Wildwood Guitars has worked with Gibson to create an extremely limited edition new version of the Joe Bonamassa signature Les Paul called the Joe Bonamassa Ltd VOS Les Paul. As you can see from the picture above, this model differs from the first signature model in that it is a Sunburst model while the first model was a Goldtop. They actually call the finish on this one the “Bonamassa Burst.” Wildwood’s feature list for the guitar includes the following:

Bonamassa Burst, VOS Finish, Carved Maple Top, 2-Piece Mahogany Body, Nickel Hardware, ABR-1 Bridge w/o Retainer Wire, Aluminum Stop-bar Tailpiece, Dunlop Strap Locks, 1-Piece Mahogany Neck, 22 Fret Rosewood Fingerboard, Acrylic Trapezoid Inlays, 24 3/4″ Scale Length, 1 11/16″ Nut Width, Bonamassa Truss Rod Cover, BurstBucker 2 (R) and BurstBucker 3 (T) Pickups, 2 Volume, 2 Tone, 3-way Switch, CTS Pots and Bumble bee Capacitors, Includes Hardshell Case.

At least initially, there will only be 25 of these new Bonamassa models made for sale (numbered 1-25), and Wildwood Guitars will be the exclusive retailer for them. You can pre-order the guitar directly from Wildwood for $3899. I have no affiliation with Wildwood and I’ve never purchased anything from them, but I recently spoke with one of their salespeople about another guitar they had in stock. They were extremely helpful and, even though I ended up buying a different guitar, I would not hesitate to buy from Wildwood in the future.

Tomo Fujita recently released a new album of instrumental guitar music called Pure that he recorded with Will Lee, Steve Jordan, Steve Gadd, and Bernard Purdie. I only know of Tomo through The Gear Page forums, where he always exudes a positive attitude, and that spirit translates in his music.

Tomo started recording music for Pure over two years ago, after having hand picked his favorite bass player and drummers to play with. He recorded the first three tracks on the album with Gadd and Lee, he recorded tracks four through six with Purdie and Lee, and he recorded the final three tracks with Jordan and Lee.

It’s been neat to see Tomo’s excitement when posting about this new album. I’m happy to see that he’s finally finished and released it, and I think his hard work has paid off.

The track listing for Pure is:

1. Kyoto
2. Boy Back Home
3. That Girl
4. Crossing
5. Tiny Tapper
6. Midnight Walk
7. The Good Life
8. Driving in Texas
9. Through the Pain

This year’s Summer NAMM show is just around the corner and will be held on June 18-June 20 here in Nashville. For the first time ever, they are opening the doors to non-NAMM members on the last day of the show for what they’re calling “Wanna Play Sunday.” Entry into the show on Sunday will cost $20, with the proceeds benefiting NAMM’s Wanna Play Fund.

The Wanna Play Sunday portion of the Summer NAMM show will include the following sessions and information:

Education Sessions

* “Get Endorsed” – Learn how you can capture the attention of music product manufacturers to get yourself endorsed from top artist relations executives: Joe Hibbs (Mapex), Bob Borbonus (Taylor), Chris Gero (Yamaha), and Dick Boak (Martin Guitar)
* “Setting Up a Home Studio”– Learn techniques you can employ to get professional sound quality out of your home systems and how to set your system to the same specifications as industry professionals. Presented by Doug Roberts, owner of Doug Roberts Creative, a company focused on home studio installations.
* “Garage Band Test Drive” and “Logic Pro Test Drive” – Whether you’re a new user or frequent user, make the most of Garage Band and Logic Pro! Experts from Apple will be on hand to help you learn all the ins and outs of these popular music making applications in hands-on workshops.

Education Sessions from Master Clinicians

* Drummer Jim Riley of Rascal Flatts and Modern Drummer magazine’s 2009 #1 Drum Clinician of the Year will offer unique drumming tips.
* The world’s top finger-style guitarist and master clinician, Doyle Dykes, will demonstrate his techniques and style in this amazing workshop.
* Victor Wooten, an American solo bassist, composer and author, will demonstrate his amazing musical ability.
* Legendary guitarist Eric Struthers for the Neville Brothers and master clinician will demonstrate the Zoom Pedal and show how to use the techniques that have made him an icon.
* Plus a wrap-up performance by Victor Wooten and Eric Struthers.

