4.52am Issue: 009 20th November 2016

c

theFretBoard is a forum for guitarists, and the occasional bassist.
It’s run by guitarists, for guitarists, and covers just about all the “stuff” that
interests guitarists, including guitars (!), amps, fx, learning, playing, buying,
selling and anything else that comes to the minds of thousands of guitarists
every day.
It’s completely free to read and free to join – membership allows readers to
see additional areas of the forum which aren’t visible to non-members, to
start their own discussions and post their own comments.
Best of all, there are NO ADVERTS.
Join the UK’s busiest, most interesting and most diverse guitar related
forum for free (did we mention that it’s free?) at theFretBoard.co.uk.
Now.
Why not pay us a visit, and check:
The Thread of the week, click if you dare:
Discuss this week’s 4:52am here:
Show us your arty shots
Who is reading 4:52am?

CONTENTS
FEATURES
Andy McKee
Nobody’s Strummer
Greenfield Guitars
HG1 Harp Guitar
RayGun Relics
The Man With The
Golden Gun
Sue Foley
Bless My Cotton Socks
Sue Foley
Pinky
Toy
Getting a Clear Shot
VINTAGE CORNER
1958 Gretsch White Falcon
1959 Fender Jazzmaster
1966 Fender Mustang
1966 Vox Phantom XII
1972 Fender Jaguar
MUSIC FOR PLEASURE
1 Metallica - Enter Sandman
2 Angie – Housewife Spliffin’
3 Oh Boy! – Heh Princess
4 Pearls - Superstar
5 Kaos Krew – End My Pride
6 Stealth - Blame
7 Natives - Passion
8 Counting Crows – Rain King
9 Swans – Finally, Peace
10 Frida Sundemo – We Are Dreamers
11 blanket – Starlight Filled our Minds
12 Pink Floyd – Green is The Colour
13 The Bottom Line – Pull Me Out
14 Aaron Lee Tasjan – Memphis Rain
15 U2 – Unforgettable Fire
16 Jealous of the Birds – Trouble in Bohemia
17 Kate Bush – Running Up The Hill
18 Simple Minds - American
19 Microdance – New Waves of Hope
20 David Hanbury/Mrs Smith – Voodoo Chile
KILL YOUR TELEVISION
Sunday: Nirvana
Come As You Are
Monday: The Only Ones
Another Girl, Another
Planet
Tuesday: REM
The One I Love
Wednesday: Smiths
This Charming Man
Thursday: Stray Cats
Stray Cat Strut
Friday: The Doors
People Are Strange
Saturday: Undertones
Teenage Kicks
CREDITS & THANKS

FEATURES

ANDY MCKEE
Nobody’s Strummer
Andy McKee is that rarest of genius – in a
world when the term is used far too lightly –
a genius who smiles. I think that is the first
thing you realise when you watch him,
despite the fact that he plays things most of
us can’t quite get our heads around hearing
he manages to do it with a slight shrug and
a shy smile on his face as though it is the
simplest of things and whilst he appreciates
the fuss, it is nice to be beloved of course,
he doesn’t have to wear the mask that lays
claim to a life on a higher plain. He doesn’t
have to pretend to be anything other than
what he is, an understated genius.
In a lot of ways he reminds me of a military
strategist, in that there is a whole forty
storey subtext going on that the rest of us
can’t see, and yes a watchfulness to see
how soon the listener catches on before he
performs the simplest of moves that, for
other guitar players is like a slow motion
waterbucket challenge as they – we –
realise too late, just what it was he was
doing all along, all those little movements
and moments we thought throwaway that
later turn out to be as earth shattering as a
butterfly’s wings.
So yes, he is humbling at times if you have
tried to do a fraction of what he does, but it
doesn’t last long as what is the point of
arguing with a mountain when you can take
advice from the pebbles scattered around.
Not that any of this came easy. I don’t
mean he didn’t have an innate talent, he
clearly did, but he wasn’t anointed and
nurtured by a svengali in a record
company, instead he came a much more
modern route and was one of the earliest
of guitarists to ‘go viral’ on YouTube and
find himself catapulted from his day job of
mild mannered janitor guitar teacher, into
an internationally acclaimed and
recognised musician, suddenly in demand
all over the world. It must have been the
weirdest of times, with three of his videos
being the most watched on YouTube and
millions of people suddenly knowing his
name.
Naturally, McKee didn’t get too carried
away, describing himself as,
"Just this guy from Topeka, Kansas, who
kind of blew up on the Internet about a
week before Christmas."
It wasn’t just his route to fame that was a
little different.
For a ‘specialist’ acoustic player, Andy has
always enjoyed a wider range of interest
music-wise than the traditional, John
Williams et al, instead growing up with a
love of Heavy Metal and a healthy
obsession with Dream Theatre. In fact his
list of influences ranges from Satriana, via
Metallica, past Bjork whilst looping around
Primus, King Crimson and Toto. And I

think you can hear this in the way he plays
– his interest in different tunings and
rhythms, his ability to try completely
different approaches and turn them into
something unexpected, but quite beautiful.
The thing that has personally struck me
with Andy’s work is his ability to find odd
rhythms and melodies, that you almost feel
that shouldn’t work, but that make total
sense when you catch-up with his thinking.
Another of his influences has of course
been Tommy Emmanuel, who we talked
about last week, and there is that joy in
their playing that is an obvious link, and
when Tommy recently launched his own
record label, CGP Sounds, it wasn’t too
much of a surprise that the first person he
signed was Andy and in a lot of ways you
can imagine that Tommy is the perfect
person to provide the kind of supportive, in
tune, environment for somebody like Andy
to continue to develop his work.
As Andy explained,
“I’m honored to be a part of his label. I
heard Tommy 15 years ago at a festival in
Kansas and was blown away by his playing
and performing, and I still am. To be the
first person on his label is surreal, and I’m
excited and proud to be a part of it.”
The first fruits of this new partnership saw
the launch of Live Sounds Andy’s first Live
album, which for those that haven’t listened
to his previous albums is a fantastic place to
start.
Andy explains,
“I’ve always wanted to do a live album; for
quite a few years I’ve felt it’s something that

has been missing from my collection of
releases. This album will feature some of
my YouTube hits like ‘Drifting’ and ‘Rylynn’,
some songs from my 2014 EP Mythmaker,
and a cover of a Michael Hedges song
called ‘Because It’s There’ played on harp
guitar that I haven’t released yet.”
And it really is a quite beautiful album. In a
lot of ways it sits alongside his studio
albums perfectly as there is a definitely
more chilled feel to the whole thing,
perhaps a sign of him growing into his own
style and the older songs seem more
mature whilst even the newer ones seem
to have an added sparkle about them.
Simply put it is an album you put on, and
are captivated by until you realise it has
finished and you have been taken on a trip
to somewhere beautiful.
But of course we can’t talk about Andy
without looking at his guitars, and his use of
a Harp Guitar is perhaps something that
visually would cause a WTF moment for
even the least interested passer-by.
I’m pleased (and a little relieved) to say that
Michael Greenfield, who has made Andy’s
latest harp guitar came to my aid as I was
writing this, and explained how he came to
make Andy’s guitar and what it entailed.
You can read that next, but please do make
sure that you go and check Andy out Here,
he is genuinely something special.

