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It’s the 172nd episode of the Truth About Vintage Amps Podcast, the call-in show where amp tech Skip Simmons fields your questions about tube amplification…and life.

Thank you to our sponsors: Grez Guitars; Emerald City Guitars; and Amplified Parts.

Some of the topics discussed this week:

1:53 What’s on Skip’s Bench: A Silverface Vibro-Champ with all-new parts; the importance of capacitors, even for tremolo; a Gibson Falcon with no reverb

8:25 How many people fix amps thanks to this show?

11:33 Jason goes for a neighborhood stroll and spots some free tube gear

14:57 Garnet amp book nuggets (order the Garnet book here); schematic art; Jason’s Land Cruiser; Skip’s boots, redux; managing expectations

21:48 Barn finds: A Sunn PA head; an Ampeg V4B bass amp; a guitarron; and more!

24:56 Skipapalooza update

29:30 Ampeg: The Story Behind the Sound by Gregg Hopkins & Bill Moore (order it here); the Ampeg R12RT

33:57 Bill Krinard and the new Divided by 13 BW 1969 amp (six position rotary switch that changes the gain of the pre-amp)

40:02 What should I do with my 1973 Traynor YRM-1?

50:44 Purslane and a Hammond homebrew amp

59:39 Martinelli’s Sparkling Cider

1:00:40 Selling or keeping a 1962 Brownface Princeton? Why would a power transformer need to be replaced?

1:04:50 An AI apology; keyboard monitors; boneless chicken; an RCA MI-38480

1:13:16 Amp tech tips: Speaker spade connectors and #11 / #12 switchcraft jacks; simple tofu

1:15:58 A vintage Silverface Vibro-Champ in a head cabinet; a Harmony 303 and more

1:22:12 A mystery Tweed Deluxe

Want to be a part of the show? Join us by sending your voice memo or written questions to podcast@fretboardjournal.com! Include a photo, too.

Hosted by amp tech Skip Simmons and co-hosted/produced by Jason Verlinde of the Fretboard Journal.

Above pic: Jeff Scicchitano’s RCA MI-38480.

Hosted by amp tech Skip Simmons and co-hosted/produced by Jason Verlinde of the Fretboard Journal.

Above: Listener Bernie’s Bogen Pacemaker PM10. 

The post The Truth About Vintage Amps, Ep. 172 first appeared on Fretboard Journal.

October 23rd. One week from Halloween. And Mark Knopfler has completely taken over. It started with Brothers In Arms last week and somehow expanded into his solo catalog – Golden Heart, Get Lucky, Privateering, Sailing to Philadelphia. The more I listen the more I realize there is no shortage of fabulous tunes and fabulous guitar […]

The post Mark Knopfler, The C Family of Chords, And Why Over The Rainbow Needs Them appeared first on On The Beat with Totally Guitars.

Love them or loathe them, Greta Van Fleet are here to stay. After sparking break-up rumours in May, the band returned in full-force this month, dropping their new album Palace For The People. Haters may brand them as “derivative” rock ‘n’ roll, but they’re taking rock ‘n’ roll seriously – so seriously that frontman Josh Kiszka has even had to work to win over his own vocal coach to prove that the band aren’t fooling around.

At first, many rock ‘n’ roll fans were dubious of Greta Van Fleet. People shrugged them off as a Led Zeppelin tribute. In fact, in a new interview with Classic Rock, frontman Josh Kiszka admits that even his vocal coach used to hate Greta Van Fleet for meddling with rock ‘n’ roll – until she saw them live.

“I had a vocal coach come to our show in New York…” Kiszka recalls. “She saw the show, then told me backstage she was one of those people who once thought, ‘How dare they!’ But [after seeing us perform], she said: ‘You deserve everything that is coming to you, and thank you for carrying the torch.’ So her tune changed very quickly.”

• READ MORE: Greta Van Fleet’s Jake Kiszka says people who dismiss them as being imitators are ignoring the “far more complex and nuanced” reality of their music

Nowadays, Kiszka isn’t surprised when he encounters a naysayer. In his words, some people act like rock ‘n’ roll is a “religious temple”, and their involvement alone is like an act of blasphemy. “When we came along, I think people were so concerned we were going to penetrate their hallowed rock ‘n’ roll world,” the frontman says.

“[Rock ‘n’ roll was] their religious temple, [and this] bunch of snot-nosed kids [wanted] to change things up,” he continues. “But it was quite the antithesis. It was our respect for the genre. We just wanted to do something new, to move things along.”

While the hate still stings, Greta Van Fleet just try to avoid as much of it as possible.“I stopped reading [the hate comments],” he admits. “I’m fairly sensitive, so I thought, ‘This is weighing on my consciousness.’ I don’t even know the name of the publication, but someone said we were a bunch of talentless musicians who don’t know how to write a song or perform it. Things like that stab you where you’re tender. Some of that I carry. But I don’t believe it.”

As the old saying goes: what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. With the release of Palace For The People and their Into The Beginning tour set to kick off next February, the band are simply focusing on what really matters – good ol’ rock ‘n’ roll.

For tickets to the Into The Beginning tour, head to Greta Van Fleet’s website.

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The post “Her tune changed very quickly”: Even Josh Kiszka’s vocal coach was dubious about Greta Van Fleet – until she saw them live appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Fender has clarified its position following the news that a WARN notice had been issued to 533 employees notifying them of the temporary closure of its Corona, California factory during “holiday inventory quiet weeks” at the end of the year.

In the US, a WARN notice (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification) informs employees in advance of a large-scale plant closure or mass layoffs. An employer must issue one if more than 500 workers are affected at a single site.

Following speculative chatter across guitar industry forums in the past week – alongside a relatively turbulent time for the company amid its widely criticised Stratocaster cease and desist campaign – Fender has contacted Guitar.com to clarify the specifics of the WARN notice, and how employees at the Corona factory will be affected.

• READ MORE: Housed within Fender’s newly revamped American Professional line is a bridge previously only available on top-line Custom Shop models: “It was like, ‘How can you make it in quantity?’”

The company says the notice relates to the temporary closure of its Corona factory between 14 and 31 December, 2026. However, a WARN notice in this context is unusual, as US employers generally do not issue WARNs for temporary layoff periods of less than six months.

In a statement given to Guitar.com, Fender reassures those concerned that there are “no layoffs associated with these quiet weeks”, and that affected employees will “return in the new year”.

As Fender explains, end-of-year shutdowns are part of its “normal annual operations and are not a new practice”. That said, this marks the first time Fender has issued a WARN notice alongside a factory shutdown.

“As part of our ongoing efforts to strengthen internal processes and improve transparency, we have taken an evolved and more proactive approach to formal notifications this year,” the firm writes. “There has been no fundamental change in our annual operation practices.”

It adds that “employees may have the option to work” during this shutdown period between 14 – 31 December, and that the WARN notice is “simply intended to provide employees with advance visibility so they can plan accordingly”. 

It’s been a tumultuous year for Fender, which has faced heavy backlash from the guitar community after serving cease and desist orders to a number of brands making guitars similar to the Stratocaster. Boutique builders like California-based LsL Instruments have been hit, as well as some of the industry’s biggest players including PRS, Yamaha, and Thomann.

Recently, CEO Edward “Bud” Cole sought to clarify the brand’s position, saying that while it had no plans to halt its legal actions against other companies over the Stratocaster, it was pursuing “respectful discussions” over lawsuits.

