Check This Action: Dave Davies’ Kinky Journey
I first saw The Kinks live in April, 1973, at Winterland in San Francisco, where they played a flawless set with stops on almost every album. When Dave Davies delivered the power-chord F-G-G-F-G riff of “You Really Got Me,” I suddenly realized I’d let out an uncharacteristic scream – like a little girl at a […]
Epiphone 1966 SG G-400 PRO
Epiphone’s 1966 SG G-400 PRO Price: $582 (list); $349 (street) Info: www.epiphone.com Gibson’s SG is a classic design with plenty of great players behind it, from Eric Clapton, Pete Townshend, and Jerry Garcia to Tony Iommi, Angus Young, and Mick Box of Uriah Heep, to name a few. The Limited Edition 1966 SG G-400 Pro […]
D’Angelico Excel EXL-1
Few vintage guitars are as vaunted as John D’Angelico’s original handcrafted Excel archtops. Building a new – and affordable – version is a tall task. The EXL-1 from the re-created D’Angelico Guitars offers a modern counterpart. First things first; this guitar is made in Asia. And simply put, it’s built to a standard that’s hard […]
Randy Bachman
Canadian guitarist/guitar collector Randy Bachman is known worldwide for his classic licks in songs by the Guess Who and Bachman-Turner Overdrive, but he has also recorded jazz with the likes of Duke Robillard, J. Geils, and Gerry Beaudoin. “Those albums got great reviews, but I eventually realized I’m really a rockin’ blues guy,” Bachman reflected. […]
Eric Clapton
In many ways, 2004 marks a return to the crossroads for Eric Clapton. With his latest disc, Me And Mr. Johnson, the guitarist pays homage to one of his principal influences – the incomparable Robert Johnson. For Clapton, Johnson is the true master of blues guitar, and completing this album was a mammoth achievement. Although […]
Six-Strings, 60 Years Ago
Had he survived to this day, Elvis Presley – cultural icon extraordinaire – would be 80 years old. The man who would rise from very modest means to become arguably the greatest star of any generation was the first true rock and roll front man/heartthrob. Blending the gospel music he heard as a child in […]
Kid Ramos’ Raunchy Slide
Kid Carves it up! Proving that tone is less about fancy gear and more about feel, Kid Ramos used his home-modded Fender Squier Mini Strat with pickups from an Epiphone Sheraton, a piece of chromed-steel, and a Vox Pathfinder turned up just so to play his slide part from “Dance Like I Should,” from his […]
The Thompson Tremor Bender
Longtime musician and professional tool-and-die maker Don Thompson recently introduced the Tremor Bender, a retrofit stringbending device for most Fender- and Gibson-style instruments. Thompson’s goal was to make a stringbender that could be installed without drilling holes or doing irreversible modification. He also wanted to utilize an actuator that didn’t get in the way of […]
Epiphone Rivoli
Former Gibson president Ted McCarty (1909-2001) is credited for his leadership of the company when it peaked in terms of innovation, design, and execution. Under his guidance from 1948 until 1965, Gibson developed a reputation as the premier builder of solidbody guitars, separated from the Fender company’s utilitarian instruments by their fancy carved tops and […]
Danelectro Viscount
1961 Danelectro Viscount Preamp tubes: two 12AX7, one 6AU6 Output tubes: two 6V6GT Rectifier: 6X5 Controls: Volume, Tone, Vibrato Strength, Vibrato Speed Output: 12 watts RMS Amp nuts of yesteryear likely aspired to the delights of Fender, Vox, or Marshall, or maybe hankered after high-end creations from Mesa/Boogie or others who were pushing the envelope […]
Star Board: Bruce Kulick
Bruce Kulick played lead guitar in Kiss for more than a decade, and today stays busy as a solo performer and tours as a member of Grand Funk Railroad. Speaking of, here’s his primary pedalboard setup for that gig. “It’s simple and old-school,” he said. “I put them together with short cables, batteries only, and […]
EHX Slammi Plus, Hot Wax
EHX’s Slammi Plus and Hot Wax pedals are not for the faint of heart. Housed in heavy-duty plastic, the Whammy-shaped Slammi Plus may look like a wah, but it has different tricks in its bag. This polyphonic pitch transposer can shift a note’s pitch plus or minus three octaves and create harmony notes (though it’s […]
Dale Watson
The seeds of the latest album from Dale Watson were sown in 1998, when he released The Truckin’ Sessions . The Truckin’ Sessions 2 followed in 2009, and now he follows with a three-CD set, The Truckin’ Sessions Trilogy . Watson says it wasn’t planned. “I really didn’t think about it until I was on […]
Sunny War
Sunny War’s latest album, Simple Syrup, digs deep into the complexities of the human experience. As an acoustic fingerstylist who draws inspiration from the world, being quarantined has been a challenge. You’d never know that from her new album, as she shares real stories of injustice and love in a troubled world. The music features […]
Ibanez M522S
Thanks to acts such as the Avett Brothers, Mumford & Sons, and the Punch Brothers, the mandolin is suddenly hip again, particularly among guitarists interested in expanding their stringed horizons. While the lower-end mando market is pretty crowded, the Ibanez M522S is one of the few F-style instruments in the price range. Certainly, pear-shaped “A-style” […]
Radial Tonebone Shotgun and Mix-Blender
Whether it’s due to shrinking pedalboard real estate, shrinking discretionary budgets, or both, stompboxes that serve more than one function never fail to pique interest. Unfortunately, a lot of these knob-, switch-, toggle-, and LED-adorned pedals look like they might require a jet pilot’s license to operate. Not so these two offerings from Radial Tonebone. […]
Long Train Runnin’: Our Story of the Doobie Brothers
For 50 years, the Doobie Brothers’ feel-good hits have been radio staples. In these pages, vocalists/guitarists Tom Johnston and Pat Simmons share memories and insights such as how the much-hyped psychedelic band Moby Grape was a massive influence. In 1968, a college-aged Pat Simmons went to San Francisco to see a Jimi Hendrix gig at […]