That Was The Year... 2008 Coils, Cobras and Customs
PAUL REED SMITH RELEASES THE
PRS Starla, a singlecut mahogany body with mahogany neck and rosewood board with dot inlays. Unique in the history of PRS it’s fitted with a Bigsby vibrato, Grover tune-o-matic bridge, vintage styled tulip tuners and a pair of chromed custom-voiced pickups. With volume, tone, built-in coil-tapping and a three-way selector switch it’s great for both single-coil and overdriven sounds with a retro look and feel.
SPACE EXPLORATION IS IN TOP GEAR AS THE
Automated Transfer Vehicle is launched from Guiana Space Centre taking cargo to the International Space Station; NASA’s Phoenix spacecraft lands on the northern polar region of Mars; the Messenger space probe makes its closest flyby of Mercury; the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope is launched; Iran sends a rocket into space from its newly-opened space centre; and the SpaceX Falcon 1 becomes the world’s first privately developed space launch vehicle to make orbit successfully.
THE KING COBRA IS THE LATEST
edition to the impressive range of Matchless amplifiers, boasting a 35-watt, twin-EL34 power stage with added reverb and tremolo. Hand-wired point-topoint circuitry, top-dollar materials throughout and quality of build insures an impressive and powerful delivery from this weighty combo. Naturally the price tag is also hefty but an exceptional dynamic range and responsiveness coupled to brilliant tones and projection gives this Cobra plenty of bite.
RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE PLAY THEIR
first shows outside the States since reforming, headlining in Australia and New Zealand. Michael Jackson’s Thriller 25 celebrates the 25th anniversary of the biggest selling album of all time with Jackson as executive producer; and System Of A Down guitarist Daron Malakian, tells MTV that he is concentrating on his new project, Scars On Broadway, so the band is unlikely to reform.
FEARS OF A FINANCIAL RECESSION IN THE USA.
Stock markets around the world plunge and the UK loses confidence in the banking system after unsafe investments are announced by many major highstreet banks. Northern Rock is the first in trouble and is quickly nationalised by the government. But things only get worse.
THE GIBSON CUSTOM SHOP RELEASES
a limited run for their 50th Anniversary 1958 ES-335. The original concept was for a guitar with the warmth of a hollowbody combined with the power and sustain of a solid, and it passed with flying colours. This model is equipped with Classic ‘57 humbuckers plus the original rounded neck and dot markers, full binding to body and neck, nickelplated hardware, tune-o-matic bridge, stopbar tailpiece, volume and tone controls plus a three-way switch and vintage tulip tuners all gently aged in Vintage Original Spec (VOS).