Norse Guitar Feeds

Guitar effects fall in and out of fashion. But I never quite understood the moment when Tube Screamers ceased to be cool. Players would complain about the midrange bump. Fair enough, mid bumps can suck air out of a signal. But then I’d watch the same players buy some other mid-pumping drive or distortion and rave about it. Perhaps it was the TS’s association with blues rock—an occasional punching bag among guitar’s leading edge. Perhaps it was the rise of the Klon Centaur, the affordable “klones” that followed in its wake, and the resulting chatter about “transparency.” Never mind that the Klon Centaur’s design shares much of its basic architecture with the TS, or as my esteemed former PG editor Joe Gore pointed out, that the sonic differences between the pedals are not always as different as they seem.

The collective conversation confirmed one thing for me: Guitarists are a weird, fickle bunch. Because for me, Tube Screamers have always been a reliable, forgiving source of overdrive that pair well with fuzz, distortion, and other drives, and amps across the Fender, Vox, and Marshall spectrum (though it really loves the first of these). Warm Audio’s Tube Squealer is a kind of super TS. It combines switchable TS-808, TS-9, and TS-10-style circuitry, a mix control that blends in clean signal (a touch of Klon), a humbucker/single-coil switch that shifts the midrange emphasis from the 800Hz range to the 2kHz range, and a voltage boost switch that engages a voltage doubler (another touch of Klon). It adds up to a very adaptable overdrive.

A Scream Across the Ages

Fundamentally, the Tube Squealer is a really satisfying TS-style overdrive. As a test, I situated it alongside a 1981 Ibanez TS-9 that was my primary overdrive for ages and always sounded excellent to my ears. Compared to the original Tube Screamer, the Tube Squealer in the TS-9 setting, and no clean signal in the overdriven/clean mix, is discernibly more compressed and less oxygenated in the high-end than the Ibanez. But is that better? That depends. Paired with a 16-watt, EL84-powered Carr Bel-Ray in its Vox-style setting, the Tube Squealer’s low-to-mid gain overdrive settings could seem redundant, while the TS-9 added a little more sparkle. On the other hand, the Tube Squealer’s more compressed profile lent a creamy cohesiveness to the Bel-Ray’s output that sounded fantastic with chords, and added a touch of anger to Peter Buck-ish arpeggios in the more aggro Lifes Rich Pageant vein—one of my favorite applications of the effect.

“The wet-dry mix control may be the most valuable feature on the Tube Squealer. It opens up a lot of fine tuning possibilities.”

With a late-’60s Fender Bassman, the Tube Squealer’s more compressed output illuminated the difference between the pedals more starkly. I enjoyed the warm, growly nature of the Tube Squealer’s basic distortion voice. And while the pedal felt more grafted to the amp rather than seamlessly integrated with it, I was reminded of an old J Mascis quote. To paraphrase: “What’s the point of using an effect if it’s transparent?”

There is a way that I was able to close the difference between the more compressed Tube Squealer voice and the more open TS-9, and that was by using the clean signal mix control. By dialing that knob up to noon (give or take, depending on the gain level), I could make the two pedals sound identical enough that most folks would be hard-pressed to tell them apart in a blind test. What that revealed to me is that the mix control may be the most valuable feature on the Tube Squealer. It opens up a lot of fine tuning possibilities.

Do Screamers Squeal Equally?

Though it’s nice to have the three TS voicings, the differences among them can be subtle. At low gain settings, in fact, they can be pretty difficult to tell apart. Higher gain settings make the contrasts more apparent, but even then the variations can sound really minimal. In general, they are evident as subtle EQ shifts. The TS-9 comes off as the most balanced of the three, the 808 seems to bloom a bit more, and the TS-10 has a bump in the low midrange that results in a smoothing effect. These voices are useful and fun to work with if you’re moving between guitars and amps in a studio, but I’d venture that they’d be nearly impossible to discern in a live setting.

The control that makes a big difference is the pickup voicing switch. The shift from the 800Hz peak to the 2kHz peak in the midrange is transformative enough to rip your face off if you’re not careful. With single-coils it’s spiky enough that your bandmates may ask you to take a time out. But the PAF-equipped SG I used in this evaluation became smooth and vicious in the 2k mode. In fact, I’ve rarely heard my Bassman sound so much like a JCM800. And it not only genuinely extends the utility of the Tube Squealer, it’s also raucous, rowdy fun.

The Verdict

Though the Tube Squealer’s three voices may be subtle to the point of a letdown for some potential buyers, the interactive power of the controls, when taken together, is impressive. The clean/dirty blend control adds considerable flexibility and tone shaping potential, and while I preferred the more compressed, classic TS sounds with the pedal in 9V mode, the voltage doubling switch adds a lot to the sound tapestry within. Given the extra utility here—and how close to vintage TS sounds these voices are in their most basic modes—the $149 price is quite reasonable, even when considering that new, basic Ibanez TS-9s are just $99. Even if you use the Tube Squealer to even half of its potential, it’s most certainly not your average pig.

Let’s talk about the range of a pedal control knob—its potential versatility, perceived value, real-world implementation, and creative inspiration. That’s a lot of fancy words to impose upon a 300-degree rotating potentiometer with a knob affixed to it, but here we go!

