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New demo! - Yellowcake Furry Burrito
My friend Marcus, over at 'My Guitar Stuff' on YouTube has just uploaded a nice in-depth look at the Yellowcake Furry Burrito drive/fuzz pedal! Thanks very much Marcus!
How to guide - What do I need to do to my Tele neck pickup for it to work with 4 way switching?
4 way switching for a Tele is a fantastic way to retain the existing, classic 3 pickup positions of neck pickup only, bridge pickup only and neck & bridge pickups in parallel. But if you've fancied achieving a slightly beefier, almost humbucker esq sound too but didn't want to compromise the rest of your Tele sounds as they are, 4 way switching offers you an additional position: Neck & bridge pickups in series! Putting the two pickups in series as opposed to parallel creates a louder and chunkier sound and it can be great fun to have this available to you without compromising the traditional 3 position tele sounds.
Product spotlight - McNelly Pickups 46/58 for Jazzmaster
One of my absolutely favourite sets from the McNelly range, the 46/58 is a wonderfully dynamic pickup that captures the chime and bass response we associate with the Jazzmaster along with the mid-rangy dynamic of a great P90. They're a hybrid design, which is where the name '46/58' comes into play, as they're the market introduction years of the Gibson P90, and the Fender Jazzmaster single coil which is a nice tip of the hat to their inspiration.
Meet the latest McNelly Pickups set! The Chaplain
I've been really excited about this set, after Tim teased some prototype videos on his social media channels recently.
McNelly have never let tradition dictate design and The Chaplain is a testament to that approach. By taking some inspiration from the Charlie Christians, Tim has made something that's not only bold, but extremely expressive with none of the honk. The tight and punchy low end is combined with exceptional clarity that is well beyond any traditional humbucker. But don't mistake this for a jazz-only affair. When you push harder, you'll be rewarded with dynamic response and distortion that doesn't get in the way of chords.
McNelly have never let tradition dictate design and The Chaplain is a testament to that approach. By taking some inspiration from the Charlie Christians, Tim has made something that's not only bold, but extremely expressive with none of the honk. The tight and punchy low end is combined with exceptional clarity that is well beyond any traditional humbucker. But don't mistake this for a jazz-only affair. When you push harder, you'll be rewarded with dynamic response and distortion that doesn't get in the way of chords.
Product spotlight- Gravity Picks 003!
I've been a stockist of Gravity Guitar Picks since first opening in 2015, and they'res very good reason for that. Product consistency in quality and finish & customer response. Be it your first venture away from popular celluloid or tortex etc picks we all started playing with, or a veteran of the 'boutique' guitar pick world, Gravity provide a high quality product that is definitely worth trying I feel.
So I thought I'd spotlight a fairly new pick to their range, which was a reaction to many many requests for Gravity to product a closer Jazz III style pick in their material and finish. So the 003 joins the family!
So I thought I'd spotlight a fairly new pick to their range, which was a reaction to many many requests for Gravity to product a closer Jazz III style pick in their material and finish. So the 003 joins the family!
Jennings Navigator / McNelly demo!
Awesome video by Jay Leonard J of a beautiful new Jennings Navigator featuring a set of McNelly A5 pickups too! So a great chance to hear some of the features of the T based build from Chad Jennings! Killer playing too
Will McNicol plays a Tom Sands Model 'S' White label
I couldn't help but share this one. As you may already know, I'm a big big fan of Tom Sands' work, and equally of Will McNicol's mastery of tasteful playing. So when a video pops up of him playing Tom's latest Model 'S', with a piece of music I remember my Dad playing a lot, it had to be shared! Enjoy
Project - My wife's new archtop, now back in one piece for good, I promise.
Following on from yesterday's project article, this evening has been spent putting my wife's new archtop back together after I promptly took it apart..sorry Emma. But I can proudly say it was worth it, as my jaw hit the floor upon the first few chords and notes. The combination of the Bliss humbuckers and fresh quality components has opened the T49D/v right up tonally, capturing the sound I imagined it should have been and certainly managing to amplify the natural qualities the guitar has.
Project - My wife's new Archtop...which I promptly take apart because I can't help myself
This is a guitar that really didn't need to become a project, so this blog article is part self help, part project thread! I'll get to why in a moment, but let's start with a little backstory. My wife has really wanted an archtop for some time, she's a fan of artists like Lianne La Havas & The Staves who often use ES-175D or ES-335s (latter being a semi hollow but let's not split hairs too much!), so hearing the sounds they achieve and of course the achingly cool looks, was something she wasn't achieving with her prior strat. I was conscious that we didn't have a lot of money to play with, and the prospect of a bad archtop wasn't filling me with much desire. So instead I suggested we look at Eastman Guitars, which although a stretch of the budget, meaning a bit more saving and hard work would be needed to justify it, the quality of guitar at the end of it would be certainly worth it. We'd browsed the website and UK stockists such as Peach Guitars and GAK who both carry a wide selection, and so far so good, I liked the specs and build standard, Emma loved how they looked and sounded in the videos.
The Guitar Show 2019
The biggest UK show of the year is almost upon us, and I'm beginning to feel the excitement now finally! The run up to this show can feel a little overwhelming, planning the stand, getting builds and stock prepared and overall ensuring the whole thing looks just right. I hold my hands up and say I've been pretty darned hard on myself about the presentation in years past, but I'm feeling so much better about this year's stand and display and really looking forward to getting it all set-up and ready for door open time come 10:00am Saturday.
My Odessa Guitars Deadbeat Baritone build...and Degenerate?
It's been a while since my last blog post about my Odessa, and there is a little reason as to why that is and I'll get to that later in the post, but for now accept my apologies if you were following since the original build update article! We left off at the finishing stage, where the neck and body were undergoing numerous coats of Livos natural oil, looking rather nice it was too.
Guitar.com demo video of our Jennings Voyager Deluxe and Catalina goes live!
Following on from the great editorial review feature in this month's Guitar Magazine, editor Chris Vinnicombe has also kindly filmed a demo video of our two stock Jennings Guitars too and it has just been released on their YouTube channel!
Huge thanks to the guys at Guitar.com for this, absolutely loved the video!
Huge thanks to the guys at Guitar.com for this, absolutely loved the video!