2026 hasn’t been totally stormy for Fender, however, with significant product launches coming in the way of a revamped American Professional line, a potentially game-changing new pickup silencing system, the first signature Tone Master amp with blues ace and new digital modelling convert Joe Bonamassa, and a slew of mouth-watering signature instruments for Mark Hoppus, Johnny Marr and Lee Sklar.

Also recently, the company relaunched its website, now featuring an AI chatbot that helps you find your perfect guitar, as well as integrated sound demos to hear gear before you buy.

The post “There are no layoffs and employees will return in the new year”: Fender says WARN notice ahead of Corona factory closure is part of “normal operating procedure” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

While Wolfgang Van Halen’s chops are impressive on record, the pure might of his talent is best enjoyed live; when he’s in his element on stage, it’s blazingly clear that Eddie Van Halen’s blood flows through his son’s veins. It’s truly a sight to behold – but, if you’ve not had the pleasure of seeing it in the flesh, Wolfgang is set to film a full live concert film with his band Mammoth this November.

Five years on from the release of Mammoth’s first (and only) official live music video for Don’t Back Down, Wolfgang will be filming the entirety of his O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire later this year. The show will take place on 24th November – and, while the show has been sold out for some time, a final round of production hold tickets have just been released to the public.

• READ MORE: John Mayer thinks big guitar makers have “punished” affordable guitars by making them look worse than expensive ones

The live concert recording will be a way of honouring Mammoth’s 2025 record, The End. The record saw Wolfgang pushing himself to a whole new level creatively, writing and performing every vocal and instrumental track himself. While he hasn’t quite worked out the technology to clone himself to perform everything, as depicted in the ridiculous video for Another Celebration at the End of the World, his band are sure to do a fabulous job bringing The End tracks to life.

In the lead up to the gig, Mammoth will be preparing for the big O2 Shepherd’s Bush show on their support run with Iron Maiden at the start of November, and then Deep Purple. In the UK, the band will be opening for Deep Purple from 18th until 22nd November, kicking off in Newcastle’s Utilita Arena and ending in Manchester’s AO Arena.

If you can’t make it to Mammoth’s London gig, don’t worry. And we don’t just mean because the gig will be preserved forevermore in its recorded form – Mammoth will also be visiting Ireland in December, with shows in Dublin on 15th December and Belfast on 16th December. The gigs were specifically rescheduled from June, and will be a great chance to catch Mammoth before the end of the year.

To check for any remaining tickets for 24th November, head to Mammoth’s website.

The post Want to be a part of Mammoth history? Wolfgang Van Halen’s upcoming London show will be filmed – and you can be there appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Must be the season of the witch, because Toyah Willcox has joined a coven. At least, that’s what the latest episode of Sunday Lunch suggests; appearing alongside her husband, King Crimson’s Robert Fripp, the pair have recorded a bewitching new performance of Donovan‘s Season Of The Witch to get into the Halloween spirit.

From the offset, the pair are fully kitted out for the imminent spooky season. As they cruise through the 1966 tune, Willcox sparkles in her head-to-toe sequined witchy gear, wiggling her fingers as if she’s casting a hex on the audience. By her side, we can only assume Fripp is her cursed henchman, because his face is hidden behind a rather unsightly, disfigured mask.

• READ MORE: John Mayer thinks big guitar makers have “punished” affordable guitars by making them look worse than expensive ones

Whether it’s a nod to Slipknot, the infamous online phenomenon ‘Momo’, or the antagonist of 2012’s critically panned horror, Smiley, we cannot confirm. Regardless, Fripp looks straight out of a nightmare in this Sunday Lunch instalment. It’s like he’s a sentient orange peel that’s had a Chelsea grin smile and two ominous eyes carved into it.

Unsettling looks aside, the performance is fittingly Halloweenie. And it ends with (what seems to be) a seasonal warning from Fripp, trying his hardest to get his words through his thick mask. “Beeeeeware the nasty witchy person… today and every season of the year, here at Toyah and Robert’s Sunday Lunch!” he slurs.

This might come as a fright in and of itself, but, outside of their ghoulish Sunday Lunch antics, Willcox is already looking forward to the next seasonal highlight of the year. That’s right, Willcox already has Christmas on the mind; the singer is set to release a massive 24-CD box set, fittingly names Twenty-Four From Toyah, on 4 December.

The mega bundle box set will include every single Willcox released between the years of 1979 and 1987. It’s a comprehensive collection of singles, EPs and even additional bonus tracks, rare outtakes and live sessions from the era. In fact, 21 of the total 197 tracks included are previously unreleased.

Twenty-Four From Toyah also features a 56-page booklet including background information on each single, as well as artwork and extra trivia about each era. The collection is available to pre-order now for £114.99.

To celebrate the release, Toyah will also be hosting four Christmas Party shows. The singer will be swinging by Liverpool on 4 December, as well as Sunderland, London and a final show in Birmingham on 7 December to round things off.

You can pre-order Twenty-Four From Toyah now. If you hope to attend her Christmas Party, head to her website for more information.

The post Robert Fripp and Toyah’s Sunday Lunch Halloween special is the most unsettling thing we’ve seen all year appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

“Something about playing rock music on an acoustic guitar really got me,” Hudson Freeman affirms, enthusiastic yet brittle, over the chattering of crockery in a busy Hackney cafe.

After immediately expressing his woe over the mean bout of flu that ruled him out of End of the Road festival – and very nearly this cover story – our conversation meandered onto how Nirvana’s seismic MTV Unplugged session subconsciously impacted him as a budding songwriter. There’s no end to the list of artists that feted, candle-lit show inspired. In Freeman’s case, an idea fomented that everything he needed as a musician was within the acoustic guitar.

Hudson Freeman on the Guitar.com Cover. Image: Joseph Bishop for Guitar.com

“I’ve always had an allergy to thinking about tone, pedals, amps and all those decisions around electric guitar,” he insists. “It has always been acoustic guitar for me. I think tuning and the strings you use are the whole toolkit.” This insistence on maxing out the capabilities of his acoustic guitar helped him create a very deliberate guitar language, which has set Hudson Freeman apart. Bending de-tuned nylon-strings as a compositional device catalysed a guitar riff that made a B-side into the centrepiece of the viral video which transformed his career.

Anybody dialled into alternative music scrolling on Instagram and TikTok towards the tail end of last year would have likely stumbled upon a video of Freeman strumming the gloriously lo-fi demo version of If You Know Me. In an era where there’s a natural suspicion about the humanity behind anything that’s too polished, it’s not hard to see why the sound of Freeman summoning the song’s slackly-tuned slowcore riff in a South Indiana cornfield – complete with chirping insect accompaniment – quickly caught people’s attention.

Image: Joseph Bishop for Guitar.com

What wasn’t predictable, however, was how the song would catch fire on social media – becoming the plaintive soundtrack to hundreds of thousands of TikToks and Instagram reels, and sending his follower counts skyrocketing into six figures.

It’s the sort of viral success that most young artists can only dream of, except it wasn’t really. Freeman was no fledgling upstart: he was an overnight success over ten years in the making, and one that is determined to make music on his own terms.

“Something about playing rock music on an acoustic guitar really got me”

Hero Worship

At the age of just seven, Hudson was gifted a Squier stratocaster from his parents. “My family is musical and involved in church: my mum was a worship leader and my dad was, and still is, a pastor. That was the route into it, though I didn’t really learn anything at first.”

