Skydog: The Duane Allman Retrospective is a 7-disc collection of songs spanning Allman’s short, but prolific life. From Amazon’s editorial review of the collection:

Duane Allman was one of the defining musicians of our era, rated second only to Jimi Hendrix in Rolling Stone’s list of rock’s 100 greatest guitarists. A founding member, with his brother Gregg, of the Allman Brothers Band, Duane was also active as a session musician, and as a member of the all-star Derek and the Dominos. This seven CD set, produced by Duane’s daughter Galadrielle Allman and esteemed reissue producer Bill Levenson, shows the full breadth and depth of Duane’s work, from early recordings (with Gregg) in bands such as The Escorts, Allman Joys and Hour Glass; to his studio work with Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Boz Scaggs, Delaney & Bonnie, Ronnie Hawkins and many others; to a live jam session with the Grateful Dead. The set includes several unreleased performances, many classic Allman Brothers songs, and a collector’s cache of rare singles and long out-of-print album tracks. Also included are a 72 page book with essays by Scott Schindler and Galadrielle Allman, many rare photographs, a replica of Duane’s guitar pick, and a Skydog sticker. Numbered, limited edition of 10,000.

This looks like an incredible collection for Duane Allman fans. It’s amazing how much great music Allman put out in such a relatively short period of time.

Kevin Wagg, the owner of Ampendage Industries, contacted me several weeks ago to let me know about his line of amp stands. I’ve long thought about getting an amp stand, but I never really liked the ones that I saw in guitar stores. As a result, I’ve never really used one. Kevin was kind enough to send me a review unit, and I’m really impressed with what he’s building.

Ampendage offers three different models, two of which are solid hardwood and one is made of 3/4″ density MDF. As you can see below, the solid wood models look fantastic. The picture below shows the Teak model, which looks really nice in my music room; a Maple model is also available. The MDF stand has a black finish.

One of the nice things about amp stands is that they angle the speaker more towards your ear, which can be nice if you’re on a stage and want a more direct sound from your amp. I, however, don’t gig, but wanted a way to decouple the speaker from the floor. The angle of the stand pushes the sound right at my head, so I get a clearer picture of my tone.

Kevin advertises a small footprint with these stands, and I can agree. With a width of 14″ and a height of 12″, the amp stand stays out of the way enough to make it usable even in relatively small spaces. Yet, it’s also big enough to handle not only a 12″ combo, but my Mesa TA-15 lunchbox head/12″ cab configuration. I wouldn’t put a large head/cab configuration on the stand, but if you have a small one like the Mesa TA-15, I think a stand like this would work fine.

One downside of the Ampendage stands is that they don’t fold up like other stands. Kevin includes a built-in handle to make it easier to lug around. However, since the stand doesn’t fold up, carrying around the stand can be a bit of a hassle if you’ve got a bunch of other gear to carry.

The stand seems pretty durable, but I can’t attest to how gig-worthy it is. The pieces connect together well and are held together with some solid screws, so I would be surprised if it couldn’t stand up to most types of gigs.

If you’re looking for an amp stand, I think Ampendage is worth a look. Starting at $59.95 and going up to $89.95 for the solid wood models, they aren’t the cheapest stands around, but they are some of the nicest looking ones I’ve seen and seem to be solidly built.

I missed this introduction during the NAMM show in January, but Fano Guitars have created a new model called the GF6. You might notice that this model bears more than a slight resemblance to Fender’s Starcaster model from the 70s. In fact, the GF6 name is an homage to the designer of the Starcaster, Gene Fields. I really dig the look of this model, and it has a few features that set it apart from many of the semi-hollow body guitars on the market. Instead of the maple laminate construction of models like the ES-335, the GF6 features all solid-wood construction with a variety of wood options (alder, maple, mahogany, korina, and swamp ash). The back and sides are a carved out solid block of wood fitted with a carved solid top. Pickup options are P90s, humbuckers, or filtertrons. Additionally, one of the things that makes the GF6 so interesting to me is that it has a 25.5″ scale length unlike many of the Gibson-inspired semi-hollow guitars.

