Colin James was part of the 2015 Montreal Jazz Festival to play several nights. We did this interview Guitar in Hand right on the stage of the Théatre du Nouveau Monde (www.tnm.qc.ca) right before the concert. It's always a lot of fun and much more interesting to do the interview Guitar in Hand. The concerts given by Colin James during the festival were excellent, the sound quality was really good and the band behind him was excellent.

Here's a Seth Baccus interview done during the 2015 Holy Grail Guitar Show. I was very impressed by the quality of the instrument brought by Seth in Berlin (see the photos below).

Adriano Sergio interview (Ergon Guitars) at the 2015 Holy Grail Guitar show

Here's the interview done with Portuguese luthier Adriano Sergio from Ergon Guitars during the second edition of the Holy Grail Guitar Show. I was seduced by the organic shapes of Adriano's guitars and by the quality of the lutherie.

JD Simo from @JDSimoMusic, master of the Les Paul

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JD from the power trio JD Simo was in Paris for the very first time for their first tour in Europe as a promotional tour for the release of their album Let Love Show The Way which will be released in January 2016.

Luthiers Discussion Panel - 2015 EGB Symposium - Holy Grail Guitar Show

Here is a video document recorded during a panel of luthiers at the 2015 Holy Grail Guitar Show in Berlin in the presence of the following luthiers: Andy Manson A.J. Lucas Jean-Yves Alquier A lady from the Austrian Ministry of the Environment (from memory) Fred Pons Jacky Walraet Chris Larkin Video recording of the panel

Interview guitar in hand with the Big, Bad and Beautiful Popa Chubby

It's always an experience to interview such a colorful musician like Popa Chubby, this time we did it Guitar in Hand.

Here's Egon Rauscher interview, luthier for SoulTool Guitars. He was one of the 115 selected guitar builders presenting their work at the 2015 Holy Grail Guitar Show in Berlin. The quality of the instruments from Soultool is top notch as the design which looks pretty cool.
Egon Rauscher interview

This video is publicly accessible because SoulTool has a Pro Backstage Pass
SoulTool website: www.soultool.com
Soultool guitars

My take on the SoulTool guitars
I really dig the design Egon found for his instruments. It's modern but with that classic vibe we all cherish.

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Francisco Rodriguez interview from FranFret guitars

Francisco Rodriguez is the luthier behind FranFret Guitars (www.franfret.net). He was already an exhibitor at Guitares au Beffroi guitar show in France this year but it's at the 2015 Holy Grail Guitar Show in Berlin, Germany that The Guitar Channel took the opportunity to interview him.
Francisco Rodriguez interview from FranFret Guitars

 
This video is accessible to all because FranFret is a Pro Backstager on The Guitar Channel.
It was still early on that Saturday morning when we did the interview so neither Francisco or I are smiling yet.

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Renaud Louis-Servais interview – Epic Circus album

Renaud Louis-Servais is one of the very best Fusion guitar player we have in France. He hast just released a new album called Epic Circus where he collaborated with none other than keyboard player Philippe Saisse and drummer Virgil Donati.

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Gilad Hekselman during the 2015 Montreal Jazz Festival

This summer while I was covering the Montreal Jazz Festival I had the pleasure to meet again Gilad Hekselman for an in-depth interview about his latest album Homes which was just released this October.

Questions asked during the interview

How does it feel to play the Montréal Jazz festival?
Is that the occasion to play with other musicians and to jam?
Last time we met it was in Paris last year, what's new since?
How come jazz musicians are able to sound good on the first note of the first tune at the soundcheck?
How do you approach soundcheck

Bryan Beller interview: one of the caballeros with the Aristocrats
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Bryan Beller interview: one of the caballeros with the Aristocrats

Here's an audio Bryan Beller interview.

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Interview with Eric Bibb digging for Lead Belly’s gold

It's always a pleasure to do an interview with Eric Bibb as he is very generous and thoughtful in his answers. Eric has just released and album with harp player Jean-Jacques Milteau mostly around Lead Belly songs and a couple pf compositions by the duo.

Guitar wise, in this interview Eric is playing an all mahogany Larson Bros guitar (www.larsonbros.com) built by Maurice Dupont (www.acoustic-guitars.com) in France.

Album Review
The 16 song album is excellent to revisit with a new twist all the Lead Belly repertoire.

Nik Huber luthier chronicle - The Guitar Channel
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Nik Huber on the Holy Grail Guitar Show

In this new Luthier Chronicle I asked Nik Huber what was his opinion about the Holy Grail Guitar Show which had its first edition in November 2014 in Berlin and which will happen again at the end of this month.

Website of the Holy Grail Guitar show: www.holygrailguitarshow.com/

The Holy Grail Guitar show is an event organized by the luthiers for the luthiers and it makes all the difference.

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Mooer Trescab: a great pocket cab simulator

Mooer is a Chinese brand that has caused a stir when it released her mini pedals range of guitar effects. I longed for a while to test out one to see what they were really worth.