Additional Features Include

* A Sirius radio taping of “Heroes Behind the Hits,” featuring three of country music’s top songwriters talking about their inspiration for the music they have written. Watch as they perform live, and enjoy their music and stories in this intimate setting.
* Twenty-minute informational sessions with renowned guitar manufacturers C.F. ‘Chris’ Martin IV, chairman and CEO of C.F. Martin & Company; and Bob Taylor, principal of Taylor Guitars. This is a unique opportunity to get an insider’s perspective on the business, the instruments they make and the future of the industry.
* “The Best Band You Never Heard” event, offering musicians a chance to jam together using the “Best In Show” product of 2009 Summer NAMM called JamHub.
* The Reunion Blues Vintage Guitars Road Show. Bring your classic or vintage guitars and find out from the experts what they might be worth.
* Free guitar re-stringing from D’Addario
* A fast drumming competition. Think you’re fast? Test your skills!
* Live music throughout the day
* Join in the annual Summer NAMM Drum Circle. No musical ability needed. Everyone is welcome to join in the fun!

Premier Guitar magazine has recently published an article titled Axes Bold As Love: The Gear of Experience Hendrix Tour 2010. One interesting tidbit from the article was the fact that Eric Johnson used a 1962 Stratocaster that was stolen from him years ago and returned to him in 2006. Also included in the article is a picture of Johnson’s jumbled pedalboard. His pedalboard cracks me up every time I see a picture of it. According to the article, Jonny Lang used both his usual Fender Custom Shop Thinline Telecaster as well as a 1958 Les Paul reissue. The article also provides information about the gear used by other tour members, including Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Brad Whitford, Susan Tedeschi, Joe Satriani, Hubert Sumlin, Robert Randolph, Vernon Reid, Ernie Isley, and Billy Cox.

Premier Guitar magazine recently featured a photo retrospective of Stevie Ray Vaughan, from the photo archives of Tracy Anne Hart. The retrospective contains 17 photos of Stevie spanning his career. Some great photos of my favorite artist.

Music instrument retailer Sweetwater will be holding their annual summer GearFest on June 25 and June 26. There will be more than 40 workshops, over 170 manufacturer exhibits, $75,000 in gear giveaways, and special deals on instruments. If you’re in or near the Fort Wayne, IN area during that time, Sweetwater’s GearFest will probably make for a fun afternoon!

My wife and I recently took a trip to Milwaukee, Wisconsin to visit family. While we were up there, I visited Cream City Music, an excellent music store in the area. I played a number of guitars, including a brand of Strat- and Tele-style guitars that I had never heard of: Landric Guitars. They are handmade and assembled by Rick Land in Grafton, Wisconsin. I played several of his Strat-style guitars, and they played as well as any Fender-made Strat I’ve ever played, including my own number one Strat. I’m not really looking to add another Strat to my collection, but if I were a Landric guitar would be at the top of the list. They are reasonably priced, too!

Land uses a mixture of high-quality parts, select hardwoods, custom finished bodies and hand-finished necks. For example, on the models I played, he used Lollar “Blackface” pickups, which sound fantastic. The neck felt extremely comfortable in my hands, and the overall weight of the guitar was very comfortable.

Cream City Music is currently the only retail store that carries Landric Guitars. You can contact them to get more information about Landric Guitars. I’ve only had the one visit with them, but they seemed very friendly and helpful.

You can see a demo of a Strat-style Landric guitar below (in fact, this is likely one of the guitars I played in the store):

Whole Lotta Led is an interesting website detailing the guitars, amps, and effects that Jimmy Page used during his Led Zeppelin days. The site appears to be fairly well researched and also includes a number of great pictures of Page with Zeppelin.

The Derek Trucks Band will be releasing a 2-CD live album called Roadsongs on June 22. You can preorder the album from the Derek Trucks Band online shop.

All preorders from the DTB site will receive an immediate MP3 download of the first song, “I’ll Find My Way”, as well as a DTB air freshener. Additionally, all preorders will have a chance to win an autographed bottleneck slide that was used in concert by Derek Trucks; they will randomly include the slides when shipping out the preorders.

The track listing of the 2-CD set is:

DISC ONE
1. I’ll Find My Way
2. Down In The Flood
3. Sailing On
4. Get What You Deserve
5. Days Is Almost Gone
6. Already Free
7. Afro Blue

DISC TWO
1. I Know
2. Down Don’t Bother Me
3. Don’t Miss Me
4. Rastaman Chant
5. Key To The Highway
6. Get Out Of My Life Woman/Who Knows
7. Anyday

Eric Johnson will be playing with the Les Paul Trio and Anton Fig at the Iridium Jazz Club on June 5th, 6th, and 7th. He will play two shows each night. They will mostly play Johnson’s material but in a jazz trio format, according to Johnson’s website.

I hope they record some of these shows. I won’t be able to catch the shows in NYC, and I think this format would be really interesting for Johnson’s material. If any of you go, I’d enjoy hearing your thoughts on the show.