I haven’t played a Fano guitar before, but I’ve heard a lot of good things about them. They are handmade by a small team as part of the Premier Builders Guild in California. I’m not sure about the 7.25″-9.5″ compound radius, so I’m looking forward to playing one of these. They are just now shipping to dealers, so they are not very widely available yet. If you’ve played on of these or another Fano guitar before, I’d enjoy hearing your thoughts about it.

I’ve watched this B.B. King video live from Sing Sing Prison numerous times, and it gets me every time. It has elements of everything that has made B.B. so great for so long: his charisma, his singing, and his guitar playing. It has everything in about five and a half minutes.

I’m still catching up on news from NAMM this year. One bit of news I was glad to see is about Guild building electric guitars again. One of the most interesting “new” models is a reissue of the M-75 Aristocrat:

Guild’s compact and lightweight M-75 Aristocrat™ model expertly evokes its predecessor of the early 1950s, with a gracefully sculpted single-cutaway hollow body specifically designed to produce the resonance of a larger instrument. Other premium features include a comfortable and rock-solid three-piece neck and the tonal magnificence of dual single-coil pickups. Features include a 13.5″ x 2″ hollow body, laminated spruce top, laminated mahogany back and sides, three-piece mahogany/maple/mahogany neck, 24.75″ scale length, rosewood fingerboard with 9.45″ radius and 22 “vintage tall” frets, pearloid block inlays, dual single-coil pickups, three-way pickup toggle switch, two volume and two tone controls, Adjusto-Matic™ bridge, Guild “harp” tailpiece, Grover® Sta-Tite™ tuning machines and gold-plated hardware. Available in Antique Burst finish.

I’m looking forward to checking these out when they hit stores.

I wish I could have been in the audience to see this: Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill, Joe Bonamassa, and Derek Trucks paying homage to Freddie King and playing “Going Down” at King’s introduction into the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame:

(via The Guitar Buzz)

Perhaps the cutest new products at NAMM were the Fuzz Face mini models introduced by Dunlop. These are pedalboard friendly versions of the traditional Fuzz Face style pedal. They look just look like the original model, but shrunk down. There are three mini models, a Hendrix model, a Germanium model, and a Silicon model. At a street price of $99, these will likely sell like hotcakes.

Premier Guitar met up with Dunlop during NAMM to get a demo of these pedals as well as a few more new products:

The Fender Custom Shop is introducing the Eric Clapton “Brownie” Stratocaster, modeled after Clapton’s famous two-tone ’50s sunburst Strat. The guitar is limited to a 100-piece run and will be made available at Guitar Center Platinum stores on March 21, 2013. Some people don’t like these kind of tribute models, but I think they’re an interesting way to pay homage to classic guitars and guitarists.

Clapton himself seems impressed by the reproduction:

I’m not sure if this is specifically NAMM related, but PRS Guitars announced the news this month that they are reintroducing the Custom 22:

Reintroduced for 2013, the Custom 22 is a classic workhorse with all the tones you’ve come to expect from your PRS and a distinctive, musical, warm midrange. Along with its standard features – maple top, mahogany back, mahogany or rosewood 25” scale length Pattern or Pattern Thin neck, and rosewood fretboard – the Custom 22 and 24 are now both offered with the choice of 57/08 pickups or HFS treble and Vintage bass pickups wired for a redesigned 5-way blade switch, which offers a unique dual humbucker option.

I used to own a Custom 22, and it was and is one of the best made guitars I’ve ever owned. I only sold it to purchase another PRS. I’m glad to see that they’re reintroducing it.

This is an interesting new guitar from Fender: the Vince Ray Voodoo-Bucket 300CE:

You get skulls and skeletons, motorcycles, black cats and serpents, demons and witches, disembodied hands beating bongos from hell, fortunes told and spells cast, stars, flames, headstones and more. In short, you get the mind of Vince Ray himself embodied in a 500-instrument run of guitars that look they jumped straight out of the previews from some drive-in B-movie nightmare.