Music is the universal language
“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” - Luke 2:14
Norse Guitar Feeds
Featuring a snow globe and even a working thermometer, the bizarre climate change guitar played by Spinal Tap’s Nigel Tufnel is headed to auction
A unique Ernie Ball guitar played by Spinal Tap’s Nigel Tufnel is going under the hammer this month, and is expected to fetch up to £12,000.
The guitar was played by Tufnel (actor Christopher Guest) for the parody rock band’s gig at Wembley Live Earth in 2007. This special one-off event was no spoof, however, and was put on to raise awareness of climate change. Over 150 musical acts played in 12 locations around the world, including London’s Wembley Stadium.
As you can imagine for a guitarist who likes to crank things up to 11, the model is particularly wacky and even features a working thermometer. It also has a laser-engraved image of a burning planet Earth, control knobs in the shape of pyramids and ice cubes, and even hosts a snow globe containing a figurine of former US vice president Al Gore.
Based on the Silhouette 20th anniversary model from Ernie Ball, the instrument took over 1,200 hours to design and build. It’s now being sold by a private individual to fund his love of travelling the world to see his favourite bands play live, with Pearl Jam named as a particular example.
Auctioneer Luke Hobbs, who will be selling the guitar, says: “This is one of those weird and wonderful guitars that’s a delight to auction. It’s a genuinely unique instrument – and it always raises a smile.”
The sale will take place at Gardiner Houlgate specialist music auctions in Corsham, Wiltshire on Tuesday 9 June. The World On Fire guitar will be available for public viewing on Friday 5 June and Monday 8 June from 9am–5.30pm, as well as on the day of the sale itself.
Find out more via Gardiner Houlgate.
Credit: Gardiner Houlgate
The post Featuring a snow globe and even a working thermometer, the bizarre climate change guitar played by Spinal Tap’s Nigel Tufnel is headed to auction appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
The 2026 Martin Journal is all about music education, with exclusive interviews with Jason Isbell and Molly Tuttle, and a deep dive into Martin’s new partnership with Paul McCartney’s music school
“Music education is about more than learning notes and chords – it’s a pathway to creativity, confidence, discipline, and human connection,” says Martin CEO Thomas Ripsam.
As musicians, all our stories are different, but we all remember the first time we picked up a guitar, and how quickly we became obsessed with learning how to play the instrument and start playing our favourite songs.
Many persevere, but many aspiring players also quit, and it’s a number Martin has made its mission to drive down.
As evidenced by its industry-leading contributions to music education programmes – which include 103 grants totalling nearly $600,000 via the Martin Guitar Charitable Foundation in 2025 alone – the legendary acoustic guitar brand is adopting the mantra: “More to start and fewer to quit”, and celebrates all things Music Education in the 2026 edition of the Martin Journal.
The new Martin Journal: The Music Education Issue – created by Guitar.com in partnership with Martin, sees the top brass at the nearly-200-year-old acoustic guitar powerhouse wax lyrical on their formative moments picking up a six-string, and features exclusive interviews with leading Martin players including fingerstyle maestro Molly Tuttle and Americana icon Jason Isbell.
“I had coveted Dreadnoughts since I was a kid,” Tuttle explains of her early love of Martin acoustic guitars. “In the end, my dad worked out a deal with the shop: if I could save up $2,000, they would let me buy a D-28.”
“A Martin guitar doesn’t insist on being the main character,” says Isbell, who recently unveiled two Martin signatures modelled after his treasured pre-war 0-17. “It’s an instrument that’s clearly designed for people who take their music seriously, but it’s not trying to be the most beautiful thing in the room.”
The new Martin Journal also dives deep into Martin’s groundbreaking new partnership with the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA), the music school founded by Paul McCartney and Mark Featherstone-Witty. The school – founded in 1996 – reached a milestone in 2025 when it received clearance to award its own degrees, previously awarded through Liverpool John Moores University.
“It’s a huge thing for us,” LIPA’s CEO and principal Sean McNamara tells us in the new Martin Journal. “It completes the last step of the journey, from being established in what was a derelict building in 1996 to becoming an autonomous performing arts university.”
The new partnership has seen Martin donate three guitars, a bass and a ukulele to the school to help students learn, and will see Martin award the top-graduating guitar student with Paul McCartney’s favourite acoustic guitar, the legendary D-28.
“Music, imagination and creative expression are part of our DNA at LIPA, and you can feel that same spirit deeply embedded within Martin as well,” McNamara says.
You can read the full 2026 Martin Journal at martinguitar.com.
The post The 2026 Martin Journal is all about music education, with exclusive interviews with Jason Isbell and Molly Tuttle, and a deep dive into Martin’s new partnership with Paul McCartney’s music school appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Meet Positive Grid’s Reactor amp series – powered by “Amp Intelligence” that builds tone from text prompts, photos and recordings
Positive Grid has launched a brand-new amplifier range called Reactor, which arrives with new “Amp Intelligence” technology that can use a range of prompts to create unique tones.
The new series marks its first amp range outside of its successful Spark family that has been praised by Guitar.com on numerous occasions, from the Spark Mini to the Spark Live. The Reactor series at launch includes two combo amps that are 50W and 100W respectively, but both offer a selectable wattage slider.
- READ MORE: Positive Grid BIAS X review – “it’s like having a virtual studio engineer doing the hard work”
To build Reactor’s Amp Intelligence, over 200 amp designs were decoded at the circuit level: gain stages, transformers, bias points, and harmonic response were examined, capturing the behavioral DNA of popular and “legendary” amps.
In true Positive Grid fashion, players can use the accompanying Creator Hub app to get the most out of Amp Intelligence. Here, its Tone Capture tool lets you input your desired images, audio or text. You then get a complete signal chain or custom amp in return.
Essentially, you can take photos of any amp, pedalboard, or anything else that inspires a sound. You can also describe amps, artists, other ideas in your own words, or upload a track. Reactor remembers your prompts, adjustments, and settings.
Further features can be accessed via control knobs and switches on the amp itself. Its panel hosts one knob that includes six amp categories: Extreme, Hi-Gain, Crunch, Grit, Warm, and Clean.
You can also tweak classic Gain, EQ, and Master controls, or experiment with “two switches you won’t find on any other amp”: Reactor’s Push/Smooth takes you from laid-back rhythm to cutting lead, while its Heat +/- switch adjusts feel and harmonics without significantly changing volume, according to Positive Grid.
Credit: Positive Grid
Its selectable wattage lets users toggle between 1W, 25W, or full power and both amp variations host a custom 12″ speaker in a wood cabinet. You can also purchase an optional Reactor Control footswitch for further, hands-free control.
View the videos below, including a demo from Smashing Pumpkins’ Kiki Wong, to learn more:
The 50W variation of Reactor is priced at USD $349, while the 100W version is USD $449. View full specifications at Positive Grid.
