From the folks at Gibson.com – who do a heck of a lot better job with their website than their Fender counterparts – are these tidbits of WoodyTone detail about Duane Allman, Eric Clapton (his Gibby-related “woman tone”), and fleet-fingered tonemeister Joe Bonamassa.
George Lynch of Dokken fame tends to provoke fairly strong like/don’t like reactions from guitar-slingers. I’m a little perplexed by that, probably because I’m in the “like” camp. Obviously George can play like a house on fire, and his work with Dokken and particularly on the first Lynch Mob disc is simply great. He has [...]
The Edward Van Halen and Fender-backed “EVH” brand will soon be selling what they’re calling the EVH Frankenstein Humbucker – which implies that it’s a copy of “the” pickup in Ed’s first and main axe for many years, the Frankenstein, aka Frankie. That’s the guitar that was white with black stripes and then had red [...]
I’m a little burnt from writing my treatise for Monday’s WoodyTone entry, so here’s a WoodyTone-related roundup of “stuff.” Vox Reading Speaking of treatise, a new, definitive treatise on Vox amps is out – though the only person I can recall using a Vox amp in a rock context is Brian May. Kennedy Did Try [...]
Plus Sammy skull-cracks just about everybody (Dave, Eddie, Slash, Ronnie Montrose, Gary Cherone) – nicely! You may recall that Chickenfoot was the stand-in name, and now looks like the official name, of the Joe Satriani, Sammy Hagar, Michael Anthony, Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers) super group. They said an album and tour were coming [...]
Gibson must be doing well with their reproductions of famous guitars because it just announced another one: the Jeff Beck “blow by Blow” Oxblood Les Paul. Very cool if you’ve got the $$$. Gibson.com has the full story and specs but here’s the story behind Jeff acquiring the heavily modded guitar, which I didn’t know:
Yours truly scrolled through all 700+ Winter 2009 NAMM show YouTube vidoes (and a few others) to find the best vids uploaded so far – WoodyTone-wise, that is – and they are below, in no particular order. Tone-wise, my favorites are the Wizard amps – I believe Wizards are made by Angus Young’s roadie and [...]
First the disclaimers: I have nothing against Tommy Thayer, whose band Black ‘n Blue I really liked and who seems to do a good job filling the slot of one of my absolute favorite guitar players, the one and only Ace Frehley. Nor do I have anything against KISS, meaning Paul and Gene, one of [...]
Just in case you thought Jimi Hendrix played the entire album version of Purple Haze with a Strat – as if anyone would think differently – apparently he didn’t, at least for the parts on which an Octavia was used. This just in, from an interview of Roger Mayer by the folks at PremierGuitar.com. Here’s [...]
Gotta admit, the vid looks pretty cool – in a techy kind of way. What the heck is the Gibson Dark Fire? Until today, I had no idea other than it was a newfangled $3,499 MSRP Les Paul crammed with electronic gizmos, the shipping or QC (quality control) of which caused delays in shipping the [...]
Did Edward Van Halen learn tapping from Brian May who learned it from Billy Gibbons? In a recent (and very good) Guitar Player interview of Brian May, conducted by GP associate editor Matt Blackett, the topic of two-handed tapping (aka, right-hand hammer-ons) came up. Rather than paraphrase the whole exchange, I’ll quote it below – [...]
Some news clips of the week: Ace’s Album/Space News From Blabbermouth.net and HardRadio.com: Ace Frehley’s new solo album, tentatively due out this spring, will be called “Anomaly.” In an early 2008 interview with Billboard, Ace said about the forthcoming CD: “Basically I’m trying to get back into the mindset I was in when I did [...]
Steve Vai said on his website that a new Carvin Legacy amp, the Legacy II, would be announced in a couple weeks at the winter NAMM show. Well, the newest Carvin catalog is available on the Carvin site via PDF, and Vai is on the cover with his Legacy II. One download later, and here’s [...]
What’s the bigger crime: ‘Zep’ touring without Robert Plant or Jimmy, John Paul Jones and Jason Bonham never touring together again with any singer? First came rumors of the band trying out new singers because Robert Plant didn’t want to tour. Robert said categorically that he would not tour for at least 2 years. Then [...]
Stairway on a Tele? In the category of “how the hell did I miss this” is a semi-recent interview published on Gibson.com titled “Jimmy Page’s Recording Secrets.” Say what? Didn’t want to get my hopes up about learning some cool tidbits from one of rock’s masters of recording and composing, but I guess I did [...]
Full Wolfgang specs below! It’s almost time for the winter NAMM convention, so details about new gear are starting to come out here and there. One of the hottest items in terms of buzz is of course Edward Van Halen’s new EVH Wolfgang guitar. What Ed said about it to Guitar World’s fawning staff has [...]
Want a custom EVH Wolfgang? Buy a car. Edward Van Halen is selling two 1956 Chevy’s at the famed Barrett-Jackson uber-expensive car auction this month, and with each car comes a custom-painted EVH Wolfgang guitar – painted to match the cars. These will of course be one-of-a-kinds, designed and at least held by the man [...]
Devoted VH fans may know (should know) that Alex Van Halen coined the “brown” term now famously associated with his brother Ed’s woody guitar tone. Al used it to describe his snare sound, something like “brown, like beating on a log.” If that’s not woody, I don’t know what is. Al has probably the most [...]
Here’s the New VH Single/Vid: 50w?
Update from a reader (thanks!): Tattoo is is based on an old song, “Down in Flames” – check it below. “Tattoo.” Is it me or have we never heard a Van Halen tune like this before? If Ed used his “grail” Marshall Super Lead on this album, don’t think we’re hearing it on this tune! [...]
Breaking Down the VH NYC Debut
She’s the Woman! Cafe Wha – yeah man! Couldn’t wrangle my son and I an invite, so instead awaited the sure-to-follow YouTube vids. Fingers were crossed that the band would play some new tunes, though had to admit that didn’t make much sense since they hadn’t even released a tune yet. Anyhow, here’s what we [...]
Bonamassa Hears Clapton in EVH: You?
Lots of well-known axe-slingers are quoted in Neil Zlozower’s new (and awesome) Eddie Van Halen book. One is the current white bluesman extraordinaire, Joe “gingers o’ fire” Bonamassa. What he says is interesting, and not sure I can hear what he’s hearing. Bear in mind a couple things: 1. EVH has said many times that [...]
Have You Gone Extra Slinky Yet?
When I recently got an email from a WoodyTone reader – let’s call him Mike because…that’s his real name – I was stoked because I like light strings. I played 10s for years, then went to 9s after getting back into the whole EVH tone quest. With 9s I noticed that the notes “opened up,” [...]
If I ever had a doubt I’m a huge Edward Van Halen fan (never had any doubt, but…), any such insane thought was erased when I finished reading Neil Zlozower’s new Eddie Van Halen book. Yep, reading. Actually got a little emotional at the end of it (*sniff*), reading Nuno Bettencourt’s story about a recent [...]
Did Edward Van Halen have his MXR phaser and flanger modded to boost or not? The initial interviews are inconclusive. Exhibit A, from this recent post: I use a phase shifter, a Phase 90 – MXR, I think. It doesn’t really phase – it just kind of gives you treble boost, which I like. Cuts [...]
Last Cool Stuff From ’78 EVH Transcript
Here’s the last of the interesting stuff from the newly published transcript of the entire 1978 interview of Edward Van Halen that Jas Obrecht did for Guitar Player mag. Wish there was a lot more! Guitar Stuff The Shark/Destroyer Jas: Does it have a standard neck? EVH: Yeah. It’s completely stock, really, except for the [...]
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