Break Away II

The replica or tribute phenomena in music can be taken in different ways.  Some tribute bands are actually fairly decent musicians, in a few cases probably better than the originals they mimic.That’s almost certainly true of the dozens of Status Quo tribute acts out there!  Replica guitars are also a burgeoning business.  Some tribute acts take things to the extreme of insisting on using their hero’s original instruments if they’re still available, or getting replicas if they’re not.

Guitars are more than just a musical instrument.They are also cultural symbols, fashion statements and emblems of personality and attitude.Replica guitars have a hot and cold reputation and many people refuse to see further than the logo stamped on the headstock.  Cheap Chinese copies have flooded the market and their quality is certainly dubious.Nonetheless, some very high quality replicas of vintage guitars do exist. Fender is a favourite target for these lovingly created copies, based on the 1951 Telecaster (originally called the Broadcaster) and the 1954 Fender Stratocaster.
In its heyday, the Strat had a contour body of swamp ash, one piece maple neck and three pickups.In 1960 Fender bodies changed to alder wood and the slab board necks were manufactured up until mid 1962 when a curved board was offered. In 1964 the curved board was replaced with a veneer when the CBS Corporation purchased the company leading to a well documented decline in quality. So replica Fender guitars made today may actually be better quality than post 1964 originals!

The Tanglewood RVB-2 60s Beatles style violin bass is another good example of just how good replicas can get. Based on Hofner’s 500/1 ‘Beatle Bass’, The RVB-2 recreates a vintage semi-hollow tone ideal for ’60s style pop/ rock, blues and jazz, without breaking the bank! It has the same vintage features as the Hofner, including rosewood fingerboard with pearloid dot inlays, maple neck, floating wooden bridge and pearloid pick guard. Of course, the pickups aren’t the Hofner stamped ‘Staple’ humbucking pickups, but the two toaster appearance mini-humbucker pickups work just as well in achieving that Beatles un-EQ’d classic sound.  So don’t dismiss electric guitars just because they are replicas.  Just like the tribute bands, sometimes they can be as good as, if not better than, the original.

For some guitarists, the signature guitar can either give them the tone of their hero, or just be another way to get more money out of them. Heres a few of the signature guitars out there for the ‘metallers’.

Dean Guitars ‘Dimebag Darrell’ range. The average guitarist will have one guitar made for them -Dimebag has a range of 33 guitars made in his memory. After his death in 2004 Dean decided not to let the guitarists name go into obsuricty and bought out a large range of Dimebag Darrell guitars. When the guitar was made will determine which pickups you get in it -either the ‘Dimebuckers’ in the newer models, or ‘EMG’s in the older ones. If your after a Dean just choose with pickups you like better and then go for which guitar looks good to you. If you worship at the alter of Pantera, these are the guitars for you, with prices ranging from £219 to £3500, so make your choice wisely.

BC Rich Kerry King Signature series. Also having his own range of signature guitars is Slayer’s own Kerry King. Available as either a flying V or Explorer shaped guitar as well, painted with tribal designs to match his head tattoos, these guitars look as mean as their owner, but how do they sound? These guitars will give you the guitar tone needed to do songs such as ‘Angel of death’ and ‘Dead skin mask’ justice.The range has BC Rich’s own brand of pickups in them to give the guitar a little added kick.

The Phil Demell ‘demolition’ king V Jackson guitar. Made with input from Machine Head’s Phil Demell, this Jackson Signature is truly nothing short of brilliant. A classic flying V shaped guitar with EMG pickups, this guitar is going to rip your head off the minute you plug it in. Expensive at £1100m but if you’ve got your money and love your metal its the guitar to go for, and it comes tuned to drop B as well.

Looking for electric guitars? Or maybe you prefer acoustic guitars? Go no further.

So, your obsessed with guitars to an almost unhealthy point – there the first and last thing you think about during the day. For every day you dont play you become grumpy and youve cut down on the food bill just to afford your new guitar. But now that you’ve considered building your own dream guitar – so just what work will go into building it?

• The cost. Guitar building isnt a cheap hobby -there is the price of the wood you’ve chosen to build your guitar from, the electronics in electric guitars and the paints for the paint job afterwards. Then there is the tools you are going to need for the job, cutting out the bodies shape is going to require specialist tools.
• Practice. If your not naturally good with using tools or have never done this before, i recommend having a bit of practice. You wont be great straight away, so dont start on expensive wood- let that come later when you’ve had some experience. So by practicing on cheaper wood will save you time and if you make a mistake, its all part of the learning experience. Because once you get to the cutting part, you’ll be thankful that the practice paid off.
• Wiring. Primaily a point for the electric guitar builders out there, as once youve completed work on the body, you’ll get to the electrics. Try very hard not to electrocute yourself, as getting the wiring wrong can do just this. Always have a qualified electrician take alook at your work before you put it into the guitar just to be sure.

