Guitar.com

Despite regularly performing Eddie Van Halen’s riffs while touring with Sammy Hagar’s Best of All Worlds band, Joe Satriani wasn’t always brave enough to tackle Eddie’s iconic tone. In fact, even when Alex Van Halen and David Lee Roth asked him to perform at a Van Halen tribute event in 2021, he was too intimidated to accept the invitation.

Speaking to The Weekly Show With David J. Maloney, Satriani recalls how, when the Van Halen drummer and frontman approached him to perform at the We Love NYC: The Homecoming Concert event, he refused. “They wanted to put together a band, and they were insisting that I was the guy to do it,” he explains [via Blabbermouth]. “I kept saying, ‘I’m not the guy! Call Nuno Bettencourt, he can really do it!’”

• READ MORE: Rich Robinson on why the Black Crowes channeled the spirit of “20-year-olds showing the f**k off” on their new album

Satriani was adamant that they should reach out to another guitarist. Despite being a “huge fan” of Eddie’s, the Satriani explained that he’d spent his entire career trying to avoid comparison with the guitar legend. “There’s thousands of kids around the world who’ve dedicated their life to sounding exactly like Ed… And I’ve always tried not to sound like Ed,” he says.

However, the Van Halen pair were “insistent” that Satriani was the perfect fit. “We rehearsed, and we came really close to doing our first show, but it all kind of started to fall apart,” he explains. “I’m not really sure what happened with that. And I was busy as well, so I was just waiting to hear what was happening month by month.”

Despite the project not coming together, Satriani would eventually become comfortable with the idea of tackling Eddie’s riffs. When he was approached by Sammy Hagar to join Michael Anthony and Jason Bonham for the Best Of All Worlds band in 2024, a tour that largely tackled Van Halen’s vast back catalogue, he accepted.

“Sam called and he surprised me by saying, ‘Look… how about if we did a retrospective tour – not an Eddie Van Halen tribute thing – where we get to do Montrose, Hagar, Chickenfoot, and even some David Lee Roth era of Van Halen?’ And I liked that idea,” he says.

“I liked the idea that we would create our own sound as a band…” he adds. “I had to remind Sam [that] I don’t really play like Eddie, but he kind of knew that. He said, ‘That’s not what it’s about, we’re not gonna do that – let the imitators do that.’”

This year, the band are embarking on yet another tour. Kicking off this month, the band will be warming up with 6 dates performing at the Las Vegas Dolby Live, before the summer will see them performing across the US in June and the UK in July. The year will be rounded off in September, with the band returning for 5 dates back in Las Vegas to wind down.

For more tour information, head to Ticketmaster.

The post “I’m not the guy! Call Nuno Bettencourt!”: Why Joe Satriani turned down Alex Van Halen and David Lee Roth’s request to perform at a Van Halen tribute show appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

John Osborne loves Telecasters. Given that he’s a firebrand guitar player in a major country act, that’s hardly surprising – Osborne’s melodic, expressive lead playing is a huge part of the sound of Brothers Osborne, and it’s lent an extra edge by the Telecaster twang. It’s no surprise, then, that he’s the latest artist to be tapped by Fender for a new signature model – one that recreates his very own well-used and well-traveled Telecaster.

• READ MORE: Rich Robinson on why the Black Crowes channeled the spirit of “20-year-olds showing the f**k off” on their new album

Partscaster’d together

The story of the new John Osborne Telecaster starts with John’s first main guitar that he used on stage and in the studio. A vintage 1968 example, John obtained it from a local Nashville music shop when he was in his early 20s – with the help of a few trade-ins of the rest of his gear, and $700 borrowed from his mum. “I didn’t have guitars,” John explains. “I just had this one 1968 Telecaster. So I played it on everything – every gig and every session.”

Part two of the story would come with John’s first introduction to b-benders. “When my brother and I went to record our second record, called Port Saint Joe, a friend of mine who has since passed, Keith Gattis, a total b-bender master, lent me one of his guitars to play on that record. And I fell in love with the b-bender. I had played b-benders a few times, just here and there, but never live or on a record. And I could not put it down. I was obsessed!”

From there, John knew what needed to happen to his main guitar. “I went looking for maybe a cheap b-bender Telecaster I could put together myself – and I found a body preloaded with a b-bender, and that was it. No pickups or anything. So what I did was take the neck of my ‘68 and put it on that body – thus proving that 80-90% of a guitar is really in that neck, how it feels, how it plays – because it was really not too dissimilar to how it felt before. I found some pickups and so on, assembled it all myself – that was the real genesis of that guitar!”

For some, the idea of changing just one of the bridge saddles on a 1968 Telecaster would be close to sacreligious – let alone replacing the entire body. But for John, it’s just abiding by Leo Fender’s original ethos. “He was a very utilitarian, pragmatic person – this was before people learned how to take frets out of necks easily. He had the idea that once the frets wear out on the guitar, you just take the neck off and you put a new neck on it – like changing a set of tires. And because of that, because of the simplistic design, it’s allowed people to modify these guitars themselves into their own personal canvas to create on.”

And for those who are worried that the original ‘68 body is hiding in the back of a wardrobe somewhere, it’s luckily still fulfilling its purpose under a different guise. “I still have that original ‘68 body, and I actually converted it into a baritone guitar with a long conversion neck!” John says.

The spirit of a Tele

The spec-sheet of John’s new guitar stays essentially as close as possible to his self-assembled guitar, itself aiming to keep the voice of a traditional Tele, not replace it. “At the end of the day, I still wanted it to be a Telecaster, not another guitar shaped like a Telecaster,” John says. “I wanted the three brass-barrel saddles, compensated, obviously but even that’s not perfect – and that’s ok. Those imperfections are what make music special. I’ve had six-saddle Teles over the years, but I start to miss that honk and spank that comes from having those brass barrels – even with six brass saddles, you lose some of that character.”

This approach carried over to the electronics, too. “I still wanted a Telecaster bridge pickup, because that is the sound. And I did want to keep the neck pickup, but make it a little punchier. I didn’t just want to put a Strat pickup in there! But I wanted something to compete with a louder bridge pickup, so there wasn’t a drop when I switched position. You know, everyone’s favourite pickup on a Strat is the neck – we all want to pretend we’re Jimi Hendrix or Stevie Ray Vaughan, even when we’re playing a Telecaster. So I really wanted something that could speak in that way, but still retain some of the tradition of the Tele.”

A new toy

There is, of course, one big concession to bucking tradition – that b-bender. If you’re unfamiliar, it offers a hands-free way to bend just the b-string, as a lever translates a downwards pull on the strap to a tightening of the b-string behind the saddle. This lets you easily bend the b-string within chords in order to mimic the sound of a pedal-steel guitar – and it can be totally transformational to all aspects of your playing, lead and rhythm alike.

Regardless, anyone who gets their hands on a John Osborne Telecaster will likely spend a good while doing absolutely nothing but chewy pedal steel chord-bends on it – and, if John’s experience is anything to go by, have a hard time not using it on everything. “When I first got the b-bender, I wanted to put on every song. I was having so much fun – it was like learning a new instrument again,” he says. “When anyone gets a new toy, they just want to use it the whole time. I’ve got three-year-old twins in the house, and they’re no different!”

“When guitar players get that new pedal, it’s like, ‘this is going on every song!’ – until eventually you learn where it needs to go. But that’s all part of the fun – discovering, experimenting and then finding out how to incorporate that sound into the larger palette of colours that you have,” he explains. “Now, I don’t even really think about it anymore. It’s just part of my voice as a musician.”

For John one of the coolest things about his signature is taking all of the quirks of his guitar – b-bender and all – and putting them out there into the hands of a much wider range of players. “I’m really looking forward to seeing how other people use it, all the things that they will do that I couldn’t even think of,” he says, and notes that like the Telecaster itself, the b-bender is definitely not just chained to country. “The pedal steel – which is what we’re all trying to emulate with it, really – has been used on a lot of rock and pop records now, so the sound is not tied to this one genre of country. You’re able to cross over with these things. I mean, hell, Jimmy Page had some great b-bender stuff back in the day! It’s just another tool in the toolbox to create the music that you want to create.”