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Are vintage guitars better than new ones? Philip Sayce thinks so – and here’s why
There are some debates in the guitar world that are perennial. ‘Is it better to spend your money on a good guitar or a good amp?’ is one. ‘Does tone come from your gear or your fingers?’ is another.
But one of the fiercest debates among gearheads revolves around whether vintage guitars are inherently better than newly built ones. Legendary guitarist Eric Johnson thinks they’re not always better, saying in April this year: “It’s not the perfect guitar just because it’s old and worth money.”
But like all of the guitar space’s biggest debates, there are prominent voices on both sides, and one player who reckons vintage guitars are better than new ones is Welsh-born American and Canadian guitarist Philip Sayce.
As he reasons in a new interview with Guitarist magazine, vintage guitars sound better as their wood is decades old and is “dry and settled”, leading to a better tone.
“I don’t think modern builders are getting it wrong or missing anything,” he says. “The wood on a vintage guitar that’s 60-plus years old is dry and settled. When those guitars were made, that wood might’ve already been 100 years old. You can get really close now, but there’s maybe that last five or 10 per cent where it comes down to the resonance and the age of the wood.”
Sayce also believes the pickups on vintage guitars plays a part in their superior tone.
“The pickups make a huge difference, too,” he continues. “Some people have this idea that overwinding a pickup is better, and that’s not always true. The pickups in [Sayce’s] ‘Mother’ [Stratocaster] are from ‘58. They’re slightly underwound and sound great.
“We also did a project with Seymour Duncan, recreating the pickups from ‘Mother’, and it was fascinating, just really getting into the details of what made them sound that way. The Seymour Duncan team did a fabulous job and the Duncan Mother pickups sound fantastic.”
Philip Sayce’s love affair with vintage Strats has been a long one. He says it was “always a dream” to have one of his own.
“All my heroes – [Eric] Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan, [Mark] Knopfler, Buddy Guy – they were playing those guitars,” he explains. “I had been hearing from players and collectors over and over again that the ‘62s and ‘63s were the sweet spot for vintage Strats.
“A friend of mine helped me find my first one. The second one, the ‘Big Daddy’ Strat, was actually a guitar I missed out on years earlier. Then 10 or 15 years later, a buddy called me and said, ‘Hey, I just saw this guitar and it made me think of you.’ He sent a picture and it was the exact same guitar. So I sold a bunch of stuff and bought it. That one felt like it was meant to be.”
You can view a list of all of Philip Sayce’s upcoming tour dates via his official website.
The post Are vintage guitars better than new ones? Philip Sayce thinks so – and here’s why appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
“We don’t write things that would be boring live” Guilt Trip on why they’re committed to keeping hardcore as intense as possible
The next time you catch an elbow at a show, take a second to see if it’s connected to someone wearing a Guilt Trip shirt. A lot of hardcore bands have blown up in recent years, with American heavyweights Turnstile and Knocked Loose chief among them, but the Manchester upstarts typify a young, hungry breed of UK acts rapidly closing the gap, with eye-watering streaming numbers crashing into the huge circle pits they’re whipping up across festival grounds.
Their new record Armour of Angels is intended as fuel for this fire, with the band picturing how each shoutalong hook or ignorant breakdown might spark carnage in a crowd. “We’re definitely having them conversations while we’re writing,” guitarist Jak Maden says. “We always say to each other, ‘Are you moshing?’”
And there are precious few moments on the LP that aren’t spinkickable. Vocalist Jay Valentine is spring-loaded with Jamey Jasta-esque energy, barking and snarling while bassist Lily Kilcoyne and drummer Tom Aimson lock into pummelling rhythms, with songs such as Veins getting through nu-metal atmospherics, murderous double kick salvos and a ripping skank part in a shade under three minutes. Tapping into this fast-moving sense of mayhem, Maden and Sam Baker’s guitar style is defined by muscular chug, dives, scoops and wah-laced thrash solos.
Image: Press
Brutish And Short
It feels odd to say that it’s a refinement of their approach on 2023’s Severance given the brutish nature of the record, but that’s what it is. In the decade and change since they formed – Valentine and Maden have been friends since primary school, meeting Kilcoyne, Aimson and Baker in the Manchester hardcore scene – the band have found a way to thread their influences through the eye of a needle.
In recent photos of the group, the T-shirts on display range from Staind to All Out War, Slipknot to Biohazard, and you can hear it in each change-up. In the here and now, Baker says, Guilt Trip are simply better at writing Guilt Trip songs than they were a few years ago. “This album is heavier, but not intentionally,” he says. “Especially with Jak’s writing, there’s a lot of Whammy in the riffs and I think it’s just because it’s fun [for us]. We don’t play things, or write things, that would be boring live, you know?”
Armour of Angels was produced by the band at StudiOwz, a residential facility in Pembrokeshire, Wales. “We’ve always self-produced,” Maden observes. “A lot of bands our size are clawing [their way] into that metal world rather than the hardcore world. Usually, they’ll get a producer. But we’re all so hands on — we’ve already got [multiple] opinions. I understand that having one more from outside can help calm everyone else down, but I think we would struggle with constantly disagreeing with that person.”
Jak Maden. Image: Georgina Hurdsfield
Peripheral Vision
This time, they recorded alongside engineer Adam ‘Nolly’ Getgood, best known for his work as guitarist/bassist and producer with tech-metal giants Periphery. As well as playing Decapitated in the control room, Getgood had Bullet For My Valentine’s The Poison in mind as a guitar template.
For Maden and Baker, meanwhile, the holy grail was located somewhere between Machine Head’s The Blackening and Dez Fafara’s post-Coal Chamber outfit DevilDriver. “Not many bands are doing that now,” Maden observes. “A lot of them are in drop G with HM-2s on it, whereas this is literally a refinement of your stock metal tone from the mid-2000s. That’s what we love.”
Guilt Trip went in knowing this is what they wanted and Getgood helped them to get there. Crucially, they did it using the band’s own equipment. Guitar-wise, the dominant force was a Jackson RR24 Rhoads, which “won the shoot out” due to its capacity for Meshuggah-esque chug.
“Then it was a Peavey 3120, which is quite a rare guitar head, straight into the miniature Ibanez Tube Screamer,” Maden says. “That’s it for the rhythm tone. Then we discovered the [Electro-Harmonix] Electric Mistress – all the harmonics were recorded with that on, and all the leads.”
“Every harmonic on the record has a bit of chorus on it,” he continues. “Nolly basically did a deep dive into Robb Flynn’s rig from Machine Head. We found that he was using that chorus so we bought one instantly. We turned it on and straight away it was like, ‘Yeah, we found it, finally.’ We tweaked it a little bit so we’ve got our own sound with it. But all the little leads, especially on Cut From God, that cool lead part, that’s all using the Electric Mistress. That’s it, I think.” Baker confirms it. “That’s literally it,” he says.
