REVIEW: Gibson Les Paul Nashville Junior Double Cutaway

Gibson has released more variations on the Les Paul theme than most other companies can manage across their entire product line. From the highly tricked out Neal Schon model with Floyd Rose bridge and a sustainer pickup, to the simplicity of the 1957 Les Paul Junior Single Cutaway, there’s something for everybody in the Les Paul line. Personally I really dig the new Les Paul Axcess, but I’ve always had a fondness for Gibson’s Les Paul Junior guitars too.

The Les Paul Nashville Junior Double Cutaway shares many common features with the classic single cutaway model that was probably most famous in the hands of Leslie West and which formed the basis of Green Day front man Billy Joe Armstrong’s signature model, but it deviates from it in several distinctive and important ways.

The Nashville features the double cutaway Les Paul body style as introduced in 1958. The overall outline seems a little rounder than a regular Les Paul, partially an optical illusion caused by the almost symmetrical cutaways, which are smooth and rounded compared to the sharply bevelled horns of the subsequent double cutaway Les Paul model, which was introduced in 1961 and later renamed the Gibson SG.

The Nashville has a single dog-eared Gibson P-90 pickup, a rough and hardy matte satin finish, ebony fretboard, and a wraparound, non-adjustable, intonation-compensated tailpiece/bridge unit. The ‘Nashville’ element in the model name comes by way of the ‘Prairie Flower’ pickguard motif, which is borrowed from Gibson’s SJ-200 jumbo acoustic guitar, the model favoured by Pete Townshend of The Who.

The guitar is strung at the factory with Gibson Brite Wires gauged .010-.046. These strings have a bright, zingy treble which brings the best out of the P-90 pickup. The bass response of the guitar is tight and refined, and the high end seems to naturally compress when you pick hard, creating a sound that’s very well suited to recording because it practically masters itself. A little light overdrive brings out a sense of warmth, while ultra clean tones with a little spring reverb and compression sound authentically bluesy and swampy. Even more so with a bit of slapback delay. Crank up the gain and you’ll naturally increase the noise level too, as with any true single coil pickup, but this guitar is not designed to be smothered in distortion, and it’s at its sonic peak through a slightly overdriven rig. You could get a great modern rock sound from this guitar with noise gates and distortion pedals and stuff, but in a way that’s kind of an insult to its simplicity.

There’s something greatly liberating about playing a guitar with just a single pickup, and while there is a tone control for some degree of command over the sound, most guitarists will probably leave it untouched. Instead, you have to make the most of your picking and fretting techniques to get sonic variation out of the guitar, and in this respect it can help to make you a better player by forcing you to work for it.

Whether you need a guitar for country, blues, indie pop, vintage rock, punk, or even fusion styles, the Nashville delivers the tonal goods. It might not be the most obvious choice for these styles, but that’s part of its charm, and part of why it would be a great secret weapon in any guitarist’s bag of tricks.

SPECS:
Body: Mahogany
Neck: Mahogany, 60s profile, 22 frets, ebony fretboard
Scale Length: 24 3/4 in.
Hardware: Chrome
Tailpiece: Wraparound
Knobs: Black Top Hat
Machine Heads: Chrome Grovers
Electronics: P-90 Dog Ear bridge pickup, one volume, one tone

REVIEW: Taylor SolidBody Custom

When Taylor debuted the stunning T5 hybrid acoustic/electric guitar, guitarists the world over thought it was just a matter of time before the company unleashed its first fully electric, solidbody guitar. Never one to do quite what’s expected of it, Taylor didn’t release its first solidbody electric: instead they launched their first three solidbody electrics, all at once, each a little bit similar but a lot different.

CLICK HERE to buy the Taylor SolidBody Custom from Music123.

The SolidBody Classic has a two-piece swamp ash body, funky pickguard, and Taylor’s Style 1 covered humbuckers. The SolidBody Standard has a sapele back with maple veneered laminate top and Taylor Style 2 uncovered humbuckers. I’m reviewing the flagship SolidBody Custom, which has a three piece sapele back with walnut burl veneered laminate top and Style 1 humbuckers.

At first glance the SolidBody Custom might look like a conventional single cutaway electric, but appearances can be deceiving. The first hint that this is something a little different is the neck joint: a single bolt affixes the neck to the body. This system is surprisingly stable, and seems to result in a much smoother transfer of vibration from body to neck, which in turn creates more sustain than typical four or five bolt attachment.
The body itself is heavily chambered, with only the area under the bridge remaining fully solid for maximum string vibration transfer. The rest of the body (or lack thereof, since we’re talking about hollow sound chambers) conspires to add layer after layer of harmonic complexity.

Other ‘look a little bit closer’ features include the unique Taylor hard tail bridge, with height adjustment through the back of the guitar, and a clever fused string ground, in case a faulty ground ever tries to get one over on you. Don’t worry: if the fuse is ever tripped, the guitar will still operate, but it might be a little bit noisy until you replace it. Small price to pay to eliminate the risk of frying one’s lips off due to the combined effects a dodgy microphone and a puddle of beer on stage.

The pickup height adjustment is also accessed from the back of the guitar, keeping the front nice and clean, free of busy-looking adjustment screws. The single volume and tone controls look elegant and feel very sturdy, and the five way pickup selector gives you the following settings: 1: full neck pickup. 2: inside coils of both pickups in parallel. 3: full neck pickup and one coil of the bridge pickup. 4: Two inside coils in series. 5: Full bridge pickup.

One especially useful feature is the tone control. For the first two thirds of its travel it functions like any other master tone control, but get into that final third and it increases midrange ‘honk’ just like a stationary wah pedal. It’s an ingenious design, and one which increases the guitar’s already impressive list of features to near revolutionary levels. Once I started investigating this feature, I must have kept the tone control all the way down for about an hour, experimenting with how this tone interacted with the guitar’s sustain and harmonics at different points on the fretboard.

The SolidBody Custom’s tones are very complex and bright. The chambered body seems to add an extra dimension to the sound not only unplugged (I swear it’s the loudest electric I’ve ever heard acoustically), but also through the pickups. The bridge pickup has a toothy bite with lots of subtle overtones and a healthy but not overbearing amount of string sound (I hesitate to use the term ‘string noise’ because that implies negative connotations, of which I mean none), and the neck unit has a warm and bright jangle. It’s almost like playing a Paul Reed Smith but hearing a Gretsch. The guitar excels at rock, jazz and fusion tones, and even sounds great at ultra high gain levels, where you wouldn’t expect these pickups and this guitar to thrive.

