Latest news with #Strat
Irish Times
27-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Denis Desmond's Rory Gallagher guitar deal came with a tax break to the tune of €930k
There was much fretting in Government circles when it was announced that Rory Gallagher 's signature Fender Stratocaster guitar would be auctioned by Bonham's in London last year. Taoiseach Micheál Martin , who hosted a civic reception for Gallagher when he was lord mayor of Cork in the early 1990s, said the State would do its best to ensure Gallagher's axe would not fall into foreign hands. Denis Desmond's Live Nation Gaiety Productions duly rocked up and bought the guitar at auction for a little over €1 million, saying it would donate it to the National Museum of Ireland (NMI). Figures released by the Department of Arts show it was a harmonious deal for everyone involved. The guitar and some other Gallagher memorabilia were gifted to the NMI under a scheme called Section 1003, whereby a donor receives an 80 per cent tax break on the value of the 'heritage item' they donate. READ MORE With the Gallagher gift valued at €1,161,483 by the department, the company will benefit from a €929,186 tax break in return for its generosity. If there's one bum note for the MCD founder, it's that the guitar looks like staying in Dublin for the foreseeable future. After purchasing it, Cork native Desmond said he hoped the guitar, which Gallagher bought for IR£100 in 1963 from Crowley's music store in Cork, would end up Leeside. Instead, the NMI is planning to use it as the centrepiece of a new exhibition in Collins Barracks in Dublin called Changing Ireland, opening this September. Sadly, visitors won't get to try a few licks on Gallagher's Strat. Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary. Photograph: Sam Boal/Collins Michael O'Leary's down-to-earth side Ryanair 's Michael O'Leary recently said he didn't want to become the Magnier of Mullingar when asked about his purchase of just over 250 acres of tillage land in Delvin and Collinstown in Co Westmeath last summer. The airline chief executive has said he owns about 2,000 acres in his native Westmeath, most of it around his Gigginstown estate. He recently added another 58 acres, paying €1.45 million for the privilege – a hefty €25,000 an acre. A representative of O'Leary bought a residential farm at Crowenstown, near Delvin, at auction just before Christmas, outbidding several other parties. We know because last week Bradley Investments, his property investment vehicle, applied for permission to upgrade and extend a house on the farm. The high flyer may have made his fortune from running Ryanair but he obviously feels the strong pull of the land. Retrospective planning: Def Leppard frontman Joe Elliott. Photograph: Juan Pablo Pino/AFP/Getty Rocker seeks to keep gazebo Last year Def Leppard's Joe Elliott got tangled up in a bizarre planning row with Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council over a treehouse, of all things. After the council initiated enforcement proceedings against Elliott and his wife, Kristine, for building the 'unauthorised' treehouse in the grounds of their Stepaside home in south Co Dublin, the couple eventually received retrospective planning permission for it, with the council ruling that the 7sq m structure could remain as long as it was 'used for the purposes of children's play only' (maybe they had images of Joe rocking out on the branches). The heavy metal icon is taking nothing for granted with yet another addition to his garden in the foothills of Treerock Mountain. Last week he applied for retention permission for a turreted gazebo measuring about 9sq m which Elliott's planning consultant has assured the council is 'purely ornamental'. David Duffy banking on Skib expansion David Duffy, the banker who helped drag AIB out of its government bailout and back to profitability a decade ago, told The Irish Times in an interview in 2023 that he often worked from his west Cork home when he was chief executive of Virgin Money UK , Britain's sixth-biggest lender. It looks like he's set to make his office a bit more comfortable in Roaring Water House, a Victorian pile near Skibberreen he and his wife Carolyn bought for €1.25 million three years ago. Earlier this month Duffy, who is now chief executive of Clydesdale Bank, applied for planning permission to demolish an outbuilding and build a new 45sq m home office and gym at his west Cork base. A decision is due next month. He can well afford the construction project. When Virgin Money sold to Nationwide last year, Duffy reportedly trousered about €18 million from shares he owned in the bank. RTÉ's Marty Morrissey. Photograph: Gareth Chaney/Collins Marty's firm makes a tasty profit We recently reported how Marty Morrissey is the most eager moonlighter in RTÉ , requesting permission from the broadcaster for the most external gigs in the second and third quarters of last year. Accounts filed last week by Mutton Island Productions, his personal company, show the RTÉ staffer is starting to accrue the benefits of his additional toil. The company, which was established in 2021, made a profit of €34,866 last year, bringing its retained profits to €77,686. Conclave: Ralph Fiennes as Cardinal Lawrence, fictional dean of the College of Cardinals. Photo: PA Divine intervention Timing is everything. Streaming numbers for the 2024 film Conclave, starring Ralph Fiennes and Stanley Tucci, spiked 283 per cent last week after the death of Pope Fracis. But the timing of the pontiff's passing was less serendipitous for Prime Time Investigates. RTÉ's investigative strand had an exposé into the wealth and assets of the Christian Brothers in the can and ready to broadcast last Wednesday when fate intervened. RTÉ Investigates: Christian Brothers, The Assets, The Abusers will now be broadcast a week later in peak viewing time, a spokeswoman for RTÉ said, barring any other divine intervention. Sheddy characters In the run-up to the last general election in November, lobby groups were elbowing their way to the table for meetings with political party leaders. Who would have thought that among the select few to secure meetings with both Micheál Martin and Tanáiste Simon Harris was the Irish Men's Sheds Association? A lobbying register return filed last week showed that during the meetings the registered charity put the squeeze on the Taoiseach and Tánaiste to reinstate a €3,000 grant for each shed that had previously been available. Could they be a burgeoning political force?
Yahoo
05-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Rockabilly rover Mick Rogers on playing with Frank Zappa, touring with Kiss, and rootsy jams with Jeff Beck
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Rockabilly rover Mick Rogers has a knack for being in the right place at the right time – usually. Best known as lead guitarist in Manfred Mann's Earth Band between '71 and '75, he's played alongside a host of rock icons. His right-place-right-time good fortune, however, wasn't operating when he left the Earth Band a year before their hit cover of Bruce Springsteen's Blinded by the Light. He did, however, later reunite with them, and in the intervening years he led and played in many bands – most notably Aviator – and was even in consideration to replace Peter Gabriel in Genesis. Can you recall your first emotional connection with the guitar? 'I had a musical family. My dad was a drummer, my auntie was a keyboard player, and my uncle, who lived with us, was a guitarist and double bass player. A big moment came when Elvis hit with Heartbreak Hotel. Keith Richards, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck especially – they'd say it was the turning moment in rock. I remember that day. 'One afternoon I took my uncle's guitar – a Levin acoustic – to a talent contest on the coast at Dovercourt in Essex, and I played Mystery Train by Elvis. When the small applause came, I thought: 'This is exactly what I want to do.'' When did your career take off? 'I performed a lot throughout my teenage years, and eventually moved to London; there were more musical opportunities for me there. I got a tour with the Vision, the backing band for Adam Faith and Helen Shapiro. Then Normie Rowe – an enormous pop star in Australia – asked me to join his band, the Playboys. 'There was something about being an English musician, which meant something in Australia at the time. I don't know what it means now. Probably not a lot! When touring in Australia, we had musicians ask us, 'This Eric Clapton guy, are his sideburns still as long as they were?' It wasn't about the guitar – it was about how he looked! 'In 1967 Normie was called up for national service, so we formed the Procession from members of the Playboys.' What was your go-to gear for Manfred Mann's Earth Band? 'I've always been a Strat cat – I think a Strat can sound like a Les Paul, but it doesn't necessarily work the other way round; in those days especially. I had a Gibson SG that I brought back from Australia, but it was falling apart. When the Earth Band played 10 consecutive shows in Rome to get us up and running, I saw this fantastic Les Paul and I said: 'That's the guitar for me.'' You got one of your most-prized Les Pauls thanks to Frank Zappa. How did that happen? 