Blackstar HT-5

So for the first time in this blog, we wander into amp territory, and we start with a fine piece of equipment, the Blackstar HT-5. This amp came into my knowledge through its impressive reviews all over the internet, mainly at Ultimate Guitar, where there is a thread dedicated to the owners of this fine amp head. It is considered by many to be by far the best sounding amp in it's price range. It retails in the UK at roughly £400, which makes it far from cheap, but for a tube amp, it's very well priced. Tube amps are superior to speaker amps in every single way, and tone is just so much cleaner. Now, this Blackstar HT-5 is a 5 watt head. So you're probably thinking, 5 watts? That's tiny. Well yes, it is, but that is the point of this amp, it is a home practice amp or it can be used in a studio. It is not meant to be a facemelter. The point behind its wattage being so low is that, when a tube amp is turned up to it's highest volumes, it produces it's best sound, this amp is quieter, so you can play it on its top-end to get those great tones, but at the same time, you won't be able to hear it from a mile away, as would be the case if you went and bought something like the 100 watt Peavey Valveking. At 5 watt, it's not the ideal amp for gigging, but it will work if it is mic'd up through a PA system. This is highly recommended, you'll be able to share the great tone of this amp with the world.

So, about the head. Well, it's 5 watt as you know. It has two channels, a clean channel and an overdrive channel, that you can interchange between using a foot-switch. The foot-switch is included when you by the HT-5. It has a setting called the ISF, which stands for Infinite Shape Feature. This feature is amazing, it allows you to change between a UK and a US sound, and there is a clear difference, it it sounds great. You can get that classic gain from British metal, it is in essence a EQ, it allows you to either get that British Marhsall sound or that American Mesa Boogie sound, what better? It has all the controls you'd expect, gain, volume, treble, middle, bass, and it also comes with an effects loop, you really do get a lot for your money with this amp. Unlike most amps below half a grand, you actually get a good distortion sound from the amp itself with the Blackstar, you can make it more gainy or such by adding in pedals, such as an Ibanez Tubescreemer, but it isn't all that necessary, this is a great amp from stock, just plug your guitar straight in, EVH style, or so he claims.

The Blackstar HT-5 can be bought with two 10 inch cabs that are also manufactured by Blackstar, this is the Blackstar HT-5 mini stack. The Blackstar cabs are rated highly, however are not rated the best, some may want to just get the head an use cabs of their own, however for their price, the Blackstar cabs are very much worth considering, they are celestion, and they do sound very good.

I highly recommend this amp to anyone who wants that tube quality, without paying a grand, and who wants to be able to use the amp at home as well as at gigs and band practice. it sounds fantastic, it's very affordable, and it is styled very well. A full stack in your bedroom? How cool is that! It'll be a great show off piece, for its sound and it's style, you'll really look the part, and anyone who hears you play will be very pleased by the sound to their ears.

So good people, what do you think of Blackstar products, and the HT-5? Had a chance to play one, share your knowledge, thanks.

Les Paul Standard Goldtop

Times change, and in the short time I've been running this blog, I've been doing lots of research on all guitars in general, and so after lots of reviews and opinions, it would appear my desire for a Les Paul Studio is maybe not the most suitable desire, as the Les Paul Studio models seem to have not the greatest track record for build quality, and time and time again I've been told to just save up the extra cash and get a standard. This makes sense, as it's the guitar of guitarists, the top quality product in the market. I've come to a narrow minded view of wanted guitars now, and the Les Paul Goldtop is the only thing I want, I would do anything to get hold of one of these, I'm currently contemplating how to get one while I'm writing this very article. Where does this desire come from? Well, when I started playing guitar, I just thought the Les Paul design was plain and unadventurous, but after playing for a few years now I have matured into the mould of the more experienced guitarist, and have come to appreciate the quality of the Les Paul Standard. Just holding one you can feel the quality, with one in my hand, I just feel like I've accomplished something. They're so classy and prestigious, half of buying a Les Paul is just so you can be a Les Paul owner, and you can tell everyone you own a real Les Paul. You get what you pay for, and so for me, getting an Epiphone just isn't going to happen, I want the real thing.

So, why should you want one? Well, half of it is the history, the Gibson brand, and specifically the Les Paul. Played originally by Jimmy Page, and then bought even further into the limelight when it was the only style of guitar in Slash's ownership. Played by Pete Townshend, Clapton in his early days, Billy Gibbons, and no doubt every single guitarist in the Rock'n'Roll hall of fame owns a Les Paul. I'd love to join those guys, it's just a mindset.

