REVIEW: Fernandes Ravelle Bass Deluxe
As a Fernandes bass owner myself I was looking forward to checking out the Ravelle Bass Deluxe, although it’s much more of a modern instrument than my vintage-style J-type bass. My beloved four-stringer is great for old-school R&B, Led Zeppelin riffs and the occasional Audioslave moment, and its modern equivalent is the Retrospect 4 X, an alder-bodied, maple necked bolt-on with single coil pickups.
In contrast the Ravelle is a much harder-edged beast, both physically and in musical intention. Shaped like its six-string guitar brother (also called the Ravelle), this bass has a sleek single-cutaway body with subtle bevelling and a few aggressive points that just scream ‘metal!’ The neck is of the bolt-on maple variety. It has a rosewood fretboard with a relatively flat 16″ radius, 22 jumbo frets and distinctively Fernandes pearl split trapezoid inlays, which will help you find your way while also linking the Ravelle thematically to other unique Fernandes designs like the Vertigo. The headstock features a hardy Graphtech Trem nut at 1 3/4″ spacing, and die cast tuning gears with buttons that kinda remind me of knee bones for some reason. Brutal.
Guitar Gallery Of The Day: Strictly7
Sure, Strictly7 don’t strictly make 7-string guitars – they also do 6, 8 and 9-string models – but whatever the string count, their guitars are incredible. Various production models are available with passive DiMarzio and Bare Knuckle or active Seymour Duncan and EMG pickups. Check out their custom gallery here, but make sure you check out their production models too – including their Ola Englund signature model (read Ola’s blog here).
INTERVIEW: Nick Catanese
It can be an intimidating thing to stand up on stage with one of the greats and be expected to match them lick for lick, night after night. But that’s what Nick Catanese does. As second guitarist in Zakk Wylde’s Black Label Society, Catanese has to keep up with Zakk’s killer riffs, hold down the fort when the Wylde one takes a solo, and even handle some pretty high-profile leads of his own when required. Catanese has a reputation as a hard-working, reliable player who gets the job done with efficiency, energy and stage presence. And although his role is mainly a live one, Catanese has put in the hard yards to earn a rather nice Paul Reed Smith SE signature model.
Catanese recently took the opportunity to redesign his SE model. The original version was a more modern-looking, aggressive black and red affair, while the new one has more of a classic look. “It’s basically the same weight, dimensions, frets, everything, but the red flame top, all the chrome, the Chrome EMG pickups… we’re trying to go with the ’57 Chevy look,” Catanese says. “But it has the same neck dimensions. I like thick necks. No fret markers. The thing that’s different with this one is, on my first one I thought I was being cool when I put red fret dots on it, which looked cool in the light, but when the lights went down I couldn’t see anything! I had no fret markers or dots, so I was pretty screwed!”
Musikmesse 2012: Gibson Custom Kirk Hammett Flying V
Everyone knows Kirk Hammett used a Gibson Flying V extensively with Metallica before he started using ESPs – and he still works with ESP, releasing several cool new signature models this year – but Hammett has also returned to his roots in the form of this new Gibson Custom V, a replica of his old axe. Continue reading
NAMM Jackson Custom Shop Pablo Santana 7-string for sale
Remember the killer Jackson Custom Shop B-7 7-string built by Pablo Santana which I wrote about here? Well it’s now for sale at The Music Zoo.
The guitar features a transparent purple quilted maple top, mahogany body, neck-through mahogany neck, ebony fretboard, 25.5″ scale length, inlays by Ron Thorn, EMG 707 humbuckers, Floyd Rose tremolo and black/gold hardware.
You can buy this killer one-of-a-kind axe at the Music Zoo’s eBay store here.
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