Cato

I saw these, I assumed that they're replacing the simarly priced Affinity range. There are some interesting colours and pick up configurations though. I'm tempted to get a purple single humbucker tele as a modding platform.

When I got into Led Zep as a teenager I bought the 'Song Remains the Same' live video, only to be simultaneously horrified and bored senseless by the interminably long version of Dazed and Confused featuring Jimmy Page doing awful things to his guitar with a violin bow. I never watched that video again. I completely understand that it gets boring for bands to do the same version of the same songs night after night, tour after tour, but as an audience member there are definitely limits to what I'm prepared to put up with and as a rule I reckon I'd always prefer to hear a shorter version of a classic song than one that's been spun out way past it's original play time.

Case in point I saw a lad playing a Music Man Bongo in a pub covers band a while back. The bass sounded great in the mix but while I was sitting round the corner just listening, before I actually saw him, it never occurred to me just from listening that he was playing something a bit out of the ordinary.

I think a few years ago Fret King were doing a couple of more quirky models. The current range seems very much based on Fender and Gibson body shapes albeit with a few unusual pickup combos which give them a sort of retro 'pawn shop' vibe. There only seems to be one bass in the current range, a sort of skinny jazz bass with humbuckers.

It does feel a bit like manufacturers are testing the perimeter to see what they can get away with. Epiphone recently released this at an RRP of around £1200 https://www.andertons.co.uk/epiphone-1958-korina-explorer-electric-guitar-aged-natural-white-pickguard?tduid=2d3397177038d5d9693b7246da940ed2 Obviously you couldn't get close to an orginal 58 Korina Explorer for that price but I reckon you could probably pick up one of the various Gibson USA 58 Korina Explorer reissues that have been released over the years for similar money, and the Epiphone version from a few years ago for less than half that.

Stunner.

Not mass produced but... https://www.thomann.de/gb/martin_guitars_d_200_deluxe.htm Btw. I'm not totally sure that the price on this isn't a typo. The only new guitar I've ever seen with a comparable price had real diamond fingerboard markers and a mammoth tusk ivory nut.

As always the market decides. If something is truly over priced then it won't sell.

No worse than Fender charging the same for a 'Custom Shop' replica of a 50s or 60s P Bass that was originally designed to be mass produced and sold at an affordable price point. I'm sure there will be enough collectors and EB enthusiasts happy to pay to get their hands on one.

I'm sure there will always be a market for the classic Marshall guitar amp stack, but, personally I think there are better modern options. Modern modeling amps give you near as dammit the same high gain valve tones in a more practical package and without having to max out the volume, meaning you can use the same rig for home and live without the neighbours calling the noise police. Maybe the new owners will do a better job with keeping up with modern tech developments.

I was about to post the same. Although I listened to a bit of Kiss back in my school days I've never been a huge fan. But If I had to put a Kiss song on a playlist, this would be it. Honourable mention for Crazy Nights.

I think there a few variables at work. The 32 year old Epiphone acoustic guitar I've had from new and played the hell out of for about 5 years while I was learning has grooves in the first three frets directly under the B and top E strings, to the point where those strings will snag in the grooves and then audibly 'ping' out if I try to bend those strings at certain points. None of my basses or guitars, some of which I've owned and played for nearly as long, has anywhere near the same amount of fret damage which suggests to me that maybe the frets on my old cheap acoustic are made of softer material or the higher tension on the acoustic strings (I used 12s or 14s for years) exerts more downward force on the frets or maybe something else. Interesting that it's happened under the 2 thinnest strings though and the 2 that have always been plain (unwound) as in theory I'd have assumed that it would be the thicker, more abrasive wound strings that would cause more damage.

The simple probability is that if you play Michael Jackson songs in public there's a good chance that someone will either raise an objection or at least raise the question of whether it's 'appropriate'. So the question is really whether the performer/performers are OK with that. Incidentally I saw a trio of Michael Jackson impersonators do a show at a family resort in Jamaica a few years back and it went down very well with the assorted Brits, Americans and Europeans present, but that was before the Netflix documentary that seems to have convicted him in the court of public opinion.

I fancied a go at moding a few years back so I bought a Squire VM70s jazz and put in Aguilar pickups a Babicz bridge and a Kiogon loom. It was a fun project and I'm glad I've scratched that itch, but being perfectly honest with myself the results weren't such a radical improvement that I've been tempted to fiddle with any of my other bassses.

After spending musch of the last 15 years or so listening to mainly funky/jazzy stuff with a smattering of British indie in the last few weeks I've gone back to my youth and down a real 'American alternative scene of the 80s and early 90s' rabbit hole. After hugely enjoying rediscovering the Butthole Surfers I've moved on to my favourite band of the era/genre - Dinosaur Jr. Somewhat controversially I've decided that my favourite stuff of theirs is from after the 'classsic' line up split and they essentially be came a Jay Mascis solo project. Exhibit A I think Mascis may be my favourite guitarist of all time, one of the very few who I can listen to an extended solo from with genuine enjoyment rather than getting bored and wishing it would end.

Sometimes I walk into the room where I keep my modest collection of guitars and basses and just smile.

DR strings are also silkless.

Retrovibe got away with using a version of that shape for a few years befor Ric sent the 'cease and desist'. Rickenbacker don't have the right or the means to order the destruction of copies all they can do is get the lawyers to tell the offending manufacturer not to do it again. And since the departure of John Hall manufacturers such as Harley Benton seem to be testing the perimeter on what they can get away with again..

Maple boards are nearly always sealed with polyurethane or , less commonly, nitro there's no point oiling them as the oil will just sit on the finish without ever getting into the wood.

That sorry episode (as does Fender's ownership of Charvel/Jackson) belongs to that dark period in modern guitar history between the 1990s and mid 2010s when both Gibson and Fender were buying guitar and amp brands left, right and centre, only to dicontinue those brands within a few years of acquisition. Given the amount of debt the strategy ultimately left both Fender and Gibson with I think it's fair to say that everyone involved would admit 'mistakes were made'.

Fender Musical Instruments Corporation own 4 of the worlds most recognisable guitar brands. They have Charvel which specialises in modern specced guitars, Jackson for the metal heads and Gretsch which covers a lot of the same territory as Gibson. I doubt we'll ever see radical innovation under the modern Fender brand, that's not it's place in the 21st century market. Fender make the 'originals' of classic highly popular guitar designs that are much copied by many other manufacturers (for a certain value of 'original'). Like the competition copies they do this at a number of price points. Every now and then they go nuts and put out a Meteora guitar or a Dimension Bass, but nothing that's radically out of place with their classic line up. If FMIC ever were to come up with something really different my guess is they would put it out under the Charvel or Jackson brands.

Great review, lovely specimen. I've been getting a lot of shortscale/retro gas recently and the Acinonyx certainly ticks the boxes on both fronts.

I feel it needs something to break up the monotony unless you like the stealth look. I wouldn't normally go for gold hardware, but a black bass is the exception, I reckon a gold bridge and maybe tuners would really suit it.

Always sad to see a guitar shop closing. At least in this case it seems to happening on their terms.