The gentle nudge towards writing Christian songs didn’t appeal to Freeman initially. His interest in rock music ignited after playing Guitar Hero, which provided a rite of passage onto an actual guitar. The first song he learned was the acoustic version of Foo Fighters’ Everlong. “I’ve been totally infatuated with the guitar since then.”

As Evangelical Christian missionaries, his parents lived a nomadic existence, moving from Texas, where Freeman was born, to the Kingdom of Eswatini when he was just 13. Uprooted and isolated due to being homeschooled, his guitar became foundational – or as he puts it, “My guitar was my best friend.”

Image: Joseph Bishop for Guitar.com

That isolation was lessened somewhat by the internet. Freeman has been sharing his music online since he was just 14 years old. “I got on to YouTube and started a channel with the help of my dad,” he explains. “I started writing songs around the time I moved to Africa. They were all cringey Christian songs.”

As a teenager, he began questioning the moral absolutism his parents instilled in him, and later rejected his faith altogether. He then moved to Springfield, Missouri for college, and now resides in Brooklyn. His family are still in Eswatini. While their love for him is unwavering and unconditional, Freeman admits that his break with religion can make the relationship tough going.

“It’s kinda hard,” he says. “I’m the only member of my family that’s not an Evangelical Christian anymore. I feel isolated from them in that way. But they’re very supportive. We talk all the time. We just don’t have a lot in common anymore.”

Image: Joseph Bishop for Guitar.com

Fittingly for an artist who deals with big subjects through a folk-tinged lens, Freeman cites Sufjan Stevens as his greatest inspiration. “He’s an artist that’s also tied up with religion,” he explains. “He wants to explore religion aesthetically but also philosophically. It interested me in the cinematic scope of indie rock music.”

From a technical perspective, singer-songwriter Andy Shauf’s penchant for obscure melody and tunings fascinated him, while My Bloody Valentine’s glide guitar mechanics compelled Freeman to explore similar possibilities on nylon-strings, which became his signature.

“I realised having nylon-strings, and them being so stretchy, I could always be moving my left hand on the fret. The idea with using nylon-strings was to make it sound kinda shoegaze-y. I just started doing it whenever I played chords.”

“I’m not going to be the new Noah Kahan. I’m explicitly not trying to find the biggest fanbase”

Know Yourself

It was this unconventional approach that would lead to Freeman’s signature guitar moment. He had been playing around with a dramatic G-string bend on the third fret throughout the writing and recording of his 2025 album, Is A Folk Artist, where he’d used the technique in more subtle ways in the songs Guilty Running and We Should Eat.

But what if he could write a whole song based around it? “I just thought it’d make a sick hook,” he reflects. “I’d been doing the de-tuning thing for a while and started to get a real bend because the strings were so loose. I posted it as more of a technique thing, really. To me it sounded like a B-side.”

In an age of screen media where people don’t know what’s real and what isn’t, Freeman’s view is that people are starting to respond more to things that are less polished. “Lo-fi music is insistent on under-producing,” he observes. “Which makes people feel like they can trust it.”

Image: Joseph Bishop for Guitar.com

The riff is also, it has to be said, an absolute belter. Striking that rare balance between sounding fresh, while having a timeless universality, it worms its way into your brain. If you’re a guitar player, chances are it makes you want to pick up an acoustic and work it out for yourself – which is exactly what happened with John Mayer, who posted his attempt to Instagram.

“I have a lot of respect for him being a major artist who co-signs younger, unknown artists,” Freeman says of Mayer. “It doesn’t feel like a lot of legacy artists go out of their way to do that. Most people know who John Mayer is. He’s probably the last seriously palatable guitarist on a mainstream scale, so for him to co-sign If You Know Me was cool.” That said, Freeman says he’s happy to stay in his lane, and probably “wouldn’t make a song with him” even if the opportunity arose, appreciative as he is of Mayer’s support.

The thing that bears repeating about the If You Know Me that went viral is that it was just a demo. When Freeman recorded the song how he originally envisioned and released the results, he got a crash course in the less fun side of parasocial media, seeing the lines between fan participation and entitlement blur firsthand.

“When I released the official recording, people had this irrational anger towards it being produced in any way,” he says. “Like it was sacrilege. I found that bizarre. I released the demo because I thought it was special, and you can buy or stream it as it is. But I thought it’d be cooler adding drums, and making it sound the way I truly wanted it to sound. It’s got just as many streams as the demo, though, which is justification.”

“It has always been acoustic guitar for me. I think tuning and the strings you use are the whole toolkit”

Tuning It Out

With the increased visibility that came hand-in-hand with his viral triumph, Freeman was snatched up by both Kings Of Leon and Mumford & Sons to support them on their respective arena tours earlier this year. He was both enamoured and daunted by the experience. Not only was he highly exposed playing alone to huge audiences in cavernous venues, but the pitfalls of his unique guitar approach and sticking with his trusty Córdoba C7 guitar became quickly apparent.

“I’ve been doing all these alternative tunings, and playing the fuck out of it so much, that it keeps going out of tune. I’m re-tuning constantly,” he shrugs, in exasperation. “I’m spending about 20 minutes per show re-tuning.” Freeman candidly admits it doesn’t help to sharpen his stage banter either. “I’m terrible with banter. I need to get a lot better filling that time. It’s excruciating.”

Plenty of other artists would have a rack of backup guitars in different tunings to speed things up, but that sort of rock star excess doesn’t vibe with Freeman’s defiantly DIY approach to making music. He’s an artist that is committed to his vision, refusing numerous offers to sign to a major label on the back of his viral success, instead sticking with indies: he was with Mendel Records between 2019 and 2025 and has signed to Mom + Pop (home of Courtney Barnett, Tom Morello and Beach Bunny) for his forthcoming album, Doom Country.

Image: Joseph Bishop for Guitar.com

Doom Country, as you might get from its title, is an album that doesn’t shy away from the current state of America, while still keeping things true to his lo-fi ethos.

“It’s the most cohesive thing I’ve ever made,” he explains. “It’s inspired by Sufjan Stevens insofar that it’s a concept album. The backdrop of AI, being in America right now. People have commented that it sounds like a series of post-apocalyptic songs, and that the lo-fi aspect makes it feel like The Last Of Us. I just took that and ran with it, conceptually.”

Wrestling with big subjects is something Freeman clearly doesn’t shrink from, even when they hit very close to the bone.

“There’s a very personal quality to the record,” he explains. “Growing up as an Evangelical Christian, the idea of the apocalypse, the Rapture, the idea of being left behind is pervasive. When Jesus takes all of the Christians to heaven, I had this fear that my parents would be taken, and I’d be left behind. Everything feels kind of apocalyptic now. Political institutions are falling apart, all these various ways where society is collapsing. I really did imagine that I’d be left behind. There’s this quality to living in America right now, where it’s not just bad. It’s stupid. It’s a tragedy.

“I really want to make an album about the fallout of the Rapture, but it’s farcical. It’s not so much that the world is ending, but more than American hegemony is ending. It’s been this superpower, economically and culturally. Now it’s fading, and it feels like the end of the world.”

“The idea with using nylon-strings was to make it sound kinda shoegaze-y”

Suffice to say, it’s not the next move you’d expect from a viral star, but it’s entirely in-keeping with Hudson’s determination to do things his way. Far from bowing to the pressure to build on his success, he almost seems to be trying to distance himself from it (“If You Know Me is not on the album,” he notes) and from the “next folk star” narrative he finds himself burdened with.

