This guitar is, of course, based on the Dave Grissom signature (lovely Goldtop DGT here and a special edition all Mahogany version called the DGT Standard here) model but it is from PRS’s Private Stock so the very best hand selected woods and appointments and I’m sure a price to match. Update I’ve just found out they are, wait for it… $15,000. Crikey.

Here are the specs:
One-Piece Quilted Maple Top
Mahogany Back
22 Frets
25″ Scale Length
Pernambuco “DGT” Neck
Honduran Rosewood Fingerboard
Mammoth Ivory Fingerboard, Headstock Veneer and Truss Rod Cover Purfling
DGT Tuners with Faux Bone Buttons
PRS Tremolo
DGT Pickups with Scuffed Gold Covers and Nickel Screws
Two Volume Controls (One for Each Pickup)
Push/Pull Tone Control and 3-Way Toggle Pickup Selector

http://www.prsguitars.com/

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“The DGT Standard has been in the works for the last year, and I’;m really excited PRS is doing a run of these guitars in a bunch of cool colors. My first PRS was an ‘85 all-mahogany Seafoam Green Standard, so this guitar brings everything full circle for me. After playing my DGT’s almost exclusively for the last 5 years, I wanted something that had all the features we worked so hard on with the original DGT, but with the sonic character of an all-mahogany guitar. The all-mahogany guitars are more focused in the mids as a general rule, and have a nice chime and growl as well. Paul and I both agreed that doing an all-mahogany version was the ideal way to get a great variation on the basic DGT without sacrificing any of the soul and features of the original. I got the first prototype at NAMM this year, and I have to say that PRS hit it out of the park once again!” – David Grissom

http://www.prsguitars.com/dgtstandard/

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Check out the Magneto Velvet here.

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Press Release
The Yamaha Guitalele is a miniature nylon guitar that looks and sounds like a ukulele, but features six strings and is tuned like a standard guitar up to an A (A/D/G/C/E/A). Chord fingering is the same for any standard-tuned guitar, but now guitarists can easily join the ukulele craze with a portable, playable and thoroughly unique instrument.

“The GL1 plays well and gives guitarists a fun alternative to their usual nylon string guitar,” says Dennis Webster, marketing manager, Yamaha Guitars.

The GL1 is currently available at a MSRP: $140.

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The new FGX700SC is based on the world’s most successful solid top acoustic guitar, the FG700S. The new FGX700SC features Yamaha’s impeccable build quality with an added cutaway and a one-way System 55T piezo/preamp system that includes a tuner, three-band EQ and an adjustable mid frequency slider. Like its non-electrified counterpart, the FGX700SC represents a phenomenal value.

“The FGX700SC acoustic guitar offers all the great features of the FG700S, with an added cutaway and preamp system,” says Dennis Webster, marketing manager, Yamaha Guitars. “Available in high-gloss natural finish, it sounds great unplugged and through an amp or PA system. Quality material, outstanding construction and tried-and-true value make it too good to miss.”

The FGX700SC is currently available at a MSRP: $483.

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The Road Show is a chance for the general public (about 400 of them packed into the Parade Theatre tonight) to check out what’s new in the Fender range and they had a display of about 30 guitars and about 10 guitar and bass amps to demonstrate throughout the night. The show lasted for 2 hours and included performances from the house band to demonstrate the various guitars in various styles but also there were more in-depth feature overviews in between the songs from James Ryan and Greg Koch. On display was the new Select series, the Kurt Cobain signature Jaguar and Mustang (the Nirvana tribute was great see the photo below) as well as the Modern Player series and some custom shop guitars including a very tasty looking 3 pickup La Cabronita Telecaster. Also there were amp demonstrations of the new Custom Shop EC Vibro-Champ and Tremolux the latter of which sounded fantastic especially combined with the Eric Clapton Stratocaster and it’s on board 25db boost. There were also demonstrations of the new Machete amp, the Super-Sonic and the EVH 5150 III 50 Watt Head and 2×12 Cab.

Another interesting guitar on show was the Modern Player Marauder which James played for quite a while and demonstrated the various tones, this guitar has a Fender Triplebucker in the bridge position which has 3 blades that allow you to get a lot of different tones and combined with the Modern Player Jazzmaster pickup in the neck you pretty much have the whole spectrum covered. The Modern Player guitars are made in China in the same factory as the Squier Classic Vibe Series which everybody raves about, apparently the quality control on these guitars is excellent and they are very affordable.

