The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain
I went to see them on Wednesday night. Absolute GENIUS! Mind you, they come with a health warning - their version of "Wuthering Heights" has to be heard to be believed, and I laughed so much that it was painful. All in all, a great mix of music and comedy. Go see them if you can, but be quick - their shows regularly sell out fast.
Friday, 31 March 2006
Thursday, 30 March 2006
USB-Guitar iAXE393 from Behringer: "The ultimate electric guitar with built-in USB port to connect straight to your computer. Jam and record with killer modelling amps and stomp boxes." Apparently it's going to be nice 'n' affordable. The excellent MusicThing blog has mentioned a price of just £93, which is alarmingly cheap.
Wednesday, 29 March 2006
iCoustic Guitars - "Making the Best Even Better": This is a curious idea. It's a marriage between the acoustic guitar and portable digital devices such as the iPod. The multitrack function sounds useful, but the "MP3 mode" in which the guitar acts as a portable speaker for the songs in your iPod, is one of the silliest ideas I have ever heard.
Tuesday, 28 March 2006
Allparts Introduces The Tremol-No: The Tremol-No is the new user-friendly device that can be added to most tremolo equipped guitars, giving the player the ability to turn their tremolo system 'on' or 'off' in seconds. There is no drilling, no routing, and no permanent modifications to the guitar. Players can now switch between Hardtail, Dive-Only, or Full Floating modes on their favorite guitar, all within seconds of each other.
Friday, 24 March 2006
Lenny Kravitz To Play Jimi Hendrix?: another bio-pic is mooted. The cynic in me thinks it could all go horribly wrong. I just don't trust Hollywood to do an honest portrayal.
Ukulelia: Your Passport to Four Stringed Paradise: "The World's Greatest Ukulele Weblog!", it says, and who am I to argue?
Thursday, 23 March 2006
Mermaid hand-crafted guitar is a work of art: Luthier Andy Manson has decided to put this instrument up for sale. It has taken more than three years to create, is made of 15 types of wood and has one of the most unique appearances of any musical instrument in existence. But is is a sculpture or a musical instrument? See the gallery and decide for yourself!
Wednesday, 22 March 2006
Monday, 20 March 2006
Self-Tuning Guitar: Synthax Tronical Powertune: most cunning, but it means a lot more metalwork on your headstock.
Reverend Expands Stage King Series With the Club King HB Electric Guitar: Excellent sustain and attack are coupled with substantial resonance, for a thick tone that's suitable for blues, jazz and rock.
Thursday, 16 March 2006
Wednesday, 15 March 2006
Making music out of menace: A Colombian musician has fashioned guitars out of rifles to help spread a message of peace. (via Music Thing)
Saturday, 11 March 2006
Feline "Holy Panther" Strat
Check out my latest guitar, courtesy of Feline Guitars. It features an American ash body from a 1970s Fender Stratocaster - the holes are there partly to decrease the weight (its still very heavy though) and partly because they look cool. Other features are Seymour Duncan pickups (2xSSL1, 1xCustom5), Gotoh bridge and machine heads. It sounds fantastic, and has a versatile and very useable range of sounds all available via the 5-way selector switch.
I should also add that the neck was built by Feline and is attached to the 70s-era Fender body using four bolts rather than the three that the body would have originally been drilled for. You can't see it in the photos here, but looking very very closely at the area surrouding the bridge, I think I can detect an area where routing for a Kahler-style trem system has been filled in with timber before re-spraying.
The guitar is currently set-up with the vintage-style trem locked down, seeing as I do not like or use trems on Strats.
G L Wilson
Thursday, 9 March 2006
Bono's Guitar Gift Strikes Sour Note: Bolivians upset after Bono is presented with a Charango in Chile.
Tuesday, 7 March 2006
Reverend Introduces Chrome Elite Series For 2006: These American made guitars feature vintage-influenced body art, sandblasted onto smoked chrome aluminum.
Friday, 3 March 2006
Curt Sheller Publications Releases Ukulele For Guitar Players Instructional Book: I've gotta confess, I've got a soft spot for the uke!
Retro-King Introduces The Plexi 18 Guitar Amp: A class AB cathode biased amp and replica of the hard to find 1966 Marshall™ 18 watt lead combo amplifier, but in a head version with two channels (4 inputs) with a tremolo unit operating on channel two.
Thursday, 2 March 2006
Ex-Beatle still owes £20 on guitar he bought in 1961: seeing as the Beatle in question is George, I don't think the debt's going to get paid, somehow.