REVIEW: Parker Maxx Fly DF524
There’s a perception that Parker’s designs have always been divisive: either you love them or you hate them. That’s not surprising, since they’re very futuristic and ergonomic – not traits you usually associate with a type of instrument whose most popular variants are still models designed almost 60 years ago. But there are plenty of players who sit on the fence when it comes to Parker too. The MaxxFly series is for them: futuristic enough to express the adventurous Parker spirit, but with plenty of concessions for those who prefer a more traditional feel too.
The MaxxFly DF824 is made of a solid alder body with a polyurethane finish, and the upper horn is more traditional compared to the radical Parker Fly design – although I kind of miss having the upper horn echo the curve of the headstock, to be honest. I dig the original Fly. The bridge is Parker’s own tremolo design, which pivots on ball bearings and has a removable but comfortable-feeling spongey bar tip. The bar itself extends a little bit further than most other guitars, and the extra pivot power helps to maintain a smooth feel in operation. It also positions the bar for some interesting effects such as tapping while operating the bar.
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Ibanez Premium 7-string!
Now, you guys/girls know I’m an Ibanez geek, right? And you know I’m an avowed seven-stringer slinger. And you might remember that I was well impressed by the Ibanez Premium series launched at NAMM this year.
Well…
BAM.
http://www.ibanez.com/ElectricGuitars/model-RG927QM
That’s the RG927QM, my friend. Five-piece maple/walnut neck, bound rosewood fretboard, offset dot inlays, American basswood body with quilted maple top, Edge Zero II-Z bridge, DiMarzio IBZ-7N and IBZ-7B pickups, Red Desert finish.
Ooooh yeah.
Calling Aussie Carvin Legacy owners
Hey, anyone in Sydney, Brisbane or Melbourne who owns a Carvin Legacy combo, can you contact me ASAP? My email is iheartguitarblog AT gmail.com – if you can help out it’ll totally be worth your while.
The Taylor Project – progress report
Hey! So my Taylor SolidBody has begun its journey from disparate bits of wood and metal into becoming an actual guitar! The guitar has been shaped and painted, and the pickup/electronics cavity has been routed. Next up: gloss, neck pocketing, electronics, etc., etc. And before long it’ll look like this!
But for now, it looks like this.
INTERVIEW: Joe Satriani on Chickenfoot III
Chickenfoot III. You know the joke by now: the band feels so comfortable in what they’re doing that they feel like they stepped over the difficult second album and went straight to the third. The band – Sammy Hagar, Joe Satriani, Michael Anthony and Chad Smith – are indeed in fine form on the newly-released album. It still sounds like the Chickenfoot who whipped up such a frenzy with their 2009 debut, but it’s at once more relaxed and more intense, heavier and more detailed.
The first thing that really struck me about this album was that there’s a really identifiable Chickenfoot sound. It doesn’t sound like a Joe Satriani album, it doesn’t sound like a Sammy Hagar album.
That’s great, I’m so happy to hear you say that. That’s something that I’ve always felt that we were very lucky to naturally stumble upon. But we didn’t want to overthink it or intellectualise it. Just do it naturally and let it happen.
This album is almost like an essay on the right hand of Joe Satriani – there’s a lot of great rhythm stuff going on.
As I was writing the demos for this record I was once again conscious of trying to not hold back and to use as much as I had to flesh out a lot of the songs. It’s a funny thing, because when we’re away, we’ll maybe be taking a flight somewhere and we’ll be talking about what kind of songs we like as a band, and that’s one thing, but when we get together to play there’s really no time for discussion or any of that stuff. We basically have to record very quickly, and everybody has to bring all their stuff to the table and just do it. And so I hate to talk about it and give the wrong impression and that we thought about it, because we didn’t, but I all I can tell you is that I prepared for the experience by making sure that everything I knew how to do was fresh on my fingers and ready to be exploited at a moment’s notice. So I like to say that I’ve taken all the good stuff that I’ve ever heard from any guitar player and I’ve tried to learn it and to use it and to understand it. So a lot of my roots come out when I’m making a Chickenfoot record.
Hi! I'm Peter Hodgson. I write for Gibson.com, Australian Guitar, Australian Musician, Mixdown Magazine (including my instructional column, 'Unleash Your Inner Rock God,' which has been running since 2007), guitarworld.com, Tone Deaf, Beat (including their weekly hard rock/metal column Crunch) and The Brag. And I'm Assistant Social Coordinator with Seymour Duncan.
I've been playing guitar since I was 8 years old, and I've been writing for magazines since I was 18. I've also worked as a guitar teacher (up to 50 students a week), a setup tech, a newspaper editor, and I've also dabbled in radio a little bit. I live in Melbourne, Australia, and my hobbies include drinking way too much coffee, and eating way too much Mexican food.
You can check out my guitar playing at Reverbnation or on YouTube, and feel free to email me at iheartguitarblog@gmail.com