GREENFIELD GUITARS
HG1: Harp Guitar
I was delighted to get the opportunity to
talk to Michael Greenfield, of Greenfield
Guitars about the Harp Guitar he made for
Andy McKee. Not least because I was
floundering, I don’t mind admitting.
So, in his own words, here is Michael,
“In August of 2008, Andy McKee asked me
for about the 10th time to make him a new
harp guitar. I finally caved and accepted the
challenge. 2 years less a month later….there
it was. A year of research, months of
design, prototyping and finally the build -
which took a total of 8 months.
The HG1.2 is inspired by the Dyer and
Knutsen guitars from the early part of the
20th century. While I was still repairing and
restoring vintage instruments, I had the
opportunity of working on and restoring
several of these old instruments, as well as
some other harp guitars by various other
manufacturers and modern makers. I
always found that the Dryer/Knutsen design
was the most successful as a musical
instrument.
The other two main factors I constantly kept
in mind while designing this instrument was
that it be road worthy, to keep up with
Andy’s fierce touring schedule and that it be
easily repairable (should it ever need it).
With all of this in mind, all I had to do was
to somehow bring this proven, century old
design into the 21st century, take a left
turn and make it a Greenfield.
The HG1.2 has its own, proprietary body
shape and many unique features. While
inspired by the early 20th century harp
guitars, this is truly a contemporary
instrument incorporating all of the
modern physics and design features
found on all of my guitars.
It is built on a 16”, proprietary body. It
has a fanned fret “guitar neck” with a
25.0” – 26.0” scale and 14 fret body joint,
which is much more practical for
contemporary fingerstyle repertoire.
It also has a full 24 frets on the top two
strings (ok…not “necessary” but how cool
is that?)
The harp arm has two harp-heads (only
one if sharping levers are not needed)
and scale lengths of the sub bass strings
ranging from 307/8” – 343/4”. These
longer scale lengths provide those strings
a more robust presentation and stronger
fundamental.
The harp section of the guitar makes use
of a hand carved ebony tailpiece to
anchor the extra-long, phosphor bronze
strings (custom made by my friends at
John Pearse Strings), which cross over a
fulcrum style bridge. This low-stress
bridge design only puts about 30 lbs of
down-force on the soundboard, compared

to the 180 lbs of pull on a pinned bridge.
The sub bass strings are tuned and
gauged: G .042”, D .054”, C .060”, B’
.062”, A’ .066”, G’ .070” (Stephen Bennett
tuning).
The HG1.2 is made of a laminated rim set,
with laminated linings and a system of
aerospace composite carbon fiber trusses
and buttresses. This makes for an
extremely rigid and stable skeletal
structure. The soundboard is lattice braced.
The Laskin style extended arm rest is
included, as is a mini-rib rest on the rear of
the pointed section of the upper bout.
As with all of my guitars, there is perfect
balance from string to string and the guitar
neck has incredibly FAT ringing trebles with
consistent volume all the way up the neck
to the 24th fret! The extra-long scaled sub
basses speak with an articulate, solid voice
and are balanced to the guitar neck;
providing a clear, solid foundation to the
melody which will support, rather than over
power it.
Over the years, I have been fortunate to
develop the reputation of specializing in
fanned fret guitars with additional strings
and have been commissioned to build
many one-off, custom instruments to
address players’ specific needs. This is by
far the craziest thing I have done to date. I
hope to craft more harp guitars in the
future.”
We are going to see more of Michael’s
beautiful guitars in the coming weeks, but if
you want to find out more, check out his
web site Here.

RAYGUN RELICS
The Man With The Golden Gun
I’ve lost track just how many years I’ve
been aware of Graham Muir, the man
behind RayGun Relics, and his fantastic relic
work, either in making something quite
special out of an existing guitar or in putting
his own creations together, but it has been
a joy to watch him develop his art and a
constant source of pain that life gets in the
way of my owning a great many of them.
We’ve looked at, and will continue to look at
all manner of luthiers, and as our slightly
worrying look at Don Ricci’s surreal Hot Rod
Projects showed us last week, they come
with different approaches and a variety of
motivations, but Graham’s RayGun work has
always struck me as the most pragmatic and
down to earth of all the guitar builders I’ve
known.
If you want your Vintage Les Paul Jr painted
in TV Yellow Nitrocellulose and then aged to
look like it is fifty years old, Graham is your
man.
Want a 1970s-style Jazzmaster built out of
parts and given an authentically weathered
paintjob, and your nice shiny hardware aged
to match? Guess who…
All of which is cool, and his ageing
techniques are perfectly accurate looking – I
have had two Olympic White Jazzmasters
Graham had fettled, and they both looked
more realistically ‘old’ than my genuine 1968
one ever did. Bizarre? Probably, but he
has the knack, and it is a rarity.
The ones I have always loved though, are
the guitars Graham makes to his own
recipe. I always love to see what luthiers
make when left to their own devices, and
Graham has consistently produced slightly
off-piste guitars inspired by those of the
Big Two.
In fact, if Fender had got in touch with
Graham, their whole Pawn Shop range
could have been a lot better as he seems
able to easily mix and match the unlikely
with the surprising to produce some
wonderful guitars.
I have always been most impressed by his
heavy relics, where he doesn’t genuinely
aim to create something particularly likely
(Rory Gallagher apart) but instead uses
wear and ageing as extra colours on his
pallete and applies them with abandon.
These ‘comedy relics’ can often look as
though the guitar has lived in a ditch, but
are all the more awesome for this.
One thing I really should mention is that
unlike the majority of builders we cover,
Graham would rather sell his guitars
quickly via eBay and Facebook, than keep
the supply limited and demand high, and
to do this his prices are quite simply
extraordinarily cheap. I don’t particularly
want to labour the point, but quite often