In all honesty, this is one of the best guitars I’ve ever played, and I can only hope that one day I can get my hands on one to keep. Taylor has made a stunning entry to the solidbody electric guitar game. Time will tell if the market is ready to accept Taylor as an electric guitar builder, but with a guitar this cool, if any acoustic maker can cross over, it’s Taylor.

http://www.taylorguitars.com/

SPECS:
BODY: Sapele with walnut top
NECK: Sapele, ebony fretboard, 22 medium frets
PICKUPS: 2 Taylor Style 1 covered humbuckers
ELECTRONICS: 1 vol, 1 tone, 5 way pickup selector
EXTRAS: Hard case included

CLICK HERE to buy the Taylor SolidBody Custom from Music123.

REVIEW: Alice In Chains concert, Melbourne, Australia

Palais Theatre, St Kilda, February 26 2009.

The last time Alice In Chains toured Australia, I was still in high school and lived 4 hours away from the nearest capital city. The circumstances required for me to see them live were alarmingly insurmountable, and even after I moved to the big smoke and was geographically and economically able to see them, the tragic death of singer Layne Staley seemed to spell a permanent impasse to my ever witnessing them live. Jerry Cantrell has been one of my favourite players ever since I was about 14, so I was ultra-excited to be able to finally see him live.

Now, of course, Comes With The Fall vocalist William DuVall has taken up the front-and-centre position on stage, and within the first song of the night I’m sure anyone with lingering doubts about his place in the band had resolved to shut the hell up and just get on with having their socks rocked off. DuVall also provides rhythm guitar on certain key tracks, and is a very capable player.

I’ve heard reports from those who saw Alice In Chains back in the day that they were a less-than-inspiring live act, with dull stage presentation and sleepy musical delivery. How much of this is true I can’t really say, but the band who appeared on stage at the Palais last night were energetic and powerful, and certainly knew how to work a crowd. The set list included, but was not limited to, Angry Chair, Man In The Box (third song in!), Rain When I Die, Love Hate Love, Them Bones, Would? Rooster, No Excuses, Dirt, Junkhead and We Die Young.

In the years between Alice In Chains’ first incarnation and 2009, guitarist Jerry Cantrell seems to have picked up a more cultured, controlled vibrato, and was able to nail accurately-pitched bends with a confidence I don’t recall hearing in previous performances. Naturally it stands to reason that one’s playing will develop and evolve over a given time span, so this should come as no surprise, but the Jerry Cantrell on stage last night seemed to go that extra step beyond what the Jerry Cantrell of 1993 was capable of in terms of phrasing, dynamics and all out rock power. By the way, Cantrell still uses his original old G&L Rampage, as well as a few other Rampages, and some Gibson Les Pauls.

Mike Inez was, as always, a very solid player, keeping the sound full and powerful on any of the single-guitar songs in which Cantrell took solos. He seemed to be smiling all night, and locked in perfectly with drummer Sean Kinney’s behind-the-beat-yet-perfectly-in-time playing. Incidentally, I’m not sure how but Kinney has managed to not age one day since 1993. Dude must be into some kind of freaky age-defying voodoo.

Finally, special mention must be made of the band’s trademark vocal harmonies. Longtime fans of the band are surely well aware that Jerry Cantrell’s harmonies and backing vocals (and occasional lead vocal lines such as in the verses for Grind and Would?) were always an important part of the band’s sound. Well, despite the swapping of Staley for DuVall, Alice In Chains still sounds like Alice In Chains, and a big reason for that is that Jerry is still singing too. This is certainly not like in the case of Van Halen where the whole sound of any back catalogue songs changed when Sammy Hagar stepped into David Lee Roth’s gig.

If you haven’t seen the new version of Alice In Chains because you’re sceptical about whether they can hold it together and live up to their legacy, it’s time to put aside such concerns and check them out. Of course they’ll never be the same without Layne, but last night’s performance was a powerful demonstration that the Alice In Chains of 2009 deserves to be spoken of in the same reverential tones as the Alice In Chains of the 90s.

NEWS: Faith No More reunion totally, utterly confirmed!

More from Blabbermouth.net, including confirmation that the guitarist for the reunion is John Hudson, who played with the band on their final CD, 'Album Of The Year.'

FAITH NO MORE bassist Bill Gould has released the following statement to BLABBERMOUTH.NET:

"FAITH NO MORE has always stood out as some sort of unique beast; part dog, part cat — its music almost as schizophrenic as the personalities of its members. When it all worked, it worked really well, even if the chemistry was always volatile.

"Throughout our 17 years of existence, the mental and physical energy required to sustain this creature was considerable and relentless. Though amicable enough, when we finally split, we all followed paths seemingly destined to opposite ends of the universe. Yet during the entire 10 years that have passed since our decision to break up we've experienced constant rumors and requests from fans and promoters alike. Nevertheless, for whatever reason, none of us kept in regular touch, much less to discuss any possibilities of getting together.

"What's changed is that this year, for the first time, we've all decided to sit down together and talk about it. And what we've discovered is that time has afforded us enough distance to look back on our years together through a clearer lens and made us realize that through all the hard work, the music still sounds good, and we are beginning to appreciate the fact that we might have actually done something right. Meanwhile, we find ourselves at a moment in time with zero label obligations, still young and strong enough to deliver a kick-ass set, with enthusiasm to not only revisit our past but possibly add something to the present. And so with this we've decided to hold our collective breaths and jump off this cliff.... BACK, GOD FORBID, INTO THE MONKEY CAGE!!!

"We can only hope that the experience of playing together again will yield results erratic and unpredictable enough to live up to the legacy of FNM.

"Who knows where this will end or what it will bring up... only the future knows. But we are about to find out!"

FAITH NO MORE 2009 is:

Mike Bordin - Drums
Roddy Bottum - Keyboards
Bill Gould - Bass
Jon Hudson - Guitar
Mike Patton - Vocals

CLICK HERE to read the rest of the story.

REVIEW: Bogner Alchemist

I’ll be perfectly honest with ya, I’d been looking forward to the day when I got to test-drive a Bogner Alchemist like a kid looks forward to Christmas. Then again, I look forward to Christmas like I look forward to cranking tube amps. Anyway, the Bogner Alchemist is the first ‘relatively low-cost’ offering from the eccentric, California-based, German-raised amp genius Reinhold Bogner (if you wanna see how eccentric, go to bogneramplification.com and scroll down the news page). Bogner’s modern classic USA-built amps, such as the Ecstasy and Uberschall, are now badged as Bogner Custom Shop, with the straight Bogner name now being used for the Alchemist series, which are built in China. Straight up, let me say the build quality is very high, so don’t let that ‘Made In China’ throw ya.

