Giveaway Guitar Waiting for a New Home
With the start of the 2009 Fundraiser / Giveaway there are four new guitars in my home just waiting to be sent to their new home. Well, three of the four are here and one is on the way.
If you haven’t heard, we’re in the midst of our Annual Fundraiser / Giveaway. We beg for money from you to help run the website for the next year and just for fun, we give away $12,000+ in free gear to reward you for supporting the website. To read more or to make a donation (and enter the drawing) just click on this LINK
Cool Twang Personified
The guitar comes in a very nice black tolex case with an embroidered Custom Shop logo inside on the back “fur” lining.
There is heavy relicing going on here. If you win this one (sorry… when you win, many of you just corrected me) don’t worry about knocking a bit of a finish off the body on this one. The neck is perfect — thick, but not too, and feels completely worn in. Cool pearl button turners and a giant Fender logo unlike any other.
This guitar has only one pickup, and it’s a wicked TV Jones Classic pickup and has a meaty kind of Tele Twang that is different from a Tele pickup but nonetheless twangs with like a Tele should. TDP Moderator Tim Armstrong was here today and when he played the Especial he said, “crank the delay this guitar is made to rock-a-billy.”
It’s light and custom in every way. Including the special La Cabronita Especial decal on the back of the guitar.
Let’s face it, this is an expensive one of a kind Custom Shop kind of guitar — one that you’ll want to take home to your house on November 18th. How expensive? Well the CS Price List shows an MSRP of $4,800 for the STOCK colors. I don’t want to ask how much a special color adds to the pricing.
Here’s a video from the Fender Custom Shop showing off both this model and the Two Pickup version. So, you can get an idea of the sound you’ll get from this beauty when it’s in your home.
Will this especial guitar make it’s new home at your home? Only time will tell. Somebody has to win it. It might as well be you. Don’t you agree?
To read more or to make a donation (and enter the drawing) just click on this LINK
Certificate
Specs (adapted from two pickup model):
Series: Limited Collection
Model Name: La Cabronita Especial
Model Number: 923-6666-(Color #) (two-p’up model)
Colors: (606) Black, (644) Shoreline Gold, (Nitrocellulose Lacquer Finish)
Body: Select Lightweight Alder
Neck: 1-Piece Maple, Large “C” Shape, (Nitrocellulose Lacquer Finish)
Fingerboard: Maple, 9.5” Radius (241 mm)
No. of Frets: 21 Dunlop® 6105 Narrow Jumbo Frets
Pickup: 1 TV Jones® Classic Pickup (Bridge)
Controls: Master Volume, and Tone control
Bridge: Deluxe Chromed Brass Bridge Plate with Solid Stainless Steel Saddles
Machine Heads: Sperzel® Die-Cast Tuning Machines with White Pearloid Buttons
Hardware: Nickel/Chrome
Pickguard: 1-Ply Parchment
Scale Length: 25.5” (648 mm)
Width at Nut: 1.6875” (43 mm)
Unique Features: La Cabronita Especial Decal on Back Rear of Body, Knurled Chrome Tele Knob, Bone Nut, Relic® Finish Shows Natural Wear and Tear of Years of Heavy use, Nicks, Scratches, Worn Finish, Rusty Hardware and Aged Plastic Parts.
Strings: Fender Standard Tension™ ST250R, Nickel Plated Steel, Gauges: (.010, .013, .017, .026, .036, .046)
Accessories: Deluxe Black Hardshell Case (Black Crushed Velvet Interior), Strap, Cable, Polishing Cloth, Certificate of Authenticity
Case: Deluxe Black Hardshell Case
Pickup Icons Lawrence, Lace Join Forces
Huntington Beach, CA – In a joint announcement today, guitar pickup design and manufacturing legend Bill Lawrence announced that his company has teamed up with Lace Music Products to build all current and future Lawrence-designed guitar pickups at the Lace factory in Huntington Beach, California. Effective immediately, Lawrence’s current Keystone® and Wilde® guitar pickup products, as well as subsequent Bill Lawrence designs, will be built and shipped from the Lace facility under the direct supervision of the Bill and Becky Lawrence and the Lace Music Products, who anticipate meaningfull improvements in responsiveness, quality control, shipping and delivery time.
