The Players
News and happenings from the world of your favourite guitarists
After a two-year R&D process, Fender is reportedly furthering its acoustic ambitions with a new American-made series set to launch at the NAMM show in January, and Def Leppard’s Phil Collen has already been wowed by an early example. “Last week, we had a funny situation where we had Phil Collen of Def Leppard come into our Corona factory to work on a signature heavy metal Charvel guitar,” Fender CEO Andy Mooney told Rolling Stone magazine. “He saw the acoustic we were building there, picked it up and wanted to use it on stage that night. We had to say, ‘No, but as soon as we get it out in the spring of next year we’ll give it to you!’”
Steve Hackett has recruited Steven Wilson drummer Craig Blundell to replace Gary O’Toole in his band for the Genesis Revisited Tour 2019. The band will perform Selling England By The Pound in full, alongside other Genesis favourites and selections from Hackett’s own Spectral Mornings album to celebrates its special 40th anniversary.
Gordon Giltrap’s biography, Perilous Journey, is now available via Wymer Publishing. Gordon charts his story from humble beginnings in London to his progressive rock period and the influential acoustic work that’s gained him a worldwide following.
Tosin Abasi has told us why he wanted to take a different approach to distortion with his collaboration with Brian Wampler on the new Abasi Concepts Pathos pedal: “In the high-gain market, the trend seems to be towards super-aggressive distortions that excel at ‘tight’ rhythm playing,” the Animals As Leaders guitarist explains. “I personally admire guitarists of so many genres that I thought I’d take a different approach with this pedal and offer something that wasn’t limited to just playing metal. I wanted a pedal that would retain an amp channel feel but could also add a welcome boost and dynamic characteristics to an already partially driven signal. I also wanted it to be killer for leads, so we dialled in warmth and thickness, with liberal amounts of gain on tap. We were able to achieve a wonderfully saturated sound that retains note separation, but also has a ‘liquid’ or fluid compression feel when the gain knob is up. The Pathos can easily be boosted with your favourite Tube Screamer, for an even more aggressive sound.”
After the home and workshop of iconic guitar builder Wayne Charvel was destroyed alongside his family’s homes in the devastating California forest fires last month, the Charvels have set up a GoFundMe page to help with emergency plans at www.gofundme.com/wayneguitars-wayne-charvel-shop.