The 6L6-loaded, Class AB-powered, 40-watt Alchemist is available as 1X12 and 2X12 open-back combos, and a 100 watt head with matching open-back 2X12 cabinet. I tested the 2X12 combo (and I also ran it through my closed-back Marshall 4X12 cab and an AxeTrak isolated speaker box). Channel 1 (the Gold) channel has controls for gain, treble, middle, bass and volume in addition to slider switches for Clean/Crunch, Bright (treble boost) and Deep (low boost). Next are a pair of switches for channel switching and a solo boost. Channel 2 (Mercury) also has gain, treble, middle, bass and volume controls, along with switches for Punch, Bright and Mid Shift. Next there’s an effect section with delay (Ducking, Analog and Tape) and reverb (Plate, Spring, Hall). Finally, there are power and standby switches, the latter of which has selects between standby, 20 watt or 40 watt operation. The supplied footswitch selects channel, boost, delay and reverb. The effects loop is parallel, meaning that whatever effect is in the loop will be running alongside the unadorned sound. The loop has its own level control, it travels independently of the main signal for improved clarity, and it’s designed for instrument-level effects (ie: stompboxes), although the manual says rack gear can be used too if you’re careful with the levels.

With so many control options, one could worry that the amp is too complex, but after a few minutes it all becomes very intuitive. The Gold channel can go from the cleanest of clean to a grindy crunch that is heavy enough to work for Foo Fighters or even Metallica-style rhythms (at least Kill Em All and Load eras...), or can be backed off for a more classic rock response. The in-between sounds are especially dynamic and controllable: a sparkly, Hendrixy single coil sound can be driven to a toothy bite just with harder pick attack, great for emphasising particular licks and even greater for covering ‘Little Wing.’ The sound may be a bit too open for more intense metal tones but that's not really what the Alchemist is for.

The Mercury channel bares the obvious influence of the Bogner Ecstasy: anyone who’s heard Steve Vai on the first G3 DVD will recognise certain shared tonal characteristics here. Again the amp responds super-well to playing dynamics, until reaching saturation point where the attack compresses and smoothes out. Lay back a bit and notes seem to grow and evolve with an almost vocal-like midrange envelope. It’s pretty addictive, especially in medium gain levels, where you can wring a wide range of tones out of your strings. It’s also very fingerpicking-friendly, with great articulation for those Jeff Beck licks. Again this is going to work for certain types of players more than others, and may not be suited to more metallic sounds requiring flatter dynamics.

This is one of the most versatile amps I’ve ever played, yet it feels very simple despite its complexity. The cleans can be polite enough for jazz, edgy enough for blues, jangly enough for indie, punchy enough for rock, grindy enough for more traditional variants of metal, and hyper enough for shred. Frankly, I want one!

To hear the Alchemist in action, here’s my video demo, which I posted on YouTube and linked to from I Heart Guitar about a month ago.

NEWS: Yngwie acoustic EP cover

So here's the cover of Yngwie's forthcoming 7-track acoustic EP, Angels Of Love, and it's one of those exceedingly rare Yngwie album covers that doesn't feature a photo of our facourite Swedish shredder poised to rock your socks off. Instead it looks like Angelina Jolie perched in waiting to adopt 30 more children, or perhaps like an advertisement in a magazine for a perfume you would buy your mum for her birthday.

Angels of Love is released on March 10 in the US, and April 1 in Japan.

The track list is:

1. Like an Angel
2. Save Our Love
3. Prelude To April
4. Sorrow
5. Memories
6. Miracle of Life
7. Forever One.

CLICK HERE to preorder the CD on Amazon.com

REVIEW: Jim Dunlop Buddy Guy Wah Wah

Dunlop seems to be going full tilt with the signature wah pedals lately – Dimebag Darrell, Slash, Zakk Wylde, Eddie Van Halen… and finally they’re honouring one of the originators of wah in a blues/rock setting, the great Buddy Guy.

THE BUDDY SYSTEM
Even at a glance, anyone familiar with Buddy would know this is his wah. It’s kitted out in the same white polka dot on black background as his signature Fender Stratocaster, and his signature is present in moulded form on the treadle. The finish of the pedal itself is very slick, thick and glossy, and looks like it would withstand a huge number of knocks and bumps before starting to show the even the faintest hint of wear. Normally stuff like that wouldn’t bother me on a pedal (I’m sure everyone has a banged-up Boss DS-1 or Crybaby under their bed, if not on their pedalboard), but in the case of the Buddy wah I’d like to preserve that neat polka dot finish for as long as possible.

Similar to the boost switch on the side of the Dimebag wah, there’s a small kick button on the right side of the pedal which allows you to go from the default “Deep” mode to the “BG” mode. There are LEDs on both sides of the pedal to let you know if the effect is engaged (blue) and if Buddy’s “BG” mode is selected (red).

Inside, the pedal features true bypass switching and a Fasel inductor. The inductor is the brain of a wah circuit, if you will, and tone hounds have long praised older Crybaby wahs which used a Fasel brand inductor, over later models which didn’t. In recent years the company has brought back this venerated component in many of its wahs, and it’s become a strong selling point.

DAMN RIGHT I’VE GOT THE BLUE (LED)
Let’s kick the pedal into action and start with the “Deep” mode. The filter sweep of this mode includes a low pass range of 250Hz - 330Hz and a high pass range of 1.3kHz-1.6kHz (by comparison, the ZW-45 Zakk Wylde Signature Wah has a low pass range of 250Hz-350Hz and a high pass range of 1.4kHz-2.4kHz). This mode is very thick and deep sounding, with certain harmonic overtones located at about ¾ of the way through the pedal’s sweep which almost sound like they’re generating an additional octave above whatever note you’re playing. It’s a very addictive sound which works really well for single note riffs, and even better for low, gruff distorted rhythm guitar. On this sound alone a lot of people will be sold on this pedal. It also sounds particularly great when used ‘in reverse’ – that is, rocking the pedal from toe-down to heel-down over the course of a note, instead of the other way around.