A well-worn look

And like any good tool, John’s own guitar has seen its fair share of wear-and-tear. “I grew up plumbing with my dad,” he notes, “and the tools in that toolbox are just beat to hell, because they’ve been used. Guitars are the same – you know it’s a good guitar if it’s been used!”

The signature guitar wears a road-worn finish – while it’s not a total one-to-one recreation, the spirit of the original is carried over, particularly given that the second-hand b-bender body he found had actually already been relic’d when he put the ‘68 neck on it. “But as time went on, with the thousands of hours I played that guitar, it created a lot of different wear, especially in the forearm – I really wanted to make sure that was there,” John adds.

It’s also clear that John’s just a fan of a rough-and-ready look in general. “I’ve never really been a fan of glossy guitars – I’m not a glossy human, and I don’t really want my guitars to look glossy because it makes me look even less glossy!” he jokes. “The instrument should be a bit of an extension of who you are, and it just made more sense from that perspective. Also subconsciously – it shouldn’t be about how it looks, but at the end of the day, it kind of is, because when you look at an instrument, it does put you in a mindset, and how you play is a reflection of that mindset.”

And in some ways a road worn finish is particularly applicable to any given Telecaster. “I’ve literally thrown that guitar across the stage, and my tech picks it up, and it’s still in tune,” John adds. “That’s the thing about these Teles in particular – they are made to be beat up.”

Find out more about the Fender John Osborne Telecaster at fender.com

The post “I’ve thrown that guitar across the stage and it’s still in tune!” – John Osborne talks the joys of creating Fender’s first B-bender signature model appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Fender has claimed victory in a recent intellectual property case in Germany against a Chinese guitar manufacturer, stating that its win in the case sets a new legal precedent that strengthens Fender’s protection over the Stratocaster shape.

• READ MORE: Gibson denied opportunity to appeal court ruling that its ES body shape is generic – but the final terms of its legal victory over Dean have been laid down

The case was against the Chinese-based Yiwu Philharmonic Musical Instruments Co., and took place in the Düsseldorf Regional Court in Germany. According to Fender, the decision made by the court agrees with Fender’s claim that the company had imported guitars that “reproduced” Fender’s Stratocaster body design, and that the design in question is not just a functional trademark but is instead a “a copyrighted work of applied art”, according to German and European law.

Aarash Darroodi, Fender’s general counsel and chief administrative officer, said in a press release: “This ruling is a meaningful affirmation of the Stratocaster as an original creative work and an important step in continuing to protect the integrity of Fender’s designs and intellectual property. It reinforces our commitment to originality, supports fair competition, and helps ensure that when players encounter these iconic Fender guitar shapes, they can trust the craftsmanship, quality, and heritage behind them.”

While the ruling is clearly bad news for Yiwu – a Chinese maker that seems to primarily sell budget guitars and other instruments via AliExpress and other online marketplaces – the potential wider impact of the case is yet to be tested.

Importantly, Backstagepro.de reports that the judgement was not as a result of the sort of lengthy legal battle that has characterised many recent trademark disputes in the guitar world, but was instead a default judgement. In effect, the defendant did not respond to a summons, and sent no legal representation to defend and therefore did not appear to defend itself in court.

This could have major implications on how much precedent is set – the decision is enforceable against Yiwu Philharmonic Musical Instruments, and theoretically against others, but a default judgement does mean that Fender’s claims have not yet faced any legal counterarguments.

In practice, this means that if Fender were to attempt to use this decision against another manufacturer that sought to challenge the ruling in court, it would face a much more thorough proceeding to establish why the design is more than just a standard trademark.

Fender may also have to draw out a clearer distinction between a guitar that, as Fender argues Yiwu did, “reproduces” the Stratocaster body, and a non-infringing “S-type” guitar.

A related case happened very recently in the US, with the loss of Gibson’s ES trademark despite an overall victory over Dean in a long-running trademark dispute. The ES body shape was ruled generic because expert witnesses for both Dean and Gibson admitted that many guitar manufacturers have used the shape in the years since its introduction – a potential argument surrounding the Stratocaster body shape could see similar claims being made.

Regardless, the speculation does not change the fact that the ruling is very much enforceable. Yiwu Philharmonic Musical Instruments Co. is now legally prohibited from “manufacturing, offering, or distributing” guitars featuring the Stratocaster body shape in Germany and the EU, and could face large fines or even prison time if the fines are not able to be enforced. Whether that will apply to other brands who import similar guitars is unclear, however Fender does now have a stronger legal precedent it can use to protect the design.

The post Fender wins legal battle over Stratocaster shape in Germany – is it the end for S-type guitars in the EU? appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

The long-running legal battle between Gibson and Dean Guitars’ parent company Armadillo has come to a close, after several revivals and attempts at adjusting the final outcome by both parties. With a new filing last month, the presiding judge reasserted Dean’s loss, but, in a major blow to the brand, denied Gibson’s appeal for a new trial to appeal the ES trademark being made generic.

• READ MORE: Gibson triumphs in revived trademark case against Dean – but could lose its ES trademark

The beginning of the end for the long-running case came in March 2025, when a jury entered an opinion that essentially reasserted Dean’s initial defeat. As with the ruling of a different jury in 2021, Dean/Armadillo was found to have counterfeited a number of Gibson trademarks, and could no longer advertise or sell the infringing guitars. In the 2025 ruling, these were found to be the Dean Gran Sport, Dean V, and Dean Z guitars, which infringed on the Gibson SG, Gibson Flying V and Gibson Explorer respectively. This was, again, a major blow to Dean’s lineup, with the V and the Z in particular being flagship models for the brand.

But it was still not a victory without cost for Gibson. The new jury found that Dean only owed Gibson $1 in damages (plus around $170,000 in legal fees), while also agreeing with one of Dean’s claims – it ruled that Gibson’s trademark for the ES body shape should be made generic. Gibson made its intent to appeal this clear, however, the latest filing – the one made in February 2026 – has struck down this attempt to appeal. No new trial regarding this will be held.

As judge Amos L Mazzant puts it in the filing, “The Court finds that the jury’s verdict that the ES Body Shape Design was generic as of 1996 is not against the great weight of the evidence […] Plaintiff is again asking the Court to substitute its wisdom for the collective wisdom of the jury – the Court refuses to do so. […] Indeed, contrary to Plaintiff’s arguments otherwise, there was ample evidence to support the jury’s finding that the ES Body Shape Design is generic.”

This reiterates what was made clear in the final judgement back in September – that there was ample evidence to suggest the generic status of the ES body shape, and there is not enough of a gulf between the obvious implications of what the expert witnesses presented and the jury’s conclusions to warrant anyone even attempting to overturn the ruling.

Some other important decisions were made in the final order – Gibson had requested that Dean’s damages be tripled to over $500,000, but this was ruled as unnecessarily punitive. However, Gibson has been allowed to charge Dean interest on the initial amount – a daily rate of 3.61% from the date of the final judgement, 22 September 2025, compounded annually. This means an extra few thousand dollars from Dean to Gibson.

Can other brands now make an ES-shaped guitar?

The ruling on the ES shape changes less than you might assume. It is still a very big deal for a company so protective of its IP to lose a body shape, but materially not that much changes for most builders. The ES body shape is, now, legally speaking no longer Gibson’s – but, crucially, only in the US, and just as crucially, Gibson still possess a plethora of other trademarks related to its original guitars, and makes no secret of its intent to use them. The headstock design is still very much trademarked, and the ES word mark is also still in play. And so the ruling in no way opens the door to full ES-335 clones marketed as such.

