Saturday 29 December 2012

Festive Festivals..

It's cold outside, so you're stuck in, here are our recommended videos to help you through these cold times:


The Black Keys at Reading Festival 2012



















Foo Fighters at Wembley 2008



















Radiohead at Glastonbury 2011



















Thats it for now. Any more? Comment and we'll add them!







Thursday 27 December 2012

December Deals

So, christmas is over, you gained a bit of cash.. what else to spend it on other than gear? I'm going to list my favourite websites for post festive deals.

Andertons: now running their 'New Gear Resolution Sale'
Dawsons: they call it the 'Sale' - original, eh?
GAK: their winter sale is now on..
Absolute Music: the 'Blue X Sale'
Thomann: a few offers, but nothing that pops out
Nevada Music: a great online sale with further reductions in store until the 29th!
Digital Village: the 'Red Tag Sale'

These are just some shops, with great offers to be had, remember there are still many more websites and your local stores may have some good deals too!

Fender American Vintage '52 Telecaster Review












I recently had the opportunity to try out a brand new Fender American Vintage 52' Telecaster, a true throwback to the old times and the classic Telecasters! If you want guitar-perfection, then this may be the guitar for you.

For about 30 years now, Fender has been researching it's own past. This research has ultimately boiled down to the new American Vintage range, a collection of what Fender believes to be the most perfect guitars of it's history. In this range you have: an ash-bodied 'black guard' '52 (reviewed here); the slimmer-necked, ash-bodied '58; and the rosewood 'board '64 that's generally alder-bodied, but employing ash for the White Blonde colour option. Each model is based on an existing guitar of it's type, and Fender aims to replicate these as perfectly as possible. Your author is in no way new to Telecasters, having owned a Fender MIM Tele from 2007 and a Squier Classic Vibe Telecaster from 2011 - neither of which fitted my needs in their entirety - so I was excited to try out this new American Tele, not only because quite simply it was an AMERICAN TELE but also I had recently heard that old tele's body and neck shapes were drastically different, as such I was intrigued - and boy were they right.
Blonde finished Telecasters from before '65 always seemed to turn a yellow colour, known as butterscotch. This is down to the formula of the finish they used. In my opinion, this is the only way a tele should look, that is a very controversial opinion, yes, however I can just imagine the late '50's and early '60's stars with their yellow shade tele's. It just seems right.
So, to the review.
The '52 reissue is the heaviest of the three new tele models, not by a huge amount, but it's still noticeable. It's neck is also different from modern tele's in that it is of a U construction, something that Fender has gone to great lengths to recreate, along with all the other aspects of each guitar in this range. This profile gives you the chunky neck feel, it really fills your hand, something that I can see many people loving, and many loathing. The curvature of the edges of the neck does offer a bit of relief from this though.  
With the thinner frets and fatter neck shapes the old Fender guitars were certainly a bit trickier to play, and since Fender have gone for a complete copy that is also reflected within this guitar, don't worry though, it's not as hard to play as it sounds, despite being a bit more difficult to play than say, an American Standard Tele. However, many players love guitars such as this as it allows them to put in real effort to display their own playing style, if you like.
As an example, try bending the third string at the 2nd fret for your archetypal Muddy Waters or Hendrix blues lick; the string may slip from below your fingers. On the other hand, try smashing out those barre chords for an hour or two, on a modern Fender the flat neck and jumbo sized frets would make this difficult and tiring, on this guitar it's a doddle.
Anyway, if Bruce Springsteen and his '52 Esquire get along well, why can't you and this American Vintage?
You cannot criticise this beautiful guitar from a build quality standpoint. In terms of reliability and ruggedness.. well, it's a tele. In terms of finish quality etc it is superb, what you'd expect really. However it does have a few of those old Fender Vintage issues - why? Because it's an exact copy.
However, if you're a user of a new Tele, Strat, Les Paul etc this guitar may take a bit of getting used to, with the neck profile and all. However if you're willing to put in a bit of your time this guitar may be brilliant.

Sound


The bridge pickup is dark. That's the first thing that hit me, on many Tele's the bridge pickup is a bit to bright for my liking, and maybe this is going in the other direction, I'm undecided. When plugged into one of our valve amps with a 4x12 attatched we instantly noticed how big this guitar sounds, not quite up to the usual tele twang. If you mess around with the tone you could get some Gibson-esque sounds out of this beauty. The twang only comes in with the neck pickup, a little warmer than your standard tele necker too. The middle position provides the best of both worlds, providing a superb warm twang, a combination that you don't often get the chance to play with. The tones that pump out from this tele are indescribable, we really recomend you go try one out for yourself, it's the only way you'll feel what we feel. Feel.
The wiring in the guitar, despite using vintage pots etc is strictly modern, which we like. No prehistoric failures there!