I’ve had this topic in mind since starting my writing career, but it crystallized while I was watching a recent episode of That Pedal Show featuring a CopperSound-loaded pedalboard. Co-host Mick Taylor made a comment about amp control knobs, positing that a knob should live between 3 and 8. A lot of players can relate to this—the idea that the core sounds in this range cover almost everything needed, while still leaving headroom on either side of the dial. This ties into versatility. It feels like the designer tuned it properly.

I’d counter that if a knob does too much—like a digital single-knob EQ—the “usable” range feels diminished. Which circles back to the same idea: The designer needs to tune the control properly.

Let’s talk about first impressions. Whether it’s a demo video or an in-person audition, the first engagement with a pedal almost always starts with “everything at noon.” This feels like a natural, logical starting point, and it ties back to the philosophy that control knobs should be flexible at both ends of their range.

When designing products, manufacturers try to consider all types of rigs. While not everything will work for everyone, the goal is to create products that perform well across different scenarios and setups.

Now let’s consider the outermost ranges of a knob. A reasonable question: “Why do I have to max this knob?” When a control only works at its extreme setting, I immediately wonder if I’m doing something wrong or if the pedal is designed for a more specific application than I realized. Both are plausible.

Here’s a firsthand example. I won’t name the pedal, but there’s a particular dirt box I keep coming back to—it has a great overdrive sound, wide gain range, and a pretty unique circuit. Those qualities make it memorable. But so does its shortcoming: The tone knob always has to be maxed. Any other setting made it too dark. I should mention that I play Telecasters almost exclusively, so it’s not like my guitar was on the darker side of the spectrum.

“When a control only works at its extreme setting, I immediately wonder if I’m doing something wrong.”

Was the tone control an afterthought? Was it only tested with a super bright guitar and amp? What happened here? At this point, the knob may as well not have been there—or it could’ve been hardwired internally to the max position. It’s scenarios like this that call versatility into question.

To counter that—and circle back to the digital EQ knob I mentioned earlier—a knob can have too wide a range. Let’s say this EQ control sweeps from 500 Hz at minimum to 1 kHz at maximum. That’s a fairly wide range covering a prominent part of the guitar’s frequency spectrum. For this hypothetical, let’s assume the entire dial is usable.

Now, let’s say we want to expand the range and add value. What do we do? We make the knob sweep from 250 Hz to 2 kHz. Better, right?

Well … there’s technically a wider range that covers more ground, but two significant problems emerge. First, the extremes become less useful. The low end gets too bass-heavy and conflicts with the bass guitar, while the upper end becomes shrill and unpleasant. Okay, so we just avoid the outermost parts of the dial. Don’t we like having that range available? Sure—but we still want everything outside of 3 and 8 to be friendly and usable. If the first and last 20% of the knob are unusable, then by doubling the frequency range, we’ve actually cut the knob’s usability in half.

The second issue is how the knob feels. At 500 Hz to 1 kHz, there’s a 1.6 Hz difference per degree of rotation. But if we’re only using half the dial’s range, that becomes a 3.3 Hz difference per degree. This often makes the knob feel overly sensitive.

Do you agree, disagree, or find yourself somewhere in between? Try this: Go to your pedalboard and amplifier and count how many knobs you have at your disposal. Then, without turning them, note how many are currently set at maximum or minimum. Any of them?

Spector Bass, in collaboration with pioneering bassist Doug Wimbish, announces the Doug Wimbish Euro 4 Aged White Signature Bass, a new addition to the Doug Wimbish Euro line for 2026. Available worldwide through authorized Spector retailers and online, the new model continues Spector’s exploration of lightly aged instruments inspired by Wimbish’s personal collection, recreating one of his lesser-known vintage basses, his white NS-2, while delivering a familiar, broken-in feel and sound for modern players.

The Doug Wimbish Euro 4 Aged White Signature Model features a light aged white nitro finish, offering the look and feel of a well-loved instrument straight out of the case. The body is constructed with maple body wings and is paired with Spector’s slim Doug Wimbish neck carve. A narrow 1.5" nut width and 34" scale length contribute to a fast, comfortable playing experience. The rosewood fingerboard features mother-of-pearl crown inlays, completing the instrument’s classic Spector aesthetic.

Electronics on the DW Euro 4 Aged White Signature Bass reflect a unique configuration within the Euro line. The bass is loaded with EMG Jazz pickups, delivering a responsive and articulate tonal foundation. These pickups are paired with Spector’s Legacy onboard preamp, developed in collaboration with Darkglass Electronics, and designed around a classic, 1980s-inspired two-band EQ.

Additional features include gold Spector hardware, which complements the aged white finish and reinforces the instrument’s premium presentation. Together with its distinctive electronics package and historically inspired design, the Doug Wimbish Euro 4 Aged White Signature Bass represents a deeply personal chapter of Wimbish’s musical legacy brought forward for today’s players.

Reflecting on the instrument, Doug Wimbish states, “This bass is a piece of my history. The original 1987 Spector that helped shape my sound—now ready for the next generation.”

For more information about the Doug Wimbish Euro 4 Aged White Signature Bass and the full Spector lineup, visit NAMM Booth #6802 or online at www.spectorbass.com.

Street Price: $3699.99 USD

It’s a familiar problem: You know your pentatonic scale patterns, but they’re only getting you so far. In this lesson, instructor Caitlin Caggiano breaks down the pentatonic scale and helps you elevate you patterns and deepen your playing. Want to learn how to make your pentatonics feel less boxy and more musical? How to use multiple pentatonic scales to emphasize chord tones? How to add certain notes to add more dimension and color to your playing? This lesson is for you.