In “BG” mode, the low pass range is 290Hz - 390Hz and the high pass range is 1.5kHz –1.9kHz. The result is a thinner, more trebly sound which seems to especially appreciate single coil pickups and cleaner tones. It’s closer to a traditional Crybaby voicing, but with more sparkle and less low end. In all honesty I would probably use the “Deep” mode more often than the “BG” mode, mainly because it seems to have a more distinctive character. That’s not to say that “BG” mode sounds bad, because it’s actually quite good, but it’s more standard-sounding. Then again, it’s nice to have both modes available in the one pedal, as there are certainly times when a more traditional wah sound is called for.

WHAT A GUY
Purely on the strength of the “Deep” mode, the Buddy Guy Signature Wah would be a unique addition to the ever-growing stable of Dunlop wahs. The “BG” mode, though it’s really the featured mode of the pedal, is almost a straightforward option compared to the strength of the other mode, and you really do get two pedals in one: A hepped-up but more traditional wah, and the fat, funky “Deep” mode that you’ll have a hard time turning off. While I only had this wah for a few weeks for the purposes of review, I will definitely buy one soon to replace my tired old Crybaby.

CLICK HERE to buy the Jim Dunlop BG-95 Buddy Guy Wah Pedal from Guitar Center.

CLICK HERE to see Dunlop Crybaby pedals on eBay.

NEWS: Faith No More reunion!

One of the first singles I ever bought (back when vinyl was current rather than kitsch) was Faith No More's 'Epic.' Actually I think it might have been a Christmas present from my older brother. Anyway, back then, in the heady days of 1989, Faith No More were an absolute head****, and even moreso when they released Angel Dust a few years later. I was fortunate to see them in 1997 on their last tour, and I'd very much resigned myself to the belief that they'd never play together again. Even recent talk of a reunion sounded like another of those rumours that swell up and die off without fanfare.

Then today I see this on Blabbermouth:

Former FAITH NO MORE singer Mike Patton's publicist has confirmed that the hugely influential '90s alt-metal band will reunite for a summer tour. At the moment, it appears that the group will only perform in Europe and there are absolutely no plans to tour the States.

The news was broken in the final line of a press release sent late Monday night (February 23) promoting Patton's involvement in the "major motion film 'Crank 2: High Voltage', which listed Patton's upcoming performance schedule, including a stop at the Coachella festival and "the highly anticipated reunion tour with FAITH NO MORE in Europe this summer."

As previously reported, a source close to guitarist Jim Martin, who was in FAITH NO MORE from 1983 until 1993, has told BLABBERMOUTH.NET that the axeman expressed interest in taking part in the reunion after being recently contacted by keyboardist Roddy Bottum and a member of FAITH NO MORE's management team, but that the band inexplicably decided to utilize a different guitarist — believed to be one of several musicians that were in FAITH NO MORE following Martin's exit from the group — for the upcoming dates.

Awesome. If Jim Martin's not involved, I'd love for the guitarist to be Trey Spruance, but I dunno if he'd be into it, so my next and probably more likely choice would be Jon Hudson, who was a great addition to the band for their final CD, 'Album Of The Year.'

REVIEW: Fender Deluxe Lone Star Stratocaster

There have been about a million variations on the classic Stratocaster theme since its 1954 introduction. Some of them have been less than obvious to the casual glance, like changes in neck construction methods and the move to 3 ply pickguards back in the early days. Others have been pretty over the top, like the old Ritchie Sambora signature model with a Floyd Rose bridge and star shaped inlays. The Deluxe Lone Star Stratocaster doesn’t try to be too drastically different from the classic Strat blueprint, so what is it that sets this one apart, and why has Fender decided to reissue the guitar only a few years after discontinuing it?

The chief difference with the Lone Star Strat is its choice of pickups, all of which have a distinctive Texas pedigree. The neck and middle pickups are Fender’s own Texas Special single coils. These pickups first surfaced on the original Stevie Ray Vaughan signature model in the early 90s. They’re wound hotter than the average single coil for thicker, fatter tone with a higher output for that down and dirty blues sound. They’re especially happy when kicking a cranked valve amp right where it counts. The bridge pickup is a Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates Plus model, which Seymour himself designed when Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top wanted a pickup to make any guitar sound like his beloved 1959 Gibson Les Paul, a guitar which Gibbons named …Pearly Gates. Electronics include tone controls for the bridge and neck pickups, and a 5-way pickup selector switch. Position 2 on the switch combines the full humbucker with the middle single coil. Some companies might split the humbucker into a single too for this setting, but the extra toughness of the full humbucker is in keeping with the Lone Star vibe.

Besides the pickups, appointments on this model include a brown shell pickguard, a vintage-tinted C-shaped maple neck with rosewood fretboard and 21 medium jumbo frets. The fretboard radius is a roundish 9.5”. With this type of radius, a very low string height can sometimes result in choked out notes when bending, but careful maintenance of a good setup can avoid this. The factory setup has the strings at a nice medium height, great for digging in hard for gutsy, tough blues, and for really grabbing the strings for big soulful bends.

The Lone Star Strat has a vintage style synchronized tremolo bridge, and although this is in no way a Stevie Ray Vaughan signature model, it does make me reflect on how SRV never made the switch to guitars with a two-point knife edge tremolo, so it in the spirit of Texas blues it makes sense to see the old six-screw version represented here. The body is alder, a common wood for Stratocasters, with a nice balance of frequencies.

The Pearly Gates humbucker sounds killer on a Strat. The upper midrange response makes this a great axe for those who want a Satriani style tone but don’t want to play a high tech Ibanez to get it, and when driving a dirty, overdriven amp the sound opens up beautifully. The pickup responds especially well to Jeff Beck-style finger picking, and it tracks very well for fast playing.

The Texas Specials have that up-front, punchy sound associated with SRV: tight bass, immediate impact, and open treble. There is a wide range of tonal flexibility available by adjusting the guitar’s volume control, and without too much work you should be able to find a sweet spot with the volume at about 2/3 of the way up where the single coils sound more bell-like, before cranking it back to 10 for more fatness and grunt.

The Lone Star Stratocaster is for those who want a traditional Strat but need a bit more power and flexibility. It’s a Stratocaster for those who like their steak rare or, to partially quote Homer Simpson, people who like their beer cold and their TV loud.

SPECS:
Body: Alder
Neck: Tinted maple
Fretboard: Rosewood, 21 medium jumbo frets, 9.5” radius.
Pickups: Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates Plus (bridge), Fender Texas Special (neck, middle).
Extras: Deluxe padded gig bag.

CLICK HERE to search for Fender Stratocasters on eBay.