Any litigation surrounding a would-be clone or counterfeit can technically no longer consider just the body outline. However, Gibson still holds the ES shape in a number of other territories, including the EU – and so even if a new guitar only used the body shape, you could only really safely advertise and sell your new ES-shaped guitar in the US, and even then you’re flying pretty close to the sun.

What does this mean for Dean?

The main new impact of the case’s closure for Dean is purely monetary. It has now been ordered to pay Gibson that $168,399.22 amount – plus that interest since 22 September 2025. There is also another amount that will likely not be public – the final ruling states that “that all costs of court spent or incurred in this cause are adjudged against Armadillo.” How much that is is unclear.

Dean has, however, already been legally barred from marketing or selling its Gran Sport, V and Z guitars, ever since that ruling in 2022. This much stays the same with the closure of the case, and the brand has time to refocus its efforts. In the years since Dean has pivoted to new guitars with its ML body shape, and new Kerry King signature models – these have undoubtedly been the most actively marketed of Dean’s guitars of the last couple of years.

The long-term impact on Dean of paying the above legal fees, alongside the loss of some of its most notable guitars, remains to be seen. We do know that so far it has not been a death-blow as some have suspected – although there are other storms Dean has had to weather since the beginning of this case, not least losing one of its most notable signature artists, and some years of rather chaotic leadership changes and a separate set of ensuing legal kerfuffles.

The post Gibson denied opportunity to appeal court ruling that its ES body shape is generic – but the final terms of its legal victory over Dean have been laid down appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Seymour Duncan is celebrating its 50th anniversary in style by reissuing its P.A.F. ‘59 Model humbucker pickup in a highly limited run.

With only 500 sets available worldwide – each hand-built by the brand’s Custom Shop masters with decades of experience – the ‘59 Model Limited Edition 50th Anniversary Custom Shop Set pickups are built exactly as Seymour’s original ‘59s were, but with a number of visual touches commemorating 50 years in the game.

• READ MORE: Verso Log: This funky-looking lap steel lets you slide the pickup around while you play

A recreation of the original 59 Model, these pickups feature butyrate bobbins, long-legged baseplates, single-conductor cable, maple spacers and rough-cast Alnico V magnets. Their original-spec construction delivers that classic open and airy P.A.F. tone, Seymour Duncan says.

Meanwhile, the pickups’ bottom plates bear the signature of the brand’s founder Seymour W. Duncan and Custom Shop manager Maricela “MJ” Juarez, as well as original replica “Seymourized” stickers.

Each set also arrives in exclusive anniversary packaging in celebration of the brand’s half-century of pickup building.

The ‘59 Model Limited Edition 50th Anniversary Custom Shop Set “celebrates Seymour’s personal vision of an ideal P.A.F.-style humbucker, shaped by decades of hands-on experience, careful listening and an appreciation for the many voices that made the originals legendary”, the brand says.

“Vintage P.A.F. pickups are revered for the tones captured on countless classic recordings, with variation among individual pickups yielding a wide spectrum of voicings. Early in his career, Seymour developed a deep understanding of these variations by rewinding, repairing, and studying countless vintage pickups.”

The company explains that Seymour’s original goal with the ‘59 Model was to reach his “ideal interpretation of a P.A.F.”, using an Alnico 5 magnet to capture the “open, airy character and three-dimensional harmonics of the best originals, while offering balance between neck and bridge”.

The ‘59 Model Limited Edition 50th Anniversary Custom Shop Set is priced at $375, and comes in Black and Zebra colourways.

Learn more at Seymour Duncan.

The post Seymour Duncan celebrates 50 years of pickup building with super-limited run of the classic ‘59 Model P.A.F. humbucker appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

There’s clearly no love lost between ex-Van Halen bandmates Sammy Hagar and Alex Van Halen. With a new record reportedly in the works – and Toto’s Steve Lukather rumoured to be involved – Hagar’s absence seems all but guaranteed.

The former Van Halen singer has long criticised Alex for sidelining his era of the band in his book and for “not doing his brother’s musical legacy justice”.

Speaking with Rolling Stone last year, Hagar laid out the source of their acrimony: “I think Al’s angry because I’m out doing it, and Mike and I are out doing it, and he can’t. He’s not a singer. He’s not a guitar player. He is not really a band leader. And he seems like he doesn’t want to play drums or can’t play drums anymore, and he can’t go write a new record.”

• READ MORE: Michael Anthony thinks Alex Van Halen’s archival Van Halen album should be purely instrumental, “if they wanted to do it justice”

Now, in a new interview with Classic Rock, the 78-year-old Red Rocker likens his feud with Alex to the legendary rift within the Pink Floyd camp.

“I’m the biggest Pink Floyd fan. I see David Gilmour say: ‘I will never play with Roger Waters again’, and I know what he means,” says Hagar. “I feel that way about Alex Van Halen. They’re negative people.”

The singer also shares that he now feels “more comfortable” performing material from his own Van Halen era, particularly after Eddie Van Halen’s passing and Alex selling his drum kit.

“Because frickin’ Mike Anthony’s in the band I feel good about playing a lot of Van Halen stuff, cos no one will ever hear it again,” says Hagar. “And that was the biggest part of my career, and everybody’s career, for god’s sake. It was the biggest band in the world.”

Looking ahead, Hagar also remains candid about when he might finally retire from the microphone: “When I can’t sing any more. When I walk up to that microphone and I sound like some of those other guys out there touring, that will be it,” he says. “I can’t see that happening yet. I can hit a falsetto, I can sing low, I can do my screams, I can sing any song I’ve ever written. I’m still great at what I do, otherwise I wouldn’t be doing this. And when I’m not, I won’t. But I still don’t have a plan.”

The post Sammy Hagar compares Alex Van Halen to Roger Waters, says he’ll never play with him again: “I feel that way about Alex Van Halen. They’re negative people” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Lap steel guitars aren’t exactly known for radical reinvention. But every so often, something comes along that nudges the instrument in a new direction.

Enter the Verso Log, a quirky-looking slide guitar that turns one of the instrument’s most fixed components into something you can physically move around while you play.

• READ MORE: Laney’s new Prism-Mini is a pocket-sized smart amp ready to take on Positive Grid’s Spark GO

Described by its maker as a “universal playground for modern sound creation”, the Log’s defining feature is its freely movable magnetic pickup. Mounted magnetically to the body, it can be slid up and down the instrument to explore different tonal sweet spots along the scale.

“The pickup is no longer just a passive microphone but a creative part of your playing – all accessible through physical motion,” explains the brand. “Explore the entire scale with it and find an unheard spectrum of timbres and new playing techniques.”

Visually, the Log leans into its stripped-back aesthetic. The body is constructed from sheet metal – steel on top and stainless steel underneath – giving the instrument a distinctly industrial vibe while also making it extremely rigid. The steel top arrives in a striking Pop Lilac powder coat finish, contrasted with a raw stainless steel back.

Despite its unconventional looks, the Log sticks to a fairly traditional lap steel spec sheet. It features a 570mm (22.5″) scale length, six strings (.058–.013), and weighs around 2.3kg. The instrument works well with E or D tunings, as well as the classic A6 lap steel tuning.

The included pickup – dubbed the Magnet Mount LOG CUSTOM – is a specially designed single-coil with a slightly hotter wind than Verso’s standard models, clocking in at 7k. The pickup also features a thick steel baseplate designed to minimise magnetic interference with the fret markings and reduce body resonance and magnetic friction. Players can also opt to add a second pickup, which will then be wound as a humbucking pair.

Electronics are handled via two SMB pickup inputs and a switchable mono/stereo output, with a three-way switch allowing A, AB, or B configurations.

Up top, the headstock is made from high-density beech plywood, finished with linseed oil paint and fitted with six nickel-plated GEWA harp tuners. A tuning key is even clip-mounted inside the instrument for quick adjustments.

The Verso Log is priced at €699 and ships with an art print featuring a curated tuning chart on the back, and a foam-padded cardboard box.

