Guitar.com

Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi is gearing up to release his first solo album in more than two decades, From The Dark, with longtime friend and Queen guitarist Brian May among its guest contributors.

In a new interview with Loudwire, Iommi opens up about how May ended up on the record – and reveals that he’d actually asked his old friend to play on more than one track.

The collaboration came together pretty casually, with May dropping by Iommi’s house and the two guitar legends doing what they’ve apparently been doing for decades: picking up guitars and having “a little fiddle about”.

• READ MORE: Tony Iommi’s final conversation with Ozzy Osbourne: “He said he wasn’t feeling great”

“He brings a guitar or I’ve got one here and he’ll use that,” says Iommi. “I said, ‘Oh, bring your guitar when you come,’ he brought his guitar and I said, ‘You’re going to be playing on this track here.’ He’s great.”

May ultimately contributes to Death Wake, the sixth track on From The Dark. Iommi, however, had hoped to get a little more out of his old friend.

“I said to him, ‘Play on some other tracks,’ but he went, ‘Oh no, it’s your album,’” Iommi recalls. “That’s the relationship we’ve had with each other for all these years. We’ve played a lot together. He is a great friend.”

Iommi says the pair have known each other for “56, 58 years” and describes May as his best friend, alongside another legendary guitarist – Eddie Van Halen.

“We’ve known each other for 56, 58 years. He’s my best friend. And of course, Eddie Van Halen was. We always stayed in touch a lot. They were the only two I really did stay in touch with.”

Beyond May’s contributions, the rest of From The Dark came together just as smoothly. Despite being his first solo album since 2005, Iommi says there was little pressure in the studio to force things.

“It’s been good fun, there’s no pressure,” he says. “If nothing happened, nothing happened, then we’d do it the next time. But it did, every time we come to record something, it’d work.”

From The Dark is due out on 23 October. Listen to the lead single World Alone below.

The post Tony Iommi wanted Brian May to play on more of his new solo album: “But he went, ‘Oh no, it’s your album!’” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

If you only lived half a mile up the hill from Eddie Van Halen in the ’80s, there was probably only one sensible thing to do: let him come over and talk guitars.

That was the case for RATT frontman Stephen Pearcy, whose house was close enough to Van Halen’s that the guitarist would regularly cruise over on his motorcycle when he knew Pearcy was home.

Speaking on the Mighty VH Podcast, Pearcy recalls how his “three-level, high-tech” house – jokingly dubbed the White House – became something of a hangout for the legendary rocker.

• READ MORE: “Eddie said, ‘I can’t play on that!’” Albert Lee reveals the genre that Eddie Van Halen was reluctant to play

“I had a house we called the White House. It was a three-level, high-tech house. And I was never there. I was always on the road,” Pearcy says. “But when Ed would know I was home, he’d cruise over and, you know, go back up the hill on his motorcycle and get busted for being at my place.”

When Pearcy headed up the hill to return the favour, he’d often find himself in Van Halen’s studio, where the conversation inevitably turned to guitars.

“I’d go up there and check out the studio and hang a bit. I mean, we were trading guitars. It was all about Charvels and guitars,” he recalls.

Pearcy admits he wasn’t particularly interested in Van Halen’s obsession with the whammy bar at first. That changed when he started bringing some of his San Diego friends along, including RATT guitarist Robbin Crosby.

“I wasn’t really into his kind of trip, the whammy, this and that. But the minute I brought Robbin up there – I started bringing my San Diego guys up with me to check Van Halen out – Robbin and Ed became friends.”

That friendship came with a pretty useful perk: one-on-one guitar lessons from Eddie Van Halen.

“We’d literally go to his house, Ed’s house, and he’d have a little workshop in his bedroom or somewhere and he’d tell Robin how to keep in tune with the whammy. There were no lock bars back then,” Pearcy says.

Van Halen’s lessons didn’t just stop there. He also shared tips on keeping strings fresh and getting the most out of the guitars they were constantly tinkering with.

“A lot was going on. How to keep your strings fresh and new,” Pearcy says. “And I’m just taking notes, and these two guitar dummies are taking notes too.”

“You go, you hang with Ed, you’re not going to be talking about, you know, life in general. It’s about gear,” he continues. “Unless he wants to tell you something else.”

Watch the full interview below.

The post “You hang with Ed, you’re not going to be talking about life in general. It’s about gear!” RATT’s Stephen Pearcy on the lessons he learned from his neighbour Eddie Van Halen appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

€299/$289/£249, t-rex-effects.com

The T-Rex TwinBlaze is the kind of stompbox that might just save the world. Okay, a piece of guitar gear isn’t going to do much about climate change or global conflict, but it takes an issue that’s just as polarising – single pedals versus multi-effects processors – and finds a way to combine the best aspects of both sides.

• READ MORE: Source Audio Pathways review: “a pedal that sits comfortably between the worlds of modernity and tradition

In spirit, this is a proper old-school dirt pedal for the purists, made in Europe and powered by a real preamp tube… but it also brings the simplicity and efficiency of having three effects in one: two switchable overdrive/distortion circuits plus a separate clean boost. Maybe that means everyone will love it, and the human race can live in harmony again?

Image: Adam Gasson

What is it?

Proudly bearing the words ‘handcrafted in Denmark’, the TwinBlaze is part of an expanding range of homegrown pedals from a company that used to be pretty much all-in on Chinese production. I’m a big fan of the Danish-made reissue of the Mudhoney distortion, which has been around since 2018, so this neatly designed green metal box certainly has pedigree.

It’s billed as “a tribute to the 1980s golden era of rock” – and while you might struggle to match the word ‘golden’ to the bulk of the music of that decade, you can’t ignore the enduring appeal of the (mostly Marshall) amps that powered it. So what you’re getting here is two channels of old-school rock drive, plus a boost circuit to give it a kick up the jacksy on the way out.

Each channel has a control array that follows the Marshall JCM800 template – preamp gain and output level plus bass, middle, treble and presence – plus a toggle switch for ‘crunch’ or ‘lead’ mode. Both channels are voiced the same, so if you match up the settings there’ll be no difference when you flip between A and B.

As with the new T-Rex RoomMate D’Luxe reverb, a 12v power supply is included in order to supply enough juice to get the JJ ECC83S properly cooking – and again that valve has a slightly silly LED at its base, just in case you feel shortchanged by the low-key orange glow of the real thing.

Image: Adam Gasson

Usability

Look at the control panel of the TwinBlaze when it’s in bypass and you’ll see two rows of six unmarked knobs – what is this, Russian roulette for tone-tweakers? Luckily, once a channel is engaged its corresponding row of markers lights up for easy visibility – in yellow for crunch mode, or orange for lead. It’s a smart system, just as long as you don’t need to make changes while the pedal is off.

The boost circuit gets its own orange light, and beyond that the functionality of this unit is as simple as it could possibly be. Just make sure you use the right output: there’s a second one with speaker cab emulation for plugging directly into an audio interface.

Image: Adam Gasson

Sounds

The obvious place to start is with channel A in crunch mode and channel B set to lead. That gives you a total of five sounds accessible by footswitching alone: crunch, crunch plus boost, lead, lead plus boost, and boost on its own. Nice, although I can’t help wondering why the two channels haven’t been voiced differently – say, Marshall on one side and Fender on the other – for even more flexibility.

Anyway, that JCM-style voice is a pleasing one – and, running through a clean black-panel amp, uncannily accurate. Start chugging away on palm-muted power chords and within a few seconds you’ll feel your hair starting to perm: it is that 80s sound, kicking out plenty of raspy midrange but with enough saturation and compression to avoid any harshness.

In crunch mode you can go from light breakup to moderately hairy overdrive, while the switch to orange lighting brings a corresponding fieriness that sounds superb on attention-grabbing solo runs. The boost switch can prove really useful here, giving a tonally neutral lift of up to 20dB – and it works pretty well on its own if your amp is running anywhere close to the crunchy zone itself.

If anything, it seems T-Rex has copied the classic Marshall template too closely in terms of the EQ controls: they work OK, but somehow never quite as emphatically as you want them to. Don’t expect total tone-sculpting power, then – but if you just need to dial in the right amount of treble and bass for your rig, and maybe give the mids an extra shunt for the heavy stuff, they’ll do the job.

I did give the speaker-emulated output a spin, just to see if this pedal could also serve as a standalone recording preamp, and the results were… well, alright. My guess is there’s nothing more than a simple EQ treatment going on in there, which keeps things balanced but doesn’t stop it sounding DI-ish.

Image: Adam Gasson

Should I buy one?

If you’re still trying to get your head around that “1980s golden era of rock” thing, let it go. Yes, the haircuts were unforgivable, but for guitar tones that rocked harder than the sounds of the 70s, without yet going to the ultra-high-gain extremes of the 90s, this was indeed a perfect moment – and T-Rex has captured it.

