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Guitar.com
Tony Iommi’s final conversation with Ozzy Osbourne: “He said he wasn’t feeling great”
Even after years of watching Ozzy Osbourne battle health problems, Tony Iommi says the Black Sabbath frontman’s death still came as “a hell of a shock”.
Having formed Black Sabbath together in 1968, the pair spent nearly six decades as bandmates, collaborators and close friends, remaining in regular contact throughout their respective health struggles.
In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Iommi reflects on Black Sabbath’s emotional farewell show, the final text message he received from Osbourne, and why he still struggles to believe his longtime bandmate is really gone.
Looking back on Black Sabbath’s farewell performance, Iommi admits the show felt unlike anything the band had done before.
“On the night, it felt very strange for me because obviously we’d never been onstage with Ozzy in a throne before, sitting down,” says Iommi. “He was always jumping around, pulling faces, and making me and Geezer laugh. But on this occasion, I couldn’t see him because he’s in that throne at the front.”
With drummer Bill Ward returning to the fold for the first time in two decades, Iommi also spent much of the set positioned closer to the drum kit: “Bill wanted me to stand back by him just because he was unsure of some bits. And so I did.”
Watching the performance back has only made it more emotional. While he knew Osbourne’s health had been declining, Iommi says he “didn’t expect it to happen that quick.”
The guitarist also shared details of the final exchange the pair had before Osbourne’s passing.
“He texted me the night before, funny enough, and said he weren’t feeling great and so on. But obviously, most of our conversations to each other have been, ‘How are you feeling? How’s this? How’s that?’ And so it was just another conversation,” Iommi recalls. “I didn’t expect him to go overnight. Blimey. It was a hell of a shock, really.”
The two had remained close throughout their respective health battles, with Iommi recalling how they regularly checked in on one another over the years.
“We did stay in touch a lot. And he was going through so many different things and constantly in and out of hospital and having this done and that done. And again, he stood by me when I was diagnosed with cancer. He called me every day. So we’ve been supportive of each other. I do miss our conversations.”
Asked how he’s coped in the months since Osbourne’s death, Iommi admits the loss still hasn’t fully sunk in.
“It’s been really strange. I still don’t feel like he’s gone because when I look on YouTube or whatever, there’s something to do with Ozzy, and I see him again and again,” he says. “It’s almost like he’s still here. It’s really peculiar. Only, we were in touch so many times. That’s what I miss.”
Away from Black Sabbath, Iommi is preparing to release his first solo album in 21 years. From the Dark arrives on 23 October via BMG and features Norwegian vocalist Jørn Lande, Mercyful Fate bassist Becky Baldwin, and former Robbie Williams drummer Karl Brazil.
The post Tony Iommi’s final conversation with Ozzy Osbourne: “He said he wasn’t feeling great” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Richie Sambora says players should spend more time with their guitar than girls: “If you really look at a shape of a guitar, it’s really like a woman”
Richie Sambora has never been short on guitar wisdom, but his latest tip for beginners comes wrapped in an analogy you probably won’t hear from your local guitar teacher.
During a recent Q&A on his YouTube channel, the former Bon Jovi guitarist was asked what advice he’d offer aspiring players. His answer began with a reminder to spend as much time as possible with their instrument.
- READ MORE: Richie Sambora reveals he hired a private detective to track down his stolen Gibson Explorer
“Good listening habits. Try to have one in your hand as much as possible, maybe more than girls,” says Sambora. “Because if you really look at the shape of a guitar, it’s really like a woman, you know what I mean?”
It’s hardly the first time a guitarist has compared the six-string to the female body. Ironically, though, the traditional guitar shape has long been criticised by some players for being uncomfortable for women. That was one of the motivations behind St. Vincent’s signature Ernie Ball Music Man guitar, which she famously designed with room for “a breast – or two”, creating a body shape that better accommodates female players.
The design has since found a fan in Olivia Rodrigo, who used the guitar on her Guts world tour and later described it as “fucking cool looking”, saying: “It’s cut so that you can have boobs and play guitar, which is so awesome.”
Back on the subject of playing, Sambora rounded out his advice with a reminder not to overlook the basics.
“Just play. Learn the fundamentals first,” he says.
The guitarist also reflects on the musicians who shaped his own approach to the instrument, singling out Jimi Hendrix as his biggest inspiration.
“For me Jimi Hendrix was the epitome of improvisation. As far as I know, that was what I wanted,” Sambora says. “I listened to those records, especially the live ones like Band Of Gypsys over and over and over again. Then I moved on to Texas blues with Johnny Winter and the Allman Brothers. And then moved backwards to Buddy Guy, Muddy Waters, Albert King, BB King.”
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New firmware update lets HeadRush users tap into a world of open-source guitar tone captures
Amp modelling and multi-effects specialist HeadRush has issued a major firmware update that might just change the game for users of its Prime, Core and Flex Prime floor-based processors.
The update means these three units now offer native support for Neural Amp Modeler (NAM), an open-source platform that lets users harness AI to capture and reproduce the sound of real guitar amps and gear, and direct integration with TONE3000, a free platform through which guitarists can share their tones.
With these changes, Prime, Core and Flex Prime users will see a transformation in how they experiment with tone creation, allowing them to tap into a vibrant global community of musicians and sound designers to explore a vast range of tone profiles. Crucially, they are able to do this with no computer, conversion or third-party software required.
The new NAM compatibility and TONE3000 integration is seamless, allowing guitarists to browse, download and play NAM captures directly from TONE3000 through HeadRush Cloud via their unit’s onboard touchscreen.
“Whether accessing a rare vintage amp captured overseas or a boutique pedal chain shared by a bedroom engineer, the path from discovery to performance is now instant,” HeadRush explains.
“With native NAM support and direct TONE3000 access built right into Prime, Core, and Flex Prime, we’re putting hundreds of thousands of community-created captures of iconic amps, boutique gear, and rare signal chains directly in musicians’ hands, with no computer required,” says Walter Skorupski, Senior Product Manager of HeadRush at inMusic.
“It’s the same open, community-powered spirit that’s reshaping modern guitar tone, now built directly into the rig.”
“I’m very proud of the level of quality that NAM offers. Seeing HeadRush affirm this by bringing it to their product line is a win for open-source technology in the music industry and, ultimately, the artists that industry serves,” adds Steve Atkinson, creator of Neural Amp Modeler.
“Less than two months after TONE3000 launched NAM A2, HeadRush’s entire multi-effects lineup has become the first to let you browse the full TONE3000 library directly from the device’s touchscreen,” says Stanley Vergilis, Co-Founder and CEO of TONE3000. “And with the Flex Prime available for just $499, making music is more accessible than ever.”
How do I download the new firmware update for my HeadRush Prime, Core or Flex Prime?
The easiest way to download the new firmware update is to do so directly via your unit’s onboard touchscreen. Simply open the main menu on your device and tap “Firmware Update”. After the download is complete, restart your device.
Alternatively, you can complete the firmware update using a USB connection to your computer. Just head to the HeadRush Downloads page and follow the instructions.
HeadRush’s flagship Prime unit is priced at $999, while the Core clocks in at $699, and the Flex Prime at $499.
What are people saying so far about the new HeadRush firmware update?
The new firmware update is significant, with some prominent guitar players and content creators saying it will change the world of digital amp modelling. YouTuber Xander Raymond Charles says in a new video: “I think HeadRush has just destroyed the amp modelling competition today.” Meanwhile, musician and engineer Glenn Fricker, of YouTube channel Spectre Sound Studios, says: “The entire amp sim industry was just obliterated by a free-to-use open source simulator.”
Learn more at HeadRush.
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Why Tosin Abasi created the wildest nylon-string guitar ever: the Stage 7
The guitar industry can often feel slow to move. With the ubiquity of time-honoured designs like the Stratocaster and Les Paul – not to mention the percentage of the market dominated by close relatives of those two foundational guitars – substantial steps in innovation can feel few and far between. But if there’s one person hellbent on pushing the boundaries of guitar design, it’s Tosin Abasi.
The Abasi Stage 7 on the Guitar.com Cover. Image: Rachel Billings for Guitar.com
The mastermind behind prog metal heavyweights Animals as Leaders and an extended-range virtuoso, there’s no more fitting poster boy for radical instrument design. And since forming Abasi Concepts in 2017, he’s been on the cutting edge.
Tosin Abasi’s career as a guitar designer has flourished over the past 10 years, from the development of the Abasi Concepts catalogue with thoughtfully designed and brilliantly ergonomic instruments like the flagship Larada and its double-cutaway sibling, the Ēmi, to his partnerships with some of the industry’s biggest brands.