'Years later when on an Earth Band tour, we supported Frank. His management said to our bass player, Colin Pattenden, 'Frank was wondering if you could step in, because our bass player has to go back to LA.' Colin said: 'I'm not the guy you want. Mick is – he's a bass player and he's a big Zappa nut.' Gene Simmons told me, 'Kiss are either going to be the next biggest thing, or we're going to die on our ass!' 'There I was, all of a sudden, at sound check with George Duke and Chester Thompson; all my heroes. Frank came over and said, 'I've been told you're a fan. The first tune we do is a tune called Pygmy Twylyte.' I said, 'Do you do it in the same key you recorded it in?' Zappa went, 'You really are a fan!' 'The Earth Band flew to Miami the next day to finish the Uriah Heep tour. I didn't sleep that night. I was still pumped up. Zappa's management insisted on paying me for the gig – and with that money I bought a Les Paul Deluxe. 'Years later, when Frank came to Australia, we had dinner. He didn't eat much, though; he lived on black coffee and cigarettes. I never saw him eat anything.' Can you recall the biggest audiences the Earth Band played to? 'It was Randwick Racecourse in Sydney, Australia, with Free and Deep Purple. That was one of the first big audiences. It was a very successful tour for us and we were able to go back and do our own tour. We did an extra gig with Deep Purple, but Free didn't do it. 'Purple were really nice to us. We had a situation over there with a promoter, Sammy Lee, who was a bit of a mafia guy. He wanted us to do an extra concert but refused to pay us. It got really nasty, but Deep Purple were great supporters of ours. They could see that we were going through some strife there. Ritchie Blackmore was great… he's another rockabilly guy.' Kiss supported you shortly after the release of their first album. What was that like? 'I had to use the same microphone that Gene Simmons used with all the blood coming out of his mouth! I remember Simmons telling me, 'We're either going to be the next biggest thing, or we're going to die on our ass!' 'When they went onstage with the makeup and stuff, people were quite silent because they just couldn't believe what they were seeing. Nor could we! They were scary – Gene Simmons was a scary looking image. But he was lovely.' In 1975 you split with the Earth Band. Was it a shock? 'I'd become a real pain. I wasn't grown-up enough, although I should have been. But my head was taken by the Zappa thing. I went to the studio one time, to talk about new material, I thought, and they said, 'Mick, I'm afraid you've been voted out.' 'I went back to Australia and performed with some great people over there. I got a lot of nonsense out of my head. Blinded by the Light entered the top 100; then it was 80; then it got to Number One. I remember thinking, 'Maybe I should have hung around a bit!'' I rejoined Manfred Mann after 10 years away. Jeff Beck and I could empty a room – we were just talking about rockabilly. We were both Cliff Gallup fans More recently, you had the pleasure of getting to know the late Jeff Beck. 'I got together with Jeff on Valentine's Day a few years ago. His manager – a great friend of mine, Colin Newman – put us together. The famous white Strat was sitting on the couch so I said, 'Jeff, pick it up and play it!' He was very sheepish, but what a guy! 'We could empty a room because we were just talking about rockabilly and how he grew up. We were both Cliff Gallup fans. I believe I've got the last recording Jeff ever did in the studio; we got together with some rockabilly guys and did an album which hasn't been released.' Why not? 'Jeff was playing through a dodgy Marshall. We played Lucille by Little Richard, but Jeff didn't like the sound. He said, 'We'll do it again later on.' Of course, that didn't happen, and he went on tour with Johnny Depp instead. 'When I listen to the track now, I think: 'Jeff, there's nothing wrong with your sound.' He could have played through a paper cup and it would still have sounded like Jeff Beck! He was just wonderful.' What's your current guitar gear? 'In my solo work I use a red Stratocaster, plugged into a Kemper. I've got a ghost pickup on my Strat, which, with a flick of a switch, changes into an acoustic guitar. I use Rodenberg pedals – I introduced them to Steve Lukather, and he uses them to this day. They're the business. All that and a Hughes & Kettner is everything I need.' Rogers' current live schedule includes a solo tour and dates with the Earth Band.
