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Gate Guitar #047 Spalt Instruments review: a piece of art you can play for good!
Friday, 11 December 2020
The Gate Guitar #047 from the Totem resin top series built by Austrian luthier Michael Spalt is one of the three guitars recently received at our Paris, France showroom. This is part of the service proposed to boutique builders described here in this post. Yes! It is definitely a piece of art but, boy, is
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Unicorn Classic Ruokangas, a super high-end Les Paul type luthier guitar
Wednesday, 25 November 2020
Ruokangas (ruokangas.com) is a difficult name to pronounce for us but it's a well known name on The Guitar Channel since there have already been several interviews with luthier Juha Ruokangas as well as several luthier chronicles. In the category of high-end luthier guitars, here is the Unicorn Classic, the reinterpretation of the Les Paul
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As part of the service proposed to boutique guitar builders to exhibit and try out instruments in the private showroom of The Guitar Channel in Paris, here is the Unicorn Classic coming from Finland and built by Ruokangas Guitars (ruokangas.com) led by master builder Juha Ruokangas. Ruokangas Unicorn Classic Unicorn Classic Ruokangas Specs Amount of
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Showroom feature: 3 Spalt Instruments guitars by luthier Michael Spalt
Tuesday, 17 November 2020
As part of the service proposed to boutique guitar builders to exhibit and try out instruments in the private showroom of The Guitar Channel in Paris, France I am very pleased to present a trio of Spalt Instruments guitars (spaltinstruments.com) by luthier Michael Spalt : Gate Guitar #047 G2002 Octopus Totem X.2 X7 Presentation of
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Spalt Instruments Gate Guitar #047 – 5min review, playing only, no talking
Sunday, 15 November 2020
The video below was recorded in one take during a live broadcast on my Twitch channel (twitch.tv/lachaineguitare) during a demo of the awesome Gate Guitar #047 from Austrian boutique guitar builder Michael Spalt (Spalt Instruments). Only the playing sequences were kept for the edit of this 5min video review. 5min demo of the Spalt Gate
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1983 Vigier Arpège, a very uncommon French guitar built by Patrice Vigier
Friday, 04 October 2019
This 1983 Vigier Arpège guitar is a real monument of French guitar building because of the high level of the lutherie and because of its very modern shape that we have not seen again afterwards. 1983 Vigier Arpège Until the next gear review or interview, keep on playing the guitar! Pierre Journel.
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The Puteaux Guitar Festival 2018 included in its program demo concerts that allowed to discover the instruments exhibited by luthiers throughout the festival in the magnificent Jean-Baptiste Lully Music Academy. Here are the Christian Stoll guitars presented on video. Stoll Guitars - Demo concert Luthier: Christian Stoll - www.stollguitars.de Musician: Arnaud Leprêtre - www.arnaudlepretre.com Video and sound: Philippe
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The Puteaux Guitar Festival 2018 included in its program demo concerts that allowed to discover the instruments exhibited by luthiers throughout the festival in the magnificent Jean-Baptiste Lully Music Academy. Here are the Julien Gendre guitars presented on video. Gendre Guitars - Demo concert Luthier: Julien Gendre (www.juliengendre.com) Musician: Shaï Sebbag Video and sound: Philippe Camus
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Guitar Review – Bluesmaster Custom 59 – Johan Gustavsson luthier
Friday, 12 October 2018
With the Bluesmaster Custom 59 built by luthier Johan Gustavsson (www.jgguitars.com) we are clearly in the category of exceptional guitars! This guitar made in Sweden in 2005 is the top of the crop. The marriage of Les Paul and Telecaster shapes will probably not please everyone but we at The Guitar Channel are loving it. Test
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Guitar Review – Nik Huber Krautster II – Awesome instrument
Wednesday, 05 September 2018
The Krautster II model from Nik Huber is a clearly inspired from the Les Paul. Made in Germany in the workshop of luthier Nik Huber (often interviewed on The Guitar Channel), the guitar reviewed below was lent to me by Gilles, a member of The Guitar Channel network (1000 thanks!). Setup configuration Amp: Kelt V-Twin
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Charles Janssen is the luthier for Schwung Guitars (www.schwung-guitars.com), he is based in The Hague, Netherlands. We first met via Facebook and then in Berlin at the Holy Grail Guitar Show where he was present as a visitor. Charles came to the showroom in Paris with nothing less than six of his instruments to present
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Simon Ghnassia is a musician who is often featured on The Guitar Channel, here he is at the showroom just before an online masterclass trying a guitar built by luthier Mikaël Springer, a Spartan model (the guitar whose construction is documented in video in the Project Spartan). The cameras were rolling, here's the result. www.springerguitars.com
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Simon Ghnassia is a musician who is often featured on The Guitar Channel, here he is at the showroom just before an online masterclass trying a guitar built by luthier Mikaël Springer, the Halfbreed model (a guitar reviewed in this article). The cameras were rolling, here's the result. www.springerguitars.com Halfbreed demo Test configuration Amp: V-Twin
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Guitar Review – Origin P90 hum-cancelling – Tony Girault luthier
Friday, 23 February 2018
The luthier Tony Girault continues to develop his range of guitar around his form Origin with a new classy model. See for yourself: we have a beautiful flamed maple top, a beautiful walnut body and a roasted maple neck. Plus this instrument features the all-new P90 hum-canceling pickups from Tony's design. www.giraultguitars.com Guitar Review -
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Guitar Review – Halfbreed Springer model by Springer Guitars
Wednesday, 22 November 2017
Back in September, The Guitar Channel proposed you to listen to a guitar only using the audio file of the review. The objective was to use more our ears than our eyes to evaluate the sound. The suspens is over, now is the time to reveal the mystery guitar! It's a guitar hand built by
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Guitar review – Sorcerer 62 MJS Guitars – Luthier Godefroy Maruejouls
Friday, 08 September 2017
Godefroy Maruejouls is a French luthier who has been building high quality guitars, acoustic or electric. Last time we reviewed one of his acoustic instrument, this time this is an electric guitar called the Sorcerer 62. MJS Sorcerer 62 review Audio version of the review For those into audio, here's the podcast version of the
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A nice shred machine in video review with this Soul Renegade built by the French luthier Benoît Guilbert.
