I had an amazing time, and it feels good to finally put this crazy year behind me… but of course, like any good guitarhead, I just had to buy a little six-string souvenir to bring back home with me.

El Requinto! Yes, it looks like a guitarra, but in actuality the Requinto is about 80% the size of a standard guitar, and it’s tuned one fifth higher than standard, making the tuning: A-D-G-C-E-A.

It’s a beautiful little instrument (built in the famous/infamous Paracho,) and it really helped to keep my fingers in good form while I was away from my standard arsenal of instruments.

Anyway, so far I’ve been pretty lazy about getting back to posting here (or at any of my blogs for that matter,) but I figure it’s better to wait until I’m motivated to write something good than to just phone something in for the sake of filling up space… right?

Thank you all for the well wishes, and the unending support and kindness. This great big worldwide community of guitar players and gearheads is a true godsend.

Here’s to a great new year for all of us…

–El Viudo

This is apparently a PR move to bring some awareness to the upcoming release (November 28th, 2008) of the new Fender Custom Shop limited edition Yngwie Malmsteen Tribute Series “Play Loud” Replica.

However, make no mistake; Fender isn’t giving away the new replica… it’s the older Signature Series Strat that is up for the offering. Still––a free guitar is a free guitar, right? Also, it’s no longer a matter of just giving Fener your e-mail and mailing address: now you have to create a Fender Profile.

Check it out at Fender’s Official Yngwie Malmsteen Signature Stratocaster Giveaway page.

So, I thought it might be high-time I did a reader poll to learn a little more about you… I hope this will help me better target my content to your needs, and maybe make us all feel a bit more connected (okay, maybe that’s a bit too “touchy feely” for you.)

Anyway, you’d be doing me a great service if you’d take a few seconds to fill out theses polls…

It’ll be nice to see just who it is I’m talking to!

Unfortunately, I’ve tried on a few occasions to get the good folks at PRS to send me an instrument for review, but so far they’ve been a no-show. So, we’ll have to let Modern Guitar have all the fun…

If you’re looking for a PRS with a vintage tone and feel, this might be the one for you––

…Based on the guitar’s size, weight and balance and excellent construction, we consider it a worthy competitor to a Custom Shop grade Telecaster. Paul Reed Smith has managed to build a new model that maintains a vintage vibe, yet still makes its own contemporary statement. The Mira’s hardware was also visually appealing in a highly polished chrome finish, with the tuning peg heads tinted black. Particularly nice is the PRS built chromed bridge that’s got a sleek art deco vibe going. Two black open-faced Humbuckers help complete the retro look, with a small toggle coil tap set alongside the tone control for an easy and intuitive reach….

The instrument ships with a hard shell case (black tolex,) documentation, and is fetching an MSRP of $2,960… I’m guessing we can expect street prices in the mid $2,000s.

Read the full review here.

First off, hey––I love a Bigsby! But bolted onto a singlecut solidbody bearing the standard futuristic lines of a PRS, not to mention that spiky headstock, this thing just looks all wrong to me.

Of course, the newly introduced Starla could turn out to be the bee’s knees, and I’m certainly not going to make any judgment calls when it comes to playability or tone until I can get my freakin’ hands on one, but I thought it would be fun to hear what you all think of this latest model from the good folks at Paul Reed Smith.

I’m not sure what it is about PRS that seems to bring both fanatic proponents and detractors out of the woodwork, but the comments on this blog get predictably strange whenever I mention one of their guitars.

So here goes… whatcha’ think?

They’ve got full specs on both the Relic and NOS versions of Gilmour’s “Black Strat,” along with the story behind the guitar, a timeline, and info on where to purchase this surefire collector’s item.

You might also check out the exclusive video footage from Gilmour’s upcoming Live In Gadansk CD/DVD.

Comfortably numb, anyone? Check it out.

Granted, these are decidedly cheap amplifiers, but as has been suggested in numerous reviews around the web, both of these Class-A tube amps offer a fair amount of bang for the buck.

Hehe, and you’ve gotta’ love Bob Dragich’s sense of humor––

Through the years, a number of amplifier manufacturers have tried their hands at producing budget tube amps. The problem with the vast majority of these items was that they were not primarily tube amps, they were primarily low-budget amps. Their main audio function was to give the listener the distinct feeling that a knitting needle was slowly being shoved through their eardrum.

The Epi Valve Junior, with its single 8“ speaker and five watts of power, is currently fetching about $150 out-the-door, while the Valve Special (10” speaker, onboard digital effects, etc,) can be had for about $240.