you will see Graham selling his unique and
original guitars for less than many
companies would charge for a refinish.
As I said at the start, he is nothing if not a
pragmatist and you will often find that
anybody that you meet who has one of his
guitars, either has another proudly sitting
on a stand or is at least certainly planning
what the next one will be and there is
really no bigger compliment than that.
As for me? Well, I’ve got my eye on a little
Sherwood Green Telemaster/Junior Hybrid
Baritone with a Bigsby-style Tremolo and
an aged Nitro finish. But then who hasn’t?
Go and treat yourself to a stunning guitar
for the price of a couple of posh pedals,
you’ll love it.
You can find out more of the RayGun Relics
Facebook Page Here and Graham’s web
site There.

SUE FOLEY
Bless My Cotton Socks
I said last week that we would be following
the Divine Ms. Foley’s Kickstarter campaign
across it’s ‘arc’, and here we are a week
further in and we’re doing exactly that. You
can’t imagine how unusual it is for me to
have a plan come together like that.
The story so far for those slacking at the
back of the class is that Sue Foley is your
proper, pukka, full-time, time-served blues
musician. She has played with the greats,
and we thought that seeing how a
professional approaches crowd funding
could be informative for the rest of us.
Last week we learned that a little planning
up front saves a lot of pain later, and Sue
had clearly taken good advice – we have to
remember Sue is a professional musician
rather than a professional on-line marketer
but that she is bright enough to pick the
brains of those who know that area better –
as she had all her ducks in a row with some
great photography, a friendly and inspiring
video, a professional track record that
inspires confidence and some interesting
and appealing Rewards that she has
developed over the lifetime of the
campaign.
And it is the Rewards that I wanted us to
look at this week, but (for the uninitiated)
what are they?
In simple terms they are the cornerstone
of the whole crowdfunding strategy –
they are the promise from the people
running the campaign to their supporters,
they are the answer to the ‘what is in it
for me?’, question and they are the part
that makes it all fun and appealing online.
In terms of a strategy, you need to think
carefully about it, and have a mixture of
high and low value options, so that you
can capture the attention of as many
supporters as possible, whatever the
depth of their pockets.
For album campaigns, which is our
interest here, the ability to distribute your
music in a variety of formats gives you a
natural advantage over a lot of other
creative endeavours, and Sue has taken
advantage of them from the start, always
conscious that you have to give your
supporter something that they couldn’t
otherwise get later when the regular retail
version of the album becomes available.
And it is the low value pledges that are
perhaps the most important, they are the
ones that let you join in the fun, support
an artist for little financial outlay and yet
still give you something special.
In Sue’s campaign, for the $10 – cheapest
– pledge, she has gone for the obvious,

ead and butter option of a digital
download.
For any musical campaign this makes
complete sense as it is obviously something
people will buy once the album is released,
and it is an easily fulfilled option with no
real impact on your project’s cashflow (no
postage or packaging to consider or pay
for.) The trick with this though is in finding
how you make it special – why would
anybody pay now rather than once the
album is released? - and again you have to
be pragmatic and sometimes the obvious
thing is the right thing. What was Sue’s
answer? Yep the obvious one, make the
download available to her supporters a
month or so early. Clearly she will have the
album ready to go before then anyway, so
it isn’t hard and being among the first to
hear it in its finished form is pretty special
all by itself.
Moving on and up the reward scale we get
to what is probably the most important
reward of all, the $20 pledge.
A lot of people talk about why this one is
always the one with the biggest uptake,
and there are a lot of theories, but as far
as an album goes, for me, it is the right
price. You are buying the album for pretty
much what you would pay anyway, but
with the nice part being that you are
supporting the musician and making it
possible for them to record it too.
Choosing what the reward is at this price
point is key though, as it will probably
(usually) be the column with the most
pledges in, so you need to make sure that
it is bringing you in (funding-wise) what
you need – this isn’t the one where you
want to get your sums wrong – but you
also want to make it as attractive as
possible as cheaply as possible, to ensure
everybody that might pledge here does.
Looking at Sue’s campaign, again we see
she has been clever about it, for your $20
pledge, offering you both the previous
level’s digital download of the album, but
also a CD copy of it too. With a thought on
making these special again so that you
aren’t competing with Amazon et al. this
time you not only get the download a month
early, but the CD too, and best of all – the
Amazon killer – is that the CD is
autographed by Sue. Straightaway this
becomes something special, and well worth
moving up from the $10 download, if you
are a backer.
But are we right about the $20 point
mattering? Well as I write this, Sue has 178
backers and 66 of them (37% in old money)
are at the $20 point, which is a significant
chunk of anybody’s change.
The interesting thing looking in though, is
this process of tempting people to move up
a level, and it is something we see
everywhere, let’s face it.
Moving on then, you start to add different
options, with the concept always being that
you stack them so that people can be
tempted into an upgrade, and this is where
things tend to get interesting as you start to
see the more imaginative and unusual
rewards coming in to play.
Again looking Sue’s campaigns, over the
next few pledge levels we see nice
merchandise being added to the mix such as
T-Shirts and Kickstarter-exclusive signed
photographs and these are definitely worth
exploring for the fan. We are clearly in the
realms of ‘Not available in the shops’ which

