by CHRISTOPHER SCAPELLITI

What’s been eating that guitar?

That was my first thought when I saw the spalted maple top on the ASAT Classic Bluesboy from G&L Custom Creations.

As it turns out, my question wasn’t off the mark. Those caramel-and-rust streaks and ink-black scribbles — the blotchy wood’s peculiar signature — are caused by fungi that discolor the pigment and create mottled patterns. The look is, understandably, alarming to players accustomed to tops with elegant bookmatched grain and gorgeous flame patterns. Like veined cheeses and stonewashed jeans — both of which owe their appearance to interactions with fungi—spalted maple is an acquired taste.

Which is just as well, given the wood’s scarcity. When G&L located a small supply of spalted maple, the guitarmaker snapped up the timber and earmarked it for a limited run of the company's popular ASAT Bluesboy model.

The maple top is mated to a solid alder body, and a clear natural finish is applied. The 25 1/2–inch-scale neck has a clear gloss finish and a rosewood fingerboard with 22 frets.

Electronics consist of a nickel-plated Seymour Duncan Seth Lover humbucker in the neck position and a G&L Magnetic Field Design ASAT Classic single-coil pickup in the bridge position, both activated by a three-way switch and volume and tone controls. Other features include Sperzel nonlocking tuners and a traditional “boxed steel” bridge with six individual saddles. The guitar ships with a G&L molded hardshell case.

G&L’s Custom Creations shop built just 60 copies of this guitar over January and February 2008, and the price is a reasonable $2,500.00, so if you want one, snap it up soon. For more information, visit G&L online and click on the Custom Creations link in the side navigation.

by CHRISTOPHER SCAPELLITI

So you’ve released an all-tube 15-watt amp head the size of a lunch pail, and it becomes a monster hit, selling more than 10 thousand units in just 18 months. What do you do for an encore?

The chaps at Orange figure a 1x12 combo version should do the trick. The new Tiny Terror combo combines the Brit company’s Tiny Terror head with a Celestion 30-watt G12H speaker. Both reside inside a very tidy-looking cabinet reminiscent of Orange’s Seventies-era OTR combos.

According to Orange, the Tiny Terror combo was developed following sustained demand for it from guitarists, studios and even journalists (as if anyone listens to them). Like the Tiny Terror head, it puts out 15 watts RMS of Class A power (7 watts RMS Class A with the half-power switch engaged) and has controls for gain, tone and volume. Two 12AX7 tubes reside in the preamp, while a pair of EL84s go to work in the power amp.

List price is $1,039, street is $819. Units should begin shipping in mid-to-late summer.

Akai Professional has relaunched its consumer website with a new interface that makes finding products easier than before.

Visitors to www.AkaiPro.com will find product-specific pages that contain all the details, features, videos, FAQs and support for each of the company’s products.

A navigation tree lets users locate products by category, then model. Once a product is selected, images, documents and downloads, tech specs, FAQs, key features, videos and an overview provide all the information needed.

Other new features include product reviews, an events calendar that tells where Akai Pro products can be seen in action, and a news section with current press releases and Akai Pro news stories.

by CHRISTOPHER SCAPELLITI

While humanity speeds en masse down the digital music trail, millions of struggling musicians are still recording rehearsals, gigs and ideas for their breakthrough hit song with the humble cassette tape. Talk about suffering for your art.

Although compact and cheap, cassettes suck. The audio quality is miserable, the cartridges are fiddly to insert and remove from the player, and the damn things are analog! You actually have to wind through them to get to the part of the recording you need to hear.

And as anyone who has searched for cassettes these days will tell you, fresh blanks are becoming very scarce as the medium rolls at 1 7/8 inches per second to the end of its 40-year run.

All of which makes the new Olympus LS-10 especially lustworthy. It’s a handheld stereo digital recorder with a pair of mics built in and positioned at right angles for

Buddy Blaze has started offering Kahler tremolo systems as options on its Evanator and Alii King models.

The Evanator, shown here, uses the Kahler 2200 Professional stud-mount series trem system, which is designed to retrofit most stud-mount bridges and work with carved tops.

The 2200 Series trems have fine tuners and six-way adjustable saddles, and they are available in left- and right-hand configurations. The 2200 models are available in Bright Chrome, Black Krome and Gold. List price is $369.

by CHRISTOPHER SCAPELLITI

Tired of lugging a guitar tuner around? Here’s a solution that’s both cool and cool looking.

