Fretboard Journal Blog

RIP: Nick Reynolds of the Kingston Trio

The Kingston Trio were a huge influence on many of our readers and we’re saddened to learn that, according to the Unofficial Martin Guitar Forum, original KT lineup member Nick Reynolds passed away last night. -JV

Add comment October 2nd, 2008

Truth is stranger than fiction: Heavy Metal Junior

Heavy Metal Junior follows a group of 11 and 12 year old Scottish kids as they struggle to gel as a heavy metal band. It feels like equal parts Spinal Tap and Waiting for Guffman. But unlike those “mockumentaries,” this one is all true. The look on the mom’s disturbed face while her kid rehearses in the living room is priceless, but the look of the dad belting out the vocals during his coaching session is even better. You have to sit through a short Outback Steakhouse ad to get to the 25 minute documentary, but it’s well worth it … -JV Link: Heavy Metal Junior on Veoh

Add comment September 18th, 2008

LA Weekly article on FJ contributor Jim Silvers

Our aforementioned Fall 2008 issue (which is just now showing up in subscriber’s mailboxes) features a sampling of great photographs taken backstage at the Grand Ole Opry by the one-and-only “Colonel” Jim Silvers. Silvers has led a colorful life, to say the least, and these days he has a day job as the in-house producer and talent scout for CMH Records. There’s a great profile of him in this week’s LA Weekly. Check it out. -JV

Add comment September 4th, 2008

Fretboard Journal 11: Ben Harper interviews David Lindley and much more…

We are pleased to announce that our eleventh issue (Fall 2008) issue has arrived from the printer and will be mailed to subscribers in just a couple of weeks. In what is the longest story we’ve run to date (no small feat for us!), Fretboard Journal reader and two-time Grammy winner Ben Harper interviews fretted instrument virtuoso David Lindley about his early days of playing music, the Topanga banjo contests Lindley repeatedly won, playing alongside Jackson Browne, Dumble amps and much more. Harper also interviews Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt, David Crosby and Graham Nash about what makes Lindley such a special musician. Included are all new photographs of Lindley (and Harper) and some of Lindley’s very special gear, including the Dumble amps and Rickenbackers used on the classic Browne recordings. But wait, there’s more! We also show off some of Harper’s favorite gear, including his Weissenborns, Dumble amp #109 and the new Martin signature model he has. Beyond all that, we also have in-depth stories on Tony Trischka, Barry Tashian, an essay on the magic of Brazilian rosewood, a tribute to the 12 string guitars of Carl C. Holzapfel and much more. This is a pretty special issue even by our standards and we imagine it will sell quickly, so subscribe today if you’d like to be ensured a copy (it will be the first issue mailed out for all new subscriptions. -JV

Add comment August 21st, 2008

A Jazzmaster Birthday Shindig - NYC

Not sure if this is an official Fender-endorsed event or not, but if we were in NYC next month, we’d definitely be going to the Knitting Factory for this show. Jazzmaster enthusiasts Tom Verlaine, Nels Cline, Thurston Moore and J. Mascis (Dinosaur Jr.) take the stage to celebrate the 50th birthday of one of the coolest guitar designs ever made. Like Mascis, Elvis Costello now has an official Jazzmaster signature model. Wonder if he’ll show up? -JV

Add comment July 14th, 2008

CNET’s Road Trip: Some nice photos

Every Fretboard Journal reader knows we’re suckers for interesting photography, so we were happy to see a couple of music related photo essays on CNET’s Road Trip 2008. The first trip went to Gibson’s electric guitar factory in Nashville. (I love the shot of the carousel of guitars awaiting completion). The second trip, and perhaps even more interesting to some of us, is their trip to the United Record Pressing plant. Check out this shot of a bin of blue vinyl pellets waiting to be pressed into records is pretty dang cool. JV

Add comment July 8th, 2008

The Word’s Album Atlas

UK-based publication The Word is one of the few music magazines (besides the FJ, of course) we’ve been enjoying lately. They recently added a very cool Album Atlas to their website: using Google Earth you can see where famous album covers were photographed (ok, so maybe Half Moon Half Biscuit isn’t so famous… ). Lots of fun. Sadly, I’ve only been to two locations! -JV

Add comment June 27th, 2008

Breaking news… new Carr amp is cute

The new Carr Raleigh guitar amp (the amp to the right of the Hammerhead) boasts a 10″ speaker (yes, part of the cabinet design blocks a bit of the speaker… there’s a lot crammed in there), 3 watts and a clean / OD channel. Tubes are two 12AX7s and an EL-84 power tube. Doesn’t take up much room, sounds great and, yeah, cute.

Add comment June 21st, 2008

Summer NAMM 2008 Highlights, pt. 1

The Bogdon upright bass comes dropped to your home or store in its own cardboard box body and costs around 100 dollars. You can choose between the two- and three-string options and, for a limited time, the black or red ink on the box (I guess they’ve stopped using pricey red ink). The build-it-yourself bass boasts a proprietary pickup (sounded fine plugged in to me), cut out lines in the box where you have to install the enclosed neck, tuners, bridge, nut, strings and everything else you may need to make a bass out of a cardboard box. The “tuners” look remarkably like bolts and require a wrench (included). Your eyes tend to glaze over when walking the halls at NAMM. Then you see something like an upright bass made out of a cardboard box and making music seems like fun again. Besides, it’s about time that the world of cigar box instruments and IKEA met! -JV

Add comment June 21st, 2008

A Moog … guitar?

Moog is the little company (ok, not so little) that could … Just when you think they’ve tapped out of ideas or that the Moog craze has slowed down (it’s been a while since Stereolab had a hit record, right?) they unveil something new. The new Moog Guitar, while not cheap at $6500, sure looks like fun. I’ll try to get my hands on it at the Summer NAMM show this weekend and give it a full review. In the meantime, the Moog homepage has a video with Lou Reed and others putting it through its paces. -JV

1 comment June 17th, 2008