for the artist is where they can exert their
power over the on-line and off-line retailers
and make a genuine artist-to-fan
connection. This is where the campaign
gets special and the story of what the artist
is doing becomes important.
Half of the message behind Sue’s album
and campaign is that it is all about her
going home and how that her ‘journey’ has
come to a point where it has gone full
circle, from leaving Canada and making her
first album, to going back after so many
years on the road and writing her new one.
This is clearly true, but in terms of the
campaign is also perfect as (being cynical)
not only does it let us see everything she
has achieved over the years and the people
she works with, but it is a story with a
start, middle and if not end a place in time
to look back from.
In terms of rewards, when we get to Sue’s
$100 pledge, she in a way invites us into
her career, and not only do you get a
signed copy of her new album, but also one
of her first. Similarly, Alan Messer who took
her first publicity shots has taken the ones
for her new album and you get signed
copies of both of these. This is a really nice
pledge, again not stupidly priced, but one
you generally can’t buy and something that
only an artist with a career like Sue’s can
bring forward. It is called playing to your
strengths.
From there we move into hand cut vinyl,
always something special especially when it
is done, as here, by the album’s engineer
Chris Bell (you may know the name from
his work with the Eagles, Jim Lauderdale
and so many more) with its own unique
sleeve and all signed and everything else.
This is where we are starting to get into the
collector and speculator market and to be
totally honest, for $110 now, I bet these are
on eBay for 5-times that within a year or
two.
From here on in, the packages get bigger –
VIP Concert experiences, personal thanks in
the CD cover notes, Associate Producer
status and so on.
I won’t list them all, but for me the really
cool ones are things like the 30 minutes
Skype lesson with Sue, where she will teach
you some of her guitar tricks. Now if you
have been checking her videos out you’ll
know she has a unique take on what blues
guitar is with a alluring mixture of flamenco,
so there is plenty to learn, and for frankly,
peanuts. The cool thing is that with Skype it
is worldwide and instant, a great idea.
$150? Ridiculously underpriced in my
humblest of opinions.
Of course the nice thing with the Rewards is
that you can add to them as the campaign
progresses. This is great as every campaign
will have times when it plateaus and needs
a little nudge to get things going again.
A couple that Sue added that caught my eye
were guitars.
The first was a Squier Telecaster, signed by
Sue. Now everybody knows Sue plays a Tele
so this is perfect, and if you are a player this
is great – let’s face it these are cool guitars
– but it also appeals to the collector market
too, for the non-player it will look amazing
on your wall. I’d imagine these will be one
the speculators are looking at too, so don’t
be surprised to see them crop up again on
auction sites further down the line.

The real wow for me though, is the reward
she added only a day or two ago, which is
again another guitar, but one that
leverages not only all of her experience and
contacts, but cements her status as the
real deal. Put simply, nobody else could
offer this one and if I’ve talked about
things being collectable and attractive to
investors and speculators, well this is the
mother lode.
For a start it is $2000, which for what is on
offer is crazy cheap. I can see this on
certain collector web sites for 5-times that
in no time at all, unless it goes to a proper
fan – so if you are one, this may be your
only chance, just saying.
But from the top it is a Fender Standard
Telecaster, that will be played by Sue at
the Jungle Show. It will then be
autographed by Rock and Roll Hall of
Famer, Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top,) Blues
Legend, Jimmie Vaughan, Chris 'Whipper'
Layton (Double Trouble,) Texas B3 Giant,
Mike 'the Drifter' Flanigin and of course by
Sue. Of course you will also get photos of
Sue playing it alongside Billy and Jimmy, of
the chaps autographing it, and all manner
of other nice things like thank you notes
and CDs and the rest.
And in terms of a reward, clearly they don’t
get much better than that, and I can’t
imagine that one will take long to
disappear.
But from our perspective it is a brilliant
option to be able to throw in, and the kind
of thing that can get you over the line in
terms of the campaign being a success or
not. Where we were looking at the $20
band as being the bread and butter and
trying to maximise the number of people
who want to join in, this is the opposite – it
is a high ticket one-off and you are
designing it specifically to find the one
person (or two or three) that will see it as
something they need in their life.
Now the rest of us don’t have friends like
Billy and Jimmy to come and join the fray,
but even the smallest gigging band will have
contacts that they can utilise, friends that
maybe have a talent they will ‘lend’ you for
the campaign. It is all about free thinking at
this level of the campaign, and you only
need to sell it once, so it is worth taking the
time to get it right.
And overall, as far as the rewards go, it is
about thinking them through with a clear
head, not throwing every kind of option in
there and hoping something sticks.
We have the starting point that anybody can
afford. We have the next step to offer
enough extras that a few dollars or pounds
more really seems insignificant compared to
what they are getting, and then we keep
adding more and more chances for people
to spend a few more pennies, before going
for the one or two really special options that
are both lucrative and genuinely special. It
is exciting stuff.
Next week we’ll look some more at Sue’s
campaign and what we can learn from it for
our own.
You can find Sue Foley’s Kickstarter
Campaign HERE and why wouldn’t you?

SUE FOLEY
Pinky
All this talk of Kickstarter campaigns is
dandy and fine, but I really couldn’t let us
go on much longer without getting a better
view of Sue’s long term friend, Pinky, her
iconic Pink Paisley Telecaster.
I asked Sue about the beauty that is her
guitar and this is what she had to say,
“It's a Japanese made Tele, circa late '80's.
I bought it new in 1987 and have played it
on every show since then. The pickups are
original stock Tele. I did sand the finish off
the neck, front and back a long time ago.
It's just so much smoother. I don't like
sticky finish. Other than that, I haven't
modified it at all except having the frets
replaced 3-4 times. I just had them done in
Austin Texas a few weeks ago.”
I wondered how she has her guitar set-up,
“I use 10-46 gauge strings. I play clean with
just reverb and a clean boost pedal from
Xotic Effects.”
And amps,
“I prefer a '59 Bassman reissue or a '65
Reissue Deluxe Reverb. I also love my
Blues Junior. “
I couldn’t help but ask about the
shamrock or clover stuck to Pinky, where
did that come from?
“The clover was stuck on it one night at a
St Patty's Day gig. A fellow literally
jumped onstage and stuck it right where
it's at to this day. That was decades ago
and it never came off. I've grown
attached to it, Irish heritage and all.”
Can you sum up why you play a
Telecaster?
“I love it because the Fender Telecaster is
the most perfect electric guitar ever. I call
the Tele the "guitar player's guitar"
because they're so basic and pure. If you
can play a Tele clean chances are you
really can play.”

