Featured, Workshop »

This is second part of the story of replacing a broken bridge on a, rather lovely, pre-1934 Martin. This update is slightly tardy so feel free to catch up on part one (where we remove the broken bridge) first.
Done? All caught up? Splendid.
Now the broken bridge is off, this is how it all starts. You can see the removed bridge sitting on a block on Brazilian rosewood that will become its replacement. Brazilian rosewood is in extremely short supply and is very tightly controlled species as it was over-harvested for …

Featured, Music, News »

Jimmy Page has been inducted into the Mojo Hall Of Fame.
At the most recent Mojo Awards ceremony, the former Led Zeppelin guitarist was inducted with the award, apparently presented by Universal Catalogue Marketing. Nice.
Mojo has the following to say:

Jimmy Page is the musician by whom all other musicians are measured. Every guitar player wants to sound like him, every producer wants to capture the sounds he captured (check out the many samplings and emulations of that When The Levee Breaks drum sound). He is a genuine music legend, and …

Accessories, Featured »

Hey! Look at me man! I’m standing here with my arms folded and my Thunderbird headstock isn’t diving for the floor. I’m so frickin’ cool.
This could be you. Well, if you order the Heads Up guitar strap, it could be you.
Many of us have experienced it. Some guitars just don’t balance well on a strap. Many very cool looking guitars have a strap button somewhere around the heel which makes them neck-heavy and, if you happen to take your fretting hand away (to put it in the air like you …

Featured, Guitar 101 »

Continuing our Guitar 101 voyage of discovery around the guitar, we’re staying with the neck and contemplating the truss-rod.
What the hell is a truss rod anyway?
At it’s simplest, a truss rod is a device to counteract the tension of the strings. We’ll get on to looking at the different types of truss rod in a minute or two but first, lets look a little deeper into that explanation.
The strings on your guitar or bass, when tuned up to pitch, exert a lot of pressure. It’s a tall order …

Featured, Music »

John Paul Jones, as many of you may know played bass and keyboards for Led Zeppelin. This is all that many people know of him and that’s a shame.
So, for this featured video, we’ll take a look (a listen, really) at a something Jonesy has done in the more recent past. Although a bit of a multi-instrumentalist, JPJ does have a thing for the bass. This post, therefore, is a bit of a homage to our low-down bass-bretheren.
In 1999, Jones released the album, Zooma. This was an instrumental album. While …

Featured, News »

Oh Macca, you crazy, left-handed, veggie-eating, Beatle, you.
Paul McCartney is in trouble. Well, not really. He has, however, ruffled the feathers of Republican Congressman, and House Minority Leader, John Boehner.
McCartney was recently awarded the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song by the Library of Congress. The award was presented, in the White House by President Obama and Macca was full of praise for the president…
The current president, anyway.
“Getting this prize would just be good enough, but getting it from this president…” said McCartney. He went on to say, …

Featured, Music »

It seems that Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and John Frusciante have done it again.
You might recall a while back, Rodriguez-Lopez and Frusciante released an album they recorded to the public for free/anything you care to donate. Seems this wasn’t a one-off event (it’s at least a two-off now).
Sepulcros De Miel is the latest album from Frusciante and Rodriguez-Lopez (and also features Juan Alderete De La Peña and Marcel Rodriguez Lopez). It is available for download, in a variety of audio formats, right now.
As before, you can download completely free …

Amps, Featured »

So, if you’ve been following the story of the Marshall AFD100 guitar amp, you may be interested to know that Slash has finally got his mitts (and his Les Paul) on the prototype version.
The AFD100’s progress has been interesting. Since it was announced at NAMM, interested geeks have been able to follow its progress through design, construction and testing at its dedicated web site. Marshall, over at the AFD site, announced that Slash had just had a chance to play the prototype and they’ve, very kindly, videoed him doing so. …

Featured, Music »

Ok, Ok, I’m sorry. I’m sorry for the awful title. I couldn’t resist it. I tried, but I had to do it. It’s some sort of illness, a compulsive disorder. I’m sorry.
When I heard the news, however, that Ronnie Wood is getting together with original members, Kenney Jones and Ian McLagan, for a Faces reunion and that they were being joined by none other than Simply Red’s Mick Hucknall on vocals, I had to do it. You would too.
Also being joined by former Sex Pistols’ bassist, Glen Matlock, Ron and …

Featured, Music, News »

After much speculation over the last couple of days (including a tempting story about a Led Zeppelin reformation), the official word is finally through…
Gorillaz will fill the headlining, Friday slot at this year’s Glastonbury.
The slot opened when U2 were forced to pull out due to Bono hurting his back while lifting all of his ‘Services To Musical Humanity And General Wonderfulness’ awards. I’m sure we all wish Bono some sort of recovery so that he can get back to saving the world and giving sunglasses-assembly jobs to small children …