Jackson guitars are celebrating its 25th anniversary of producing custom guitars for consumers, by doing the only thing it knows best, sorting through its 25 years of work to bring back two of their proudest accomplishments. Jackson’s two unique custom guitars reproduced in limited edition format to emulate their predecessor’s best antique traits. The two guitars include the original King Kelly guitar built with its unique cutouts and the King V in its shining majestic silver glory.

Both are exactly the same custom with the same equipment and signed by Mike Shannon (Jackson Sr. Master Builder) and Tim Wilson (Jackson Production Manager). The King Kelly features a high gloss finish of black with white highlights and a maple neck and ebony fingerboard. It is built with popular wood for the body and maple along the 22-inch neck. With Seymour Duncan pickups and a Schaller bridge and tailpiece it is a beauty to both see and play. Similarly, its silver counterpart, the King V is built with a popular body and ebony fingerboard featuring sharkfin inlays and a more 80’s V-style shape. With the sound producing from the combination of Seymour Duncan TB-4 and SH2 pickups, both guitars celebrate and represent the best of vintage Jackson while being stunning, great-sounding and incredibly playable in their own right. What better way to celebrate 25 years?

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Cold is reuniting according to lead singer, Scooter Ward, on Cold’s MySpace page. Cold is expecting to release a new album in the fall 2009. After producing their emotional Different Kind of Pain album the band went in different directions. Cold’s front man, Ward, created The Killer and the Star featuring Limp Bizkit’s drummer John Otto, together they have created songs Symphony for a Mind, Living with Musicians, and Angels Fall. Cold has a new record label called Sonicstar. The boys are sure to please the fans with the much surprising album. The MySpace page told fans to stay tuned for updates.

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With Harris’s love for music he started to communicate with independent musicians, which unfolded the creation of the SoupyGato show. The SoupyGato was born in 2005 with its first item premiering in 2006.

The SoupyGato just started as a weekly show but then Harris started to receive music from every genre. Harris played every song that was submitted and attempted to mix the selections as best he could. Harris played everything and had quite the unique sound to the show. Even the best of the best have submitted songs to the SoupyGato including children of the Willie Nelson, Bill Joel, and The Grateful Dead just to name a few.

Harris found his assistant, Rudolph, through his sense of humor with the show and his open-mindedness to beginning musicians and seasoned players.

Harris decided to put a twist on the show and started with doing a showcase starting with Israel. From that point he scheduled many different showcases and started to interview many famous musicians including Mark Farner of Grand Funk Railroad, Sebastian Bach of Skid Row, and Trey Gunn of King Crimson.

The SoupyGato is truly unique and can be found at www.soupygato.com. Harris has a very open-minded persona about him. He has created a work of art with the SoupyGato.

The Future of Independent Musc - Check ‘em out!

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Can you give me some information on earplugs? How well do they work, and do most rock musicians use them?

Rockin’ Billy Bong
xxxx@rocketmail.com

While they’re relatively new to the world of rock music, earplugs have become a popular item with many musicians, and with good reason. I’ve worked for a lot of particularly loud rock bands, and the groups who didn’t wear earplugs usually have something in common with each other—it’s called “tinnitus,” a constant ringing of the ears that result from prolonged exposure to high volume levels. Tinnitus produces varying degrees of discomfort, depending on the amount of abuts that has been inflicted upon a person’s ear.

Among the musicians I’ve known, drummers typically have the worst case of tinnitus. Unlike guitarists, who can stand some distance from their amplifiers, drummers are seated and can’t move away from their instrument. The crashing of cymbals, in particular, has a harmful effect on drummers, since high frequencies do more damage to hearing than low frequencies do.

If you perform on a regular basis, I highly recommend that you wear earplugs or, if they are within your budget, and in-ear monitor system. In-ear monitors are highly accurate, state-of-the-art devices that are individually created for the wearer. Working from molds of the musician’s ears, a hearing specialist or audiologist constructs earplugs that fit the wearer precisely. Small speakers, like those found in headphones, are installed in the plugs and connected to a wireless receiver that picks up the transmitted audio mix from the sound engineer. This allows the musician to hear an audio mix at a comfortable volume while protecting his ears from onstage volume levels.

Unfortunately, these systems tend to be rather expensive. For this reason, many nonprofessionals opt for custom earplugs. Like in-ear systems, custom earplugs are tailored to the wearer’s ears. But rather than employing small speakers, the plugs are designed to block specific audio frequencies that could damage the wearer’s ears. For about $125, an audiologist can create the molds from which plugs can be made to your specification.

