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I hope my soldering skills are up to snuff. I’ve done some soldering while adding lights to my motorcycle and doing some car radio installations in my personal vehicles, but I’ve never soldered on a printer circuit board before. It should be an interesting little project.

Every guitarist at some point has at least tried Boss’s DS-1 distortion pedal. Most People are immediately disappointed. This over hyped pedal sounds really thin with no punch. Sales people at guitar center will say something like its a “great beginner distortion pedal”. Its been my experience that most of the people that work at guitar center are useless. So, always research and get information from multiple sources.

Continue reading ‘I think I’ll give this distortion pedal mod a whirl′

I picked up Rock Band 2 along with a new wireless guitar controller for RB2. The game? It’s awesome! Every song I had downloaded for RB1 works on RB2 (at least on my Xbox it does). The new song list is great, too.

The new guitar is a definite improvement over the first Rock Band guitar. I have the RB wired guitar controller, also. My only complaints about the original RB guitar are 1) it’s wired 2) triggering overdrive doesn’t always work which is a pain. The fret-buttons are much quieter on the new guitar. They don’t go click-click-click when you are pressing them. The clicking is very distracting to me personally. The strum bar provides a little more feedback to your thumb than the old one. Also, the neck is sturdier on the new guitar, while still maintaining it’s even balance and light weight. The vintage sunburst ‘finish’ is nice too with a wood-grain look both on the body, fretboard and headstock.

I’ve had several folks tell me they prefer the Guitar Hero Les Paul or Explorer over the Rock Band guitar. I’ve always preferred the Rock Band guitar; I truly find that the RB device is easier to play and is less fatiguing after a long-playing stint. The Rock Band 2 wireless guitar is an improvement on an already great game controller.

Praise be to Gibson! Gibson has pulled off yet another awesome hybrid of a classic. Their Custom Shop engineers got the bridge right too; they routed out a recess for the FR vibrato. Now if Fender could get it right on the FR Strat.

As everyone from Jeff Beck to Jimmy Page to Joe Bonamassa to Slash already knows, the Gibson Les Paul Standard has been one of the most playable electric guitars in rock for more than 50 years. Now, with the release of the new Les Paul Axcess Standard from the Gibson Custom Shop, the “ultimate player’s guitar” just got more playable.

Carrying all the elegant styling, fluid body lines, and rocking attitude of a classic Les Paul Standard from the golden era of 1958 to ‘60, the Les Paul Axcess reveals a handful of upgrades upon closer examination—all modifications made in the name of maximum playability and versatility. The most noticeable addition is the Floyd Rose tailpiece, a unit optimized for anything from subtle vibrato wobbles to dramatic, rumbling divebombs. Adding a Floyd Rose to a Les Paul in the past was always a major headache, and could seriously damage the stability of the instrument if not done right. On the Les Paul Axcess the vibrato is installed right at the Gibson Custom Shop as part of the manufacturing process, so this potent piece of high-performance hardware interacts seamlessly with the design of the guitar. Partnered with an R4 locking nut, it also guarantees outstanding tuning stability and return-to-pitch accuracy.
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My only question is, “Why a Kahler vibrato?” Why not stick with a tune-o-matic tailpiece or a Floyd Rose vibrato?

Gibson USA’s new Shred-V Flying V—the Guitar of the Month for August 2008—takes the style and attitude of the fearsome Flying V a step further. Two EMG 85 pickups deliver high-ouput, screaming tone, perfect for aggressive hard rock and metal, and a new Kahler 2215K tremolo system allows stable tuning and dive bombs. The Shred-V is outfitted with black chrome hardware, and an Ebony finish that captures every detail and sharp style of the classic Flying V. The neck is one-piece mahogany with Gibson’s traditional Flying V profile—a hybrid between the standard ’50s rounded contour and the ’60s slim-taper profile—and an ebony fingerboard with black acrylic dot inlays unique only to the Shred-V. Locking Grover tuners keep the guitar in tune when pushing the Kahler tremolo system to its limits. Gibson’s new Shred-V Flying V—offered with a custom Guitar of the Month case—combines classic Flying V style with sonic intensity and a sleek look. Production is limited to just 1,000 guitars.

Check out the Shred-V Flying V here!

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