Sam Baker. Image: Georgina Hurdsfield
Travelling Light
This is a bit of a recurring theme for both guitarists – they’re not ones for gear overkill, whether that’s live or in the studio. Maden points to a recent co-headline trek with their friends in Sheffield metalcore institution Malevolence as an example of their approach. “They had to freight their gear and had like 14 Pelicans and the guitars,” he says. “And we literally had five things on the plane.” One of them, Baker notes, was a reusable carrier bag from UK sports retail institution Sports Direct full of merch. “When we go international now, our Quad Cortex is just going in our backpack,” Maden adds, with both players leaning hard on new EMG humbucker-loaded Jackson American series Soloists for that run.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, those precision-tooled metal guitars are a far cry from the duo’s entry point into playing. For a 12-year-old Maden, the first step was a sunburst Squier Strat from Argos, complete with “little amp, cables and all that shit”. “It was Kaiser Chiefs that made me want to play guitar,” he recalls.
“Music had finally become, like, an actual thing that I wanted to put on. Before that, I was just playing out, riding bikes, playing with Lego. I think I finally found something that I liked, whereas it was always just the radio in the car before that. With indie music it was the guitars that made it different to pop. I begged and begged my mum and dad for a guitar.”
Baker was a drummer first, but guitar was never far away thanks to an older brother who practiced religiously at home. Through sibling osmosis he heard Rage Against the Machine and System of a Down, eventually deciding to set aside the sticks in favour of six strings and a cherry red Epiphone SG.
“It was a joint Christmas present,” Baker says. “But I didn’t really play it at all. I got it, and then I just stopped until I was about 15. A mate of mine knew that I played a bit, and he was like, ‘Do you want to start a hardcore band?’ I played my first gig on guitar half a year after that. I’d just turned 16. The first thing guitarist-wise that I latched on to would have been something like Gallows, hardcore punk from the UK. I saw them jumping around and I thought, ‘That looks way more fun than drums.’”
Jak Maden. Image: Georgina Hurdsfield
Running Free
Running like a thread through both guitarists’ history, though, is one small red rectangle. It’s there on the spine of The Blackening and the Slipknot records that paved the way for Baker to get into genuinely heavy stuff — the Roadrunner Records logo. Now, years later, Armour of Angels is set to be released by the label that shaped their understanding of metal, closing a loop.
“Every band that I’ve idolised has been on that label, or is still on that label,” Baker says. “My first CD was a Nickelback one, All the Right Reasons,” Maden adds. “That was a Roadrunner one. For some reason, even as a kid, I just remember that little red thing. It’s probably the only record label I knew the name of. It’s a dream come true for all of us.”
It’s not one they intend to let fade out. Once Armour of Angels is released they’ll hit the road, mixing the odd festival date with a run opening for Dying Wish in the United States, building up to a set at Sound & Fury, one of the key dates in the hardcore calendar. Then, in the autumn, they’ll play an eye-catching headline run on home turf, including the Electric Ballroom in London, before heading to mainland Europe.
At each turn, they’re keen to put on for their scene, drawing attention to the way things have changed in the UK and, more pointedly, Manchester in the recent past. Twenty years ago bands such as Broken Teeth were holding down the fort. Now, the annual fest Outbreak has an arena-sized footprint on the world stage. They’re part of that buzz. “Not many UK bands have gone to America and headlined similar caps to what they do at home or in Europe,” Maden says. “Us and Malevolence going out there has really opened the door, I hope. We really flexed that we were from the UK.”
Guilt Trip’s Armour of Angels is out on June 5 through Roadrunner Records.
The post “We don’t write things that would be boring live” Guilt Trip on why they’re committed to keeping hardcore as intense as possible appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
“I’m nowhere near qualified to start dabbling in the Van Halen world”: Steve Lukather says he’s not playing any guitar on the posthumous Van Halen record, and that the material Eddie Van Halen left over is “not throwaway s**t”
![[L-R] Steve Lukather and Eddie Van Halen](https://guitar.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Steve-Lukather-Eddie-Van-Halen-hero@2000x1500.jpg)
When news broke of Steve Lukather collaborating with Alex Van Halen to rework and release old Van Halen demos, people assumed the Toto guitarist would be filling in for the late Eddie Van Halen. However, Lukather has set the record straight – he’s offering his services as a co-producer, not a guitarist.
Who is playing guitar on the new Van Halen record, then? Well, that’s the exciting part: every riff on the record was recorded by Eddie. That means a whole album of unheard Eddie riffs is coming… and Lukather has called them “jaw-dropping”.
Speaking to Guitar Player, Lukather emphasises just how exciting these new tracks are sounding. “I’m telling you, this is not throwaway shit,” he says. “When I heard them, I said to Al, ‘How fucking come you didn’t use these?’ And the answer was because nobody could write to [Eddie’s abandoned recordings].”
“If you think this is a bunch of throwaway crap that we’re trying to Mickey Mouse together to suck the dollar out of poor, unsuspecting Van Halen fans, it’s not,” he adds.
Lukather is quick to silence any rumours of him taking on Eddie’s axeman duties. “That’s the most ridiculous and humorous thing I’ve ever heard,” he laughs. “I am no more qualified to try and play like Ed Van Halen than I am to be the first man to tug my dick on the planet. I don’t know how anybody could think that would even be a reality. Honestly, it’s laughable… I don’t play like Ed.”
After insisting “I’m not qualified,” he provides a list of more suitable options: “Call Dweezil Zappa… he plays that shit. Call Nuno Bettencourt! I can name 10 guys, like Steve Vai or Joe Satriani. I’m nowhere near qualified to start dabbling in the Van Halen world.”
With that in mind, Lukather isn’t offended that his guitar skills aren’t being utilised. “I am there 100% to be his co-producer and help him through the technical aspects – I’m not gonna play,” he clarifies. “There’s not gonna be any Lukather or Toto fingerprints on a Van Halen thing. I can fucking promise you that!”
In fact, Lukather was simply happy to lend a hand and support Alex, who has been a close friend for over 45 years. “I don’t have ulterior motives,” he says. “This is not about money. This is about love of the guys and trying to help. I’m not gonna be involved in an obvious way. So, I wish people would get the fuck off my back!”
Lukather’s chat with Guitar Player corroborates a previous interview Alex had with Brazilian journalist Gastão Moreira for Kazagastão back in February. At the time, the Van Halen drummer explained that “the drums, the guitar and the bass are already in there”.
While some believed this could mean Lukather had already recorded some new riffs, Lukather’s interview makes things a lot clearer. The guitars were already recorded before he got involved – and they had been recorded and ready to use for years.