February 6, 2026 Lately I have been using a thumbpick for a lot of songs, due to a broken thumb nail a few months ago. I remembered that there are a few songs I usually like to use it for, even if my nail is intact. Windy And Warm is not generally one of those […]

The post Totally Guitars Weekly Update February 6, 2026 appeared first on On The Beat with Totally Guitars.

January 30, 2026 We have a winner for the third week of our 3-Minute Challenge – PhotoMichael has a set of strings from the Santa Cruz Guitar Company on their way. We also have a new lesson on Lost In Love by Air Supply. On Saturday February 14 we have our next episode of TG […]

The post Totally Guitars Weekly Update January 30, 2026 appeared first on On The Beat with Totally Guitars.

January 23, 2026 A little improvising opened and closed this week’s Update, starting with a couple tunes you should recognize and ending with some random noodling. Along the way there was news about our latest lesson – the solo arrangement of I’ll Be Back by The Beatles, thoughts about a few movies, a mention of […]

The post Totally Guitars Weekly Update January 23, 2026 appeared first on On The Beat with Totally Guitars.

Aguilar has announced the Octamizer DLX, an expanded evolution of its long-running Octamizer bass octave pedal. Designed to preserve the musical feel and tone that made the original a staple for over a decade, the DLX adds new voices, enhanced performance, and greater flexibility for modern bass players.

Rather than reworking the Octamizer’s foundation, Aguilar focused on extending it. Powered by the company’s in-house DSP engine, the Octamizer DLX delivers faster, more natural tracking that responds directly to playing dynamics and remains stable even on extended-range basses.

“When we set out to design the Octamizer DLX, the goal wasn’t to fix the original Octamizer — it was already doing what bass players needed,” says Aguilar Amplification. “We wanted to keep that familiar feel intact while giving players more creative space, better tracking, and new voices they could access instantly in real musical situations.”

The octave-down section retains the familiar Octamizer control set—Octave Volume, Octave Filter, Clean Level, and Clean EQ—while introducing new flexibility. The clean signal can now be fully muted for pure sub-octave tones, and two distinct filter modes expand the sonic range. A Mode delivers the classic Octamizer sweep, from smooth and round to sharper, more synth-forward textures, while B Mode draws inspiration from vintage octave divider circuits, offering added grit and character.

For the first time in the Octamizer lineup, the DLX introduces a dedicated octave-up engine. Tuned specifically for bass, this new voice avoids the harshness and latency often associated with octave-up effects. Simple volume and filter controls allow players to shape tones ranging from subtle octave doubling to a more pronounced, guitar-like presence.

Three independent footswitches provide direct control over the clean signal, octave down, and octave up, allowing players to stack voices instantly without adjusting controls. This layout makes it easy to move between foundational octave tones, harmonic layering, and more synth-like textures in both live and studio settings.

For more information, visit NAMM Booth #6802 or online at www.aguilaramp.com

The Aguilar Octamizer DLX is available with a street price of $329.99.

Yvette Young has been working on a new signature Ibanez Talman behind the scenes, and as she tells Guitar.com in the latest episode of My Guitars & Me, fans should be able to get their hands on it some time this year.

The guitar also marks a major change for the Covet guitarist, as she embraces P-90 pickups on a signature model for the first time. As she admits when she visits the Guitar.com studio on London’s famous Denmark Street, she’s “kicking” herself for being “late to the P-90 game”.

• READ MORE: Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain and Johnny Ramone-backed brand Mosrite Guitars is back – with the Mark II model leading the way

Of course, Young already has two signature models with Ibanez – the YY10 and YY20 – both built upon the Talman blueprint but featuring a Strat-style and Tele-style pickup layout, respectively.

But P-90s are relatively new to Young’s tonal palette, and she’s so inspired that she’s opted to fit her newest signature model with a pair.

“We went through the YY10, which had the Strat-style pickups, and then I went through the Tele-style pickups, because I do like my SX Tele. I was like, I want to pay tribute to that. And now I don’t know why I’m so late to the P-90 game. I am kind of kicking myself because these are just so chunky.

“I feel like I’ve been into a lot of heavier stuff lately, kind of leaning into the more grungy sludgy stuff, a lot of fuzz tones, a lot of overdrive and things like that…”

“So these are Wilkinsons,” she continues, pointing to the pickups in her upcoming Pink Sparkle-finished signature model. “I tried out so many different P-90s from all these companies, and these Wilkinsons just knocked it out of them. I did a blind test, too.”

“I’m just over the moon to release this guitar, because I think, tonally, it’s really where I’m at right now. The Pink Sparkle is a tribute to my first guitar that I ever got, sent by Ibanez.”

She also confirms the production run models will feature “special art inlays” she drew, as well as rosewood fingerboards.

“I just got to do some guitar for the Superman soundtrack,” Young says. “This was all over that. Yeah, just again, I’m kicking myself for not getting into P-90s earlier!”

You can watch the latest episode of My Guitars & Me with Yvette Young above.

The post Yvette Young’s next signature model will showcase a major change – and she’s “kicking” herself for not getting into it sooner appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Jason Isbell got the guitar world talking last year when he revealed his unusual method of breaking in his guitars, which involves blasting loud – and preferably bass-heavy – music in order to get the wood moving.