He’s specifically shown an interest in collaborating with bigger brands to bring his unique take on guitar design to the masses. Ernie Ball Music Man had Abasi to thank for the Kaizen, one of the most exciting and unique shred guitars out there, and now it’s the turn of Yamaha-owned Cordoba.
Image: Rachel Billings for Guitar.com
The world’s largest maker of nylon-stringed instruments has partnered with Abasi to create the Abasi Stage 7, a wildly imaginative seven-string nylon-string electric guitar that rips the rulebook for classical guitar design to shreds.
There’s plenty of Abasi Concepts DNA in the Stage 7 – which is a big part of why it’s unquestionably the most unique looking nylon-string on the market – but the form has function. It’s very probably the most ergonomic and comfortable classical guitar on the planet.
“If there’s a gap in the guitar space, this is a strong reason to create something there”
Pushing the boundaries
So why did one of the world’s foremost technical metal players decide to develop a nylon-string guitar? He had already dipped his toes into the classical world with Animals As Leaders, but he struggled to find a guitar that worked for him in a live setting. So he’d design his own.
“I’ve tried different acoustic-electrics for live shows, and there’s always this looming risk of feedback,” he explains. “We have a loud drummer, and there’s another guitar player playing electric. So my use of these nylons was always in a context that was not traditional. I realised that the more resonant the guitar was, the more feedback I’d get.”
Cordoba’s popular and impressive thinline hybrid nylon-string, the Stage, helped Abasi solve some issues. “If you turn down the contact mic on the body, you could get away with playing it pretty loud on stage without that feedback occurring,” he says.
Image: Rachel Billings for Guitar.com
The vanilla Stage became a trusted touring ally, but this is Tosin Abasi we’re talking about. Abasi Concepts had already been prototyping a nylon-string of their own, and the cogs inevitably started turning.
“I said, ‘I wonder if Cordoba would be interested in collaborating on making something like this, but with some changes.’ We aligned on a co-branded, co-designed acoustic-electric that didn’t exist.”
Abasi’s touring experience factored into the new instrument, but he also had homebodies in mind. “We wanted to design this as a midpoint for the electric player who wants to get into nylon-string, playing in contexts that aren’t solo classical guitar, and likely does a lot of home recording,” he explains.
“In progressive metal, everyone is becoming their own recording engineer, and the ability to plug something in, as opposed to having to set up a bunch of mics and pres – we wanted it to sound great direct, straight out of the guitar.”
Image: Rachel Billings for Guitar.com
Besides the Larada-inspired body shape, the wildest design element has to be the 24-fret fanned fingerboard. “What nylon-string guitar has 24 frets and seven-strings on it?” he laughs. Abasi has some words of reassurance for sceptical newcomers to fanned frets. “The actual string is happier,” he says. “The lowest strings benefit from that extra scaling… you get to add scale length so that the string is not floppy.” Meanwhile, a multi-scale length guitar retains the string tension of the higher strings as you’re used to. “The benefit is twofold: you retain the timbre of those treble strings, and you retain the tension that you’re used to.”
But Abasi also points to the ergonomic benefits of fanned frets: “Your elbow primarily stays still – it’s kind of alongside your torso – your hand naturally fans as it moves from the headstock towards the body of the guitar. This fanning motion is more in line with mechanically what’s happening in the first place.”
Also present on the Stage 7 is a cutaway on the lower bout, a stroke of design mastery present on all Abasi Concepts instruments, again rooted in Abasi’s personal preferences.
“Classical guitars don’t have this, but it helps for playing in a classical seated position,” he says. “It’s because most acoustic instruments don’t want to give up any volume, so the more body, the better… But because our instrument isn’t relying on the size of the cavity to produce its sound like a purely acoustic instrument, we were allowed to modify the body in a way that aided the ergonomics.”
“For a lot of guitar players, they see examples of nylon-string in a new context, and it puts a light bulb in their head”
A Match Made In Heaven
Nylon-string guitar and high-gain heavy metal music seem worlds apart on the surface, but both have roots in virtuosity, with technical chops a strong component of the appeal. Social media stars like Ichika Nito and Marcin have done a lot to bring virtuosic clean playing to the masses, while Polyphia’s Tim Henson has spearheaded nylon-string’s foray into the metal world, even launching his own more conventional Ibanez nylon sig. So is now the perfect time for the Abasi Stage 7?
“Tim did a great job of taking a nylon-string instrument and applying it to a completely unique context. Sometimes it just takes something for it to click for people,” Abasi says. “Animals as Leaders have had nylon-string guitars as far back as 2009… but for a lot of guitar players, they see examples of it in a new context, and it puts a light bulb in their head.”
Image: Rachel Billings for Guitar.com
He continues: “A young player might be listening to classical guitar music, but doesn’t realise there’s a tonne of very advanced technique, and you’re allowed to play fast. Social media is exposure to the fact that classical guitar often incorporates really advanced technique.
“And so, if you’re a kid who’s into shred or progressive metal, you have an appetite for that complexity, and you see someone like Marcin playing complex stuff, you go, ‘Woah, this sounds really elegant and cool…’ It was always waiting to happen – that exposure has occurred at the right time.”
“Big brands often don’t have permission to really push the envelope. There’s hostility if they try to do new things”
Going It Alone
Abasi can push the boundaries of guitar design so regularly in no small part to Abasi Concepts, the brand he founded as much out of necessity as anything else.
“By the time I was playing eight-strings, it was kind of an underserved sector for guitar,” Abasi, who was an Ibanez signature artist at the time, recalls. “If you wanted pickups or a guitar in general, you had limited options. There were things I felt could make the eight-string easier to play that I wasn’t seeing occurring.”
After convincing the Japanese guitar giant to let him design his own original body shape, the Larada was born. But Abasi felt the wheels weren’t turning fast enough.
“Ibanez is a great company, but they’re a very large company… every single change took a very long period of time to implement,” he says. “I eventually felt I wanted to take my original design and expand it beyond just a single eight-string offering with Ibanez. That’s how Abasi Concepts was born.”
Image: Rachel Billings for Guitar.com
In the nine years since, the brand has created a variety of different truly unique instruments, and that confidence at pushing the boundaries allowed him to come back to the mainstream world with Ernie Ball in 2022.
“It was the first time you could get something designed by me for under $1,500,” he reflects. “And it was exciting to be able to offer something for people who don’t have a lot of money to spend on really expensive guitars.”
Taking advantage of Music Man’s technological resources, Abasi was able to design a three-dimensional ergonomic instrument in a way that he might not have been able to on his own.
“They have an amazing engineering team and an amazing facility here in California,” he enthuses. “It’s incredible. They have robots and stuff!”
“Our whole thing is to make something distinct that solves a problem”
The Future Is Now
The common thread with all of Abasi’s creations is that they push things outside of the comfort zone that most guitar brands seem stuck in. Why do we have this tendency to play it safe?
“There isn’t a single answer,” he replies. “It just seems the case that guitar players are often a lot less open-minded when it comes to new guitar designs, and I think this is because most of our favourite music that was written on the guitar was written decades ago, and [instead of] creating new directions and blazing new trails, most people want to emulate their heroes.”
That discourages innovation in big manufacturers and legacy brands, he argues. “From the outside looking in, they often don’t have brand permission to really push the envelope. There’s hostility if they try to do new things. It feels almost like guitar players are a conservative, religious community.”
The Stage 7 is Abasi’s latest attempt to creatively challenge guitar orthodoxy – and an important business milestone as yet another successful partnership with a major brand. The next step, you’d expect, would be to scale up and expand even further, but Abasi is keen to keep things streamlined.
Image: Rachel Billings for Guitar.com
“You ever go to a restaurant and the menu is enormous, and you’re like, ‘Wait, what?’ It’s similar to guitar gear,” he says. “A bunch of options sounds good on paper, but sometimes it’s more of a mental load. We’ve been very deliberate about what we offer.”
The Stage 7 feels deliberate and exciting in every way – an instrument that meets an un-met need and recontextualises the most traditional type of guitar in a way that makes it feel radically futuristic. It’s a textbook Abasi design, and one that comes from a clear mindset.
“If there’s a gap in the guitar space, this is a strong reason to create something there,” Tosin says. “Our whole thing is to make something distinct that solves a problem, and where you couldn’t simply choose another instrument for the same role.”
The Abasi Stage 7 is now available.
Words: Sam Roche
Photography: Rachel Billings
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The Doom soundtrack is one of the greatest heavy metal compositions of all time. Next year, Mick Gordon will perform it live for the first time
It’s hard to dispute Mick Gordon’s Doom soundtrack as one of the greatest heavy metal compositions of all time. The Australian composer’s genius, crushing eight- and nine-string riffs offer the perfect sonic accompaniment to slaying hundreds upon hundreds of hellish demons and other grotesque creatures.