Bill Lawrence stated that, “It’s been some fourteen years since we first discussed working together with Jeff and Don Lace — we have always had so much in common. While most of our industry has been focused on merely recreating the past, we’ve both both been working on new, original ideas to advance the art and science of the pickup. Over the years, we’ve developed a close friendship and mutual respect based on our common principles, but until now the time for a joint venture never seemed quite right.”
“Given my current health issues,” Lawrence continued, “Becky and I maintaining our own production facility was no longer feasible, and a partnership with our old friends has become the logical way for me to continue my design work and bring my latest ideas to fruition. I simply can’t imagine better manufacturing and marketing partners than the Lace family and their team — both companies have established their own unique places in the market, each with very different design and marketing approaches that I’m sure we can maintain side by side into the future. It’s a classic win-win situation for us, our distribution channels, and the pickup buying public.” Jeff Lace, who has succeeded his late father Don Lace Sr., as Lace’s lead designer, said, “This is a remarkable opportunity for our companies — not only will we continue making the best pickups on the market today, but we’ll also be expanding our product portfolio with more original designs that are unlike anything else available.”
Both Lawrence and Lace hold numerous technology patents in the pickup arena, with Lawrence’s design work dating back some 60 years including historic stints with giants like Gibson, Framus, and a virtual who’s who of the guitar industry, and Jeff Lace following in the footsteps of his father’s unique “Fender-Lace Sensor®” design dating from the early 1980s. More recently, Jeff has created Lace’s Holy Grail® and Alumitone® pickup technologies, both featuring zero noise and full-range bandwidth. Lawrence, known for decades as the industry’s most dynamic and knowledgeable pickup designer, is responsible for the SCN (Samarium Cobalt Noiseless) line of pickups currently offered by Fender both in their prestigious American Deluxe guitars and basses and as popular aftermarket upgrades.
“Bill has established a great legacy of design innovation that we will honor and continue just as we’ve carried on our father’s wishes and aspirations,” Jeff Lace declared, “We’ve been looking forward to working with Bill and Becky for a very long time — and together we have so many exciting ideas that we can’t wait to bring to the market!” Don Lace enthusiastically pointed out good omens for the new venture by noting, “This year marks Lace’s® 30th anniversary — and what a way to celebrate our success, with the introduction of our new Helix® bass and guitar plus this monumental new pickup partnership happening simultaneously. This is going to be a truly exciting year for us and the industry!”
The sales and distribution approach for Lawrence products is currently being finalized, with a detailed announcement expected shortly. No changes in the established distribution channel for Lace® products are planned. More information on Lawrence is available via www.wildepickups.com and www.billlawrence.com or by calling 951-371-1494. For Lace®, visit www.lacemusic.com or call 800-575-LACE.
Les Paul Passes Away at 94
New York, NY…August 13, 2009…Les Paul, acclaimed guitar player, entertainer and inventor, passed away today from complications of severe pneumonia at White Plains Hospital in White Plains, New York, surrounded by family and loved ones. He had been receiving the best available treatment through this final battle and in keeping with his persona, he showed incredible strength, tenacity and courage. The family would like to express their heartfelt thanks for the thoughts and prayers from his dear friends and fans. Les Paul was 94.
One of the foremost influences on 20th century sound and responsible for the world’s most famous guitar, the Les Paul model, Les Paul’s prestigious career in music and invention spans from the 1930s to the present. Though he’s indisputably one of America’s most popular, influential, and accomplished electric guitarists, Les Paul is best known as an early innovator in the development of the solid body guitar. His groundbreaking design would become the template for Gibson’s best-selling electric, the Les Paul model, introduced in 1952. Today, countless musical legends still consider Paul’s iconic guitar unmatched in sound and prowess. Among Paul’s most enduring contributions are those in the technological realm, including ingenious developments in multi-track recording, guitar effects, and the mechanics of sound in general.
Born Lester William Polsfuss in Waukesha, Wisconsin on June 9, 1915, Les Paul was already performing publicly as a honky-tonk guitarist by the age of 13. So clear was his calling that Paul dropped out of high school at 17 to play in Sunny Joe Wolverton’s Radio Band in St. Louis. As Paul’s mentor, Wolverton was the one to christen him with the stage name “Rhubarb Red,” a moniker that would follow him to Chicago in 1934. There, Paul became a bona fide radio star, known as both hillbilly picker Rhubarb Red and Django Reinhardt-informed jazz guitarist Les Paul. His first recordings were done in 1936 on an acoustic—alone as Rhubarb Red, as well as backing blues singer Georgia White. The next year he formed his first trio, but by 1938 he’d moved to New York to begin his tenure on national radio with one of the more popular dance orchestras in the country, Fred Waring’s Pennsylvanians.