Sharing the unorthodox method while unveiling his fresh pre-war-inspired signature Martin 0-17 and 0-10E Retro acoustics, Isbell revealed Outkast to be the artist he generally opts to subject his fresh-out-the-box guitars to.

• READ MORE: This guitar has a bridge suspended in mid-air by magnets – and it sounds (and looks) insane

Now, in a new interview with Guitarist magazine, the Americana star says he continues to swear by the technique, despite not having “any real way of quantifying it”.

“When I take a new acoustic guitar out of the case for the first time, it sounds new to me,” Isbell says. “So I leave it in front of the speakers and play some music – something with a lot of bass, like Outkast – just to keep the wood moving.”

He goes on: “I think there are devices that do it now, where you can put them in the soundhole and they’ll just constantly keep the vibrations going. I used to set the guitar out on a table and prop an EBow up on either the D or G string and just leave it there until the battery ran out.”

“I’ve done no scientific testing,” he says, “but I think it helps to bring it in a little quicker.”

We all know the feeling of playing a guitar that’s been thoroughly broken in; somehow, through hours and hours of playing, it just feels more comfortable to play, and has more character in its tone. So we can totally buy that artificially vibrating the wood with loud music might have a similar effect in getting things on their way.

Elsewhere in the interview, Isbell reflects on his personal relationship with Martin guitars over the years.

“I’ve always held Martin in the highest regard,” he says. “When I was a kid, I had a lawsuit guitar – y’know, one of those from the late ‘70s when everybody was ripping Martin off. And then there was an uncle of mine who had a herringbone D-28 he would bring by, and everybody would pass it around and play it. I just remember feeling like, ‘Oh, this is as good as it gets. This is the best possible guitar you could play.’”

And speaking to us here at Guitar.com in December, Isbell shared a similar sentiment: 

“I’ve never felt like I could do something that a Martin couldn’t do,” Isbell enthused. “You know, it’s kind of like my laptop. Especially with the really good old ones or the nice Custom Shop new ones. It’s like I’m doing emails on here, and this thing could operate a city or an automobile, y’know?

“And so I think that’s it – you don’t want your tools to create the ceiling. You want your creativity to create the ceiling and the tools should be able to follow you there. And that’s always been the case for me with Martins.”

The post “I think it helps to bring it in a little quicker”: Jason Isbell elaborates on his unorthodox method of breaking guitars in by playing Outkast for hours straight appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Signal Chain Audio Labs, maker of professional tour-grade instrument and microphone cables, today announced a limited edition Tie-Dyed Braided Guitar Cable honoring the legacy of Bob Weir, legendary guitarist and founding member of the Grateful Dead, who passed away earlier this year.

All proceeds from the cable sales will go to the Furthur Foundation a non-profit founded by Bob Weir that provides funding for environmental and social change initiatives in the San Francisco Bay area and around the world. To learn more about the Furthur Foundation and the many programs it supports, visit https://furthur.org.

Each cable features a hand-dyed multifilament nylon overbraid in vibrant tie-dye patterns - no two are alike. Beneath the distinctive exterior lies tour-proven Mogami 2524 instrument cable terminated with G&H High Clarity Profile plugs and protected by SignalCoat®, the company's dielectric seal that guards against moisture and oxidation. Every cable is individually numbered and soldered and assembled by hand in Alexandria, VA. Only 500 cables will be produced for this series.

The cables are available in four colors options:

• Spectrum: Blue, Purple, Red, Orange, Yellow
• Red/Purple
• Blue/Purple
• Red/Blue

The cables are available in three different lengths and street prices:

• 10ft - $79.00 street price
• 15ft - $89.00 street price
• 20ft - $99.00 street price

"Bob Weir's artistry and innovation shaped generations of musicians," said Rob Haralson, Founder of Signal Chain Audio Labs. "Creating something as unique and handcrafted as his music felt like the right way to honor his legacy - and directing proceeds to the Furthur Foundation ensures this tribute supports the causes he championed throughout his life."

Haralson added, "We've engineered these cables to be as distinctive as the music that inspired them. Each one is truly one-of-a-kind and built with the same premium components our professional clients depend on. To our knowledge, this is the only hand-dyed professional guitar cable currently offered by any company. It's a functional work of art that musicians can actually use."

The Signal Chain Audio Labs Tie-Dyed Braided Instrument Cable is available at https://www.signalchainaudio.com.

Mosrite Guitars is officially back in business. Lap steel specialists Sho-Bud have acquired the storied guitar brand and are kicking off this new chapter with a revival of one of Mosrite’s most recognisable models: the Mark II.

Founded in 1956 in Bakersfield, California, Mosrite was the brainchild of luthier Semie Moseley, whose futuristic designs and ultra-slim necks set the brand apart early on. Those guitars went on to win over a diverse cast of players – Johnny Ramone famously wielded a Ventures model almost exclusively, Kurt Cobain recorded much of Nevermind using a Mosrite Gospel Mark IV, and Jimi Hendrix even owned a Joe Maphis 12/6 doubleneck.

After Semie Moseley and his business partner passed away in the early ’90s, the company was left in the hands of Semie’s daughter, Dana Moseley. Mosrite continued to operate on a smaller scale in the years that followed, with the brand’s website eventually going offline in 2020. Now, under Sho-Bud’s stewardship, Mosrite is stepping back into the spotlight.