I managed to get a couple of videos from one of the last jams of the night ‘Crossroads’ and I really wish I had recorded more but I was enjoying watching so much I totally forgot!

Apologies for the portrait mode video I was clearly not thinking at the time due to the display of such great musicianship.

Thank you to Fender for putting on such a great event!

http://www.fender.com.au/
http://www.fender.com/

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I have not been disappointed in any way by the Polytune Mini, yes it is stripped down in the way of features but to be honest they are features that don’t affect me anyway, for instance on the large version of the Polytune you can change the display to Stream mode which is like a strobe style display and it lets you switch to bass mode too. The core features though are identical, fast precision tuning in either polyphonic or monophonic mode and in poly mode you can choose between standard tuning down to low B, Drop D tuning and in Capo mode up to the 7th fret by simply pushing a button on the side to cycle through and releasing at the one you want to use. Without these extra modes polyphonic mode would be limited to only E Standard.

Check out my demo above and I think you will agree this is the coolest tuner on the market today, it will be taking the place of my large Polytune pedal on my board so that I can squeeze my Corona Chorus on there!

http://www.tcelectronic.com/polytune-mini.asp

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BTQ: What’s your set up, guitar and amps when recording this project?
Steve: I started with my normal Musicman electric, and then used a Buscarino acoustic/electric nylon string guitar, an Ovation steel string, a Steinberger 12 string, a Musicman baritone guitar (tuned down to B), and a Line 6 Variax for a few parts, too. Amps… hmmm… not many amps at all. Everything I can think of at the moment was mic’d or direct. For my current projects, I’m enjoying the new signature amp that ENGL made for me, but wait, there were a couple of electric solos on a stock ENGL classic tube amp that I was trying out at the time.

BTQ: Do you have your own studio or did you use an outside studio for this project?
Steve: I used my studio. It’s a very modest endeavor, built for space rather than sonic perfection. There are some concessions to recording ideas such as no parallel walls, slightly higher ceiling, and walls separated from the floor by foam…….but it’s pretty simple compared to the professionally designed ones I’ve seen in some musician’s homes. I’ve become attached to my old board, which is still wired to my old Studer 24 track, so everything went through the board on it’s way to being recorded by the computer. The old Urei compressors still work, and are used on all vocals and clean guitars.

BTQ: I was a very big fan of the original Steve Morse Band albums. Besides music style difference, how does your guitar approach with Sarah Spencer differ from your solo productions?
Steve: My approach is always the same… to try to create some sonic depth. With distorted guitar doing melody, such as on my SM band albums, that usually requires having lots of different sounds, if only for phrase reinforcement, or bringing out an underlying part. Partly why my guitar has 5 different sounds that I always switch between! With this album (Angelfire), I wanted to have no distortion at all when she was singing, since her voice is so perfect sounding, so that meant combining different sounds that were clean. For instance, while I’m playing a busy arpeggiated part on the nylon string, one time I might add 12 string to double only the notes that are on the 5th and 6th strings, to accentuate and slow down the apparent density of what sticks out to your ear. So instead of hearing a lot of equal volume notes, there is a constant harmonic backdrop of arpeggios with a more sparse, ringing 12 strings, just loud enough to notice the difference. The material itself pushes you in a certain direction. For example, in the tune “Omnis Morse Aequat”, the clean guitars are being ‘wah’ed by rolling the tone control with my little finger instead of using a wah pedal. This gives the effect of unearthly brass and string accompaniment when it’s mixed right, which fits the stately nature of the tune. Another example, in “Get Away”, the riff was crying out to be played on the baritone guitar, since it’s in a key that seems too high for standard tuning without distortion, and the baritone with a clean sound gave it a slightly unusual framework.

BTQ: How did you record the guitar, mics, room amp or close mic, etc?
Steve: I close mic’d everything, using a large diaphragm Shure KSM condenser and a Neuman 47 for the voice. I tried lots of mics for the acoustics, and probably used the Shure 81 the most. I also used a tube direct going into the Urei 1176 compressor for direct stuff.