Tinkering with electronics and guitar amplification since his youth, Les Paul began constructing his own electric guitar in the late ’30s. Unhappy with the first generation of commercially available hollowbodies because of their thin tone, lack of sustain, and feedback problems, Paul opted to build an entirely new structure. “I was interested in proving that a vibration-free top was the way to go,” he has said. “I even built a guitar out of a railroad rail to prove it. What I wanted was to amplify pure string vibration, without the resonance of the wood getting involved in the sound.” With the good graces of Epiphone president Epi Stathopoulo, Paul used the Epiphone plant and machinery in 1941 to bring his vision to fruition. He affectionately dubbed the guitar “The Log.”
Les Paul’s tireless experiments sometimes proved to be dangerous, and he nearly electrocuted himself in 1940 during a session in the cellar of his Queens apartment. During the next two years of rehabilitation, Les earned his living producing radio music. Forced to put the Pennsylvanians and the rest of his career on hold, Les Paul moved to Hollywood. During World War II, he was drafted into the Army but permitted to stay in California, where he became a regular player for Armed Forces Radio Service. By 1943 he had assembled a trio that regularly performed live, on the radio, and on V-Discs. In 1944 he entered the jazz spotlight—thanks to his dazzling work filling in for Oscar Moore alongside Nat King Cole, Illinois Jacquet, and other superstars —at the first of the prestigious Jazz at the Philharmonic concerts.
By his mid-thirties, Paul had successfully combined Reinhardt-inspired jazz playing and the western swing and twang of his Rhubarb Red persona into one distinctive, electrifying style. In the Les Paul Trio he translated the dizzying runs and unusual harmonies found on Jazz at the Philharmonic into a slower, subtler, more commercial approach. His novelty instrumentals were tighter, brasher, and punctuated with effects. Overall, the trademark Les Paul sound was razor-sharp, clean-shaven, and divinely smooth.
As small combos eclipsed big bands toward the end of World War II, Les Paul Trio’s popularity grew. They cut records for Decca both alone and behind the likes of Helen Forrest, the Andrews Sisters, the Delta Rhythm Boys, Dick Hayes, and, most notably, Bing Crosby. Since 1945, when the crooner brought them into the studio to back him on a few numbers, the Trio had become regular guests on Crosby’s hit radio show. The highlight of the session was Paul’s first No. 1 hit and million-seller, the gorgeous “It’s Been a Long, Long Time.”
Meanwhile, Paul began to experiment with dubbing live tracks over recorded tracks, also altering the playback speed. This resulted in “Lover (When You’re Near Me),” his revolutionary 1947 predecessor to multi-track recording. The hit instrumental featured Les Paul on eight different electric guitar parts, all playing together.
In 1948, Paul nearly lost his life to a devastating car crash that shattered his right arm and elbow. Still, he convinced doctors to set his broken arm in the guitar-picking and cradling position. Laid up but undaunted, Paul acquired a first generation Ampex tape recorder from Crosby in 1949, and began his most important multi-tracking adventure, adding a fourth head to the recorder to create sound-on-sound recordings. While tinkering with the machine and its many possibilities, he also came up with tape delay. These tricks, along with another recent Les Paul innovation—close mic-ing vocals—were integrated for the first time on a single recording: the 1950 No. 1 tour de force “How High the Moon.”
This historic track was performed during a duo with future wife Mary Ford. The couple’s prolific string of hits for Capitol Records not only included some of the most popular recordings of the early 1950s, but also wrote the book on contemporary studio production. The dense but crystal clear harmonic layering of guitars and vocals, along with Ford’s close mic-ed voice and Paul’s guitar effects, produced distinctively contemporary recordings with unprecedented sonic qualities. Through hits, tours, and popular radio shows, Paul and Ford kept one foot in the technological vanguard and the other in the cultural mainstream.
All the while, Les Paul continued to pine for the perfect guitar. Though The Log came close, it wasn’t quite what he was after. In the early 1950s, Gibson Guitar would cultivate a partnership with Paul that would lead to the creation of the guitar he’d seen only in his dreams. In 1948, Gibson elected to design its first solidbody, and Paul, a self-described “dyed-in-the-wool Gibson man,” seemed the right man for the job. Gibson avidly courted the guitar legend, even driving deep into the Pennsylvania mountains to deliver the first model to newlyweds Les Paul and Mary Ford.