So, the statistics and specs. It has 22 frets, with trapezoid inlays, the signature Gibson Burstbucker Pro pickups, which produce that signature Les Paul sound, that can't be imitated. This sound also comes from that beautiful body, made of a thick mahogany, sure, it's heavy, but my god is it worth it, that tone and sustain is godly, and it just feels so good, the quality is impeccable. It has a tune-o-matic bridge, which adds to that sustain and quality. It has two volume and two tone controls, and the frets are rosewood. The Les Paul Goldtop just screams class, writing this review has only increased my desire, I must have one, I'd never put it down.

I'd have the Goldtop because it appeals to me, but any guitar in the Les Paul Standard series is amazing. I love the goldtop because it's kinda standout, and with the binding it looks superb. Playing a Gibson Les Paul is a sign of class, if you play one on stage, you're far from eccentric, you just clearly know what's quality, and you want the best tone available to you. I've seen them used for all genres of music, and it still beats the top guitars of the genres. A Les Paul probably plays metal just as good as any Jackson.

So, what do you think about the Les Paul, the Goldtop and just everything Gibson? I wanna hear it guys!

ESP Alexi-600

Whoa, Jack's gone all metal today, aha, nah, Jack is just reviewing a guilty pleasure, a guitar I've always liked, maybe something to do with the player of whom is its creator, Alexi Laiho. The Alexi-600 is Alexi's signature model. I'm a huge fan of Alexi, and so is Kirk Hammet! He gets slated by some for in the modern age being part of a scene, playing a lot of corporate metal to sell records. This I somewhat agree with, but the first two Children of Bodom albums, Something Wild and Hatebreeder were genuine guitar greatness, shredtastic. This is back when they were still playing melodic metal, it was technical and fast and incredibly catchy, the Tokyo Warhearts live album is a must listen if you haven't already, it just shows how good they are, and how accurate Alexi is himself. Modern albums lost some of this melody and technicality, as fast running solos got replaced with heavy muted chords and outlandish whammy tricks, taking away from the true brilliance of early Children of Bodom. But despite the change, one thing remained the same, the quality of Alexi's sound. Why? Well because he's been playing an ESP for the past 7 years, his signature Alexi-600 model. ESP's reputation is unquestionable, they make fantastic guitars, that have brought in guitarists ranging from all ends of the guitar world, from Ron Wood of the Stones to Nergal of Behemoth.



So lets dive into Alexi's 600 signature model. This will be quite brief, as there isn't all that much to explain, which is possibly the beauty of this guitar. It has just one pickup, a humbucker in the bridge position. So its not got the greatest versatility? You don't need it, this guitar was only really designed for one genre, and that is metal. So what is the best possible pickup for this guitar? An EMG of course, specifically an EMG-HZ, one of the best and most popular pickups on the market, due to its undoubted quality. It's so heavy, yet so clean, it's truly marvellous. Having just the one humbucker pickup gives this guitar a real feel of class and precision, it doesn't need anything else, its got all it needs in just that one pickup, and this leaves the body looking quite empty, which is awesome. The humbucker being in the bridge position gives it the heaviest sound available. The Alexi-600 also has a licensed Floyd Rose 1000 Series tremolo. Floyd Rose are the original, and only make quality tremolo systems, this is no exception, a sound and resolute trem system that gives you great range and strength. I love floating trem's, they look really technical, and I love Floyd Rose trem's the most, because they're such good quality. The guitar has just the one knob, for volume, but I don't see why you'd ever want that lower than 11, this guitar was built for power and deafening volumes.

The design of the Alexi-600 does a lot for me, its simplicity gives it respectability. I like the yellow or the purple, but given the choice would take the yellow. It's a great V shape, it's classy, it's not trying to be too metal, it's how things should be. Its simplistic layout just makes it real quality, it doesn't need all the mod-cons to be a superb guitar, just a pickup. The guitar also has unique custom sharktooth fret inlays, wound into a ebony fretboard, which just amplifies quality. There is a cutout for access to the lower frets, which looks great and really works the part. The neck is made of maple, and it has that brilliant ESP headstock, that you have to be careful with when using, it's lethal, and metal! It has a locking nut, which adds to the tuning sturdiness. It also has grover tuners, the top machine heads.

This guitar is fantastic, I'll probably never own one due to not being a metal player in a band, but maybe one day I'll make the switch, and this will be topping my list of metal guitars. So what do you think of Bodom, Alexi and his signature Alexi-600 model? Played one? Please do leave comments. Thanks.

Update - End of Eurofusion

So I'm back from my week away, and I come back in high spirits, as I've just had the best week of my life, I met some great people, from many countries, and also built even stronger relations with my already close friends, it was a week of success and fun. I was in a multi-national band, which we named Swine Flu, and I was with a close friend and two guys from Lichtenstein, we made a song called "I'm Not An Alcoholic (I Just Love Beer)" I was really happy with it, I'll get it uploaded soon enough. As well as the music element, we visited London, took part in some team building activities at the place we were staying and we went for a surfing lesson, this was all good fun, and just made the week amazing, on top of all the jokes, laughter, drinking and lack of sleep. I've never had a better week in my life, occupied 24 hours a day, and enjoying every second of it. I was also really pleased with the performance I got out of my Ibanez S470 over the week, despite all the moving around, and carrying it between places it held up perfectly, only tuned once right before the gig, and I didn't even need to do that, it was just a precaution. So I had the greatest week ever, I hope yours was good too, I shall resume the guitar blogging later.