BTQ: What format did you record the songs on, analog or digital?
Steve: I used Cubase SX1, 2, and 3… the project lasted a long time and there were upgrades during the project. Cubase is very powerful and fits my needs fine. I find the German approach easy to understand and remember… after making some mistakes in the beginning, years ago. All software like this requires quite a ramp-up period of time to learn what to do. Basically, you have to be able to edit almost everything on the fly, or have a superhuman memory and ‘fix it later’. With Sarah, I simply had to decide which good sounding take sounded better, and keep it. There were literally 3 notes that I fixed of hers, so we ran no pitch correction, which always helps the naturalness, since it IS natural. I did de-ess some songs, and still don’t know if that was a great idea or not, since, of course, it sounds different on each system it’s played on.
My computer is a plain vanilla, electronics outlet HP desktop. Years ago, I used Apple stuff, but when my Mac fried, there was literally no place in town to get another and get back to work, so I made the big jump to PC stuff, which led me right to Cubase. Mark of the Unicorn A to D converters, and a few random keyboards I have around, and that was it. Van Romaine and his engineers in New Jersey, and Germany did the drums and percussion. He was touring and at home while he tried to get these tracks done for me… Thanks, Van! He uses Beyer mic’s, I think. Dave LaRue recorded his final bass parts at his home studio, and was pretty much direct with his 4 and 5 string Musicman bass.

BTQ: Being a guitarist, what foot pedals did you use on this project? Were there any in particular that really gave you that classic Steve Morse sound? Perhaps you can share a technique with the readers.
Steve: I don’t think I used a single foot pedal, and I usually don’t in the studio. One technique I did use was to double a part with the effect, say a chorus delay, on the opposite side of the dry part. Then, when you double the part, pan the doubled part exactly opposite so that on take one you have dry on the left, effect on the right… take two you have dry on the right, effect on the left. It makes it sound sonically complex without totally phasing out. The doubles need to be pretty close to make that work, since it’s best if they are the same volume.

BTQ: Can you explain how Steen Skrydstrup modified your amp rig with the ENGLS and how that has effected your sound?
Steve: The biggest way it’s affected my sound is that my rig never breaks during shows! It’s a great example of industrial quality trumping consumer quality. With my usual fat snake of long guitar cords, I could always rewire and troubleshoot any part of the rig. However, in this context, with limited time to set up, and lots of traffic on the cords, this heavy duty multi-pin approach is easier to set up… and amazingly, very reliable. In case you haven’t guessed, I haven’t had 100% luck with multi-pin systems in the past, but his work seems to be impeccable. I feel very fortunate to have a rig of such high quality from the guitar all the way to the speakers.

I love to see our old school guitar heroes incorporate the new digital recording technology with the classic analog recording techniques we all know and love. This is something that is near and dear to my heart. Since I come from the old days of analog myself, I’ve always felt strongly that digital recording needs the warmth of an analog mixer and vintage compressors to enhance the signal flow. This is exactly how Steve and I worked together on the instrumental track “Towers”, dedicated to the New York Firefighters who lost their lives on 9/11 at the World Trade Center. I recorded all of the tracks on the Ampex MM1200 2 inch analog tape machine and then dumped them down to Digital Performer via the MOTU 24 I/O. So when Steve sent me his solo tracks, I just flew them in the session and lined them up and mixed. I’m a strong believer that both digital and analog worlds compliment each other very well. I even encourage budding recording engineers who solely live in the box to go out and buy an analog ¼” 2 track tape machine to use for master mix downs to warm up the signal. Once properly aligned, you’d be very surprised how that makes a sonic difference!

About the author
Brian Tarquin is a Multi Emmy Award winning composer/guitarist and owner of Jungle Room Studios. Some of his accomplishments include, writing the theme music for MTV’s Road Rules, as well as producing music for many other TV shows such as CSI, ABC’s Making The Band, Extra, Alias and the Keanu Reeves film, The Watcher. In 2006, Tarquin opened his own boutique record label called BHP MUSIC, specializing in instrumental guitar music. Brian is also a featured music writer and has been published in magazines such as EQ, Guitar Player, Premier Guitar & Recording.

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Filmed in high-definition and recorded in DTS-HD Master Audio, Dolby Digital 5.1 and LPCM Stereo, it’s a total jam-packed evening of percolating percussion, soaring lead guitar solos and the kind of funky bass/drum action that has kept this band in the forefront of popular music for over 40 years.