Yahoo
01-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Tony Iommi almost launched Black Sabbath's heavy metal crusade with a Fender Stratocaster
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. With their doom-laden take on electric blues, Black Sabbath turned the world of heavy music upside down when they released their debut album 55 years ago, in February 1970. A 1964 Gibson SG propelled Tony Iommi's instantly recognizable guitar sound, but if it weren't for a bad pickup and a risky gear swap, the band's change-making album might have sounded very different. Iommi had a few misfortunes to thank for his title as the inventor of heavy metal. He'd lost the ends of several fingers on his fretting hand in an industrial accident when he was 17, requiring that he devise leather thimbles to cover his damaged finger tips. . He then had a brief, unsuccessful run in Jethro Tull, after which Iommi returned to Sabbath with a fresh drive and greater work ethic. But as the band went in to record their debut album, Iommi found his Fender Stratocaster — which he can be seen as he plays with Tull on the Rolling Stones' Rock and Roll Circus — was having some issues. It was especially bad luck because, as Iommi tells Gibson TV, he'd worked hard to make the guitar suitable for his damaged digits. 'I worked on it myself to try and get it right for me to play, because I couldn't just pick up a guitar like you'd be able to pick up and play,' he tells his interviewer, Judas Priest's Richie Faulkner. 'I couldn't use heavy strings anymore. I had to change everything — change the fretting and lower the strings — because I was using the thimbles. i couldn't feel the strings." His backup guitar was a right-handed Gibson SG that the left-handed guitarist had strung upside down. As luck would have it he was able to swap it for a proper left-handed model shortly before recording began. 'I heard of this bloke that had a left-handed guitar, and he was right-handed, and he played that upside down,' Iommi says. 'Really peculiar! So I got in touch with him, and I arranged to meet him in a car park. "It was a bit dodgy,' he adds. 'He might have nicked it!' Although Iommi intended the SG to be nothing more than a backup guitar, it quickly became his main guitar when the Strat developed a problem with one of its pickups. 'I recorded 'Wicked World' with the Strat, and then the pickup went,' he recalls. 'So, I thought, I've got to use the other guitar. It was the first time I'd ever really played it, and I thought, Here I am, doing an album on a guitar I've never played before!' Yet, something about the SG won him over. 'I never went back after that. I've stuck with the SG ever since.' Asked why the Strat was abandoned rather than repaired, Iommi says, "as far as I knew, it was buggered. In those days, you couldn't just go and buy a pickup. I could have taken the front pickup out and put it in, but I never thought of that." Besides, he says, 'as soon as I started using the SG, and that was on the album, that was it. I swapped my Strat for a sax. I had this mad idea of trying to play the sax, which I drove everybody up the wall with. Iommi is set for one last Black Sabbath show this summer, having recently spoken to Guitar Player about why 'Iron Man' is the Sabbath song he relates to the most.
Yahoo
25-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Fender's Justin Norvell on the $599 Standard Series and why it's not a Squier with a different decal
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Fender has truly put the Strat among the pigeons with the launch of the Standard series. Here we are taking out a second mortgage to finance the purchase of a dozen eggs then along come genuine Fender Stratocasters and Telecasters for $599 street. Yes, those figures are correct. Unveiled during the new gear fever of NAMM 2025, the Standard range is the most affordable Fender you'll find and comprises the Strat, HSS Strat and Telecaster, Fender's O.G. bass guitars, the Precision Bass and Jazz Bass – plus, the pièce de résistance, the Acoustasonic Jazzmaster and Telecaster (again, street price $599). This minor economic miracle comes thanks to the Big F deepening its decades-old working relationship with Cor-Tek to manufacture the instruments in Indonesia. Most players will recognise the name Cor-Tek. The South Korean company releases its own guitars under the Cort brand and works with a number of overseas brands. PRS Guitars' partnership with Cor-Tek on its SE line has been one of the biggest success stories in electric guitar manufacturing. Joining us over Zoom, Fender's executive vice president of product, Justin Norvell, now in his 30th year with the company, reminds us that Fender's partnership with Cor-Tek has similarly yielded high-profile hits for the brand in recent years. The Jim Adkins signature Telecaster, which has always been a huge unit-shifter, is an Indonesian build, so too the Tom DeLonge signature guitars. It was just like, 'What is the best guitar that we can make with this partner, in this facility, that would be worthy of the Fender name?' Norvell and Cor-Tek go way back. The first product line he managed for Fender was built by them. 