What better than to ask all the questions we have to one of the guy in charge at Reverb.com in order to understand better how this marketplace works?
Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
- Published in Interviews
This year again the NAMM was incredibly rich for The Guitar Channel. Just take a look at the numbers below to be convinced.
- Published in Events, Interviews
Free Content
The Strat In The Attic: a fascinating book about Vintage guitar stories
Tuesday, 03 January 2017
There is a good chance that in one way or another you will have seen the superb cover of the book The Strat In The Attic during your wanderings in cyberspace. Indeed the book written by Deke Dickerson is illustrated by a superb image which necessarily gives rise to lots of fantasies in our minds of guitar enthusiasts. Who has never dreamed of finding a fabulous guitar forgotten in a dusty attic, at a pawnbroker or during a garage sale? .
No it is not yet another book about Vintage guitars more beautiful and more inaccessible than one another.
- Published in News
The publisher Hal Leonard announces a book titled The C.F. Martin Archives retracing the history of the legendary American guitar brand. The Guitar Channel has been able to obtain a copy in advance to give you our opinion about the book.
- Published in News
Premium Access
Chronicle #16 Spartan Project with Springer Guitars – Final episode
Thursday, 02 June 2016
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.
Discover Crossfire, a duo composed of Allison Mareek (guitar/vocals) and Etienne Prieuret (guitar/vocals) who proposes a powerfull and bewitching Folk/Rock kind of music. Their self-titled debut EP is great. We did an interview in French with Allison and Etienne on La Chaîne Guitare and took also the time to record the sessions you see below.
- Published in News
Free Content
Chronicle #15 Spartan Project with Springer Guitars – Guitar setup
Tuesday, 10 May 2016
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.
Free Content
The journey of luthier Adriano Sergio (Ergon Guitars) to the Holy Grail Guitar Show
Wednesday, 27 April 2016
In 2015 I had the pleasure of doing a video interview luthier Adriano Sergio (Ergon Guitars) at the Holy Grail Guitar Show. The story of his journey from Portugal to Germany has been documented in a beautiful video you can see below.
The journey of luthier Adriano Sergio to the Holy Grail Guitar Show
Sit down comfortably and get ready to enjoy this great documentary where you will learn a lot about the life of a luthier. In addition to Adriano Sergio, you will also see other guitar builders such as Juha Ruokangas, Michael Spalt or Andy Mason.
- Published in Interviews, News
Free Content
Hubert Hochleitner interview (Hoovi Deeflexx) at the 2016 Musikmesse
Monday, 25 April 2016
Here's a Hubert Hochleitner interview, inventor of the Deeflexx, done during the 2016 Musikmesse.
- Published in Gear, Interviews, News
Here's the mobile guitar rig I use when I want to play in the park right next to our house.
The Guitares au Beffroi 2016 festival just ended in Montrouge, just outside of Paris. It is time to make a summary of it. The Guitar Channel was an exhibitor at the guitar fair so this will be the main focus of the post.
Kudos to Armel Amiot, the guitar fair organizer (watch his interview here), who was able to organize an event in a difficult context.
Guitares au Beffroi website: www.guitaresaubeffroi.com
Snapchat stories of Guitares au Beffroi 2016
During the show I took a lot of short video clips with Snapchat. Those were compiled in Snapchat Story every day.
- Published in Interviews
Free Content
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.
As a big fan of Van Halen I had to read this book about the early years of the band. While at the 2016 Winter NAMM I took the opportunity to interview Greg Renoff, the author of Van Halen Rising.
The book website: www.vanhalenrising.com
Book review
No need to be an ultra fan of Van Halen to enjoy reading the book.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
- Published in Interviews
Free Content
Guitares au Beffroi 2016: Interview with the guitar show organizer
Monday, 22 February 2016
The festival Guitares au Beffroi 2016 includes as previous years a guitar show called Le Salon de la Belle Guitare which means The Show of the Beautiful Guitar. Here's below a video interview with Armel Amiot, the guitar show organizer.