TOY
Getting a Clear Shot
One of the bands of the year in the 4.52am
Sheltered Accommodation are Toy with their
exceptionally cool album, Clear Shot. A little
while ago I got the chance to talk to Tom
and Dominic from the band, and generally
ask them a few impertinent questions.
Nice to meet you chaps, so how did the
band come together?
“We had all played in other people’s bands
before and it never felt quite right, and once
we hit the age of around 21 or 22 we
realised that all we wanted to do was to
form our own thing and head off on a
journey together.”
So what is the line-up and how did you
all meet?
“In terms of our live line-up, Tom sings and
plays guitar, Maxim plays bass and sings,
Charlie plays drums and sings, Max plays
synths and sings, and I play guitar, though
when we’re writing and recording we swap
around a lot. We all love experimenting with
new instruments and effects processors.
Everyone’s into films, art and books, and
tend to swap stuff on tour and at home in
London - currently on the go are White
Goddess, Sapiens and Psychedelia and
Other Colours. Tom, Maxim and I went to
school together and have been hanging out
together since we were about 12. We met
Charlie and Max as we were going to the
same clubs and listening to like-minded
musics, so our paths collided and we all
became friends.”
As far as gigs go – what were your
first ones like and how do they
compare to now?
“The first gigs I remember vividly were at
the Shacklewell Arms – we had a
residency there four weeks running and
there was a great atmosphere. Everyone
was sweating a lot and the amplifiers
were blaring.
The biggest gig we played was at the o2
World in Berlin, supporting Placebo. and
in terms of the UK it would be the o2
supporting the Vaccines. It’s great to step
out onto a huge stage and seeing a sea of
people stretching back into the distance,
and it’s just as good in another way for
everyone to be boxed into a tent or a
room with everyone packed like sardines
and dancing about. Festivals are always
cool because you never know what you’re
going to get, it’s different every time. In
terms of headline shows, it have very
fond of the Shepherd’s Bush Empire
show.”
When you recorded Left Myself
Behind what sort of gear were you
using at that point?
“Tom had a Gretsch Corvette, playing
though a Fender Blues Deville live and
probably an AC30 on the recording. I was

already using a Fender Twin Reverb and a
Fender Telecaster with a Deluxe neck
which a very good friend named Dan Carey
gave me about 10 years ago on an
extended loan. Maxim was probably using
an Ampeg or a Fender bass head and cab
and his Fender Jazz Bass. Pedal wise, an
MXR Phase 90 on fastest speed gave the
leslie-ish sound in the two guitar breaks
you hear in the first half of the song, then
flip to the slowest setting for the outro. For
delay I was using the Diamond Memory
Lane 2, one of my favourite analog delay
pedals. Tom was using a T Rex Moller
overdrive, which has now finally fallen
apart, and a Digitech chorus, which he
replaced soon after with the analog
Diamond Halo.”
When you recorded TOY it was done
really quickly - can you tell us about
the recording?
“We tracked the album live, with all of us
playing in the same room, along with our
amps, which is also how we recorded Join
The Dots and now Clear Shot – it’s how we
record everything in fact. When we’re
writing the music and making our demos,
we very often layer things up one by one
as we’re considering different possibilities
and trying things out, and there’s definitely
some great types of music where the
finished product comes out entirely from
this process, but for us it’s vital that we
capture the experience and sound of
playing together live. There is definitely a
deficit in modern music of recordings made
this way. Each time we play a song, it’s a
one off, with different tempos,
improvisations and off the cuff inventions,
etc, so whatever ends up as the album
version is just one of those possible
versions. Once those live performances are
cut, we then sit down and start
experimenting with other instruments and
effects processors and see if we want to
take it further.”
Would you put something out that
quick again?”
Yes definitely. All our three albums were
recorded similarly, within a two week time
frame, but somehow our third record came
out later than we wanted it to, so we are
very keen to get working on the fourth
record in between touring this one and bring
it out in a year or so’s time.”
Saying that the Sex Witch
Collaboration with Natasha Khan (of
Bat For Lashes fame) was even
quicker. That is a stunning album, how
much fun was that to do - it must have
been quite a challenge?
“Thanks, yes it was great fun – Dan Carey
had dug up these great Iranian and Thai
tunes we had been listening to and had the
idea of working out to how to play them and
then having Natasha come and do her thing
over the top, which was really cool. They
were very interesting pieces of music, so it
was very educating and enjoyable to try and
interpret them. It made us play in new
exotic time signatures, scales and modes
that we always loved to listen to but were
new for us as a band trying to learn how to
spew them out ourselves.”
Moving on to the second album,
Joining The Dots, how do you go about
following up something as cool as
TOY? Tell us about the writing
process?

“We were writing in between shows and
tours, and wrote the whole thing in about
six months. The writing process typically
involved writing round at my flat, where I
have a simple studio and Roland Space
Echo recording ideas that we would bring
to the table and then take them to new
places together, being as open minded as
possible.”
Which brings us to your latest album, Clear
Shot which you have been solidly touring
for the last few months.
How did you enjoy the Vaccines gigs –
are they the biggest crowds you have
played to yet?
“They were the biggest UK shows we’ve
ever played, yes. It was great fun. They
were friendly people and left us a card and
champagne at the end of it.”
How about gear now for the album
and the current tour, any major
changes?
“First in the chain is a Diamond compressor
- I used to be against compression pedals
as I assumed they tamed the sound, but
then I realised that many of the best guitar
sounds on record have involved
compression of one sort or another,
whether it be tape compression or
otherwise; Roger McGuinn used two
compressing limiters on maximum in a row
to make that iconic Rickenbacker 12 string
pinging chime. I also love that compression
reduces the volume differences between
chords and single notes, so you can switch
between them in a fluid way without the
single string playing getting lost. I leave
this on all the time first in the chain,
followed by an Xotic EP Booster, also
permanently on. For fuzz, a Death By Audio
Instellar Audio Deluxe – I love the voltage
controlled tremolo fuzz on the left channel (I
use it on Kopter and Conductor) Phase-wise,
I use the Blackout Effectors Sibling phaser,
which they kindly modified for me to sweep
extremely slowly. I use two analog delays –
the first is the Endangered Audio AD4096,
set on quite a rapid delay, which has an
expand footswitch to do volume swells as
you would on a tape delay (this replaced a
Boss DD6 which I used to use on Warp
Function for a similar effect) and then
Electro Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man 1100
TT which has really accurate tap tempo,
high fidelity repeats and beautiful
modulation. I move the dials around on all
the pedals quite a lot while I’m playing. Still
using my Tele that Dan gave me and a
Fender Twin Reverb (blackface) – I love the
loud cleanliness, which can turn into
overdrive just by hitting the guitar harder,
and the tube driven tremolo and spring
reverb are beautiful. Tom mainly uses a
black Jazzmaster that he’s owned for about
10 years and smashed about a hell of a lot,
into a Fender Deluxe Reverb (silverface),
with a Crybaby, Diamond Halo chorus and
an EHX Big Muff.”
And there they were gone, no doubt playing
at a venue near you soon.
Do go and check them out Here they are
one of the genuinely top quality bands
around at the moment and really will be
filling arenas in the near future.