The post “I’m nowhere near qualified to start dabbling in the Van Halen world”: Steve Lukather says he’s not playing any guitar on the posthumous Van Halen record, and that the material Eddie Van Halen left over is “not throwaway s**t” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Review: Grace Design’s MOXi, a Two-Channel Instrument Preamp, Offers Pristine Sound and Streamlined Features
“Get a good amp or you’re always going to sound s**tty!”: Billy Duffy on why it’s more important to have a good amp than a good guitar
‘My budget is limited – do I spend more on my guitar or on my amp?’ It’s a question which plagues new guitarists and even seasoned ones alike, with veteran players everywhere having vastly differing views.
Bon Jovi guitarist Phil X, for example, is firmly in the ‘guitar’ camp, saying last year that “what’s in your hands is most important” when it comes to your tone. Whitesnake’s Doug Aldrich agrees, saying in April last year that “you can get a great sound out of any amp that works”.
There are, however, plenty of guitar players on the other side of the debate, saying the amp should be where prospective rig builders should be focusing their attention. Math rock legend Yvette Young, for example, said she’d rather have an expensive amp than an expensive guitar.
And it turns out The Cult’s Billy Duffy is also team amp…
In a new interview with Guitarist magazine, Duffy makes his opinion clear that you can work with a bad guitar, but a bad amp will always ruin your sound.
“It’s interesting because a good amp is a very useful thing to have because there are a lot of bad amps out there… If you buy a good guitar and a bad amp, you’re gonna have to get a good amp or else you’re always going to sound shitty,” he says.
“If you do it the other way around, you might actually sound better with a bad guitar because if the guitar is badly put together, you could change the pickups. It’s much easier to throw a good pickup in the shitty guitar and transform it, right?
“Unless it’s a bad acoustic… You’ll have to find somebody to take it off your hands because there’s no fixing a bad acoustic.”
So there you have it. In a debate which shows no signs of slowing down, you can count Billy Duffy on ‘team amp’.
Elsewhere in the conversation, Duffy is asked which he’d choose if he could only use humbuckers or single-coil pickups for the rest of his career. His answer is simple:
“With humbuckers, I just love the thickness of the sound. Personally, I have never really gotten over walking on stage with a really good Les Paul and a really good Marshall amp, and just letting rip with the visceral nature of what that can do, you know?
“I’ve used single coils on albums for bits and pieces here and there, and for layering guitars. But, for me, they’re a bit too… they’re just kind of delicate, I guess. I’m a bit of an old-school player who likes to feel the air move and the raw power of the thing. And that’s a humbucker for me.”
The post “Get a good amp or you’re always going to sound s**tty!”: Billy Duffy on why it’s more important to have a good amp than a good guitar appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Your first pro IEMs: Clear Tune Monitors CTM CE220
By Carlos Martin Schwab
The Clear Tune Monitors CTM CE220 is a highly capable, entry-level professional in-ear monitor (IEM) that bridges the gap between everyday consumers and touring musicians.
Engineered with a dual balanced armature driver configuration, these monitors split the workload efficiently: one dedicated low-frequency driver generates a robust, punchy bass response that gives a solid foundation to the sound stage, while the second driver delivers warm, natural midranges alongside sparkling, airy highs. Vocals and strings are reproduced cleanly without harshness or fatiguing sibilance.
Comfort is a primary design pillar for the CE220. CTM utilized a unique scientific approach to craft a universal fit shell shaped by averaging data from their extensive library of custom-molded customers. The result is a highly ergonomic design that locks securely in the ear canal, ensuring a flawless acoustic seal even during active live performances. This structure achieves a remarkable -26 dB of passive noise isolation, easily blocking stage noise or ambient distractions.
Built to last, the monitors feature a detachable 4-core braided copper cable using standard 0.78mm 2-pin connectors, offering excellent signal conductivity and easy replacement. Technically, they are highly efficient and easy to drive from any portable source, presenting a 20-ohm impedance, 124 dB SPL sensitivity, and a smooth frequency response ranging from 20 Hz up to 16 kHz. Sold with a protective zipper case, various ear tips, and a quarter-inch adapter, the CE220 stands out as an affordable, durable, and acoustically balanced tool for any stage performer or demanding audiophile.
Pros
Outstanding Comfort and Ergonomics: The shell shape—designed by averaging thousands of CTM’s custom ear molds—fits the ear incredibly well. They are extremely stable, don’t fall out during active stage movement, and cause zero fatigue after hours of continuous use.
Excellent Passive Noise Isolation: Offering a -26 dB noise reduction, this feature is highly praised by live musicians and commuters alike, as it efficiently blocks ambient noise without relying on electronic cancellation.
Warm and Musical Sound Profile: The tuning is coherent, leaning towards a smooth, analog signature. The mid-range sounds organic, and the highs are polite and airy, completely avoiding harsh peaks or piercing sibilance.
Punchy Bass for Balanced Armatures (BA): Unlike other BA-only monitors that can sound thin or dry, the dedicated low-frequency driver delivers a bass response with solid body, warmth, and impact.
Easy to Drive: With a 20-ohm impedance and high sensitivity, they perform beautifully straight out of wireless bodypacks, modest audio interfaces, or smartphones.
Complete Accessory Package: Includes a sturdy zipper case, a 1/4-inch adapter, and a generous variety of both silicone and foam ear tips.
Cons
Loss of Micro-details: By prioritizing a smooth, fatigue-free sound, some of the finest, hyper-analytical details in the high frequencies are sacrificed. They are not the most resolving IEMs on the market.
Slight Congestion (Muddiness): In very fast or complex musical tracks, the sound can feel a bit congested or “cloudy” in the transition between the bass and the lower mid-range.
Basic Plastic Build: While the polycarbonate shell (available in clear or smoke finishes) is robust enough for stage abuse, it looks and feels a bit plain or overly “plastic” compared to resin or metal competitors in the same price bracket.
Average Soundstage and Imaging: The 3D space and instrument separation are perfectly adequate for reference monitoring, but they do not particularly stand out when compared to similarly priced hybrid models from Chi-Fi brands.
Carlos Martin Schwab would like to thank Cesar Milano (Clear Tune Monitors) for his help in writing this article.
Acoustic Month is here at Guitar Center – and you could save up to 30% on your forever acoustic guitar
[Editor’s note: Check out some of the best deals from Guitar Center’s Acoustic Month below. If you’re based outside the US, you’ll see some similar deals from our favourite retail partners local to you.]
If you’re on the hunt for a new acoustic, Guitar Center has got you covered. The company has officially branded June as Acoustic Month, and it’s celebrating by slicing the prices of loads of acoustic guitars, electro-acoustic guitars, and ukuleles by up to 30%.
Up until 24th June, the Acoustic Month sale is offering top deals on top brands, including Epiphone, Taylor, Fender, Gibson and more. We’re talking 25% off a Gibson J-45 Studio Acoustic-Electric with a Rosewood Burst finish; with a price knock of $2,499 down to $1,874, you can save nearly $625 by copping one in the Guitar Center sale.