Live At Montreux 2011 is a career-spanning show that covers all the bases: from Tito Puente’s “Oye Como Va,” Fleetwood Mac’s “Black Magic Woman,” Babatunde Olatunji’s “Jingo” and Willie Bobo’s “Evil Ways” to John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme.” Carlos Santana has always had a knack for making his cover versions become spectacularly his own. His interpretive flair reached its zenith with 2010′s Guitar Heaven which contains his scintillating take on Cream’s “Sunshine Of Your Love.” Add his numerous originals, including “Smooth” and “Maria Maria,” his signature style of inspired and spiritual guitar playing and you have the kind of DVD that burns with intensity.

Extras include interviews with Carlos and Cindy Blackman Santana, and a very special peek behind-the-scenes. Guest artists include the husband/wife guitar team of Susan Tedeschi and Allman Brother Derek Trucks as well as drummer/wife Cindy Blackman Santana. Over three hours long, this is the Santana concert his fans have been waiting for!

For forty years and as many albums later, Santana has sold more than 90 million records and reached more than 100 million fans at concerts worldwide. To date, Santana has won ten Grammy® Awards, including a record-tying nine for a single project, 1999′s Supernatural (including Album of the Year and Record of the Year for “Smooth”). In 1998, the group was ushered into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, whose web page on their induction notes, “Guitarist Carlos Santana is one of rock’s true virtuosos and guiding lights.” Among many other honors, Carlos Santana has also been cited by Rolling Stone as #15 on their list of the “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.” His last CD, Guitar Heaven… The Greatest Guitar Classics of All Time (Arista) was released in 2010. Celebrating that chart debut, Santana joined the ranks of the Rolling Stones as the only musical act in chart history to score at least one Top 10 album in every decade beginning with the 1960s. “Guitar Heaven” was Santana’s 29th Billboard Top 200 charting release, 12th Top 10 album debut and third Top 10 debut in the past 7 years.

Track Listing:
Disc 1:
1) Spark Of The Divine
2) SOCC
3) Back In Black
4) Singing Winds, Crying Beasts
5) Black Magic Woman / Gypsy Queen
6) Oye Como Va
7) Maria Maria
8) Foo Foo
9) Corazon Espinado / Guajira
10) Benny & Cindy Solo
11) Jingo
12) Carlos Speaks / Novus
13) Europa (Earth’s Cry, Heaven’s Smile) / I Want You
14) Batuka / No One To Depend On

Disc 2:
1) Duende / Open Invitation
2) Make Somebody Happy / Right On Be Free
3) Evil Ways / A Love Supreme
4) Sunshine Of Your Love
5) Smooth / Dame Tu Amor
6) Soul Sacrifice / Dennis Drum Solo
7) Samba Pa Ti
8) Into The Night
9) Love, Peace And Happiness / Freedom

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Most guitarists have a stage rig and a smaller practice amp, but the THR10 and THR5 provide a third alternative – an attractive amp with a multitude of capabilities that fits on a coffee table or desk and provides great sound for the times when a guitarist isn’t on stage. Fully portable, the battery powered THR amps feature Yamaha’s exclusive Virtual Circuit Modeling (VCM) effects, including professional sounding reverb, and realistic tube-like amp response. It also includes an input for an mp3 player and a USB direct input.

“If I had the THR growing up, I would never have left my house,” said Dennis Webster, marketing manager, Yamaha Guitars. “To have that incredible stereo sound with Yamaha’s VCM is a game changer for the personal amplifier business. The THR line-up of personal amplifiers combines the best of all worlds; sound, functionality, portability.

The THR represents a new category of guitar amplifier that comes bundled with Cubase AI6 Digital Audio Workstation and offers near-zero latency computer recording. And, when connected to a computer, it serves as a great-sounding monitor. The hi-fi stereo playback seamlessly blends with the guitar output so that it sounds like the guitarist is part of the band.

“This is the first amp of its kind and it performs so many functions extremely well,” said Armando Vega, product manager, Yamaha Guitars. “The THR offers tremendous value and combines the pedigree of Yamaha electronics with well-respected musical audio innovations to create a game-changing product.”

For more info head over to the Yamaha website.

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