The soundtrack gave rise to such classics as Rip & Tear and Bfg Division, and gained such a cult status that Gordon was invited to compose the score for the game’s followup, Doom: Eternal, in 2020.
But surprisingly given its adoration by those at the intersection of heavy metal music and gaming, the Doom soundtrack has never been performed live in its entirety in the 10 years since the game’s release in 2016.
But that’s all set to change next year, when Mick Gordon will perform the Doom soundtrack for the first time ever in a headline set at the UK’s RADAR Festival alongside a full band and orchestra.
At RADAR 2027 Mick will bring the Doom soundtrack to the stage for the first time, featuring the DOOM Machine (his custom Doom instrument), with a full live band and an orchestra for good measure,” festival organisers say.
“This isn’t a DJ set, and it isn’t a tribute act. It’s the actual composer, the actual score – the riffs played properly loud in a room that can withstand all the ripping and tearing. “Mick has never performed this music live, like this. Until RADAR came calling.”
Next year’s RADAR Festival will take place at Manchester’s O2 Victoria Warehouse from 30 July to 1 August 2027, but there’s still this year’s edition to get through first. From today (31 July) through the weekend, the festival will see performances from Thy Art Is Murder, Skindred, Northlane, Animals as Leaders and so many more.
Learn more at RADAR Festival.
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“In their school they weren’t allowed to own a guitar”: Phil Collins explains the early differences between him and his Genesis bandmates
Phil Collins has been looking back on how he managed to join Genesis as their new drummer, and the early differences he noticed between himself and the rest of the band.
Collins had attended a drama school from the age of 14 where, as he says, he could get away with murder, while the other existing band members – Peter Gabriel, Tony Banks, and Mike Rutherford – that he joined in 1970 had all attended the private Charterhouse School in Surrey, UK.
Speaking to Prog about his journey into the lineup, he recalls, “It was just Tony, Peter and Mike. Mike’s always said that when Anthony Phillips, the unsung hero, left because he couldn’t take the stress, they thought that was the end of the band. But they carried on, and thought they could get a better drummer, I believe, than John Mayhew, who was on [second Genesis album] Trespass.
“I didn’t know all this background dynamic; I had just seen their name a lot in the back of Melody Maker. I knew Tony Stratton-Smith, their manager, since I was about 16 and he was managing The Creation.”
He continues, “I went down to the Marquee bar one night to see if he could put in a word for me. He said, ‘Oh, I’d love to, but I’m afraid they’re very fussy, these guys – you will have to audition.’ So I went along and here we are today! Yes, they were public school [an old term for an independent school] boys, and I was from the drama school where you could get away with murder.”
Collins shares, “In their school they weren’t allowed to own a guitar. At mine, I’d bring my records in and we’d play Sgt. Pepper... or Motown or The Byrds’ Younger Than Yesterday. The teacher would say, ‘Are you sure you can hear me talk at the same time as this music is on?’ We’d say, ‘Oh sure…’”
Genesis are releasing their 1974 album The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway in standalone 1-BR Blu-ray Audio for the first time on 28 August. You can pre-order it now via the Genesis website.
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“Seeing Brent in his casket was so difficult to wrap our heads around, and it makes you want to feel f**king alive”: Mastodon’s Brann Dailor on how the band dealt with the death of Brent Hinds
Mastodon’s Brann Dailor and Troy Sanders have been reflecting on the death of Brent Hinds, and how his sudden loss has changed their perspective on living and making things work as a band.
Hinds passed away due to a motorcycle accident at the age of 51 last year, shortly after his departure from the band. Earlier in the same year, Dailor also lost his mother. After a very difficult period of grief, the band are touring again (with more shows scheduled from September), and have a new album titled Marrow Deep landing on 28 August.
In a new interview with The Guardian, the pair look back on their somewhat hectic bond with Hinds, and how they found their desire to make more music after such a tumultuous time.
Dailor says, “If any of us did half the stuff that Brent pulled off, we’d all have been dead years ago. We’ve always been a hard-partying band, but for the last 10, 15 years, the three of us really settled down and were focusing more on our live show and being productive in the studio.
“He was still rocking, which was, for a lot of people from the outside looking in, the most admirable thing about him. But from the inside it’s not always that much fun.”
Dailor and Sanders decline to expand any further on why the band parted with Hinds. Their original statement claimed the decision was mutual, but some pretty scathing social media posts from Hinds regarding the other members suggested there were some inner tensions.
The one thing they can confirm? Hinds never punched Dailor in the face; a rumour which broke out after a public appearance he made with a black eye, just before the announcement. In fact, Dailor says Hinds sent him a text amid the media flurry saying he couldn’t believe the rumours.
Further into the interview, the pair reflect more deeply on the loss – not just the pain it caused them, but how it altered their perspective on living life to its fullest.
“I was devastated,” Dailor shares. “All the shit-talking that had happened – you reference the Instagram comment section shit – I didn’t think about any of that. We got 25 years of a deep relationship with this guy. I could tell who he was by the smell of his farts.
“When one of the integral members, one of your brothers, dies, it’s obviously a very painful thing to go through, but it also makes you question where you’re at. Seeing Brent in his casket was so difficult to wrap our heads around, and it makes you want to feel fucking alive. We’re still here, so we better get to it.”
Marrow Deep, the new album from Mastodon, is released on 28 August. You can pre-order it now.
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“I hate playing acoustic”: Why Tony Iommi is pushing himself outside his comfort zone on new solo album
Tony Iommi has a confession to make: he hates playing acoustic guitar, and in fact, he feels he’s not very good at it.
Iommi announced his first solo album in over 20 years this week. Titled From The Dark, it is due to land on 23 October 2026 via BMG, and features Norwegian vocalist Jørn Lande, Mercyful Fate bassist Becky Baldwin, and former Robbie Williams drummer Karl Brazil. Iommi served as co-producer on the album alongside Mike Exeter.
Despite his admittance that acoustic really isn’t his thing, it gets a prominent spotlight on forthcoming track Legacy with a solo right in the middle. In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Iommi explains why he chose to explore outside of his comfort zone in this way.
“I did have a couple of acoustic things, but I’ve not used them. I thought I’d keep the album like it is. And not only that, it’s already quite long. We wouldn’t be able to fit them on,” he says.
“I like to do something you don’t really expect. And to be honest, I hate playing acoustic. I’m not very good at playing acoustic,” he confesses, before speaking directly on track Legacy, “On that bit, I just thought it would be nice and different.”
Iommi also discusses the album’s first single, World Alone. Asked if he has to push himself to write up-tempo songs like this single, he responds, “Not really. But I do remind myself [to write them]. When I heard [the rest of] what we’ve got I thought, ‘Well, we need to have some up-tempo tracks and a mid-tempo track just to balance off the album, really.”
Listen to World Alone below:
From The Dark is available to pre-order now.
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Gretsch Electromatic CVT Baritone review – long-scale downtuned heaviness from Gretsch hits the mark
A while ago I spoke to Gretsch EVP Jason Barnes about the revival of the Corvette, and, being the consummate professional that I am, I only let my personal musical tastes inform the direction of the interview towards the end of the chat. I mentioned that the double-cut, darkly-finished, and dual-humbucker’d Electromatic CVT seemed in part tailor-made for those who listen to a lot more Loathe and/or Electric Wizard than they do Bleachers and Taylor Swift, and Barnes was more than receptive. Despite Gretsch’s heritage skewing towards jazz and rockabilly, and modern usage skewing towards rock, indie and pop, Gretsch has been keeping a keen eye on those who have adopted its guitars – particularly its longer-scale offerings – for metal.
And there’s a lot to keep an eye on, in that regard – a few years back the Meshuggah fans of the world took notice of the downtuning potential of Gretsch’s dual (mini) humbucker Jet Baritone, and it got swept up in a new wave of metal – that G5260 was seen in the hands of both Loathe’s Erik Bickerstaffe and Sleep Token’s IV, both very different players with different musical aesthetics, but both driving a trend for innovative and ultra low-tuned modern metal.
So today we’re looking at the logical conclusion of those observations: a baritone version of the Corvette, launched with a pummelling demo from Loathe’s Erik Bickerstaffe. It’s the same rather mean shape as the newly-designed CVT, with the same full-range Twin Six humbuckers – but gone is the wraparound, replaced with a standard tune-o-matic-style two-piece bridge, placed a little further back in the body to compensate for the increased scale of 27 inches.