Tempted? You might need to be patient. As the Log is a limited-run design by Kassel-based builder Robin Stummvoll, and due to high demand, current orders are closed – though prospective buyers can sign up to be notified when pre-orders reopen.

Learn more at Verso Instruments.

The post Verso Log: This funky-looking lap steel lets you slide the pickup around while you play appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Bob Dylan’s 1965 Newport Folk Festival set is still the stuff of legend. The folk world collectively gasped when Dylan plugged in with a backing band, and the modified Telecaster played by guitarist Michael Bloomfield that day earned its infamous nickname: “the guitar that killed folk.”

Eastwood Guitars has now resurrected that iconic instrument for modern players in the form of the Mad Cat MB63.

• READ MORE: Myles Kennedy was worried about “tainting the history” of Jeff Buckley’s famous Telecaster when he used it onstage in 2019: “I truly didn’t feel worthy of it”

“The Eastwood Mad Cat MB63 tips its hat to one of the great troublemakers in guitar history”, says Eastwood. “The original wasn’t precious. It had that famously rough upper horn cutaway and a straight-to-the-point, workmanlike feel. It looked like someone simply decided it needed to be different, and made it so. That’s the spirit we wanted to keep.”

At its heart, the MB63 remains a no-nonsense single-cut Telecaster. It delivers the snap, bite, and clarity you’d expect, perfect for players who like their guitars a little rough around the edges and big on personality.

The Mad Cat MB63 sports a swamp ash body with a maple neck and a 12” rosewood fretboard, and comes loaded with Eastwood-branded single-coil pickups, a T-style chrome bridge, and vintage-style tuners. With a 25.5” scale, 20 jumbo frets, aged white dot inlays, and that famously gnarly upper cutaway, it’s built to look and feel pre-loved.

“With the MB63, we’ve recreated that unmistakable silhouette and given it a relic finish that feels honest rather than flashy. Taking inspiration from the vintage car world, we decided to add a clear coat over the distressed body finish to seamlessly blend the old with the new,” says Eastwood.

Priced at $1,399, the Mad Cat MB63 brings a piece of guitar history to your studio or stage.

Learn more at Eastwood Guitars.

The post “The guitar that killed folk”: Eastwood recreates the hacked-up Telecaster Michael Bloomfield played at Bob Dylan’s infamous Newport Folk Festival set appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

It’s not every day a guitar company’s signature artist asks for cheap versions of his own model… just to tinker with them. Between launching his record label and releasing a new album, 71-year-old jazz icon Pat Metheny has found a decidedly unusual way to spend his downtime: transforming inexpensive versions of his signature guitar into private works of art.

• READ MORE: Myles Kennedy was worried about “tainting the history” of Jeff Buckley’s famous Telecaster when he used it onstage in 2019: “I truly didn’t feel worthy of it”

Speaking in the latest issue of Prog magazine, Metheny – who recently launched Uniquity Music and released his new studio album, Side-Eye III+ – gives a rare peek into his quirky hobby, explaining how these modest instruments become one-of-a-kind creations.

“I get Ibanez to send me these cheap, $400 PM358, the budget version of my signature model, and tell them not to put any finish on them,” the guitarist explains. “Then I set about them with a wood burner in various ways.”

As Metheny notes, the results are never meant for a stage or store display – they exist purely for his amusement. Asked if Ibanez knows what he’s getting up to with their guitars behind the scenes, he laughs: “They know how weird I actually am, so it probably wouldn’t surprise them.”

“I paint too; I do a lot of odd stuff. But I have no interest in sharing my artistic output with anyone.”

Elsewhere in the chat, Metheny turns his attention to the hot button topic of AI in music, describing the technology as “part of this wonderful array of tools we musicians have available in the 21st century” despite the anxieties surrounding it at large.

When asked if he worries about AI mimicking his music, Metheny shrugs.

“They’ve already done it. But if I type my name in then what I hear back is… well, they can’t really cop a lot of that stuff yet. OK, there’s a threat to the paying-the-rent part of music for sure. The guys who write muzak – man, they’re done. But I got into music so that I can understand it more, and there’s no shortcut to understanding harmony and counterpoint and improvisation.”

He sums it up philosophically: “The key thing about AI is that it’s still searching and there’s something missing. It’s like if you ask a musician to define ‘soul’, or you ask a neuroscientist to define ‘consciousness’. They can’t do it.”

Listen to Metheny’s latest album Side-Eye III+ below.

The post “They know how weird I am – so it wouldn’t surprise them!”: Pat Metheny gets Ibanez to send him “cheap” guitars for DIY projects – but keeps them on the down-low appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

It used to be that the quickest thing about the Black Crowes was their tempers. Well, perhaps not anymore. Everything about A Pound of Feathers suggests a sense of speed and urgency – it’s the second record from the reunited brothers Robinson in under two years, and it was recorded in fewer than 10 days.

• READ MORE: Keo are proving that Gen Z still love guitar music: “We do feel like we’re on the tail of those bigger bands”
  

Its first song, the rollicking Profane Prophecy, slams out of the gate with spitting riffs and swagger to spare – it’s loose and freewheeling in a manner that felt beyond them as their initial run collapsed into acrimony and extended genre exercises. “We were winging it,” guitarist Rich Robinson says over Zoom. “That is what makes rock ’n’ roll rock ‘n’ roll, because it could go off the rails at any time.”

If 2024’s Happiness Bastards had enough about it to suggest that the Crowes had kicked free of the nostalgia circuit they briefly joined with reunion tours celebrating the 30th birthday of their 1990 star-making debut Shake Your Money Maker, then its successor punches everything up a few notches.

Returning to the studio with producer Jay Joyce in Nashville, A Pound of Feathers pointedly rejects the hermetically-sealed sound of many late-career rock records, which are seemingly intent on papering over any cracks left by the passage of time.

Instead, it is a gritty, grimy thing driven by a desire to capture the sound of people interacting with one another in real time, the mess and mayhem driving things on. “There’s a human element to writing and recording in that way,” Rich elaborates. “Humans are imperfect, humans speed up going into the chorus, because the chorus is exciting. It’s like, you breathe in, you breathe out, you know? Sometimes you walk, sometimes you run.”

Running Lean

After Happiness Bastards was captured alongside an all-new band comprising guitarist Nico Bereciartúa, keyboard player Erik Deutsch, drummer Brian Griffin and long-time bassist Sven Pipien, A Pound of Feathers underlines its zero-fat genesis by being the product of a bare-bones, three-piece version of the band, with Cully Symington on drums and Rich handling guitar and bass. Rich sees it as there being more than one way to skin a cat. “Chris and I move quickly,” he says. “We’ve been doing this for so long, the two of us, that we can read each other’s minds.”

“Jay was like, ‘I want you guys to come down for a week to 10 days, and let’s suss everything out.’ The idea was to bring the band in after that,” he adds. “But we were finishing songs. At the end of five days, we had nine that we were really happy with. Changing the dynamic, by bringing the band in, is going to alter the flow. You’re going to have to stop, reset and then try to recapture what everyone loves about these songs. So we just said, ‘Fuck it. Let’s keep going.’”

In the past, this decision-making process might not have worked out. Or, at least, it would have unearthed some of the interpersonal strife and insecurity that ran in parallel to the band’s imperial phase, when the Black Crowes were as well known for infighting as they were for the undeniable chemistry between the Robinsons – who were warring brothers before people knew who the Gallaghers were – drummer Steve Gorman, guitarist Marc Ford et al.

“I was 19 when I made Shake Your Money Maker,” Rich says. “We sold over seven million albums. One of the first shows we played was to 12 people in Atlanta. A year later, we’re playing in Moscow in front of a million people with AC/DC and Metallica. No one can really sit you down and explain how to deal with that.”

