Joe Bonamassa and team have published an official trailer for his upcoming DVD release Live at the Beacon Theatre, which you can now pre-order on Joe’s site. The concert was filmed this past November and features guest spots by Beth Hart, John Hiatt, and Paul Rodgers. As a Free fan, I’m particularly interested in seeing Joe and Paul Rodgers performing together. Check out the trailer below:

The Seymour Duncan Custom Shop have partnered with Joe Bonamassa to create the Joe Bonamassa Signature Pickup Set, which attempt to replicate the P.A.F. pickups in Joe’s 1959 Les Paul:

Wound on the historic Leesona machine that created humbuckers for Gibson back in the ‘50s and ‘60s, the set features an Alnico 2 magnet in the neck pickup and Alnico 3 in the bridge. Period-correct butyrate bobbins, lightly antiqued nickel covers, wooden spacer, and retro-style “Bonamassa” P.A.F. stickers heighten the vintage vibe.

Only 1,959 Custom Shop sets will be sold. Each will be hand signed by Seymour Duncan and Joe Bonamassa and include a special USB flash drive with video interviews, special features, and more.

Here’s Joe talking about the pickups:

Guitar retailer The Music Zoo have posted some highlights from their first day at the NAMM show. One of the highlights they posted is the prototype for an upcoming 150-piece guitar series from Gibson replicating Kirk Hammett’s 1979 Flying V from his early days in Metallica; 50 of the pieces will be signed by Hammett. Very cool!

John Mayer and I seem to share an affinity for small-bodied acoustic guitars, as he has teamed up with Martin to create the Custom 00-45SC John Mayer Limited Edition Guitar:

“There’s something about a smaller-bodied acoustic guitar that has always appealed to me. In one glance it inspires me to write, travel, perform, and age along with it,” said John Mayer. “Not very long ago I was inspired to return to a completely natural way of writing and recording music, and at the center of that vision were the Martin 00-sized guitars that defined an era of brilliant songwriting in the ’60s and ’70s. The 00-45SC John Mayer Edition is my vision of the ultimate 00-45 come to life. It’s simply perfect.”

“There is no better ambassador for our custom guitars than John Mayer,” said Chris Martin, Chairman and CEO, C.F. Martin & Co. “We are thrilled to have the opportunity to collaborate with such a singular talent on such a unique instrument.”

Based upon requested 12-fret 00 specifications and design concepts from the artist himself, the 00-45SC John Mayer Edition is constructed with back, sides and head plate of select premium quality cocobolo wood, a strikingly beautiful member of the genuine rosewood species prized for its’ rich reddish-orange and black grain striations. The soundboard is book matched from Martin’s highest grade of Adirondack spruce, prized for crystalline clarity and powerful projection. The slotted tapered headstock with hand-squared slots is equipped with premium Waverly Sloane bronze engraved side-mount tuning machines with ivoroid buttons. Style 45 vintage appointments are executed in rare richly-colored blue paua shell, with delicate snowflake fingerboard position markers. The tastefully ornate 1902 alternate torch design graces the headstock, also executed in blue paua.

Martin’s standard 00 12-fret body size has long been revered for its’ sweet airy depth of tone, but this special model has an even deeper sound. Aside from its vintage hide glue Custom Shop construction and hand sculpted Adirondack spruce bracing, the 00-45SC John Mayer Edition bears unique attributes never before seen on a Martin guitar. Style 45 top inlay typically circumscribes the tongue of the fingerboard as it extends toward the rosette. This new design provides for pearl edging along the sides of the fingerboard that extend directly with miter joints into the rosette. The inlay motif of the three-ring Style 45 rosette is perfectly continued as a matching inlay on the higher surface of the fingerboard, giving the illusion of complete contiguous circles. This unusual design is so unique, it is difficult to describe in words and must be seen photographically or held in one’s hands to be fully comprehended.

Each 00-45SC John Mayer Edition will be personally signed by John Mayer and numbered in the sequence of the 25 total edition guitars. This special model will be introduced at the Anaheim Winter NAMM Show in January of 2012 and will subsequently be available from participating Martin dealerships in early 2012.

Most of us will have to admire this guitar from afar, as it has a suggested price of $13,999 and will be limited to just 25 guitars.

Eminence have partnered with Eric Johnson to create the EJ1250 Eric Johnson Signature Series speaker:

Eminence is proud to announce the addition of a signature 12” alnico guitar speaker developed with legendary guitarist Eric Johnson, the EJ1250.

Eminence knows a thing or two about vintage tone, having made guitar speakers for the biggest amplifier brands in the industry since the late ’60s. But one guitarist
is known the world over for defining vintage tone. Working with Eric and George Alessandro, Eminence has designed the first speaker worthy of Eric’s name.