• READ MORE: A Brief History of Mosrite Guitars

The reborn Mosrite Mark II sticks closely to the original recipe. It sports a 24 ⅝” scale length and a solid basswood or alder body, paired with a one-piece rock maple bolt-on neck and a rosewood fingerboard with 22 narrow vintage frets and a zero fret.

Pickup duties are handled by a Seymour Duncan single-coil in the bridge and a chrome-covered Seymour Duncan mini humbucker in the neck, wired to a simple control layout of one volume, one tone and a three-way toggle switch.

Hardware comes courtesy of a Tone Pros Tune-O-Matic bridge and tailpiece, along with Grover tuners, rounding things out with a healthy dose of vintage chic. Both right- and left-handed versions are available, and players can choose between White, Blue, Red, Gold and Black finishes. Each guitar also ships with a hard shell case and carries a price tag of $2,750.

“The Mosrite Mark II reissue represents more than the return of an iconic instrument,” says Sho-Bud General Counsel Fred Waid. “It is a continuation of a legacy shaped by an extraordinary luthier and innovator, Semie Moseley. Sho-Bud is committed to honoring Semie’s vision, with precision and consistency.”

“This is a personal project for us,” adds Sho-Bud co-CEO Dawn Jackson. “Semie Moseley wasn’t just a legendary builder. Sho-Bud and Mosrite had a close connection through our father, David Jackson, who collaborated on projects with Semie. They had a solid respect for one another and fostered a friendship between Nashville and Bakersfield, sharing one main passion: chasing tone. This fusion is a way of reconnecting those roots and carrying them forward with respect and intention.”

Learn more at Sho-Bud.

The post Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain and Johnny Ramone-backed brand Mosrite Guitars is back – with the Mark II model leading the way appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

After recently calling out anyone who would criticise BB King’s playing – calling him “one of the only guitarists you can identify with one note” – Joe Bonamassa has shared more insight into his close friendship with the blues legend, with a hilarious anecdote involving the trappings of modern-day technology.

You might assume it would be Bonamassa who would have to lecture the blues great on new technology, but it was actually the reverse – when BB King once showed the young guitarist how to properly work an iPod.

• READ MORE: “The further I’m away from it, the more intense it is when I get with it”: Why Eric Gales rarely touches a guitar offstage

As JoBo explains in an interview in the latest issue of Guitarist magazine, after heavily inspiring him to pick up a guitar in the first place, BB King continued his mentor role when he showed him how to put his favourite tracks on his iPod.

“He showed me how to drag songs from a computer into an iPod when he was 80 years old!” Bonamassa says. “I didn’t know how to do that and he’s like, ‘Here, son, this is how you do it.’ How sad is that? I was 28 or something and he was 80. But he was a consummate professional.”

Elaborating on King’s professionalism, Bonamassa continues: “I remember one time in Charleston, West Virginia, there was a big snowstorm, and the governor of West Virginia called specifically to ask BB King to postpone the show and he wouldn’t do it. 

“He goes, ‘I told them I’m going to be here in March and I’m here.’ They’re like, ‘But Mr. King, it’s unsafe.’ He said, ‘Well, I made it!’ So that was him, man.”

“He was always touring,” he goes on. “I mean, he would do those summer runs and then go right back on the road in theatres and he was very much a road dog and he loved it a lot. I mean, he always said, ‘I want to die on the road, doing what I love,’ you know? But he didn’t know any other life.

“You’re talking about somebody who started working that much in the early ‘50s and never stopped for anything.”

BB King died in 2015 at the age of 89 following an impressive 70-year career, in which he left an indelible mark on the world of blues.

Joe Bonamassa has a string of tour dates planned for 2026. For tickets and a full list of dates, head to his official website.

The post Joe Bonamassa admits an 80-year-old BB King once had to show him how to put songs on his iPod: “How sad is that? I was 28!” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Guitar innovation generally comes in small increments; small upgrades to specific components as opposed to radical new designs altogether. But this new guitar built by YouTuber Mattias Krantz may have just pushed the envelope significantly…

It’s essentially the hollowed-out frame of a guitar resembling something like a double-cut, but the magic really lies in how the strings are attached – mostly in the fact that, well, they aren’t.

• READ MORE: Yungblud got the Changes gig just 48 hours before Black Sabbath’s farewell show

Rather than having the strings fed through a bridge physically attached to the guitar – as is convention – Krantz, who boasts nearly two million subscribers at the time of writing, has conceived a design whereby magnets suspend the bridge in thin air, while providing all the tension required to make the strings playable.

“This guitar looks pretty normal, until you notice the strings aren’t attached to the body,” Krantz says. “They’re pulling tension by these extremely powerful magnets.” 

He adds that the gap left between the two magnets “changes everything” about the way the guitar can be played, allowing for taps and movement of the floating bridge for subtle and emotive fluctuations in pitch. “Why does it sound so good?!” he says.

The guitar is certainly a radical concept, and as such, went through a number of design iterations before the final product was realised. First Krantz experimented with tying small magnets to each guitar string, but found they didn’t provide enough tension to actually make the strings playable.

He then tried bigger magnets, which offered enough tension for the open strings to produce a pitch, but it was still too low. “The forces needed are way higher than I expected,” he says.

After some further experimentation in pursuit of enough magnetic force to provide the right tension, Krantz posed the question: “What if I just put all the strings on the same magnet?” He ordered the right magnet for the job, one with 250kg of pull force. It even came in a box which warned: “Strong magnets. Handle with extreme caution.”