REVIEW: Digitech Whammy WH4 Pedal

The DigiTech Whammy Pedal first arrived on the scene in the early 1990s (I remember first seeing it in an ad in the British magazine Guitar way back then), and was quickly adopted by the big wigs of the shred movement, such as Steve Vai and Joe Satriani, for high pitched sonic freakout squeals and other tricks. The pedal was originally designed and marketed as a way of copying whammy bar effects on fixed bridge guitars such as Les Pauls and Telecasters, right around the time that dive bombs and racing car effects started to go out of fashion. However, players soon realised that the ‘pitch up’ settings were of more musical use than ‘pitch down,’ and a sonic revolution ensued.

The more textural side of the Whammy Pedal effect was explored by Jimmy Page on the Coverdale-Page album, where it was used to simulate slide guitar in the song “Over Now.” Tom Morello of Rage Against The Machine continues to use the Whammy to good effect as a pitch shifter and to simulate DJ scratching, and Living Colour bass player Doug Wimbish is rarely seen without a Whammy underfoot.

I got my first Whammy Pedal in about 2004 or so, and while I later traded it in when I was lured by a multi effects pedal, I’m planning to buy another soon (A WH4 was provided on loan for the purposes of review). I’m such a Whammy Pedal geek that I even had an ad for the WH-4 reissue stuck up on my wall for a while. My name is Peter, and I am a Whammy Pedal Addict.

Back to the WH4. The Whammy effect is turned on and off by a switch at the bottom right corner of the unit, while a wah-style expression pedal provides for realtime control of the effect itself. An effect matrix with LEDs and a control knob allow you to select the basic setting from three effect groups: Harmony, Whammy, and Detune. Options in Harmony mode, with the pedal down and up respectively: Octave down/Octave up; 5th down/4th down; 4th down/3rd down; 5th up/7th up; 5th up/6th up; 4th up/5th up; 3rd up/4th up; flat 3rd up/3rd up; and 2nd up/3rd up. Detune modes include Shallow and Deep, for doubling or chorus effects. Whammy settings include 2 octaves up; 1 octave up; 1 octave down; 2 octaves down; Dive Bomb; and Drop Tune. The WH4 updates the original WH1 with MIDI control (as well as the Dive Bomb setting, which gives the effect of a whammy bar pushed all the way to the body of the guitar). So now you can program patch changes via your MIDI controller, very handy indeed if you wish to switch from pure, straight octave-up mode for one part of a song, and a harmony setting for another.

The Whammy has wet and dry outputs, for sending an unaffected signal to one amp and the effected one to another for extra wide harmony or chorus effects. Just imagine stomping on the pedal and having your original note coming out of one amp, while the other is blasting out the same riff a 5th below (hint: try this with the groovy main section of Steve Vai’s ‘The Animal’). When only the wet output is used, it combines a dry signal with the effected one.

By the way, I like to place the Whammy Pedal first in my signal chain, so my rig responds to it just like it would if I actually bent the note that far with my fingers. This also helps to drastically reduce the digital artefacts you hear if you run the unit through your effects loop, and also allows it to track more cleanly than if it had to distinguish your notes through a sea of effects and distortion. However, if you plan to use it for harmonizer effects it will sound better in the effect loop.

The most logical (and fun) thing to do with the Whammy pedal is set it to 1 or 2 octaves up and step on that sucker for wild “Weeeeeeee!” sounds. Chances are that this is the very first thing pretty much everyone does when they first get their feet on one. But there’s so much more to it than just making monkey noises and playing Satch’s “Cool #9.” The Detune settings can be operated by the rocker pedal to precisely time chorus effects to the tempo of the song; can be left static in Shallow for that Eddie Van Halen wide stereo sound (from the 5150 album onwards); or can be set to Deep for a similar effect to the automatic double tracking used on the second guitar solo of Pink Floyd’s “Money.” The 5th up/6th up setting is great for faking pedal steel lines with a clean tone – just hold a note and rock the pedal for authentic B-Bender-type licks.

The 4th up/5th up setting is home to some unique sounds used by Vai on “The Blood And The Tears” and “The Ultra Zone,” and while different players prefer to place the pedal in different points in the signal chain, this particular setting seems to work especially well as the first pedal your guitar plugs into. At one rehearsal I used this setting with a fuzz pedal, and the shifting harmonic overtones and feedback were beyond cool.

The octave down Harmony settings add a lot of girth and muscle to low riffs: try the Octave Down pedal position while using the Octave Down/Octave Up setting to add a lower octave to chunky single-note riffs, then emphasise specific notes by pressing the pedal down to raise the doubled note by an octave for a cool fake pinch harmonic sound.

The DigiTech Whammy is a gateway to creativity, and while it’s easy to get caught up in some of the more classic tricks and settings, its’ worth delving that little bit deeper to see what unique sounds you can come up with. The sound of this pedal can vary wildly depending on where you place it in the signal chain, and luckily DigiTech seem to be very aware of what kind of punishment players could put the unit through in the heat of passion, as it’s very solidly built – able to withstand a hefty stomping and keep going.

Specs:
Sample Rate: 46.875 kHz
Frequency Response Dry: 20 Hz to 20kHz
Frequency Response Wet: 20 Hz to 12kHz
Signal to Noise Ratio: Greater than -95dB (A weighted); ref = max level, 22 kHz bandwidth
THD: 0.006% (1kHz); ref = 1dBu w/ unity gain
A/D Conversion: 24-bit
D/A Conversion: 24-bit
Max Input: +8.8 dBu
Max Output: +8.8 dBu
Pitch Bend: +2/-3 Octaves
Detune: -4 to -30 cents
Dimensions (L x W x H): 8 x 6.3 x 2.5 in.
Weight: 1.6 kg

CLICK HERE to buy the Digitech Whammy WH4 from Guitar Center for $169.95.


CLICK HERE to see Digitech Whammy pedals (all models) for sale on eBay.

8 Whammy Pedal moments you totally have to hear

Steve Vai – Touching Tongues (Sex & Religion)
Vai combines a whammy pedal and delay to create complex harmonies and countermelodies in the chorus of this track from 1993’s Sex & Religion album. Very musical, very creative and very cool.

Living Colour – Wall (Stain)
With a delay effect keeping the groove going, bass player Doug Wimbish picks out certain notes to emphasise with the Whammy pedal before shifting the whole friggin’ riff up an octave over the course of the final bar of the intro. Awesome.

Pantera – Becoming (Far Beyond Driven)
Dimebag stomps on the Whammy pedal on the second beat of each bar of this killer riff. Live he liked to rock out without having to worry about pedals, so his tech did all Dime’s Whammy squealing for him.