Gretsch obviously has a long history with long-scale guitars, but the CVT isn’t really drawing much of this heritage. The Electromatic Jet Baritone, launched on the same day as this guitar, is a lot closer to a pure modern-metallification of an old-school Gretsch formula – the Baritone Jet is a single-cut 29.75” guitar, like it’s more vintage-styled forebears. That’s just 0.25” off the same bridge-to-nut distance as a Fender Bass VI, and so opens up tunings below E1 (or suspension-bridge tension when in the more standard baritone register B-B).
The new CVT Baritone, on the other hand, is 27”, which will be far less alien to those used to playing on 25.5” necks, or even 24.75”. Given that the Corvette shape has had a more sporadic, chameleonic history since its launch decades ago, there aren’t really many expectations to smash here about what it’s meant to sound like – other than those brought by the name on the headstock. So the question remains:
Image: Adam Gasson
Gretsch Electromatic CVT Baritone – what is it?
The baritone guitar has a long history outside of the heavy universe, and not every new long-scale launch is explicitly aimed at those who walk a more Iommic path. But the Baritone CVT absolutely is. Intentions and the noises made in demo videos may only matter so much, but, overall, the message sent by the guitar upon viewing it and/or its specsheet is that it’s built for metal. Downtuning is obviously a big thing across countless subgenres, but the aesthetics and specs do straddle the border between the classiness of Loathe’s whole gig and the more vintage-forward guitars of sludge and doom.
The finish is the first clue. The Baritone CVT exclusively comes in Bristol Fog – I presume that Gretsch does not mean the Bristol Fog that, on the afternoon of April 20th, rolls in all directions from Castle Park like an encroaching wall of aerosolised cannabinoids. Stoner associations aside, it’s still a dark, woodgrain-forward burst – no sparkle finishes or gold-trimmed vintage white for this launch.
The humbuckers are the next – the Twin Sixes are full-sized humbuckers, explicitly marketed as punchier and more full range than the mini-humbuckers, Broad’Trons and Filter’Trons you’ll find in many other Gretsches – these are far less likely to sound thin and underpowered through heavier gear.
The rest of the setup is essentially a minimalist dual-humbucker arrangement, with a master volume and tone. The wraparound of the standard-scale CVT is now a two-piece tune-o-matic style bridge, which is an unequivocally good change here – longer scale lengths require a lot more travel in the saddles for proper intonation, and I’ve also seen a couple of import wraparounds start to lean forward under higher tensions.
It’s been said that the CVT has more than a little Dunable Cyclops in its looks, with its two horns, long swooping pickguard and general ‘melted SG’ kind of look. The Cyclops and Dunables in general rely on a healthy amount of vintage cool being mixed in with their meaner, heavier looks – a combo that’s found particular footing in the post-, doom- and sludge-metal crowds. (A fun game at festivals like ArcTanGent is Dunable-spotting – drink every time you see one and you’ll be on the floor in no time). The Corvette shape is pretty perfect for achieving a similar visual feel, and so it’s good to see Gretsch work constructively with that aspect of the shape – metal doesn’t have to mean all pointy and satin black and glowing inverted crosses everywhere.
Image: Adam Gasson
Gretsch Electromatic CVT Baritone – usability and sounds
Can Gretsch translate its baritone heritage to something that’s deserving of the above implications? Are the noisy Loathe demo video and the Dunable comparisons earned? The answer, pleasingly, is a resounding yes – in my view, players seeking sharper, more metalcore-indebted tones and the low-and-slow doom crowd will find a lot to like here.
Let’s start on playability. The neck is not really for shred – but it is a fairly medium C, a profile Gretsch calls “performance C”. On top we’ve got a real rosewood fretboard – now pretty common again on affordable guitars, but no less good to see – with a 12” radius. The profile is a pretty middleweight one, perhaps a little evocative of the slimmer side of a bound Les Paul neck. It’s made somewhat slower by the rather sticky poly finish (nothing a scotchbrite pad and some elbow grease won’t fix), but it’s by no means an unwieldy thing. The neck joint is also pretty sculpted – no big square neck plate here – meaning that up at the dusty end (likely for dissonant stabs mid-breakdown more so than melodic showing-off) it remains very playable.
Frets here are medium jumbo. In use they are, a bit like the neck profile, fairly anonymous – neither massive nor tiny. But they play cleanly and comfortably – zero buzz or grind to be found. It’s also good that they’re not actual jumbo wire – we’ll come to further down-tuning experiments in a bit, but for now it’s worth noting that at lower tension, really tall frets can mean it’s too easy to push strings out of tune as you press down.
Despite the extra length of the neck, the balance is fantastic. Neck dive is always a worry on baritones, but not here, as Gretsch has adjusted where the bridge sits, rather than just shunting all of the mass north of the neck joint. Playing sat or stood is very comfy – this bridge placement means the fretboard presents to your left hand fairly well when sat down, and the strap button being on the horn keeps everything at a good angle when stood up. The bridge is also in a nice and natural position for your right hand – its extra distance down the body makes staying in a palm-muting position easy.
A 27” scale is pretty comfy for a baritone, requiring only a little bit of adjustment if you’re used to standard scale stuff. I also find the stock strings – 14-68s – to be ideal. They’ve got a wound third (as they should have!), and their gauge is more than heavy enough to make tension quite substantial at standard baritone B-B. Bluesy three-semitone bends are out of the question in this register unless you’ve borrowed fingers from an olympic weightlifter – but fast death metal riffs are tight, responsive joy.
Image: Adam Gasson
I also tune the guitar to where I normally hang out – drop F. This is, for a baritone less than 30” and with any strings other than Bass VI strings, quite a loose tuning – I’d say it’s similar in tension to tuning a Fender-scale instrument down to C with 11-52s. This transforms the playing experience quite a lot, from sleek, sharp and tight to loose and sludgy, but the CVT is up for the challenge: things stay relatively stable and articulate.
Importantly, at no point do I feel like strings are going to flop out of their saddles. A decent amount of neck pitch-back means there’s a lot of downward tension on the tune-o-matic-style bridge. It’s worth noting, however, that drop F is about as low as I’d take it with these strings – double drop C# would be a bit of a stretch without a much heavier gauge.
Helping with the articulation here are the Twin Six humbuckers, which work great in a heavy baritone context. Personally I find they’re voiced just right – full and deep through stacked meaty fuzzes, but still up for a bit of chugging when run into a tighter, more modern sound courtesy of the UAFX Anti.
For a cleaner tone, they’re perhaps a little boomy in full humbucker mode – but they can be split individually with push-pull pots. Their louder nature means that these tones are also quite hefty, but far better for cleans – as single-coils they more resemble P90s than they do spanky strat pickups, thanks to their strong output and midrange presence, but that’s no bad thing in my book.
The cleaner stuff may never really be the highlight or focus of a guitar like this, but the tones are by no means an afterthought – I had just as much fun making ambient and textural sounds on the CVT as I did trying to remember how to play At The Gates riffs. But for more traditional tic-tac/country baritone sounds, you might find yourself wanting a different set of pickups – the mid-forward nature of the Twin Sixes means it’s a little harder to get that spanky/scooped sound that, say, a set of Bass VI pickups do so well.
Image: Adam Gasson
Gretsch Electromatic CVT Baritone – should I buy one?
For many fans of down-tuning this will be the sort of guitar they were hoping Gretsch would release – accessibly priced, the right look, the right pickups, and a scale length that strikes a balance between playability and still being, well, a baritone. And the guitar, in my time with it, made good on all of its promises. I think the only thing I wish Gretsch did here that it didn’t would be offer a few more finishes. No shade on Bristol Fog, really, but I’m curious how the CVT would look in a version of the Jet’s Imperial Stain.
And on the topic of that guitar, it’s hard to say that Gretsch compromised on scale length here when a 29.75” alternative has also been made available for almost the same price. If you are looking to really explore the depths of registers below E1, I would check out that guitar, and indeed my forthcoming review of it.
As it stands, though, this is the more balanced of the two options. There’s a long history of mid-priced baritone guitars being adopted into moddable djent/doom darlings of the aftermarket (after all, Bickerstaffe himself didn’t wait until Gretsch’s lineup included a more obviously metal instrument, he just tuned a vintage-voiced baritone down to drop Z and blasted away), but the Baritone CVT has clearly been made with a more “out of the box” approach – and it’s worked.