After some considerable trepidation about the safety of the build, Krantz finally came up with a playable design, and showcases it towards the end of his video.

You can watch the entire process Mattias Krantz undertook to put the magnetically hovering guitar together in the video below:

The post This guitar has a bridge suspended in mid-air by magnets – and it sounds (and looks) insane appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

From Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath to Birmingham politics – it’s not the most obvious career move, but Sharon Osbourne has revealed she is “seriously thinking” about running to become the city’s next mayor.

The music manager, TV personality and widow of heavy metal icon Ozzy Osbourne made the comments during a red-carpet appearance at this year’s Grammy Awards, where a brief exchange unexpectedly drifted from music into local UK politics.

• READ MORE: “You still have to pay for the actual gig”: Jack Osbourne says Back To The Beginning charities received around “£1.5m or £2m” each, despite media estimates being much higher

Speaking with Billboard, Sharon was told by host Leila Cobo that she was receiving praise for how well she had spoken at one of the Grammy-related events ahead of Sunday night’s ceremony (1 February). Sharon thanked her – then casually dropped the bombshell that those speaking chops might soon be needed elsewhere, adding that she was “seriously thinking about running for mayor of Birmingham”.

With the interview moving at red-carpet speed, Sharon didn’t go into detail about how serious those plans are or whether any formal steps have been taken. But the comment wasn’t entirely out of the blue.

In the days leading up to the Grammys, Osbourne had already hinted at political involvement in Birmingham after learning that someone with a terrorism conviction was allegedly seeking a seat on the city’s council. In comments reported by GB News, Sharon said, “This has nothing to do with racism. I think I’m gonna move to Birmingham and put my name down for the ballot to be on the council. I’m serious.”

The individual referenced is Shahid Butt, who was reportedly sentenced to five years in prison in 1999. According to GB News, Butt has claimed the charge against him was “fabricated” and that he was “falsely convicted”, and he continues to deny the allegations.

For now though, Sharon Osbourne’s political ambitions remain just that – ambitions. Should she decide to pursue the role and win, she would be required to serve as mayor for at least a year, taking over from Birmingham’s current Lord Mayor, Zafar Iqbal.

Elsewhere, the music manager also revealed she’s in early talks with Live Nation about bringing back Ozzfest, the legendary metal festival she co-founded three decades ago with her late husband.

“It was something Ozzy was very passionate about: giving young talent a stage in front of a lot of people,” she told Billboard.

The post Sharon Osbourne as Birmingham’s mayor? Don’t rule it out appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

For most guitarists, the idea of not touching their instrument for weeks – let alone months – would sound like a nightmare. For Eric Gales though, it’s exactly the point.

In a recent conversation with Rick Beato, the blues-rock virtuoso explains why he almost never “engages” with a guitar unless he’s on tour or in the studio, and how stepping away actually makes his playing more powerful when it counts.

• READ MORE: Eric Gales downplays those who praise him as the best guitarist in the business: “I turn on YouTube or Instagram and see some of the baddest players in the world!”

“The first and foremost thing that I do is completely get [my head] out of the way,” Gales explains. “The more that I don’t think about it, the more fluent and expressive it will be for me. There’s no pre-setup, no thought…”

That mindset also extends to how he prepares for shows – or, more accurately, how he doesn’t.

“A lot of artists, before the show, they’re backstage, finger warming up and this and that. I don’t do any of that,” he says. “If I’m not on tour or doing a session or anything like that, it’s very rare that I engage with a guitar at all. It could be weeks, months go by that I haven’t touched the guitar.”

On the rare occasions he does pick one up at home, it’s usually prompted by something he’s heard rather than any sense of routine. “I might have heard a commercial on TV that sparked my [interest],” he explains. “Or I heard somebody do a riff on social media.”

Those moments, he adds, aren’t about practice so much as self-challenge. “Can I mimic that?” says Gales. “Just to kind of challenge myself – to see if I still got the learning mechanism that I had when I was a kid. And only in those times it’d be when I would pick up a guitar or anything like that.”

In fact, Gales says he’s more likely to sit at a drum kit or keyboard than reach for a guitar in his spare time. While he admits some players may find that hard to believe, the distance, for him, is entirely intentional.

“The further I’m away from it, the more intense it is when I get with it,” says Gales, noting, however, that it’s not an approach he’d recommend to beginners.

For Gales, the source of his playing isn’t technical preparation at all, but something far deeper and more personal.

“I have a source that I tap into that I believe wholeheartedly that comes from a location far above my head,” he says. “I’m able to tap into [it] any time of the day, no matter what time zone, no matter what continent, no matter what place in time. It doesn’t matter.”

“It’s an intense, insanely deep amount of pain that I play from every single night,” Gales continues. “But I wouldn’t have it any other way, because if the result is there’s some person out there that has gained some sort of revelation or some sort of inspiration from something that I played through the pain that I’m playing it from – and it helped them out – then that was well worth the pain that I went through to make that happen.”

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One of the most talked-about moments from Black Sabbath’s star-studded farewell show almost didn’t happen. According to Tom Morello, Yungblud wasn’t even meant to be the singer for Changes until just two days before the band’s historic final performance.

In a new interview with 98KUPD radio, the Rage Against the Machine guitarist opens up about his role as curator for Black Sabbath’s all-star Back To The Beginning farewell show – an event that marked Ozzy Osbourne’s final appearance on stage. While the event may have looked seamless to fans, Morello says the reality behind the curtain was far more chaotic.