They’ve got some photos of the frighteningly scalloped guitar––masterbuilt by Custom Shop madman John Cruz––plus links and a calendar of events and such, but most interesting to me was the new “trailer,” which gives us a short but pretty entertaining look at the making of the instrument.

Bite marks on your Strat? Now that’s rock & roll.

Anyway, I won’t bore you with all of my apologies, but I thought you’d all want to know that the next episode in our frighteningly fun Great Tele Relic Experiment is about to unfold!!

So tune in tomorrow for Misadventures Of A Neck Surgeon, and I promise lots of pretty pictures, some detailed explanations of our pain and suffering, and a few good bumbles on my part, to boot!

And as you can see from the photo (taken last week,) I’m really enjoying the heck out of my ‘67 Gibson SG Special Reissue… finally got smart and dropped some heavier strings on her (11-49,) and now she absolutely purrrrrs. Good stuff. I think I’m in love.

For nearly two years straight I’ve been trying to get my hands on one of the new Zemaitis models, but as with many boutique instruments, they are incredibly difficult to track down outside of the larger metropolitan areas.

Priced at $9,000, the S22 is a top-of-the-line heir to the classic “metal top” design that helped put Zemaitis on the map, and while luthier Antanus Zemaitis himself passed away in 2002, Tokyo-based Zemaitis International has apparently done an exemplary job of living up to their namesake in terms of quality and design.

Of course, the feature that stands out most on the S22 is its gorgeous hand-engraved top and hand-machined Duralumin hardware (yep, that’s aircraft aluminum,) including bridge, tailpiece, control cavity covers, jackplate, pickup rings, truss rod cover, and headstock logo.

That’s a helluva’ lot of aluminum, and according to Vintage Guitar the rather weighty mixture of mahogany (neck and body) and Duralumin means the S22 absolutely sings with sustain.

The guitar also sports an ebony fingerboard with 12“ radius, Schaller machine heads, and a pair of DiMarzio DP103 humbuckers––oh yeah, and it ships with a deluxe hard shell case with aluminum handle.

You can check out the full review over at Vintage Guitar Magazine.

• Limited Edition Volcano – Reverend Guitars has busted out with a new Limited Edition of their low-cost, award winning Volcano––the aptly titled Volcano H90.

They’ve apparently swapped out the neck humbucker for a vintage-voiced P-90 (a GFS Mean 90 to be exact) dressed in a traditional humbucker form factor. Guitars are signed on the back of the headstock by Reverend President Joe Naylor. Strictly limited quantities available, and list price is running $769.

• Eastwood Tuxedo Copper – And while we’re on the subject of P-90s, Eastwood this week announced the addition of a new color option for its dual P-90 Airline Tuxedo model hollowbody.

The guitar, which is a tribute to the ’50s-era Kay Barney Kessel, is now available in Eastwood’s popular new Copper finish (see the high-res photos here.) Street price is still $849.

• EH Micro POG Demo – Last but not least, Dave Weiner has posted a new video demo of the Electro-Harmonix Micro POG over on YouTube, and it gives you a pretty good idea of what this diminutive pedal really has to offer.

I don’t know about you, but I particularly like what EH’s latest polyphonic octave generator can do with arpeggiated chords… super sweet.

Still, came across a few fun things this morning, and thought I’d drop you all some quick links.

•  Marshall 1992LEM – Yep, Marshall has produced a Signature Series Super Bass 100-Watt Head in honor of Motorhead madman Lemmy Kilmister. It’s a replica of Lemmy’s modified 1992 Super Bass, affectionately dubbed “Murder One.” Now that’s rock n’ roll…

•  New Electro-Harmonix Website – Finally… it’s as quirky as the old one, but not nearly as S…L…O…W… Video demos are front and center now, and the whole thing exudes a strange retro-futuristic psychedelic feel––kind of like Tron meets the Summer of Love… but I like it. Check it out.

•  Baritone Guitar Shootout – Oh yeah, and for those of you with a penchant tuning it down low, Guitar Player’s got a nice rundown of seven new baritone guitars, including the wonderful funky Danelectro Dano ‘63, the Eastwood Sidejack Bari, and the Gretsch G6144 Spectra Sonic C Melody… old-school style meets modern baritone goodness…. :)

If you’ve ever wanted to build your own pedal then I highly recommend you join me on this adventure. The complete kit from BYOC will set you back $69.99, and with their well-written directions you don’t need to be able to read schematics or have the engineering chops of a rocket scientist.