“Les played it, and his eyes lighted up,” then-Gibson President Ted McCarty has recalled. The year was 1950, and Paul had just signed on as the namesake of Gibson’s first electric solidbody, with exclusive design privileges. Working closely with Paul, Gibson forged a relationship that would change popular culture forever. The Gibson Les Paul model—the most powerful and respected electric guitar in history—began with the 1952 release of the Les Paul Goldtop. After introducing the original Les Paul Goldtop in 1952, Gibson issued the Black Beauty, the mahogany-topped Les Paul Custom, in 1954. The Les Paul Junior (1954) and Special (1955) were also introduced before the canonical Les Paul Standard hit the market in 1958. With revolutionary humbucker pickups, this sunburst classic has remained unchanged for the half-century since it hit the market.
With the rise of the rock ’n’ roll revolution of 1955, Les Paul and Mary Ford’s popularity began to wane with younger listeners, though Paul would prove to be a massive influence on younger generation of guitarists. Still, Paul and Ford maintained their iconic presence with their wildly popular television show, which ran from 1953-1960. In 1964, the couple, parents to a son and daughter, divorced. Paul began playing in Japan, and recorded an LP for London Records before poor health forced him to take time off—as much as someone so inspired can take time off.
In the 1977, Paul resurfaced with a Grammy-winning Chet Atkins collaboration, Chester and Lester. Then the ailing guitarist, who’d already suffered arthritis and permanent hearing loss, had a heart attack, followed by bypass surgery.
Ever stubborn, Les recovered, and returned to live performance in the late 1980s. Until recently Les continued to perform two weekly New York shows with the Les Paul Trio, even releasing the 2005 double-Grammy winner Les Paul & Friends: American Made World Played, featuring collaborations with a veritable who’s who of the electric guitar, including dozens of illustrious fans like Keith Richards, Buddy Guy, Billy Gibbons, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, and Joe Perry. In 2008, The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame paid tribute to Les Paul in a week-long celebration of his life which culminated with a live performance by Les himself.
Les Paul has since become the only individual to share membership into the Grammy Hall of Fame, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the National Inventors Hall of Fame, and the National Broadcasters Hall of Fame. Les is survived by his three sons Lester (Rus) G. Paul, Gene W. Paul and Robert (Bobby) R. Paul, his daughter Colleen Wess, son-in-law Gary Wess, long time friend Arlene Palmer, five grandchildren and five great grandchildren. A private Funeral service will be held in New York. A service in Waukesha, WI will be announced at a later date. Details will follow and will be announced for all services. Memorial tributes for the public will be announced at a future date.
The family asks that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Les Paul Foundation, 236 West 30th Street, 7th Floor, New York, New York 10001.
George Fullerton Part of Fender DNA
George Fullerton wasn’t a household name, but he contributed as much to modern music as just about anybody. With the massive media coverage surrounding a slew of celebrity deaths, the mainstream media overlooked the news that George Fullerton died on July 4 at age 86. But as one of those who helped put the twang in country music, it would be a travesty to overlook his passing.
Many would say that George Fullerton was an essential part of the Fender Company’s DNA. Fullerton was Leo Fender’s right-hand man during the key years of the Fender guitar company in the ’50s and ’60s. Leo Fender came up with the basic ideas for the guitar designs, but Fullerton helped refine them and figured out how to manufacture the instruments as a product most musicians could afford. If they had done nothing else, their place in music history would be sealed by creating two iconic electric guitars — the Fender Telecaster and Stratocaster models.
But George’s impact didn’t stop there. When CBS bought the company from Leo Fender it was George that helped guide them through the transition and showed them what a real Fender was. And, when Leo started up a new guitar company later it was George and Leo that made the G & L Brand (hint: George & Leo = G & L) of guitar the next great thing from Leo Fender.
George was involved in everything. But perhaps he’s best known for his impact on the design and production of the Fender Stratocaster — Leo’s iconic Rock Guitar as a follow-up to his Telecaster "Country" guitar. A guitar played by Buddy Holly, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Mark Knopfler and many other rock legends.
It is more than amazing to think that Fender and Fullerton dreamed up those guitars and that their designs from more than 50 years ago are still embraced by so many musicians and is really the pinnacle of guitar design for going on 60 years now.