By now, you’ve probably heard about Fender’s recently released Blacktop series of guitars. This series features Stratocasters, Telecasters, Jaguars, and Jazzmasters with humbuckers replacing the single coil pickups typically found in these guitars. (The Blacktop Jazzmaster actually has one P90-style pickup in addition to one humbucker. The rest of the guitars have two humbuckers.) Fender has stated that they created this series to appeal to modern rock guitarists who want a hotter sound than what single coils provide. The most intriguing aspect of these guitars to me is the $449.99 street price. As you might expect at this price point, the guitars are not made in America, but are made in Mexico. Even so, this is a great price point as it’s actually cheaper than many of Fender’s other MIM guitars. I was curious to see how well they played and sounded.

My local Guitar Center had a few Stratocaster and Telecaster models in stock, but none of the Jaguar or Jazzmasters. I was especially interested in playing the Telecaster model since I’m a big fan of Rosewood necks and most Telecasters do not have them, but these do. Additionally, I was thinking about picking up a Telecaster when these guitars came out. The Stratocasters and Telecasters are also available with Maple necks.

I was very impressed with the neck on these guitars. The neck felt great on each of the Blacktop guitars I played. However, the skunk stripe that covers the truss rod on one of the Telecasters was slightly raised to the point where I could feel it when I played the guitar. This only occurred on one of the guitars I played, but I thought it was worth noting since it affected the overall playability of the guitar.

In place of the typical control knobs used on Fender guitars, these guitars feature amp knobs. Some people don’t like the amp knobs, but I think they look fine on the guitars. My Muddy Waters Telecaster has amp knobs as the controls, so maybe I’m just used to them.

I played the Telecaster model through a couple of different amps. I felt like the pickups sounded OK, but were a little muddy. I think if I were to pick up one of these guitars, I would probably end up replacing the pickups. That being said, at $449 you can forgive a little muddiness in the pickups. Based on other reviews and comments I’ve seen, other people like the pickups, so maybe it’s just that I’m used to a different sound.

The Stratocaster features a slightly different control set from the Telecasters. Even through the Stratocaster has two humbuckers, it features a five-way switch with a couple of coil-splitting options. This is a nice way to give a little bit of the typical Strat quack along with the bite of humbuckers.

Overall, based on the Blacktop guitars I played, I think Fender has a big hit on their hands with these guitars. They appear to be a great value and, aside from the finish issue I mentioned above, appear to be solid, well-made guitars. I’ve only played a few of the Telecaster and Stratocaster models, so I can’t comment on the Jaguar or Jazzmaster models. I am especially interested in hearing people’s comments about the Jazzmaster since this is the cheapest Jazzmaster produced under the Fender brand and I can see it appealing to a lot of people.

Boston-based guitarist Nili Brosh is set to release her debut album Through the Looking Glass on November 16, 2010. Brosh is a graduate of the Berklee College of Music, where she has also taught classes in Berklee’s summer music program. At 20 years of age, she has accumulated quite a resume already, having worked with Guthrie Govan, Stu Hamm, and Andy Timmons. Timmons even appears as a guest soloist on Through the Looking Glass.

Through the Looking Glass is a nine song instrumental rock guitar album featuring some excellent guitar playing by Brosh. The album starts with an atmospheric track called “The House of Tomorrow” that highlights Brosh’s melodic playing.

The next track on the album is called “Lost in Suburbia”. This track is a progressive-sounding rock track that again highlights Brosh’s melodic guitar playing.

“Hat Tricks” is a jazzy tune that starts off slow, but picks up steam about halfway through. This is a fairly complex song with Brosh really letting loose near the end of the song.

Following “Hat Tricks” is a song called “High Strung”. This song is interesting in that it starts off fast and strong and then segues into a jazzy interlude followed by more intense playing.

The title track starts off as a slow ballad-style song, but quickly morphs into a power ballad with some very nice melodic playing by Brosh. I like how this song, like several others on the album, change tempo several times throughout the song.

“Placebo” starts off as a straight-ahead instrumental rock song. But, about halfway through the song, she surprises the listener with a jazzy interlude followed by more uptempo rock playing.

“Wafer” is an uptempo rock song with a guest appearance by Andy Timmons. This track reminded me a little of something Vai might play.

Things get heavy on the song “Never Be Enough”, which features a driving rhythm in a double-time feel. Brosh’s solo on this track features some of the most fiery guitar work on the album.

The album ends with a song called “Typsy Gypsy”. This is another uptempo rocker with shades of both Vai and Satriani. Like “Never Be Enough” before it, “Typsy Gypsy” features some fiery and inspired playing by Brosh. Not only does Brosh let it all out on this track, there’s even a bass solo.

If you like melodic instrumental guitar music, I recommend checking out Nili Brosh’s debut album Through the Looking Glass. But, don’t take my word for it. Here’s what Andy Timmons has to say about the album:

The folks at Fret12 have let me know that they’ve created several guitar + DVD packages featuring Mark Tremonti signature model PRS guitars with Mark Tremonti’s instructional DVD. There are two different types of packages. One features the PRS SE Mark Tremonti signature guitar along with the instructional DVD for $512. The other package features the USA PRS Mark Tremonti signature model and DVD for $2550. These packages are available in Fret12′s online store. If you’re in the market for a Tremonti signature PRS guitar, this might be a good way to go since you essentially get the DVD for free as the guitars are priced competitively with other online stores.