Besides the kit, all you really need are patience, very basic soldering skills, and a few simple tools:

1. Soldering Iron - decent quality, probably $20 - $30 from Radio Shack or the like.
2. Solder - a roll of medium duty resin-core solder, not too thin, not too thick.
3. Desoldering Braid - an easy way to clean up minor screw-ups.
4. Wire Clippers - something small for getting into those tight spaces.
5. Heat Sink - may not be necessary for this project, but good to have just the same.
6. Power Source - 9v battery, or ac adapter with 2.1mm ‘center pin negative’ powerjack.

If you decide to follow along, make sure you’ve purchased the right kit––BYOC sells three different compressors. I’ll be building the Optical Compressor: it’s supposed to be a simple build, and the sound quality is getting good reviews from other BYOC users.

I ordered mine last night, so I’ll probably start posting my progress next week, along with photos and basic directions. You’ll want to print up the full PDF directions from BYOC, though, so you can really follow along.

Oh yeah, I also picked up a few replacement knobs from Small Bear Electronics… I’m not a big fan of the small ones that BYOC is currently shipping with their kits, so I thought I’d grab something a little more to my liking. Small Bear’s got like 40 different styles of knobs, so you’re bound to find something over there that you like.

Alright, that’s it––next step, populating the printed circuit board.

I’ll be in the market for something soon––smallish, for maybe four or five pedals tops––and I like the idea of a board with a lid you can just snap on so you can take the whole thing with you at a moment’s notice.

Not sure if I want an integrated power supply, but I’d be interested to hear any thoughts you all might have.

Pros, cons, brand recommendations, things to watch out for… any and all suggestions are welcome.

For me it was love at first sight (as I think I mentioned in my earlier coverage,) and while I assumed this particular model had sold-out long ago, late last week I was pleasantly surprised to find that one of the major online retailers still had some of these beauties in stock.

You don’t have to tell me twice :) So this morning I up and ordered myself one… kind of a belated Birthday present to myself––the ‘67 SG Special Reissue w/P-90’s.

I’m having the guitar shipped 2nd-Day air, so hopefully you can expect some photos and early impressions on my new acquisition by the end of the week.

I’m excited––it’ll be the first Gibson I’ve owned since I sold off my beloved cherry red ES-335 almost a decade ago… I can’t wait to get my hands dirty. Mmmmm, P-90s…..

Just a quick note that Gibson this evening has finally published the official mini-site for their upcoming Slash Signature series of guitars, including the Custom Shop Slash Inspired By Les Paul VOS, Slash Les Paul Standard, and Epiphone Slash Les Paul Standard Plustop.

Lots of good stuff over there for the true Slash fanatic, including full specs, photos, and some nice Slash-related links as well. Check it out….

In this blogger’s opinion the American Slash Les paul Standard (list $3499,) is simply gorgeous.

It looks like my wait is over though, because the lucky folks over at Guitar World managed to get their hands on this bright orange beast, and there’s little doubt that they liked what they saw––

“Upon plugging into Channel A and striking a note, I was dumbfounded by what I heard. This was the sound of 200 glorious watts pumping audiophile-perfect tone through four 100-watt Celestions. It wasn’t just a loud and clean open E; this sound was massive yet, simultaneously, soft and enveloping…”

They go on to rave about the Thunderverb’s top-notch audiophile components (PCBs with gold-plated circuit tracks, anyone?) marriage-saving attenuation circuit––for dialing in serious gain at whisper quiet volume levels––and a plethora of goodies like a true tube-drive effects loop, spacious tube reverb, dual channels, and a Celestion-loaded 18-ply birch cabinet.

You can  check out the full review over at Guitar World’s website, but keep a tight clutch on your wallet… the Thunderverb 200 head is listing for a whopping $2,599.00, while the accompanying cabinet sells for a paltry $999.00.

The price we pay for “tone”…

The giveaway will apparently include a signed photo of Laiho, a copy of the new Children of Bodom CD, and a t-shirt, but of course the real prize here is the guitar.

The LTD AL600 features an Alder body, Maple neck (25.5“ scale length,) neck-thru body design, ebony fretboard with 24 Extra Jumbo frets, locking nut, Grover tuners, Floyd Rose bridge, and a pair of real Seymour Duncan ”Blackout“ active pickups.

Not bad for free, eh?

You can sign-up for a chance to win over at ESP’s official Alexi Laiho Guitar Giveaway page.