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.

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.

The Tennessean is reporting that legendary vintage guitar shop Gruhn Guitars is moving to a new location a few miles away from their current location on Broadway in downtown Nashville. Gruhn has spent 42 years in downtown Nashville, but apparently the growth in the “honkey tonk” scene in that area is partly to blame:

“It can be so loud that it’s beyond belief,” Gruhn said. “Also, parking is a miserable mess in this neighborhood.”

It’s been that way for the entire 13 years I’ve lived in Nashville, so I don’t know what has really happened over the past few years to prompt the desire to move.

According to a special warranty deed processed Friday, Ruble and Brenda Sanderson purchased the property at 400 Broadway for $4.8 million.

Oh. Perhaps the $4.8 million may have something to do with it. Here’s another reason:

“This is an ideal location for beer, barbecue and Western wear,” he said. “Having several hundred people a day to tour the shop … is an impediment to business. They’re not bad people, but they’re not going to buy what I have.”

In my experience, this attitude permeated through the entire sales force. I’ve visited the shop multiple times, and each time has been a bad-to-mediocre experience. Even though I’m a local who was looking to make a purchase, I was treated as a “impediment to business.” I haven’t been back in several years.

It’s that time of year again to celebrate friends and family and all the blessing that we have. I hope you and yours have a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

The New York Times recently profiled Fender and its struggles amid the economic downturn and its failed IPO attempt earlier this year. It’s an interesting read and sheds some light on how hard the economic downturn has been on not just Fender but all music instrument makers. I do, however, take issue with this statement:

Like many other American manufacturers, Fender is struggling to hold on to what it’s got in a tight economy. Sales and profits are down this year. A Strat, after all, is what economists call a consumer discretionary item — a nonessential.

Nonessential? Maybe I could live without my Strat, but I sure wouldn’t want to!

I’m a fan of clever solutions to problems, and I think the Pedal Label System is just such a solution. No doubt you’ve either added a strip of masking tape to your pedals or have seen someone else do so in order to “remember” the settings that you like for your pedals. However, using masking tape can sometimes lead to residue, or goop, left on the pedals, which can be annoying. Pedal Labels aim to solve this problem by providing easy stick labels that you can use to mark the settings for your pedals.

Above you can see the four knob Boss pedal version, but there are also versions for 1, 2, and 3 knob pedals. They’ve also included some labels for marking settings for toggle switches that come on some pedals.

A mini pack (2 sheets) of labels costs $2.95, while a full pack (6 sheets) costs $7.95. You can get more information on the Pedal Labels website.

With the release of the new iPhone 5, Apple has finally created an iPhone that is big enough to play guitar on (fast forward to 0:36):

Jon Bloomer of GuitarNoize.com has recently started a guitar-related podcast. He’s up to episode 8, which features an interview with Chris Walters from GHS Strings.

This past week, Fender canceled their planned IPO. USA Today is reporting the reason as uncertain market conditions:

Fender CEO Larry Thomas said current market conditions and Europe’s ongoing economic woes wouldn’t support an IPO that values the company appropriately.

I’m glad to see them pull this back, for now. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them try this again in the future, but I’d personally like to see Fender remain a private company.

Mark Crump has a nice rundown on GigaOm of several audio interfaces for plugging your guitar into your IOS device. (via Jim Dalrymple)