“I was repeatedly telling labels that I’m not going to be the new Noah Kahan,” he insists. “I’m explicitly not trying to find the biggest fanbase. The real pressure is finding the people who really understand what I’m doing.” With Doom Country, he just might.

Doom Country is out 6 November on Mom + Pop Records. Hudson Freeman will tour Europe and the UK from February 2027.

Words: Tom Curtis-Horsfall
Photography: Joe Bishop

The post Hudson Freeman wants to soundtrack the end of America. All he needs is a nylon-string guitar appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Place a 1937 and 1979 Martin D-28 side by side—which is the true heirloom-quality instrument? The obvious answer, you would think, is the prized 1937 D-28. But… maybe the 1979 D-28 was dad’s beloved guitar, and it brings back memories of him picking “After the Gold Rush” or “Blackberry Blossom.” Maybe dad refinished the top and glued on his name and a new pickguard. Maybe those modifications are what make it so special.

In the 1970s, vintage guitars started circulating among a handful of folks with an appreciation for great used instruments. George Gruhn, Norman Harris, Stan Jay and “Hap” Kuffner, Fred Oster, Matt Umanov, Stan Werbin, Harry West, and others hunted for clean, original examples and did the hands-on research that laid the groundwork for where we are today. This coincided with a not-so-golden era of guitar manufacturing, when established American brands worked to increase revenue by quickly pumping out as many instruments as possible—in turn decreasing the overall quality and appeal of the finished products. This was the era of pancake bodies, three-bolt necks, active electronics, large and goofy pegheads, Indian instead of Brazilian rosewood, Rotomatic tuners installed on anything with strings, bullet truss rods, thick plastic finishes, and bridges glued in the wrong spot.

Before we opened our shop, we both worked at Gruhn Guitars in Nashville. George seems to have mellowed with age, much like a fine vintage instrument settling into excellent, mostly all-original condition, but earlier models of the Gruhn didn't mince words about pretty much any guitar made in the 1970s, or about his true nemesis: modifications to pre-1970 vintage instruments. Here are a few things we've heard him say about modified guitars:

“It’s ruined!”

“It’s an abomination!"

And the classic: “Your grandfather was an idiot!”

Lucky for George, he has always employed a small army of luthiers who spend countless hours bringing instruments back to their former glory respectfully.

It’s safe to assume some of today’s vintage buyers have shifted away from George’s opinions—our shop has found new homes for a lot of player-grade and bizarre vintage gear, as well as droves of great ’70s guitars. But his opinion still informs ours. If it’s vintage and original, do your best to preserve it. But if you’re eyeballing a guitar from the ’70s, don't be afraid to make it your own. It might become your number one until you’re vintage.

“In the 1970s, vintage guitars started getting traded around by a handful of folks with an appreciation for great used instruments.”

Guitar companies (and shop owners) have also long expressed sincere fears that people are going to fall out of love with guitars and replace them with something more modern. In the late 1970s, amid the rise of synths, Gibson worked directly with the king of them, Bob Moog, since his company was also part of the Norlin Corporation.

The model name RD is decidedly corporate in origin—it’s an abbreviation for Research and Development. Gibson researched, developed, and then briefly offered three RD models from 1977 to 1979: the RD Artist, with Moog-designed electronics and fancy bindings/inlays; the RD Custom, with less complex electronics/appointments; and the RD Standard, with passive electronics and dot inlays. People describe all three versions as either unique and underrated or undesirable and ugly. A guitar’s beauty and functionality is clearly in the eye of the beholder.

A 1978 RD Artist has been at our shop for a while. The Fireburst finish and winged-F pearl headstock inlay stand out in a crowd. It’s cool. Customers play it, talk about it, and then leave without it. Recently, we had a 1977 RD Standard for sale for just 24 hours. The neck and body were reshaped and refinished in a color we named Slime Green. We removed the active pickups and installed two Dunable Direwolf humbuckers. It was shipped out with a nice woody growl that rips through a high-gain amplifier.

We also have a wild 1956 Gibson Les Paul Special next to two Les Paul Juniors—a mostly original sunburst single-cutaway from 1956, and a refinished/reworked cherry-red double-cutaway from 1958. Someone converted the Les Paul Special to a lefty model by modifying it to an asymmetrical double-cutaway shape, and relocating the wiring harness to the other side of the body and the toggle switch to the center (!!!). The body was sprayed over in an off-yellow color, but the neck retains its original Limed Mahogany “TV Yellow” finish. Then it was switched back to right-handed. Empty holes are still in the body, and the list of mods is longer, but we suspect this quirky Les Paul will sell before the other two vintage Lesters.

With all due respect to the folks who got us all here, in 2026 we’re honestly happy to appreciate these vintage instruments for what they are. One question remains, though: Once you take something this far, how do you know when to stop? Should we leave the holes in the top of the Les Paul Special’s body open in case someone wants to switch it back to left-handed… again? Our best guess is this guitar sounds so good because the body was weight-relieved long before Gibson decided to offer that feature. Though it has been devalued, it sounds like a million bucks!

As for the RD Standard, we replaced the replacement pickups in the guitar, and to us it sounded better as a result. Now that this abomination of an RD has found a new home, what will someone do to it—or with it—next?

By: Rick Landers

More than a little musical magic erupted at Northern Virginia’s Reston Coffee House steps away from the waters of Lake Anne, with the Ken Avis–Dave Kline Duo performing several sets of originals and cover tunes sparked by Ken’s stylish guitar work and Dave’s spins with his formidable violin action. The two mixed it up splendidly engaging the audience with clever and humorous banter between tunes drawing out smiles, laughter and appreciation from a full house of fans – some new!

The two Brits were joined by Ken’s muse, Lynn Veronneau, who was there to hang out, but agreed to dive into the potent trio rolling out a few songs to the delight of the crowd with spot on vocals, with such tunes as, “Sweet Dreams” by the Eurythmics and “What A Wonderful World,” that recalled the legendary Louis Armstrong.

In the audience was one of the D.C. area’s A-List harmonicats, Larry Tapper, who met Ken and Dave for the first time at the gig. With his always on hand case of harps and with some persuasion from another member of the audience, the duo graciously asked him to join them on several songs. That can be a bit risky. But Tapper rolled in with top notch riffs of his own, with Ken and Dave smiling, as the three fused their styles remarkably well. Pure magic!

French Canadian Lynn and Ken, tour internationally as Veronneau and have entertained folks in the U.S., the U.K., Europe and recently Canada. Catch them if you can; you won’t regret it one iota. And, Dave is the leader of his own Dave Kline Band. During the performance Ken had everyone smiling when he humorously plugged his newly published book, A History of Popular Music in Northern Virginia.

The coffee house is a staple of the Reston, Virginia music scene, as well as offers a great menu of food and drink, and with its view of on the Lake Anne it’s become a hot spot for locals and visitors to the D.C. area. And tonight, the dueling duo of Ken Avis and Dave Kline offered up an exceptional show, and the inclusion of Lynn Veronneau and Larry Tapper added to the musical spectrum, as surprise guests who helped make the evening one for the ages!

On the immediate, unshakable feeling that hits when a guitar chooses you.