If you want a brief overview of what I did for the past week, visit http://eurofusion09.blogspot.com/

Ibanez RG550

I'm not going to be specific in whether it's the original model or the 20th anniversary model, both had the same specs, other than the updated neck on the anniversary RG550 model, because of problems with the neck warping with the original model. So other than that, they're both the same guitar, which makes them both brilliant! I love this guitar, and I really want to get hold of one. It's the top of the range RG model, with all the top hardware. The other sublime feature about this guitar is that awesome paint job. The RG550 only came in three colours, Desert Yellow, Road Flare Red and Black, all of a matte finish, which took away the shine and made the guitars look fantastic on stage. There's a Paul Gilbert video on youtube introducing the RG550XX anniversary model (The XX signifies it's the anniversary model). He speaks about the power the original 550's had on stage, and how cool they looked back in the 80's, and how cool they still look today, even more so if you have an original RG550 with all that character, one of the early models, you're going to be the real envy of all your friends. Now, the travesty here is that the RG550 model has been discontinued a long time now, and the anniversary models are limited, but this should just increase your desire, if you can get hold of one of these, its value is only going to increase from the day you get it.


So lets talk about the defining features that made the original RG550 such a popular and fantastic guitar to play and own. The RG550 had a Basswood body, which made it very light, despite its size. Well how great is that? There's more guitar to own, without it weighing you down during live performances. This means they haven't had to compromise the looks of the 550 to make it play well and sound great. The Basswood gives a very unique tone, which made the RG550 so popular. I seem to drop his name a lot these days, but you can learn so much from him, Paul Gilbert uses a stock, off the shelf RG550 in the Road Flare Red, he used it for the whole of the Mr. Big reunion tour, it's the one with all the stickers on it, you've hopefully seen it before. Well when a top musician takes a stock instrument on tour and uses it regularly, you can clearly see it's a very good instrument. I'd certainly love to take one on a tour of the local area, aha.

The RG550 has a 5-piece wizard prestige bolt on neck, in maple, which looks fantastic with both the red and the yellow, personally I'm not a fan of black guitars in general, but whatever floats your boat. With the two really striking colours available, I couldn't imagine buying the black. I've mentioned before my preference for maple necks. From my perspective, they feel better, and they feel like they play a little quicker and smoother, but this again is only my personal preference, and despite this I don't actually own a guitar with a maple neck, because a lot of the time guitars with maple necks look a bit odd, but the RG550 really doesn't, not with the headstock that matches the body colour, it looks ace. The neck has 24 Jumbo frets, which is great, I always prefer to have 24, because it means you've got a whole octave on every string, rather than on a 22 where the last two notes are absent. The RG550 also has a Humbucker, Single, Humbucker combination, which combined with a 5-way pickup selector gives you great range and versatility. If you watch that Paul Gilbert 20th anniversary video, you'll see the quality and difference between each pickup combination. The pickups in the 550 are Ibanez pickups, the V1 in the neck, S1 in the middle and V2 in the bridge position. These are the top range of Ibanez pickups, but you may still want to change them out for DiMarzio's or EMG's as there are slightly better pickups out there, but not much better, the stock pickups are the best pickups Ibanez have to offer.

The RG550 also had the Edge Pro tremolo, which is fantastic and not to be confused with the Edge III Pro trem, which is prone to breakage and other problems. The Edge Pro is one of the finest trems Ibanez offer, a real sturdy and resolute tremolo. The RG550 also has a ultra thin carve on the back of the neck near the high frets to give easy access, this is what had to be addressed on the 20th anniversary models, but only a few original 550's suffered from warping, those that didn't are fantastic, and the anniversary models are beautiful and play perfectly.

This is one of the best RG models available, it's fantastic, it looks the part and plays the part, it has so much history behind it, and so much class, and is still a very sought after instrument today, which is constantly increasing in value. So what is your opinion on the RG550? Were you ever lucky enough to own one, or still do? Post some comments guys, what colour would you have this guitar in, what do you think of it? I hope you enjoyed the article, thanks.

