Firehawk Springer Guitars review
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Firehawk Springer Guitars review

In the Springer Guitars (springerguitars.com) family, I present the Firehawk. This time, the luthier Mikaël Springer revisits Gibson's Firebird model, injecting it with his own DNA. Firehawk Springer review Until the next interview or gear review, keep on playing the guitar! Pierre Journel.

JHS PG-14, Paul Gilbert signature distortion pedal - Jam Santana

The American pedal brand JHS (jhspedals.info) which bears the initials of its founder Joshua Heath Scott has just released a distortion in collaboration with the one and only Paul Gilbert. With a clever equalization with a semi-parametric midrange adjustment, a very large range of sounds can be reached. The dynamic response is also pretty awesome.

@SpringerGuitars Spartan model demo by Simon Ghnassia

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

@SpringerGuitars Halfbreed model demo by Simon Ghnassia

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

Pedal Review - Zorgverdrive / Zorg Effects
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Pedal Review – Zorgverdrive / Zorg Effects

Zorg Effects is a French boutique pedal builder based in Toulouse. This builder has a wide range of gain pedal with several boosters, distorsions, octavers and overdrives. The Zorgverdriver is a great overdrive pedal with a wide range of tones. Pedal Review - Zorgverdrive Zorg Effects is a pro partner on The Guitar Channel Review

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

"The Burst" is a guitar made by the luthier Mikaël Springer as a tribute to the mythical Les Paul Standard 1959 by Gibson.

Regularly The Guitar Channel organizes special events to showcase guitar builders in a rehearsal studio where it is possible to both try the instrument in a real playing environment and exchange with the luthier. Last week-end saw two events like that with Springer Guitars as the main focus points. The luthier Mikaël Springer was there in person to engage with the guitar aficionados.

Video coverage
A 2min video to get an idea of the events:

Springer Guitar Gear Evening Nov.

#16 Spartan Project with @SpringerGuitars: final episode and first notes

Here's the 16th and final episode of the Spartan Project video series.  You will see how the luthier Mikaël Springer is putting the last touch to the guitar. You will also get to hear the very first notes played on the instrument, an historical moment!
#16 Spartan project - Final episode

Photos extracted from the guitar setup video

Previous episodes of the Spartan Project
The goal of the Spartan Project is to document the building of a guitar for me by luthier Mikaël Springer.

Here's the 15th episode of the Spartan Project video series.  You will see how the luthier Mikaël Springer is doing the final guitar setup.
#15 Spartan project - Guitar setup

Photos extracted from the guitar setup video
Final drilling for the stop bar installation:

Installation of the Häussel P90 pickup:

Shielding of the electronic cavity:

Previous episodes of the Spartan Project
The goal of the Spartan Project is to document the building of a guitar for me by luthier Mikaël Springer.

Here's the 14th episode of the Spartan Project video series. You will see how the luthier Mikaël Springer is doing his fretting on the guitar. It is a very crucial step of the process as the way the frets are dressed is paramount to the quality of the sound and of the comfort of the instrument.
#14 Spartan Project: Fretting

Close up photo of the fretting once finished on the guitar:

Previous episodes of the Spartan Project
The goal of the Spartan Project is to document the building of a guitar for me by luthier Mikaël Springer.

Yes you can get Slash Guns N'Roses Paradise City sound (or at least get close to it) with the Apollo Twin Universal Audio interface with a couple of plugins and the Burst guitar from luthier Mikaël Springer.
Paradise City sound with the Universal Audio interface and a Springer guitar
It's always a challenge to try to get close to a legendary tone from a hit like Paradise City.

Here's the 13th episode of the Spartan Project video series.  You will see how the luthier Mikaël Springer will do his TV white color on the guitar paint. It's quite fascinating to see how it is done.
#13 Spartan Project with @SpringerGuitars: Guitar paint & finish

A few pics from the video

Previous episodes of the Spartan Project
The goal of the Spartan Project is to document the building of a guitar for me by luthier Mikaël Springer.

Here's the 12th episode of the Spartan Project video series. Mikaël works now on the neck/body ensemble. He finalizes the neck profile, does all the routing for the pickup and electronics and prepares the guitar for the final finish steps.
A few pics from the video

Previous episodes of the Spartan Project
As a reminder, the goal of the Spartan Project is to document the building of a guitar for me by luthier Mikaël Springer.

Here's the 11th episode of the Spartan Project video series. Watch Mikaël working on the neck of my next guitar. Check out how he works with a knife on the volute of the headstock and the heel: pretty amazing craftmanship.

Previous episodes of the Spartan Project
As a reminder, the goal of the Spartan Project is to document the building of a guitar for me by luthier Mikaël Springer.

Here's the 10th episode of the Spartan Project video series. Watch Mikaël working on the neck of my next guitar.

Playlist of the episodes of the Spartan Project
As a reminder, the goal of the Spartan Project is to document the building of a guitar for me by luthier Mikaël Springer.

Here's the 9th episode of the Spartan Project video series. Watch Mikaël gluing the fretboard and starting the work on the frets.

 
Playlist of the episodes of the Spartan Project
As a reminder, the goal of the Spartan Project is to document the building of a guitar for me by luthier Mikaël Springer.

In this 8th video of the Spartan Project the luthier, Mikaël Springer, continues the work on the neck of the guitar.

 
Previous episodes of the Spartan Project
As a reminder, the goal of the Spartan Project is to document the building of a guitar for me by luthier Mikaël Springer.

In this 7th video of the Spartan Project the luthier, Mikaël Springer, continues the work on the neck of the guitar.

 
Previous episodes of the Spartan Project
As a reminder, the goal of the Spartan Project is to document the building of a guitar for me by luthier Mikaël Springer.

In this 6th video of the Spartan Project the luthier, Mikaël Springer, continues the work on the neck of the guitar.
Previous episodes of the Spartan Project
As a reminder, the goal of the Spartan Project is to document the building of a guitar for me by luthier Mikaël Springer.

In this 5th video of the Spartan Project the luthier, Mikaël Springer, starts the work on the neck of the guitar. Many people consider that you are truly an electric guitar luthier when you build the necks of your instruments yourself.

In this 4th video of the Spartan Project the luthier, Mikaël Springer, continues the work on the Spanish Cedar body.

Published videos of the Spartan Project

Stay tuned for the next update on the Spartan Project!

Pierre.

PS: for more info on this project you can read the full article here about its launch.

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In this 3rd video of the Spartan Project the luthier, Mikaël Springer, continues the work on the Spanish Cedar body.

Published videos of the Spartan Project

Stay tuned for the next update on the Spartan Project!

Pierre.

PS: for more info on this project you can read the full article here about its launch.

You enjoyed this video?
Get the Backstage Pass to watch all the exclusive videos and more!
Click here for more info on the Backstage Pass
 

In this 2nd series of videos of the Spartan Project done with Mikaël Springer, the luthier continues with the work on the body.

This video is part of a series of videos documenting the Spartan Project done in collaboration with luthier Mikaël Springer.

Springer's name is not unknown on The Channel Guitar since I already had the opportunity to interview Mikaël Springer (in French), a luthier I admire.

Spartan guitar from Springer Guitars: an awesome Junior!

I love P90 pickups, that's a fact. When Mikaël Springer posted some pics of his Spartan guitar, his Les Paul Junior inspired beauty, on his personal Facebook profile, I immediately said I would love to review it. A couple of weeks later I received the guitar at home to spend some quality time with this awesome instrument.
Spartan guitar in video

Specifications
We are in the specifications realm of the Les Paul Junior, a mahogany body, a P90, a volume and tone.