Throw a hellish touring schedule – 20 months or so on Shake Your Money Maker, straight into something in the same ballpark for its double platinum 1992 follow up The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion – plus drugs and ego collapse fuelled by exhaustion and you’ve got a potent mix that Rich describes as “dumping tons of gasoline on a fire”. In this environment, would anyone have been able to duck into a studio and make an album like A Pound of Feathers? “It would have been impossible,” Rich says. “Just to have the space to flush out our songs. Now, it’s different.”

“When we split up, it was years and years of toxicity: toxic family dynamic, toxic bullshit, backstabbing,” he continues. “People would go in the back lounge – Chris would be there and they’d say, ‘Your brother said you’re a dick.’ And then they’d come up to me and say, ‘Chris said you suck,’ or whatever bullshit that was. After we split up, we got offered tours every year for those six or seven years. We never took them. And when we decided maybe it’s time to get back, we randomly ran into each other and we talked about it. We decided this was a good idea, but we had to start from scratch. We decided to put our relationship first.”

Sibling Harmony

That relationship is front and centre on the record itself, which is musically pugilistic instead of literally pugilistic. Chris sounds great, all louche drawl and rat-a-tat phrasing, and Rich matches his energy with lean, mean garage-rock riffs on songs such as Do The Parasite! and It’s Like That. The first of his firecracker leads arrives only six seconds into the opening track.

“It’s youthful,” he says. “Some sessions that I’ve done with people producing, when you deal with older bands, their first thing is, ‘don’t overplay.’ Let’s leave space for the vocalist, and if you’re the bass player, just play the root note on the kick, you know? I’m like, ‘Bullshit!’ Our favourite records were made by 20-year-olds showing the fuck off. Listen to John Paul Jones on Ramble On. Listen to Jimmy Page. Listen to the Rolling Stones – no one is conserving energy on those records. They’re psyched to be there and they’re going to show you what they can do.”

Leaning further into the fast and furious nature of things, Rich cycled through guitars at a clip in order to create variety as a single player laying down two or three tracks per song. “I brought, like, 40 guitars into the studio, and about 30 amps,” he says. In heavy rotation were his trio of 335s – a ‘61, a ‘62 and a ‘68 – plus roughly 10 Telecasters and a ‘64 Rose Morris Rickenbacker. For solos, he often turned to his ‘68 Les Paul Goldtop, while his signature Gretsch G6136T-RR Magpie underpins the rumbling, sinister blues of the closer Doomsday Doggerel.

For Rich, tone-chasing begins and (almost) ends with an amp, to the extent that a couple of years ago he started Muswell Amplification with his guitar tech Roland McKay, building on the sound of his 1968 Marshall Bluesbreaker. “I believe that an amp sound is paramount,” he says. “Some people like to get their tones out of pedals, which is really weird to me. If you get a great amp sound, then any pedal is going to sound markedly better. I did use pedals, some fuzz on stuff, but the amp is king.”

“I had my ‘68 Bluesbreaker, a ‘66 Bluesreaker, my Vox AC30, Twins, tweed Princetons, my Vibrolux, and my Muswell amps – we like to explore,” he adds. “I think the difference in the tones this time around is that a lot of the amps I have are combos, and they’re open-backed. Jay had bought this old greenback Marshall 4×12 and this thing sounds fucking amazing. It was literally one of the best cabinets I’ve ever heard. He has it dialled in. I wound up plugging all my different amps through that, and it is a nastier tone.”

Unplugged Gems

But, while A Pound of Feathers is in its element as a flat-out rock record, its acoustic songs are equally important in driving home the philosophy behind its construction. On Pharmacy Chronicles, for example, you can get a sense of the space and atmosphere in the room itself, and almost feel the percussive nature of the guitar. To return to a phrase Rich uses multiple times during the course of our chat, the way the situation is mic’d makes it sound human. “That was a J-200, which I’ve never recorded with before,” Rich says. “I bought one, and I got two more because they’re so cool.”

“They’re two 1964 J-200s – one had a nickel bridge, and then one had, I guess it was a vinyl bridge or something like that, a plasticky kind of thing,” he continues. “Jimmy Page told me that Donovan had one like that. Everyone loved it because it was darker, and it resonated, so everyone would borrow Donovan’s guitar. The nickel projects a little better, it’s a lot brighter. I’ve always loved Martins. I have a signature Martin and I’ve always loved dreadnought guitars – I’ve stayed away from jumbos because it’s been hard to find some that I really gel with. But, man, these three are really amazing.”

More than four decades on from the Crowes’ formation as a high school band, Chris and Rich Robinson are still finding out new things about themselves, still figuring stuff out on the fly. For now, too, it’s all in service of having fun. “I think that is missing when people record 20 verses, take the best one, and then they grid it out,” Rich observes. “It’s called playing music. It’s not called working music.”

The Black Crowes’ A Pound of Feathers is out March 13 via Silver Arrow Records.

The post Rich Robinson on why the Black Crowes channeled the spirit of “20-year-olds showing the f**k off” on their new album appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Virtuoso and former Deep Purple guitarist Steve Morse has opened up about his struggles with arthritis in recent years, and how he remains determined to continue playing despite the pain.

In 2024, Morse explained how “10,000 notes a day” of practice for “decades” – combined with a genetic history of arthritis – means his fingers “don’t have the cartilage anymore”, leading to pain while playing guitar.

• READ MORE: Myles Kennedy was worried about “tainting the history” of Jeff Buckley’s famous Telecaster when he used it onstage in 2019: “I truly didn’t feel worthy of it”

Now, in a new interview with American Musical Supply, the 71-year-old guitarist tells the story of how he once watched a bassist with one arm perform live, and how the memory keeps him inspired despite his own health issues.

“I thought at one point, ‘Dude, you’re done,’” Morse says [via Blabbermouth]. “And I thought, when I was a kid going to see bands in Atlanta, it was a three-hour drive, a band called Hydra came out. The bass player, his arm was cut off here. And he was playing the gig and he was getting into it, and it was great… 

“Every time I’m feeling bad about, ‘This hurts…’ he played a gig with a nub. And you think about [jazz guitarist] Jeff Healey [being] blind and making his own technique.”

Morse continues: “Humans adapt. And I’ve learned a lot from watching things on the farm, watching the ants, for instance… I’m like Bill Murray with the groundhogs. The persistence of the animals counts. They keep on and on and they find a way. But they never stop. I guess that’s one of my big lessons, is don’t give up while you’ve still got a breath.”

Steve Morse adds that he’s tried “every treatment” he can find in a bid to help his arthritis condition.

“The reason why I wanna keep playing is because it really is a part of me – I mean, it’s a big part of me…” he explains.

“I’ve tried every treatment I can find. In fact, I’ve got another trip a thousand miles away to try something else. So, yeah, I changed my technique, changed my picking pattern, changed everything that I can to make it through whatever the challenge is.”

The post “He played a gig with a nub”: Steve Morse remembers watching a one-armed bassist perform – and how it inspires him to keep playing despite arthritis struggles appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Right now at Sweetwater you can save over $1,000 on a range of PRS 40th anniversary Custom 24 models until the end of March.

These 40th Anniversary Custom 24 guitars are reduced to $5,822.50 and are available in four different finishes: Sub Zero (blue) and Tiger Eye (brown), plus a Micro Wraparound Burst version of each. Granted, these guitars aren’t cheap, but they’re top-of-the-line instruments, and $1,000s in savings is nothing to be sniffed at…

[deals ids=”4c6x6wGCtJrwmF1u8rhfRj”]

The PRS 40th Anniversary Custom 24 offers a mahogany body and an Artist Grade figured maple top. It has a mahogany neck and a compact Pattern Thin profile, a 10-inch-radius ziricote fingerboard, and Old School Birds inlays.

• READ MORE: “It just seemed Looney Tunes to me”: Paul Reed Smith dismisses the notion that you “can’t play solos” on a 7.25”-radius fretboard

Each is also fitted with two of PRS’s DMO humbuckers and has a five-way blade pickup switch. Topped off with PRS Phase III locking tuners, a Gen III tremolo bridge, and a pre-factory headstock eagle inlay, only 400 of these guitars were made available worldwide, and Sweetwater says it only received 26.