For most players, a simpler pedal that can create one or two sounds in that tonal area will probably be enough; but if your idea of classic rock is more Def Lepp than Led Zepp, and you want one unit to cover all levels of dirt, the TwinBlaze is a persuasive candidate.

Image: Adam Gasson

Alternatives

A high-class option that flips the formula by having one drive and two boosts is the Dinosaural Cogmeister (£359.99/$399). If you’re just after a dual overdrive with a Marshall-ish flavour, try the Browne Amplification Protein ($299/£349) or Warm Audio Throne of Tone ($229/£219).

The post T-Rex TwinBlaze review – one tube-driven pedal to cover all your rocking needs? appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Polyphia has announced their new album, Be Not Afraid, which will be released later this year. The band has not put out a studio album since 2022’s Remember That You Will Die and spent the last two years heading down “pretty dark rabbit holes” to come up with material for their fifth release.

The album announcement also saw the release of lead single, Power in the Blood. Polyphia worked on the album throughout 2024 and 2025 in Miami, Los Angeles, and Dallas.

• READ MORE: Neural DSP makes “the biggest CorOS update in the company’s history”

Guitarist Tim Henson confirmed the composition of the album changed massively, initially singing lines out loud and then translating them to guitar. He said: “Instead of going wide on Be Not Afraid, we went as deep as we could. There are so many layers to pull back. Every time you listen to it, you’ll notice something new. Thematically, it’s by far the most meaningful record we’ve ever made.”

Guitarist Scott LePage added: “We physically can’t make the same album twice. We have a yearning to evolve. It was so much fun to write this one together too – the writing sessions for past Polyphia records typically looked like us gathering our ideas separately first and bringing them to each other second, so we took a different approach with Be Not Afraid by treating the sessions like an opportunity to create with everybody in the room first before getting into the separate writing.

“It was a much more communal approach that led to us having so much fun making it that the fun itself was the magic being captured.”

Henson added: “The album takes you through the extremes of two different worlds / moods: one being very uplifting and triumphant, the other being spine-chilling and terrifying. There are moments on the record that legitimately scare me when I listen to them.”

Tim Henson, who has been in the band since its founding in 2010, added that the band headed into darker territory and is their response to feeling “disgusted, demoralised, and completely powerless”.

He said: “During the making of this record, we went down some pretty dark rabbit holes. We kept coming across things that were so depraved they sounded insane when you said them out loud. Then some of the very things we had been talking about started appearing in documents released to the public. You can read that stuff and feel disgusted, demoralised, and completely powerless.

“Be Not Afraid is our response to that. Rather than allowing the ugliness of the world to paralyse us, we put everything we had into making something beautiful. We weren’t afraid of whether something was too different or whether people were going to understand it. We just followed what excited us and made what I believe is our best record to date.”

Dates for the band’s European tour, which starts on November 17 at the Halle 622 in Zurich, can be found below:

• Nov 18 – Zurich, CH – Halle 622
• Nov 19 – Lyon, FR – Le Radiant
• Nov 20 – Toulouse, FR – Interference
• Nov 22 – Barcelona, ES – Razzmatazz
• Nov 23 – Madrid, ES – Sala La Riviera
• Nov 25 – Milan, IT – Alcatraz
• Nov 27 – Munich, DE – Zenith
• Nov 28 – Prague, CZ – SaSaZu
• Nov 29 – Warsaw, PL – Progresja
• Nov 30 – Leipzig, DE – Haus Auensee
• Dec 2 – Hamburg, DE – Docks
• Dec 4 – Copenhagen, DK – Amager Bio
• Dec 5 – Berlin, DE – Tempodrom
• Dec 6 – Oberhausen, DE – Turbinenhalle
• Dec 7 – Brussels, BE – Ancienne Belgique
• Dec 8 – Amsterdam, NL – AFAS Live
• Dec 9 – Paris, FR – Zenith Paris
• Dec 11 – Birmingham, UK – O2 Academy Birmingham
• Dec 12 – Manchester, UK – Manchester Academy
• Dec 15 – Leeds, UK – O2 Academy Leeds
• Dec 16 – London, UK – O2 Academy Brixton

Learn more at Polyphia’s official website.

The post “By far the most meaningful record we’ve ever made”: Polyphia announce new album Be Not Afraid – listen to the first single now appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Finland-based audio developer Neural DSP has expanded its flagship operating system, CorOS. Quad Cortex and Quad Cortex Mini users will now enjoy compatibility with five of Neural’s classic artist signature Archetype X plugins.

These include: Archetype: John Mayer X, Archetype: Petrucci X, Archetype: Misha Mansoor X, Archetype: Rabea X, and Archetype: Tim Henson X. In total, this includes over 70 amps, cabs and effects catering to everything from metal shredding to smooth, easy-listening strums. Moreover, with these additions, CorOS and Cortex Control can now work with every single X-updated plugin throughout Neural DSP’s arsenal.

• READ MORE: Mysterious masked metallers Sleep Token get their first signature guitars courtesy of Jackson and Charvel
  

Those who have Quad Cortex, Neural DSP’s flagship floorboard amp modeller, also now have access to the brand-new feature, Device Presets. As simple as it sounds, the Quad Cortex can save the precise settings on an individual device it is modelling. Amps, cabinets, drives, effects, and utility blocks can be instantly pulled up with all the knobs exactly where they were before. Plus, the new CorOS adds 2,000 device presets to try out.

“CorOS 4.1.0 represents a major milestone for the Quad Cortex ecosystem,” says Francisco Cresp, Neural DSP CPO and Co-Founder.

“With Plugin Compatibility now spanning every X-updated plugin in our lineup, alongside powerful new workflows like Device Presets, we’re giving musicians even more freedom to create, experiment, and move between software and hardware without compromise.”

As if that wasn’t enough, Quad Cortex and Quad Cortex mini users also get eight new virtual devices: Multivoicer harmonizer, Glitch granular delay, Ring Modulator, Arpeggio Delay, Crystal Delay, Vintage Digital Reverb, Douglas Shining Comp, and Plugin Parametric-4 EQ.

Last but certainly not least, the new Cortex Control has Multiple Device Management to adjust settings on multiple Quad Cortex and Quad Cortex mini units simultaneously. Now the monitor mixer can have a laptop side stage at gigs and change everyone’s settings with a click of a button when the next song arrives.

You can learn more at Neural DSP.

The post Neural DSP makes “the biggest CorOS update in the company’s history” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

The Warning were just kids when their cover of Metallica’s Enter Sandman went viral. In the decade-plus since, they’ve released four albums, been nominated for a Latin Grammy and toured with Evanescence, Foo Fighters, Halsey and Yungblud.

But before all that, they were just three sisters playing the Rock Band video game at home in Monterrey, Mexico. “I actually started with a plastic guitar,” Daniela “Dany” Villarreal, vocalist and guitarist for the band, says.

• READ MORE: “Right away, your brain goes into survival mode” how having all his gear stolen led to Russian Circles’ Mike Sullivan reinventing his approach to guitar

From there, she moved to the acoustic guitar, starting with a Taylor GS Mini. Her first electric guitar was a semi-hollow Ibanez, but Villarreal was still quite young, and the guitar was too unwieldy for her small size, so she ended up switching to a Stratocaster.

“My relationship with guitars throughout time was a process of me finding the right sound, the right guitar,” she explains. “Since I started at a very young age, I didn’t quite necessarily get into the specifics from the get-go. I was just focused on learning guitar, but not finding my guitar, what I wanted to sound like, what I was comfortable with.”

That changed when The Warning went into the studio to work on their 2022 album Error, with producer David Bendeth, and he recommended Villarreal try a PRS guitar. “We just clicked,” she says. “It was so comfortable. It just felt completely right. And the more I played it, the more I found quirks in the sound, what I wanted to be, what I wanted to evolve into, and it became my teammate for sure.”

Dany Villarreal performing with a PRS guitar. Image: Press

Double Duty

The Warning are gearing up to release their fifth album, Everything’s Falling, on August 28, which sees them incorporating pop elements (Bloodsport), metal-style screams (Ego) and reggaeton beats (Bruises), into their signature hard rock sound, defined by blaring guitars. The band is rounded out by Villarreal’s younger sisters Paulina “Pau” Villarreal on drums and Alejandra “Ale” Villarreal on bass, and while all three sisters contribute vocals, Dany is the lead vocalist as well as the sole guitar player.

With dual duties comes additional challenges, one being differentiating the guitar melodies from Villarreal’s vocals, since they often occupy the same range. This has pushed her guitar playing into the lower end. “I’ve fallen in love with low-key trying to play the bass on a guitar,” she laughs.

There was another function Villarreal had to juggle on this record. “We’ve applied a new pedal to this album, sound-wise, that made the album what it is, I think,” she says. “It’s a very unique pedal. It’s called The Noise pedal [by Tallon Electric – Ed]. It’s a very indie pedal, but it just makes noise.” But it does mean that on top of singing and playing guitar, Villarreal also now has to operate a pedal with her foot, like on the groove-filled track Bruises.