Mike Keneally interview on stage during the Joe Satriani tour
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Mike Keneally interview on stage during the Joe Satriani tour

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For the first time The Guitar Channel presents you with an interview with Mike Keneally done right on the prestigious stage of the Grand Rex in Paris before the Joe Satriani concert of the Shockwave Supernova world tour.

Nik Huber luthier chronicle - The Guitar Channel
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Nik Huber – For or against the CNC machine?

On this new Luthier Chronicle, I asked Nik Huber a question to know if he is for or against the CNC machine. Of course he went much further than the basic answer (see the details below).

As a reminder or for your information, CNC means Computer Numerical Control (Wikipedia link). Basically in the guitar world it means that parts of an instrument are built by a machine who will carve the element from a piece of wood or metal.

Renaud Louis-Servais was playing with his band at the Sunset in Paris for the launch of his new album Epic Circus. The Guitar Channel was there to shoot some video during the soundcheck. The full 14min video is shock full of cool guitar playing. Log on Backstage to watch Renaud rip it on his gorgeous Tom Anderson blue Drop Top.

Renaud website: renaud.ls.free.fr

Chronicle of the concert
The concert in the evening was awesome from start to finish. Period.

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Interview guitar in hand with Ron Bumblefoot Thal

Ron 'Bumblefoot' Thal is always running around the world playing somewhere with Guns N Roses or solo so it's quite a feast to be able to catch him for an in-depth interview guitar in hand.

Here's a audio Jon Gomm interview. Jon is one of the current guitar players who is really pushing the enveloppe in the acoustic guitar world. His latest album "Live in the Acoustic Asylum" was recorded live as the title implies and his full of guitar and yet still avoids the default of being annoying because of pointless technical prowesses.

This interview with Jon is more than 45min long as he is very generous and detailed in his answers.

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Nik Huber: his take on varnish and paint

On this new Luthier Chronicle, I asked Nik Huber about varnish, finish and paint.
Subjects discussed

Nitro-cellulose versus 2 component finish
His take on the thickness of the finish
Is-it possible to hear the difference between a nitro and a 2 component finish on a solid body?
The development of new colours
His source of inspiration for new ideas
The story of the new metallic finish presented at the 2015 NAMM show
The aging of the finish oh his first guitars

An example of a Krautster II in Gold Top finish

Until the next chronicle, keep on playing your guitar and check-out your

Zane Carney masterclass in Paris - The Guitar Channel
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Zane Carney Masterclass in Paris – Part 3/3

Here's part 3 of the Zane Carney masterclass given in Paris on May 25th 2015.
What to expect in the masterclass

In-depth talk about music theory
What to play on the V chord
Several full pieces of music played
His approach to composition
How he practice with and without the guitar
His theory about relative pitch
The story about his upcoming Jazzica signature model with Hofner
A full demo of his travel pedal board

Zane travel pedal board

Until the next masterclass, keep on playing the guitar!

Pierre.

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Philip Sayce interview – 2015 Montreal Jazz Festival

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Let's face it, I am a huge fan of Philip Sayce.

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Nik Huber: being a guitar builder in Germany

On this second Luthier Chronicle, I asked Nik what's different about being a guitar builder in Germany.

Until the next chronicle, keep on playing your guitar and check-out your local luthier.

Pierre.

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Michael Greenfield guitar bodies
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Interview with master luthier Michael Greenfield

Let's face it, I don't know much about acoustic guitars. I am definitely more an electric guy. When I prepared my trip to Montréal to cover the Jazz festival, I asked my luthier friends about who I should try to meet while in Québec, the name of Michael Greenfield kept popping up so I contacted him and he accepted right away to have me visit him in his Montréal workshop.

He gave me a full tour of his workshop then we sat down for 40min in-depth video interview.

Robert Trujillo Interview @Metallica: producer of

While in Montreal for the Jazz Festival, I had access to a press showing of Jaco, an excellent documentary about the late Jaco Pastorius who passed away tragically in 1987.

Scott Holiday interview: the Fuzz lord from Rival Sons

Here's Scott Holiday interview. I confess I only recently discovered Rival Sons and their guitar player. In fact the luthier Mikaël Springer listened to their music full blast while building my guitar for the Spartan Project so I had to eventually check-them out! Thanks to another luthier, Doug Kauer who builds most of Scott's guitars, I was able to get in touch with him to organize this interview in Luxemburg City.

It's the third time I have the pleasure to present you an interview with Mark Tremonti.

Nik Huber luthier chronicle - The Guitar Channel
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Nik Huber – His favorite tone woods

After a series of 9 videos with Juha Ruokangas in the Luthier Chronicle, I am proposing you a new series with another master builder to share his knowledge of the lutherie world with Nik Huber.

On this first installment I asked Nik about his favorite woods to build instrument.

Until the next chronicle, keep on playing your guitar and check-out your local luthier.

Pierre.

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This interview was recorded with Dave Kilminster on June 29th 2015 in Montreal during the Steven Wilson tour.

Here's a Gabor Goldschmidt interview during the 2015 Musikmesse. Gabor is the luthier at Fibenare Guitars. His guitars are played by musician like Tom Quayle who was also present at their booth to demo their instrument.