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2006 Fender Stratocaster Jeff Beck Artist Series

Bought this 2006 built one Stratocaster in 2009 @ music butik (Darstadt/ Germany). It got some aging by heavy playing. Love the seafoam green color. Guitar got a three piece alder body. The neck is not as fat as the ones from the first Jeff Beck series in 1991 and they changed the old roller system for a better LRS Roller. In combination with the locking tuners it stays in tune. String changing is easy. Here are the specs:
BODY:

Body Material: Alder
Body Finish: Urethane
Body Shape: Stratocaster

NECK:

Neck Material:Maple
Neck Finish:Satin Urethane
Neck Shape:“C“ Shape
Scale Length:25.5″ (648 mm)
Fingerboard:Rosewood
Fingerboard Radius:9.5″ (241 mm)
Number of Frets:22
Fret Size:Medium Jumbo
String Nut:LSR Roller
Nut Width:1.6875″ (42.8 mm)
Position Inlays:Pearloid Dot
Truss Rod Nut:1/8″ American Series
Headstock:Artist Signature on Headstock
Electronics

ELECTRONICS:

Bridge Pickup: Dual-Coil Ceramic Noiseless
Middle Pickup: Dual-Coil Ceramic Noiseless
Neck Pickup: Dual-Coil Ceramic Noiseless
Controls: Master Volume, Tone 1. (Neck Pickup), Tone 2. (Bridge/Middle Pickup)
Pickup Switching: 5-Position Blade: Position 1. Bridge Pickup, Position 2. Bridge and Middle Pickup, Position 3. Middle Pickup, Position 4. Middle and Neck Pickup, Position 5. Neck Pickup
Pickup Configuration: SSS

HARDWARE:

Bridge: 2-Point American Series Synchronized Tremolo with Stainless Steel Saddles
Hardware Finish: Chrome
Tremolo Arm Handle: Standard Tremolo Arm
Tuning Machines: Deluxe Staggered Cast/Sealed Locking
Pickguard: 3-Ply Mint Green
Control Knobs: Aged White Plastic
Switch Tips: Aged White

It´s got a great sound with the noiseless pickups. Used it on many gigs and demos.

Listen to the Fender Jeff Beck guitar:

2006 Gibson Les Paul Custom Shop R9 VOS Washed Cherry

One of my best sounding and looking Les Pauls. Great flame top. Bought back in 2006 @ Guitar Point, Maintal. After watching Joe Bonamassa in Aschaffenburg playing a Custom Shop Les Paul I had to buy one. And Guitar Point had a large selection of  Gibson Custom Shop Les Pauls. So I could select mine from ten Les Pauls then. On my way home I stopped several times to look after the guitar.

2006 was the first year the VOS (Vintage Original Specs) guitar line was introduced. The VOS guitars are lightly aged. Guitars finish is no gloss, and the hardware aged. By the way all my Custom Shop Les Pauls are VOS models. I don´t like the gloss finish. More in the video clip below.

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Body: Carved AAAAA figured maple

Back wood: Solid mahogany, no weight relief

Fingerboard rosewood

Neck: 1 piece, with long neck tenon ( greatest difference to USA Standard Les Paul)

Profile: 59 rounded

Pickups: Burstbucker 1 (R) 2(T)

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Hardware : Nickel

Bridge ABR-1 Aluminium stopbar

The guitar got a  great vintage tone, very dry sounding. It´s getting better by year. Real vintage bleeding and fading.

2009 Gibson Les Paul BFG Gary Moore Signature

Introduced in 2009 with thin satin Lemon Burst finish. Mine is 2009 built. Gibson ended them some years ago. And it´s on the way to get very rare and sought after. It is similar to the BFG model except two 60s knobs and one 50s knob. It has got a P 90 and a Bursbucker 3 bridge pickup. It´s really featherweight with the chambered mahogany body and acoustically really loud guitar. The body enormously resonates resulting in a lively ringing electric tone What I like is that chunky neck with 22 medium -jumbo frets, a baseball bat. This guitar sounds absolutely awesome. Listen to the vids.