VINTAGE CORNER
A Handful of Classic Guitars
Lord knows we spend far too much time checking-out beautiful old guitars on YouTube, so
to justify our sloth we thought we would share a few with you here.
This week we have:
1. 1958 Gretsch White Falcon
2. 1959 Fender Jazzmaster
3. 1966 Fender Mustang
4. 1966 Vox Phantom XII
5. 1972 Fender Jaguar

1958 Gretsch White Falcon
Back in 1954, Jimmy Webster the Gretsch Marketing Supremo had a problem, which
came in the shape of the Gibson Super 400, which Gretsch at that point had nothing to
compete with. Walking around the factory, he noticed the variety of different
instruments the company made and the vast range of talents this meant were housed
under a single roof. The flashy inlays of the company’s banjos, the binding around their
drums and of course their beautiful guitars. He decided that he would get the company
to make a Dream Guitar to be displayed at NAMM, not as something that they would go
on to produce, but more akin to the concept cars beloved of the car manufacturers.
The factory pulled out all of the stops and the White Falcon was unveiled at NAMM in
July, with all understatement being given the title of the ‘guitar of the future’.
The positivity of the response it got took everybody at Gretsch by surprise, and as they
rushed to put the White Falcon into production Webster marketed it as ‘The finest guitar
we know how to make – and what a beauty!’
Like the Fender offsets and Gibson shape guitars, the model fell out of favour as its
initial market died out, but came back to the fore later on as people such as Billy Duffy
and Brian Setzer reignited the flame. Even Bono has a signature one, although his of
course is Green. The White Falcon though, whilst never cheap is definitely one of the
icons of electric guitar and always will be.

1959 FENDER JAZZMASTER
In 1958 Fender decided that they needed a more up market guitar than their Telecaster
and Stratocaster models, and aiming it squarely at Jazz Musicians, came up with the
stunning guitar that is the Jazzmaster. The Jazzmaster really was a step forward designwise,
with a more comfortable offset shape, and an all new tremolo system that Leo
Fender had designed from scratch, along with the ingenious rocking bridge which was
intended to remove the chance of tuning issues.
The pickups were the biggest change though, the shape of them being wide and similar
in looks to Gibson’s classic P90 Soapbars, but in terms of their tone they gave a much
more mellow sound than either the Strat or Tele pickups, this again being a jazz
influence. As we know now, Jazz musicians weren’t the ones who saw the advantages
and instead it was the Surf boom a few years later where the Jazzmaster and later
Jaguar found a natural home. As with the Gretsch White Falcon, as that scene died so
did the love for the Jazzmaster and the model was withdrawn from sale. It wasn’t until
the 1980s when alternative bands looking for cheap but good guitars to modify that the
Jazzmaster had a renaissance, one that these days sees it as one of Fender’s most
popular models. Even if the Jazz chaps still don’t have any love for them.

1966 FENDER MUSTANG
Like Gibson’s Les Paul Juniors and Melody Makers, Fender needed a low cost “Student”
guitar or two in their range and so in 1956 they launched the single pickup Musicmaster
and the twin pickup version Duo-Sonic, both coming with 21 frets and a shorter-scale of
22.5 inches. Oh and any colour you like as long as it is beige (OK, Desert Sand).
These were tweaked here and there until 1964 when Fender launched an enhanced
version of the Duo-Sonic with a tremolo, along with a few cosmetic tweaks along the
way. By 1966 the headstock had grown to match the rest of the range and a few other
tweaks saw different plastics and logos added to hardware.

1966 VOX PHANTOM XII
The story goes that after George Harrison popularised the 12 String Electric Guitar with
his jangle-fest of a Rickenbacker, the chaps at Vox realised that they needed to produce
one of their own. Previous electrics they had created had been somewhat derivative, but
as this was intended to be a full-price ‘professional’ guitar rather than a Student edition,
they felt that it had to be wholly original in every way.
Realising that they perhaps didn’t have the free-thinking personnel required ‘in-house’
they got in touch with the London Design Centre who clearly had hired some people
with a wider social experience, who came up with the coffin-esque shape that became
the Phantom.
Needless to say it has long gone down as one of the coolest of all guitar shapes and it,
along with the classic Teardrop still define Vox around the world.

1972 FENDER JAGUAR
In 1962 and following quite quickly on after the launch of the top-of-the-line
Jazzmaster, Fender saw the way the wind was blowing with those Surfer Dudes, and
decided a second offset model that solved a few of the Jazzmaster’s perceived
shortcomings would be a good idea.
The Jaguar, whether by design or not, (despite looking a lot like the Jazzmaster) was a
completely different ‘beast’, not least because of its shorter, 24” scale and its pickups,
complete with feedback reducing chrome covered shields. Typically though Fender
perhaps tweaked a little too much, and although keeping the Jazzmaster’s Rhythm
controls, also added a set of Lead controls that allowed each of the pickups to be
switched on or off independently by slide switches as well as a ‘bass cut’ switch which
basically killed the tone. The ability to turn both pickups off, somehow led to the Jaguar
being seen as confusing (even today, which is somewhat bizarre) and they along with
the ineffective string muting system were a step too far for many guitarists. Like the
Jazzmaster after the Surf boom died, the Jaguar was removed from Fender’s lists until
being adopted years later by alternative/indie musicians.

MUSIC FOR PLEASURE
20 Golden Greats – New, Classic & WTF
We thought we’d do something different and take the opportunity to show you some of the
new releases we have loved, a few classics we never stop listening to and the odd
whatever-happened-to moment we have been caught unawares by this week.
1 Metallica - Enter Sandman
2 Angie – Housewife Spliffin’
3 Oh Boy! – Heh Princess
4 Pearls - Superstar
5 Kaos Krew – End My Pride
6 Stealth - Blame
7 Natives - Passion
8 Counting Crows – Rain King
9 Swans – Finally, Peace
10 Frida Sundemo – We Are Dreamers
11 blanket – Starlight Filled our Minds
12 Pink Floyd – Green is The Colour
13 The Bottom Line – Pull Me Out
14 Aaron Lee Tasjan – Memphis Rain
15 U2 – Unforgettable Fire
16 Jealous of the Birds – Trouble in Bohemia
17 Kate Bush – Running Up The Hill
18 Simple Minds - American
19 Microdance – New Waves of Hope
20 David Hanbury/Mrs Smith – Voodoo Chile

Metallica – Enter Sandman
I think we can safely say that we have never seen Enter Sandman
played so well or quite in this way, but it goes to show, if it
is a good song, it works however you do it.