Guitares au Beffroi website: www.guitaresaubeffroi.com
Guitares au Beffroi 2016 - Interview with the guitar show organizer
As the guitar show organizer, Armel Amiot is the point of contact in case you are interested in being an exhibitors.
- Published in Interviews, News
Here's the Gear Evening debrief. On February 18th, the first Special Event of the year took place with the Gear Evening with Maurice Dupont (luthier), FX amps (guitar amps), Anasounds (boutique pedals) and Verspieren (insurance).
Gear Evening debrief video
Here's a video to give you an idea of this first Gear Evening of 2016. The first part of the video will show you the event while it is being setup and during. The second part of the video is composed of short interviews in French of people present for the event.
In the Snapchat app you have to keep a finger on the red button to record so unless you are an alien with a 3rd arm or you have a buddy around to take the snap while you play, you can't do it.
- Published in News
On Saturday, I organized a Gear Afternoon to spend some quality time in a rehearsal studio with some fellow backstagers playing and testing each other's pieces of gear (guitars, pedals, amps, etc.). It was a lot of fun to have this Special Event in this unstructured format.
Album photo of this Gear Afternoon
Here are some photos taken during this afternoon.
- Published in News
Free Content
Mason Marangella interview – Vertex
Tuesday, 19 January 2016
Here's a Mason Marangella interview done via Skype. Mason is the mastermind behind Vertex, the boutique pedal builder. The interview was a good opportunity to have an in-depth conversation with Mason about his approach to pedal building.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
- Published in Interviews
Free Content
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.
Premium Access
Adriano Sergio interview – Ergon Guitars – 2015 Holy Grail Guitar show
Thursday, 03 December 2015
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.
- Published in All, Interviews
Free Content
Cerbersus overdrive and Utopia delay by Anasounds – Pedal Review
Monday, 16 November 2015
In a previous gear review, The Guitar Channel had you discover the excellent Phase Lag phaser from Anasounds, now here's a double test with two pedals of the same French manufacturer boutique shop: the Utopia delay and Cerberus overdrive pedals.
Anasounds website: www.anasounds.com
Cerbersus overdrive and Utopia delay - Video review
You enjoyed this review?
Get the Backstage Pass to watch all the exclusive content and more
More info on the Backstage Pass
Overview of Utopia
The Utopia offers a very well done analog delay simulation that works great from a slapback (an echo very short often used in Rockabilly), to a
Premium Access
Egon Rauscher interview, Soultool Guitars luthier at the 2015 Holy Grail Guitar Show
Thursday, 12 November 2015
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.
- Published in All, Interviews
Free Content
The magic of handmade guitars with Kathryn Marie Dudley at the Holy Grail Guitar Show
Sunday, 08 November 2015
The Holy Grail Guitar Show is not only the best luthier guitar show in the world (yes, I mean it) it's also a great opportunity to attend to a great selection of conferences.
- Published in News
Free Content
J.S. Bach played on a Jazz Bass by Philippe Bussonnet (Magma)
Friday, 18 September 2015
Here's 2min of pure happiness with some J.S. Bach played on a Jazz Bass by Philippe Bussonnet, bass player for the mythical band Magma. It happened yesterday in The Guitar Channel studio right after we recorded an in-depth interview with Philippe.
Until the next interview, keep on playing the guitar or...
- Published in News
Free Content
Paul Marchand interview: director of the Jaco Pastorius documentary
Friday, 11 September 2015
Here's an audio interview with Paul Marchand, the director of the Jaco Pastorius documentary.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
- Published in Interviews
Joseph Luttwak is the man behind the Blackbird instruments (www.blackbirdguitar.com).
Joseph Luttwak interview
Until the next interview, keep on playing the guitar!
Pierre.
You enjoyed this article?
- Published in Interviews
I recently had the opportunity to play a real 1960 Sunburst Les Paul thanks to Matthieu Lucas, a French collector. It gave me the idea to read again The Beauty of the Burst, a book I received a while ago. My first reading was more concentrated on the great pictures of the book, you can really spend hours gazing at all those beauties.
- Published in News
Free Content
Chronicle #13 Spartan Project with Springer Guitars – Paint & finish
Wednesday, 05 August 2015
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.