It took several different guitars to achieve the dynamic, electrifying sounds of Everything’s Falling. Below Villarreal talks Guitar.com through the most treasured and meaningful guitars in her collection, , including her brand spanking new PRS signature model:

Dany Villarreal with her signature PRS Astryx. Image: PRS

PRS Astryx

Announced just this week is Villarreal’s very first signature guitar, created in partnership with PRS. The Astryx is based on the iconic Custom 24 model, but with a variety of visual and spec flourishes. For example, the fretboard is ebony instead of the usual rosewood, while an inlaid sun adorns the twelfth fret. The sun theme continues with the guitar’s striking purple, red and orange top finish, which is intended to evoke a sunset. “I had never had the experience of trying to put myself, my personality into a guitar, and having that be me,” she says. “I’m completely in love, and it’s my favorite guitar.”

It took about a year of production, with Villarreal even going to the PRS factory in Maryland to watch how the guitar was made. “I feel like it’s a very big step as a guitar player, and it’s gonna be one of the highlights in my timeline as a guitar player,” she says. Just 200 of these unique instruments will be made for sale, with each one featuring an autographed backplate.

Dany Villarreal with her signature PRS Astryx. Image: PRS

Gibson Les Paul

Early in her career, Villarreal got her hands on a Les Paul. “[It] is one of my very first guitars ever that I had a hard time letting go of,” she says. “Once I found a Les Paul, it was just like, ‘I love this guitar.’ It eventually became a problem for my back as a growing child because it was very heavy.”

The Les Paul didn’t make it into her touring set, but she held onto it. “I always invite my Les Paul over to the studio because I do feel a strong connection with it,” she adds. “It’s more of a nostalgia thing to have it with me there. We didn’t use it that much but there’s something about maybe playing a basic rhythm, strum-out chords with a Les Paul that just hits right.”

Dany Villarreal performing with a Fender Stratocaster Baritone. Image: Press

Fender Stratocaster Baritone

This custom twin-humbuckered beast, and other Fender baris, have helped Villarreal reach those lower tones, which have shaped The Warning’s sound. “I have been loving the baritone feel and mid-range that it gives me between the bass and a guitar,” she explains. “It just makes the songs feel so powerful. So I’m really having so much fun exploring that baritone world.”

When it was time to work on Everything’s Falling, the baritone guitars played a key role. “I think I was even surprised how much we used baritone guitar in this album because I started using baritone guitars more as a layer than as a main guitar, and that was not the case for this album,” she says. “We went fully with the main guitars being the baritone guitars.”

They weren’t the only Fenders she used in the studio. “With little arrangements and things where I wanted to be a little bit more delicate, I went with a Telecaster, which is not something I usually use on tour – it’s mainly studio vibes,” she laughs. “And we would figure out at that point what the song was asking for guitar-wise.”

But for writing, she prefers the Fender Acoustasonic. “I usually go full acoustic, which is weird because [we play] rock and roll, but it’s my comfort guitar, and I keep that in my room…. But whenever I have an itch, I just [go for the] Acoustasonic, and it’s my favorite guitar to… explore with,” she says.

Manson Oryx VI

The Warning are big fans of Muse and in 2023, they got the opportunity to support them on tour. While playing a show in Mexico, Muse frontman Matt Bellamy asked Villarreal her favourite colour. “I didn’t know what he was talking about,” she recalls, but she answered with mustard yellow. The Warning ended up joining Muse for a few dates on the United Kingdom leg later that year. On the last show they played together, Bellamy surprised Villarreal by knocking on her dressing room door with a guitar in hand.

“I actually had a time where I played Manson guitars a lot because of him, and I couldn’t believe I was being gifted one by him,” she says. “I played it that very same day. I was just like, ‘I’m gonna test this out on stage, see how it goes,’ and I love it so much.”

But Villarreal’s reluctant to bring it on the road. “We had a jump scare,” she explains. “I took it out on tour, and it did not arrive [at] the final destination. It got lost in some of the airports, and I was like, ‘You know what? This is the only guitar I have gifted [to] me from Matt Bellamy. I’m gonna stop touring with it. I’m gonna keep it safe.’” She keeps it in her home studio. “I take very good care of it now because it really is very very special to me,” she says.

Dany Villarreal with a Gibson Explorer. Image: Press

Gibson Explorer

In The Warning’s music video for the brash, swaggering single Ego, Villarreal’s holding a white Gibson Explorer with a similar story behind it. The Warning were playing in Texas in 2022 – on a bill that included Halestorm, The Pretty Reckless and Lilith Czar – when Halestorm frontwoman Lzzy Hale walked onstage with a white Gibson Explorer. “And she kneels down [as] if she is asking for my hand in marriage,” Villarreal remembers.

Villarreal assumed Hale was letting her borrow one of her guitars for that set, but when she went to return the guitar after playing, Hale told her to keep it. Hale had herself previously been gifted a guitar by Shinedown’s Jason Todd. “She felt super inspired, and she wanted to keep that tradition going,” Villarreal adds. “And seeing me so young and being a woman on stage, rocking out, and specifically in rock and roll, she felt it was the right moment to give one to me.”

Villarreal’s looking forward to following Hale’s example. “I love each and every one of [my gifted guitars], and I hope I can be that person too,” she says. “I would love to be a gifter of guitars that I like to guitar players that inspire me and want to inspire.”

But, like the Manson, Villarreal doesn’t road-test her gifted guitars. “I have them stored in a very special place in my basement and in my heart,” she says.

PRS Orianthi

Villarreal once mentioned in an interview that she admired Orianthi’s signature PRS guitar. It just so happened that Villarreal and Orianthi, both PRS artists, ended up sharing the stage as part of PRS’s 40th anniversary event last year. “After the performance was done, she just handed it to me,” Villarreal remembers. “I was like, ‘No way, this is insane!’ And it’s even [the] cherry on top that it was the guitar that she played that night with me on stage.”

While she’s been hesitant to take her gifted guitars for a spin live, she did make an exception. “It had to have a moment on stage, so I did play with it for one of the biggest shows in our career, which was Auditorio Nacional in Mexico City,” she explains. The three sold-out shows last year were recorded and the concert film was even screened in movie theatres. “It’s forever now there as the day I played with the Orianthi guitar,” she says.

The post The Warning’s Dany Villarreal on her guitar collection: “I have them stored in a very special place in my basement… and in my heart” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

In just ten years, Sleep Token have marked themselves as A-listers in the metal world, releasing several studio albums, most recently 2025’s Even in Arcadia, and even securing a headline slot at last year’s Download Festival, all while keeping their identities officially secret.

Yep, the mysterious masked musicians have become one of the most talked-about acts in metal music, so a line of signature models was perhaps overdue.

To that end, the band have partnered with both Charvel and Jackson on two metal-ready signature models…

• READ MORE: Johnny Marr reacts to Andy Burnham playing the Smiths with Ukrainian soldiers: “It’s a victory for the guitar”

The first, the Jackson Pro Plus Series Signature Sleep Token IV Monarkh SC, ships tuned down a whole octave, and is designed to let players tap into the distinctive signature crushing riffs of guitarist and backing vocalist IV.

Credit: Jackson/Charvel

To support that fiendishly low tuning, the guitar features a 30” scale length and precision-engineered EverTune 6 bridge for unshakable tuning stability, alongside a bound mahogany body with a quilt maple veneer, three-piece caramelised maple set neck and compound-radius ebony fingerboard with 22 stainless steel frets.

It’s powered by a pair of Fishman Fluence Open Core Classic humbuckers, and also features pearloid teardrop inlays, Luminlay side dots for visibility in dimly lit environments, and a matching headstock.

Meanwhile, the Charvel Sleep Token III Signature Pro-Mod San Dimas Bass V is a five-string bass for bass player III. It features a resonant poplar body, caramelised maple neck and fingerboard with a 12”-16” compound radius, Luminlay side dots, 34.4” to 35.5” multi-scale fanned fret design, Fishman Fluence soap bar pickups with three distinct voicings, an onboard Fishman 2-band EQ, Ultra Lite open-gear tuners, locking strap pins, and a reverse licensed Stratocaster headstock. In a sweet visual touch, it also dons a question mark inlay spanning the 11th to 13th frets.

“Sleep Token’s sonic and visual identity is so distinctive, and the Jackson and Charvel signature models are a huge part of shaping that sound,” says Justin Norvell, Chief Product Officer at Fender, which owns both Jackson and Charvel.

“These instruments let players tap directly into that tone: the Jackson features a whole-octave-down tuning paired with an EverTune 6 bridge for rock-solid stability in that lower register, while the Charvel is a five-string bass built with custom Fishman pickups for added clarity and punch in the mix.

“We’re always looking for artists who redefine what a signature instrument can be, and Sleep Token does exactly that.”

Credit: Jackson/Charvel

Price-wise, IV’s new Jackson signature Monarkh clocks in at $2,199.99 / £1,949, while III’s signature Charvel Bass V is $1,599.99 / £1,399.