Gretsch Electromatic CVT Baritone – alternatives
Aside from the really obvious one – the Jet counterpart – 2026 has been awash with interesting baritone guitars. There’s the new Squier Paranormal Baritone Jaguar, and the new Fender Player Fusion Baritone Jaguar, both made with a similar audience to the new Gretsches in mind. The Squier Classic Vibe Custom Telecaster is another interesting and mid-priced option – although for metal you might want to also order some blade pickups…
Beyond these there’s a new Orangewood Baritone, Ed Sheeran has a signature Baritone (although to play that in a metal context you’ll probably want to get it re-finished from the off!), Dunable’s relatively affordable (compared to its custom shop) DE line has launched a baritone, and, if you want to throw off the last vestiges of a vintage aesthetic, Hils has launched a new mid-priced baritone headless guitar.
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Tiny form factor, classic Orange sound: meet the Baby Terror
Following the launch of its Outlowd amps in partnership with singer-songwriter superstar Ed Sheeran, Orange has given some more love to its non-signature line, issuing a brand-new amp in a micro-lunchbox format, the Baby Terror.
Delivering 20 watts of power, the new amp joins the company’s Baby series, is designed with portability in mind, and can fit in backpacks, on desktops, in rehearsal rooms and on small stages.
Nowadays, the tradeoff between portability and sound quality is smaller than ever, and the Baby Terror is said to deliver the same classic Orange tone despite its tiny form factor.
Offering a significant amount of sonic control, the amp features a standard three-band EQ to create the kind of brightness, warmth, or power needed for any type of genre playing. The additional presence knob can also fill out the sound quite well on top of the frequency specifications. Then, for the really heavy moments, flick Orange’s classic “Tubby” switch to add that extra low-end.
The Baby Terror also has another volume that’s footswitchable when it’s time to shift from lead to rhythm. Take a step down while your other guitarist gets to solo their heart out then come back strong when the band is full force again. The port for that is right in the back alongside the FX send and return to make easy access for pedal boards.
Considering how simple it is to take the Baby Terror around (it comes with its own soft carrying case), it’s perfect for recording sessions, especially because it has an XLR balanced out for direct connections to interfaces and sound boards.
Credit: Orange
“The Baby Terror is proof that small does not have to mean less features,” says Sarah Yule, Managing Director of Orange Amps. “It is small enough to carry with one hand, but serious enough to become your main amp – however big your rig is.”
The Orange Baby Terror is currently available for purchase at £199/€229/$249. For more information, head to Orange Amps.
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Japanese man arrested, 40 guitars seized after numerous complaints by neighbours
Rock and roll might be a way to stick it to the man, but in Japan, if you rock too hard, the man will take your guitars.
As reported by The Japan Times, a 61-year-old Kyoto resident name Kazunori Yokoi recently had 40 guitars seized and was arrested after his neighbours complained for years about him playing guitar too loudly.
Apparently, Yokoi was playing so loud that the complaining neighbours faced adverse health effects, including sleep deprivation and tinnitus.
After the residents made multiple reports to no result, cops finally got involved. To back up the complaints with evidence, police measured the decibel level in the neighbourhood, which at times registered over 80 dB – about the same as a vacuum cleaner or a crowded train station.
And apparently the guitar playing wasn’t always all that musical, either… “It was awful because all kinds of sounds were jumbled together all day,” says one of the older neighbours.
According to his neighbours, when Yokoi wasn’t shredding his heart out, he was broadcasting his stereo out his window at full blast. No matter how good he was at playing or how fire his playlist was, it’s understandable how that could be rather disruptive.
The Japan Times stated that Yokoi was arrested for assault. In addition to his 40 guitars, which were “mostly electric” the police took amps and a CD and radio cassette player.
Usually when guitars are involved in crime, it’s because people are stealing the instruments and selling them. Not because someone is playing too loud. Back in April, police busted an organized crime ring focused on stealing guitars from a series of Guitar Center retail stores along the West Coast of the United States.
Rebellion is very much in the spirit of rock and roll, and it seems Kazunori Yokoi had a serious case of stick it to the man-eosis. Still, to play so disruptively that police come and confiscate your instruments – and arrest you – has to be worthy of some kind of medal.
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Modern guitarists get criticised for smashing guitars, but Jimi Hendrix was celebrated for doing so – here’s why he did it, in his own words
Jimi Hendrix’s onstage guitar destruction has become one of rock’s defining images. According to his former roadie Eric Barrett, however, there was more to it than a simple act of rock ‘n’ roll excess.
In his upcoming memoir Experienced: On the Road with Jimi Hendrix and Beyond, Barrett recalls witnessing countless smashed guitars during Hendrix’s tours, including one particularly painful moment when a pristine Fender Stratocaster met its end during an encore in Bologna.
Barrett writes that Hendrix often “took all of his frustrations out on the equipment” at the end of a show.
“He beat the hell out of the amplifiers and poked bloody great holes in the speakers with the neck of his guitar,” Barrett recalls [via The Sunday Times]. “No wonder the last roadie took a bucketload of acid and fucked off mid-tour.”
The destruction was rarely planned, either.
“He’d never warn me before a performance,” Barrett writes. “I don’t think he knew himself until it came time for the encore.”
Keen to save at least some of the band’s gear, Barrett says he’d regularly try to persuade Hendrix to sacrifice one of the older guitars instead.
“Before he went on stage, I’d always point out an old guitar, or one I’d rebuilt, and say, ‘Jimi, if you’re gonna smash a guitar tonight, please use that one.’”
“Sometimes he’d listen to me, other nights he didn’t. I remember one really beautiful Fender Stratocaster; I watched in horror as he destroyed it during the encore in Bologna.”
Eventually, Barrett decided to ask the question countless fans have probably wondered over the years: why destroy perfectly good guitars at all?
Hendrix’s answer, he says, had little to do with theatrics.
“Eric, I just couldn’t get any more out of it, man,” the guitarist told him. “I squeezed every note and every sound that guitar was ever going to give me. It had nothing left to give.”
The anecdote is one of many stories featured in Barrett’s forthcoming memoir, which chronicles his time working alongside Hendrix during the guitarist’s late-1960s rise. Experienced: On the Road with Jimi Hendrix and Beyond will be released on 4 August.
While guitar smashing is part of the fabric of rock and roll – with icons like Jimi Hendrix and Pete Townshend routinely laying waste to their instruments, those who’ve destroyed theirs in recent years haven’t exactly been met with the same level of adoration.
In 2021, singer-songwriter Phoebe Bridgers kicked up a storm when she smashed a stage monitor using her Danelectro during a performance on Saturday Night Live. The stunt drew the attention of David Crosby, who called it “childish stage drama”, and DragonForce’s Herman Li, whose issue wasn’t with the smash, but that the guitar wasn’t expensive enough. “Come on, you’re on Saturday Night Live, you can’t be smashing a $500 guitar – too cheap!” he said. The guitar later sold for over $100,000.
Fender Chief Product Officer Justin Norvell even chimed in, noting the “long-standing tradition” of guitar smashing in rock music, and saying Fender was “alright with it”, but that “there’s always a balance that we have to strike”.
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“If AI replaces musicians, we’re out of business”: D’Addario responds again to claims it used AI-generated music in a demo
D’Addario has again addressed accusations that it used AI-generated music in a recent promotional video for its new NYXL HD electric guitar strings, insisting the track was performed by a human musician and arguing that an unusually heavy production chain is what caused the misunderstanding.
Last week, the string and accessories giant came under fire after guitarists online claimed a demo for its new NYXL HD strings sounded suspiciously like it had been generated using AI. The company was also criticised after comments disappeared from the original post and some users claimed they had been blocked.
D’Addario initially denied the allegations, admitting only that the demo was “over-produced” but not AI-generated. In a statement to Guitar World, the company said it had “made a choice to demo these products in a fully produced mix” – a decision it conceded “backfired”.
In a follow-up post, D’Addario added, “Setting the record straight, this string demo was certainly over-produced. However, it was not created by AI. All guitars were tracked in real-life, drums and synths were MIDI programmed, plus a whole lot of plug-ins and production.”
It also shared a behind-the-scenes video showing the recording session and guitar tracks used to create the demo.
That explanation, however, did little to settle the debate. YouTuber Danny Sapko and other users pointed to apparent differences between the original demo and the behind-the-scenes recording session, arguing the two didn’t appear to match.
Now, in a fresh statement posted to social media, D’Addario has offered a more detailed explanation of its stance as well as how the track was produced.
“We are a music company. Built by musicians for musicians,” the company writes. “So naturally, we share the growing alarm that generative AI can remove the musician from the creative process.”
“In a recent post featuring one of our products, many people questioned whether we employed generative AI in our demo track. The track was written and performed by one of our employees who was proud to create an original piece to show off a new string he helped to develop.”
According to D’Addario, it was the excessively complex production process – rather than generative AI – that gave the recording its artificial-sounding qualities.