Unlike common foam earplugs, custom-fitted plugs sound great and are comfortable to wear. Most importantly, they are one of the best forms of protection you can by for your ears.

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I have a Crate GX15X, which has a gain channel and a lead channel with a built-in graphics EQ. I wasn’t pleased with the amp’s distortion, so I bought a Danelectro Fab Tone fuzz pedal. Now I can get decent distortion when practicing on my own, but I can’t get a suitable tone when I crank up with my band. Any answeres?

Mitch
xxxx@aol.com

Gain, or distortion—whichever you prefer to call it—can be tricky. Over the years I’ve learned that increasing the level of distortion in a signal reduces the definition and punch of the source tone. This is especially true with amps that have a rather limited power rating, like your Crate GX15, which pumps out a meager 12-watts RMS. And although distortion usually sounds quite pleasing on its own, a highly overdriven tone can get lost within a full band.

To understand how large amounts of distortion can obliterate your signal’s carrying power, consider how distortion changes the shape of your guitar’s clean signal. Viewed through an oscilloscope, a clean tone appears as a well-defined wave moving up and down, smoothly and evenly. As distortion is introduced in the signal, the wave becomes jagged and shredded, losing its definition along with its steady oscillation. That’s the tradeoff you make when using a fuzz box or other distortion device.

However, you like distortion, so how can you have your gain and hear it too? For starters, if you aren’t willing to settle for less distortion, you should get a more powerful amplifier; or if your current amp has an extension speaker jack, you could try adding an external cabinet to increase the dispersion of sound from your amp. On the other hand, you might simply back down your gain to a level that suits your taste while allowing you to be heard in your band. Take your pick.

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ANNOUNCED: There is a free BOSS-DS 1 Distortion pedal giveaway competition on the forum of Gear-Monkey, which will continue from July 17, 2008 through August 31, 2008. This is really a considerable amount of time to get you all ready and geared up for this jamming contest. The contest consists of points system which members earn 1 point for each post. Pretty simple huh? Now members can receive 100 points for getting friends to join the site. The only requirement is that the new member makes at least 20 posts. Whoever reaches the most points within the time frame stated gets to take home the FREE BOSS DS-1 Distortion Guitar pedal.

So you all you guitar gurus who want totally free guitar gear sign up and/or start posting, share this amazing news with friends.

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Take note in Sherman’s patent Tremolo System

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“I’ve always wanted to be known as something more than a blues guy,” says Doyle Bramhall II, a guitarist still known for his teenage association with Stevie Ray Vaughan, the Fabulous Thunderbirds and Double Trouble’s first post-Stevie outfit, the ARC Angels. But his heavy blues past notwithstanding, Bramhall is starting to look like he’s on the right path. Back in 1999, Bramhall handled the guitar chores for Roger Waters’ touring outfit. The Texan was playing in support of a new decidedly blues-free solo album, Jellycream. “It might have been easy to go in and cut 12 blues songs,” says Bramhall. “But it wouldn’t have been so easy to come across as if I were 100 percent into it. That’s just not where my head or my heart was.”

Jellycream makes it clear that Bramhall’s focus was on the Seventies-style classic rock dynamics. But don’t mistake a lack of blues for a lack of guitar. In fact, the bulk of Jellycream is so guitar-driven and so anthem-oriented that it seems to pick up where the ARC Angels left off back in 1993. “I thin I disappointed a lot of ARC Angels fans by staying away from guitar on that record,” Bramall says of his commercially unsuccessful Wendy & Lisa-produced solo debut. “But I think this record has a much larger guitar focus and a lot more energy. I’d say it’s closer to the ARC Angels than anything I’ve done since, but you’ve got to remember, that was the early Nineties and I’ve heard and learned a lot since then.”

Perhaps the primary post-ARC Angels lesson Bramhall has picked up on is how to play more for the song and less for the flashy solo. “ Jimmie [Vaughan] taught me how it’s possible to be a subtle guitarist and still stand out,” he says. “And I thin this album shows I can present hard-rockin’ stuff without lots of wankin’. But that doesn’t mean that everything I can do wasn’t on this record somewhere. Only now, it finally feels like it’s all come together.”

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“We had a lot of fun working with dance rhythms when we were writing the songs,” says Static. “I’d bring in my drum machine, and we’d come up with these stupid disco beats, just as a joke. Then we’d try to write a song over the top of that, making it sound as heavy as we could.”