The N-Tune Chromatic Tuner installs on your guitar in place of your standard volume control, with no modifications required. When the control is pressed down, it acts like a standard volume control. Pulling the control up mutes the guitar’s output and activates the tuner.

A display ring under the knob shows the notes and tuning status symbols: Flat, Sharp, Tuned and Tuned Sharp (for accidentals: C sharp, D sharp, etc.). Bright LEDs guide the tuning process by illuminating the note being tuned and the relevant symbol.

When a note is tuned sharp or flat, the corresponding LED will blink red and flash faster as the note is tuned to pitch. The green Tuned LED will light when the string is in tune.

Two pots are available: a 250k pot for Stratocaster-style guitars and a 500k pot for Gibson and everything else. The pot is a high-grade design, and the stem allows you to use your original control knob. N-Tune uses one nine-volt battery, which mounts with Velcro under your pickguard.

Note that if your existing volume pot has additional features, they will not function when the N-Tune is installed.

The N-Tune has a list price of $100. For more information, go to www.n-tune.com.

 

If you ride, you probably know CruzTOOLS for the tools and tool kits they make for motorcycles.

Now the company is crossing into guitar territory with its GrooveTech Guitar Player Tech Kit, which consists of tools and an Easy Setup Guide to help novices learn the intricacies of setting up their instrument.

The tools are a 6-in-1 screwdriver, five metric and six fractional hex/Allen keys, a 15-blade thickness gauge, a six-inch steel ruler, diagonal cutters, a capo, a three-LED flashlight and a string winder. The screwdriver comes with two Phillips tips (#1 and #2), two slotted tips (1/4-inch and a 3mm for vintage-style bridge saddles) and two nut drivers (1/4-inch and 3/16-inch for Gibson-style truss rod nuts).

As for the Easy Setup Guide, it explains basic setup and maintenance and includes a tutorial on neck and bridge adjustment, pickup height and intonation.

The tools store in a polyester pouch that has space for the guide and strings and a pick storage pocket.

The GrooveTech Guitar Player Tech Kit retails for $61.95 and has a street price of approximately $50. For more information, visit www.cruztools.com.

AXL has announced it’s new Tyrant 200B solid-state bass amp.

The 200-watter has dual 10-inch speakers, four-band EQ with tone-cut switch and a ground lift control to reduce noise levels. It also has 1/4-inch active and passive inputs, as well as RCA inputs (in case you want to plug in your hi-fi equipment?). An XLR line out with level control lets you connect the Tyrant to a PA or mixer without requiring a direct box (nice feature).

A rather tidy silver faceplate, black metal grille and vinyl covering embossed with a skull design give the Tyrant 200B an understated metal that’s perfect for classic-era headbangers. Removable casters make for portability and stability (which is more than we can say for the bassists we know).

List price: $659.99. Check it out at axlguitars.

Carvin’s new single-cutaway CS6 California Single guitar has a mahogany body and neck, a premium 20mm-thick curly flamed maple carved top and a matching figured maple headstock overlay. Both the carved top and the headstock overlay have been hand selected and book matched by Carvin’s California Custom Shop.

The CS6 has Carvin’s Rapid Play set neck with Carvin’s exclusive “heel-less” design for uninhibited access to the 22nd fret. The guitar’s neck actually sets five inches into the body for greater sustain and stability.

Other features include a 25-inch scale ebony fingerboard with abalone dot inlays and 22 medium jumbo frets., Sperzel locking tuners, C22J and C22B Classic humbucker pickups, a master volume control and three-way pickup selector, and push-pull tone control with coil-tap for single-coil operation one or both pickups. As with other Carvin guitars, the California Single can be configured to each customer’s exacting specs.

The CS6 has a factory direct base price of $1,479. Allow six weeks for build, or longer depending on demand. For more information, click here.

Ernie Ball says its new Titanium-Coated Slinky acoustic string sets resist rust and grime to help retain bright and powerful tone. Both the wound and plain strings are coated with the company’s patented Titanium RPS technology.

In addition, a protective coating on the wrap wire and plain strings, plus a patented winding of titanium wire around the lock twist of the ball end, produces stronger and longer-lasting strings.

Titanium-Coated Slinky acoustic strings are sold in Ernie Ball’s new hermetically sealed packages to minimize exposure to moisture. Find out more at the company’s website.