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So smooth. So sexy. So frickin’ expensive! Hi. I’m Joe, and I’m a flatwound addict. It took me a long time admit it. “What wrong with a little recrational flatwound use?” I used to ask. “I can quit anytime I want.” Sure, I’d sometimes put flatwound strings on my Guild archtop. And sometimes […] This is my fifth and latest DIY guitar experiment using Warmoth parts. Most of the tech details are in the video, but I’ll share a few additional experiences and impressions. I’ve been thinking about making something using the Fender Swinger body profile for a couple of years. My earlier Kitschcaster used Wamoth’s […] 
Carr Lincoln and Skylark amps. I’ve been using my Carr Skylark amp incessantly for the last 18 months or so. I’d originally reviewed it for Premier Guitar magazine, and then I bought one for myself. I dig the fact that, while Skylark is inspired by 1960s Fender amps, builder Steve Carr made numerous […] As if I weren’t already blowing enough money on arcane strings, I’ve got a new obsession: Thomastik-Infeld Plectrum series acoustic strings (which sell for $24 in the U.S.). If you hang out here much, you’ve heard me bitch incessantly about acoustic strings. I hate the way most modern strings are all hyped treble […] I just completed my third DIY guitar experiment using Warmoth parts. This one is a wacky Fender/Gretsch hybrid with a semi-acoustic Fender Starcaster body, a reverse, angled Strat neck, and various Gretsch-like elements, including TV Jones Filter’Tron pickups, a Bigsby/Vibramate vibrato, and a vulgar silver-sparkle finish — a tribute to the Gretsch Silver Jet, […] No longer ridiculously expensive. Now they’re just very expensive. I spent last week covering the Musikmesse musical instrument trade show in Frankfurt, Germany, for Premier Guitar. I had a blast, and Chris Kies and I posted details and pics of more than 70 new products. (Here’s the short list of our personal faves.) […] Oh, man — I’m flipping out over a new guitar I’ve assembled from Warmoth parts. It was an opportunity to try some new experiments — and amazingly, some of them may have worked! I had several unrelated goals: a better instrument to use with my digital rig, with the best possible MIDI tracking and […] It’s a holiday miracle! The 30-minute Bigsby tremolo installation. Sometimes it pays to write for a guitar magazine! My old pal and Premier Guitar colleague Andy Ellis hipped me to the Vibramate, an adapter that allows you to install a Bigsby tremolo on many types of guitars with no drilling or other permanent […] Do you ever get an idea that you just know is going to work out brilliantly? And then discover you were totally wrong? That’s how it was when I finally reassembled my generic Mexican Strat with Duncan lipstick tube pickups. After I recorded a demoing of it here almost two years ago, the guitar lay […] 
As threatened, the Fuzz Detective video: WHAT: Twelve germanium fuzz circuits compared and analyzed. These represent the sounds of almost every fuzz pedal introduced between 1962 and 1968. WHY: A tool to help players identify the circuits most relevant to their musical needs. This isn’t about particular brands of pedals, but the circuits they […] |
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