Available in both 8 and 16 ohm impedances, the EJ1250 is a 50 watt, 12” guitar speaker featuring vintage alnico tone with a modern twist. With both American and British characteristics, the EJ1250 delivers punchy lows, warm throaty mids, and articulate highs.

“I’m excited that for the first time in many years there’s a new speaker that I love the sound of.” said Johnson.

“No other guitarist’s name has become synonymous with vintage tone.” said Eminence President Chris Rose. “We’re very excited to be collaborating with him, and the fact he has chosen Eminence to deliver his signature sound is testament to our own reputation for building the highest quality products on the market.”

If you’re at the NAMM show, you can catch Johnson at the Eminence booth on Friday, January 20 at 2:00 PM.

Fender have introduced the Kurt Cobain Mustang:

When Kurt Cobain hit the stage, it was very often with a Mustang® guitar—an enigmatic anti-hero figure with an esoteric anti-hero instrument. It’s with great pride then that Fender introduces the Kurt Cobain Mustang, which evokes the man, the band, the sound and the times, and gives an authentically crafted nod to one of the most unlikely guitars to ever find itself at the center of a musical maelstrom.

Cobain liked Mustangs a lot. For one, he preferred offbeat guitars that didn’t cost zillions of dollars, and the Mustang certainly fit those two criteria. Also, being somewhat physically diminutive himself, he liked to perform live with slightly more diminutive guitars, like Fender Mustang and Jaguar® guitars, which better fit his hands and his reach.

See for yourself—go back and watch the famous 1991 video for “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” and there he is and there it is slung over his shoulder. Or think back to when you saw them on the ’93-’94 In Utero tour, when he seldom went onstage with anything but a Mustang. Quite often and especially later on, Mustang guitars were a big part of what Kurt Cobain was all about, musically.

Inspired by his arsenal of modded guitars, the new Fender Kurt Cobain Mustang takes you back there, with highly distinctive features including an angled single-coil Mustang neck pickup and ferocious Seymour Duncan® JB humbucking bridge pickup mounted directly to the body, dual on-off/phase in-out switches for each pickup, a polyester-finished alder body and an Adjusto-Matic™ bridge with dynamic vibrato tailpiece.

Other features include the classic 24” Mustang scale length, C-shaped maple neck with urethane finish, 7.25”-radius rosewood fingerboard with 22 vintage-style frets and vintage-style ivory dot inlays, four-ply pickguard (Aged White Pearl on Fiesta Red and Dark Lake Placid Blue with stripe models; Tortoiseshell on Sonic Blue model), master volume and tone controls, vintage-style tuners, and chrome hardware. Finish options include Fiesta red, Sonic Blue and Dark Lake Placid Blue with stripe. Available in right- and left-handed models. For more information, go to www.fender.com.

Rich Murray has found the full-length (12 minute) documentary about the recording process for Oz Noy’s latest album Twisted Blues Vol. 1:

I enjoy getting the background information on albums, and this documentary is an interesting look into how Noy recorded his latest album.

I haven’t seen much information about it, but it seems that Gibson has recently produced a limited number of Derek Trucks Signature SG guitars. The guitar is spec’d similarly to Gibson’s ’61 Reissue SG with a few special appointments. For example, the Trucks Signature SG includes a Lyre tailpiece like that seem on Trucks’ own guitar. The pickguard has also been removed to match the guitar that Trucks is most known for. The headstock includes a 50th anniversary graphic to mark the 50th anniversary of the ’61 SG.

The full specs of the guitar are:

• Mahogany Body
• Heritage Cherry finish
• Mahogany Neck
• Rosewood Fretboard
• 22 frets
• 2 Gibson ’57 Classic Humbucker
• 2 Volume, 2 Tone controls
• Chrome Hardware
• Includes Gibson Case

The guitar has a street price of $1699 and is available at Musicians Friend, Guitar Center, and Music 123.

Speaking of Oz Noy, Premier Guitar magazine features an interview with Noy in the January 2012 issue. The interview covers Noy’s beginnings as a guitarist, his use of effects, as well as details about his latest album Twisted Blues Vol. 1. Also included in the article is comments about Noy from Eric Johnson, Steve Lukather, Keith Carlock, Will Lee, and Roscoe Beck.

Joe Bonamassa was recently provided the opportunity to play Rory Gallagher’s legendary 1961 Strat during a concert at London’s Hammersmith Apollo. Here he is playing Gallagher’s “Cradle Rock” and his own “When the Fire Hits the Sea” on the guitar:

In the next video, Bonamassa plays Gallagher’s Strat on Gary Moore’s “Midnight Blues”: