Start Me Up
Five new products for you to try
Seymour Duncan Billy Gibbons ‘Red Devil for Strat’ pickups
1 Designed to recreate Billy’s trademark pafhumbu ck er tone in a pickup that will fit any Strat-sized single-coil rout. Promising an “extra-spicy PAF” response from the bridge, while the neck and middle are a little less hot. The set features three unique pickup winds, with specially calibrated Alnico V magnets,four-conductorlead wire and vacuum wax potting. Get’ em as a single neck, middle or bridge, or as a set. (£132.95 per pickup, seymourduncan.net)
Korg Rimpitch 2
2 Besides boasting one of our favourite product names in recent memory, the original Rimpitch was a nifty little tuner that slotted into an acoustic’s soundhole. Its successor is fully chromatic, so supports alternate tunings, as well as reference pitches from 438 to 445 hz. otherwise, the design is much the same, with a rubber-cushioned chassis that mountsonto100mm-diameter sound holes, and uses apiezo pickup to detect pitch. Tuning precision is +/- 1 cent, while battery life is 36 hours. (£21.99,korg.com)
GH S Fingerboard Care Kit
3 To keep your guitar playing its best, you’ve got to maintain that fingerboard, keeping it in tip-top condition. Fast-fret makerghs reckons it has just the tonic with its appropriately monikered Fingerboard Care Kit. Consisting of a fret buffer, bottle o’ GHS fingerboard cleaner/conditioner and a plush cloth, the kit promises to give any instrument with a non-glossy, darker fingerboard–such as rose wood, ebony and pauferro–at horough once-over. (£14.95, ghsstrings.com)
Xotic All-brass patch cables
4 For players who want the ultimate in signal integrity, Xotic’s All-brass patch cables area sound investment. a low-noise to high-performance ratio promises ultra-transparent signal transfer with low capacitance and the nickelplated brass jacks feature a pancake-thin design that allows you to position pedals closer. Xotic say the cables’ stress relief and corrosion resistance gives a tight fit and long life too. They’re available in 6", 12", 6" two-pack and12"two-packformats. (£17.99,xotic.us)
ISP Deci-mate
5 Isp technologies has down sized its decim at or noise suppressor into a mini-pedal format with the Deci-mate, promising tracking improvements with an adaptive response for staccato playing and sustained notes. A single threshold knob controls the level of noise reduction, with ISP’S algorithm aiming to do away with any release control. It’s a fully analogue design with no digital artefacts or aliasing, with up to 90db of noise reduction, true bypass switching and9v power supply operation. ($139, isptechnologies.com)