Apparently, Taylor guitars now owns 75% of the worlds last legal, commercial supply of ebony. Taylor Guitars co-founder, Bob Taylor, talks about what this means to the guitar industry. I guess it’s good that someone who has a vested interest in seeing this resource become sustainable is in control of it. But it’s a shame that it took for the supply to almost run out before anything was really done about it.
Brilliant! I think.
TDPRI is a web forum that bills itself as “the number one Telecaster authority on the web”. I see no reason to argue. It’s a great forum with a huge active membership, covering all aspects of the Telecaster as well as plenty of related topics as well. And with the popularity of the Tele’s design with amateur and professional luthiers, the DIY section of TDPRI is one of it’s most interesting areas.
For the last few years TDPRI has hosted a competition amongst these builders that never fails to produce some awesome guitars. Each year, the rules are a little different. This year required that the guitar be entirely scratchbuilt(except hardware of course). Entrants must also document their build on the forum as well as post a video demo of the finished guitar.
Below, I’ve posted a few of the current front runners in the voting. You can check out all the entries and vote for your favorites HERE.
Positive Grid, the makers of the excellent JamUp software, are having a pretty nice contest. It requires a little bit of effort, as you have to make a video. But the good news is that everyone who enters wins something.
Simply by submitting a video using JamUp, you instantly get $20 to upgrade for JamUp Pro and One Expansion Package, and the best video wins an Alesis iO Dock and $150 iTunes gift card. Not bad!
Here’s some more info from Positive Grid:
We all love to rock out on our guitar and rigs, create music ideas, and jam with backing tracks. With a little magic technology, it’s quite an amazing experience to rock out with your iPad or iPhone, just simply plug in and Jam Up. Share with us!
Participants must make an original video demonstrating how far you’re willing to go to win this contest. There are only three rules. Your video must use JamUp app (Lite or Pro), any interface is fine, and 1-3 minutes of run time.
Submit your video link at: http://www.positivegrid.com/
contest/
Saying Deke Dickerson is obsessed with the creations of Paul A. Bigsby, would be an understatement. He has spent the last 20 years tracking down and documenting the very sketchy history of one of the modern electric guitar’s founding fathers. Most known for the iconic Bigsby vibrato tailpiece, which is still very popular today. But Bigsby contributed much more then this to the electric guitars formative years.After reading through the very interesting history, you start to see that there is some substantiation to the claims that Bigsby built the first solidbody electric guitar, and that Leo Fender and Gibson borrowed a number of ideas for their own, now legendary designs.
Deke Dickerson has decided to share his wealth of knowledge and research on a new website- The Bigsby Files . He also hopes that by making this information more widely available, it leads to new discoveries, as most of Bigsby’s instruments were undocumented, and it’s uncertain how many there actually are.
Be warned that there is a TON of info here and it’s all on one, yes one, webpage. I think it’s literally about a mile long. But the info here is well worth it if your at all interested in the history of the modern electric guitar.