Once upon a time, I knew this woman who had an incredible story. She claimed to be the only person to have ever been hit by lightning while driving in a moving car! Now, I don’t know if that’s even possible, but once you got to know her, she would tell the tale. Man, everyone knew her story about being hit with a lightning bolt, and she told the story with such conviction that she was believable. She might’ve even been struck twice? I dunno…

This leads me to tell you all that I have a long-standing theory about such sudden flashes. I call it the “Thunderbolt” theory, basically because it sounds cooler than “lightning bolt” and it pays homage to the old Supro Thunderbolt amps, which I adore. By definition, a thunderbolt is a “single flash of lightning accompanied by a loud crash of thunder, or metaphorically, a sudden, shocking, and unexpected event.” So, have you ever been hit by a thunderbolt? Once? Twice? Many times? It could be a first love, or a new car. But man, when that thunderbolt hits you, based on my theory, you just need to heed its call. A thunderbolt is going to make you forget all else and just love on that person or thing because somehow, everything clicked, and now you’re smitten. And it’s an instant feeling. A sudden flash!

I’ve been hit by the guitar bolt a few times, and I remember each one vividly. Like my first Jag-Stang, which I thought (at the time) was the finest guitar I’d ever held. Or the time I missed out on buying a rare Supro Tri Tone, an experience that had me feeling ill for a day or two. Over time there have been guitars and people who have moved me to feel a certain way, but it’s nothing like the thunderbolt. Let me explain, good people.

Last summer, when I was resetting my health and trying to live clean and simply, I happened upon this little guitar that was hidden among stock in a music store in North Carolina. I was walking around and noticed this gold glittery thing, and every time I glanced over, I became a little more interested. The details of it screamed out to me, but since I’m not buying many guitars anymore, I just ignored it in the moment. But the next morning, this guitar was still on my mind. First thing! I kept thinking about the offset lines and the gold/redburst combination finish. So, a few days later, I made the trek back down south to buy this oddity. I had no choice, really. I was hit by the thunderbolt!

Who made this guitar? Who knows? It stands within a super-bizarre family of guitars that often featured strange-looking pickups, carved aluminum pickguards, and loco headstock designs. Similar guitars were obviously made at the same factory in Japan, circa 1966, but I could never figure it out. Sometimes that’s okay because it adds to the intrigue.

The tremolo is a copy of a copy. The odd slide switches work fine but can begin sliding—even if you don’t bump them! The pickups are incredible, even though the guitar is sort of clunky and not well balanced. Of course, being hit by the thunderbolt has you overlooking flaws because you’re simply in love. And you know what? I’m still smitten by this instrument.

“Being hit by the thunderbolt has you overlooking flaws because you're simply in love.”

In the end, I was able to get a Supro Tri Tone, but I sold it because the feeling didn’t last. It just wasn’t the same as the first time I saw one. I also sold my Jag-Stang, and then, miraculously, I found it again and bought it back! As for this strange guitar, it’s still with me, because, you know, the thunderbolt!

This week, we’re talking to Noah C. Lekas, one of the Fretboard Journal’s longstanding contributors.

Over the years, Noah has profiled a variety of subjects for our magazine, from blues legend Hubert Sumlin to luthier Matt Eich of Mule Resophonics. Today, we’re sharing this Colorado-based writer/musician’s own journey: His near-fatal illness, the psychedelic therapy that helped save him, and the album that he just released to document the ordeal, ‘Flowers of Perennial Dissent.’ The spoken word and guitar project features guests such as Luther Dickinson (North Mississippi Allstars) and folk artist Charlie Parr.

All told, it’s a deep chat about the human condition, finding your why, gratitude, and so much more. We hope you like it.

Follow Noah here. Get the record here: https://www.blindowlrecords.com/products/noah-c-lekas-flowers-of-perennial-dissent

Subscribe to the Fretboard Journal’s quarterly print magazine. Issue 61 is about to be mailed to all subscribers:  https://shop.fretboardjournal.com/products/fretboard-journal-annual-subscription

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(Get your first month free or $20 off any annual subscription with the promo code FRETBOARD at checkout).

We are also brought to you by Mike & Mike’s Guitar Bar: https://mmguitarbar.com, located in Seattle, Washington.

The post Podcast 567: Noah C. Lekas first appeared on Fretboard Journal.

Wireless has reached the point where most players can’t hear the difference, so the more interesting question is what else the box can do while it’s working. PG contributor Tom Butwin details three new solutions from NUX: the C-58RC instrument system, the C-7 stereo in-ear monitor rig, and the B-8S, a beltpack-and-pedal setup that doubles as a DI, tuner, boost, and effects loop. Each offers automatic and manual pairing and ships in a charging case or charges magnetically through its receiver.

The C-58RC covers guitar and bass with active and passive modes, a cable-tone setting, one-touch reconnect, and a built-in tuner with mute and a flippable screen. Its case delivers roughly three full recharges. The C-7 turns wired earphones into a stereo monitoring rig with five EQ presets, one-touch frequency hopping, support for multiple receivers off a single transmitter, and 18 hours of total runtime.

The B-8S uses 1 MHz narrowband transmission for more usable channels in a crowded room, and its pedal receiver charges the beltpack while handling balanced DI, send and return, buffer, boost, and a 2.4" color screen that rotates for different board layouts. A ground lift and a 1/4" input on the side mean it still works wired if the connection ever drops.

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It’s something you’ve probably considered at some point – is it actually worth getting a cheap guitar and upgrading it? Affordable guitars can be pretty inviting, as is the idea of kitting one out with your own choice of electronics and hardware. But, when the hardware and pickups cost a good deal more than the actual guitar they’re going into, is it worth it, or are you doing the guitar equivalent of fitting a rocket engine onto a Toyota Prius?

There is not a straight yes or no answer to that question, really – it depends on your goals, your tastes, and your patience for your own inevitable screwups. But these days, with the quality of affordable instruments only getting better, and places like StewMac providing more access to tools, parts and guides than ever before, there’s perhaps never been a better time to give it a go.

Check out the video above, where I go through the hows and the whys of upgrading an affordable instrument, from replacing the hardware, increasing the reliability of the electronics and changing the sound with a new set of pickups.

All of this was made a lot easier with the tools and guides available at StewMac – find out more at stewmac.com.

The post Making a cheap guitar into a dream guitar appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

We’re living in a golden age of innovation for extended-range guitar. These days, there are more ways than ever to fine-tune and experiment—whether you’re playing a 7- or 8-string, cranking down to extreme drop tunings, utilizing specialized pickups or multi-scale designs, or chasing the sonic subtleties of particular string brands. We spoke to five top manufacturers for insights into the creation and refinement of their flagship products.

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Big things are happening in John Mayer World; after recently announcing a massive residency at the Las Vegas Sphere for 2027, the guitar legend has just released a brand-new single, Tom and Jerry.

The track marks Mayer’s first solo release since 2021, when he released his eighth studio album, Sob Rock.

• READ MORE: John Mayer thinks big guitar makers have “punished” affordable guitars by making them look worse than expensive ones

Produced and written by Mayer alongside Grammy-winning producer Blake Slatkin, recorded at Chaplin Studios in Los Angeles and mixed by veteran engineer Serban Ghenea, Tom and Jerry made its debut on Mayer’s SiriusXM channel Life With John Mayer on Thursday (22 October) before arriving in full today.

You can listen to the new single below:

As Mayer explains, the track’s name, “Tom and Jerry”, comes from the name he gave the voice memo he made when he first had the song idea.

“From that moment on, the adventure began in bringing that feeling to life,” the guitarist writes in an Instagram post. “I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating every time – I get to work with a group of incredibly talented and deeply dedicated artists who will stop at nothing until the sound comes into focus and becomes a picture.”