'I did the Squier '51 in the Cort factory,' he tells MusicRadar. 'We designed it and we drew it, and we did that guitar in Korea at the time. It's a 40-year plus relationship that we've been working together on acoustics, on some amplifiers, on guitars – so a very, very important partner of ours.' Fender has also released Asian-made guitars under its own name, most notably with its current high-end Japanese-made lineup, but also in the past with the Chinese-made Modern Player range, which was launched in 2011, retailed for around 500 bucks, and besides the price was perhaps most memorable for the return of the cult-classic Marauder. With the quality of guitars being made out of Fender's Ensenada facility in Mexico rising all the time – and, accordingly, the price – Norvell says it was time to go all-in with the Indonesian project and revisit what an entry-level Fender guitar looked like. Sitting somewhere in between Squier's top-of-the-line Classic Vibe Series and the Player II, that Standard Series guitar looks something like this: the electrics all have poplar bodies, bolt-on maple necks with a satin urethane finish and Modern C profile, a gloss urethane finish on the headstock, 9.5' radius Indian laurel fingerboards, with 21 medium jumbo frets. The pickups are new ceramic winds. For hardware you get die-cast tuners with hex buttons, with the Strats equipped with a Standard 2-point tremolo with satin chrome steel block saddles, the Tele fitted with a string-through-body bridge with satin chrome saddles. I've already watched some of the punditry post-launch where it's like, 'Oh, it's a Squier with a Fender decal on it' The big question for players is whether to spend an extra $200 on the Player II model, where you'll find Alnico V pickups, high-ratio 18:1 ClassicGear tuners, and the choice of maple or rosewood fingerboards with rolled edges, or to go for top-of-the-range Squier, spending circa $429 on a vintage-inspired Classic Vibe model, with those nicotine-yellow stained gloss necks offering a Vintera-esque experience for less than half the price. It's a tough call. But maybe Norvell can help. Here he shares the thinking behind the Standard Series, who it's for, why this is (probably) as cheap as the Acoustasonic is going to get, and why some online critics who are calling it Squier with a different decal on the headstock are getting it all wrong. What is the elevator pitch for the Standard Series? 'It's not about a price point or filling a hole in a business term, it's about, 'I'm a kid guitar player or someone that wants a second guitar and I don't wanna like buy super high-end but I want a rock-solid, reliable name brand guitar.' And we didn't have that. 'Our company statement is 'Serving all players at all stages' and we were kind of falling down on that in some respects. I've already watched some of the punditry post-launch where it's like, 'Oh, it's a Squier with a Fender decal on it.'' Okay, the Reply Guys online are saying things like this is just an Affinity Series Squier guitar with Fender on the headstock. How do you rebut that? There are people that proudly play Squier over Fender. Squier, on its own, is one of the biggest electric guitar brands, so it would be crazy to get rid of that 'It was designed from the bottom up. Those guitars are value engineered, I would say; an Affinity Series [model], you are managing costs the whole time, and you're just like, 'How do I get it into the right spot while still being as good an instrument, playing as well as it can?' Affinity Series guitars are awesome. 'This [Standard Series] guitar was designed with the price thing removed, basically, so it was just like, 'What is the best guitar that we can make with this partner, in this facility, that would be worthy of the Fender name?' 'The guardrails that almost keep something Squier were off, but we were still conscious of what was above it and what was below it and what would make sense. It really was a clean slate, and it was like, 'Can we do this?' Geography is a fascinating thing; that it's controversial, if this guitar had come out of one of our other facilities saying Fender no one would be having this conversation.' Did you ever think about retiring the Squier brand and making Fender models from beginner to Custom Shop? 'I think everything is a discussion. We're open enough as a company and we listen enough to think about it. But there's so much equity in the Squier brand name. There are people that love Squier. There are people that proudly play Squier over Fender. Squier, on its own, is one of the biggest electric guitar brands, so it would be crazy to get rid of that.' If this is someone's first Fender guitar, we are trying to line it up with, 'What do we think that person might play? When you say the Standard Series is designed from the bottom up, does that mean that, say, these pickups are an all-new design? What can you tell us about them? 