Learn more at Jackson and Charvel, respectively.

Credit: Jackson/Charvel

The post Mysterious masked metallers Sleep Token get their first signature guitars courtesy of Jackson and Charvel appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Johnny Marr has reacted to a clip of UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham playing a Smiths song on guitar with Ukrainian soldiers during a recent trip to Kyiv.

The British PM recently made the trip to the Ukrainian capital to reaffirm the UK’s support for the country amid its ongoing war with Russia, and found himself among the Ukrainian military’s Cultural Forces division playing the Smiths’ Rusholme Ruffians with soldiers, in a video that has since gone viral.

• READ MORE: Watch as UK PM Andy Burnham plays a Smiths song with Ukrainian soldiers in Kyiv: “You can take the man out of Manchester…”

Reacting to the video in a new appearance on Absolute Radio, Smiths guitar legend Johnny Marr praises Burnham, calling it a “victory for the guitar”.

“I think it’s an amazing thing. In all honesty, for me it’s like a victory for the guitar,” he says. “Just the way I’m wired, I always think like that. I can’t quite get my head around it. I don’t know whether pride is the word, but it probably is.

“It’s kind of beyond me to process it really, because it could be massive, that. But I just sort of go, ‘How great is the guitar?’ I think, what an amazing tool the guitar is. 

“My overwhelming feeling was that it was a victory for the guitar. I know that this being political and obviously with the plight of Ukraine. The more I think about it the more I think about how insignificant I am in it, really. Marr concludes: “Good on him.”

View this post on Instagram

Rusholme Ruffians appeared on 1985’s Meat is Murder. Andy Burnham has made no secret of his love of guitar music during his time as a politician, and has touted his love of classic guitar bands including the Beatles, the Stone Roses, Radiohead and more.

During his jam with Ukrainian soldiers, the prime minister donned a T-style guitar from local Kyiv guitar company WM Guitars, but Burnham has previously displayed his love of Gretsch and Gibson guitars.

View this post on Instagram

The post Johnny Marr reacts to Andy Burnham playing the Smiths with Ukrainian soldiers: “It’s a victory for the guitar” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Legendary country singer and music icon Dolly Parton has died at 80, following a short battle with cancer.

The news was confirmed by Parton’s nephew Bryan Seaver in an Instagram video posted yesterday (25 August). 

“Hey everyone, my name is Bryan Seaver, son of Cassie Parton, and I am representing the Parton and Owens family today, announcing the passing of my Aunt Dolly Rebecca Parton Dean. Sister, sis, Aunt Granny to one generation and Gigi to the next. This video announcement is something that Dolly asked of me years ago, before I fully absorbed it as a future reality.

• READ MORE: Dolly Parton gifts custom rhinestoned guitar to Texas drag queen

“As her head of security for more than two decades, a role my father Larry held before me, I have imagined the heaviness of this moment, but haven’t truly felt it until now. It is an honour, an honour that is mixed with absolute pride and great sadness. But sadness lies with us, not with Dolly. Dolly has lived in the light, and is in the arms of Jesus, surely met by Carl, her parents, and countless others who have watched her and longed for her to meet them in the heavens.”

Seaver goes on: “Dolly opened doors not just for me, but for her entire family to reach the potential we didn’t even know was possible. Dolly also opened doors for generations of singers, songwriters, musicians, and dreamers from every walk of life.”

View this post on Instagram

Indeed, few musicians get to count themselves as influential as Dolly Parton. Born in Tennessee in 1946, the fourth of 12 children, Parton – often dubbed the “Queen of Country” was surrounded by music from a young age, and it very quickly manifested, as she reportedly wrote her first song at just six years old, and was performing regularly on TV at just 10.

A prolific songwriter, Parton is said to have written more than 3,000 songs over the course of her lifetime, but a few stand out as her most enduring. They include I Will Always Love You – the 1973 hit later sent into the stratosphere by Whitney Houston – 9 to 5, a proud anthem of women’s equality in the workplace, and perhaps her biggest hit of all, Jolene. Parton is said to have sold more than 100 million records throughout her career.

She was known for her seismic impact on the music world as much as she was her one-of-a-kind fashion sense; she apparently had a collection of more than 350 wigs, and became somewhat synonymous with long, colourful fingernails. In an interview with The Guardian last year, she remembered composing the now-legendary Jolene lick before she truly adopted her iconic long fingernails.

“I was playing guitar pretty serious back then, before I had all the long nails,” she said. “I remember all the guys learning to play it and everybody thinking how cool a rhythm it was. It was a little out of the norm for the things we’d been doing up to that time. I remember everybody in the studio just loving that song.”

Since the news of her passing was announced yesterday, tributes have been pouring in from the music world and beyond, remembering the enduring impact Dolly Parton had on everything.

UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham – who recently visited Kyiv and played a Smiths song on guitar with Ukrainian soldiers – called himself a “huge” Parton fan, noting her “great music that people will treasure forever”.

Meanwhile, superstar Taylor Swift said in a statement shared with The Hollywood Reporter and Rolling Stone: “A world without Dolly doesn’t feel possible, real, or right. But because of the eternally generous way she spent her time on this earth and the countless lives she changed for the better, her legacy will be an everlasting one. She was truly the gift that kept on giving.”

Elsewhere, Beatles legend Paul McCartney called Parton a “magnificent star”, writing on Instagram: “Thanks Dolly for the beautiful music you gave me and the whole world. We will always love you, god bless and rest in peace. You were the best.”

View this post on Instagram

Gary Holt remembered Parton as “one of my father’s favourite singers”, while Jack White called for the country legend to receive an “instant sainthood”.

View this post on Instagram

The post “Instant sainthood”: Tributes pour in from the music world and beyond as country icon Dolly Parton dies at 80 appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

It’s one of the most iconic guitar riffs of all time, but a new previously unheard recording has revealed exactly what The Beatles’ Day Tripper sounded like before John Lennon and Paul McCartney game up with the iconic intro guitar part. 

• READ MORE: Fender Custom Shop releases a “painstaking” recreation of George Harrison’s Bass VI

As part of the build-up to the release of the new Special Edition of Rubber Soul, which is coming out in October, a new ‘work tape’ of Lennon and McCartney working on Day Tripper in a more embryonic form has been released – and it’s a real treasure trove for Beatles fans and guitar fans in general. 

The tape, which was recorded during a writing session undertaken at Lennon’s home Kenwood, in the lead up to what would become Rubber Soul, paints a fascinating picture of how such a timeless song can come together. 

In amongst the bonhomie and joking you can hear between Lennon and McCartney, you can see that Day Tripper is mostly there – it has the melody, the harmonised vocal lines between the pair, and the basic song structure. 

It’s clear, even in this more acoustic-driven, folky form, that it’s an incredible song. What it doesn’t have, however, is a killer riff to make it truly legendary. 

That riff, those 11 notes, would come together in the studio later, with Lennon taking credit for coming up with it – though he later reflected that the song was crafted in the studio “under pressure” and felt that, “It was very hard going, that, and it sounds it.”

It seems likely that George Harrison played the iconic riff in the studio – most likely on his Gibson ES-345 or a 1963 Gretsch Tennessean – though Lennon in typically blunt style, claimed responsibility for writing it, even if he was somewhat blase about its brilliance. “That’s mine. Including the lick, the guitar break and the whole bit. It’s just a rock ‘n’ roll song,” he told interviewer David Sheff shortly before his death. 

But it was a lot more than “just a rock ‘n’ roll song” for millions of guitarists and musicians. Day Tripper’s riff is important not just because it is a profoundly great guitar part – it’s significant for what it represented for the band and for music in general. 

Because the concept of a ‘guitar riff’ in the manner we now regard it was something relatively new in the world of rock ‘n’ roll. The Kinks’ You Really Got Me had only arrived in 1964 and by 1965 the riff was taking over pop music – from (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction to For Your Love by The Yardbirds. 

Over in the States, a place where the Beatles were always more interested in drawing musical inspiration from, Motown was putting riffs at the centre of things in a different but no less impactful way with the likes of My Girl and The Tracks of My Tears.

While the Beatles had many memorable guitar parts before, and had dabbled in the relatively new concept of a ‘guitar riff’ previously – notably on Ticket To Ride earlier in 1965 – Day Tripper was arguably the first time that the band had made a truly riff-driven song, and in typical Beatles style, it was one that raised the bar. 

By the end of the decade, guitar riffs would be everywhere in popular music – Purple Haze, Smoke On The Water, Sunshine Of Your Love – and across the Beatles later work as well. 

Without Day Tripper, it’s hard to imagine we’d have had some of The Beatles’ most iconic guitar moments – from Taxman to Yer Blues, from Revolver to And Your Bird Can Sing. By the end, The Beatles were crafting some of the most iconic and enduring guitar riffs the world would ever know – and it all started with Day Tripper. 

