BRITAIN’S BEST AMATEUR GUITAR BUILDER 2021

Tone International

It was with some satisfaction that I read

GUITAR BUYER’S GUIDE 2021

• A HAND-PICKED SELECTION OF OVER 70 BEST-BUY ELECTRICS •

The Jazz Age

The latest design from long-running British guitar makers hops on the offset bandwagon. But is the Gatsby great? We find out…

Top Of The Class

Laney’s unique Class A tribute to vintage British tone blends classic styling with a wide range of tones. You need to hear this!

Junior High

Oh dear, cut up your credit cards. Patrick James Eggle has sent us his latest electric vision :a boutique Junior with not an ounce of f lame maple or bling. Let’s rock!

the Wishlist

Dream gear to beg, borrow and steal for

Brave New World

With a decade of guitar making behind it, .strandberg’s new NX level Boden is both modernistic and superbly detailed. Oh, and it’s headless, too

Headless Norseman

The guitars built by .strandberg may look unconventional but they are designed to be more ergonomic and playable than guitars of the past, says founder Ola Strandberg

Acoustic Renaissance

For years AER’s Compact 60 amp has ruled as the acoustic player’s indispensable live companion. But now there is a challenger to the throne, and a very worthy one at that…

Design For Life

We talk to the Da Capo’s creator, Udo Roesner, about the thinking behind his new amplifier and how some of its upgraded features came about

Zelzah

Purple phase, all around: Strymon puts two vintage phasers in one pedal

Pig tronix pedals

A space-saving trio of cosmic tone-tweakers

TAE 10th Anniversary

Vintage Brit tone from a signature Spanish stompbox

Gas Supply

New Pedal Releases £Various

ALSO OUT NOW...

Guild has unveiled a tribute model for none

The Players

The latest news, views and happenings from the world of your favourite guitarists

Albums

The month’s best guitar music –a hand-picked selection of the finest fretwork on wax

Top Pick

Adam Goldsmith quizzes some of the industry’s most active session musicians on what makes a great pro guitarist – spoiler: it’s rhythm

Across The ’Board

With his Helix seemingly throwing a wobbler, Neville Marten visited That Pedal Show to suss out a new ’board for theatre shows and beyond

Fret Started

This month Alex Bishop dons his perfectionist cap and contends with the tricky process of expertly fretting a hand-built guitar

Amplifier Essentials

Simon Fraser-Clark of Laney tells Jamie Dickson everything you always wanted to know about amps (but were afraid to ask)

THREE TO GET READY

A trio of lovely Laney heads

Neither Major Nor Minor

Richard Barrett explores chords that break the major/minor mould and how distortion can be a worthy companion

Feedback

Your letters to the Guitarist editor. Drop us a line at guitarist@futurenet.com

The Shortlist

Guitaristwould like to commend and thank the following makers who all made our shortlist for the final and whose guitars were all a credit to their talented creators. Well done, guys

Pedal Dis-order

The rules are there to be broken, says Stefan Fast of YouTube channel ThePedalZone, as he experiments with alternative signal flow methods

Longtermers

A few months’ gigging, recording and everything that goes with it – welcome to Guitarist ’s longter m test report

SAMANTHA FISH

The fiery blues-rocker muses on cigar box guitars and mourns the loss of a treasured Fender amp

ORANGE AMPS

This British brand has spawned many a classic design since arriving on the scene in the late 60s

RESPECT WHERE IT’S DUE

Dave Burrluck uncovers a guitar from the 90s with quite the backstory and the need for some restoration

SINGLE MINDED

Why do we still put up with single-coil hum, asks one reader. Dave Burruck can’t help but wonder…

Benchmark Humbuckers

We catch up with Mark Stow at OX4 Pickups to talk quintessential PAF tone

ClassicGear

Morphing from Tele- to Strat-style design, the P-Bass remains an industry standard

Vintagelcons

This late-60s sparkle finish was highly irregular for Gibson’s successful electric hollowbody

GUITAR BUYER’S GUIDE 2021

•A HAND-PICKED SELECTION OF OVER 70 BEST-BUY ELECTRICS •

KK DOWNING

The former Judas Priest man is back from the wilderness with an album that flies the metal flag high. He told us about broken necks, Frankenstrats, the trouble with modelling gear, and the acrimonious split from his old band

CARMEN VANDENBERG

Retooling the blues, tearing up tradition, trading licks with Jeff Beck… Carmen Vandenberg is a musician in constant motion. We caught up with her in Los Angeles to hear about collaborating with the player’s player, kissing her guitars goodnight and beating the lockdown blues

THE NEW WAVE

Sometimes guitar design seems to evolve as slowly as a maple tree grows, little by little, with deep roots in tradition. But every now and then a storm comes along that uproots settled ways, and we are in the midst of such a time now. The good news is that players are getting better and more highly developed guitars than they’ve ever had before – regardless of genre. In the following feature, we examine why guitar design is undergoing a renaissance in the wake of the pandemic, rounding up the best of 21st century lutherie and talking to some of the prime movers in guitar innovation about the new wave of guitar and what it means for players everywhere

FORWARD THINKERS

From avant-garde to ergonomic, these rule-breakers dare to be different

SOPHISTICATED SWITCHING

Precise control and a wealth of tone at your fingertips

DOING THE MATHS

Tim Mills of Bare Knuckle Pickups used all of his ingenuity to marry the nuance of a vintage PAF with high-gain drive and clarity. The result is a next-gen humbucker called the Polymath

EVOLVED CLASSICS

Upgraded, enhanced and out of this world

RETRO-MODERN MASH-UPS

Revisiting the old-school for a contemporary take on classic tone

MAKING WAVES

PJD Guitars has become one of the largest guitar makers in the UK, as founder Leigh Dovey blends Leo Fender’s ‘production-line’ ethos with the quality of bespoke builds

PROGRESSIVE ACOUSTICS

Unplugged or amplified, these superlative six truly deliver

POINT TAKEN

Lee Wrathe explains how Ibanez restored its mojo with a new kind of high-performance solidbody electric designed to entice YouTube-savvy virtuosos. The result was the AZ family of guitars: less ‘pointy’ but just as powerful

DOMNIO EFFECT

As guitarist and bassist with Genesis, Mike Rutherford has a unique perspective on what makes the band tick. Here, he talks about the gear that has powered the band’s sound over the years – including a lowly £120 Strat – and reflects on touring for what may be the final time

Blues Headlines

Richard Barrett is on a mission to make you a better blues player – with full audio examples and backing tracks

Buyer Checklist

Buying pre-loved, secondhand or merely used is the most cost-effective way, in theory, to grab your dream guitar. Or is it? Used guitars can have numerous ‘issues’ and repairs can be costly. Reviews editor, Dave Burrluck, shows you what to look for…

5 Tips For Buyers

The high-street guitar shop is a theatre of dreams. Who hasn’t gazed longingly into the window of a guitar store and wondered what bits of heaven and earth they could move to get the guitar that lies behind the glass? Here are five tips to help you find a keeper

Under £1,000

EPIPHONE CORONET £349 A real contender for the

Musicstreet

Since the fateful day in the mid-80s when

From £1,000 to £ 2,000

FENDER AMERICAN PERFORMER TELECASTER HUM £1,049 This oddly

Richards Guitars

Richard Cholerton is the founder of Richards Guitars,

From £ 2,000 to £3,000

GIBSON LES PAUL STANDARD ’60S £2,199 Part of

Promenade Music

In the online age, Promenade Music in Morecambe

Over £3,000

VIGIER G.V. HOLLOW £3,459 Patrice Vigier and his