If you’d prefer a slightly cheaper Gibson J-45 Studio, the Walnut model is also sitting at a 25% discount. The drop brings the price down to just under $1,800. Both models come in the J-45 Studio’s comfortable 24.75” scale length, with each guitar’s respective walnut or rosewood tonewood paired with all-solid sitka spruce tops.
Elsewhere, some Guitar Center exclusive releases have also been marked down. The Martin GPC-X1E Special X Series HPL in particular is currently available for just under $660, which will save you $100. The acoustic-electric guitar comes in a striking white finish, and consists of a strong HPL construction, scalloped X-bracing, and E1 electronics to ensure your tone remains on point.
Another $100 saving on a Guitar Center exclusive comes in the form of Taylor Guitars’ 114ce Sunset Blvd Grand Auditorium. Constructed from a sitka spruce top, layered sapele back and sides, Taylor’s unique C-Class bracing, and finished off with gold hardware, this Sunset Edgeburst model looks as classy as it sounds.
Yamaha also has a few strong deals in the running, with $200 knocked off the price of the AC3M DLX A Series Concert Acoustic-Electric Guitar. The Guitar Center exclusive Sand Burst edition is now just shy of $900, complete with its all-solid mahogany back and sides, sitka spruce top and SRT2 pickup system.
To discover more Acoustic Month deals, head to Guitar Center.
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Steve Vai admits he was worried about being able to play King Crimson’s guitar parts at his age: “65-year-old Steve Vai taking on Robert Fripp at 25 and at the top of his game?”
Emulating another guitarist’s tone can be challenging – but trying to capture the spirit of Robert Fripp? That’s an entirely different ball game. In fact, when Steve Vai was asked to perform in King Crimson supergroup BEAT back in 2022, he initially didn’t believe his chops were up to the task.
Speaking to Classic Rock, Vai reveals that one of his first thoughts upon joining BEAT was “can I even play this stuff?” While Vai was an accomplished axeman, he doubted whether he could compete with the young, hot-blooded Fripp riffing away on ‘80s King Crimson records. “It’s a sixty-five-year-old Steve Vai taking on Robert Fripp at thirty-five and at the top of his game,” he says.
Vai, however, isn’t one to back down easily. “I went back to the music and decided to accept the challenge,” he explains. “I worked with Frank Zappa, and then David Lee Roth after Eddie Van Halen. I’m addicted to challenges!”
To fully get to grips with certain tracks, Vai had to make some adjustments. “On about ten per cent of the material I changed the [finger] position to suit my style, but I’m playing the same notes,” he says. “There were pieces that presented problems. One was Three Of A Perfect Pair – you just had to play it the way Fripp played it. I couldn’t cheat, I had to learn it Robert’s way.”
In a 2025 interview with Vintage Guitar, Vai explained that he had somewhat of a Robert Fripp Bootcamp to finesse his King Crimson skills. “I had to study Fripp…” he said. “I got into his disciplinary style.”
However, Vai noted that he had to adjust Fripp’s style to suit his abilities. Despite his skills, Vai insisted that he felt like no spring chicken when tackling Fripp’s guitar parts. “On Frame by Frame [from King Crimson’s 1981 album Discipline], there’s that relentless cross-picking riff that’s simply outside of my wheelhouse, especially at my age,” he said. “I didn’t feel like I could play it consistently every night, so I needed to figure something out. So, I took it into my wheelhouse, which is tapping.”
Despite having to tweak his approach to certain parts, Vai has been given a firm stamp of approval from Fripp himself. In the Vintage Guitar interview, Vai recalled some advice Fripp gave him: “Fripp said, ‘If I were sitting in the audience, I wouldn’t want to see you doing my kind of solo. I wanna see Steve Vai go crazy!’ So, that’s what I do.”
During Sweetwater’s 2025 mini-documentary of BEAT’s tour, Vai revealed that Fripp had been the one to suggest the fix for Fame By Frame. The advice came in an email of constructive feedback and praise. “He was commenting on some of the clips he saw, which was very nice and constructive,” Vai said. “Then he said at the end, ‘Can I make a suggestion for Frame By Frame?’”
“‘Why don’t you do your hammering with the notes, and then take it out? Improvise your hammering and move from one chord to the other’… I did it that night at the show, and it worked beautifully.”
Alongside Steve Vai, BEAT consists of Crimson’s own Adrian Belew and Tony Levin, as well as Tool drummer Danny Carey. The project has proven to be a success amongst King Crimson fans, even recently adding an extra UK date in Wolverhampton to keep up with demand. As it stands, touring isn’t due to end until September 2027, so there’s still plenty of BEAT to go around.
BEAT’s European tour kicks off in Wolverhampton on June 7. For dates and ticket links, visit the BEAT website.
The post Steve Vai admits he was worried about being able to play King Crimson’s guitar parts at his age: “65-year-old Steve Vai taking on Robert Fripp at 25 and at the top of his game?” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
“We wanted to rethink the entire approach to guitar care”: StewMac launches new GuitarTek range of premium guitar cleaning products
StewMac – a brand specialising in products for guitar maintenance, repair, restoration and modification – has launched GuitarTek, a new line of premium cleaning and maintenance products for your guitar.
GuitarTek has been conceived to battle the concept of “one-size-fits-all cleaners and polishes”, which often contain harsh chemicals harmful to your instrument, the brand says.
The line consists of four new products, all purpose-designed and dermatologist-tested to “deliver professional results without compromising the instrument – or the player”. They’re each made with Amazonian Rosewood oil, and are free of harmful silicone and petroleum.
- READ MORE: The Guitar.com Magazine May/June 2026 issue with Grace Bowers on the cover is now on sale
First is Gloss Max, a high-shine, silicone-free polish designed for gloss-finished guitars. It’s said to restore “brilliant, mirror-like shine” without streaking. There’s also a total-care cleaner, Clean Axe, which is essentially your all-in-one cleaner solution for removing caked on dirt (we all know how that builds up on the fretboard). This is available both in convenient multi-pack wipes or 4 oz. spray bottles.
And finally, your fretboard might be the healthiest it’s been in years with Board Oil – a new fretboard cleaner and conditioner for cleaning stubborn grime, rehydrating dry wood and restoring a natural feel and appearance. This comes with a StewMac-designed patent-pending applicator.
“We’ve spent years helping people fix and build guitars. This is about helping them to take better care of them every day,” says Brock Poling, StewMac VP of Marketing and Customer Experience.
“We didn’t want to make just another cleaner. We wanted to rethink the entire approach to guitar care – from the ingredients to the way players actually use these products day to day.”
“With GuitarTek, StewMac delivers on a simple promise: pro-level guitar care made simple,” the brand says.