This impact means that it remains a constant inspiration for guitar players so many decades later, and it’s something McCartney acknowledges himself. “You still often hear it played when you walk into guitar shops,” he wrote in his book, The Lyrics. “It’s one of those songs that revolves around the riff. Some songs are hung onto a chord progression. Others, like this, are driven by the riff, and it does that.”

All of the above makes it all the more fascinating to hear Day Tripper in its nascent form – still a great song of course, but one that showcases the enduring and vital power of a brilliant guitar riff to elevate a song into something truly special. 

The Beatle’s Rubber Soul Special Edition is out on 2 October, and is available to preorder now. 

The post Newly unearthed Beatles recording showcases Day Tripper without its iconic guitar riff appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

The Fender Custom Shop has launched a limited-edition George Harrison 1967 Bass VI, which it describes as a “painstaking” recreation of the Beatle’s original.

The model has been crafted in Corona, California, capturing the look, feel and character of Harrison’s model, which he acquired in 1967 and used as an integral part of his work with the band at Abbey Road Studios.

• READ MORE: “The old George Harrison trick… it works every f**king time” Jason Isbell admits he stole a guitar technique from the Beatle for one of his most famous songs

This limited model is priced at $9,500.00 (£8,599), is built to the same specifications by the Fender Custom Shop luthiers, and is finished with Relic aging to give it a worn-in look. It has a two-piece select alder body to deliver warmth and a balanced midrange, with a thin nitrocellulose lacquer finish.

The neck is shaped to match the profile of Harrison’s Bass VI, featuring a bound 3A rosewood fingerboard and white pearloid block inlays. The 7.25” radius and 21 vintage frets provide a period-correct playing surface across a 30” scale length. This shorter scale produces lower string tension, lending a “supple, elastic feel that invites both bass lines and guitar-style phrasing”, according to the FCS.

A bone nut ensures “precise” intonation and open-string sustain at the headstock end. As for tone, the instrument comes loaded with three period-correct Custom Shop Hand-Wound Jaguar pickups, and individual on/off slide switches for each pickup so players can sculpt their signal path on the fly.

Another personal touch and nod to the original is on the switch plate, where etchings made by Harrison on his original to note his preferred settings can be found. Other premium features include a 6-saddle vintage-style adjustable bridge with “floating” tremolo tailpiece and Bass VI mute, a 4-ply brown shell pickguard, and vintage-style tuning machines with the Fender logo. A deluxe hardshell case, strap and certificate of authenticity are all included.

“George Harrison’s Bass VI holds a unique place in Fender history. It played a defining role in some of the most influential recordings ever made while showcasing the remarkable versatility of the Bass VI itself,” says Chase Paul, Director of Fender Custom Shop.

“With this Limited Edition release, our Custom Shop team has faithfully recreated George’s original instrument with extraordinary attention to detail, honouring its legacy and giving players and collectors the opportunity to own an extraordinary piece of music history.”

To find out more, visit the Fender Custom Shop.

The post Fender Custom Shop releases a “painstaking” recreation of George Harrison’s Bass VI appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

UK prime minister Andy Burnham has made no secret his love of guitar music, proclaiming back in 2022 his love of The Beatles, The Stone Roses, Radiohead and others.

But he’s not just a fan of guitar music; he’s also a longtime guitar player, and has been captured on video on numerous occasions playing both guitar and bass, and showing an affinity for Gretsch and Gibson guitars.

And his guitar skills have been showcased once again during his recent visit to Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, as the UK pledges its continued support for the country amid its ongoing war with Russia.

• READ MORE: How Taylor Guitars captured a whole new audience by putting the musician at the heart of everything

Burnham – who was mayor of Manchester – joined soldiers in a mobile recording studio, part of Ukraine’s military and artistic unit, which routinely performs on the front lines and in hospitals to boost morale. 

Equipped with a silver T-style electric guitar, the British prime minister can be seen in a video posted to his official Instagram page playing a rendition of Rusholme Ruffians by Mancunian legends the Smiths.

The guitar he plays is in fact a hand-built model by Kyiv’s WM Guitars. It also features the emblem of the Ukraine military’s Cultural Forces division. Check out the clip below:

View this post on Instagram

Andy Burnham isn’t the first guitar-toting politician to have flexed his six-string skills in Ukraine since the Russian invasion began in 2022. Back in 2024, then-US Secretary of State Antony Blinken made a surprise visit to the Ukrainian capital after the United States signed a new aid package, during which he performed a cover of Neil Young’s Rockin’ in the Free World.

The post Watch as UK PM Andy Burnham plays a Smiths song with Ukrainian soldiers in Kyiv: “You can take the man out of Manchester…” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Ad feature with Taylor Guitars

Taylor Guitars has always been a brand that listened to the player. But when Andy Powers became Taylor’s Master Guitar Designer over a decade ago, this mindset became even more central, evolving Taylor into something remarkable: a global guitar brand with the mindset of a bespoke luthier. Now a brand new Guitar.com Presents film gets to the heart of what this really means.

• READ MORE: How Taylor Guitars became the world’s most innovative guitar brand

In Taylor Guitars: Crafted To Inspire we head to Taylor’s HQ in El Cajon, California, and sit down with both Powers and other members of the Taylor team to explore exactly what it means to bring the in-depth, player-centric mindset of a one-of-one luthier and how that can be scaled up to make better instruments for thousands of guitarists all over the world.

“I’ve never lived in a world where there was a separation between the builder and the player,” Powers explains. “Whether it was building an instrument for myself, or building an instrument for someone that I’m sitting across from, or even building an instrument for somebody who’s half a world away, we speak the same language, and we’re seeking the same kinds of things, which is musical inspiration. ”

This mindset has reached new heights with the Gold Label Collection – a range of radical new guitars launched just last year that showcases the bold and unconventional way that Taylor is responding to the needs of musicians like never before. And the proof of this is not just in the instruments themselves, but the artists who have embraced them already, from signature artists Trey Hensley and Ben Harper, to Nashville musicians who would previously have never picked up a Taylor.

“But I have a lot of long-time traditional guitar player, pre-war guitar players who are knocking down our door to get their hands on one of these,” explains Jay Parkin, Taylor’s director of artist relations and partnerships. “Andy had the foresight to create guitars that sound and look incredibly familiar, yet they have the playability of a modern Taylor, which is like none other.”

But the real magic of Powers’ design genius can be found in the way that the innovations that he uses to make guitars that have a particular sonic and visual style can be redeployed to enhance and evolve other guitars in the Taylor range. This is seen most strikingly in the evolution of Taylor’s classic Grand Auditorium and Grand Concert Next Generation guitars – which utilise many of the innovations found in the Gold Label, but result in a sound that is much more classically Taylor.

“I love that musicians don’t all sound alike,” Powers explains. “We have different interests. We have different influences, different inspirations, and I enjoy that. I don’t want instruments to all be just the same thing.

Watch Taylor Guitars: Crafted To Inspire at the Guitar.com YouTube Channel. 

 

The post How Taylor Guitars captured a whole new audience by putting the musician at the heart of everything appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Def Leppard guitarist Phil Collen says producer Robert ‘Mutt’ Lange was “about 99 percent” responsible for the band’s success in the 1980s.

Lange has produced huge hit records for a large number of successful artists, with a pivotal example being AC/DC and their Highway To Hell album, but also for artists like Shania Twain, Bryan Adams, Muse, Britney Spears and Lady Gaga.

• READ MORE: Vivian Campbell confirms his cancer is back – but he’s continuing treatments and is “certainly not slowing down”

Lange worked with Def Leppard on their 1981 album High ‘N’ Dry, 1983’s Pyromania, and their fourth studio album, 1987’s Hysteria. In an interview with Meltdown of WRIF radio station, Collen is asked just how much Lange impacted their triumph back then.

“Probably about 99 percent. [He taught us] everything,” Collen says (via Blabbermouth). “He taught us how to sing, he taught us how to play guitar. He sings on every song we’ve ever done [with him]. He does backing vocals. He’s got the best singing voice out of all of us put together. And he sings on everything he does.

“I mean, I even hear him on Highway to Hell. His backing vocals are on that, and all the Bryan Adams stuff, Shania Twain stuff. Obviously, all of our stuff. And, yeah, you hear him on Foreigner, I think on The Cars. He’s got a great voice. It’s just amazing.”

Collen goes on to explain, “[Mutt did] everything. He’s the best producer in the world, [and a] songwriter as well. You’d come to him and you go, ‘I’ve got this chorus.’ He’d go, ‘Okay, well, that’s not strong enough for a chorus. We could use that for a middle eight or a bridge or something like that, but we need a stronger chorus.’ And he’d come and he’d write with us as well. So that was a great thing.”

