The Players
News and happenings from the world of your favourite guitarists
The first ever Chuck Berry signature model is now available from Gibson. The 1955 ES-350T (£7,999) is a historically accurate model with a limited run of 55 made in collaboration with the late legend’s family. The details expand to the case candy with a replica strap and a Zuni ‘Sun God’ bolo tie that Chuck wore throughout the 1950s.
The gear collection of late Steely Dan man Walter Becker went up for auction with Julien’s Beverly Hills on 18 and 19 October with a vast selection of rare and unusual vintage gear up for bids. Star lots included a 1957 Fender Duo-Sonic electric guitar that can be seen being played by Becker in a photograph used in the liner notes to the 1977 Steely Dan album, Aja.
Karlijn Langendijk, one of the finalists of our 2018 Acoustic Guitarist Of The Year, is releasing a guitar duo album called Meraki with the Czech Republic’s Ladislav Pazdera on 12 December. It follows her ongoing recovery from a hand injury. “After playing the competition,” Karlijn tells us, “I travelled to India to treat my hand injury that only had become worse. I had so many new ideas, but I couldn’t bring any of them to life because I had to stop playing completely. Little by little I recovered – now at around 70 per cent – and all the music that had been locked up inside me for all this while could finally come out. Ladislav and I started a guitar duo and whichever musical ideas I had, or he had, we worked them out to some interesting and diverse duo pieces. To me, making this album was a way of finding back my passion and joy in playing.” Discover more information at www.startnext.com/en/meraki.
Eric Clapton has confirmed that he will be playing shows in mainland Europe during May and
June next year with a backing band consisting of Nathan East (bass), Paul Carrack (keyboards), Chris Stainton (keyboards), Doyle Bramhall II (guitar), Sharon White and Katie Kissoon (backing vocalists). At the time of going to press, Clapton’s UK plans were not yet revealed.
While John Mayer isn’t averse to taking a Fractal Axe-Fx out on stage with him and describes the best modelling technology as “pretty close”, he does have some reservations about its ability to replace valves. “One thing it doesn’t respond to well is the change in guitar volume,” he said during an Instagram video in which he showcased to fans some guitar improvs over Spotify backing tracks. “Because it’s an amp modeller, it doesn’t quite understand gain structure – it doesn’t quite get it.” Amp modellers also “don’t quite understand the impulse of the note,” continued Mayer. “So they don’t quite get the contact with the string correct, like the way a tube goes ‘whoosh’, what I call the ‘whapoosh’ of a note. Amp modellers don’t yet know how to stake a note and kind of squeeze it the right way and send it out.”