'Because Squier starts to bend more vintage at the top of its line, we wanted to go with something that's a little more modern, more overwound – distortion-friendly, more aggressive. We had recently gone back to a more vintage Alnico thing on the Player Series so we thought this was one of the ways this could stick out. 'So if this is someone's first Fender guitar, we are trying to line it up with, 'What do we think that person might play? Or might want to hear?' And a ceramic is a really even, diverse kind of pickup to start with. It's a nice baseline and then you can trade up and out as you develop your tastes for what Alnico pickups bring – roundness, scoop and those different things that people start looking for.' You mention trading up, the Standard Series models look like they would be good guitars for modding. 'Yeah, it very much can be a base platform for someone to do what Fenders were built to do. Fenders are wide open. Everyone wants to be unique and personalise things, and this is a perfect personalisation platform – for people who have a bunch of guitars and they want a guitar just to get into modding, this is a great step into that realm. There's nothing too precious about it.' Sure, and the players who might buy one can mod it as their own playing style evolves. 'We have always welcomed that and I think it's going to be a great platform. The way people can play jazz, funk, country, punk, metal, anything on a Strat or a Tele, it's amazing. James Burton to James Root on Teles.' And Mike Rutherford on a modded beginner's Bullet Strat. 'A hundred per cent. That's brilliant. I think Clapton had an Ensenada-made Standard Strat before they became Players that his family bought him, and like they signed it and he plays that in between the Todd Krause Masterbuilt guitars.' Sometimes it's good for experienced players to pick up a well put-together beginner electric guitar and have some fun with it. 'The Squier Affinity, I mean, it's 41mm [body thickness] instead of 45mm. It's a little sleeker, thinner, lighter. There is a different feeling when you put that on. It can make you play differently. It's amazing the quality that exists on beginner guitars these days.' You are a big offset guy and there are no offsets in the Standard Series yet. Might we see them further down the line? 'Yeah, potentially. We just wanted to tailor the offering, keep it tight, don't make it too big at the beginning. But I would never say never and it's definitely something that we've discussed.' For over 30 years, we have been sending our manufacturing experts over there and helping the factories that we chose to partner with. We would share in best practices What does the relationship with Cor-Tek look like in practice? Do you send your luthiers over with the blueprints? 'Yeah, there would be R&D on our side and then that would go over to their side, and then their side would have to R&D it as well to fit their templates, machines, everybody's standard metric and all the translation that has to occur between the facilities. 'There are several in-person meetings, several sit-downs, virtually back and forth every day, samples coming back and forth, and then we're there for the proto runs, the pilot runs, all of that stuff – checking that stuff off as it comes off the line and having discussions, making adjustments. It's very similar to if it was our own facility.' That Cor-Tek facility has such a good rep that it is a selling point. 'For over 30 years, we have been sending our manufacturing experts over there and helping the factories that we chose to partner with. We would share in best practices. We've had had ex-Master Builders like Chris Fleming and Mark Kendrick go out there. [Fender pickup guru] Tim Shaw used to go out there all the time, [chief engineer] Donnie Wade. We've had a cavalcade of people that have spent [time there]. This is the culmination of a 40-year partnership.' You mentioned Indonesian-made signature models. Might we see Standard Series signature models? 'Anything is possible! The goal is for this to seep into the line, that there's something there [for] all players at all stages, from the [Squier] Sonic Series all the way up to Custom Shop. We have upped quality so much in Ensenada. It's not just that prices have increased there, what those guitars are today is not what those guitars were 15 years ago. This is the new reality for the product line.' Was making a Standard Series Acoustasonic the toughest challenge? 'That was super complex. Basically, one of the things that makes that guitar more expensive is the electronics, that DSP technology. There's a box in there that does great things. And so, how are we going to do this without that? Is there a way to do it with multiple parametric EQs? And other things that we could voice that could get it dialled-in in a way that sounds like it was worthy of the name and the sound quality that we associate with those guitars? 