Looking back on the making of Hysteria, Collen shares how Lange came up with the main hook of Pour Some Sugar On Me: “We’d got 11 songs, and [Mutt] heard Joe [Elliot] play an acoustic, and he’s like, ‘What’s that?’ [Joe] goes, ‘I don’t know.’ He [starts going], ‘Pour some sugar on me…’

“We went in, took about 10 days to do that song. We stopped everything, and Mutt just kind of orchestrated the whole thing. So he was very active in everything we did. And most of the bands that he worked with, he did that kind of thing with everyone.”

Watch the full interview below:

The post Phil Collen says Mutt Lange is “the best producer in the world” – this is how he helped Def Leppard rise to success appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Wolfgang Van Halen has responded to an old hate comment he received in 2021, in which someone suggested he would be playing his father’s music by now.

In a gloriously petty post, the Mammoth frontman reflects on his success over the past half a decade, and has quoted the words of his own father, Eddie Van Halen, about the importance of playing your own music.

• READ MORE: “He doesn’t want to be Ed Jr”: Why Alex Van Halen is “proud” that Wolfgang Van Halen doesn’t play his father’s music

On Instagram he shares a screenshot of the comment, along with the caption: “August 24 2021. The first Mammoth record just came out, we had just started touring, when this kind fella (along with many MANY others) said this. I jokingly responded, threw it in my calendar and forgot about it. Today is that day.

“Five years later. What a trip. And yeah, this guy is a dickhead, but I just wanted to say thanks for listening and sticking with me. I’m very proud of what we’ve built here and I intend to keep going until the wheels fall off.”

He adds, “I never planned on playing VH in any capacity when it came to Mammoth, and five years later I feel exactly the same. As my dad once said, ‘I’d rather bomb on my own than succeed with someone else’s music.’ Don’t ever let anyone tell you what you’re capable of. That’s for you to decide.”

Wolfgang has of course received a lot of support in the comments, notably from Phil Demmel who writes, “Receipts kept!” and Nita Strauss, who says: “Big fan of a spite calendar reminder.”

Check out the full post below

View this post on Instagram

Wolfgang has always been clear about his decision to not play any Van Halen material at his shows. Just a couple of months ago he said during an interview with 105.7 The Point, “If anybody’s been really paying attention, they know that I wouldn’t do anything like entertaining to play a Van Halen song,” he says. “I’ve been very forthright about not wanting to play Van Halen songs.

“I’d rather bomb playing my own stuff than succeed by shacking up in my dad’s legacy and playing Panama every day. It’s just not what I’m interested in doing. I like to have a little bit more artistic and personal integrity than that.”

Find out where you can catch Wolfgang Van Halen live on tour via the Mammoth website.

The post Wolfgang Van Halen claps back at old comment saying he’d be playing his father’s music by now: “Don’t ever let anyone tell you what you’re capable of” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Back in 1966, Jimi Hendrix – arguably the greatest guitarist who has ever lived – plugged into a Marshall Super 100 for the first time. It began his love affair with the legendary British amp maker, with whom he became synonymous during the later years of his career.

Marshall amplifiers powered many of Hendrix’s most iconic performances, including his landmark closing set at Woodstock 1969, and his show at Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, when he famously set his Fender Stratocaster on fire.

It’s only right, then, that 60 years after that first spark, Marshall should do something big to celebrate.

• READ MORE: Captured by a drama student who snuck onstage, new rare footage of Jimi Hendrix’s legendary 1969 Woodstock show has surfaced online

In fact, Marshall has been celebrating 60 years since it collided with one of the world’s greatest players for much of 2026 already. In May, the firm unveiled a collection of cosmic-inspired purple-and-black guitar gear, including a 1959 JMH Half Stack based on Jimi’s rig, a reskinned Acton III Bluetooth speaker and a limited-edition Fuzz Face pedal.

Now, the company has expanded its Hendrix 60th Anniversary collection with a new pair of headphones, a Bluetooth speaker, and another amplifier. Each sports the same purple oil-on-water design as previous items in the 60th Anniversary collection.

First up is a new pair of over-ear Major V headphones, boasting a rugged, foldable design, and purple-and-black colour scheme that extends throughout the inner headband and ear cups, and a battery that lets fans “listen to days of Hendrix tracks on a single charge”.

Next is a limited-edition Emberton III Bluetooth speaker, with a silver all-seeing eye motif, purple LEDs, and a silicone sleeve that’s been hand-dipped using a water transfer print, making each piece unique. A full day of listening is offered on a single charge.

Credit: Marshall

But the pièce de résistance of the collection is a stunning new portable JMH Studio amplifier, which reimagines the design of the classic Studio Vintage amp.

Produced at Marshall’s factory in Bletchley, UK, the Hendrix 60th Anniversary JMH Studio is built using quality plywood wrapped in black Tolex, the same black-and-purple psychedelic pattern, a purple LED indicator, silver beading woven throughout and an all-seeing eye badge, which pays homage to Hendrix’s fascination with the “third eye and expanded vision”.

“The story of Jimi and Marshall has always been personal to me because I first heard it from my dad, Al Hendrix,” says Jimi’s sister, Janie Hendrix. “Dad was there and shared those memories with me, so I carry that story only one degree from its source.

“Jimi was always searching for a sound that did not yet exist, pushing beyond what anyone thought an electric guitar could do. Marshall gave him the power and freedom to turn those bold ideas into a sound the world had never heard before. Sixty years later, that connection between Jimi and Marshall still speaks to new generations of musicians who are pushing creative boundaries and searching for their own sound.”

Pricing & availability

The Hendrix 60th Anniversary Major V headphones and Emberton III Bluetooth speaker are available now direct from Marshall, priced at £129.99 and £149.99, respectively. They’ll also be available at selected retailers from 9 September. Meanwhile, the JMH Studio Edition Bundle will be available from 9 September from Marshall.com and selected retailers, priced at £1,749.99.

Learn more at Marshall.

The post Marshall celebrates 60 years since Jimi Hendrix first plugged into a Super 100 with a stunning purple-on-black JMH studio amp appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Ad feature with StewMac

We all know the myth of the ‘endgame guitar’ – it’s rare that one single instrument is the final piece of the puzzle for your rig. But there’s a good chance you’ve got some idea of what your perfect guitar might be, and there’s an equally good chance this perfect guitar isn’t just hanging on the wall of a guitar shop. Maybe it has some wild arrangement of specs and features that you’ve been hunting down for years – maybe it’s a more standard guitar with your own stamp on it. In any case, let’s explore how you can follow in the footsteps of Eddie Van Halen and Tom Morello and assemble that perfect guitar from parts.

Parts unknown

The two most important parts of a part guitar are, of course, the body and the neck. Making sure you’ve got a good match between the two, and the right sort of body for the kind of instrument you want to make, is crucial. There are a lot of options out there, either via the custom body route or official Fender parts – you could even salvage a body or neck from an existing instrument.

The most important thing a body defines is what kind of bridge you work with in the end. Broadly speaking each kind of bridge commonly found on Fender-style instruments presents a different level of challenge when it comes to getting assembly right. The least confounding is the straightforward hardtail setup – this includes Telecaster-style bodies with a full bridge plate, and bodies designed for shorter hardtail bridges, like the Telecaster Deluxe or Hardtail Stratocaster bodies. You can also find custom bodies in all sorts of shapes that accommodate various styles of hardtail bridges.

You then have the Stratocaster-style block vibrato – this requires a bit of finesse, but as long as the body you find has high-quality mounting holes already drilled (or you have a steady drilling hand), it’s not that bad. After this is the offset-style vibrato found on Jazzmasters and Jaguars, which requires a good deal of accuracy to get a well-performing string path, and of course is infamously fiddly even once it is assembled.

The blank neck for the project.

Today I’m working with a Telecaster-style body and a Fender neck, both relic’d. The Tele platform is, as I mentioned, relatively straightforward, but it’s not without its own challenges – regardless, it’s a good place for a beginner to start thanks to the lack of a vibrato with moving parts and extra things to align.

Start with the Finish

The body in question – without any shielding, electronics or hardware.

If it’s your first time assembling a parts guitar, then it’s probably a good idea to get a body and a neck that are already finished. The art of finishing is by no means inaccessible, but it can be a big hurdle for first-timers – there’s a lot that can go wrong, and depending on what kind of finish you opt for, the process itself can require a lot of practice and patience.

Getting pre-finished parts takes that worry out of the equation, but if you are keen to give it a go, StewMac has some excellent in-depth guides and info on the various finishing processes you can apply to get the right look for your guitar – just remember, don’t ever rush it!

Pickup some ideas

What kind of body you choose will define what kind of pickups you can go for – some bodies are more flexible than others, with swimming-pool routes that allow for any and all pickups, while some – like the more traditional Tele-style body we have today – won’t take non-standard pickups without serious modifications.

To help make the decision, it’s good to work backwards from the kinds of sounds that you want your perfect guitar to be capable of – do you want vintage PAFs? Full-throated Wide Range humbucker tones? Spanky single-coils? Thanks to the very wide world of aftermarket pickups, there are options that incorporate a wide range of sounds into all sorts and sizes of pickups. Getting a Tele doesn’t chain you to single-coils, for instance, as there are single-coil-sized humbuckers designed specifically for them.