Soul Renegade video review
Until the next interview, keep on playing the guitar!
Pierre.
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Here is in review a new exceptional guitar, the Unicorn Classic model built in the Finnish luthier Juha Ruokangas workshop. It is an instrument that was kindly lent me by a backstager (thank you David!). Given the very small number of guitars made by Juha and his team, it was an unexpected opportunity to test a guitar of this caliber.
We are indeed here in the super high-end realm. The price of this model with the options included in this specific instrument (superb table, gold hardware, etc.) requires a budget of about 9 500 €.
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Francisco Rodriguez is a Spanish luthier The Guitar Channel interviewed during the Holy Grail Guitar Show.
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Mojo Classic Ruokangas Guitars review – A Telecaster coming from Finland
Wednesday, 15 March 2017
Juha Ruokangas is a Finnish luthier well known on The Guitar Channel since he has been the subject of several interviews and has also animated a series of luthier chronicles. Juha (pronounced Yu-A) manufactures with a small team of luthiers instruments of very high quality entirely by hand, without the help of CNC (ie without Computer Numeric Control machine).
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"The Burst" is a guitar made by the luthier Mikaël Springer as a tribute to the mythical Les Paul Standard 1959 by Gibson.
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MJS acoustic guitar J-78 built by luthier Godefroy Maruejouls
Sunday, 23 October 2016
Here's a first on the show with a video review of an acoustic guitar, and one built by a luthier!
Simon Ghnassia is a guitar player who ordered not one, not two but three Telecaster type guitars from the same luthier Didier Duboscq (Eden Lutherie).
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I met the luthier Godefroy Maruejouls from MJS Guitars during the Guitares au Beffroi festival in 2015 where he was exhibiting his instruments.
The luthier Tony Girault (giraultguitars.com) based in Normandy at Evreux makes excellent electric guitars. Here is in test the Origin Tattoo which is no exception because it sounds great with its two humbuckers. Origin Tattoo by luthier Tony Girault Until the next gear review or interview, keep on playing the guitar! Pierre Journel.
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Guitar Review – Fastback Alquier “Codetalker” by Maurice Dupont
Wednesday, 09 March 2016
This Fastback Alquier model Codetalker built in the Maurice Dupont luthier workshop is a design by luthier Jean-Yves Alquier. It's still possible to get a custom Fastback entirely made by Jean-Yves but you now have the option to get a more affordable version with the same design and built by Maurice Dupont team in France.
Spoiler: this instrument is a great luthier guitar.
Fastback Alquier "Codetalker" by Maurice Dupont
Fastback Codetalker photos
Here are a couple of photos of this very elegant instrument.
Rig used for the review
Here's the pedalboard used for the review.
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Laguz The Special from Soultool Customized Guitars – Guitar review
Thursday, 14 January 2016
The Laguz The Special guitar from Soultool Customized Guitars is an instrument which was presented by the luthier Egon Rauscher (watch his interview in this article) during the 2015 Holy Grail Guitar Show.
The Heartbreaker model by luthier Christophe Grellier is a guitar with a very clean look but full of possibilities of sounds with its clever 6-position selector. Yes, there are six possibilities of sound on this selector that looks like a simple 3-position toggle switch. The 3 bottom positions are the combinations of pickups in humbucker
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Bamboo Ethiq Electric Alquier Guitars, a sustainable instrument built by a luthier
Friday, 11 December 2015
The guitar tested in this video is the electric model Ethiq range presented in Berlin during the 2nd edition of the Holy Grail Guitar Show by luthier Jean-Yves Alquier. The characteristic of this range is that it is made of bamboo from 65% to 100% as in the case of the guitar tested in this video. So this might be one of the first sustainable guitar from a luthier.
We clearly see in the photo below how the body of the guitar is composed.
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Relish guitar review – The Jane Relish Guitars – Innovative instrument from Switzerland
Thursday, 23 April 2015
Here's a Relish guitar review, the Jane model by Relish Guitars is entirely developed and built in Switzerland with some cool innovative ideas.
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