Gibson Gary Moore BFG Advertisement

It’s no coincidence that Gibson USA’s Gary Moore Signature Les Paul guitar is a BFG – perhaps the mightiest and most extreme Les Paul to ever leave a Gibson factory. The Gary Moore Signature Les Paul BFG takes the raw, unrefined power of Gibson’s classic BFG and matches it with the look of Moore’s personal and legendary Les Paul Standards from the late 1950s, resulting in a beautifully radical Les Paul that certainly embodies Moore’s iconic status among the world’s finest guitarists.
With satin nitrocellulose finish, the Gary Moore Signature Les Paul BFG is a stripped-down Les Paul, with no body or neck binding. This model has an uncovered Zebra Burstbucker 3 humbucker in the bridge, with a single-coil P-90 in the neck, all controlled by two top hat style volume controls and one tone knob. The traditional toggle switch has been wired to act as a kill switch, and a smaller toggle pickup selector switch in the place of the missing tone knob controls pickup selection. The mahogany body is chambered for weight relief and the unbound fingerboard is rosewood without position marker inlays (although there are probably side dots).

Schon Reverse Custom 1988 Red

A rare axe and a real beauty:

Schon Custom Reverse 1988, only 50 Reverse Customs made in the world! Bought @ Musik Produktiv Germany in 1989. Neal Schon designed a signature guitar line first made by Jackson (1985?), later by Larrivée (1986). Production ended in the early `90s. I saw different Reverse Custom ones in the web: a blue, yellow and a two tone sunburst one, but not a red one like mine. Maybe this guitar is unique.There were different models – the NS Deluxe models ( I got a polar white one, which you will see in one of the next monthly guitar edition) in a more  futuristic design with a “Ferrari” tailpiece and the second line the Reverse models. There were some cheap Reverse models with bolt on necks, the Reverse Custom models were Schon´s premium product line.

Body and neck

Dark and smooth ebony fretboard, three piece maple neck trough body construction,  alder wings, deep carved AAAAA book matched flame maple top, light weight, round D neck profile, easy access neck heel (later used again for the Gibson NS Les Paul Signature!)

Electrics

2 single coils, one humbucker with no poles with white Schon script (by PJ Marx),

Five way switch, volume and tone knob, no push-pull circuit in the knobs

Hardware

Black original licensed Floyd Rose Bridge replaced for a better black Schaller Floyd Rose

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Black Schaller tuning maschines

Neal Schon´s son Miles Schon played on the Schon Reverse Custom while he spent some times at our home back in 2007. The guitar got an amazing sound. The single coils are excellent and very warm sounding. I prefer the neck pickup and the combination of neck and middle pickup. The humbucker is great for heavy sounds. Listen to this great guitar in the vids.

March Edition

1982 Gold Top 30^th Anniversary

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This is by far my oldest axe. Bought in 1983 and heavily used throughout the years. This serial (82 to 83) was together with the Heritage series (1980) the start of really good  Gibson guitars in the terrible Norlin era. Instead of the Custom Shop models this reissue doesn´t have a long neck tenon and the tone/volume knobs are not historically correct. It´s my heaviest guitar (10.3 lbs.). A special hum shield is to be found in the cavity on the backside. Mine is now aged by years to be seen on the photos. The neck isn´t a chunky one, the frets are wide. Only thing I swapped are the pick ups for custom shop burstbuckers 2 and 3. One of the original pick ups is in America; but that´s another story to be told.

Body and Hardware       single cutaway, deep carved maple top, mahogany back ( non chambered/ no weight relief, tune-o-matic brigdge with spring retainer, uniform-depth binding in cutaway

Neck     three piece mahogany neck, pearl trapezoid inlays, 30^th Anniversary engraved on inlay at  19^th fret, nickel-plated hardware, serial number with A-, B- or C-prefix followed by three digits

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The old Lifton case aged by use, the original tags and a guitar review by German „Fachblatt„

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Dear reader a new blog called Monthly Guitar. A blog for guitar´s friend or guitar aficionados. There have been lots of emails asking about guitars and gear. So I ´ll post a monthly blog referring to all the stuff.