If you need some inspiration, StewMac has a huge stock of various pickups, ranging from lovingly recreated PAF-style humbuckers to active EMGs, from vintage Tele single-coils to powerful blade pickups. For our purposes today we’re sticking with StewMac’s own vintage-style Tele single-coils.

Shields up

The same body, shielded with copper tape. All of the separate cavities shielding parts have been joined with a wire or a strip of shielding tape.

If you’re keen to cut down on hum, you’ll want to shield the body cavities with conductive tape or paint. When the shielding is connected to ground, it works as a faraday cage, protecting the signal-generating parts of the guitar from external noise.

I opt for conductive tape. The Tele body in particular presents the fun challenge of getting all of the different cavities connected, and for that I use either a strip of tape between the two cavities that are hidden by the pickguard, and a jumper wire to connect these to the control cavity. Similarly the bridge plate is connected to the electronics’ ground via a stripped wire, sandwiched between it and the body.

Check the fit

Of course pickups are often fitted into pickguards, and one thing you quickly learn when assembling a parts guitar is that eventually, something just won’t fit, especially if you’re using a smorgasbord of parts from different brands.

Doing a dry fit is always a good idea, even if your body already has pickguard screw holes. If it doesn’t, it’s good to position the guard with everything installed before marking and drilling, just so you know that it’ll be properly aligned without any components crashing into cavity walls and so on. You may find you need to plug existing pickguard screw holes and re-drill them, or shave off a millimetre of pickguard to let a pickup through – just be careful, go slowly, and remember the age-old adage: measure twice, cut once.

And talking of things fitting – you’ll want to check that your neck is the right kind. If you’re building a Telecaster-style guitar, a traditional Tele pocket is designed for a square heel. Hence a Telecaster-style neck will fit in a Strat-style pocket (with a little gap), whereas a Strat-style neck’s rounded heel means it won’t fit in a Tele-style pocket!

The neck, ready for mounting holes to be drilled. I’m using a cardboard caul to ensure the frets aren’t damaged by the pressing motion, and a concave curved piece of wood to keep the neck itself as vertical as possible.

The neck I’m using today also doesn’t have any mounting holes. And so I get the bridge installed, loosely string up an outer E to ensure alignment, and then clamp it in place, using a cardboard caul. Once I know the neck is aligned properly I mark the positions for the screw holes with the sharp end of a brad-point bit, and unclamp it all so I can drill them straight and true with a press – you’ll want to use a bit that’s the same diameter or very slightly larger than the shank of the neck pocket screw you’re using.

For more on what fit and alignment issues you might run into, check out StewMac’s full guide to assembling a parts guitar here. In fact, little like the measure twice, cut once adage, there’s not really too much reading you can do before embarking on a project like this!

Hardware and electronics

The body and neck we’re using today are relic’d, and so to complete the look of an aged guitar we can grab some aged hardware to match. StewMac has a veritable treasure-trove of ready-aged hardware, including a lovely Gotoh bridge that has a super vibey vintage aesthetic but also compensated saddles to keep things in tune. The Kluson tuners are an easy fit and also come pre-aged, so they don’t stick out like a sore thumb next to the aged Fender logo!

Of course, you may not like the relic vibe, or want to add a bit of modern panache to proceedings – that’s fine too, as of course this is your guitar that you’re making! There are lots of different modern options, each of which is suited for different aesthetic tastes and playstyles.

The guitar’s control plate, all wired up. Here the pickguard screws are yet to be drilled, as I want to ensure the pickguard will key against the completed control plate before I commit to a location for it.

Once everything else is ready, I assemble the guitar’s electronics on the control plate – once it’s all wired up I give it the old screwdriver tap test to check that the switch and controls work. All this involves is plugging in and tapping the pickups with something metal, just to establish that the guitar makes the right signals in different switch positions, and the controls actually function – it’s good to check this before you get everything strung up and ready to go.

All together now

So that’s it all assembled – there are, as with all things guitar, a lot of improvements you can make to a simple parts instrument – once it’s working and making sound, there’ll be a long process of dialling in the action, neck relief, pickup height and so on to get it playing its best. It’s rarely a case of just bolting a body onto a neck and calling it a day, but the process is absolutely not beyond the average enthusiastic guitar-modder! Building a parts guitar is a great way of getting an instrument with your stamp on it, and when playing it you’ll feel even more connected to it knowing it was your handiwork that brought it into being.

For more on assembling parts guitars, check out StewMac’s full guide here.

 

The post The magic of partscasters – build your perfect guitar yourself appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Two Les Paul Customs, three cabinets, 12 pedals, 13 microphones and a bicycle. When Russian Circles opened their U-haul truck outside of a California hotel in 2021, they found that all these things and more had been stolen from them overnight. As if that weren’t calamitous enough, they were about to start the biggest tour of their lives, supporting System of a Down and Korn in stadiums, and were 2,100 miles away from their then-base of Chicago. The only thing that could have been worse was if someone had died.

• READ MORE: Meet the little-known boutique builder who makes the secret weapons behind some of metal’s most brutal guitar tones

“It was an ‘Oh, shit’ moment, obviously,” remembers guitarist Mike Sullivan, talking to me from his home in Los Angeles. “Right away, your brain goes into survival mode. We’re in fucking Bumblefuck, California! Who do we know around here? How do we get their gear? How do we reach out to these people? Despite being on a huge tour at the time, there weren’t many people looking to help us out in that world.”

The instru-metal trio took whatever they could to carry on. Chelsea Wolfe lent Sullivan her Dunable Gnarwahl guitar. Hiwatt, a company they’d never worked with before, let them borrow some amps. They overcame – playing the shows, crowd-sourcing $60,000 (£45,000) and getting some of their stuff back in 2024 – but the incident reinvented Sullivan’s rig. Five years later, Dunable and Hiwatt are his go-to manufacturers.

“I was desperate for anything that sounded like a Les Paul. Anything with humbuckers and a glued neck would have sufficed,” he recalls. “But the Gnarwahl was such a cool-looking instrument, which sounded and felt great, and I was hooked on it. It’s a fun guitar to play. You don’t feel weighed down: it’s so ergonomic for tapping.

“I was blown away by how good the Hiwatt sounded,” he adds. “It took pedals so well. All these pedals that I thought I needed no matter what, I started tossing them out of the pedal chain. Less is more. When your blueprint tone, your foundation, is that fucking good, then you don’t need as much garbage to polish the turd.”

Image: Press

Cutting The Chaff

Hearing Sullivan talk about discarding pedals is like hearing Father Christmas talk about laying off elves. Since he co-founded Russian Circles in 2004, the guitarist’s penchant for pedals has become a cornerstone of the band’s identity. Many of their songs are centred around his loops, which help the three-man lineup, completed by drummer Dave Turncrantz and bassist Brian Cook, build bulletproof walls of noise.

Their approach is so ear-grabbingly loud, and Sullivan’s playing so immediately melodic, that they’ve transcended the insular post-rock scene which ensnares most modern instrumental rockers. As well as Korn and System of a Down, they’ve toured with Tool and Mastodon. Gojira’s Christian Andreu sports their merch onstage, ex-Killswitch Engage singer Howard Jones has touted them in interviews and Converge guitarist Kurt Ballou produced their four latest albums, including their brand-new ninth, aptly titled Nine. The soft-spoken Sullivan almost sounds uncomfortable with the elite company.

“After doing the System of a Down/Korn tour, I’ve never been more proud to be part of the underground,” he says. “Some of the stories are jaw-dropping. I have a lot of good things to say about Korn. System of a Down? Next question.”

Certain fans have talked about Nine as if it’s Russian Circle’s mainstream moment, pointing out the increased synths and electronics on the single Eluvial. But Sullivan only leaned further into his underground proclivities, such as on the punishing Empath and Seventh Seal. After being inspired by metal bands Pantera and At the Gates for 2022’s Gnosis, he went even deeper, turning to cult UK death metal luminaries Bolt Thrower.

“Death metal tremolo picking can be very vocal,” he explains. “It’s very minimal as far as melody. It’s a hummable, simple melody. It’s similar to black metal, where you can hold the chord shape and keep different voice lines interweaving in a cool way. You can rub an open string against a fretted string and create tension, a breathing pulse to the melodies.”

Unconventional Sources

Sullivan’s a metalhead at heart: he has a vinyl copy of Sabbath Bloody Sabbath on the table next to him and a 1981 Dean ML on his wall, in tribute to Dimebag Darrell. To understand the essence of his guitar playing, though, you need to know about obscure math-rockers Don Caballero. Like Russian Circles, they were an instrumental three-piece whose guitarist, Ian Williams, used tapping and loops. Sullivan saw them in Chicago after moving there to study and was floored.

