Seymour Duncan & Strictly 7 Keith Merrow giveaway
Seymour Duncan and Strictly 7 join forces for “The Strictly F#%$#@% Awesome Keith Merrow Signature Guitar Giveaway”
Strictly 7 Guitars recently announced the addition of the Spectral Keith Merrow Signature Guitar to its growing line of 7 and 8 string guitars. This guitar features the Seymour Duncan SH-8 Invader – a humbucker that has a well-earned reputation as one of the most aggressive passive pickups ever. To celebrate the launch of this new guitar, Seymour Duncan and Strictly 7 have joined forces to launch “The Strictly F#%$#@% Awesome Keith Merrow Signature Guitar Giveaway” Between August 20th and September 3rd, everyone in the world will have a chance to enter to win this guitar.
Enter to win the guitar here: http://bit.ly/PozviC
The Spectral Signature Series Merrow is built to the following specs:
Cobra 7 string
Neck thru
27.5 scale
Reverse inline headstock
Northern Ash body wings
5 piece flamed maple and walnut neck
Ebony fretboard
26 jumbo stainless steel frets
Black Sperzel tuners
Black original Floyd Rose bridge
SD Invaders
Single volume
3 way switch
Spectral inlay
Infinity Grey with full black binding finish throughout
Street Price: $2090 with Hipshot bridge or $2290 with Floyd Rose
REVIEW: TC Electronic Spark Booster
Many years ago TC Electronic released the Booster + Line Driver & Distortion. This classic pedal did all sorts of things and was favoured by players from Allan Holdsworth to Anthrax’s Scott Ian to add some oomph to their tone. The Spark Booster is the next evolution of that pedal, and while on the surface it appears to offer some of the same features, inside it’s a different beast.
COOL GEAR ALERT: ADA GSC-2 cab sim & DI
I’m sure a lot of us either have fond memories of ADA gear, or wish we had a bunch of it, or have drooled over the sounds that players have drawn out of units like the ADA Flanger, the Final Phase and the venerable MP-1 preamp. Now ADA launches the GCS-2, a guitar cabinet simulator and DI box which you can use with your amp or with a unit like ADA’s latest preamp, the APP-1.
Here’s the press release:
ADA’s new GCS-2 GUITAR CABINET SIMULATOR & DI BOX
WALNUT CREEK, CA – AUGUST 15, 2012 – ADA’s new GCS-2 is the quickest, easiest and ideal way for a guitarist to go direct and get the most real, dynamic and controllable guitar tone on stage and in the studio. Show up to your next gig and set up quicker – without a stack or combo in tow – and deliver through the club’s backline system. Get your feedback from your stage monitor and blast rich harmonics to the audience – all with better sustain and dispersion. A radical departure from the field of cabinet simulators, the all-analog GCS-2 uniquely replicates the low frequency natural resonance of a SEALED CABINET and, at loud volumes, delivers awesome driver compression and focus through any full-range speaker system.
INTERVIEW: Steve Vai on The Story Of Light
Steve Vai needs no introduction.
Your new album The Story Of Light is a bit of a departure and it’s been a while since you’ve released a studio album of new material. Where did this one come from?
I guess it came from the same place the other ones came from, but maybe a little bolder. I searched my inner ear more and I gravitated towards things that excited me, as opposed to some things that I thought should be on there. And it’s also the second instalment of a trilogy of records that have a story to it, and as a result the songs are built around characters and situations and events in the story. So when you have something like that to go by, it can inspire you to do certain things that you may not ordinarily do if you just sat down to write a song.
COOL GEAR ALERT: GJ2 Guitars Arete 3 Star
In response to demand for a stripped down version of a GJ2 Guitars‘ Arete model at a more accessible price point, the company has just announced the Arete 3 Star. It may look stripped back but this guitar still holds true to all of their values and attributes, including being manufactured in Orange County, California; neck through body construction using premium tone woods; GJ2′s own “Habanero” pickups and in-house made components. Each guitar is made in the same way as the premium models under the direct supervision of Grover Jackson himself. Continue reading
Les Claypool auctions bass for infant leukemia
BASS FOR BABY MATTHEW
A letter from Les Claypool
Hello there,
Two years ago my younger brother’s two-month old baby boy Matthew was diagnosed with a rare form of infant leukemia. Matthew has just recently celebrated his second birthday and as of this date he is a little over 60 days into his bone marrow transplant therapy. The bone marrow treatment is taking place at St. Jude’s Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee where the most cutting edge techniques are used. A few weeks prior to his transplant, Matthew was given a 0% chance of survival rating from Stanford Medical Center because they felt that they had exhausted their treatment options. St. Jude’s has been Matthew’s “hail Mary pass”.
Tommy Thayer shows off his Epiphone signature axe
KISS’s Tommy Thayer has a new Epiphone Les Paul signature model coming out soon, and you can see him putting it through its paces in this video from Guitarist:
http://youtu.be/ket_5LzuitA
Only one “I thought it’d just be an Ace Frehley model but taller” joke per reader, please.
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), Blunt, 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 Bandcamp or on YouTube, and feel free to email me at iheartguitarblog@gmail.com