TC Electronics has a new line of pedals called “Toneprint”. These are named for the new toneprint feature which allows the pedals to store presets which you can make yourself, or download ones made by others.
TC Electronics has a number of endorsing artists who have also uploaded their own presets for you to use. These same artists have signed the case of this pedal board and include -Ron ‘Bumblefoot’ Thal (Guns N’ Roses), Orianthi (Michael Jackson), Guthrie Govan, Uriah Duffy (Christina Aguilera, Alicia Keys, Whitesnake), Chris Minh Doky (Mike Stern), Zoltan Bathory and Jason Hook (Five Finger Death Punch). Just to name a few!
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Videogame company Ubisoft has just announced an interesting new title called “Rocksmith”. It’s basically what all the critics of games like Guitar Hero have been asking for, a game where you learn to play an actual instrument instead of a plastic ‘toy’. You don’t need any kind of ‘special’ guitar controller either. Any electric guitar with a standard 1/4 jack will work.
The gameplay is similar to those other rock games in that you see a stream of notes to play, except that they are the actual notes to the song played on the correct fret and string. You can choose between rythymn and lead on most songs. The game will also adjust the difficulty on the fly based on how well you are doing. There’s an amp sim mode where you can use the game as an amp for your guitar and it has lots of built in effects as well.
This looks like a great way to learn guitar as well as for more experienced guitarists to learn songs and practice. There will also be some type of multiplayer. I’m looking forward to trying this out when it comes out this fall. It will be available for the PS3 and Xbox. More info at the Rocksmith site.
Finally! Actually I finished it back in December, but I slowly got behind in posting these updates. My other posts have centered mostly around the refinishing process, mainly because it was the most time and labor intensive part of the project. But between coats of paint drying, or being sanded and repainted and sanded again….I was also addressing the other elements that needed work.
worn frets
The frets on this guitar had definitely seen better days. They weren’t in terrible shape, but many were grooved and the heights of all the frets were somewhat uneven. So I leaned that the way to remedy this was to do a “fret dressing”. This a fairly straight forward process where you sand all the frets to the same level using a long, very flat sanding block. You then put the crown, or the rounded top, back on each fret with a file. All guitarists should learn how to do this process as it is one of the most significant improvements you can make to the playability of your instrument. There’s some great info on the process in THIS THREAD over at TDPRI. My first attempt at this process came out great and the old Marauder plays better then ever. I also replaced the original plastic nut with a GraphTec Tusq one. I stained the fingerboard black to make it look like ebony using this oil dye from stewmac.
All the electronics, including the pickups were also replaced. I got a new black pickguard from WDMusic and asked them not to cut the slot for the bridge pickup. The original Bill Lawrence single coil that was their was encapsulated in epoxy and not a standard size. So I cut a new opening the size of a Statocaster single coil. This means I have plenty of options to choose from for this pickup location. For starters I am trying out a Seymour Duncan JB Jr., which is a single coil sized humbucker. In the neck position I put a Seymour Duncan P-Rails and used a “Triple Shot” pickup ring to allow me to switch between that pickups 4 different modes. Meaning that now, in the neck position I can have a humbucker, a single coil, 2 single coils in parallel or a P-90. I like the versatility and use the P-90 the most.
I’m really pleased how the whole thing came out. It looks and sounds great and is now getting regularly played again. It’s also given me the inspiration and confidence for more involved projects which I’ll post about soon.
Over at UGO.com there’s a a gallery, of what they are calling, the 50 worst band photos of all time. There are some of the usual suspects, like bands sporting overly-tight spandex, goofy matching outfits, mullets…There’s also the harder to explain.
Credit: Rock & Roll Confidential
#46-Lightning Tits
“Hey! What would best accentuate the rippling masculinity of our pasty, white, middle-aged pectoral regions? I know! Lightning!”
Credit: Imageshack
#10-Giant Pants
I’m sure this was part of some huge concept about elevating our consciousness from the material plane or something, but seriously: don’t put hippies on stilts. That’s basically begging for a concussion.
Hopefully your band isn’t on this list. And for even more bad band photos head over to Rock and Roll Confidential.