The company says the guitar performance was processed with “an excess of plug-ins”, while the drums were created by blending Logic’s stock ‘So-Cal’ kit with EZ drummer, with all velocity set to the maximum value of 127 “to get a big sound”. It argues those production choices “subtracted all the dynamics and added a lot of digital noise”, creating many of the hallmarks listeners associated with AI-generated music.
“There were excessive non-AI tools used to make the original composition sound ‘more produced.’ This added a lot of extra noise and inorganic details to the mix, which people misunderstood as signs of AI generation.”
Addressing the discrepancies people spotted between the original promo and the later workflow video, D’Addario says the footage showed an unmastered collection of stems rather than the finished mix. “The video we posted last week… featured a DAW clip which was a pre-mix and pre-master pile of stems that did not sound like the finished product,” it explains.
The company also clarifies that while no generative AI was used to write or perform the music, AI-assisted mastering tools were used during the final production process.
“While generative AI was not used in the creation of the music, by virtue of using Logic’s ‘Mastering Assistant’ feature and LANDR’s Assisted Mastering, AI did assist with the mixing and mastering process post-DAW export.”
It adds that “most of the digital artifacts” highlighted by critics came from “an unusual take on modern production techniques”, including “4 compressors in series on the drums adding high-end fuzz” and auto-tune on the guitar introducing aliasing.
D’Addario says the delay in issuing a fuller explanation came as it tried to understand why so many listeners had interpreted the recording as AI-generated, adding that it will reconsider “what degree of production is appropriate” for future product demos.
The statement concludes with D’Addario reiterating its broader position on AI in music: “Remember, we are a company whose products can only be used by people. If AI replaces musicians making music, then we’re out of business. Of course, that’s nothing compared to the chilling thought of musical expression being co-opted by machines. As a company made of hundreds of people, we desperately want to preserve human expression through music.”
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“His songs made me want to write songs – and they also made me cry” Music world pays tribute to Glen Hansard following fatal motorcycle accident
The music world is mourning the loss of Glen Hansard, the Irish songwriter, Frames frontman and Oscar-winning musician, who has died aged 56 following a motorcycle accident in Dublin.
Hansard’s management confirmed the news in a statement, saying: “With broken hearts we announce the passing of Glen Hansard in the early hours of this morning [29 July].”
“We are still dealing with the shock of it all, so we kindly ask that the privacy of Glen’s family, colleagues and friends is respected at this difficult time.”
Hansard first made his name after forming Irish rock band The Frames in 1990, before reaching an international audience with his acting debut in Alan Parker’s musical-comedy The Commitments. His biggest breakthrough came with the 2007 film Once, in which he starred opposite Marketa Irglova. The pair – who also recorded together as The Swell Season – won the Academy Award for Best Original Song with Falling Slowly, bringing Hansard’s songwriting to a much wider audience.
Beyond The Frames and The Swell Season, Hansard enjoyed a successful solo career, with 2015’s Didn’t He Ramble earning a Grammy nomination for Best Folk Album. Just last month, he released the second instalment of his latest project, Don’t Settle (Vol. 2 – Transmissions West).
Hansard is survived by his wife, Finnish poet Maire Saaritsa, and their three-year-old son Christy.
As news of his passing broke, tributes have poured in from across the music world.
Singer-songwriter Finneas reflected on the profound impact Hansard had on him from a young age: “Glen Hansard. North Star songwriter, most wonderful person. The first song I ever got on a stage to perform was Falling Slowly when I was 11,” he wrote.
“His songs made me want to write songs and they also made me cry. When our family met him in Dublin in 2019, he greeted us like old friends even though we were just his fans. Today I am a heartbroken fan. Hope he knew how much he meant to so many, this is how much he meant to me.”
Bruce Springsteen also remembered meeting Hansard in Ireland “many years ago”.
“He was always nothing but a great musician, a good friend and a generous and gracious man,” Springtsteen wrote. “Always positive, smiling and ready to sing.”
In a lengthy tribute, U2’s Bono described Hansard as an “angelic presence” and “a most musical and mischievous archangel of Ballymun”.
“Of all the grand and gigantic venues he and The Frames played, you sensed the street was his most favoured place to perform. And street people, his favourite audience,” he wrote. “I’m telling myself this morning that if he never existed, then he can never cease to exist. For me, he will always be everywhere I see a coin spinning into an open guitar case.”
Producer Andrew Watt, who played alongside Hansard in Andrew Vedder’s ‘Earthling’ solo band, also paid tribute, expressing gratitude for the time they spent together: “You will never be forgotten. How lucky was I to spend as much time both on and off the stage with you?…studios, dressing rooms, bathroom floors, long car rides, guitar stores…your ability to move people with that bellowing Irish tenor of yours is unparalleled.”
Read more tributes below.
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What actually happens when you adjust your guitar’s pickup heights?
Of all the free upgrades available to a guitarist, pickup height is the one most people leave on the table. There are no parts to buy and no soldering involved – all you’ll need is a screwdriver and ten minutes. And yet the same players who’ll agonize over capacitor values will happily leave their pickups sitting wherever the factory left them.
This is, to put it mildly, a shame. Because moving a pickup a millimeter or two can change how a guitar sounds and feels more than a pickup swap does. So before you go reaching for that screwdriver, it’s worth understanding what’s going on under the strings.
Can We Talk About Magnets For A Second?
A magnetic pickup works because your strings are made of steel. The magnets in the pickup throw out a field, and when a string vibrates inside that field it disturbs the flux, which induces a tiny voltage in the coil wrapped around the magnets. That voltage is your signal.
The thing to grasp is that a magnetic field gets weaker very quickly as you move away from the magnet – not in a straight line, but steeply. So the closer the string sits to the pole pieces, the more of that dense field it’s swimming in, and the bigger the signal it generates. Raise the pickup and the output goes up. Drop it, and the output falls away. That’s the part everyone knows, and if output were the only thing in play you’d simply crank every pickup as high as it’ll go and enjoy the extra volume. But it isn’t, and you shouldn’t.
For Every Pro, A Con
Here’s the bit that trips people up. Those same magnets that let the pickup hear your strings are also, gently, trying to grab them. Steel strings are ferromagnetic, so a strong magnet sitting close underneath exerts a real, physical pull on them.
Get the pickup too close and that pull starts to fight the string’s natural vibration. You lose sustain, because the string is being pulled into being centered over each pole piece. Worse, the magnetic tug acts as a second force on the string alongside its own tension, and the two don’t always agree.
The result is a warbling, slightly out-of-tune quality – players often describe notes that “flutter” or beat against themselves, and intonation that wanders even though the saddles are set correctly. Some of the old hands call it “Stratitis,” because vintage-style Strats with their strong Alnico rod magnets are classic offenders.
It’s nearly always worse on the neck pickup. A vibrating string moves furthest from rest near the middle of its length – roughly where the neck pickup lives – so the string is physically closer to those magnets through the swing of its vibration. The bridge pickup sits where the string barely moves, which is part of why it stays clearer even if it is set quite high.
It’s also worse on the wound strings, especially the low E and A, simply because there’s more steel there for the magnet to grab. And when you fret a note at the 12th, the string sits closer to the pickup than it does open, so the higher you play, the more the magnet interferes. If you’ve ever raised a neck pickup for more output and found your guitar suddenly sounds sour on the top frets, that’s exactly what happened.
Here’s A Good Starting Point For Your Setup
Beyond raw output and the pull, height also nudges the character of the sound. Closer pickups tend to sound a touch more compressed and aggressive, with the dynamics squashed slightly. Back them off and you’ll often hear a bit more openness, bloom and dynamic range, at the cost of some level. Neither is “correct” – a player chasing a snarly, in-your-face bridge tone might want it close, while someone after a glassy, bell-like neck sound will usually find it lower down.
The convention is to hold the string down at the highest fret and measure the gap from the top of the pole piece to the bottom of the string. The reason we fret the string is that that’s the worst-case distance and the point where magnetic pull bites hardest.
Manufacturers publish starting points, and they’re a sensible place to begin rather than gospel. For Fender’s single coils, you’re broadly looking at somewhere around 2mm on the treble side and a little more on the bass side, with the hotter, higher-output sets sitting a touch lower than vintage ones to keep the magnetic pull in check. Humbuckers behave more politely – the bar magnet sits below the coils rather than directly under the strings, so the pull at the string is gentler and you can run them closer. Gibson essentially tells you to set them by ear, but somewhere around 1.6mm on the treble side at the last fret is a fair opening bid.