PRS celebrated its 40th anniversary last year. In honour of its special birthday celebrations, PRS held a get together with 1,400 artists and music industry personnel at California’s House of Blues, where they were treated to an evening of performances by PRS’s extensive roster of talent. Hosted in conjunction with NAMM 2025, the exclusive event saw the likes of John Mayer, Mark Lettieri, Orianthi and others performing.

Later, when speaking to Andertons, founder Paul Reed Smith spoke of the brand’s signature tone: “We’re starting up the beginning of PRS having its own sound,” he said. “So, there’s sounds of Les Pauls, there’s sounds of Strats and Sounds of Teles, and maybe there’s a side table of SGs and Gretches and this and the other, Danelectros… But we’re starting to get our own tone and it’s starting to be acknowledged.

“The party last night was about that. There weren’t Tele tones or…Well, there might have been some Strat tones, maybe. Really beautiful ones. John’s solo in Gravity last night was spectacular.”

Shop this deal and more at Sweetwater.

The post Save $1,000s on these stunning PRS 40th anniversary Custom 24 guitars at Sweetwater! appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Fender has expanded its lineup of utility pedals with the Strobo-Sonic – a new “ultra-precise” tuner pedal with ±0.01 cent accuracy.

Built for performing musicians and professionals, the Strobo-Sonic also features a large, high-visibility 2.3″ x 2.1″ LED display with auto brightness dimming for low-light environments, and operates in two modes, Strobe and Needle.

• READ MORE: Laney’s new Prism-Mini is a pocket-sized smart amp ready to take on Positive Grid’s Spark GO

Strobe tuning is a tuning method by which a strobe light illuminates a pattern – often on a rotating disk, or a digital equivalent, as is the case with the Fender Strobo-Sonic Pro Tuner – which spins or moves at a rate corresponding to a specific pitch. The pattern appears to freeze when the string is perfectly in tune. It’s regarded as the most accurate way to tune a guitar.

The Strobo-Sonic also features a Needle mode, offering a more familiar tuning experience for many players.

It also sports convenient side switches offering deep control over reference pitch – this is adjustable between A = 430Hz and 450Hz – plus three bypass modes: true bypass, buffered bypass and buffered always-on.

The Strobo-Sonic also occupies a pedalboard-friendly form factor, measuring 115mm x 66mm x 44mm and weighing just half a pound.

“Made for the stage, the pedalboard-friendly tuner offers a high-visibility display, two easily trackable tuning display modes, and accessible side switches for deeper control – perfect for players of all skill levels,” says Fender.

The Strobo-Sonic Pro Tuner is available now, priced at $129.99 / £95. For more info, head to Fender.

The post Fender’s new Strobo-Sonic Pro Tuner pedal uses strobe tuning for “ultra-precise” ±0.01 cent accuracy appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Being a hugely successful guitarist – in Alter Bridge and alongside Slash, plus as an accomplished solo and session musician – Myles Kennedy has had access to some truly special instruments over the course of his career.

Kennedy recently explained how he got “emotional” when he had the chance to hold Eddie Van Halen’s Frankenstein guitar while tracking the latest Alter Bridge album at 5150 Studios. And now, he’s remembered a Paris performance back in 2019 in which he covered Jeff Buckley’s Hallelujah, while holding the late guitarist’s 1983 Telecaster.

• READ MORE: Rick Beato says excessive phone scrolling is the reason he can’t downpick like James Hetfield

The performance came during an Alter Bridge set at L’Olympia in Paris, France on 9 December 2019, and as Kennedy explains, his veneration of Jeff Buckley had him questioning whether he was even “worthy” to hold his guitar.

“Grace [Jeff Buckley’s only album, which came out in 1994] is an album that gave me the same feeling as hearing [Van Halen’s] Eruption, with my brain wondering, ‘Whoa, what’s happening here?!’” Kennedy explains. 

“I also felt that way when I heard Julian Lage. Playing Jeff’s guitar was amazing, though I truly didn’t feel worthy of it. I was a little uncomfortable, to be honest.

“I gradually convinced myself that it was okay. It’s just a guitar that’s part of this incredible history. All I had to do was not taint that history!”

You can check out a pro-shot video of that now-famous performance below:

As for what technically makes Buckley’s ‘83 Telecaster so special, Kennedy goes on: “It’s just an early-to-mid ‘80s Tele, but there’s something weird about how the pickup was wired. 

“Apparently, there’s something technically wrong with it, at least from what [Matt’s Guitar Shop owner] Matt Lucas explained to me. That’s what gives it that beautiful shimmery sound. It’s all down to this imperfection, which makes it even cooler. When you plug it in, you think, ‘Oh yeah, there’s that sound!’”

Despite Alter Bridge’s enduring success, Myles Kennedy and his bandmates remain astutely aware of the rich rock history of some of the studios they record in and instruments they get to play.

The band recorded their self-titled new album at LA’s 5150 – the studio once owned by Eddie Van Halen and now operated by his son Wolfgang.

“Wolf was incredibly kind enough to bring that offer up with our manager,” Kennedy recently explained. 

“We were like, ‘Really?’ We knew the history of all the incredible music that had been made there. Just the fact that he trusted us enough to come in and not totally ruin the legacy really meant a lot. When we all showed up, we were very cognisant of that, and we wanted to honour the situation.

View a list of Alter Bridge’s upcoming tour dates at their official website. Listen to the new Alter Bridge album below:

The post Myles Kennedy was worried about “tainting the history” of Jeff Buckley’s famous Telecaster when he used it onstage in 2019: “I truly didn’t feel worthy of it” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Portable all-in-one digital practice amps are all the rage right now, and a new contender to Positive Grid’s Spark GO has arrived in the form of Laney’s Prism-Mini – a compact desktop smart amp packed with presets, onboard effects and Bluetooth connectivity.

At its core, the Prism-Mini aims to be a self-contained tone playground for guitarists who want big sounds without the bulk. Despite its small size, the amp comes loaded with 100 presets, split between 50 factory patches and 50 user slots, giving players plenty of room to explore and store their own signature tones.

• READ MORE: It’s time you ditched your tube amp for a modeller: this is why you should do it

Laney says its factory presets are far from generic placeholders. Instead, they’re carefully crafted tones inspired by the sounds of notable Laney players including Tony Iommi, Billy Corgan, Devin Townsend, Lari Basilio, Tom Quayle and Jack Gardiner – offering quick starting points for everything from doom-laden Sabbath grind to modern prog and fusion tones.

Players can choose from 17 amp models, covering everything from crystal-clean tones to full high-gain firepower, alongside 32 studio-style effects spanning drive, EQ, modulation, delay and reverb.

The unit allows up to six DSP effects to run simultaneously alongside the amp and cabinet models. Those effects can be freely arranged using Laney’s Tone Wizard companion app, which lets players drag and drop blocks anywhere in the signal chain. From the app, users can edit patches, manage presets and control the amp remotely, as well as import and export tones for easy storage and sharing.

Notably, those sounds are delivered through a surprisingly serious speaker setup for a practice amp this size. The Prism-Mini features dual 1.5” woofers and a true stereo 3W + 3W output, promising a wider and more detailed soundstage than the typical single-speaker mini amp. In other words, it’s built for more than just quiet bedroom noodling.

A 1.77” full-colour LCD screen on the amp itself provides quick access to presets and parameters, while Bluetooth 5.3 allows players to stream backing tracks directly from a phone or tablet. The app also includes a built-in drum machine, while the amp itself packs a tuner and Bluetooth audio streaming, making it easy to jam along with backing tracks or your favourite records.

