crue) and makes completely hand built guitars that are totally unique and very cool looking. Check it out…
Tuesday, January 12th, 2010
DBZ Guitars, headed up by master builder Dean Zelinsky, is announcing a new addition to their line up called the Bolero Banneret. So what exactly is a “banneret”? It’s an Anglo-French word dating from the 14th century that means “a knight leading his vassals into the field under his own banner”. The Bolero Banneret represents the first guitar in a new series called Regalia that will feature ornate metal embellishments.
Wednesday, November 4th, 2009
It’s probably not the digital you were hoping for, but The Beatles are taking a baby step towards the 21st century with the release of a 16GB USB drive packed with 14 stereo remastered Beatles albums and 13 mini-documentaries. The apple-shaped USB drive will also contain expanded liner notes, some rare photos and the album art.
Apple Corps Ltd and EMI Music are manufacturing only 30,000 of these limited edition apples. No word yet if Apple Corp plans to counter sue on the infringement of their logo.
Saturday, October 24th, 2009
We just had to share the RIFF iPhone guitar app with our readers. It has a demo video that will absolutely leave you smiling when you watch. The folks at MasterMedia Productions have put together an iPhone app that will let you play lead guitar over included jam-along tracks or any song from your music library.
But the really cool feature is creating bends and vibratos. You create bends by sliding your finger along the app or vibrators by shaking your finger on button. Check it out! We’ve even added it our Fretbase-approved list of guitar iPhone apps.
Monday, October 12th, 2009
If you combine Elvis Presley, Las Vegas and a Martin D-28, what do you get? You get more than one heckuva weekend. According to one bidder in a recent Los Angeles auction, you get a guitar that is worth over $100,000.
Today The Associated Press is reporting that a Martin D-28 guitar played by Elvis Presley in his last concert in Las Vegas just sold at auction for $106,200. It fetched more than the sequined glove worn by Michael Jackson on the 1984 Victory Tour and more than the bullwhip swung by Harrison Ford in “India Jones and the Last Crusade” - as it should be.
Monday, September 28th, 2009
If you have an unlimited amount of money to spend, it is great fun to to look at acoustics from guitar-makers like Martin, Taylor, Collings and Santa Cruz. But not all of us have an unlimited amount of money to spend. (If we did, we might not be writing blog stories on guitars - well actually we probably would.) For many of us, the trick is to find a guitar that fits in our budget that will get us most of the way there.
For awhile now, Recording King has been the acoustic guitar maker that fits the bill for us. Designed here in the USA and then manufactured in China, Recording King makes very good quality guitars at a fraction of the price of a comparable Martin. The company’s latest guitar, the Recording King ROS-06 looks like an excellent choice for the fingerpicker looking for a 12-fret model that can be used fearlessly. At roughly $300 at retail, we really like the specs on this one.
Monday, August 31st, 2009
Every so often somebody (and I’m not naming names) will get interested in a certain guitar. And once that person is interested in that guitar, they want to find that guitar everywhere it is available online. But how to remember all of the great online guitar stores? Maybe with Fretbase?
To make you guitar shopping even that much easier (yes, we want you all to have the pleasure of the smell of a new guitar), we have created a single page with links to all of the top online guitar stores. Did we miss one? Just e-mail us and let us know. We’ll get it in. But we might not be able to do that right away. We might still be searching all of these stores for the perfect Martin D-18.