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The single’s release also coincides with the launch of Mayer’s own record label, Sob Rock Records, in partnership with Mercury Records.

“Working with [Mercury Chairman and CEO] Tyler Arnold and the talented team at Mercury Records has already proven to be a great partnership,” Mayer said in a statement [via Rolling Stone]. 

“The path from creative vision to execution has never been easier or more rewarding. I feel very inspired, and I’m excited for what’s to come.”

“John Mayer is one of the greatest artists of all time, and I couldn’t be prouder to welcome him to Mercury Records,” adds Tyler Arnold.

 “We’re excited to be part of his next chapter and to partner with his label, Sob Rock Records, to help bring his creative vision to life.”

That’s not all that’s been happening in a whirlwind few months for John Mayer, though. Last month, the guitarist announced a partnership with PRS and Land Rover Defender to bring a palette of the Defender’s iconic colourways to his signature guitar, the Silver Sky.

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The post John Mayer celebrates launch of his own record label with new single, Tom and Jerry appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

€299/£269/$359, crazytubecircuits.com

A triptych is a painting with three panels, so you might assume the Crazy Tube Circuits Triptychon is some kind of three-in-one pedal. And it is, in a sense – but it’s also a seven-in-one, or possibly a nine-in-one… or even, at times, a nine-in-two.

Yes, those freaky Greek boutique geeks have done their best to confuse us all with this one. But if they really have squeezed all the fuzz, overdrive and boost tones you need into a single standard-sized pedal, who cares?

• READ MORE: Walrus Audio Lüm review – one small box, three colossal reverb effects

What is it?

In line with its name (pronounced ‘trip tick on’), the Triptychon’s graphic design suggests some sort of three-panel church altarpiece, but this isn’t the world’s first Gregorian chant simulator – it’s a tribute to the much less godly rocking sounds of the late 1960s. That much is obvious from the four fuzz circuits that form the heart of the pedal: a Fuzz Face and three Tone Benders (Vox, Mk1.5 and MkII), selected via a rotary switch in the centre.

That would have made a pretty interesting pedal by itself, along the lines of CTC’s excellent Cyclone four-mode phaser, but there’s a whole lot more vintage rock noisiness going on here. Firstly, on the left you’ll find controls for an overdrive circuit, designed to recreate the sound and feel of plugging your fuzz box into a cooking amp; and then, on the right, you have a choice between two more old-school noise generators: an octave fuzz and a treble booster, each with two different modes to flip between using the ‘mod’ button.

So that’s four straight fuzzes, one overdrive, two octave fuzzes and two boosters – all in a pedal with just two footswitches? If you think that sounds like a stretch, you’re right – so you might want to consider thinking outside the box (literally) and digging out an extra 50-ish euros/pounds/dollars for the optional XT footswitch.

Image: Adam Gasson

Build quality and usability

The Triptychon is a weighty little unit, which is no surprise considering how much it’s got going on inside, but the first issue it has to tackle is one of ergonomics: you’re looking at seven knobs, two toggle switches and three push-buttons, and that’s always going to make things cramped. CTC has done well to keep everything reasonably clean and accessible… but there are compromises.

Navigating is actually a lot simpler with the XT footswitch plugged in: now you’ve got a pedal made up of three sections with a switch for each, so you can tap-dance your way in and out of overdrive, fuzz and octave/boost at will. And the layout is intuitive enough that, when you do want to make changes to settings, you won’t struggle.

As well as that four-way mode switch, the fuzz circuit has controls for gain and volume, plus a button to engage a buffer. The overdrive has drive, tone and volume; and the right-hand panel has a gain knob and another buffer switch, plus a toggle for octave or boost mode and the aforementioned mod button.

XT Switch. Image: Adam Gasson

Nothing too scary there… but without the XT switch, things suddenly start to look more fiddly. The problem is, with three sections but only two footswitches, you have to use a three-way toggle to set what those switches engage: left for fuzz and drive, and right for octave/boost; left for fuzz, and right for drive and octave/boost; or left for fuzz, right for octave/boost, and no drive at all.

If you got lost halfway through reading that sentence, don’t worry, I got lost halfway through writing it. In summary, using the Triptychon without the external switch is a pain in the hole. Mind you, it could be worse: the one other pedal CTC makes in this format, the Sidekick Jr, has a modulation section that can’t be bypassed on the unit itself.

Image: Adam Gasson

Sounds

We’re told the fuzz uses silicon transistors for a “true germanium tone and feel”, which is stretching the definition of the word ‘true’ somewhat, but it certainly sounds big, warm and fluffy in vintage style. All four options are nicely balanced, with plenty of shunt and no spikiness – which is just as well, as there’s no tone control.

The Fuzz Face and the Bender Mk1.5 sound quite similar, as they should (the circuits are very closely related), while the Vox TB has more midrange bite and the MkII piles on the gain. All sound decent with the guitar’s volume backed off, and the switchable buffer should not be overlooked: it adds a significant amount of pep and clarity, the only pity being that there’s no LED to let you know if it’s on.

I don’t have a lot to say about the overdrive, which is low-key brilliant: just about totally transparent, natural in feel, and perfect for giving those fuzzes an already crunchy base to build on. The octave fuzz is good too, really bringing the gnarl and offering a tidy ‘Hendrix in a box’ option when you run it into the Fuzz Face.

But for me the best non-fuzz bit of this pedal is the booster, which can be set for either a Rangemaster-style lift to the high mids or something reaching a little lower down the frequency spectrum. Both sound ace – and again, the only thing missing is an LED to tell you which mode you’re in.

On the subject of LEDs, I could use this thing every day for a month and not get used to the way the three status lights aren’t aligned with the footswitches – well, how could they be when one of those switches isn’t even on the pedal? – but maybe the answer to that is just to use it for two months. I certainly wouldn’t get sick of how it sounds.

Image: Adam Gasson

Should I buy one?

The Triptychon doesn’t quite live up to its fantastical space-saving promise, simply because it’s so compromised without the XT footswitch – which is small, yes, but could well take up almost as much room as another pedal depending on how your board is laid out. And that extra 50 notes is not something to take lightly, bearing in mind the serious price of the pedal itself.

Even so, this is an amazing feat of stompbox design, with nine different effects that all sound top-notch and work wonderfully well teamed up in twos and threes. If you can make the practicalities work, the tones on offer here are more than up to the job.

Alternatives

The Triptychon’s closest rival might be the Great Eastern FX Co. Focus Fuzz Deluxe (£299/$349), a consummate master of fuzz, drive and boost complete with footswitchable squawkage. The Walrus Audio Eons ($249.99/£235) has five different fuzz modes with variable voltage, while the Fender The Pelt V2 ($229.99/£159) offers a slightly more affordable mainstream option.

The post Crazy Tube Circuits Triptychon review – this might be the most ambitious dirt pedal ever made appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

A complete guitar and bass tone studio

DiMarzio has launched a pair of Tele-style neck pickups: the Chopper T Neck and Cruiser T Neck.

They retain a familiar metal cover that has adorned Telecaster neck pickups for 75 years, but that's where the similarities end.

The new DiMarzio pickups combine neodymium magnets and twin-blade hum-canceling coils. They’re designed to optimize the magnetic field and deliver better string-to-string balance, even when notes are bent. The result? Higher output, faster transients, and a lower noise floor than traditional T-style neck pickups.