Spear NF-Z

Right then, here we have the guitar I should of bought last time around, with hindsight. I'm now playing a lot of indie music, and this is a very indie looking guitar. To my eyes, it's a wonderful looking guitar, I love the Walnut/Mahogany body, naturally finished, which combined with the gold hardware looks fantastic. It looks like something Pete Doherty would play, which if you're in an indie band makes it top-notch. The pickups are standard Spear brand pickups, this could therefore cause a slight problem. The pickups look great because they're gold like the rest of the hardware, but if they don't sound good, you might want to switch them out, and then you'll have to find gold pickups to replace them with, too keep that fantastic look. The pickups could however be decent, combined with the guitar being a set-in neck, the sustain of this guitar should be very solid. It is also a semi-hollow body, which is fantastic, good versatility and great tone. That means it has the two swirls cut out of the body, which is just classic, like a Gibson ES or Paul Gilbert's PGM-301, I love this on guitars, I think it's really interesting and brings real class to the finished product.

The NF-Z offers you 2 volume controls, 2 tone controls and a 3-way pickup selector in the form of a toggle switch, giving you the ability to find the most accurate sounds and tones you want to create. Combined with a decent pair of pickups, this would be a brilliant guitar, for both looks and sound. Another thing I love about this guitar is the neck and the fret inlays. It's classic Les Paul, with those shiny Abalon Squares and it has 22 frets, which is standard. The gold machine heads also complete the hardware in the best possible fashion.

There are some little preferences I would've preferred if I designed the guitar. I like a whole guitar to fit together as one, so I like having the headstock the same colour as the body, and even the back of the neck if possible, unless you have something like a fender neck that is all maple. I know some people though really don't like having the back of the neck made of a body wood or painted. A lot of guitars don't have matching headstocks, but some do, and this is just a personal preference, the RG range from Ibanez is a good example, it has the best of both, and I think when you get an RG in a striking colour, with matching headstock it looks much better, unfortunately with my S470, the headstock doesn't match the body. With the spear, if the headstock was the same colour as the body, this guitar would look absolutely perfect, as it is, it's only 95% perfect, which still means I'd really love to own one. The NF-Z also has binding, like a Les Paul, this makes a guitar look a lot better in my opinion, it's like the icing on the cake.

This is a beautiful guitar, and should I start to take my indie playing into a band, it's a guitar I will be eager to acquire. Luckily, my local shop, Langdons is a Spear dealership. Spear make some guitars which are personal taste, but I believe this one is very universal, it's a classic design, it looks really classy and natural. So good people, do you love this guitar as much as I do? What do you think of all Spear Guitars? Please do leave comments, thanks!

Ibanez S470

So, here's a more hands on review of the Ibanez S470, why? Because it's my primary guitar, I've been playing it a long time now and know it well. I still love this guitar like the day I first bought it, because it does everything. I bought this guitar just after Christmas 08, and play it by the day, and it still plays like it did when it was new. I bought this guitar because of its range and versatility, I wanted to have all the most modern and technical features I could, so this was the only guitar that was in my price range and had all these things available to me. It cost me £380, which is its standard retail price here in the UK. So, what're all those features that make this guitar so great? Well, where to start... The S470 has a ZR tremolo (ZR stands for Zero Resistance). This is a recently developed tremolo from Ibanez, it's called a Zero Resistance tremolo because it runs on ball-bearings rather than a knife edge like the trems of past, such as the Ibanez Edge III Pro or a standard Floyd Rose. This gave it extra smoothness, tuning stability and reliability. The Edge III tremolo's are quite prone to breakage, search through the Ultimate Guitar forums or Jemsite and it probably won't take you any more than 5 minutes to find a thread about someone's broken Edge III trem. The Knife edge is how it sounds, the strings run on a sharp edge, this meant strings could also be easily broken by an overly vicious pull up on the whammy bar. The ball-bearings cancel this out, they run really smoothly, which also adds to the quality of the sound when using the trem for Vibrato or tricks. The ZR trem also has a stopping bar in it, which decreases the range of the Tremolo, in exchange for tuning stability. As a live musician, this was a great selling point for myself. One of the key facts about the ZR bridge, which I can confirm is true is that if you break a string, all the other strings will still remain perfectly in tune, which can be a savour in a live situation, and I can confirm, it really is! Now you may be thinking, well ok, but then I can't do some of those crazy divebombs and flutters, not true. That stopping bar in the ZR can be removed, which then makes the tremolo just like any other, you can start doing mad things with it, just be careful or your string bill might start costing the same as your gas and electricity bills.

Other major selling points? Well, the S470 has a Humbucker, Single, Humbucker pickup combination with a 5-way pickup selector. This gives you great range, for all styles of music, and can save you a fortune on pedals and effects. The bridge humbucker gives you a really raw heavy sound, but when you flick up to the neck pickup, you get a beautiful clean sound, it's like strumming an acoustic, it's wonderful. The pickups that come as standard are Ibanez Infinity pickups. Now I'm an honest guy, these pickups aren't great, and I would recommend changing them out for something like DiMarzio's or EMG's, when it comes to quality of parts, Ibanez perhaps aren't the finest ambassadors. The Infinity's are good for a beginner, or someone just stepping up to their second guitar, but if you're an experienced guitarist, who often plays live and loud, you may notice lots of noise at high volumes, which is far from ideal. Don't let this put you off though, changing pickups is very easy, and not really all that expensive if you're patient and do your research.