'Also, even the purfling was challenging for us… The factories that we work with over there don't have the same technology. We had to figure out a lot. That was a ground-up [project]. Apart from the fact of, 'This is how the body comes together…', essentially all of the electronics, the pickups – everything – was a complete redesign and that took a lot of time and a lot of effort. But the team that worked on it, it was way better than they hoped for. It has probably come out a little bit later than we'd hoped but we wanted to do it right, not fast.' This feels like the Acoustasonic finally going mainstream. Is this as cheap as they'll come? 'I think this is probably as affordable as they will get, for the time being. Maybe as we get learnings about what's hard, what's possible, what barriers exist with this. There might be a way to go one more click down but I probably think this is about it.' When do you know that a new series has been a success? 'There's sales that occur just from when you launch something and that feels good, but I think staying power, and people, artists, using stuff, especially in iconic ways. This is an interesting business. The Jazzmaster was cool for a minute in the '60s, surf music and everything, and then it wasn't cool again until the '90s. 'There are these peaks and valleys in guitardom. There are very famous guitars that weren't made from 1962 to 1968 – majorly iconic guitars – and that has always been interesting because even when I think that we feel [success], we just need to be always reaching. Even when something isn't a success, that might make it a cult success about 20 years from now.' 'Success is a relative term. We did a guitar in 2014, the Deluxe Strat Plus, that had the switchable mod cards – failure! But I think we learned something and it was a cool reach. No failure comes without learnings. It's not a complete answer to your question but overall it's not just about sales. 'If someone adopts it, and someone's doing cool stuff with it, when you're seeing it inspire people, like with the Acoustasonic, when Jack White gravitated right towards it and started doing some really cool stuff with it, asking for modifications. When you see someone really take to something that we've done and they're making new music with it, that's something that I would call success.' The Standard Series is available now. See Fender for more details.
Yahoo
23-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The tones of Joe Bonamassa's obscure 'Greenburst' Strat have been brought to the masses with new Seymour Duncan pickups
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Joe Bonamassa has launched his latest signature pickup set with Seymour Duncan, this time based on the tonal delights of the obscure 1964 Greenburst Stratocaster he acquired in 2023. The Joe Bonamassa 'Greenburst' Stratocaster Pickup Set has been described as a faithful capture of one of the besuited bluesman's most cherished instruments. The single-coils feature 'precisely staggered Alnico 5 magnets and an authentic design that recreates the magic of this special '64 Strat'. The pickups are handcrafted in the Seymour Duncan Custom Shop, and they include gray bottom flatwork and a pad-printed signature from JoBo for a more exclusive touch. Bonamassa's rare Strat pre-dates the firm's much-mired CBS-owned era, with the gray flatwork pickups of the Greenburst's time adored for a 'notably punchy sound and higher output' that sets them apart from their later counterparts. Watching JoBo's playthrough, the twang and bite of the pickups cannot be disputed. It's also impressive how close the tone is when he swaps the guitar out for another Greenburst pickup-loaded Strat. It's very close indeed. 'It's for power Stratocaster playing,' Bonamassa says of the newly created set. 'It's not subtle! It's the power and projection of the gray bottom characteristics that really balance out the front, middle, and treble positions.' Made with period-correct wiring and the aforementioned staggered magnets, no corners have been cut to replicate the tone of the Greenburst, a guitar he called an 'instant star' when he first laid eyes on it. The guitarist has a knack for ultra-rare gear finds, even if it means taking exhaustive measures, like a 15-year search for Lowell George's Dumble Overdrive Special amp. For a man whose home-turned-gear-museum has been the subject of two Reverb documentaries, though, the fact the Greenburst stands as one of his finest finds is quite the achievement. Bonamassa bought the Strat in question from revered vintage guitar emporium Norman's Rare Guitars in early 2023. Its green finish – clearly not a stock colorway – had initially piqued his interest, and it's believed that the guitar's repaint was done in the 1970s at the latest. The Joe Bonamassa 'Greenburst' Stratocaster Pickup Set costs $375. The first 500 sets sold will have an aged finish. They will also include limited-edition packaging and a certificate of authenticity signed by Bonamassa and Seymour Duncan. Head to the Seymour Duncan Custom Shop for more details.