These are just a few things to consider, but if thats too much work you can always just buy electric guitars from these guys.

We’ll look at three classical compsers/ piano players who heavily influenced classical music.

Ludwig Van Beethoven. Well known perhaps because of the fact that he went deaf in his early twenties and still continued to perform and compose through biting a rod connected to the piano to feel the vibrations. Beethoven was born in December 1770, his grandfather with the same name and his father both had worked in the court of the Elector of Cologne, as later he did. His move to study the violin and counterpoint in Vienna in 1792 was funded by the Elector. His loss of hearing started in 1796, and is believed to be the result of lead posioning, as lead was used alot in life back then before it was known as being posionous. The work of Beethoven has been put into three different setions: the early, middle and later periods. His early period work was said to be influenced by mozart (who we’ll get to in a minute) and went upto 1806. The middle period went from 1803-1814, and the later period went from 1815 up till his death.

Wolfgang Mozart. Mozart, born in 1756 is thought to be one of the greatest classical composers, with over six hundred pieces wrote and composed to his name. Mozart was considered a child prodigy, playing to royalty and composing from the age of five, and was employed as a court musician at seventeen in Salzburg. After visiting Vienna he deicded to stay on and this is they city where he acheived fame, but little fortune. Mozart died on December 1791, of what is believed to be rhuematic fever, and rumor goes that he dictatced the rest of his final piece from his deathbed.

Johann Bach. Born in 1865 in Germany, Bach helped to mature the classical subgenre of Baroque, being hugely influential on the genre. Bach was more famous as an organist rather than a composer during his lifetime, which his talent was only credited when he was rediscovered in the 19th century. Bach was an orphan at 10 years old and went to live with his brother, who was also a musician -most of Bach’s family were. It is from his brother that Bach received more instruction on playing, and became fluent on the Clavicord. Two of the seven Bach children from his first marriage were also great composers in their own right, helping to mould the style known as Rococo -Carl and Wilhem Bach. He was hired by Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cöthen as his court’s director of music, during this time Bach lost his wife in 1720 and remarried a year later. In 1723, Bach was appointed Cantor of Thomasschule, a posistion he held until his death in 1750.

Inspired by grand pianos, and want to know where to buy pianos and electric guitars?

Metal has a huge string of guitar players who completely destroy and own the stage as though nothing else mattered. Here’s three of the guitar players in heavy metal that, although are gone, their influence isnt.

• Randy Rhoads. Randy Rhoads was remembered more for his work with ex Black Sabbath singer Ozzy Osbourne rather than the LA band Quiet Riot. Randy Rhoads was instrumental in the writing of Ozzy classics ‘Crazy train,’ and ‘Dee’. Rhodes had a classical playing background, encorporating much of it into his work in the two albums that he played on for Ozzy. 1979′s ‘Blizzard of Oz’ album and 1981′s ‘diary of a madmen’. It is believed that Rhoades would’ve gone on to leave the band to study classical guitar at UCLA, and he would seek out classical guitar tutors on tour with Ozzy to keep up his knowledge and playing skill. The specialist Jackson guitars made for Rhoads are a popular choice amongst guitarists today. Rhoads died tragically in a plane crash in 1982, and his since been an inspiration for thousands of guitarists since.
• Chuck Schuldiner. Main songwriter, vocalist and guitarist of pioneering metal band ‘Death’. Often hailed as the ‘father of death metal’, a term that the man himself wasnt in agreement with, Chuck was a huge influence on extreme metal and metal in general. the first Death album ‘scream bloody gore’, is often thought of as a template for the sub genre of death metal, but each new release saw Deaths sound progress onward from that. Death release a further 4 albums with the band, ‘Human, ‘Spiritual healing’,'Symbolic’ and ‘The sound of perseverance’ before folding Death to play guitar for ‘Control denied’, which released ‘The fragile art of exsistance’ in 1999. Schuldiner lost his battle with cancer in 2001, the metal community had raised money on many occassions to pay for his operations.
• Darrell Lance Abbott -’Dimebag’. Guitarist of the infamous Pantera later of Damageplan and also played guitar on the country band rebel meets rebel. Pantera was formed in 1981 as a glam metal band, but the bands first album ‘Cowboys from hell’ saw them take a much more heavier groove laden approach with the music. Their breakthrough album was 1992′s ‘A vulgar display of power’, which gave the band a whole ‘new level’ of exposure. ‘Far beyond driven’, the next album, reached number one in the US billboards charts at a time when metal wasnt considered popular. Pantera brought out 2 more albums before a breakdown in communication split the band into two camps, never reconsiling before the guitarists death. While playing onstage with Damageplan in Dec 2004, Dimebag was shot and died instantly. His sound is still seen in alot of bands today- ‘Lamb of god’ are an example of this.

Inspired to get playing some electric guitars? Come to these guys to get a great deal on guitars