Static-X used a variety of techno toys, like computers, drum machines and the Roland Groove Box, when recording their debut Warner Bros. album, Wisconsin Death Trap, but those tools primarily served as accompaniment to a solid foundation laid down by two guitars, bass and drums. “We are not a traditional guitar band,” notes guitarist Koichi Fukudo. “There are no guitar heroes in this band. The music always comes first, which is why we do as much programming as playing.”

“Programming gives each of us our own outlet for expressing ourselves and taking the songs further,” adds Static. “And Koichi is a computer wizard. He comes up with all these crazy ideas on the computer that we’d never have if we just played guitar. Besides, our guitar parts are really simple. We used two-note chords and there are usually only two or three chord in each song. The hardest ting to figure about how we play is our tuning, and I’ll save your readers the trouble by letting them know that we just down two whole steps to C.”

These may be rough days for hard bands, but Static-X is none too concerned. “We just love doing what we do,” says Static. “I never thought we would get signed to a major label. We’re way heavier than what most labels are signing. We just wanted to rock and have fun playing.”

Check out Static-X’s Latest album Cannibal.

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Godin’s Radiator is a simple yet different take on what a budget instrument can offer, particularly in the looks department. In addition to that bigger-than-yours pearloid pickguard, there are pearloid-buttoned enclosed tuners and pearl-capped Tele-style chrome knurled knobs. The colorful “Tele-meets-Les Paul Junior” body is so immaculately finished that it seems a shame to hide it beneath a sheet of plastic.

A look underneath the pickguard, though, will show one of the Radiator’s real surprises. Most of the maple body has been routed away to create a tone cavity for lighter weight and a more acoustic response. The pickups and electronics all mount on the pickguard; only the bridge and neck mount onto the body. The result is a distinctively snappy, yet full, unplugged sound.

Playing the Radiator is a pleasure. The maple bolt-on neck’s oval contour and satin finish is complimented by 24 neatly finished medium frets on a 12-inch radius rosewood fretboard, creating a feel that is friendly to almost any playing style. The pickups are a single-coil design regulated by two independent volumes and a master tone control. Their amplified output is pleasant and uncolored in low-gain settings, but higher gain and volume reveals a faulty desire for microphonic feedback. Keep the Radiator reigned in as a rhythm instrument or in mildly gritty blues territory and you won’t be disappointed.

Fury Guitars have kept an undeservedly low profile since their founding in 1962. Although the body design might strike some as “Sixties budget import,” there is nothing second-rate about these guitars. Our review model, a BBM 2V came in a flawless metallic charcoal gray finish with chrome hardware, two humbucking pickups and an optional vibrato bridge. Other choices include 18 different standard colors, gold hardware, a three-pickup configuration and matching color headstock. Apart from the Schaller tuners and the electronic components, all Fury parts are made at their own factory—that includes the pickups, vibrato bridge, knobs and, of course, neck and body.

And they do a furiously fine job of putting it all together. In addition to the enclosed Schaller tuners, the minimalist headstock is mounted with a large string guide and a uniquely designed “Uninut” that functions as a kind of zero fret plus nut. The maple neck features a 25.064-inch scale length with a gloss finish and a nicely rounded shoulder. The 22 jumbo frets are mounted on a 9-inch radius on the pao ferro fretboard. The frets are well crowned and polished, and what appears to be overcut fret slots are in fact intentional, and improve the neck’s stability over time.

The vibrato bridge has been re-thought from the ground up and features a non-locking design resting on a neoprene stop block to prevent the guitar from detuning when a string breaks. Additionally, the springs and leverage are set to eliminate detuning when strings are intentionally bent. In short, you could pop a string in the middle of a song and still play your favorite double-bends and whammy drops. Very impressive, Fury!

The Fury’s “Zero Pole” pickups are likewise built from the ground up and offer equally impressive results. Their hollow pole pieces create a less imposing magnetic field for the vibrating string, and this, combined with construction that secures every component at every point, results in a humbucking pickup with a delightful high-end sheen. This added definition can be heard in both clean and distorted settings as a subtle increase in pick attack and upper harmonic content. Add the dual coil-selector switches and extremely responsive tone control to this formula and you have an axe capable of colors from bright to funky to fat. By the way, you can crank this baby loud enough to be heard by the border police, and the only squeal you’ll hear will be one of delight.

END LINE

Godin’s Radiator has enough good looks and quality construction to be a smart choice for the player on a budget or on the lookout for a second or third instrument. Even with a pickup swap, it’s a good bang-per-buck axe. Fury’s BBM is a major contender for any major player who isn’t glued to the clone-of-a-clone design paradigm that most mid-priced models offer. Go to Godin’s Guitar Website to see more of what they have to offer.

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