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Pete Prown
Avid Technology Eleven Rack
Rack and Roll
The proliferation of digital guitar gear grows by leaps and bounds every year as more players learn to love the world of tones and effects offered by the technology. You’ll obviously get no argument from us that tube amps and analog stompboxes are great, but for more and more musicians, digital is here to stay.
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Pete Prown
Ibanez PN1-NT
Parlor for Pennies
In recent years, the parlor guitar has exploded into popularity, reviving a 19th century instrument that was, as its name implies, played in the parlor – the small room used for entertaining guests or as a gathering place for family. In a diminutive space like that, guitarists didn’t need a booming, big-body guitar, hence the
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Pete Prown
Hot Wires
A Brief History of the Modern Guitar String
If you’ve ever bent a guitar string and given it a shake, send a silent thank you to guitarist James Burton. His solos on “Suzy Q” and “Hello, Mary Lou” – a pair of rockabilly hits by singers Dale Hawkins and Ricky Nelson – changed the course of guitar fretting technique. Sometime in the late
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Pete Prown
Ibanez RGA8
In the Deep End
Ibanez RGA-8 Price: $1,102.21 (approx. $800 street). Info: ibanez.com In the annals of cool, weird, and unusual guitars, they’re nothing like an eight-string axe. It’s a strange beastie, sporting a mammoth neck that begs for new fretting approaches. The trend that’s driving eight-string guitars onto the market are metal and shred players who are searching
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Pete Prown
Black Sabbath
Slabs Of Molten Sab
September 18, 1970 is infamous as the day Jimi Hendrix died, but it’s also the day Black Sabbath released its sophomore album, Paranoid. That LP proved itself a molten masterpiece and, in some respects, remains the symbolic moment when ’60s psychedelia morphed into ’70s metal. Now, Rhino has created fresh deluxe CD and vinyl versions
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Pete Prown
David Gilmour
Interlude
This is David Gilmour’s fourth solo album – although some argue that the last three Pink Floyd albums (recorded without Roger Waters) were ostensibly Gilmour solo sets. Floyd or not, this record captures Gilmour’s brand of serene rock and ballads, and works on that level. The single “Rattle That Lock” is a radio-polished stomper, its
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Pete Prown
ES-Les Paul
F-hole with soul
ES-Les Paul Price: $2,799 to $3,199 (list) Contact: www.gibson.com Gibson’s latest version of the Les Paul isn’t the first with f-shaped sound holes. Various Florentine models have been offered, but this semi-hollowbody makes a greater effort than its predecessors to thread the needle between the Les Paul and ES-335. The result is an interesting guitar
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Pete Prown
Michael Schenker
Acoustic Album, Electric Gear
One of the most influential guitarists in hard rock history, Michael Schenker has imbued the music of UFO, Scorpions, and his own MSG with soaring, light-speed guitar solos. More recently, he released Gipsy Lady, an album by his Schenker-Barden Acoustic Project, one of several non-electric projects he’s working on, and he also maintains a brisk
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Pete Prown
Peerless Retromatic
Modern Vintage
Peerless Retromatic Price: $1,699 Info: www.peerlessguitars.eu While many new guitars of the last decade have touted authentic (or semi-authentic) “retro” features, the Peerless Retromatic represents an evolution in the retro-guitar revolution. That’s because in addition to its sexy design and vintage-inspired accoutrements, the Retromatic is refreshingly modern, giving its player the choice between a humbucker
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Pete Prown
Al Di Meola
Throughout his 40-year career, Al Di Meola has worked in several different styles, the common denominator being Latin music. On this new album, he delves into what might be termed his “World Sinfonia” style, based on his Latin-world group of the past 25 years. It’s intricate, tightly arranged music with Spanish, Italian, Brazilian, and Argentinian
