Model Fender Classic Player ’60s Stratocaster Intro A very considerable step up from Fender’s lower-end Classic ’60s Strat, the Classic Players ’60s Stratocaster pushes Mexican-made quality into a whole new arena. The guitar, while being assembled in Mexico, was designed by none other than Master Builder Greg Fessler of Fender’s famous Custom Shop, and it [...]
Continue reading...27. February 2007
Model Fender Classic ’60s Stratocaster Intro The Classic ’60s Strat is Fender’s low-cost, Mexican made answer to the seemingly endless fascination we guitarists have with the Stratocasters of yester-year. While far from being on a par with its costly American made counterpart––the American Vintage ‘62 Stratocaster––the Classic ’60s Strat still manages to fill a particular [...]
Continue reading...22. January 2007
Intro The LTD EC-400AT Archtop is Japanese guitar maker ESP’s low-cost answer to the much more expensive Gibson Les Paul or even LP Studio. While it comes in two different finishes (Gold and Black,) the metallic Gold model is clearly aimed at guitar players like myself who long for the classically stylish good [...]
Continue reading...14. November 2006
Liquid Tones, Vintage Good Looks, 100% Tube Signal Path The Tube-Vibe is Effectrode’s homage to the classic––some would say historic––Shiftee U-915 Uni-Vibe pedal, which was first introduced to the U.S. back in ‘69, and went on to gain legendary status at the hands of many great guitar players, perhaps most notably Jimi Hendrix, who was obviously [...]
Continue reading...13. November 2006
Model Aslin Dane Bohemian Intro If Aslin Dane’s Bohemian looks familiar to you it’s probably because the guitar is essentially an unofficial re-release of the earlier Brian May Signature model (based on May’s legendary Red Special)––minus the artist’s actual endorsement. While the full story behind the relationship between Aslin Dane and Queen’s Brian [...]
Continue reading...16. October 2006
Light Weight, Coil Tapping, Double Octave Fun J3 Guitars hasn’t been around all that long––they introduced their first line of instruments at the Summer NAMM show in 2005––but I can assure you that the three men behind the company (all named John––hence the name J3) definitely know a thing or two about designing guitars. In fact, I’ve [...]
Continue reading...25. September 2006
Handmade Quality, Atomic-Age Styling, Delicious All-Tube Tone When I first stumbled onto Michael Swart’s handsome tweed Atomic Space Tone tube amp, via the Swart Amplifier Co’s website, I may have been instantly struck by the retro-cool look of his handiwork, but I had no inclination that I was gazing upon one of the best sounding tube [...]
Continue reading...22. August 2006
I suppose this will come as no great surprise to most of my readers, but one of the nicest benefits of writing at EGR is that I get to play a whole lot of great instruments that I’d probably never have access to otherwise. Call me crazy, but this is the greatest job in the [...]
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9. April 2007
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