Monthly Guitar/ February

2005 Gibson Les Paul Standard USA –

This was the last Les Paul USA Standard I bought back in 2006 @ musik-butik/ Germany. It´s weight relieved, 9 holes drilled out of the mahogany body. It has got a beautiful back and some aging by myself while using it. Pick up´s middle position gives a percussive tone similar to a semi hollow. Pickups are burstbucker pros, which were first introduced in 2002 on Gary Moore`s Signature model. I put the pick guard on. The 50s neck, not a chunky Custom Shop one, got thin high frets. It´s tiger flamed but not highly figured with the typical peek a poo to be found on Custom Shop Les Pauls.

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Buy and sell

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Back in 1975 I bought a used Framus Stratocaster and had a Tokai Strat while playing for Klopstock. 1984 I bought my first real Fender , a white one, but mainly used Les Pauls that time. I sold the Strat for a Gibson US1. In “Wired” I went for a dark-blue metallic Fender Strat Plus with Lace Sensor pickups and the JB saddle. It sounded really great and so I acquired a red Fender 40^th Anniversary Strat. Both were sold around 1997, cause I used my Schon guitars again. 2009 I got a nice 2006 Jeff Beck Strat seafoam green and 2014 a Fender 60^th Anniversary Commemorative Strat with maple fingerboard, that I really like most. All Strat tones on my cd „On Scrambled Tunes“are played with that guitar. A new addition is a white blonde Fender American Original `50s Stratocaster. It´s got a really chunky maple neck with small frets and an one piece ash body with nitro lacquer. The three 59s single coils and the light weight ash body deliver true vintage tones like the Fender custom shop models. It sounds awesome.

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The Squier Vintage Vibe Telecaster is a nice axe, too. It´s got a one piece pine body.

Getting into Fender tube amps

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After listening to lots of Fender amps while being in New Orleans and Nashville I got impressed by the Fender sound. 2016 I got a Fender Superchamp limited edition in Daphne Blue, not bad but missing some more vintage tone. Back in Germany I listened to Fender amp vids on youtube and so I  ordered that little Fender Blues Junior Tweed amp and later on the new Fender Blues Junior IV. Great little amps, easy two carry and a real blues tone with a classic spring reverb.

