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:

Taylor have expanded their GS Mini model this year by adding a new mahogany-topped model as an option. Here’s what Taylor says about the GS Mini series:

A marvel of scaled-down design, the GS Mini is a fun little acoustic cannon that has taken the world by storm. Sporting a rich, full voice that belies its compact size, the Mini is ultra-portable, yet just as comfortable to cradle in the comfort of your home, making it the ultimate modern-day parlor guitar. Featuring the Taylor NT® neck, the Mini comes with either a solid spruce or mahogany top. And with the easy-to-add ES-Go™ pickup and Taylor V-Cable™, you’ll have a viable performance tool, too.

Fender CEO Larry Thomas invited The Music Zoo to a special room at NAMM known as Larry’s Lab. Larry’s Lab features prototypes and experimental guitars developed by Fender’s R&D department. One model The Music Zoo saw was the Fender Voyager Concept guitar, which is one of the coolest new guitar shapes I’ve seen in a while. I’d love to see this guitar put into production.

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!

Fender is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Jaguar guitar by introducing the 50th Anniversary Jaguar:

Fender is proud to celebrate five colorful decades of the Jaguar guitar by introducing the 50th Anniversary Jaguar model. The instrument takes players back to 1962, when Fender introduced an unusual new guitar that paired a sleekly modified Jazzmaster® body style and elaborate control layout with a shorter scale and smaller, brighter pickups with more output. The resulting Jaguar was the fourth and last of Fender’s original lineup of standard electric guitars.

Perfectly matched to the early-’60s renaissance in design modernism (as exemplified by everything of the era from autos to aircraft to sunglasses to furniture), the Jaguar gradually acquired a fascinating pedigree quite unlike that of any other Fender guitar. A chromed-out, surf-rock staple of the 1960s, it found new life from the mid-1970s-on as a subversively offbeat alternative axe wielded by punk, post-punk, grunge and alt-indie guitar heroes and anti-heroes alike. The same guitar that originally crested waves of reverb-drenched singles by groups such as the Chantays and the Surfaris later fueled, for example, the dynamic grunge maelstrom of Nirvana, the translucent shoe-gazing dream pop of My Bloody Valentine and the literately artful alt-rock of the Pixies, the Flaming Lips and many others.

The U.S.-built 50th Anniversary Jaguar celebrates that vivid history and combines old and new into the finest of all Jaguar guitars. Highly distinctive features include the classic 24” scale length, a new one-degree neck-angle-pocket cut that improves pitch, a re-positioned tremolo plate that increases bridge break angle and sustain, and specially designed hot Jaguar single-coil neck and bridge pickups that deliver fatter tone and more output (once again framed by the model’s classic notched metal “claws”; a hum-reducing innovation only found on the Jaguar).

Other premium features include a sleekly offset alder body with lacquer finish, C-shaped maple neck with lacquer finish and vintage-style truss rod, 9.5”-radius bound rosewood fingerboard with 22 medium jumbo frets and pearloid block inlays, separate “lead” and rhythm tone circuits with their own dedicated volume and tone controls, two-position tone switch and on/off slide switch for each pickup, three-ply pickguard (Mint Green-Black-Mint Green), and vintage-style floating tremolo bridge with lock button and chrome cover. Accessories include a deluxe brown case, strap, cable and a set of flatwound strings. Available in classic vintage Fender finishes Lake Placid Blue, Candy Apple Red and striking Burgundy Mist Metallic, which authentically evokes the original Jaguar’s Burgundy Mist finish option.

“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.

PRS Guitars have announced another new model, the Signature Limited:

In early 2011, PRS Guitars offered a 100 piece run of its Signature model through the company’s exclusive Private Stock division. For 2012, this innovative model is being released as the Signature Limited, a 400 piece run of guitars built by PRS Guitars’ core production line. These beautiful multi-toned instruments will feature Artist Grade figured maple tops, mahogany backs and necks, Paua Heart bird inlays with Mother of Pearl outlines, and “sinker” mahogany necks. Most notably, the Signature Limited boasts an innovative, proprietary Signature/408 pickup system designed to extend the guitar’s tonal spectrum and musicality.

The proprietary Signature/408 treble and bass pickups are designed to narrow the field of the bass pickup to increase its focus, and to expand the field of the treble pickup to increase its tonal range (hence their asymmetric appearance). This pickup configuration stems back to Paul’s early pickup experimentation in the early 1980’s and provides stunning articulation and musical clarity. The Signature/408 electronics offer eight sounds via four pickup coils thanks to a simple but versatile switching system featuring mini toggle switches that provide numerous combinations of humbucking and (no volume loss!) singlecoil tones. This versatility and distinctiveness has garnered the Signature model PRS’s first official multi-artist endorsement from Howard Leese, Davy Knowles, Michael Ault, Tom Wheeler, and, of course, Paul Reed Smith.

“In many ways, the Signature model is the culmination of decades of experimentation,” said Paul Reed Smith. “This pickup system, and the very positive reception it has garnered, shows me that we have hit on something new and special.”

Some more PRS information from Music Radar: as promised last fall, PRS is adding a pickup option for their SE Angelus line of acoustic guitars:

Announced in September 2011, the PRS SE Angelus Standard and Custom models are made with high-quality components, including a solid back and solid spruce top, a bone nut and saddle, and PRS SE designed tuners.

A PRS pickup system will be an added option on the SE Angelus models in 2012, highlighting the instruments’ rich, resonant, and responsive tone. The PRS pickup system is an under-saddle design with three bands of EQ and an anti-feedback loop. The pickup uses one 9-volt battery for power.

The SE Angelus shares the same proprietary bracing pattern and several distinct construction features as PRS’s acclaimed Maryland-made acoustic line, as well as the company’s trademark bird inlays and headstock design. The PRS SE Angelus is offered in both a “Standard” and “Custom” package. The Angelus Standard includes mahogany sides, a solid mahogany back and a rosewood fretboard and bridge, while the Angelus Custom includes rosewood sides, a solid rosewood back, and an ebony fretboard bridge.

“The SE Angelus models are the newest additions to the SE product family, which has matured into a comprehensive line of electric and acoustic guitars as well as amplifiers. The addition of an optional pickup system on the SE acoustics makes the line even more complete. My hope is that all of our SE products become tools for making music and sources of joy,” said Paul Reed Smith.

The fully acoustic version of these highly-anticipated instruments will begin hitting stores in early 2012. Instruments with the optional pickup system are available for order beginning on January 19, 2012 and will begin shipping in the spring of that year.

A few comments have expressed frustration that the SE acoustics haven’t started shipping yet, so hopefully they’ll be happy to hear the news that they will be shipping “earlier 2012″ with the pickup-equipped models will be shipping in the spring.

Music Radar has received details about a new Paul Reed Smith solidbody model that features a piezo pickup, a feature that had previously been available only on their hollowbody models:

Paul Reed Smith Guitars is proud to add the P22, the company’s first piezo-equipped solidbody guitar, to its 2012 lineup.

The P22 comes standard with a figured maple top, mahogany back, mahogany neck with a 22 fret rosewood fingerboard, and a redesigned PRS/LR Baggs piezo system. PRS and LR Baggs partnered more than a decade ago to design the piezo system found in PRS’s popular hollowbody models.

This new system retains the same circuit design as the existing system, giving the P22 the same tonal authenticity and real world practicality as PRS hollowbody guitars. The redesign of the board itself yielded a version that is more than 60% smaller than the original PRS/LR Baggs system, allowing it to comfortably inhabit a solidbody guitar. Uncovered 53/10 pickups round out this guitar’s specifications and help define the P22′s voice.

“I was blown away”

“I have recorded and mixed hundreds and hundreds of acoustic guitars, including mixing both live and studio cuts, and I have never heard a more musical, more natural sound from an acoustic pickup system. If that had been the only thing special about the guitar I would have been excited, but then to hear the electric tones it creates – I was blown away,” said Grammy Award-winning Producer and Engineer Don McCollister after a recording session with the P22.

Piezo systems have long allowed guitarists the versatility of wielding both acoustic and electric guitar tones in one instrument. The PRS Hollowbody II and Singlecut Hollowbody II both come standard with the original PRS/LR Baggs piezo and have achieved a great level of popularity in PRS Guitars’ product line. The addition of a solidbody model will give musicians a new and unique tool to add to their own lineup.

“The ability to blend in an acoustic sound along with whatever electric tone you are recording would be a game changer in certain situations. I noticed that it really helped the notes ring clearly through the haze, which is a tough thing to accomplish in a complex mix sometimes. I could see it becoming my go-to session guitar, and I’ll be one of the first in line when it comes out!,” continued McCollister.

After nearly a year of work from concept to completion, the P22 guitar will begin shipping in the first quarter of 2012.