• READ MORE: Yungblud claims that the “bitterness” and “blind negativity” he experiences is discouraging the next generation of rock artists from “trying at all”

Asked when he realised the show was “more than just a concert”, Morello replies [via Blabbermouth], “Well, I had that in my bullseye from the beginning. If we’re gonna do this, we have to aim to make it the greatest day in the history of heavy metal. Heavy metal is the music that made me love music. It’s in the DNA of 90% of my favourite artists. And so if we’re gonna do this, we really have to treat it with the gravity that it deserves.”

“I will say that once the actual day started, and, dude, it was thousands of hours of preparation and worry and anxiety and changing around stuff – changed in the last 24 hours, et cetera, et cetera – but once it actually started, I had to let go. I’m, like, ‘Okay, the bands are now gonna play their songs or they’re gonna fall off the stage. I can’t control it anymore.’”

That last-minute uncertainty extended to some of the night’s most powerful moments. Asked whether there were any “hard calls” fans didn’t know about, Morello didn’t sugarcoat it.

“2,000 calls,” he says. “One of the greatest moments of it was Yungblud singing [a cover of Black Sabbath’s] Changes. Well, 48 hours before, he wasn’t gonna be the singer of that song. Things were changing… I landed at Heathrow Airport and I got a call, like, ‘That’s not happening.’ So I’m, like, ‘Okay, let’s figure it out.’ And it turned out to be one of the highlights. But that’s the gig. That’s what the gig is.”

Elsewhere, the musician also shares his final memory of Ozzy from later that night. At the afterparty, Morello was playing pinball with his son when someone tugged on his shirt mid–multiball. That someone, it turned out, was the Prince of Darkness himself.

“[Ozzy’s son] Jack Osbourne comes back and goes, ‘Dude, that was my dad.’ I’m, like, ‘Oh, I’m so sorry.’ So anyway, I let the pinballs drop,” says Morello. “And I go over to him. And he was appreciative of everything that had gone on. I got to give him a kiss on the head one more time, thank him. And then this is the last words that Ozzy Osbourne said to me in person. He was, like, ‘Tell Sharon I wanna get the fuck outta here’ – in true Ozzy form and also sort of poetic in a way.”

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$1,699/£1,399, fender.com

Back in the good old days – aka the early-to-mid 2010s – I was working for another sadly now defunct guitar publication (RIP Total Guitar) when I came across a model that would change my perceptions of the Jazzmaster.

• READ MORE: Fender Vintera II Road Worn 60s Stratocaster review – “this guitar is like spending time with an old friend”

Before then, I’d always been an outside observer of the offset. I’d always been enamoured with the shape ever since I saw Feeder’s Grant Nicholas strap one on back at the tail end of my teens, but as a dyed-in-the-wool Les Paul Guy I couldn’t mentally make the leap to a guitar with single-coil pickups and a weird floaty trem.

Then in the office one day landed the very first iteration of Fender’s Road Worn Jazzmaster. The very first Road Worn Strat and Tele – Mexico-made, nitro-finished and with factory-aged finishes – were the sort of guitars that looked great at a distance but up close you could really tell they were aged to a template and not by years of hard wear.

Sensibly then, when the Road Worn Jazzmaster arrived a year later, the wear and tear had been scaled back a bit to make it a bit less obvious, but that wasn’t the big deal for me. The looks still might not have fooled anyone, but the feel… man the feel.

The ‘old pair of jeans’ thing is cliché, but that’s the best way to describe it – here was a brand new electric guitar that felt in all the ways that mattered like it had been properly played in. It was a magical guitar that I still regret not buying on the spot (see also the very first MIM Cabronita Telecaster, IMYSM). One that fully turned my head to offsets, and now here we are a decade later and I can’t stop wanting the damn things.

All of which is to say that the 2020s redux – in the shape of the Vintera II Road Worn range – has a lot to live up to… let’s see how this goes…

Fender Vintera II Road Worn 50s Jazzmaster – what is it?

You don’t need a Masters in cryptography to work out exactly what’s going on with the Vintera II Road Worn 50s Jazzmaster. It takes the original Vintera II 50s JM – the guitar that we called ‘the best Jazzmaster Fender has made in the last decade’, by the way – given it a coat of nitrocellulose lacquer and then gone all Time Team on the finish, the hardware and everything else.

Except, a decade or so on, and the factory-ageing landscape at Fender is a little different than it was back when the original Road Worns were a weird ol’ curio in a range of otherwise pristine shiny guitars.

Back then, the only way to get a Fender with a relic job was to spunk a small house deposit on something from Fender’s Custom Shop. Here in 2026, we have things like the American Professional Classic range – which adds very subtly aged lacquer finishes to Fender’s most expensive production guitars – and various one-offs from Fender Mexico (like the Mike McCready Strat) that set new benchmarks for what factory-aged guitars can do.

Which makes the vibe of this new Road Worn guitar rather interesting. In terms of the body, it’s a lot closer to those AmPro Classic guitars than the original Road Worns – there’s no faux-wear and tear to the finishes here at all aside from some very impressively done faux checking to the lacquer itself. You could argue whether the ‘Worn’ title really even applies anymore.

The rest is a bit more in keeping with the originals, however – the neck looks and feels very played-in, with some slightly artless grease and grime in the usual heavy traffic areas. The bridge, vintage-style tuners and trem also have a slightly grubby, dulled effect, which is again, on the artful side of ‘lost at the bottom of a lake for 50 years’.