“I came from the world of [punk legends] Fugazi, where many people were like, ‘Pedals? We don’t need pedals! Do it with your fingers!’” he says. “So the first pedal I ever had that I used in a band was a looper, and then a friend showed me, ‘Hey, you ever mess with a delay pedal?’ I’m like, ‘Not really. Let me try it out. Oh, this is fucking awesome! Alright, what does a tremolo pedal do? Oh, reverb’s great! Oh, the volume pedal!’”

He admits that his approach to distortion is pedal-first, “not out of preference, but utility”: “If I had my way, I’d probably draw upon a distorted amp channel and then boost it if need be. But I switch between gain stages so much. I want the decay of delay to bleed through. If I change channels on-amp from clean to dirty, the delay trails will be bumped up to a distorted signal, and I don’t want that. I want the delay to be after distortion, always.”

Seeing What’s Important

By the 2021 robbery, his fixation had become a bit much. “I had a bunch of tone sweeteners, like Klon clones and shit, and EQ sculpting devices that I just didn’t need,” he laughs. “Too many things were taking up space and compromising the tone.”

But Sullivan’s setup has always revolved around the looper. Be it a Les Paul or a Gnarwahl, he uses instruments with humbucker pickups so he’s not stacking layer upon layer of feedback. The Hiwatt amps have plenty of headroom so the loops don’t “collapse”. Unfortunately, other drawbacks can’t be circumvented. Mistimed loops force drummer Turncrantz to adjust or improvise.

“It’s all on me if it fucks up,” the guitarist admits. “It’s more about, do I know how to cheat to get the loop or the phrase sampled? If a loop’s awful, I’ll find a way to bury it and do some work-around.”

While making Nine, Sullivan was in his element. He recorded guitars at Ballou’s own studio God City in Salem, Massachusetts, where he experimented with so many models and bits of gear that he can’t remember what was used where. What he can say for certain is that he wrote some of the album with his favourite guitar, the 1985 Les Paul Custom that was stolen in 2021 then returned to him.

“All Les Pauls are a little bit different, and that one looks like it saw action in the Civil War,” he grins. “It’s falling apart, there are stress cracks everywhere, but it’s the most resonant guitar I’ve ever played. It just shakes for you and you can really feel it respond.”

He also dabbled in a variety of tunings. “I’ve always hovered around DADGAD tunings or that relative setup. The lowest [on this album] is DADGAD but tuned down to A. Other ones are that same shape of DADGAD but in B.”

Get Low

Across Russian Circles’ career, as the guitar influences have grown heavier, the tunings have got lower. Although Sullivan’s always imbued his riffs with a Sabbath-esque sludge, the early albums were much higher, in D or C-sharp. It’s a bit of a pickle for a man who tells me “I don’t like changing guitars during a set”.

“There’s enough changing pedals and settings, so to change guitars and all that takes so much time, and I end up getting gum in my hair or something like that while I’m doing it,” he elaborates. “It’s a fucking trainwreck.”

Then why do you use so many different guitars and tunings in the studio?!

“Oh, I fuck myself over at every opportunity. If you only knew. If there’s a fork in the road, I seem to always take the more difficult route.”

He may self-deprecate, but the more difficult route clearly pays off. You don’t get to support Korn and System of a Down by not knowing what you’re doing. As our conversation turns towards the future, Sullivan tips his hat to Mastodon for gradually getting bigger without compromising their musical vision. Given he’s still attached to his extreme metal and math-rock touchstones, even after getting a taste of stadiums, surely he wants the same thing?

“If it happens, that’d be awesome, and I’d be happy to go that course our own way,” he answers. “But we’re proud to be on an independent label. I’ve had endorsees turn me down because we’re not on late-night talk shows and tell me I’m ‘not pushing the brand hard enough’. We’re not going to be on a late-night talk show, and if we are, I don’t want that to matter if I get an endorsement or not. I’m fortunate that I have the ability to play, I get to play and people care enough to hear our records. That’s a good spot to be in.”

Nine is out on 28 August via Sargent House.

The post “Right away, your brain goes into survival mode” how having all his gear stolen led to Russian Circles’ Mike Sullivan reinventing his approach to guitar appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Back in 2019, Dave Mustaine revealed that he had been diagnosed with throat cancer. In the limbo between his diagnosis and being declared cancer free in January of the following year, plenty of people reached out to the Megadeth frontman offering their support – but the wise words of fellow cancer survivor Bruce Dickinson were what really helped pull him through.

Just like Mustaine, the Iron Maiden frontman was also confronted with a throat cancer scare at the end of 2014. With Dickinson getting the all-clear in 2015, he was keen to share some advice with his heavy metal comrade. “Bruce had some fantastic stuff to say as a cancer survivor,” Mustaine explains to Metal Hammer in a new interview.

“There’s a big difference between someone saying, ‘You’re in my thoughts and prayers’, versus somebody who goes into detail about his treatment and tells you about the outcome,” he adds.

• READ MORE: The time Jimi Hendrix met Paul McCartney at a fancy event, and couldn’t handle it: “Paul McCartney’s walking towards me… What shall I do?”

Considering Dickinson cam out the other side of his diagnosis, it felt like proof that Mustaine could come out the other side too. “I needed hope, and he gave me it,” he says. To keep spirits high, the Iron Maiden icon also encouraged Mustaine to “surround [himself] with good people” and to focus on “spending time with people who are upbeat and positive”.

Mustaine also reflected on Dickinson’s support in an interview with Forbes in 2020. As he puts it, Dickinson was one of the first people he wanted to talk to about his throat cancer experience. “After I was diagnosed, I thought, ‘I want to call Bruce,’” Mustaine said. “It’s not like I have a whole Rolodex of rock friends that sing heavy metal music that have throat cancer… so my choices were limited.”

“I was pretty proud of Bruce after speaking with him,” he added. “Although we’re not super close, I consider him to be someone I look up to… When you’re a frontman in one of the biggest bands in the galaxy, you don’t really have to tolerate the frontman of the other bands very much, but he’s always been super kind to me.”

With Megadeth releasing their final record and currently in the swing of a grand farewell tour, Mustaine is feeling reflective. In fact, he is set to drop a new memoir, In My Darkest Hour, later this year in September.

For news on Megadeth’s final tour, head to the band’s website. Mustaine’s upcoming memoir, In My Darkest Hour, will also drop on 24 September.

The post “There’s a difference between someone saying, ‘You’re in my thoughts and prayers’, versus somebody who goes into detail about his treatment”: The simple advice Bruce Dickinson gave Dave Mustaine as he faced cancer battle appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Nearly 60 years after his death, Jimi Hendrix remains one of the most iconic and influential guitarists to ever live. Over the course of a relatively short career – with his heyday lasting between his breakthrough in 1966 and death in 1970 – Hendrix performed hundreds of shows, notably including his Monterey Pop Festival set, which saw him famously set his Fender Stratocaster ablaze.

Indeed, there are a few Jimi Hendrix shows that make a claim for his most iconic, but perhaps the most legendary of all was his closing set at Woodstock on August 18, 1969. 

The set included some of the guitarist’s biggest hits, including Purple Haze, Voodoo Child and Hear My Train a Comin’, as well as his landmark rendition of US national anthem The Star-Spangled Banner, which later became a defining symbol of the anti-war movement at the time the US was heavily involved in the Vietnam War.

• READ MORE: The time Jimi Hendrix met Paul McCartney at a fancy event, and couldn’t handle it: “Paul McCartney’s walking towards me… What shall I do?”

Though one of the most iconic rock shows in history, good-quality extended footage of Hendrix’s Woodstock set is notoriously hard to find. But one of the best clips of the show yet has just surfaced…

It was captured by 22-year-old drama student Albert Goodman, who successfully snuck onstage shielded by a friend carrying a guitar, according to Guitar World. He managed to set up his camera just 15 feet across the stage where Hendrix was set to perform.

Now, the footage has been uploaded to the official Jimi Hendrix YouTube channel for all to see. In the footage, Hendrix can be seen playing his biggest hits – plus his fiery version of the US national anthem, alongside his newly formed Band of Gypsys. 

The band’s lineup consisted of guitarist Larry Lee, bassist Billy Cox, Jimi Hendrix Experience drummer Mitch Mitchell, and percussionists Juma Sultan and Jerry Velez. Check out the footage below:

“Goodman was left alone, assumed to be just one member of the sprawling film crew who had surrounded the stage for the entire event,” reads the video’s description. “Armed with just two previously recorded, open reel videotapes, Goodman settled in behind percussionist Juma Sultan and prepared to document history.”

But that’s not the end of the story. After sneaking onstage to capture the awe-inspiring footage, as luck would have it, Albert Goodman was later given a ride by a driver who was friends with people working at the house Hendrix was renting nearby. One thing led to another, and legend has it Jimi Hendrix himself watched Goodman’s footage and approved.

The post Captured by a drama student who snuck onstage, new rare footage of Jimi Hendrix’s legendary 1969 Woodstock show has surfaced online appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.