The S470 also has other things you'd expect, it has a Wizard II neck, which is great for soloing, it has shark tooth inlays, which look great. It has a locking nut, classic Ibanez headstock, volume and tone controls and 22 frets. The last major selling point of this guitar from my perspective was how thin and light it was, yet how despite this, it doesn't lose any tone or sustain. It's made from mahogany, so you still get that great thick tone, but it's very thin and light, which is great live, you come off stage at the end of a gig with your shoulder still mobile. It also makes the guitar look very sleek. I consider this guitar like buying a new gadget, I saw it as the top gadget in the guitar market, like those more nerdy of you that like I want an iPhone because of all the extras it gives you over a normal mobile, all those things that you don't really need, but you want to have anyway, so once in a while, you can use them. This guitar has all the top range parts, and I wanted the most guitar I could get for my money, with the least limitations, and this was the best value item I could find, by quite a margin.


I've got the Cool Ice Blue finish, because it was slightly cheaper, but you can get a Blue Moon Burst or Red Viking finish, which is quilted maple top, and both look fantastic, looking back I should of saved up more and got one of those. I highly recommend this guitar, especially to anyone stepping up to their second guitar, it's fantastic and allows you to play all genres of music, it's the least restricting guitar on the market, in my opinion. It just has so much to it, allowing you to play anything.

So good people, what do you think of the Ibanez S470, or any guitar from the S Series range? Some of those prestiges look and play fantastic, if only I were richer. Leave comments and give opinions, I'd love to hear it, thanks.

Paul Gilbert: Technical Difficulties and PGM-30

Now then, I'm a huge fan of most of the shred virtuoso's we all know about, and they all have great songs. I've picked this one out specifically because I've been listening to it so much lately. I don't know what gets me about this song, there are much quicker and much more flashy instrumentals out there, but this one has that great riff. Take away a lot of the quick sweep work, and you have a fairly basic riff, so he's combined technical playing, with a solid riff that everyone can recognise, which really sits great with me. This is somewhat of a personal call out to Gilbert. I've watched many of his videos over the years, and the common trend amongst all of his videos is that he's a really decent down to earth guy, who is genuinely helpful. He's made some great songs, and all us players should be grateful for that when we eventually get good enough to try and learn them, I know that Technical Difficulties will be right up the top of my songs to learn chart (I should stick that chart on my wall).



I also love Gilbert's signature model. That Ibanez PGM-301, with the reverse headstock, and the body that looks like a semi-hollow body, it's wonderful, and really unique. It's also not a very flashy guitar, and I think guitars in white look great, combined with a maple neck, it looks so pure. I always wanted a Fender Stratocaster Standard in the Olympic White, with the maple neck, the model Alex Turner of the Arctic Monkeys was playing for a while, beautiful guitar, and not too flash either, would get you noticed on stage, but for being classy rather than eccentric. Paul's signature has a Humbucker, Single, Humbucker combination, which is fantastic, it's what I have on my Ibanez S470, if you can have that extra range and versatility, why not? That reverse headstock is definitely the stand out for me though, I must try a PGM-301 sometime, I think I might fall in love with it and not leave the shop until I've purchased it, with a ton of debt from using credit. That volume toggle that sits on the swirl of the hollow body patterns, that's very smart, I love that, and it also has the 5-way pickup selector in the middle, very clever, good man Paul.

So, what do you think of Gilbert and the PGM-301? Also, what songs make your top songs to learn someday list? I'd love to know guys, keep it all coming my way. :)

Timeless playing

That's not a reference to some video of a virtuoso playing an all-time classic, it's literally playing guitar as if time doesn't exist. So, it's almost 9am here in the UK, and I've been up since 2pm yesterday, so I've been up a long time. I haven't been sleeping right lately, and tonight I just gave up, decided I'll tire myself out, and get a great sleep tonight. One of the reasons I have been up all night is the reasoning behind this posted, my curiosity has been aroused. I've been up all night (Snap on the name of the first Razorlight album, good album that) because I lost track of time playing guitar, and my body didn't tell me I was tired, it must've been adrenaline from the shredding. One thing is feeling tired now though, well, 8 things, my fingers. They're torn, I literally bled from playing, I've been playing for about 9 hours straight, since about midnight, there's really nothing better to do in the early hours. Now, you're probably thinking, what an idiot! stop playing, get some sleep, you're not doing yourself any favours. Now why this is almost certainly true, I felt compelled to carry on playing. And this is where my curiosity was aroused, by two questions I have for all other guitarists.

