Eastwood’s new Airline ’59 1P is a 25 ½”-scale guitar with a bound maple neck, rosewood fingerboard and block markers bolted to a toned chambered-mahogany body with rubber binding. The TonePros Locking Bridge and Wilkinson Deluxe hardware offset the vintage pin-striped pickguard. It uses a Airline Vintage Voice Single Coil with a Volume control. It’s available in black or red and in a left-handed version. Read more at eastwoodguitars.com.
Month: September 2011
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Eastwood Introduces Airline ’59 1P
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Online Auction Slated to Benefit Jeff Golub
Some of jazz music’s top artists, promoters, and fans have joined to help guitarist Jeff Golub, who recently lost his vision and is undergoing tests in hopes of finding a means to restore it. These tests are expensive and not covered by insurance.
The Help 4 Jeff Golub Online Auction was created with the contributions of many of Golub’s colleagues, friends, and fans. All proceeds will go toward his medical expenses. Among the contributors and prizes are Yamaha, Peter White and Euge Groove, a two-person Stateroom on the Smooth Jazz Cruise 2012, a six-person dinner at Spaghettini Grill & Lounge, a three-night VIP package for two guests to Earl Klugh’s Weekend of Jazz in Colorado Springs, a two-night stay at Summer Wood Winery & Inn, a four-pack of Gold passes (plus hotel) to JazzFest West 2012, a New York City concert with Jeff Golub, Alex Bugnon, and Cindy Bradley.
For more, go to charityauctionstoday.com/store/Help4JeffGolub/.
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PRS 25th Anniversary Swamp Ash Special NF
PRS 25th Anniversary Swamp Ash Special NF
Price: $3,908 (retail)/$2,329 (street)
Contact: PRSguitars.com.The PRS 25th Anniversary Swamp Ash Special NF is a guitar that attempts to thread many needles: depending on your pickup and amp selections, it can cover most tonal bases between Fender and Gibson, and then some. And that’s just for starters.
The Swamp Ash Special (SAS) is unusual in many ways. Unlike PRS’ more typical mahogany bodies with maple tops, this guitar uses swamp ash, a tonewood from swampy regions of the South. It’s a light, vibey material that was used on many classic Fenders of the ’50s and is still used widely. Another interesting feature, at least for PRS, is the bolt-on maple neck, again, bringing to mind Leo’s classic archetype. The axe also has 22 frets, a figured-maple fingerboard with 25″ scale, cool “shadow bird” inlays, a vibrato bridge, and PRS’ 14:1 Phase II locking tuners. For pickups, there are three PRS 57/08 Narrowfield pickups – the “NF” in the guitar’s name. Finally, the finish on our review model is called Scarlet Smokeburst, which lets the grain of the swamp ash show through nicely.
The neck profile is the PRS Standard shape, which feels a little beefier than the company’s Wide Fat neck, and the guitar was set up to PRS’s high standards of playability. The SAS’ bridge works well and the controls are fine, but the pickup selector is located on the far side of the Volume knob, and it might take a while getting used to locating it with your pinky, especially if you normally play a Strat, which has its selector closer to the natural sweep of the picking hand.
How does it sound? Plugged into a few tube amps and a digital simulator, the Swamp Ash Special took the curves like a pro. Once a player knows how to quickly access its many tones, the guitar could go to just about any gig. You can play clean or dirty, from twang-spankin’ country to raunchy blues, to serious hard rock – the SAS screams thanks to the Narrowfield pickups. You can derive surprisingly accurate sounds of a Strat, Tele, or a Gibson fitted with P-90s or mini-humbuckers. There are even some full humbucker-ish sounds, too, especially on the “woman tone” side of things (i.e., either neck pickup on, or else the bridge pickup with tone knob half rolled off). The kicker is that the Narrowfield pickups are humbuckers, and are therefore extremely quiet. Tone-wise, the SAS can go from Jimi to Eric to Angus without issue or obnoxious hum. There aren’t many guitars that can do that.
For the gigging or recording guitarist who requires versatility, it’s easy to recommend the Swamp Ash Special NF. You have to play it to understand its flexibility and broad tonal personality, but after a run with the Narrowfields, you may never go back to traditional humbuckers or single-coils.
This article originally appeared in VG July 2010 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
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Singapore Guitar Show
December 3 & 4, at the Suntec Convention Centre, Room 325-6. For more info, contact singaporeguitarshow.com.
