1989 Fender Custom Shop H.L.E. StratocasterHere is a very special Stratocaster, back in 1989 as the Fender Custom Shop opened it’s doors, the plans were made to make a limited edition Stratocaster in honour of Homer Haynes who was part of a musical, comedy duo ‘Homer and Jethro’ in America back in 1957. Haynes being…
Lovely guitar, nice resonant tone.
I’ve spent years chopping up and looping wav files on pro tools/logic, so I though I’d have a play with this pedal. It essentially gives one that chopping facility on the bounce – record a part, loop it, overdub, repeat… The recorded quality of the loops is excellent, and the doesn’t appear to be any…
I’ve had a few of the various Pandora models over the years and always found them to be great value. They always seemed to have some immediately workable tones, portability was great and the instant rhythm track was a handy addition for quick practice. Now I’m not sure if what’s happened with this new Pandora…
This 90’s Japanese pedal is somewhat rare and highly thought of. A simple transparent overdrive, it excels at making your existing tone better. The controls are familiar; high, low, drive and level. What’s immediately different to a standard overdrive is the gain dial only breaks the signal up at the very top end of the…
Excellent example of the revered 80s/90s Japanese Squier range. The finishing quality is head and shoulders above anything within the price range (think £200 to £500 second hand). This particular model had a comfortable one piece maple neck, with the silver Squier logo and “made in Japan” on the headstock. The lacquer had worn away…
An incredibly impressive instrument for the money, the NCR offers loads more tonal options (than usual for a Gibson design) and is quite a head turner too. Occupying an odd middle ground inbetween a Les Paul and an SG in more ways than one; the slimmer than LP body is comfortable for extended periods of…
This guitar is probably the first electric guitar I ever saw, this Fender Stratocaster belongs to my father. I was lucky enough to grow up around many great guitars but this one is the first and greatest one of all. My father doesn’t play much guitar these days but this guitar is his “number one”…
I loved the look of these Ibanez S-Series guitars in my teens, but only acquired my first one some 20 years later. You know what you’re getting with these guitars; flat wide and thin necks, perfect for shredding. The slimline body is well weighted, in that it sits nice and light, but unlike a Gibson…
Nice late 90’s Japanese made Performer series Jackson, with a light flame top. After a set up and service it played pretty well, as is usual of these guitars. Their slim necks and flat profile fingerboards make shredding a breeze and this particular one did everything expected of it. Everything on it was as factory, although it…
Critically acclaimed pedal that left me completely cold. Unimpressive, thin sounding overdrive that’s pretty much un-usable..unless you want a shit, thin sounding overdrive. Zero from me I’m afraid, moved it on quickly.
I have a big part of my heart reserved for SG’s, the influences of Hendrix, Iommi, Young, Krieger, McPhee, Marriott and many more have meant that I love them. What I don’t particularly like is the fact that they are 9 times out of 10…cherry. Now, I remember back in 2007, when Gibson had their…
Where to start with this one…back in 2008 I was in the mood for a new guitar (like most of us, weekly) I had a Les Paul, I had a Strat what could I get that would be “different” After a few days searching online, I stumbled upon this advert… £850? OK, I called…
I’m a big fan of Les Pauls, but being a typical, peer-led guitarist, I only like flame top variations, goldtops and customs…and juniors…love them too. Anyway; I recently traded a Strat for this, a 2005 Gibson Les Paul Classic 1960 in a cool tobacco sunburst, or desert burst as it is known by Gibson. (Excuse…
Breathtaking flame maple top on this one. The colours and depth in the grain/finish are really exceptional. The maple truly dances in the light, drastically changing the guitar’s appearance depending on the viewing angle. It came by these ends with a problem high e string, namely a metallic buzz up and down the board….
Well cared for example of an 80’s Japanese Stratocaster in candy red. Barely played, with no fret wear and not a bump or scratch in sight. The highly lacquered maple neck is chunky, certainly vintage flavoured. It’s completely as factory apart from the replacement pearloid scratchplate. It looks, plays and sounds like a well…
So, here’s a pink pedal that you may or may not have seen in your time…built into the same enclosure as the beloved TS9 tubescreamer (from what I gather, 9 is the series for all these boxes) This is an analogue delay, which is a slightly misleading name as its not entirely analogue, due it…
A mate asked me to set this up with a lower action, and it was a real pleasure to have it in the house for a week. Very well made instrument, certainly a player’s Strat. The one piece birds eye maple neck had a un-Fender like flat fingerboard radius, brass nut and chunky frets. …
Picked this Ibanez TS9 clone up cheap in a pawn shop, not expecting much from it when also receiving change from a tenner. The sound surprised the hell out of me; it’s incredibly good. It’s full of dynamics, responding very pleasingly to pick attack and cleaning up well when backing the guitar volume off. The…
Many moons back when I was a little lad and my old man used to play guitar very loudly at home through a 74′ Twin Reverb, whenever I tried to use the amp, it sounded as clean as a whistle, just pop music central…then I realised that a little orange box transformed the sound from…
2007 Fender American Hot Rod 57’ Stratocaster. This guitar was bought as a replacement for a custom shop Stratocaster I’d had for a decade (see AV62 post) I was after a new Strat and was torn between the Hot Rod 57’ model and the Eric Johnson signature guitar, ultimately, this one won due to lack…
My 2007 Gibson Les Paul Custom, 1968 VOS. This is a special one for me, having seen photos of all of my heroes playing Gibson Les Paul Customs, I knew that I needed to have one. I bought a 2003 “standard” custom many years ago and loved its double bound body and headstock, ebony board…
I recently received a phone call from a friend of mine who was suffering from a severe case of AAS…(acoustic acquisition syndrome) he needed rid of a guitar that he’d bought after seeking my advice to pull the trigger so to speak. The guitar in question was a Strat. Nothing fancy, just a plain old…
Acoustics have always been a fickle friend to me over the past 20 years, I hated them, loved them, couldn’t play them right, smashed them, stuck stickers on them and never really gave them a second thought over the shiny Fenders and Gibsons in this world. As I grew up, acoustic records began to filter…