The Chopper T Neck has clear highs, and the midrange and lows are punchy without muddiness. It’s an overall balanced tone, and the pickup has an output resistance of 6.52k.

The Cruiser T Neck's harmonic overtones are right where you'd expect them to be from a "true" single coil. The midrange is open and its top end chime offers clarity without harshness. The Cruise T Neck delivers a brighter tone and its output resistance is 3.58k.

Both pickups feature 4-conductor wiring and DiMarzio’s PCB quick-connect baseplates for easy installation with no modifications required.

Both pickups are available in four color options – chrome, unplated nickel, gold and black. For black and chrome finishes you can also choose between a metal cover with the DiMarzio logo or a classic, logo-free look.

Street price for chrome and unplated nickel is $119; street price for black and gold is $126. For more information visit DiMarzio.com.

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The Jordan Tice Trio – Jordan Tice, Patrick McGonigle, and Alan Mackie – perform three songs at Wintergrass 2026: “Don’t Know Why I’m Going Into Town,” “Matter of Time,” and “Find A Way from Here.”

We also asked the trio about the instruments used on this session.

Register now for Wintergrass 2027. The lineup in 2027 will include Sierra Hull, Jerry Douglas Band, East Nash Grass and other bluegrass favorites.

Video by Brad Wagner, audio by Juan M Soria.

We’ll be sharing more highlights from Wintergrass 2026 on a weekly basis here and on our YouTube channel.

The post Wintergrass Sessions: The Jordan Tice Trio first appeared on Fretboard Journal.

“One can hear so many of the sounds and feel so many of the feelings that, moving forward so steadily and so eloquently (and successfully), I identify as Julian. His ability to uplift as well as astonish are fully in evidence on World’s Fair; unvarnished and direct, stunningly beautiful while eschewing sheen or artifice of any sort.” –Nels Cline

 Reflecting on World’s Fair, his remarkable solo acoustic record from 2015, Julian Lage remarks, “I’ve had the great luxury and privilege to see it change over the last decade, and see certain things revealed.” It’s an album that has acquired beloved status for those of us who worship at the altar of acoustic guitar. Matt Munisteri, who co-produced World’s Fair, was presciently on-mark when he wrote in the original sleeve notes that “this music will cast a long shadow across an ever-widening terrain.”

World’s Fair was an important staging post in Lage’s career. Known for his collaborations with Chris Eldridge, Nels Cline, and Fred Hirsch, it was his first studio foray into solo acoustic. As Julian intimates in his foreword to the World’s Fair Songbook (link), the experience fundamentally changed his relationship with the acoustic guitar. “[It] taught me how rare and beautiful it is to hear a single guitar in all its spaciousness, delicacy, and elegance–and how I could begin to navigate space and time in ways that wouldn’t be as obvious in a group setting.”

The plan was to meet up in Melbourne during the Australian leg of the World’s Fair 10th anniversary tour for a retrospectively-slanted conversation centered on the record. In the end, Julian’s promo commitments and a crazy-tight travel schedule torpedoed an in-person interview and we reconvened on Zoom a few weeks later.

At home in New York, his circadian rhythm restored to Eastern Standard Time, straight off the bat Julian is his customary super-engaged, friendly, relaxed self. A few seconds into our call, he breaks off apologetically to attend to their new puppy who on hearing Julian’s voice has woken up and soft-paw scrabbled to his feet. With pup safely secured in his pen, we settle down to talk. Over the next half-hour we alight on vulnerabilities, narrative arcs, Segovia, noise floor, and how one instrument can carry a complete musical statement… and a new favorite acoustic guitar with vintage vibes.

FJ: In Melbourne, you prefaced the performance by describing it as a Book of Music. The expression would seem to encapsulate World’s Fair perfectly–a musical narrative of pages, sentences and phrases told through rhythm, silence and touch.

JL: Well, I grew up hearing that term. [John] Zorn uses that term because it quite literally amounts to a book of pages if you take all the charts and everything. I have a tendency for a sense of cohesion when it comes to songs for a recording. World’s Fair is very specific, you know? It’s about the specific agenda in a specific world of drama, if you will. In playing it over the years, I realized like, oh yeah, this was music that was meant to be together. So, it’s definitely with a sense of intention that I’d announce and think of it that way.

FJ: The running order on the record unfolds perfectly, nothing is out of place.

JL: You know, we’re all students of music, and there are as many ways to put a record of music together as there are people. Yet there seems to be these through-lines that I keep coming back to about arc and withholding certain things, especially with solo guitar. Maybe being conscientious not to do everything you’re capable of right away, you know? Or letting things have their moment or at least serve a function dramatically. Compared to having one song and the next song is basically the same song and so on. But that can be cool too. It doesn’t really matter. World’s Fair has become its own entity, which is nice, at least from a narrative point of view.

FJ: The foreword to the World’s Fair Songbook hints at some vulnerabilities in approaching solo guitar?

JL: Yeah, that’s true. At the time, it was so novel. It’s still novel to me. I think having not really done concerts and making a record presented some cool challenges. It was absolutely terrifying, you know. But I liked that part about it. I really did. I don’t know if I view it as terrifying in the same way now, but it’s rather illuminating. Wherever you are in your guitar playing. And that trip to Australia was no different. I thought, oh, this is where this music is now, cool, and then it’s somewhere else a week later. So, there’s something that might be a little more… I don’t want to say exposed because we’re always pretty equally exposed whether we’re alone or with a band… but it’s a nice snapshot of a lot of elements coming through one guitar. Where someone is personally, musically, “guitaristically,” physically, emotionally on display.

FJ: I understand Segovia and Barros were big influences?

JL: Yeah, well, those influences they’re huge in my life, not only for solo guitar, but for performance and composition. But absolutely, through the lens of solo guitar, the question remains the same: What’s so compelling about a single instrument and a single voice? In making World’s Fair, I had it backwards. I really did believe I had maybe a poor mentality, thinking that I needed to do more to make up for this lack of people around me playing. And when I did that, it garnered a very particular sound and results. I was able to reflect and go, no, this is one of the few times where you can actually be quite vulnerable and leave space. But not to conflate that individual nature with weakness or any sense of lacking.

In a way it’s a mindset shift, isn’t it? Under the scrutiny of a microphone, your things that might otherwise feel rather transient become a big deal. In relation to Segovia, those early recordings of his had a lot of noise in the recording, unrelated to his playing. In the electricity and the noise floor, so to speak. So, we have some of that on the record deliberately to contextualize the guitar. Rather than saying, “Well, get a perfect guitar sound, pure and beautiful, and that’s all that matters.” That maybe left us feeling a little bit cold. Things like reverbs, the sounds I involuntary make while I’m playing, the noise floor of the microphone… they all add up to something.

FJ: Can you talk about the role of Matt Munisteri and Armand Hirsch in achieving the intimate sonic footprint on World’s Fair?

JL: Absolutely. Armand Hirsch is one of the most brilliant musicians and, at that point, we were around each other all the time. It was a real privilege because that record could unfold over time, and he had that superpower of translating the evolution of the process into a sonic medium. He was no stranger to what the songs were, how far they had come, what we thought was possible… it was deeply integral. And Matt Munisteri too. He was looking at it from a more globalized conceptual point of view… knowing my playing, what would stand out, what would be cool to feature, what hasn’t been documented? So, you’re absolutely right. The conversation was consistent.

FJ: What are two lessons you took away from the making of World’s Fair in the context of what you’ve gone on to do over the last decade?

