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Cool Gear Page 1!
This is probably one of my favourite sections of the site as it is where I get to indulge myself completely and talk about GUITARS! Over the years I have owned many guitars and I have played even more. I have visited a great many guitar shops and tried instruments by many of the top manufacturers, both left and right handed (when you’re a leftie like me, you end up playing a lot of guitars upside down!). Below are some of the makes that I have cast my eyes and fingers over.
Axe Murdery!
Ibanez guitars have always been, and are still among my most favourite of instruments. They are also some of the most comfortable and versatile....Just ask some of their devoted users, such as;
- Steve Vai
- Joe Satriani
- Paul Gilbert
- Herman Li (Dragonforce)
- Sam Totman (Dragonforce)
- George Benson
- Pat Metheny
I have owned at least half a dozen and tried several others. I have found them to be reliable and infinitely playable, to look cool and sound great. I really don’t think you can ask for more in an axe!
I love Fender Strats! They look cool, sound great, and have a nice balance of weight and neck thickness. I’ve owned two Fender Stratocasters in my life: the first was a blonde USA strat and that was lovely. I was very sad to see it go, but sometimes these things happen. I now have a 3 colour sunburst USA strat and that’s not going anywhere! I have to admit that I’ve been somewhat less impressed by Fender Telecasters. Sure, they look cool and play pretty good, but I guess they just don’t suit what I like to do to a guitar and so I have to pass. Still, if you’re a country, slide, or blues man, check ’em out. After all, with guys like Albert Lee and Albert Collins back there, you’re in good company. Fender also make pretty cool Basses too. My father has a Fender Precision Bass and it’s a great instrument. It has a good solid sound and is pretty comfortable to play too.
Gibson are still one of the great marques in the electric guitar world, and with guitars like theirs around it’s not hard to see why. Sadly, I’ve never owned one myself but my father, Gordon, owns a Gibson SG and he swears by it! I’ve sneaked a go on it more than once and can see what he means. It’s an easy guitar to play and sounds pretty cool, in a heavy ’70s Iommi/KISS kind of way. I have played several Gibson Les Pauls (mainly when temptation got the better of me in music shops!) and found that I quite enjoyed the experience. I remember one in particular that was a 1982 custom with gold hardware. It had a thicker neck than I like but was still fairly easy to manage apart from being pretty heavy. Man, I can see why guys use wide straps with these things. Still it was a good guitar. My only problem with them is the cost. Too much for my liking I’m afraid. I had to settle for....Epiphone
As Gibson’s "poverty brand", Epiphone is very prevalent on the high street. This was the closest to a “real” SG that I could afford at the time and it has been pretty successful. The Epiphone G400 is almost identical in looks to some of the Gibson’s (barring the headstock shape, which is different) and it has a nice, meaty sound reminiscent of its expensive cousin. In fact, the only down side to this guitar that I’ve found is that, with the metal pickup guards, it tends to feed back unpleasantly on the bridge pickup unless you have a good deal of noise reduction on your distortion sound. Still, a very nice guitar indeed.
As Gibson’s "poverty brand", Epiphone is very prevalent on the high street. This was the closest to a “real” SG that I could afford at the time and it has been pretty successful. The Epiphone G400 is almost identical in looks to some of the Gibson’s (barring the headstock shape, which is different) and it has a nice, meaty sound reminiscent of its expensive cousin. In fact, the only down side to this guitar that I’ve found is that, with the metal pickup guards, it tends to feed back unpleasantly on the bridge pickup unless you have a good deal of noise reduction on your distortion sound. Still, a very nice guitar indeed.
I’ve only ever owned one B. C. Rich guitar and it was a Warlock. This is a very apt description for the instrument as it really was a beast of a thing. It was very heavy to hold and had a much bigger body than I’m used to, but oddly produced one of the sweetest sounds I’ve ever heard on a guitar, even on the bridge pickup. A 2 octave neck finished this Killer Axe off to a tee. Beautiful!
They have changed their range a LOT since I owned one, and the changes include the headstock shape (which I think is a shame, as I liked the old one!) but they are still turning out wacky-looking, "melt your face off" metal machines!
They have changed their range a LOT since I owned one, and the changes include the headstock shape (which I think is a shame, as I liked the old one!) but they are still turning out wacky-looking, "melt your face off" metal machines!
Yamaha is a company that I’ve had some mixed feelings about in the past but I still think that they make pretty good guitars. My father had a Yamaha RGZ620 many years ago and really enjoyed playing it. It was bright pink and had no fret markers of any kind—a real guitarist’s axe! What I remember of it (I was very young at the time) is that it sounded really good and I found its looks pretty striking too. I now have a Yamaha RBX270 Bass guitar and I love it! It’s light, easy to play, has a good action and a nice beefy sound which is what I’d expect. It is no surprise to me the number of top bassists that have signature series out with Yamaha (Billy Sheenan, Nathan East, and John Myung to name but three).
Now I'm moving on to instruments that I've not yet owned, but would love to! ESP make some absolutely amazing guitars, and many of my and my Father's students swear by them! It's not hard to see how successful and good they are as a maker; just look at their list of signature models! Here's just a taster!
You can tell by the list what these guitars do best; SHRED!!! Ironically though, in spite of being a fan of George Lynch, it was another player who recently sparked my interest in these awesome machines. Michael Romeo, guitarist with Symphony X, became known while playing an ESP M-II (stock model) and the sound he gets from it, as a Metal player with heavy neo-classical influences, is awesome! Sadly for lovers of ESPs he has since taken out a signature model with a lesser known company called Caparison (the Dillenger MJR) but those early Symphony X recordings are still special to me!
- James Hetfield
- Kirk Hammett
- Alexi Laiho
- George Lynch
- Jeff Hanneman (Slayer)
- Stephen Carpenter (Deftones)
- Gus G. (Ozzy Osbourne)
- Michael Paget (Bullet for my Valentine)
- Will Adler (Lamb of God)
You can tell by the list what these guitars do best; SHRED!!! Ironically though, in spite of being a fan of George Lynch, it was another player who recently sparked my interest in these awesome machines. Michael Romeo, guitarist with Symphony X, became known while playing an ESP M-II (stock model) and the sound he gets from it, as a Metal player with heavy neo-classical influences, is awesome! Sadly for lovers of ESPs he has since taken out a signature model with a lesser known company called Caparison (the Dillenger MJR) but those early Symphony X recordings are still special to me!
Yet another "shred factory", Jackson have been producing high gain, "night of the living shred" monsters for decades! My eariest recollection was seeing Steve Vai playing, what looked suspiciously like, a Jackson Soloist or Dinky in the film "Crossroads" (where he played the Devil's guitarist, Jack Butler!) After that, bands like Megadeth took them up (using the King V and Kelly models) and of course, Randy Rhoads took out a signature model with them...that still sells to this day!
Since then a quick look at their band list reveals their metal pedigree;
Clearly bands not for the weak-hearted! Again, I have students (one in particular) who swear by their playability and sound, and I am quite tempted....If I can find a nice leftie model! I stronly recommend, if you're looking for a true AXE, that you check 'em out!
Since then a quick look at their band list reveals their metal pedigree;
- Trivium
- Slipknot
- PAIN
- Hades
- Hammerfall
- Cerebral Bore
Clearly bands not for the weak-hearted! Again, I have students (one in particular) who swear by their playability and sound, and I am quite tempted....If I can find a nice leftie model! I stronly recommend, if you're looking for a true AXE, that you check 'em out!
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