Most techs will set the bass side slightly lower than the treble side; the wound strings have more energy and more steel, so they want a bit more room. Be sure not to set things so high that a hard-strummed string can actually clack against the pole pieces – it’s easy to do on the neck pickup if you’re heavy-handed.
If you’re running active pickups like EMGs, most of this is moot. They use weak magnets and a built-in preamp to do the heavy lifting, so there’s very little pull and height makes far less difference to output. Set them close and forget about it.
The last job is getting your pickups to play nicely together so the volume doesn’t lurch when you flick the selector. Because the neck position is naturally louder, you generally end up with the neck pickup lower and the bridge pickup higher to even them out.
Plug in, switch back and forth between positions while you play, and adjust until the jump in level disappears. It’s fiddly and it’s iterative – raise one and the balance shifts, so you go round again.
Which is really the whole approach in miniature. There’s no single right number on a feeler gauge, only a setting that suits your strings, your magnets, your playing and your ears. Start from the maker’s spec, move in small turns of a quarter-turn or so, and keep playing as you go. The tape measure gets you in the ballpark; the warble, the sustain and the balance between positions tell you when you’ve actually arrived.
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The wait is over: Tony Iommi has announced his first solo album in 21 years
After speculation reached fever pitch earlier this week, Black Sabbath legend Tony Iommi has officially announced his first solo album in 21 years, From the Dark. Arriving 23 October via BMG, the album will be the Godfather of Heavy Metal’s first solo album since 2005’s Fused.
Tony Iommi’s riffs are legendary and have literally given birth to and shaped an entire genre, but he couldn’t do it alone, and so he’s pieced together a backing band consisting of Norwegian vocalist Jørn Lande, Mercyful Fate bassist Becky Baldwin, and former Robbie Williams drummer Karl Brazil.
Tony Iommi serves as co-producer of the record alongside Mike Exeter, who is credited on Black Sabbath’s final album, 13, released in 2013.
The announcement arrives alongside the launch of new single World Alone, which you can check out below:
As you’d expect from one of the founders of heavy metal, the track is rooted firmly in high-gain guitar riffs and a thunderous rhythm section. Iommi gets creative on the accompanying music video, which features a protagonist named The Believer thrust into a “twisted video game to save his life and ultimately find salvation”.
The rest of the album is said to be similarly heavy, with Black Times a “sucker-punch strike that takes no prisoners”, and Beyond the Dead featuring a “stately and sinister riff interwoven with epic orchestration”.
The track was premiered today at a special global streaming event hosted in Iommi and Black Sabbath’s hometown of Birmingham, England, a “stone’s throw” from the famous Black Sabbath Bridge.
Scent of Dark and Deified – two other tracks released by the Sabbath guitarist in recent years – will later be released as part of a deluxe-edition CD.
“It’s an album we’ve really enjoyed making. We’re not trying to prove anything – it’s a great album, it rocks!” says Tony Iommi.
Check out the full tracklist of From the Dark below:
- Over The Violent Sun
- Black Times
- World Alone
- Beyond The Dead
- Stormwatcher
- Death Wake
- Return Of The Arbalist
- Legacy
The album’s announcement lands just a few days after the first anniversary of Ozzy Osbourne’s death. Last week, Iommi paid tribute to his fallen Black Sabbath bandmate.
“It’s now a year since Ozzy’s passing and I still can’t believe that he’s not with us,” the guitarist wrote. “I watch him on YouTube and it feels like he’s still here with us. We always stayed in touch, almost every week or so and we’d usually talk about our ailments and then about what we’d been doing that particular week.
“The fans have been absolutely brilliant and the love and respect that they have shown for him has just been amazing. I’m so glad that we were able to play one final show with the original line up of Sabbath at the Back To The Beginning show in our home town of Birmingham! There will never be another Ozzy. I miss you my dear friend.”
From the Dark is available to preorder now.
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Someone made a guitar out of rare Pokémon cards – and we’re here for it
We’ve seen our share of wacky guitar builds. YouTuber Burls Art has treated us to most of them, and is the man behind potentially the heaviest guitar in existence – a 40 lb six-string made from melted copper wire – and another made entirely from plastic dumped in the ocean.
But there’s another creator vying for the title of king of viral electric guitar builds. Luis Orozco, guitarist, creator and founder of custom guitar company Gepettos Guild has also made a name for himself making one-of-a-kind six-strings, and his latest build is a sight to behold.
Essentially, he’s built a T-style guitar from scratch, and wrapped it in vintage Water-Type Pokémon cards…
Gyarados, Poliwrath, Feraligatr, Suicune – and, of course, the “GOAT”, Blastoise – all make the cut, and are placed on top of the guitar’s body, sealed in a quarter-inch of resin, and sprayed all over with a light metallic blue burst. The result? An instrument that’s a Pokémon collector’s dream guitar…
The guitar itself is a stunning example of custom DIY guitar building mastery, although no bonus points for the left-handed model in the video below holding it upside down…
The Water-Type Pokémon guitar is currently not listed for sale on the Gepettos Guild website. This isn’t the first time Orozco has put Pokémon cards in a guitar though; there’s another guitar available featuring Fire-Type Pokémon cards, priced at $3,400.
To make a living out of custom guitar builds, you have to get creative, and Luis Orozco’s builds have to be some of the weirdest out there. Check out this one with an actual dead fish…
Take a look at more of Luis Orozco’s otherworldly guitar builds at Gepettos Guild.
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The best audio interfaces for guitarists: mobile, desktop and rack units compared
There are all sorts of reasons to plug a guitar into a computer or smartphone, from recording onto a digital audio workstation (DAW) to livestreaming a performance, or using apps for practice, creativity or tuning. Unfortunately, no PC or phone that you’re likely to buy is actually optimised for these uses.
To bridge the gap between an analogue guitar input and a digital device, we need to add a gadget called an audio interface to the signal chain. Not many guitarists would claim that their interface is glamorous or exciting, but these desktop boxes do useful work. Above all, an audio interface ensures that your guitar or microphone signal arrives into your computer’s recording software (DAW), or onto another device such as a smartphone, in a computable form without losing its character.
The most basic benefit of an audio interface is that it (usually) has inputs for ¼″ instrument cables and microphones, which are not present on computers, plus an output such as USB-C that connects to your digital device. Good ones also help the computer to pick up audio signals smoothly and with minimal latency, thanks to features such as on-board ASIO (Audio Stream Input/Output) drivers and analogue-to-digital signal conversion.
One of the most important aspects of recording is listening, and an audio interface helps with this too, as you can plug your headphones or studio monitors into it for low-latency playback. Most interfaces also have controls to tweak the input signal from your guitar, so it won’t be too loud (causing ‘clipping’ – an unwanted distortion) or too quiet.
Any guitarist who is getting into home or studio recording should consider picking up the best audio interface to suit their budget. While most of these gadgets do similar things, there are differences in functionality and performance that will shape the sound of your recordings or livestreams.
At a glance:
- Focusrite Scarlett Gen 4 2i2
- Fender Quantum LT2
- Universal Audio Volt 1
- Audient ID4 MkII
- Fender Link IO
- TC Electronic Helicon GO
- Fender Quantum LT16
- Audient EVO 4
- Universal Audio Apollo Twin X
- Behringer UMC1820
- Why you can trust Guitar.com
Focusrite Scarlett Gen 4 2i2
The fourth-gen Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 is pretty much perfect for the average bedroom recording setup or small studio. It’s straightforward, dependable and equipped with a crowd-pleasing set of inputs and features.
There are two inputs on the front where you can plug your guitar or bass straight in; or you can point a mic at your amp’s speaker cone and feed it into the mic inputs on the back of the interface.
Perhaps best of all, the controls are very clear and accessible, and the LEDs around the input and output dials make it easy to set volume levels without clipping (or tell whether a signal is actually being picked up!)
Fender Quantum LT2
Of all the audio interface brands you could choose, you just know that Fender is going to treat a guitar’s signal well. This is our favourite model from the titan of Telecasters and Twins, with a superb direct input that will keep your guitar or bass sounding very much like itself, even after it’s been converted into 0s and 1s.
The mic input (on the rear of the interface) is also a standout, with an impressive 75 dB of gain to help you capture fine details or quiet audio sources (such as a shy vocalist). There’s also a ‘Mixer Mode’ that allows you to use the Quantum LT2 as a simple mixer (no computer required), which could come in handy for brand practices or live sound emergencies.
Universal Audio Volt 1
An audio interface-lover’s audio interface, the Universal Audio Volt 1 is a great entry point into the UA ecosystem. This brand has carved out its own niche in the premium recording equipment market, with a focus on analogue components, ultra-low latency and vintage design.