Angie – Housewife Spliffin’
Following on from her understated single, Smoke Weed Eat Pussy,
the latest clean cut Swedish pop princess Angie, creates a quite
perfectly brilliant pop single.
You really do have to love it, she is the real deal, seriously
cool.

Oh Boy! – Heh Princess
Although we don’t have a video to share, Oh Boy! Are one of my
favourite bands at the moment and so the rulebook went out the
window and you’ll have to live with a Stream of their wonderfully
cool new single ‘Heh Princess’ instead. I try not to copy and
paste anything from press releases, but this summed it up
perfectly for me, and Alcopop are just about the grooviest label
out there right now, so why the devil not.
“If you were of the culinary inclination and wanted to make an
OhBoy! trifle, the band reckon you’d need: a carton of Teenage
Fanclub, 2 x large spoonfuls of The Pixies, and a squeeze of The
Lemonheads. Whisk with a fuzz pedal until thick, then sandwich
between two slices of Pavement and Yo La Tengo. Pop it in the
fridge overnight, and serve with just a sprinkle of Britpop.
Sounds delicious to us, and there’s not a soggy bottom in sight –
Mary Berry would be pleased as punch.”
And so should you be.
Click Here and have a listen – then go and buy it There.

Pearls – Superstar
Out from the leftermost of the left of field, come Pearls an
Australian band that somehow manage to combine a little bit of
Glam, a touch of pop, some seriously old school indie and a quirk
or two that keeps you on your toes. This is a seriously cool song
and a band that I think we will hear a whole lot more from. They
had an album last year that passed me by, but I’m off for a
shufty if I can find it. You can find them Here

Kaos Krew – End My Pride
The most exciting record label I have happened across in recent
times is the rather wonderful Inverse Record of Finland, who I
think you will be seeing a lot from here in 4.52am.
And it is probably fitting that the stunning Kaos Krew are the
first of their bands that we are featuring, as I think that their
mix of deeply heavy riffing and some industrial – NiN style –
heavy industrial synths could well put themselves and the label
on the map in the UK as they are, simply put, ‘effin’ brilliant.
You can find out more Here and you will at some point.

Stealth – Blame
There is something seriously classy about Stealth, which comes
through perfectly in the single ‘Blame’ taken from his
forthcoming E.P Verse. The song has it all, the tone is bluesy
and soulful and you are practically drowning in pain as he builds
an echoing, haunting landscape of dependency and suggested loss.
I have to admit I haven’t heard Stealth before, but I love the
bluesiness of the whole shaboom and will be off and shuftying, as
is my want or so it seems. Hopefully we’ll have an interview soon
as there are depths here I think we really should explore.
Find out more Here, and there is plenty to find I think.

Natives – Passion
Natives are superb, in a very cool pop sort of way, and I have to
say I’m rather in love with their new single Passion which is
annoying, as I also fell in love when they released Stop The Rain
a while ago and I hate to be predictable. But what can you do,
they are cool.
No video that I can find, but no matter the songs are great and
you can Hear Passion Here and find out more about them over
There.
They are currently on tour and I think I may just have to go and
see what is happening, like. Top stuff.
NATIVES TOUR DATES WITH FARRO
20/11 – Glasgow, Cathouse
22/11 – Manchester, Sound Control
23/11 – Nottingham, Bodega
24/11 – Birmingham, Mama Roux’s
25/11 – Kingston, Fighting Cocks
26/11 – Bath, Moles
28/11 – Southampton, Joiners
29/11 – London, Borderline
Tickets Here from Ticketmaster

Counting Crows – Rain King
I’ve never been sure whether it is better to have one great idea
and then never have another of any kind, or to have lots that are
sort of quite good and on the cusp of tidy, but no banana.
Obviously, we all want to be teeming with the good stuff, but
that is genius and surprisingly rare.
It is something I always ponder when I hear songs from August And
Everything After, Counting Crows’ perfect debut album, as to be
totally honest every moment of it was perfectly constructed and
if there was more than a tiny debt to John Cougar, well, genius
steals.
Since then we have been limited to beautiful moments, some of the
albums having a handful - which many a good band would kill for -
but none that ever quite live with the first cut.
Does it matter? Not in the least, just go with the flow and
enjoy. Simple as that.

Swans – Finally, Peace
We reviewed Swans’ rather awesome album a few weeks ago, but now
that they are playing their final dates with this incarnation, we
thought we’d spread the word a little. Here is the gen peeps:
Swans return to the UK for an evening at London's Roundhouse on
27 May with very special guest Thurston Moore, marking Swans'
final London performance in the band’s current incarnation.
Tickets are on sale now HERE, further guests will be announced
over the coming months.
On 28 May Swans perform at the debut Transformer festival in
Manchester on a bill that includes The Fall, Royal Trux’s first
UK show in over 15 years, This Is Not This Heat and Loop. Tickets
are on sale HERE

Frida Sundemo – We Are Dreamers
Frida Sundemo is a pocket filled with euphoria in this electro
pop anthem that will put a smile on your face for the rest of the
day. I’ve been trying desperately to think who it is she reminds
me of, but failing dismally, but then does it really matter, she
is quite perfect at being Frida Sundemo and surely that should be
quite enough for the rest of us too.
An instantly memorable pop song of the old school, Ms Sundemo is
rather brilliant.
Go find out more over There

lanket – Starlight Filled Our Minds
We’ve been waiting a long time for something fresh in the
ambient/progressive side of life, and I’m more than pleased to
say that Blackpool four-piece blanket have it sorted. Starlight
Filled Our Minds is one of the most beautifully constructed
slices of epic glory we have heard in years and they are proving
themselves to be something very special indeed. You really need
to experience blanket, there is a strange kind of comfort to be
had Here (sorry chaps)

Pink Floyd – Green is the Colour
What can you say about Pink Floyd that is new? I don’t know in
truth, but I have always had a deep love for Green is the Colour
as it was the first of their songs that I ever heard and it has
always captivated me in some way. Perhaps not the most obvious of
their songs to choose, but there we are. Life is like that
sometimes.