The first question is, do you produce better material at night?
Right, I ask this, mainly on the evidence that I do. I can't explain it, maybe it's just being more relaxed or being completely undisturbed, but I always produce my best material at night. Be it riffs, solos or lyrics, I only churn out the good stuff past midnight. Many inspired nights, I have watched a video on youtube of one of my guitar idols, and then been compelled to play the night away, almost aimlessly improvising, and it always results in a riff or rythmn section that I'm really happy with. If I was happy to play with my own sanity through insomnia a bit more, I'd probably be able to write albums filled with good material (From a personal perspective anyway) unfortunately, I'm a man, and 1/3 of my routine of eat, sleep and guitar is sleep, so therefore, I need it. So, do any of you experience this composing release at the most ridiculous of hours? Or have specific times or places that are the only environment in which you can write?

The second is about your material, or what you're playing. When you find something that you think is really catchy, but you've been playing for hours, and you should probably sleep, or eat, or do whatever you need to do, do you continue and try and add more to it and make it a song, or do you put your guitar down and come back to it? I ask because the second is an option that I just can't take. Once I find something I like, I can't stop playing. This leads to why I've just played 9 hours straight and my fingers are bleeding (I can see a bit of blood on the D string). I found something that I really like, possibly the greatest riff I've ever stumbled upon, in my own playing days, I love it, and so I just couldn't stop playing it, perfecting it, adding more to it, making a song around it, and god knows what else, just to idolise this riff I'd made. When you're enjoying your playing, because you've found something great, guitar becomes like an addiction. Despite a glance at the clock, and seeing I should have been asleep long ago, I just couldn't stop playing. So, the second question to you guys, when you're onto the next big thing, do you find it impossible to stop playing?

Typing this blog, you can see I've now finally stopped playing, just out of sheer exhaustion, I can see this is gonna be a heavy day, but It has been worth it, I've just got down about 3 songs in the past 9 hours, that can all be perfected and then hopefully hit with some lyrics and performed.

Please do share your own experiences or any similarities to these questions. :)

ESP EC-1000FM

Doesn't it just look spectacular? I love the silver trim around the body, neck and headstock, it makes it look beautiful. I'd have it in the see-thru blue personally, but the purple is pretty stunning as well, I'd love to have it in any colour. This is a guitar I seriously considered buying when I bought my Ibanez S470, unfortunately, its cost in comparison let it down (My Ibanez was £380, this retails at about £800), for a poor man like myself of course, with guitars you get what you pay for, if I had the extra cash, I probably would've gone with this. It's like a modern twist on a classic design. The body shape is very familiar, looks like the styling of a Les Paul, can't go wrong with that. I love those fret markers, the glitter silver, just like the trim, it all fits together like a puzzle. The signature ESP Guitar name on the 12th fret as well, I love that. "What guitar is that guy playing? It doesn't say on the headstock..." "Check the twelfth."

The other bits look great too, the knobs in the silver, which match the bridge and the tuning pegs. That finish is great too, the quilted maple, like I said, in the blue, that finish is awesome. Lets get some facts down about this guitar, so you can get some insight.

The EC-1000FM has 24 Jumbo frets, the neck is made out of mahogany and so is the body, because this one a neck-thru, giving it that extra sustain and feeling of strength. The fingerboard is rosewood, as is so common, I personally prefer a maple neck, but because it is a lighter colour, it often looks odd with certain guitars, so I find, especially a black metal guitar. A black Stratocaster with a maple neck looks great (Probably because Clapton has been rocking that for the past 40 years) but I think that something like a black Jackson Dinky, with a maple neck just looks ridiculous, you got that black because you wanted to look metal, and then you've got this bright neck sticking out of it. My preference of maple necks doesn't really have great reasoning behind it, I just prefer the feel of them, they feel like they play slightly quicker. Where the neck hasn't had a bit of rosewood fitted on the frets, it feels more pure, like you're really shredding the neck. You can see the body has been slightly curved so you can easily reach the 24th fret, ESP call this a thin U-Neck contour. It looks good though, I've seen some guitars compromise the look for the access, and I guess that's fair, since it should about the playing and music, not the look, but when you can get both to work for you, it's fantastic.