It all has the vibe of a guitar that has been heavily used but still taken care of meticulously – potentially a bit of an anathema in the real world stakes, but the general vibe is very appealing in the flesh/alder.

Away from the cosmetics, this is every bit a Vintera II 50s Jazzmaster, complete with the love ’em or loathe ’em details therein. That means a 7.25″ radius, rosewood fretboard (with clay dots), vintage-style butt-adjust truss rod, and the vintage style Jazzmaster bridge with six threaded barrel-style saddles.

Fender Vintera II Road Worn 50s Jazzmaster – build quality and playability

The thing that charmed me so much about that original Road Worn Jazzmaster was how comfortable it felt – and the new guitar captures that vibe once again. Removing it from its supplied hard case, it really does feel nicely played-in – something that’s further enhanced by the factory-rolled fingerboard edges and that nicely sanded C-shaped neck.

If I were being picky, I’d say that the fingerboard desperately needs a bit of lemon oil – the vintage tall frets are nicely installed and polished, but the ‘board itself feels a little dry, and while it’s not a playability-killer at this point, it would really would benefit from some refreshment.

The hardware might have some of the sheen taken off it, but it doesn’t impact its function – the tuners are smooth and stable, while the vintage-style floating trem has smooth and stable operation out of the box.

If you’ve spent enough time on the more offset-y corners of the internet, you’ll have heard knowledgeable and well-intentioned people explain that the stock Fender bridge with its threaded barrel saddles is perfectly usable and stable with a perfect setup and suitably heavy strings.

And maybe that’s true with vintage guitars, but I’m here to tell you that I’ve played a LOT of modern Fender Jazzmaster guitars with this hateful piece of hardware sat in the middle and not a single one has been fully immune from buzzing, rattling and strings constantly being pushed out of alignment.

It’s absolutely bananas to me that Fender is persisting with this in the year of our lord 2026. I can just about forgive it in the obsessively vintage-accurate world of the American Vintage II line. But the Vintera range isn’t so slavishly tied to vintage specs, so you have to ask who is really asking for this bridge on a $1,500 guitar?

All it’s really doing is outsourcing the job of making your guitar usable in a real-world situation to you. Yes, replacing the bridge is an easy job – but why should we the consumer be on the hook for at least $50 for a Mustang-style bridge (or a lot more if you go down the Mastery/Staytrem route) just to not have the strings pop out of place whenever you strum a mildly robust E chord?

While I’m grumbling about this thing, a word or two about the aesthetics. Firstly, I don’t really understand why Fender seems convinced that everyone wants 50s-style Jazzmasters.

The company is surely aware that the definitive version of the Jazzmaster is the mid-60s version – they know it enough to make the AVII model a 1966 spec after all – so why can we not get a bit of that mojo in the Mexican range? We’ll even settle for ‘transitional’ guitars with Custom Colours and no block inlays or painted headstocks if it’s a cost thing, just save us from the underwhelming Fiesta Red/Sunburst Boomer dichotomy offered here.

Furthermore, as much as I appreciate a gold anodised guard on a Sunburst Jazzer, there’s no escaping that the scratchplate here feels shiny new to an illusion-breaking degree. Would a parchment or tortie guard not have worked better?

Okay, I’m really splitting hairs here, so let’s plug this thing in and have some fun.

Fender Vintera II Road Worn 50s Jazzmaster – sounds

The sound of a Jazzmaster is one of life’s great pleasures, especially when plugged into a Fender amp with lashings of onboard reverb and tremolo – in this regard, the Vintera II lives up to the billing of its predecessor.

There’s warmth and clarity here courtesy of those big ol’ single-coil pickups, and with the brightness you’d expect from a good Fender guitar – but without the brittle nature that can plague some of its more popular siblings on the bridge pickup.

Take off the reins and add some fuzz or distortion to the party, however and that’s where things really get fun – it’s big, muscular and beefy, without ever veering into woolly territory (unless you accidentally hit the rhythm circuit, natch).

The much-maligned extra circuit on the Jazzmaster is often ripped out, but honestly, I think it does have a place – set the tone and volume controls correctly and it offers you an interesting fourth voice that can excel at well, rhythm, in the right context.

Fender Vintera II Road Worn 50s Jazzmaster – should I buy one?

The big question with this Road Worn specimen is whether the cosmetic changes here justify the extra near-$400 outlay over the vanilla Vintera II. Personally, I think the overall improvement in both look and feel makes it worth the investment.

People will gripe and debate the merits of factory ageing until the heat death of the universe, but when it’s done as subtly and sensitively as this, the pros in terms of playing comfort vastly improve the overall Vintera II package.

What’s more annoying are the compromises you’re going to have to make along the way – the insta-swap bridge and the limited finish options being at the forefront of my mind in that regard. But these are minor issues in the grand scheme of things – this is an absolutely fantastic guitar, end of story.

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Fender Vintera II Road Worn 50s Jazzmaster – alternatives

If you can live without the nitro and the ageing, the regular Vintera II Jazzmaster ($1,309.99/£1,069) is a fantastic guitar for a lot less money, and has some serious discounts across the board at the moment – they’re regularly available for not much more than a grand right now. If you want something offset with more of a rock flavour, Epiphone’s new Futura Firebird looks a steal, while I’m very, very taken with Rivolda’s new stripped-down Mondata CC.

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