JL: It’s a great question. Well, I’d say one of the lessons would be that having heard myself recording and playing that music, it’s such a humbling reminder that the sound of a guitar is enough. You know that’s quite miraculous, a machine that makes sound and resonates. And like everything in life, you keep getting reminded it’s not about us. It’s not about I had a great idea and I did this. It’s not that. Making World’s Fair taught me that there’s a high degree of humility needed. You serve the music, serve the instrument, serve the resonance of the room you’re in to the best of your ability.

The second part of that lesson is that over the years, having played it live, that music was very much at its beginning stage by the time we recorded it. It’s only gone on to grow and I’ve learned a lot from it. It’s almost cliché, but that common notion that a recording is really a snapshot, and then it’s different the next time. I still love the original, but I like that it wasn’t limited to that recording. It was that music got me into playing, taking that role seriously and I’m grateful for that. I don’t know if I’d have taken it seriously unless I started with a higher stakes project like that.

FJ: The compositions on World’s Fair are infused with such humanity. In “40’s”, there’s an ascending chordal move–Gmaj13, Em11, Am11. Beautifully expressive, uplifting, transcendent, curious, slightly melancholic… I tried it out yesterday and it left me in a great headspace!

JL: That’s great you did that. That’s what it’s there for, you know. Suddenly you go, ‘oh, that’s a thing!’ and then you do what you want with it.

FJ: Reminds me of free-jazz drummer Cecil Taylor’s comment about great artists… rather than getting involved with discipline, they get to understand love and allow the love to take shape!

JL: Jeez, man, it’s amazing. It’s so fun. The fact it’s solo guitar really doesn’t matter. Of course, it’s part of the message and it’s the medium, but it’s not the point. When I listen to the masters, whether it be Julian Bream, Segovia, or Leo Kottke, I’m struck with that too. I grew up thinking it was one thing about the guitar, but then I have even more respect and humility when I listen to those players because I go, wow, they are really transcending the guitar. The thing that’s moving it is their sense of storytelling, and that’s a fabulous thing to shoot for.

FJ: You’re known for your kinesthetic approach to playing… shifting hands and feet, small vocalizations, facial expressions, and whole-body movement. It’s compelling to watch.

JL: You go in thinking this is one person playing music, but one person is full of so much stuff, you know. There’s really no such thing as seeing just one element at play, and I felt that on that tour. Melbourne happened to be in a beautiful hall, and that was a character. Look at this big room, sounds great, and then there’s this one person playing guitar. We went on to other shows that were far more challenging because they weren’t proper concert venues. You don’t have the scale and it’s a different kind of intensity. It’s one of the beautiful things playing solo. I’ve had the joy of seeing the juxtaposition, and typically a concert hall is a really nice place for it.

FJ: I’m intrigued by your choice of song titles on the record. It reads like a travel log–“Peru,” “Japan,” “Missouri,” “Ryland”…! Were those songs written in the lead-up to the record or had they been in your back pocket?

JL: No. Those were very much written for that record and it’s true, there’s something about those titles that are interpretive. It’s what you feel about it and you bring those feelings to the table. But there’s a neutrality about some of those names, for whatever reason, they seemed appropriate. “Japan” seemed appropriate, but it didn’t have to be called “Japan.” Then you have “Missouri.” They’re setting a certain geographical stance. Again, that may be neither here nor there, but it’s interesting. I remember talking to my father about this years ago. Names take on meaning when they fuse with compositions and sometimes they have to strike a balance of being compelling and neutral at the same time. My favorite titles are the musicians who understand that poetry. Those are the ones that stand out to me. You go, wow, they really got me into a place. But it’s very personal. I have to play, name things, give them titles that you can get away with that match your disposition. I appreciate you picking up on that because it does matter to me.

FJ: A personal favorite is “747.” At first you think, “Oh, that’s the airliner!” But turns out you named the song after a Swingline stapler. Super-playful.

JL: Well, numbers are words, you know.

FJ: Can we talk about your signature Collings OM1-JL, which is based on the 1939 000-18 you play on World’s Fair? Nully from Collings recalls working on the neck spec back in the day when Bill was still around. They’d line up the neck options, each with a different half-inch strip infill (maple, carbon fiber, spring steel, and ebony) for you to try out? You’d play the guitar, make notes and their set-up guy would swap out the neck for the next one?

JL: That project was complicated! The whole time I was keenly aware that they didn’t have to do this. I was essentially coming to Bill excited to be working with Bill, and Nully, Mark, Bruce, Clint, and Aaron. I came with a deep reverence for what they already did. By the same token, I was challenging them. What if we don’t have a guitar that’s high gloss? What if you have thinner top woods? What if the necks aren’t reinforced in this certain way?

I proceeded with caution because I knew everything I asked for was contradicting what they had built their company on. Fortunately, Bill was eager to see something from a different perspective, and the premise of that conversation was that the Waterloos were sounding so great. Whatever you’re doing here is working.

There’s a parallel in the world of Martin-style guitars, even though they’re not built the same way. They certainly benefit from some of the same features in terms of finish, weight, density of wood, the thickness and thinness of wood. They went through a lot of guitars and quite frankly, we got to a point where it didn’t seem like it was going to happen. Then somebody came in and basically said, ‘This is the combination of body neck you’re looking at,” and it was really wonderful. Guitar builders aren’t just guitar builders. They’re interacting with where they get their wood, who’s cutting their wood, what materials they have at their disposal. You have to fit into their ecosystem. They were at a point where they had the bandwidth to consider something different.

FJ: After all the experimentation, it turned out the neck you all liked best was the one Collings still use today: No internals other than the rod. Nully says it’s exactly this sort of mess-around project where you learn so much by confirming what you know and stuff you don’t. 

How’s the 000-18 faring these days?

JL: I still have it. It’s been in disrepair for many years. The top was sinking at a certain point, so I put it away with the tension off and I’ve left it with a friend to fix. But I did have it up and running briefly, maybe a year and a half ago, and I tried and liked it. It made sense as a recording guitar but live it didn’t quite make sense.

These days I’ve been playing a Michael Walker guitar that I really love. Bar-fretted, OM-18 style…it’s fabulous. What I’ve always been moving towards is something that replicates the sound of an early ‘30s OM-18. Growing up, our local guitar shop was Eric Schoenberg’s. Mr. O.M. himself. I forgot about that sound then; over the years, I thought, that’s the timbre I’ve been looking for. The 000 has some of that, but it’s shorter scale. The Collings has some, too, because of its longer scale, but it doesn’t have other things. The Walker has all those features. Michael is a fabulous builder. I wanted to bring it to Australia, but it’s got banjo tuners, and they didn’t fit in my Hoffee case.

Coda

I sought out Bill Frisell to garner his thoughts on Julian’s creative trajectory. His reply was informed by an Instagram post he’d seen earlier that day of Julian playing at the Crossroads Festival alongside Jorge Roeder and Nasheet Waits. “He’s evolving so fast, and it keeps getting deeper and clearer. His curiosity for everything around him. He’s not stopping!”

When I relay this to Julian, his reaction is typically warm and generous: “That’s sweet of Bill. I’m grateful to be doing this.”

Evolution–Curiosity–Humility. Hallmarks of Lage’s philosophy and sensibilities that hark back to the making of World’s Fair.

The post Revisiting ‘World’s Fair’ with Julian Lage first appeared on Fretboard Journal.