The EC-1000FM comes as standard with a EMG 81 in the bridge position and a EMG 60 in the neck position. If you're reading this, I assume you play guitar, and therefore understand the quality of EMG pickups, right up there at the top with DiMarzio's and Seymour Duncan's. These two pickups will give you a fantastic sound, and is probably part of the reason this guitar cost a lot more than my Ibanez, this is using EMG's, my S470 came fitted with Ibanez's own brand of pickups, the Infinity series of pickups, which aren't all that good in comparison to the big guns. They of course can be changed, I just haven't got round to it, and still haven't really got the money to buy some DiMarzio's. DiMarzio pickups are my personal preference, there's gotta be a reason all those top virtuoso's use them, Vai, Gilbert, Petrucci, Satch and Malmsteen are all using DiMarzio pickups. I think it's due to the range of pickups available from DiMazrzio, there's pickups for all styles of music, with great sound. You really know what you're getting with DiMarzio's. The EC-1000 also comes with locking tuners, which is great for tuning stability, and is therefore great in live situations. How your guitar will perform live is vital, even if you're not a musician in a band, consider it, because you never know. I bought my Ibanez when I wasn't in a band, I now find myself playing a lot of indie music with a band, and me playing my Ibanez looks kinda odd in a scene dominated by Telecasters and other Fenders. When you buy a guitar, consider all factors, because I now have this guitar that isn't suited for my style of music, don't make my mistake. Luckily the versatility on the S470 means that it sounds right for the music, it just really doesn't look right. Consider playing Sweet Child O' Mine on a B.C. Rich Warlock, it just isn't right is it? When you've got a shred looking guitar, and you're playing lots of barre chords, it just doesn't feel or look right.

So after all that, this guitar retails at about £800, which is a fair bit, but you get a very good guitar for it. It's an ESP, they have a very high reputation for developing brilliant guitars, hence the number of superb musicians who have signature ESP guitars, one of which is Kirk Hammet, one of the most successful guitarists in metal music, if not thee most successful? He wouldn't play second rate guitars, or want to be associated with them, and that's why he plays ESP's.

So, as you can see, I think this guitar is great, the article has ended up pretty lengthy, I think I got everything in there, and I hope it's of assistance to you. So I'll finish this post in the normal fashion by asking for any of your opinion on this guitar, and your personal reviews on the this guitar, or any from the whole EC-1000 range.

Les Paul Studio Worn Cherry

So I'm gonna make my first real post about my currently sought after guitar, the Gibson Les Paul Studio Worn Cherry. I love this guitar, I've had many discussions about it with a close friend of mine, who can't understand my addiction, he thinks I'm an idiot for not going with a gold top or something just as flashy. I think that's what I love about this guitar in worn cherry, it's not flashy. Being a studio, it's not flashy in the slightest. The studio, for those of you who don't know is Gibsons stripped down version of the original Les Paul Standard. Now, I'm not earning nearly enough to consider getting a Standard, but the studio however is on the line, which always leaves me thinking about it, but never buying it. It's within reason at around £670, but also maybe slightly too far, when I consider what else I can do with £670, and the grief I'll get for buying one when I already own an Ibanez S Series, the S470.

"You only need one guitar" - the saying that's probably true, yet for 99% of guitarists just can't be accepted, as soon as we get a new guitar that we've wanted for ages, a month later, we're thinking about the next one we can get our hands on, right guys? Well then you know my pain, I've been playing my S for about 6 months now, not that long really, but you can see where my desire is coming from, maybe the S fails to humble my appetite, I often wonder if it was the right guitar to pick. At the time, it was the only guitar in my mind, I loved how thin it was, and how innovative it was with the ZR bridge, and all the other bits of technology. When you've been playing a stratocaster for a year, you really want to upgrade to something that rather than being basic, is right up the other end of the scale. Rather than a tremolo that only goes one way, you start having these desires for a floating trem, you've seen Satch play Crushing day, and you know even though you're not good enough to play that song, you at least want to be able to try it day in day out, as if you've suddenly unlocked your inner potential, and you'll wake up the next morning with Malmsteen's Fingers (That kinda sounds like a disease or illness). But I finally got the S, and I had the floating trem, the locking nuts, the Humbucker, Single, Humbucker pickup combo, with the 5-way selector, all these great things, all the variety, and it was then I realised, I don't need this stuff, I need a guitar that just sounds great, that has the tone and the sustain, so what better than a Les Paul? Well, there is nothing with better sustain, that's for sure. That beautiful mahogany body, that doesn't create the sound and tone, it sings it. It's like attaching Pavarotti to a guitar neck.

Back to the flashiness, the worn cherry is the only colour I want the guitar in, it just looks great, it looks like the craftsman who designed it bled for the creation of this fine looking guitar. The great thing about my desire for the worn cherry is that this is also the cheapest of the Les Paul Studio range, it retails over here in the UK at about £670. You're no doubt getting a lot of guitar for your money with this one, and so I really want to get my hands on one, my own one. Fancy sponsoring me or donating to make this dream a reality? Aha, I'm joking of course, half of getting a guitar is working for it, makes it more special when you finally get it, even if I am 50 years old by the time I get it, presuming the swine flu doesn't get me before then of course.

This desire has brought me agony over the past week, I can inform you. I've mentioned the retail on these things being £670 over here, well then imagine my pain when one goes for under £400 on eBay, and I just don't have the money at this very time to make it mine. I really need to make some more cash, so next time that sort of opportunity pops up, I can capitalise.