Audioslave – Like A Stone (Audioslave)
Tom Morello uses the Whammy Pedal almost like Eddie Van Halen sometimes does with the whammy bar, using it to slide into each note from below. Awesome.

Pink Floyd – Marooned (The Division Bell)
The Whammy Pedal usage in this song is pretty subtle on first listen. David Gilmour uses it to stretch bends out over an octave, but he blends it in with his regular playing style so seamlessly that you can be forgiven for not even noticing.

Joe Satriani – Cool #9 (Joe Satriani)
The Whammy Pedal had been available for a while when Satch released this track on his low key, live-vibed self-titled album, and he’s used the pedal a lot since, but the open space provided by the vamp of this track leaves plenty of room to hear Joe’s intuitive Whammy Pedal technique in detail.

Coverdale/Page – Over Now (Coverdale/Page)
Jimmy Page uses the original WH1Whammy Pedal’s ‘Down 2nd’ mode to slide an A5 chord down to a D5. This setting is still present in the WH1, but these days they call it ‘Drop Tune.’

The White Stripes – Seven Nation Army (Elephant)
What sounds like a bass on this track is actually a Digitech Whammy Pedal with the pitch dropped way down below the basement. While Jack White loves his vintage analog gear, he’s obviously not shy about the occasional digital chip either.

CLICK HERE to read my review of the DigiTech Whammy Pedal.

CLICK HERE to buy the Digitech Whammy WH4 from Guitar Center for $169.95.


CLICK HERE to see Digitech Whammy pedals (all models) for sale on eBay.

REVIEW: MXR Classic 108 Fuzz

I’m a bit of an MXR/Jim Dunlop fanboy. The MXR-to-other-stuff ratio on my pedalboard is about 70:30. I push my amp with an MXR/Custom Audio Electronics boost/overdrive, I get my swirl on via an EVH Phase 90, and the Carbon Copy Analog Delay is probably the funkiest, warmest sounding delay on the market, and earlier this year I finally bought a Dunlop Jimi Hendrix Octave Fuzz, which was literally the very first pedal I became aware of, the day I bought my first guitar magazine at age 12.

And this brings us to the Classic 108 Fuzz. Essentially this pedal is simply the guts of the BC 108-loaded Fuzz Face, transplanted into a more pedalboard-friendly layout than the almost hubcap-like proportions of the original unit. Boutique builders have been doing this very thing for years, and MXR is well aware they need to do something to make the Classic 108 Fuzz stand out from the pack. So aside from the authenticity of being built by the very company that now owns the rights to the design, MXR/Dunlop has ensured this stand-outedness by adding a buffer circuit. More on that later.

Controls are simple: Volume and Fuzz. There are no tone controls or switches, just the buffer button. Unlike the original Fuzz Face, the Classic 108 Fuzz has a removable battery door (the same kind as on the bottom of my MXR/CAE Boost/OD), a simple design which I think should be implemented across the pedal line, and tradition be damned: who wants to have to unscrew a pedal baseplate just to change a battery? Other updates include optional AC operation (I ran it off a battery and my Gator power supply), true bypass, and a status LED. The buffer also has its own LED, when it’s on, it’s on, regardless of whether you’ve turned on the effect or not. This is especially important over long cable runs, where the signal would degrade if not given a helping hand through a buffer.

In unbuffered mode, the Classic 108 Fuzz sounds round, barky and dirty. Just like it’s supposed to. There’s a kind of synthetic charm to the sound that’s not attainable by later overdrive and distortion designs, which are intended to mimic or at least approximate the sound of an overdriven amp. This pedal is pure vintage bliss, Hendrixy voodoo intact, with unearthly-sounding overtones and squashed dynamics all over the place. Pickup selection and phrasing choices make some amount of difference to the sound, but the pedal always adds its own character, regardless of whether you set the gain level to ‘kill’ or if you back it off a bit for some grit and dirt. Chords mush together in an oh-so-fuzzy way, and single notes have a kind of buzzy, violin-like sustain – great for those Eric Johnson moments, especially with some nice cascading analog delay repeats.

Kicking in the buffer has an additional and very practical use: to eliminate an annoying oscillation which can occur between this type of fuzz and certain wah wah pedals. But it also has a drastic effect on the tone, almost kicking the sound up to hi-fi levels (which is not usually a term associated with vintage fuzz). Pick attack and note definition are increased, as are upper midrange harmonics. I loved this sound through my slightly overdriven Marshall DSL50 head, where it added an old school fuzz edge while pushing the amp into a more modern high gain sound. Lower gain levels on the pedal, or volume settings on the guitar, clean up the sound while maintaining that cool vintage vibe. Using my Ibanez Jem7VWH and a more modern-sounding digital delay, the result was a thick, compressed tone with lots of harmonics and an upper midrange spike with added thump to palm-muted notes on the lower strings while evening out legato lines on the higher ones.

Despite its simple origins, this is a very versatile pedal which can be appreciated by rockers, fusionists, blues guys, even metalheads who need an extra lashing of evil for solos. I’m sure I’ll be adding one to my ever-growing pedalboard as soon as possible, especially for the aforementioned Jem/digital delay/overdriven Marshall combination.

CLICK HERE to buy the MXR Classic 108 Fuzz from Tunnel Vision Music.

GUEST POST: Guitar Noize - Ibanez JS1000 review

This is a guest post by Jon from Guitar Noize. Head on over there after you've finished reading this!

The reason I chose the JS over say a JEM or an RG was due to a couple of reasons, firstly the neck profile is like nothing else Ibanez make. I used to own an early 90's RG550DX which had a wizard neck which while I liked at the time doesn't feel as comfortable in my hands as a Fender style of neck. My Patrick Eggle Berlin which I've had since '94 always felt quite small in my hands whereas the JS feels a little wider and fills my hand. The second reason was because of the body profile, it is so incredibly comfortable and seems to wrap itself around your body. It is also quite light in weight even though the tone from the Basswood body is very thick in my opinion and almost has as much bass response as my Eggle which is solid Mahogany with a set Mahogany neck! I'm also a big Satriani fan and have always thought that they look really cool when Joe plays them, they always sound amazing both on record and live and you don't see a lot of people playing them which is strange considering how versatile they are, but I suppose some people like a nice figured Maple top instead, the very reason I may get a J-Custom at some point ;)