The Bottom Line – Pull Me Out
The Bottom Line are a killer live act and are sharing this here
video from their forthcoming E.P I Still Hate You which is due in
January. I must admit I love a bit of super speedy punk and these
chaps have it by the spade-load. You can check them out Here.
To celebrate the launch, they are playing a few dates in January:
Monday 9th – The Garage (Attic), Glasgow
Tuesday 10th - Bodega, Nottingham
Wednesday 11th - Sound Control, Manchester
Thursday 12th - Camden Assembly, London (EP Launch show)
Friday 13th - The Exchange, Bristol
Sunday 15th - Joiners, Southampton
Tickets available this Friday from thebottomlineuk.com

Aaron Lee Tasjan – Memphis Rain
Country, folk or heavy rock, I’m really not sure I have heard a
more inspiring guitarist than Aaron Lee Tasjan in many a long
year. His single Memphis Rain comes from January’s forthcoming
album Silver Tears and if this is the type of thing we can be
expecting, it is going to be a proper treat, although he can
cover any of the ground between Roy Orbison style crooning over
to full-on psychedelia, so we’ll have to wait and see. Find out
more Here.
As Aaron says about Memphis Rain,
“I had a dream that late, great Memphis musician, Jay Reatard was
singing ‘In the Memphis rain’ on this motorcycle that was on
fire. A few days later I played a show at Lafayette’s in Memphis
and right before the gig, this lady at the bar was really tearing
into me, said she was a jujitsu instructor, could sleep with her
eyes open and a descendant of her family was pictured on the
Indian head nickel, just really wild stuff. There was a big
window looking out onto the street from the bar and during my
whole set I watched her standing out in the pouring rain arguing
with her boyfriend who kept his motorcycle running the entire
time I played. It was a really beautiful and strange moment so I
wrote it into the song.”

U2 – Unforgettable Fire
Autumn and Winter just wouldn’t be the same without listening to
U2’s Unforgettable Fire, and I always think that it is
historically overlooked compared to the Joshua Tree and Achtung
Baby which built on it, but perhaps didn’t quite have the depth
of ‘84’s opus.
I always liked the richness of the album cover too, which looks a
little ripped off from Simple Mind’s New Gold Dream, but there we
are. I never did get out much.

Jealous of the Birds – Trouble in Bohemia
Naomi Hamilton launched her rather brilliant debut album Palma
Violets earlier this year to critical acclaim, and with her new
single Trouble in Bohemia coming from it, we see that somehow,
standing alone it tells us more about her than it did among the
other songs. A story teller with a folk-tinged indie sound, Naomi
often doesn’t need words to get her message across, such is the
beauty of her voice. I hate to say haunting, but certainly
spookily textured and god-given in the talent department. All of
which means I really can’t wait to see where she takes us next.
As Naomi describes the song,
“Growing up in a culture obsessed with non-conformity, bohemian
sensibilities and individuality, Trouble In Bohemia's about how
unfortunately, the pursuit of this kind of lifestyle isn't as
straightforward & idyllic as it's often made out to be.”
Go and find out more Here

Kate Bush – Running Up That Hill
Like U2’s Unforgettable Fire, Autumn and Winter just wouldn’t be
the same without Kate Bush Running Up That There Hill, it is just
the perfect song for a warm fire after a treck up and then down
Glastonbury Tor. Not that I’ve ever bumped into Kate up there, I
guess she is more of a Solsbury Hill kind of girl, but I often
take a mandolin and a Fairlight, just on the off chance.

Simple Minds – American
We had a grand old interview with Charlie Burchill from Simple
Minds a couple of weeks ago, and have spent the time since
listening intently to their quite brilliantly cool new Acoustic
album, cunningly called ‘Acoustic’. Can you imagine the focus
groups that went into choosing that one?
The American is the song that I can’t seem to get passed though
as brilliant now, in this form, as it ever was. Genius.

The Microdance – New Waves of Hope
Whilst line-up changes have disrupted the force since we talked
to The Microdance in issue 001, those of us that call themselves
fanbois can’t wait to see what happens next.
In the meantime I really can’t help but go back to this classic
version of New Waves of Hope with Nicole Fiorentino as I pace the
floor and meaningfully tap my watch in Alex’ direction. A rare
kind of beauty.
More on The Microdance Here

David Hanbury/Mrs Smith – Voodoo Chile
(Slight Return)
I have to say that I don’t spend a great deal of time watching
on-line videos of American Buskers, so it was unlikely that I
would ever see David Hanbury busking as his alter-ego, Mrs Smith.
The fact that I did and was more than a wee bit impressed by his
version of Voodoo Chile (Slight Return) was enough to have him
fill our final WTF spot of the week, here in 4.52am. Simply
Brilliant.

Kill Your Television
Seven Songs in Seven Days
Everybody needs to learn a few songs on guitar, even those of us that suffer the burden of
being a creative, yet undiscovered, genius. It is a hard lesson to learn, but the truth is that
nobody wants to hear our Rock Operas around the Old Campfire, so each week we pick a
few that are easy, a couple that aren’t and maybe the odd song that is ‘aspirational’.
This week we have:
Sunday: Nirvana - Come As You Are
Monday: The Only Ones - Another Girl, Another Planet
Tuesday: REM - The One I Love
Wednesday: Smiths - This Charming Man
Thursday: Stray Cats - Stray Cat Strut
Friday: The Doors - People Are Strange
Saturday: Undertones - Teenage Kicks

CREDITS & THANKS
Contacts:
Editorial:
editor@guitarquarterly.co.uk
tel. 07413 359347
Advertising:
ads@guitarquarterly.co.uk
Corrections:
iyd@guitarquarterly.co.uk
Readers Guitars:
readers@guitarquarterly.co.uk
Web.
www.guitarquarterly.co.uk
Facebook. www.facebook.com/guitarquarterly
Instagram. www.instagram.com/guitarquarterly
Twitter. www.twitter.com/guitarquarterly
All content © Guitar Quarterly 2016. No parts may
be reproduced or stored in any format without the
express written permission of the publisher
Articles/Reviews: MD, NJ, LP, FM, TJ & RT
Artwork: MD, FJ
Design: MD, JM & TJ