Essentially, the Volt 1 gives you that whole, alluring proposition in a compact, budget-friendly(ish) package. It does the basics brilliantly, with a single input and controls for the input gain, monitoring volume and headphone volume. Plus, there are some interesting extras including a ‘vintage’ button that runs your signal through a tube pre-amp emulation circuit.
Audient ID4 MkII
Despite its reasonable pricing, this interface from Audient has a swanky look and feel. Its compact, square-ish footprint fits nicely onto even a crowded desktop.
If you were to make the brave (and possibly foolish) decision to open the metal enclosure, you’d find essentially the same mic preamp circuit which Audient has been using in various products since 1997 – known for its capability to put out a clean signal with minimal unwanted distortion.
There are some handy features here that you won’t find in the average interface. Alongside the ¼″ headphone output is an ⅛″ option that can be used at the same time, which is a great option for engineers listening back to recorded audio with a musician (and telling them how great they are – but let’s try one more take…)
Fender Link IO
A handy, pocket-sized interface that’s ideal for recording onto a smartphone, the Fender Link I/O is one of our favourite options from the more basic end of the guitar interface functionality spectrum.
It doesn’t do much, but it does its job well, with a Fender-designed input, a fool-proof volume control and on-board clipping detection.
The main downside to the Link I/O is that its functionality is relatively limited. You could pay a little extra and get your hands on a much more fully featured audio interface – so the question is whether you’ll actually use those added capabilities.
TC Electronic Helicon GO
Another simple guitar interface designed for on-the-go use, the TC Helicon Go connects your instrument to a smartphone and also works as a standalone headphone amp. (It can be used as a minimalist PC interface, too).
Considering its bargain price, this feels like a worthwhile acquisition for anyone who travels with their electric guitar or bass, or for guitarists interested in playing around with creative music apps on their phone. Speaking of which, the Helicon Go is tailor-made for use with the TC Helicon range of smartphone apps, which includes Go Record and various effects options.
Fender Quantum LT16
Image: Press
If you’re looking for the best available Fender package for recording guitar, bass and more, this interface would be our pick. It comes with Fender Studio Pro 8, which is a good DAW (recording software) that features a bunch of official Fender amp and effect models, so you can take a dry guitar signal and make it sound deliciously Fenderish.
The interface itself is highly capable and designed for studio use, with eight mic/instrument inputs that can be used for live recording or efficient multi-tracking with a roomful of musicians, plus eight line inputs on the back. Its pricing reflects the fact that this interface goes beyond the average bedroom musician’s needs.
Audient EVO 4
Impressive sound is at its most accessible with the Audient EVO 4. This interface combines palm-sized portability and user-friendly simplicity with a price that’s pleasingly affordable relative to the performance. The on-unit buttons and dial link up smoothly with a functionally expanded digital control panel, which makes it easy to identify and adjust the gain on each of the two channels. An even better feature (for the time-pressured, novice or lazy) is the ‘Smartgain’ button, which you can press to make the interface set appropriate levels automatically.
This isn’t a dedicated interface for recording guitars, but it does have some nice guitarist-focused credentials. Its input circuit is based on a classic valve amp input, and you also get access to some handy ARC software including Softube and a Strymon Cloudburst plug-in.
Universal Audio Apollo Twin X
Happy to spend big on an exceptional interface? This Universal Audio model is pricey, but you get the pro-level performance that you pay for. It’s super-powerful, with Thunderbolt 3 connectivity that shifts data radically faster than USB-C and brings latency down to an imperceptible minimum.
As we’ve come to expect of UA interfaces, the Apollo Twin X has glamorous gubbins to complement its beautiful enclosure and UI. Its pair of Unison mic pre-amps are designed for analogue-like character, while its analogue-to-digital converters use crystal oscillators to ensure an accurate translation from input signal to audio data (and back into your cans).
Behringer UMC1820
This formidable 8-input interface from Behringer gives you the capability to work on expansive studio projects at a hobbyist-friendly price – it’s expandable to 18 inputs digitally. Despite its wealth of connections and controls, the UMC1820 is not especially complex to use – especially if you’ve already had experience with studio rack units. In fact, there are some handy shortcuts, including the ‘PAD’ button on each of the eight input channels, which instantly takes a chunk off the gain on the relevant input. The signal and clipping LED indicators make it easy to identify which inputs are working and which need some gain rolling off.
Why You Can Trust Us
Every year, Guitar.com reviews a huge variety of new products – from the biggest launches to cool boutique effects – and our expert guitar reviewers have decades of collective experience, having played everything from Gibson ’59 Les Pauls to the cheapest Squiers.
That means that when you click on a Guitar.com buyer’s guide, you’re getting the benefit of all that experience to help you make the best buying decision for you. What’s more, every guide written on Guitar.com was put together by a guitar obsessive just like you. You can trust that every product recommended in those guides is something that we’d be happy to have in our own rigs.
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PRS has appointed its first-ever CEO – here’s how it will affect the brand
PRS has appointed a CEO for the first time in its history: Jack Higginbotham, formerly the guitar giant’s Chief Operating Officer.
As for the way the company operates, it seems business will continue to function as normal, with Higginbotham overseeing day-to-day business operations, and Managing General Partner Paul Reed Smith – whom the company is named after – continuing to lead guitar development.
PRS says Jack Higginbotham will regularly travel around the globe to strengthen manufacturing processes, dealer relationships, vendor connections, and “every aspect” of PRS Guitars.
Jack Higginbotham was an obvious candidate for the company’s first-ever CEO. A 41-year veteran of the guitar brand since its founding in 1985, he’s worked across many different departments, from his first job in the woodshop, to operations management, purchasing, sales, customer service, marketing, artist relations, and as president for 15 years.
“Jack Higginbotham has been a leader with PRS since the beginning,” says Paul Reed Smith. “He is deeply deserving of this role. I look forward to continuing our close relationship building and selling guitars and amps for the world.”
“PRS is an exciting place to be, now more than ever, and I’m thankful to be surrounded by talented, focused teams in the US, UK, Europe and Japan,” adds Jack Higginbotham.
“As Paul is heard to say, ‘This is our time.’ As I navigate my fourth decade as a PRS employee, I’m looking forward to using my experiences as well as our collective experiences to position us well for the next 40 years. I am grateful for the opportunity and look forward to what is to come!”
Learn more at PRS Guitars.
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Fender CEO compares cover bands to AI in music: “Cover music has been sort of analogue AI for a long time”
As the Fender Telecaster continues to celebrate its 75th anniversary, Fender CEO Bud Cole has shared his views on AI – and he believes that it has the potential to “help create a whole new world of guitar players”.
Cole’s views crop up at the end of a new interview with T3. In contrast with much of the rest of the music industry rallying against AI, the Fender CEO believes that AI isn’t a bad thing. In fact, he likens its ability to rework existing music to budding musicians covering existing songs to learn the ropes and find inspiration. “I actually believe cover music has been sort of ‘analogue AI’ for a long time,” he insists.
And covering artists was something he himself did before dipping his toes into writing his own music. “I listened a lot to REM, U2, The Smiths and The Cure, and at some point I got sick of just listening to them – I wanted to play it, so I learned to play guitar,” he explains.
Thereon out, he would copy tracks, learn how they worked, and then and twists these skills into new songs. This, if we consider Cole’s view, would be an example of an artist carrying out their own act of ‘analogue AI’. Though, if we’re nit-picking, ‘analogue AI’ would technically just be non-artificial intelligence… meaning that Cole is just describing the typical learning process and adaptive nature of normal, human intelligence.
Though, Cole is convinced AI is a helpful new addition to a musician’s tool belt. “I think we have to be careful, but we should look at how this technology can help us,” he says. “I believe that AI is actually going to help create a whole new world of guitar players that use it. To help connect with other musicians, to be more productive.”
In his words, it could be the ultimate way of elevating new guitarists “students of songwriting to masters of songwriting”.
A similar argument has been parroted by Zakk Wylde in the past. Back in March, he told Qobuz: “If AI listens to all of Ozzy Osbourne’s melodies and gets a feel for what Ozzy’s style is, and then hears Tony Iommi’s riffs and then it could hear the tendencies Bill Ward plays, certain fills he does, and the way Geezer Butler plays bass, and it listens to the lyrics… and it comes up with something, it’d be no different than a songwriter trying to come up with something that Black Sabbath would write.”
However, Wylde wasn’t framing this as a defence for AI. While he admitted the process is similar to a musician copying another artist, he knuckled down and stated that it could never fully replace a strong artist. “It doesn’t bother me [if AI rips off The Eagles], because I’m still gonna buy the record from The Eagles!” he said.
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