“Whether it’s restoring shine, conditioning a dry fretboard, or maintaining a full instrument, players now have a complete system tailored to every surface of their guitar.”
Pricing for the new GuitarTek line is as follows:
- GuitarTek Gloss Max, 4 oz. – $12.99
- GuitarTek Clean Axe, 4 oz. – $12.99
- GuitarTek Clean Axe Wipes, 10-pack – $12.99
- GuitarTek Clean Axe Wipes, individual – $1.29
- GuitarTek Board Oil, 1 oz. – $12.99
- GuitarTek Complete Clean & Polish Set – $29.99
- GuitarTek Essential Guitar Cleaning Set – $17.99
- GuitarTek Essential Guitar Polish Set – $17.99
Learn more at StewMac.
The post “We wanted to rethink the entire approach to guitar care”: StewMac launches new GuitarTek range of premium guitar cleaning products appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Slash admits that he was getting tired of the “very predictable Marshall sound” in his music
Back in 2023, Slash’s 30 year love affair with Marshall amps began to change. The Guns N’ Roses axeman opted to use Magnatone amps throughout 2024’s Orgy Of The Damned, explaining that he had grown “disillusioned” with the sound of a Marshall amp.
Once again, Slash has reflected on how Marshall amps fell out of his favour. In the latest issue of Guitarist, Slash explains that 2023 saw him experimenting with non-Marshall amps for the first time –something that was a “big deal”, but a necessary one. “I started jamming with [different] arrangements and I just didn’t want to use my normal Marshall sound,” he explains.
- READ MORE: Marshall Amps – The Complete History
The experimentation spanned from using a pair of Fender Twins, Fender Deluxes, a Vox half-stack and even a vintage Vox combo amp. However, the M-80 Magnatone was what really caught Slash’s ear. “I went through different amps and when I got to the Magnatone, which had been given to me but I’d never used before, I ended up using it for every song,” he says.
While Slash is still a recognised Marshall artist, his love of Magnatone is clear. He thought it sounded great on Orgy Of The Damned, perfectly paired for its more blues-leaning record, but he has since began using it with Guns N’ Roses, too. “It was a bit revelation, because [the Magnatone] gave me the sort of power that I wanted,” he says. “It also gave me a kind of clarity.”
“I think I was starting to get tired – as much as I hate to say it – of the very predictable Marshall sound, which I was sort of know for,” he admits. “It was starting to wear on me. I’d been using Marshall for so long that I’d never listened to anything else. I never gave anything else a shot because it didn’t have the Marshall mid-punch…”
Speaking with Magnatone in 2025, Slash also expressed similar feelings. “Over time, I started to get… disillusioned, with the consistency of my sound with the Marshall, or whatever it was,” he said. “There were things I wanted to achieve that I wasn’t really getting out of those amps.”
“I played a Magnatone one time, just by chance, really…. [Guns N’ Roses guitarist] Richard Fortus gave it to me. I went to go do this blues record [and] I wasn’t looking for a wall of sound… I wanted something that was more like a combo, 50-watt or less type of deal. So, I pulled out all these old combos that I had, and I saw the Magnatone… Out of everything I had, I kept going back to that amp.”
It seems like many guitarists are keen to shake up the formula and try new amps and experiment with guitars as of late. Even Animals As Leaders’ Tosin Abasi has recently critiqued the “crystallised” state of the guitar industry, telling Guitar Center: “The most iconic instruments have been kind of crystallised since the ’60s… a lot of guitar players get in their mind, like, ‘Oh, well, Jimmy Page was fine with that’ [so I am too].”
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EHX Pico Intelligent Harmony Machine review: impressive tracking hampered by inevitable compromise
$149, ehx.com
Pitch shifting is all well and good – but what happens when you want to stay in key? A wild idea for some, perhaps, but if you want to go beyond power-chord intervals and octaves in your harmonised playing and remain within a scale, you’re going to need a smarter harmoniser pedal. Electro Harmonix’s Intelligent Harmony Machine has now been folded into the NYC DSP range – the brand’s lineup of extraordinarily dinky four-control multi-mode mini-pedals. It’s this Pico version of the IHM I’m taking a look at today.
- READ MORE: ADDAC System Mixology review: “it really can breathe new life and modern utility into old pedals”
EHX Pico Intelligent Harmony Machine – how does it work?
The Pico IHM offers a frankly impressive range of different pitch-shift modes, probably more than even the most enthusiastic harmonised guitar fan will need in the average live set. There are two main modes – single and dual, with 10 different harmonies in each. Single cycles through the available intervals, and dual cycles through a set of combined dual intervals, such as a fourth up and a sixth up, or a third down and a third up. There’s a discrete blend control for your dry signal, and a volume control for the pedal as a whole.
Because the pedal harmonises diatonically, you need to tune your guitar to A=440Hz (sorry 432Hz truthers) and select a key. All of the keys on the dial are major – you need to do a little on-the-fly transposition in your head (or with the lookup table in the manual) for the relative minor. To get to the sharps, you tap the mode switch once – a long-press switches between the single and dual modes.
Image: Press
EHX Pico Intelligent Harmony Machine – build quality and layout
Mini pedals might make you think cheap-and-cheerful – but not here. It’s safe to say that EHX has become somewhat of a dab-hand at constructing things like this – it’s a fairly heavy little thing, with sturdy knobs and jacks, particular the audio jacks, which are the type that lock onto your patch cables with the strength of a thousand black holes.
As for the visual design – it’s fine. It’s a bit of an uninspiring colour, but the abstract computery elements are pretty neat and do a good job of evoking the whole “intelligent” thing they’re clearly going for here. The layout in general is visually pleasing enough and what information is actually on the pedal is very readable – however the physical layout leads us to usability, which I want to put a big pin in – first, let’s talk sounds.
Image: Press
EHX Pico Intelligent Harmony Machine – sounds
In general, the Pico Intelligent Harmony Machine sounds ok. Sometimes it even sounds great – particularly in the octave and fifth modes. It will do the job of harmonising your signal at the set intervals, and the quality of the pitch shifting is for the most part acceptable. I wouldn’t want to record with it, but when it’s working best it’s definitely good enough for live usage. However, being an intelligent harmoniser, the pedal in some intervals has to track your playing. You may remember earlier in this paragraph where I said that the modes where it just blindly shifts your playing up a fifth or an octave sound the best – there’s a reason for that.
The tracking is, of course, the key selling point, but here we run into the inherent problem of intelligent harmonising in a guitar pedal: a meeting of theoretical perfect pitches, and the physical reality of a guitar. Guitars are not synths. Their output is pretty messy, pitch-wise, especially if you play with gusto – which means the Pico IHM can have a hard time keeping track.