As you are probably aware Joe Satriani is a big fan of Whammy bar antics and most of his signature models over the years have had a Floyd Rose style trem on them. The Edge Pro on the JS is perfect for his signature divebombs and flutters and yet is also capable of very subtle vibrato and bends a la Jeff Beck. I remember the RG500DX had an Edge Lo-Pro which was my first guitar with a double locking trem and I loved it, finally a guitar that stayed in tune no matter how much whammy abuse! Ever since I sold that guitar I have wanted that tuning stability and control back, my Wilkinson VS100 just doesn't cut it on the Eggle, in fact I might block it because it kind of sits somewhere in between a floating and fixed bridge when I think fixed would suit better. The Edge Pro is a little more OFR looking than the Lo-Pro which was a very sleek unit and I've already rubbed off the black paintwork in places where my palm rests but that just adds character in my opinion! The good thing about the Edge Pro is that you don't have to cut off the ball ends on your strings if you don't want to, something that bugged me with the Lo-Pro. I do like the fact that you are supplied with little plastic clips that go on the whammy bar to adjust the stiffness, you can go from Eddie Van Halen style swinging loose bar, to Steve Vai style point the whammy bar backwards for crazy reverse flutters and it stays there!

The tonal range from this guitar is amazing, the neck humbucker is a DiMarzio PAF Pro a medium output pickup which is incredibly musical and almost inspires me to play blues licks similar to my Eggle's Seymour Duncan SH-2, but it also sounds great when you add some overdrive and retains the clarity you sometimes lose with the neck position pickup. I don't think I had noticed before how much Joe uses this pickup, but it is a major part of his recording tone. The bridge pickup is a DiMarzio Fred which although replaced recently on the JS1200 by the Mo Joe which is slightly higher output the Fred humbucker has been a part of Joe's sound for many years and records. I always wondered when I listened to "Flying in a Blue Dream" how he got that incredible sound where every touch of the pick seemed to produce amazing harmonics, apparently this was an accidental discovery when creating a prototype for Joe. The Fred started out as a PAF Pro with boosted midrange which maintains its precision and articulate tone when you add some distortion, as if Joe Satriani would want anything less? Some people don't like this guitar because it is really tailored to create Joe's Solo sounds so has less bass response than say a Les Paul but I have my Eggle if I ever really need an extra bit of depth to my rhythm sound.I personally feel that I can get a very wide range of Rock and dare I say Metal tones from these pickups and yet with the flick, or should I say pull, of the tone pot I have very usable Single Coil tones. This is further enhanced by the high pass filter which you engage by pulling the volume pot, I actually never split the coils without also engaging the high pass filter it cleans up the sound by cutting out some of the muddy bass frequencies inherent in Humbuckers.

If you are into extreme Metal then I would have to say this guitar may not be for you with the stock pickups, but a set of Actives and a hi-gain amp would no doubt change the character of this amazing instrument, I mean it has more wood in the body than an S Series and I've just seen a photo of Chris Broderick playing one of those! If you don't think that this guitar is suitable for blues I beg to differ I have managed to get everything from BB King cleans to Tube Screaming Stevie Ray Vaughan, if you don't believe me check out my YouTube channel! I think that this is a guitar than can do almost everything which makes it a very good investment!

CLICK HERE to buy the Ibanez JS1000 (Black Pearl) from Guitar Center for $1,522.49.

CLICK HERE to buy the Ibanez JS1200 (Candy Apple) from Guitar Center for $1799.99.

CLICK HERE to buy the Ibanez Joe Satriani 20th from Guitar Center for $5999.99.

CLICK HERE to see Ibanez Joe Satriani models on eBay.

NEWS: More Chickenfoot info

I was just over at the Van Halen News Desk looking for news and I stumbled upon some cool information about Chickenfoot, the new supergroup featuring Sammy Hagar, Michael Anthony, Joe Satriani and Chad Smith. Parts of the story are below and you can read the full article HERE but here are some highlights:

* The name Chickenfoot appears to have well and truly stuck.

* The album will be released in the second quarter of the year.

* The band will tour.

* There will be a Guitar World feature on the band soon.

The band completed their first photo shoot a week ago. The photographer, Ross Halfin, wrote in his Feb. 10th journal:

“Got up at 5am and flew up to San Francisco. I’m doing a shoot with Chickenfoot, the new group with Sammy Hagar, Joe Satriani, Chad Smith, and Michael Anthony. It was so early after driving out to Mill Valley, an hour north, it was still only 10am - sunny and freezing. The band arrived eventually with Sammy last at 2pm and he only lives up the street. Shoot quite a lot with solos, group stuff, ads, you name it.

Heard three tracks which were quite rocking, including “Avenida Revolution”. It was nice seeing Sammy. I first shot him thirty years ago in the same area. Sammy has a Ferarri that is the fastest model made for the road. He took me for a terrifying drive at two hundred miles an hour around the local streets. Sammy can drive - I felt like I was on a mini scalectrix track in a remake of Death Race 2000. I do not like fast cars…

Finished up shooting Sam and his new toy. In his warehouse were several of them - a car pervert’s delight. Said goodbye to Sammy and flew back to Los Angeles early evening.”

Photo: Ross Halfin

NEWS: Queensryche album info, tour dates

I received some more information today about Queensryche's new album, American Soldier, which is out on March 31 on Atco/Rhino. I've been cranking the 30-second song samples here at the Rhino website and I can't wait to hear the full album. It reminds me of some of my favourite stuff from Tribe and Promised Land.

(Update: right now (5:27pm Saturday Australian time, 20:27pm Friday Los Angeles time) the clips don't seem to be working on the Rhino site. Hopefully they'll be back soon or will show up on the Amazon preorder page).

THE EYES OF A SOLDIER

Queensrÿche Salutes The Troops With American Soldier

Album Available March 31 From Atco/Rhino; U.S. Tour To Begin April 16 In Seattle

LOS ANGELES -- Queensrÿche envisions war through the eyes of a soldier with the band's twelfth studio release, the epic concept album AMERICAN SOLDIER. The ambitious album encompasses a dozen songs inspired by numerous interviews with veterans conducted by Geoff Tate, the group's singer and chief songwriter, who was intent on telling their story using their words.
After speaking with soldiers who served in various conflicts -- from World War II to Iraq -- Tate turned their firsthand experiences from the frontlines into an unflinching musical examination of the life of a soldier and the consequences of war. AMERICAN SOLDIER will be available from Atco/Rhino on March 31 for a suggested list price of $18.98 (CD) and $9.99 (digital).