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All photos by cmartin

Marshallized
Den ersten Marshall-Combo erstand ich 1983 bei Kilians Musik-Treff. Zuvor spielte ich hauptsächlich Peavey und bis 83 den Transistoramp Peavey Bandit. Auf Marshall kam ich dann durch Gary Moore´s Scheibe „Corridors of Power“. Marshall´s 4210 Combo aus der JCM 800 Series war der erste zwei-Kanal Marshall mit D.I.-Output und Effektweg. Dazu kauft ich mir wenig später die 1 x 12 Box 1933, um ein kleines Türmchen zu haben. Wenig später kam noch ein zweites Türmchen bestehend aus einem JCM 800 4010-Combo mit der 1933 Box. Für drei verschieden Kanäle ein Riesenaufwand. Beide Amps waren durch eine A/B-Box schaltbar. Dazu baute mir jemand meinen alten Schaller-Verzerrer meines Cousins Erich um. Diese Kombi spielte ich dann bis 1989. Bis 1993 verwendete ich dann zwei Engl Straight 100 Watt Verstärker und dann ein Savage 120 Watt Head, das mir allerdings nicht zuverlässig erschien.
1993 erstand ich bei Kilian einen Marshall 30th Anniversary 6101 LM Combo. Der beste mehrkanalige Marshall m.E. mit der dazugehörigen kleinen 1 x 12 Zusatzbox. Der war soundmäßig echt der Wahnsinn, mit dem ließen sich alle nur möglichen Sounds der Rockgeschichte abdecken ohne irgendwelche Pedale zu verwenden. Allein der zweite Kanal war eigentlich ein Dreikanaler. Leider war mir der Gute zu schwer. Mit Flightcase ca. 40 kg. Schade! Den Amp ich spielte ich noch bis 1999 bei Hugo For Sale.
Kurz zu erwähnen sind noch meine Marshall Valvestate 2 x 80 Endstufe, die Billy Gibbons auch benutzt hat und der JMP1 Preamp. Das war auch ein tolles Teil für das Rack. Die Endstufe habe ich heute noch. Rack und Box nahm ich anlässlich diverser Festivalauftritte mit „Wired“ mit, wenn der Aufbau schnell von statten gehen musste.
2000 entdeckte ich im Wiesentheider Musikladen den JCM 2000 DSL 401-Combo. Ein schicker relativ kleiner Combo, den auch Gary Moore als Topteil seit 1994 (?) verwendete. Zwei Kanäle mit zuschaltbarem Leadboost plus sehr guter Speakersimulation und Effektweg. Der Amp ist ein limitiertes Sondermodell, das zur Frankfurter Musikmesse erschien (siehe Bild) und sieht mehr Vintage aus im Vergleich zu meinem zweiten DSL 401-Combo von 1999, also einer aus der ersten Serie, den ich 2002 sehr günstig im Musikhaus Deußer erstand. Der Limitierte klingt anders, schlanker und drahtiger. Den 1999er benützte ich fast immer bei Hugo For Sale und heute noch bei jeder Earl Grey Probe. Ein absolut zuverlässiger Amp. Im Gegensatz zu den heutigen DSL Amps sind beide noch made in UK.
Ein wunderbarer Marshall ist natürlich der Marshall 1974X Handwired. Zwei Kanäle (vier Eingägne), die sich brücken lassen. Jeweils Volume und Tone und bei dem zweiten Kanal noch zwei Tremolo-Regler sonst nichts. Also simpler geht es fast nicht. Der Amp hat nur 18 Watt – aber wie!!! Dem habe ich zur Zügelung ein Palmer-Power-Soak verpasst. Du stöpselst ein und hast den Ton. Ich hatte ihn schon mal vor Jahren beim großen T ausprobiert. Ein absolut Klasse-Amp, den ich hauptsächlich auf meiner CD „On Scrambled Tunes“ verwendet habe. Hier auf „Shadow of a doubt“ in Kombination mit meiner Lemonburst zu hören.

Erstanden habe ich ihn über ebay bei Martins Musikkiste. Der Amp klingt einfach und sieht Klasse aus. Gary Moore hatte auch mindestens einen und so schließt sich der Kreis: Marshallized

Zudem habe ich einen Marshall Dsl 40 CR  (Combo Reissue) mit EL 34 Röhren erstanden ( meine alten Dsl 401 haben El 84 Röhren): Er verfügt über 2 Kanäle, die alle Marshall-Sounds  mithilfe  von Soundmodes (Clean/ Crunch/ Classic Gain/ Ultra Gain Modes) abdecken und mit der Möglichkeit zwischen zwei Master-Volumen zu wechseln. Der Amp  mit 6-fach-Footcontroller ist absolut empfehlenswert und klingt auf Grund des großen Gehäuses und fast geschlossener Rückwand sehr mächtig. Auch die Handwired oder SLP Sounds können superb reproduziert werden. Recording mit dem Emulated Output ist erstklassig.

Marshallized

Marshall Origin 20 Combo

„Vintage Sound from a small combo“ , ein leichter Vollröhrenamp, quasi ein britischer Blues Junior – einkanalig mit Boostfunktion wie der Blues Junior. Wie der DSL 40 CR hat er einen Celestion V-Type Lautsprecher, allerdings hier 10er. Die Röhren sind hier wie beim DSl 40 CR EL34-Endstufenröhren und dreimal 12 AX7

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