Even if you anticipate these difficulties and play deliberately and gently, the diatonic modes falter in the face of bends, panicking and chirping between two scale notes in the mid-point. This is more of a limitation of the category itself, but it’s important to note that for some obvious use-cases – such as big, harmonised solos – there’ll be a few moments where you get glitchy splutters rather than clean harmonies.
That also brings me to distortion – if you were hoping to go all Iron Maiden with the Pico IHM in particular, its form factor introduces a bit of a frustrating limitation – there’s no dry output, making you choose between two less-than-ideal placement options. I found that placing the Pico IHM after my dirt for the most part led to a better sound, with a cleaner mix of harmonies – but worse tracking with far more ‘chirps’ up and down, as the pedal tried to latch onto the core note of a far more harmonically busy signal. On the other hand, placing it before distortion led to better tracking, but a far messier sound, as the distortion would then amplify the IHM’s digital artefacts and intermodulations.
A dry output could let you have the best of both worlds, with separate signal paths for wet and dry signals – meaning you could track your clean playing, and then distort the harmonised and non-harmonised signals individually, either mixing them back down post-distortion or using separate amplifiers for each.
With that said, this is a mini pedal, and if you’re space-strapped enough to need to get this rather than the full-sized pedal, such an involved setup may be beyond what you want to put together – and the sonic payoffs may be worth the simplicity for you. However it’s not just the sounds being compromised here…
Image: Press
EHX Pico Intelligent Harmony Machine – usability
Ok, back to that pin we put in usability. One of the most notorious things about miniature pedals like these is that they’re not very good at being complex, and not just because they lack processing power. In 2026, they can be pretty damn powerful. Instead, the main issue is just how multi-layered and obscure the interface has to be when you’ve squished all of the features of a multi-mode intelligent harmoniser into a four-knob mini pedal.
There’s the basic physical stuff here – such as the fact that the knobs are very close together and smooth, meaning that actually adjusting them is quite fiddly. But more frustratingly, the controls to select your key and the interval of the shifting are both continuous pots rather than discrete rotary selectors. The lack of reassuring tactile feedback is just, well, not great – it’s mildly annoying on the key selector, but borderline unacceptable on the interval selector, which has no markings to delineate what you’ve selected. You need to watch for a flash of the bypass light to tell you when you’ve hit a new interval, but this doesn’t tell you what you’ve selected – you need to consult the manual or just memorise the list of intervals and where your preferred setting is within it.
For home playing, this is a bit annoying, but changing to a different interval mid-set on a dark stage, it becomes fraught with risk of mis-selection. The frustrating thing is, the full-size pedal has actually solved this problem, listing out its harmonies on its face, and offering dedicated switches for sharp/natural and major/minor – not to mention that dry output. Which sort of begs the question – are all of these sacrifices made for the Pico version actually worth the size payoff?
Potentially not – I personally would take the real-estate hit for the signal-chain flexibility and reassurance that I’d actually selected what I wanted to select, and it’s also worth remembering that mini pedals only save so much space, particularly if you need to hit the footswitch without also hitting something else.
Image: Press
Should I buy the EHX Pico Intelligent Harmony Machine?
In terms of getting harmonised guitar parts without having to resort to something so drastic as adding a band member, the Pico IHM does work well enough for some use-cases – cleaner players who aren’t worried about lots of on-the-fly key and interval changes will do just fine with it, and hey, save some space to boot. But it’s not like the full-sized IHM is a mega-pedal behemoth, nor is it substantially more expensive – so I would urge most players towards that.
EHX Pico Intelligent Harmony Machine alternatives
Outside of the obvious EHX alternative, you could also explore the Boss PS-6 Harmonist, or the TC Electronic Quintessence, both of which are standard stompbox sized. If you’ve recently robbed several banks, you could also explore the Eventide H9 Harmonizer, which is a hell of a lot pricier, but powerful enough to launch a Mini Cooper into the orbit of Callisto.
The post EHX Pico Intelligent Harmony Machine review: impressive tracking hampered by inevitable compromise appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
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Totally Guitars Weekly Update May 29, 2026
May 29, 2026 Since last week’s Update was mostly a personal journal of the recent weeks I thought today I would answer some recent questions from students and the TG Community. The topic of the day was intervals, starting with fourths and how the guitar strings can help you remember the major chords in a […]
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Podcast 552: Darryl Rahn
This week’s podcast guest is Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter Darryl Rahn.
Rahn recounts a fateful day in the 5th grade that convinced him to take up guitar, his tips for using a pickup on an acoustic, the gear he used on his new album (Darryl, out now), and more.
https://www.instagram.com/darrylrahnmusic/?hl=en
Join us at our 2026 Fretboard Summit in Chicago for three days of guitar demos, concerts, workshops and podcast tapings with some of our favorite artists: https://fretboardsummit.org
This year’s Summit has over 80 luthiers and brands showcasing their new and prototype gear!
Subscribe to the Fretboard Journal’s quarterly print magazine: https://shop.fretboardjournal.com/products/fretboard-journal-annual-subscription
We are brought to you by Peghead Nation: https://www.pegheadnation.com
(Get your first month free or $20 off any annual subscription with the promo code FRETBOARD at checkout).
Mike & Mike’s Guitar Bar: https://mmguitarbar.com
The post Podcast 552: Darryl Rahn first appeared on Fretboard Journal.
Podcast 551: Brad Barr
Musician Brad Barr joins us this week to share the story of the Barr Brothers’ 2025 album, Let It Hiss, and talk guitar.
Brad’s guitar playing is uniquely shaped by world music sounds. For years now, Brad has been using a simple but effective trick to make drone/violin sounds on his guitar: Tie a piece of sewing thread on a guitar string near the bridge. The effect, inspired by the playing of Romanian violinist Nicolae Neascu of Taraf de Haidouks, is hauntingly beautiful.
He explains how he came about with the technique and where he wants to take it. We also chat about his 1951 Gibson J-45, the musicians from Mali who inspired him, and so much more.
https://thebarrbrothers.com
https://www.instagram.com/thebarrbrothers
Join us at our 2026 Fretboard Summit in Chicago for three days of guitar demos, concerts, workshops and podcast tapings with some of our favorite artists: https://fretboardsummit.org
This year’s Summit has over 80 luthiers and brands showcasing their new and prototype gear!
Subscribe to the Fretboard Journal’s quarterly print magazine: https://shop.fretboardjournal.com/products/fretboard-journal-annual-subscription
We are brought to you by Peghead Nation: https://www.pegheadnation.com
(Get your first month free or $20 off any annual subscription with the promo code FRETBOARD at checkout).
Mike & Mike’s Guitar Bar: https://mmguitarbar.com
The post Podcast 551: Brad Barr first appeared on Fretboard Journal.
Fender claims social media has led to “a lot of misunderstandings about the nature and the scope” of their cease and desist blitz… as PRS confirms they were one of the brands affected
Fender’s legal campaign over the copyright of the Stratocaster body shape shows no sign of reaching a resolution, though the brand is revealing more about their perspective on the situation.