If it isn’t already obvious, portability is a key part of the design. A rechargeable battery provides up to 14 hours of playtime, so the amp can travel easily from desk practice to dressing-room warmups without needing a wall socket. USB-C charging keeps things simple, and despite the compact build, Laney says the amp still delivers “rich stereo depth” and a tone that feels “unmistakably Laney”.

Priced at $149, the Laney Prism-Mini is available now in Blue or Black colourway.

Learn more at Laney.

The post Laney’s new Prism-Mini is a pocket-sized smart amp ready to take on Positive Grid’s Spark GO appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Buyer’s remorse is a familiar tale for many guitarists, but Jake E Lee knows the opposite: the regret of passing on a guitar that just felt right. The former Ozzy Osbourne guitarist recently shared the story of a Telecaster he once let slip – and how he still thinks about it decades on.

In a new interview with Guitarist, Lee recounts his strongest case of buyer’s remorse: “About 20 years ago, I was in a local guitar shop, looking to see what they had, and there was nothing new but this ‘67 Telecaster. And I don’t like Telecasters. I don’t like the way they sound. I don’t like the way they look. I have no fondness for Telecasters at all. But I picked this one up anyway and it felt really good, so I plugged it in. It sounded really good and I had a connection with it.”

• READ MORE: “It’s noisy, it’s crap, and we f**king love it”: Max Cavalera was so bad at guitar for Sepultura’s first gig, the guitarist from another band offered to tune his guitar for him

Despite the instant spark, Lee hesitated.

“But I put it back down and said, ‘I don’t really like Teles… I don’t even know why I picked it up,’” he says. “Two days later, I went back in there because I couldn’t quit thinking about it and it just felt right, but they’d sold it already. So that’s a different kind of buyer’s remorse, right? Maybe we’d call that no-buyer’s remorse [laughs]. I still think about that Tele every once in a while… there was just a connection there. I really wish I’d bought it.”

Lee’s regrets aren’t limited to Telecasters. Over the years, there’s been a long list of guitars he wishes he’d held on to.

“How long have you got?! I had a ’56 Les Paul Junior and a ’67 ES-335 that I wish I’d held on to. I wish I still had my original SG that I sold in the 90s, too. The list is too long and too sad,” he says.
Elsewhere, Lee also shares some sage advice for guitarists searching for that elusive “ultimate” instrument. His tip is simple, but it comes from decades of trial, error, and hard-earned lessons.

“Play it, don’t just hope for the best,” Lee says. “With older guitars, there are some that are really special and some that are just okay – you have to play those first. But I’ve bought new guitars online, like an Eastwood Messenger like [the Musicraft model] Mark Farner used to play with Grand Funk Railroad. If it’s a new guitar, the quality is gonna be pretty standard.”

Returning to the Telecaster story, the guitarist sums up why hands-on experience matters: “Going back to that Tele I mentioned before, I never would have thought about buying that guitar – and I should have bought that guitar – if I hadn’t tried it. That’s why you need to try a guitar. Sometimes you get a connection where you just feel it, like it’s the right one. And sometimes you’ll pick up a guitar that you’re sure will be the right one and it’s not there.”

The post “I don’t like the way they look or sound. I have no fondness for them at all”: Jake E. Lee hates Telecasters… but there was one which changed his mind appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

After a short break in our series taking a look at some of the choice offerings from NotPedals.com, we’re returning to the shelves of that ever-so-cool small builder marketplace to take a look at the Galahcore FX Ploverdrive – an interesting overdrive pedal with some uniquely Australian aviary inspiration.

• READ MORE: DOD Badder Monkey review: much-memed pedal gets a bananas reissue
  

The Ploverdrive is inspired by the masked lapwing, AKA the spur-winged plover. It’s an Aussie bird that’s known for defensively swooping at anything or anyone that threatens its nest – even, in some cases, airplanes. This aggressive territorial control is aided by its spurs – sharp outcrops of bone on its wings’ carpal joints that can make a curious cat’s day a lot worse.

In all it’s a good basis for thematically mapping onto an overdrive pedal, as the heart of the unit is the Spur control – a highly interactive tone control that gives the Ploverdrive a lot of its character. I’ll get onto the specifics of its functioning in a moment. The Spur control is joined by the more standard and self-explanatory gain and volume controls, with no other switches, leading to a pretty straightforward three-knob drive format housed in a 1590bb-sized enclosure adorned with some gorgeous art by Conrad Keely of the band …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead.

Build quality, along with the quality of the art’s printing, is top-notch – component selection tends towards the sturdy and the high-end. Jacks connect with a satisfying and firm clunk, and the potentiometers offer the kind of resistance that indicates a quality part. Everything else is all pretty within the remit of a ‘standard’ pedal – mono, 9V pedal power, so it’s time to plug in and get going.

In use

When I first fire up the Ploverdrive, I happen to have the Spur control all the way ‘down’ and the gain all the way up. There are few better ways to wake up in the morning – the Spur control, a little like a RAT’s filter, is wired ‘backwards’, in that anticlockwise means a brighter, more focused and more resonant sound. Combined with the higher gain setting its a very punchy sound indeed, and per the manual is voiced more for brightening up a neck pickup.

On the bridge pickup that brightening effect is a little too effective, but on the neck humbucker of a Telecaster Deluxe the Ploverdrive does indeed add a lot of clarity – impressive given that this is a pickup that can quickly overwhelm a gainy amp.

Rolling the Spur all the way to the soft, fluffy, not-yet-flying-baby-bird side of the dial, and things get more interesting still. Here you’ll find the basis of a great sound for warm, wooly leads – the sound is very rounded, no matter the pickup, and does invite some more singing, Claptony style playing – here, higher gain settings accentuate its smooth, sustaining character, rather than the sonic stabs of the less friendly side of the Spur control.

And speaking of gain – there’s a lot of it! We’re still firmly in overdrive territory here, it’s no HM-2, but atop a relatively clean sound from a Marshall-style amplifier, the Ploverdrive can add a decent amount of thick saturation by itself. However, in backing off the gain control and setting the Spur to something less extreme, the sound remains very characterful and perhaps shines a more flattering spotlight on the operation of the Spur control. The amount of volume on tap can absolutely invite the front end of your amp to the party too – which is always a good combo with a mid-gain overdrive that manages to keep things dynamic. Set right the Ploverdrive will be extremely honest as to how hard you’ve hit your strings.

But enough restraint – doesn’t this bird attack airplanes? Setting the Ploverdrive back to its aggressive stance and feeding it into a more gainy amp, even more avenues for Ploverdriven goodness open up. The slightly resonant ring to the brighter side of the Spur control means that for “chugging” it may not be the most ideal pedal – through faster playing your ear does tend to latch onto the more static factor of that resonant beak. Er, peak.

However, if you put a more generic metal sound out of your head for a moment you get an excellent tone for clanking noise rock in the vein of The Jesus Lizard and Shellac. The sharpness of the more extreme settings becomes a feature not a bug if you play it right – and the fact that the pedal remains dynamic the whole way up the gain lets you still express yourself through it, but the fact that its EQ curve is very much not flat and transparent remains a boon for this kind of music.

Should I buy a Ploverdrive?

Overall the Ploverdrive is an affordable but creatively-designed pedal that is easy to learn, and hard to master, in a very good way. The spur and gain controls are quite interactive with each other, and so I was still finding new sounds within the thing days into my testing. And that’s not to mention that it very much won me over by coming with a nanoblocks model of a bird, which, you know, more pedals could stand to do. If you like an overdrive that’s ready to make its presence known with an aggressive caw and an ambitious swoop at a Cessna, you won’t be disappointed in the Ploverdrive.

Check the pedal out at notpedals.com.

The post Galahcore FX Ploverdrive review: focused boutique overdrive can help a board take flight appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Who’s got the most ferocious picking hand in metal? 99 times out of 100, that award would surely go to James Hetfield. The Metallica frontman is known for his relentless downpicking capabilities, which are still sharp as a tack in his 60s.