Tate, Michael Wilton (guitar), Ed Jackson (bass) and Scott Rockenfield (drums) recorded the album in 2008 over the course of nine months. The idea for AMERICAN SOLDIER, Tate says, came from hearing stories from fans that are veterans, as well as his own father, who served in both Korea and Vietnam. "My father was a career military man, but until very recently he never spoke about what he went through. I think that reticence is true of a lot of veterans, which means most people never truly understand what it means to be a soldier at war. Hearing what he and some of our fans have endured made me want to share their stories with the world. This is an album about the soldiers, for the soldiers, as told by the soldiers themselves."

Those stories resonate at the heart of AMERICAN SOLDIER, imbuing each song with vivid details about both the emotional and physical impacts of war, evoking war zone battles ("Middle Of Hell"), sacrifice ("The Killer"), loss ("If I Were King"), the longing for home ("Remember Me"), and adjusting to society after returning from war ("Man Down!").

Tate recorded many of his interviews with the soldiers, and some dialogue from these discussions is mixed into several of tracks, allowing the soldiers' own words to help tell their compelling stories. The band also brought a few of the soldiers into the studio with them to record vocals. The verses of the track "Unafraid" feature the voices of Chris Devine, a Vietnam veteran, and Sean Lenahan, a veteran of Somalia, recalling their war experiences while Tate provides the anthemic chorus. Also making a guest vocal appearance is Tate's 10-year-old daughter Emily on the gripping duet "Home Again," which examines the emotional toll of war from two perspectives, with Geoff singing from the soldier's point of view and his daughter singing from the viewpoint of the child left behind.

Making the album, Tate says, was an enlightening process. "I was surprised to learn how little has changed through the generations. I spoke with a Vietnam vet whose experience wasn't all that different from a soldier who fought in Somalia almost 30 years later. But what surprised me the most was how antiwar most soldiers are. To me, that makes their sacrifices even more moving."

Soon after the release of AMERICAN SOLDIER, Queensrÿche will launch an extensive spring tour of the U.S., with international dates to follow later in 2009. The shows will be presented in three suites, with the band performing sets from AMERICAN SOLDIER, RAGE FOR ORDER and EMPIRE. The first date of the tour will be April 16 at Snoqualmie Casino in the band's hometown of Seattle.

AMERICAN SOLDIER
Track Listing

1. "Sliver"
2. "Unafraid"
3. "Hundred Mile Stare"
4. "At 30,000 ft."
5. "A Dead Man's Words"
6. "The Killer"
7. "Middle Of Hell"
8. "If I Were King"
9. "Man Down!"
10. "Remember Me"
11. "Home Again"
12. "The Voice"

Queensrÿche U.S. Tour Dates

APRIL
16 Snoqualmie, WA Snoqualmie Casino
17 Snoqualmie, WA Snoqualmie Casino
18 Portland, OR Roseland Theatre
19 Chico, CA Senator Theatre
22 Anaheim, CA House Of Blues
23 San Diego, CA House Of Blues
24 Los Angeles, CA House Of Blues
25 Las Vegas, NV House Of Blues
26 Salt Lake City, UT The Depot
28 Denver, CO Paramount Theater
29 Kansas City, MO Voodoo Lounge @ Harrah's
30 Milwaukee, WI Northern Lights Theater

MAY
1 Milwaukee, WI Northern Lights Theater
2 St. Paul, MN Myth
3 Walker, MN Northern Lights Casino
5 Grand Rapids, MI Intersection
6 Cleveland, OH House Of Blues
7 Chicago, IL House Of Blues
8 Chicago, IL House Of Blues
9 Mt. Clemens, MI Emerald Theatre
10 Greensburg, PA Palace Theatre
12 Verona, NY Turning Stone Casino
13 Stamford, CT The Palace Theater
14 Sayerville, NJ Starland Ballroom
15 New York, NY Nokia Theatre
16 Atlantic City, NJ House Of Blues
17 N. Myrtle Beach, SC House Of Blues
19 Tampa, FL Ruth Eckerd Hall
20 Lake Buena Vista, FL House Of Blues
21 New Orleans, LA House Of Blues
22 Houston, TX House Of Blues
23 San Antonio, TX Hemisfair Park
24 Dallas, TX House Of Blues
29 Albuquerque, NM Kiva Auditorium
30 Phoenix, AZ Dodge

JUNE
3 Agoura Hills, CA Canyon Club Theater
4 San Francisco, CA Fillmore
5 Kelseyville, CA Konocti Harbor

NOVEMBER
11/15-11/20 Grand Cayman & Jamaica - Ship Rocked Cruise

NEWS: Vox Time Machine delay demo

ProGuitarShop has just posted this video demo of the new Vox Time Machine Joe Satriani delay pedal. Sounds very cool! Might have to make some room on my pedalboard for this baby.



CLICK HERE to buy the Time Machine from ProGuitarShop.

CLICK HERE to buy the Time Machine from Guitar Center.

NEWS: Gary Kramer Turbulence models. Awesome.

So I’m sitting here cruising the internets and having a good ol’ daydream about guitars, guitars and more guitars (jeez, what’s new, huh?) and finding myself ever so drawn to these twisted-looking Gary Kramer Turbulence models (yes, THAT Gary Kramer – he has a new company now).

The R-36 is cool enough, with its 36 frets, 7 strings and striking yellow finish (or the black version in the pick above), but check out this killer DNA model pictured below – Dimarzio Evolution pickup, plus a Vai-style DNA swirl finish by the legendary Herc Fede, who painted my custom Ibanez (which I still haven't got around to finishing).

Of course, if the R-36 is too much for ya, remove a string, add a pickup and reduce the fret count to ‘only’ 29 and you have the R-29, which also looks pretty cool in its own wacky way. These are pretty out-there guitars so you'd probably need a thick skin to protect you from traditionalists, but I think there's something kinda cool about standing up on stage saying "Yeah, I'm playing metal on a giant luminous banana, big whoop, wanna fight about it?"

So has anyone played any of these new Gary Kramer guitars?

CLICK HERE to see the Gary Kramer Guitar eBay store.

NEWS: New Yngwie acoustic EP out March 10

Yngwie seems to be cranking out new stuff now that he has his own label. On March 10 (US) and April 1 (Japan) he's releasing Angels of Love, a 7-track set featuring new acoustic recordings of instrumental ballads.

The track list is:

1. Like an Angel
2. Save Our Love
3. Prelude To April
4. Sorrow
5. Memories
6. Miracle of Life
7. Forever One.

CLICK HERE to preorder the CD on Amazon.com