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Country Music HoF Museum Planning Exhibit on “The Bakersfield Sound”
The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum is planning an exhibition titled The Bakersfield Sound: Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, and California Country, opens March 24.Narrated by Dwight Yoakam, the exhibit will explore the roots, heyday and impact of the Bakersfield Sound – the loud, stripped-down and radio-ready music most closely identified with the careers of Country Music Hall of Fame members Buck Owens and Merle Haggard.“From its earliest chapters on through to today, California has played a significant role in country music history,” said museum director Kyle Young. “Long before the Outlaws or alternative country, the Bakersfield Sound evolved specifically to suit a time and a place, made an indelible mark on popular music, and spawned two of the most charismatic stars in the firmament.”Including publishing houses, recording studios, booking and management agencies and performance venues, the exhibit will focus on the Bakersfield music businesses that evolved in the 1960s, particularly Buck Owens Enterprises, the music empire owned and operated by the savvy Owens. It will also explore the enduring impact of the Bakersfield Sound on subsequent generations of musicians, singers and songwriters, from country-rock pioneers the Flying Burrito Brothers toYoakam, and many others.Among other narrative elements, visitors will learn about the importance of Capitol Records producer Ken Nelson, who recorded numerous Bakersfield classics including many of Owens’ and Haggard’s major hits, and who has now been elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame; and the role of the Buckaroos and the Strangers in developing the Bakersfield Sound, with emphasis on key sidemen such as steel guitar innovator Ralph Mooney, Telecaster ace Roy Nichols and lead guitarist/harmony vocalist Don Rich.The Bakersfield Sound will run through December 31, 2013, accompanied by an ongoing series of school and family programs, including live performances, panel discussions, films, instrument demonstrations and more. The exhibition will follow the four-year run of Family Tradition: The Williams Family Legacy,which closes on December 31. See more at countrymusichalloffame.org. -
PRS Expands Acoustic Offerings
PRS SE Angelus Custom Paul Reed Smith Guitars’ SE Acoustic line uses solid backs and solid spruce tops, bone nuts and saddles, and PRS-designed SE tuners. They share the proprietary “hybrid X” bracing pattern and construction features as the company’s other acoustics. The first model is the SE Angelus; the Standard has mahogany sides, solid mahogany back, and a rosewood fretboard and bridge. The Custom has rosewood sides, solid rosewood back, and ebony fretboard and bridge. The line will expand to include models with pickup systems. For more,visit prsguitars.com/seangelus.
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EVH Offers 50-Watt Version of 5150 III Amp
The new EVH 5150 III 50-watt is a smaller version of the 100-watt 5150 III, with many of the same features, including three channels, MIDI footswitching capability, selectable-impedance dual-parallel speaker-output jacks, effects loop, headphone jack, line out, and black hardware. The 2×12 cab has a head-mounting mechanism and tilt-bag legs. Both cabs are rated at 16 ohms and loaded with 30-watt Celestion Heritage speakers. The head and cabs are available in black and ivory coverings. Visit evhgear.com. -
Rob Blaine
The liner notes for this are on-target when they say Rob Blaine yanks “big chunks” of music from his guitar. But that’s not the whole story. Yes, he can channel Freddie King, Jimi Hendrix and, stomping on his wah pedal (“Not The Forgiving Kind”) he can even pull in the spirit of the underrated Ernie Isley. But Blaine can play it sweet and soulful, too. The Memphis-styled R&B of “Only Mine” and the Leslie-West-cum-Paul-Kossoff heaviness of “Affection and Pain” showcase his versatility as a player and writer, with the latter bringing back the spirit of the best of ’70s power-trio blues-rock.A very good if not great vocalist, Blaine is also effective on the near-gospel slow blues of Don Nix’s “Same Old Blues.” And, showing he’s not one to let his ego get in the way of the big picture, he let’s Nigel Mack and his National steel take the spotlight on the instrumental “Gone, Not Forgot” which bears a precariously close (but forgivable) resemblance to Rod Stewart’s “Mandolin Wind.”
This article originally appeared in VG‘s Jan. ’11 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
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G&L Offers First Set-Necks: Tribute Series Ascari GTS and Fiorano
G&L Ascari G&L has introduced its first set-neck instruments, the Ascari and Fiorano, part of the company’s Tribute Series. Inspiration for them came from a long-lost drawing of G&L founder Leo Fender’s own concept for a twin-humbucker guitar with three-on-a-side tuner configuration. The guitars have mahogany bodies with flame-maple tops, mahogany necks, rosewood fingerboards, with 24¾” scale and 22 medium-jumbo frets on the Ascari, 25½” scale and 24 frets on the Fiorano. Both have a 12” radius neck with a modern slim C profile and measure 1-11/16” at nut. Other features include a TonePros locking bridge and tailpiece and G&L custom-designed humbuckers. Learn more at glguitars.com/ascari-fiorano.
