TUNING UP
Double Vision
While some of us were hanging with Joe
Bonamassa before a show recently, the young
blues great pulled an Ernie Ball doubleneck out
of the guitar boat stationed stage right. Based
on my reaction, you’d have thought he had just
performed a magic trick. I was captivated. It was
gorgeous. The light hit the body’s curves and
twice-as-many features just right. All I could say
was “wow.” I hadn’t even heard it yet. Joe and
his tech looked at each other and chuckled, as
my reaction confirmed something they had previously discussed—the effect that doublenecks
have on people. “See? That happens every
time,” Joe said. “Doublenecks are just cool.
When people see one, they immediately think
something really cool is about to happen.” Joe
harnesses this double scoop of voodoo to great
effect, too. On his current tour he’s been opening the show with one of his double-barreled
Ernie Balls. Talk about coming out with a bang.
It certainly commands your attention while Joe’s
tone punches you square in the chest.
We thought we’d do the same and kick off
2010 with a celebration of this double-the-fun
version of our favorite instrument. Naturally, we
felt the subject deserved two articles instead
of just one. Writers Wallace Marx, Jr. and Bob
Cianci approach multi-neck guitars from two
angles: the instruments and the players. We’ve
also dedicated our monthly celebration of
guitar-focused photography, “Opening Notes,”
to guitars with more than one neck.
Also this month, we shed some light on
the other signal chain that matters and
the engineers who run it. Our 5 Front of
House Engineers You Should Meet are currently running sound for Shinedown, Sick
Puppies, Adelitas Way, Blackberry Smoke
and Vince Gill. They offer their thoughts
on gear and how to mix a variety of bands
in a variety of settings.
Our acoustic offerings this month remind us
that the possibilities are endless when it comes
to acoustic guitars. Laurence Juber chats
with us about his approach to the instrument,
William “Grit” Laskin shows us and explains his
amazing work, and we take a close look, and
listen, to Taylor’s new Baritone 8-String. Review-wise, we have other familiar names in the fold,
as well as some new ones: Epiphone, Fender,
Hagstrom, Hottie, Ultimate Ears and BC Audio.
A new recurring feature is debuting in this
issue. Be sure to check out “Secrets of the
Masters,” which unearths new information
about classic songs. Written by the engineers who hunt down multi-track master
tapes and dissect them for Jammit’s killer
apps that let you remix and play along with
the songs, the feature is basically our version
of CSI. There are some amazing things to
learn from digging into the clues left behind
on original master tapes. Our first installment explores “Smoke on the Water.” Look
for the second installment, an examination
of the multi masters for Foreigner’s “Dirty
White Boy,” online at premierguitar.com in
a few weeks. We’ll be running two “Secrets
of the Master” articles every month—one in
the latest issue of Premier Guitar and one
that will be a web exclusive.
Another new feature will debut next month,
but we’re letting the cat out of the bag
now. “Go Ahead and Ask” is our way of
facilitating a conversation between you,
the reader, and the most notable names in
the industry. We’re basically gathering your
questions and bringing them to guys like
Henry Juszkiewicz of Gibson. Do you have
anything you want ask the guy who runs
one of the most famous guitar companies
in the world? Go to page 39 to see how
you can participate in this interview.
We hope you enjoy this issue. We think
it sets the tone for what is to be another
interesting year. Kick back and keep an
eye out for what is to come—after starting
off with doublenecks, you can be sure that
something cool is about to happen.
Cheers,