Fret12.com is working with Dave Specter to promote Specter’s new (excellent) blues album Spectified. As part of the promotion, Fret12 has created a section of their site called Blues & Beyond featuring interviews, lessons, and a series of videos exploring Chicago-area blues landmarks and gear makers. Specter has interviewed a number of well-known musicians for Fret12, including Warren Haynes and Hubert Sumlin, as well as several other Chicago-based guitarists.

I’ve been listening to the Spectified album now for a few weeks, and it’s full of tasteful jazzy guitar playing. I recommend checking it out if you’re a fan of guitar-based blues music.

Below is a promo video for Blues & Beyond:

Premier Guitar recently interviewed Eric Johnson prior to a Guitar Masters acoustic show in Iowa City. In the interview, he talks about the acoustic tour, the guitars he’s using on the tour, his upcoming album, why he’s sold some of his vintage guitars, and the type of gear he’s using now. Check out the interview below:

Back in June, I mentioned that Epiphone was working with Joe Bonamassa to create a Joe Bonamassa signature model Epiphone Les Paul. More details have come out about the guitar, and it is now available for pre-order in the US with a release date tentatively scheduled for this December. So far, American Musical Supply is the only US retailer that I’ve found that has it for pre-order. Andertons Music Co. has the guitar available for pre-order in the UK.*

The guitar has the following features:

• 1950′s rounded neck profile mahogany neck with long neck tenon for added strenth and sustain
• Mahogany body married to a hard Maple cap for that unique combination of warmth and bite
• Gibson Burstbucker 2 pickup in the neck and the hotter Burstbucker 3 in the bridge for added bite
• Black pickup mounting rings, a black pickguard, black toggle washer and black cavity control covers
• Limited run of only 1,000 guitars will be made

The price on American Musical Supply’s website is $699. Only 1,000 will be produced, so if you want one you may want to pre-order soon to ensure that you get one.

*Note: I have no affiliation with American Musical Supply or Andertons Music Co. If you see another online retailer that has these guitars for pre-order, feel free to list them in the comments.

This appeals to the geek in me: GNUGuitarINIX is a Linux distribution made for guitarists. This distribution ships with a number of music applications, including:

- Gnome Alsamixer (Volume Control)
- Rakarrack
- Guitarix
- Tuxguitar
- Jack Rack
- SooperLooper
- QJackCtl
- Hydrogen
- Audacity
- Aqualung
- PCManFM
- gNinjam

As a Mac user, I’m not familiar with most of these programs, but it looks like an interesting Linux distribution if you’re into that kind of thing. If you’ve used any of these programs, I’d enjoy hearing your thoughts in the comments.

Nashville Arts Magazine recently featured an article by Keb’ Mo’s wife Robbie Brooks Moore about their recent move from LA to Nashville. It just so happens that their move occurred just a few short days before the historic flooding happened here in May. It’s interesting to read about their perspective of Nashville after moving from LA:

“You can’t even have an attitude in this town. They’ll laugh at you,” he says to me one night as we clear up the dinner dishes during one of my “secret” interviews. We laugh about the contrast with the Los Angeles scene where Kevin is better known as “Keb’ who?” That’s OK. He actually likes it that way, but he also loves the down-to-earth attitudes and camaraderie of the Nashville community. “A quality that I’ve really noticed in the people I admire the most,” he says, “is their constant use of the question ‘what can I do for you?’ I notice a whole lot of that here, and I try to do the same.” That helpful attitude is not just lip service. We have experienced it firsthand—everything from our neighbors Kim and John feeding us the most amazing brownies to Vince Gill giving us a ride on his tour bus from Chicago and then a personal shuttle and bag service to our front door. My favorite has been looking out the front window and seeing Kevin’s new workout partner, Lee Roy Parnell, good-naturedly watering our flowers for us after helping him with the mulching. Now that’s service.

Click here to read the rest of the article.

USA Today recently featured an article about Buddy Guy and his new album Living Proof. I think this is one of Buddy’s best albums since his early 90s masterpiece Damn Right I’ve Got the Blues, and it’s good to see it getting wide recognition.

Guitarist Davy Knowles has recently collaborated with Freekish Blues to create a signature pedal called the Chubb Up! Octave Fuzz pedal. The pedal features three control knobs: Fuz, Tone, and Volume, as well as a Thin/Fat switch, an octave on/off switch and a fuzz on/off switch. The Freekish Blues website states that the pedal was created with “Vintage Octave Fuzz/Fuzz pedals of the Late 60s / Early-Mid 70′s in mind.”

There are three versions of the pedal available: the standard Chubb Up!, a custom hand-painted Chubb Up!, and a custom hand-painted Chubb Up! autographed by Knowles. The video below features Knowles demoing the pedal. Based on the demo, it sounds like you can get some pretty interesting sounds from the pedal. I’m curious to hear how he uses it on his next album.