I guess I'll finish this article by asking for any opinions, what do you think of this guitar, or the whole Studio series of Gibsons? If you play one, I'd love to hear your opinion on it, please leave a comment or contact me. :)

Introduction

This is my blog, so here's a little introduction.

Hey, I'm Jack Fidler, and can often be found under my nickname of Jack le Cube. I've started this blog as a way to express my love for all areas of guitar, and hopefully provide some information to any readers of the blog. I am to use this blog as sort of a personal journal with means to be of assistance, writing articles about guitars I love, equipment that I love, and everything else. The idea for the name of the site came from the fact that I am currently trying to do anything to get the funds to buy myself a Gibson Les Paul Studio in Worn Cherry, so "I want that guitar!"

Despite my enthusiasm of guitar, I've only been playing about 2 years now. So I'm a mixture of experience and yet, I still have quite a fresh outlook. It's about the 2 years mark that you mature and realise that you want a proper Les Paul rather than some metal playing Jackson? My interest in guitar doesn't stop, I don't just love playing them, I love every aspect of a guitar, the instrument itself. Taking them apart and editing them gives me great pleasure, I'm a man of physics, and I love to know how everything works, most of all guitars. I want to know how every part contributes to that greatest of instruments. This understanding of how things work also applies to my playing, I'm one of those rare types who loves being taught music theory, because it allows me to understand how guitar solos composed by the great guitarists of our time compose such masterpieces, and how I can emulate them, without copying them, originality is the key.

About my guitar playing, I guess this can be a little bit of a question and answer session, so you can find out a little bit more about me. if you wanna ask me anything else, please do.

Q: What Guitar do you currently play?
A: I'm currently playing a Ibanez S470 as my main guitar, it's a very good guitar, I recommend it to anyone, it's so versatile, which is a word that is often thrown about too much. All guitars are versatile, because if you put them through an amp, you can make them sound however you want with the right equipment, but this guitar really is versatile, before you've even gone through pedals. It has a 5 way pickup selector, with a Humbucker, Single, Humbucker pickup combination. It also has Ibanez's latest invention, the ZR bridge, which is the top bridge on the market, break a string and you still stay in tune, how clever is that. It's also a very thin and light guitar, that doesn't lose any tone because of its size. It's very sleek, it's like having the top gadget of a market area, like having a mobile phone with all the mod-cons.

Q: Where are you located?
A: Sunny Sunny Bournemouth, aha. If there are any local bloggers, get in touch regardless of guitar interest, it's always interesting to talk to other bloggers from the local area.

Q: What other interests do you have?
A: The reason my guitar playing venture has been so short so far is because I was raised a sports man, and so instruments didn't come into my life until later on. My other interests include a range of sports, mainly football and rugby, I'm quite big, so I'm a defender for football, or a forward for rugby. (Funny how that works isn't it, at amateur level, your position is dictated by size).

Q: What was your first guitar?
A: An acoustic Yamaha technically, but just a month after getting that I was playing a Fender Squier Stratocaster copy, the Bulletcaster, so I always consider that my first guitar, as I don't really like playing acoustic all that much.

Q: What's your favourite genre of music, favourite artist and favourite album?
A: Oh god, where do I start? Well my favourite genre of music I guess is good old rock, through all ages, from The Who to Oasis. My favourite artist is Oasis. Don't judge me on that, I love their music, it's the only band that despite your poverty, your losses, your dead end job, can still make you feel like you're the greatest man on earth. But despite my tastes highlighted so far, my taste is very wide, I love everything from the heaviest of death metal, like Necrophagist and Carcass, to the lightest of modern Indie music, such as Florence and the Machine or Arctic Monkeys. I also love a lot of Trance music, big fan of Paul Oakenfold. I'm also a huge fan of those guitar virtuoso's, whose videos never get old, Gilbert's Get Out of my Yard, or Batio's Speed Lives, Watching G3 when it was Satch, Vai and Malmsteen, the greatest trio of players, these guys amaze and excite me, and inspire me to try and play better. I also love and support this little known Indie band from Chatham, UK, named Underground Heroes, check 'em out on MySpace, or go to their gigs, I love them. My favourite album is Definitely Maybe, you were probably already guessing it after I said my favourite band was Oasis. There are other albums that come very close though, when I think of music perfection, Darkside of the Moon comes to mind, or Sgt. Peppers.

I aim to keep this blog very up to date, even if it is only for my own tracking, articles about guitars that interest me, and equipment also will be popping up whenever they come into my eye, I'm keen to pass my opinion and get the opinion of others, and meet many people who share a similar interest to that of my own, guitar players unite!

I hope you enjoy the blog, if you do, please come back and see what's going down whenever you can, you might just see an article about the guitar that you want.

:)