Guitarist

Future Publishing Limited, Quay House, The Ambury, Bath, BA1 1UA Telephone 01225 442244 Email guitarist@futurenet.com Online www.guitarist.co.uk Reading this month’s cover story on the explosion of the blues in 60s Britain (page 54), it’s striking how it was a movement that grew not just from the burgeoning mass media of the time (such as TV shows bringing American blues music to the public eye), but a grass roots movement of clubs and small venues that took it upon themselves to promote the music they loved. In this interesting world, figures such as Alexis Korner and Chris Barber presented the talents of American blues and gospel artists to an audience in the UK, and created a groundswell of interest that became a worldwide phenomenon as blues gave birth to rock music.…

Carlos Alomar He’s the guitarist whose grooves underpinned David Bowie’s funkiest albums. We joined him to recall classic sessions and more p48 Sizing Amps Up Nev Marten examines how big and powerful you really need an amp to be these days, with bluesman Aynsley Lister on p42 Flying High Named after a famous jet of the 1960s, Thorpy FX’s Electric LIghtning is certainly high performance – we find out more over on p102…

FIRST PLAYCORT ABSTRACT DELTA & MODERN BLACK Cort guitars are frequent flyers in this magazine, either in the guise of their excellent electric range or, as here, the acoustic wing of the company. Parent business Cortek is based in Indonesia and is, according to its website, responsible for releasing more than a million guitars into the wild each year, which is quite an achievement any way you look at it. Generally speaking, we’ve been mightily impressed with the models that have featured in these pages in the past, not only for their high standards where build quality is concerned but also for bang-for-your-buck value for money. As we’ve said, the acoustic side of Cort’s business hails from a state-of-the-art facility in China and that’s precisely the birthplace of the two…

FIRST PLAYPRS DGT 15 HEAD Back in the annals of PRS history, its founder, Paul, became enamoured with the playing and tone of Texas bluesman David Grissom, a guitarist with a stellar roster of clients including The Allman Brothers, John Mellencamp, Chris Isaak and Bob Dylan. The blossoming tone-rapport between David and Paul would lead to a number of Grissom signature products, commencing with the highly-esteemed PRS DGT guitar in 2007. A conversation began between senior PRS amp designer Doug Sewell and Grissom regarding the sound of his four favourite historic amps: specifically the top-end of a Tweed deluxe, mid-control of a Hiwatt, the low-end of the ‘Plexi’ 50 with nods to an AC30, resulting in the 50-watt and 30-watt incarnations of the DG Custom amp in 2012. The 50-watt…

While technically different as far as actual body outline and headstock goes, this guitar makes us all think ‘Gibson SG’, doesn’t it? Back in the day, it was the shape of the second wave of solidbodies that Guild unveiled in 1970 after entering that market quite late, in 1963. Later in the 70s came a much more original and adventurous design, but it’s this SG-style version that’s been a part of the Newark St Collection as the S-100 Polara since Fender introduced them in 2013; Guild was purchased by Córdoba Music Group in 2014 and, as of 2023, it’s now owned by Yamaha. Back in 2023, legendary grunge guitarist Kim Thayil shone some welcome light on the S-100 with a very limited USA-made model and a still-current Newark St version.…

FIRST PLAYELECTRO-HARMONIX LPB-3 Electro-Harmonix is no stranger to revisiting its original designs such as all the different variations of Big Muff that we see in its roster. But this latest really takes the biscuit in terms of longevity: the LPB-3 is a direct descendent of the LPB-1, the company’s first product way back in 1968. LPB stands for Linear Power Booster and the original wasn’t a pedal; it was a small box that plugged directly into your amp. While there have been other LPB models, including an LPB-1 pedal, which is still current, the LPB-3 goes beyond the role of being a simple boost by adding powerful active EQ. The new pedal is capable of 33dB maximum boost, set by two knobs working in conjunction. The Pre-Gain knob can adjust…