Our rating: 4/5


Pros

Incredible build quality, beautiful tone and of course, perfect vintage replication.
Cons
The neck may be a bit difficult for some modern players.
Verdict
Try it out, really. Just try it. I can't stress enough that you just need to try it. So, try it. 

Specs

Scale Length (Inches)
25.5
No. of Frets
21
Hardware
Vintage chrome tele bridge, 3 saddles, Fender vintage tuners, chrome knurled volume and tone knobs
Manufacture Country
USA
String Spacing (In)
2.25
String Spacing
54
Weight (lb)
7.5
Material of Neck
Maple, U-shape, bolt-on
Left Handed Model?
Yes
Electronics
3-position lever pickup selector switch, master volume and tone controls, 2 x Fender American Vintage '52 Tele single-coils
Nut
Bone/42mm (1.65")
Accessories
Vintage '52 Tele strap, cable and cloth; vintage wiring kit, 50s Tele information kit, bridge cover, owner's manual, saddle height wrench
Scale Length (mm)
648
Weight (kg)
3.4
Material of Fingerboard
Maple
Material of Neck
Ash
Body Style
Single-cutaway solid electric
Available Finish
Butterscotch Blonde (as reviewed) 'Flash Coat' nitrocellulose

Wednesday 26 December 2012

Fancy a flame top?

With it being just after christmas and all, there are some pretty good bargins to be had if you shop around, you may also have gained a bit of cash over the winter period. So, does a flame-topped guitar tingle your tastebuds? We have lined up five of what we believe are some of the most incredible flame top guitars in existence.


Fender Select Telecaster








Approx £1650 - $3000
A luxury US Tele combining an alder body with a 3mm flame maple top with a beautiful burst nitrocellulose finish.

'Combining those classic Tele tones with an incredible maple top makes this guitar an all round winner.'
(Fender also produce a Select Strat)




Carvin FG1 Frank Gambale











Approx £1950 - US Price N/A
A 335-alike guitar with a beautiful slip matched 4A maple top.

'Providing tones somewhere between a 335 and a Les Paul with a very Gibson-esque look and incredible humbuckers, if you love that vintage Gibson look this one may be worth a try'




Gibson Les Paul Standard (2012)











Approx £2000 - $3700
The list wouldn't be complete without a Les Paul, famous for their beautiful flame tops this 2012 Standard model just adds to our love for them.

'Classic rock tones with that classic rock look in one solid package, what more could you we want? Not much we think'




PRS P22











Approx £3500 - $5900
Being a classic boutique American guitar manufacture you'd expect Paul Reed Smith to produce only the best guitars, and this P22 is no exception carrying one of their best flame tops to date.

'There is something about owning a beautiful American made guitar that isn't created by anything else, we think this guitar will satisfy that craving'




Godin XTSA









Approx £1200 - $1250
A classic looking flame top on a modern body shape, a great guitar from Canadian manufacture Godin.

'It's almost American and is made by incredible luthiers, at a cheaper price than the other guitars on this list, that alone should satisfy you'



Pricing based on look ups as of 26th December 2012 and do not reflect either the retail price or the cheapest price.

Chapman Guitars ML-7

Recently RobChappers, well known guitarist and Youtuber started his ML-7 project. In the past Rob has had a fair bit of success with his ML-1 and ML-2 guitars. Now he is beginning his 7 string project. The idea behind Chapman Guitars is to provide affordable workhorse guitars, and to allow the community to decide on the different aspects of the guitar, such as the headstock design. You can vote your choices at www.chapmanguitars.co.uk.

Having played a Chapman ML-1 myself I can say that his guitars are extremely well built, the attention to detail is phenomenal and the overall value is fantastic.

Chapman guitars can be purchased from www.andertons.co.uk.


If you haven't yet seen it, check out the video above.

Many thanks,
Oliver

Welcome

Welcome to The Guitar Blog

Every blog has to have a welcome post eh, I am just adding this as a quick introduction to my blog. I am a young guitarist, I own roughly 10 guitars, the majority being acoustic. My main guitars are my Stonebridge/Furch DS20-CM and my Hamer XT P90 Sunburst.

I hope you enjoy the blog,
Many thanks,
Oliver