The stamina required to downpick eighth notes at 215bpm for extended stretches and across two-hour setlists is simply out of reach for many players. Your forearm also needs to be kept tremendously physically fit in order for the muscles to cope with the continuous strain.

In a new interview with podcaster Lex Fridman, music YouTuber Rick Beato explains his theory as to why his own downpicking isn’t what it used to be, and it has to do with his smartphone use, apparently…

• READ MORE: “Honestly, I wanted to grab my guitar and smash it through the wall!”: Zacky Vengeance on being put through his paces by Synyster Gates on Avenged Sevenfold’s latest album

“James and Kirk [Hammett, Metallica lead guitarist] – the downpicking… I used to be able to do that!” Beato says. “I just can’t do that anymore. It hurts my thumb.

“I think, honestly – I thought a lot about it – it’s like, ‘Why is it so painful, why is it so hard?’ It’s from swiping with your thumb on phones. And I think it affects that basal joint there.”

“I’m serious,” Beato confirms, adding: “I think that that’s actually right. Because I’m thinking, ‘Why does it hurt so much to do that, all the downstrokes and stuff? It’s gotta be something.’ It’s like, yeah, it’s from swiping with a phone.”

So what do you reckon? Do you also suffer thumb joint pain when trying to downpick thrash metal riffs, which may have been made worse by excessive TikTok doomscrolling? It’s an interesting theory, to say the least…

It’s worth noting, though, that even James Hetfield admits he finds Metallica’s relentless downpicking sections tricky at times.

“We all have our own certain songs that are a little difficult,” he said in January on Metallica’s own podcast, The Metallica Report. “Moth Into Flame, Master of Puppets, those are two that are, ‘Wow, those are a little difficult.’ I’m sure Lars [Ulrich, drummer] has his list; we all have our list. But we push through, and we help each other with it.”

The post Rick Beato says excessive phone scrolling is the reason he can’t downpick like James Hetfield appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Avenged Sevenfold’s Synyster Gates has solidified himself as one of the most technically proficient and wildly creative guitarists in rock and metal music in the last 25 years. Known for his devilishly accurate sweep picking and fretboard-spanning rapid-fire solos, his face-melting guitar work is present across the Huntington Beach metallers’ discography.

And in a new podcast episode with YouTuber Nik Nocturnal, rhythm guitarist Zacky Vengeance reflects on trying to keep up with his co-guitarist while recording the band’s sprawling prog-influenced latest album, Life Is But A Dream…

• READ MORE: Mesa/Boogie has relaunched the Triple Rectifier – the amp that helped define metal music

“Dude, I’ve got to be in a band with fucking Synyster Gates!” he jokes. “That dude, he comes up with the craziest jazz chords – and he’s got long-ass fucking fingers… He can span seven, eight frets. And he can play faster than almost anyone. He just can.

“I always say there’s certain shit I cannot do. The same as you can’t run faster than [Jamaican sprinter] Usain Bolt at the Olympics. I can’t play shit as fast as he can play it, no matter how hard I try. I can set the metronome, I can try and try and try.

Zacky continues: “Even with Life Is But A Dream, I had to learn stuff that I’ve never even fathomed and chords I can’t even – but it’s fun! But at first, I mean, honestly, I wanted to grab my guitar and smash it through the wall. But once you’ve got it, you’re happy you did it.”

A highlight of Synyster Gates playing on Life Is But A Dream… comes with a ludicrous solo at the end of third track Nobody. Check it out below:

Elsewhere in the interview, Zacky Vengeance reflects on writing the riff for Waking the Fallen track Unholy Confessions, which remains one of the band’s biggest songs, and is often argued to be one of the quintessential metalcore riffs.

“It kind of blows my mind because having written that riff, I was a kid, you know? I was, like, 20 years old,” he says. “And you have no idea that it’s gonna have an impact when you’re writing it. It was a riff I was playing when I lived in my parents house, when we were touring in a van – running through it at soundcheck.

He explains that he wrote the riff as a byproduct of learning to play guitar. “I was a punk rock guitarist in high school – I grew up learning punk songs, like Bad Religion songs, Pennywise songs, and stuff like that.

“And then when me and Matt started Avenged, he started showing me stuff like At The Gates, Children of Bodom, In Flames, Pantera – shit that I wasn’t fully used to. And I was like this shit’s fucking awesome. I don’t know how to play it though. I can’t play this shit.

“So I was practicing and practicing. I’ve never taken any lessons but I was just trying to play what I heard and come up with riffs, and it was still a full learning phase. And honestly, with guitar, I don’t think there’s ever not a learning phase. I’m still learning.”

Zacky Vengeance is set to release his debut solo record, Dark Horse, on 3 April, 2026. Artistically, the project sees him use his real name, Zachary Baker.

The post “Honestly, I wanted to grab my guitar and smash it through the wall!”: Zacky Vengeance on being put through his paces by Synyster Gates on Avenged Sevenfold’s latest album appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Mesa/Boogie is reissuing its legendary Triple Rectifier amp head – which along with its lower-powered sibling, the Dual Rectifier – has been pivotal in shaping the sound and direction of the rock and metal genres since its launch in the early ‘90s.

Arriving on the heels of the reissue of the Dual Rectifier last year, the Triple Rectifier reissue – dubbed the 90s Triple Rectifier Solo Head – promises the same “layered harmonics, tight low end and percussive mid hit” that made the original such a classic, while sporting a blacked-out aesthetic: with a black chassis, black Speed knobs and black Diamond Plate.

• READ MORE: Steve Vai plays on cover of Van Halen’s Jump for 2026 World Cup anthem

“Since its original release in 1992, the Rectifier family has dominated – and in many ways reinvented – the sound of rock and heavy music, powering walls of crushing high gain for detuned crunch rhythms and bass lines that became the soundtrack of a generation,” Mesa/Boogie says.

Built in Petaluma, California, the 90s Triple Rectifier Solo Head is a metal-ready, 150-watt, Class A/B, all-tube monster packed with six Mesa 6L6 power tubes, and three 5U4GB rectifier tubes. It also features a maintenance-free fixed-bias design and bias switch which support alternate power tube types like EL34s.

There’s also selectable Tube or Silicon Diode rectification, as well as a two-position BOLD/SPONGY power switch, allowing you to tweak the feel and response of the amplifier to your taste and preference.

In keeping with the original Triple Rectifier’s dual-channel design – later versions came with three channels, and the “Triple” refers instead to the inclusion of the three 5U4GB rectifier tubes – the new reissue features two independent channels, with Channel Style/Cloning voicing options plus Gain, Treble, Middle, Bass, Presence and Master dials for each channel. There’s also a tube-driven FX loop onboard, with a global output level control active when the loop is engaged. This loop is also engage-able via external switching.

Weighing just over 22kg, the 90s Triple Rectifier Solo Head’s chassis features marine-grade Baltic birch finished in Black Bronco vinyl with a black Diamond Plate grille. It also comes with a fitted slipcover to keep it safe in transit.

“Following the excitement around last year’s Chrome edition of the ’90s Dual and Triple Rectifier Solo Heads, we wanted to honour one of the most iconic Custom Dress options in our history with a limited run of stealth-inspired ‘Blackout’ Triple Rectifiers,” says Doug West, Director of Tone Lab for Gibson Amplifiers and MESA/Boogie.

“These coveted heads feature the original black chassis, replacing the polished aluminium diamond plate and grille vent with black anodised versions, and swapping chrome speed knobs for sleek black ones. 

“Back in the ‘90s, these upscale, blacked-out models dominated stages behind some of the biggest names in rock. Today, finding one on the pre-owned market usually means heavy wear from years of touring – so this is a rare chance to own one in pristine, brand-new condition.”

The 90s Triple Rectifier Solo Head is priced at £3,799. For more information, head to Mesa/Boogie.

The post Mesa/Boogie has relaunched the Triple Rectifier – the amp that helped define metal music appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.