Today, Fender has released to Guitar.com legal correspondence between itself and another guitar brand that references the social media storm caused by these legal threats becoming public, and claims that this has led to “misunderstandings” that it seeks to clear up.
Fender releasing the correspondence comes on the heels of a Wall Street Journal article yesterday that – in addition to reporting much of what Guitar.com has already revealed about the situation – broke the news that PRS has also been sent a cease and desist letter.
PRS, of course, is the maker of the Silver Sky – the John Mayer signature model that is heavily inspired by the Strat, and has the distinction of even outselling Fender’s original on Reverb in recent years.
PRS wouldn’t comment in detail about the letter, only telling the WSJ that, “The company said it disagrees with Fender’s assessment and declined to comment further.”
PRS joins LsL as the only two brands to confirm publicly that they have been sent these cease and desist letters – but Guitar.com can reveal that at least one other global major guitar brand has been sent one. We cannot name the brand for confidentiality reasons, but we can share that the brand in question has rebuffed Fender’s demands via its own lawyers.
Is it all a big misunderstanding?
70th Anniversary Player Stratocaster body. Image: Adam Gasson
In the correspondence that Fender released to us, which closely mirrors the document we reported on earlier this week, the brand makes it clear that they are aware of the huge social media backlash that has accompanied this story.
“These letters have triggered a substantial echo, not only from its addressees and their lawyers, but also from the media and on social media,” it reads. “From these reactions, we took that apparently there have been a lot of misunderstandings about the nature and the scope of the matter.”
The letter goes on to say that they hope the rest of the text “will clarify many aspects and will help to avoid further or continued misconceptions.”
While the letter goes on to challenge various aspects of Fender history and legal precedent raised in the original letter sent to them, the brand’s lawyers speak more generally about the perception of their actions in the wider guitar community.
“In particular, we would like to make it clear to everyone that Fender does not object to double cutaway or two horned electric guitar bodies,” it reads. “But only to such electric guitar bodies which are close copies of the design of the iconic “Fender Stratocaster.” Everybody is welcome and will be able to continue making and selling double cutaway and/or two horned electric guitars, as long as they are designed sufficiently different from the “Fender Stratocaster”.
LsL speak out
Fender Steve Lacy People Pleaser StratocasterPhoto by Adam Gasson / Guitar.com
While Fender is trying to get its side of the story across to the guitar community, the first brand who spoke out about the cease and desists, LsL Instruments, have also released a statement to Guitar.com relating to the outpouring of support they’ve received in the week or so since they launched a GoFundMe to help cover legal costs.
“We want to thank everyone in the guitar community for their support and help as we navigate such a massive situation with such massive implications,” said LsL’s Johny Miller.
“We’re not champions here. We’re just a small shop full of good people that build the best guitar we possibly can for the great people that will own and play them for a lifetime (we hope). Please continue to support us by sharing our Go Fund Me and please do know that every build counts. We are sincerely grateful for every order. Every build helps us stay afloat.
“The story of boutique guitars needs to be told. It has been presented and well received over the last few decades, but we intend to tell the whole story in the true positive light it deserves.
Most of us know each other. This community is tighter knit than most realise and there is a kindness that flows from one of us to the next. A boutique bond if you will. We plan to come together, in a most respectful and responsible manner, to help you all understand why this niche corner of the guitar world is so very special and worth protecting.”
Miller confirmed that he has begun working with other boutique builders to better tell the story of the community, and will be publishing it on his blog in the coming months, because, as he puts it, “unity always prevails”.
Fender’s own communication implies that a significant number of brands have been sent these cease and desist letters. According to Fender’s lawyers, some are opting to enter into “reasonable settlement discussions” rather than push back – it remains to be seen if the unity Miller speaks of will have any substance on this particular situation.
The post Fender claims social media has led to “a lot of misunderstandings about the nature and the scope” of their cease and desist blitz… as PRS confirms they were one of the brands affected appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
“The most iconic instruments have been kind of crystallised since the ’60s”: Animals As Leaders’ Tosin Abasi on why the traditional guitar blueprint deserves a revamp
Sometimes, experimental music demands an experimental instrument – and that’s exactly why Tosin Abasi founded his own guitar brand, Abasi Concepts, in 2017. Nearly a decade on, the Animals As Leaders’ frontman is continuing to reimagine the guitar in bold, innovative new ways.
Just last year, Abasi collaborated with Ernie Ball Music Man to create the quirky Kaizen guitar. It came as his latest stand against the tired, conventional guitar blueprint many brands continue to follow. “The guitar space is really interesting, because the most iconic instruments have been kind of crystallised since the ’60s,” Abasi says in a new interview with Guitar Center CEO Gabe Dalporto.
- READ MORE: Fender celebrates 75 years of the P-Bass with the 75th Anniversary Precision Bass Collection
With Fender celebrating 75 years of the Telecaster and 70 years of the Strat, it’s wild to consider just how much the guitar world has advanced since the dawn of those now-iconic axes. However, Abasi notes that artists often seem to bind themselves to traditional guitars, rather than pushing for newer designs. “It’s a strange argument because a lot of guitar players get in their mind, like, ‘Oh, well, Jimmy Page was fine with that,’” the prog-metal frontman notes.
In Abasi’s mind, sticking to a Jimmy Page-approved axe is like telling yourself “I guess I don’t need more fret access” or “I don’t need better balance”. But Abasi believes there’s always room for improvement.
In contrast to those sticking to traditions, the frontman has taken on the duty of pushing the guitar forward. With the help of Ernie Ball CEO Brian Ball, Abasi allowed to let his imagination run wild. “We thought it would be cool to try something novel as opposed to the traditional sort of signature thing,” he says. “It was an opportunity for me to make a Music Man that I felt didn’t exist.”
“It’s this very interesting balance of designing the guitar further to feel like you’re benefiting from the design without leaving behind the bones of what makes a guitar feel gratifying,” he goes on to explain.
The multi-scale Kaizen benefits from a slew of unique tweaks on a traditional axe. Firstly, the bass comes in at a standard 25.5” scale, while there’s a shorter 24.75” scale in terms of treble. Another perk is the super thin body, designed to mean it never “gets in your way”, as well as an Infinity Radius fretboard.
The improvements should show that the classic guitar formula certainly has the potential to be enhanced.“The Infinity Radius prevents the need to tilt the guitar [to get a full view of your fretboard],” Abasi says. “The strings fall a little bit more effortlessly where you want them.”
You can check out the Kaizen collection at Ernie Ball.
The post “The most iconic instruments have been kind of crystallised since the ’60s”: Animals As Leaders’ Tosin Abasi on why the traditional guitar blueprint deserves a revamp appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
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