Fender Chris Craft Esquire Boat Art Limited Edition

Fender Chris Craft Esquire Boat Art Limited Edition

 

Fender Chris Craft Esquire Boat Art Limited Edition

"When love and skill work together, expect a masterpiece.".

This famous quote from the leading English art critic and thinker of the Victorian era, John Ruskin states what Chris Craft, builder of premium yachts and boats stand for;  the quote is written on their website.

Chris Craft and also Fender, especially the Fender Custom Shop, are  USA icons. John Ruskin's quote might as well be on the Fender website. Both company's have a long history, and they stand for craftsmanship and dedication. In the Fender Chris Craft Esquire Boat Art Limited Edition, Fender and Chris Craft blend together in a remarkable Telecaster.

Fender Chris Craft Esquire Boat Art Limited Edition

Like the Fender Birdflower, The Fender Chris Craft Esquire Boat Art Limited Edition was presented on the NAMM 2011 Show. These Fender Custom Shop guitars are one of a kind, demonstrating the skills of the Master Builders of the Fender Custom Shop. The Fender Birdflower comes from the hands of Yuriy Shishkov and the Fender Chris Craft Esquire Boat Art Limited Edition is one of John Cruz's masterpieces. 

Fender Chris Craft Esquire Boat Art Limited Edition

Not only the Fender Chris Craft Esquire Boat Art Limited Edition Telecaster was crafted by John Cruz, he also made two sublime extra's, a model Chris Craft boat, and a matching Morris & Holmberg guitar case. The neck plate of the guitar is engraved with the signature of John Cruz.

Both the Fender Birdflower and the Fender Chris Craft Esquire Boat Art Limited Edition are at this time still for sale at the German Musicstore; the Birdflower for a stunning 45.000 Euro, and the Chris Craft Esquire Boat Art Limited Edition for 8.569 Euro.

Update: According to the Music Store website, the Chris Craft Esquire Boat Art Limited Edition they had in stock, is sold.

More information about the Fender Chris Craft Esquire Boat Art Limited Edition ?

The Fender Chris Craft is a "Limited Edition", so there should be a certain number of guitars produced, or they have been produced for a certain period. I found different webshops who have the Fender Chris Craft Esquire Boat Art Limited Edition on sale, but I can't find how many were in the run. Another question is who initiated the original design, John Cruz, or was the Chris Craft company involved? If you have more information (maybe you are one of the lucky owners) about the Fender Chris Craft Esquire Boat Art Limited Edition, please leave a comment!

Fender Chris Craft Esquire Boat Art Limited Edition

Features FENDER Chris Craft Esquire

• Master built by John Cruz 
• 12/4 "quartersawn" Mahogany body 
• Urethane finish 
• 4/4 Mahogany neck 
• ´59 Esquire "C" Shape, 9.5" Radius 
• Nitro finish 
• White Binding 
• 6100 Dunlop Jumbo frets 
• Neck plate engraved "John Cruz Signature" 
• Nautical Symbol Inlays 
• Custom Shop Logo in 12th fret 
• Vintage 63 Tele Bridge 
• Vintage Kluson Mechanics 
• Morris & Holmberg guitar case

Seasick Steve: cheap guitar rocks



seasick steve, guitar

Seasick Steve, raw and uncut on his cheap guitar

One of the biggest surprises on Lowlands 2011 and Pinkpop 2012, (major music festivals in Holland), in my opinion, was the raw and uncut performance of Seasick Steve. Guitarist-singer Seasick Steve plays bluesrock, and his cheap guitars are mostly self-constructed!

Guitar player Seasick Steve

Seasick Steve, over 70 years old, born in Oakland California, rough beard, jeans and baggy shirt, has not allways been succesful in life. He ran away from home at the age of 14, and decided not to settle down. Guitar player Steve performed for years in small bars and blues cafe's. In the 60's he even played guitar on stage with Johny Lee Hooker and Lightnin' Hopkins, but he never reached the rock-star status.
In between, as a happy Seasick Steve told in an interview he gave during Pinkpop 2012, he stayed some time in hotels, with in the back of the yard a small basketball court, but with fences around, and no "going home". Despite of that, it was ok, according to Seasick Steve.

seasick steve, cheap guitar

Since the end of 2009, after his appearence on the Jools Holland Show, UK television, his carreer is booming, and in 2006, at the age of 65, he presented his first album. Sinece then, Steve tours a lot, mostly in Europe, with for Holland, the Lowlands 2011 and the Pinkpop 2012 highlights. Seasick Steve seems to enjoy the whole circus, happy, friendly, grateful, and after an unsettled life, he's finally getting his (guitar)act together, now living in the UK and Norway.

Seasick Steve's cigar box guitar and other cheap instruments

seasick steve cigar box guitar

It's not only what Seasick Steve is playing, it's also what he is playing on. No fancy luxery dream-guitar for Steve on stage, Seasick does his act mostly on a cheap or self-constructed guitar. One of these guitars he became famous with, is the "cigar box" guitar, a well beloved object for photographers. This guitar sounds amazing, and only has four strings.



seasick steve's cheap guitar

Another one of Seasicks amazing guitars is his red Fender Coronado. Seasick himself calles this guitar "the biggest piece of shit in the world". It really looks old and worn, with it's, on the body taped, old Harmony humbucker. The guitar has 3 strings, and Seasick tunes it to G. Seasick Steve playes this cheap guitar he bought for $75 on almost every gig.

The guitar Seasick Steve became famous with, due to his performance in the UK show "Top Gear", is made of two wheel-covers from an old English Morris Minor, and a broomstick.
According to Steve, this guitar is only suitable for "slide" playing.

Besides of the guitars mentioned, and some crappy other ones, Seasick Steve also uses an amazing collection of music gear and amps.  Two of these instruments are the one-stringed self-made Diddley Bow, just a piece of wood, a bottle and a humbucker, and the Mississippi Drum Machine with licence plate and carpet design.

Seasick's amplifiers are "state of the art" too: a Roland Cube, and as seen on Pinkpop 2012, some worn out, original vintage Fender Bassman's, almost as old as the master himself, real collector's items.

Seasick Steve on stage

Seasick Steve live on stage

Below is a video of Seasick Steve's performance on the Pinkpop 2012 Festival in Holland. He got great reactions from the public. His live performances are raw and spontaneous, much better than the recordings killed by techniques in a studio. Enjoy, I did!

Seasick Steve on guitar, Pinkpop 2012

Epiphone ES-339 Ultra, video





Epiphone ES-339 Ultra:

Epiphone shows the official demo and the  "getting started with Guitarrig"  video's.



epiphone es-339 ultra

 
In addition to my posts regarding the Epiphone Es-339 Ultra, here and here, these video's, originally from Epiphone, give a good impression about the sounds and (acoustic) electronics of the Es-339 Ultra. I'm aware that the video's are a bit promotional, but I didn't find other video's about the Ultra as informative as the ones below. Still, If you're interested in the Epiphone ES-339 Ultra, they're worth watching

Nick Colionne presenting and playing the ES-339 Ultra

In the first video, jazz guitarist Nick Colionne, who, in his play, combines jazz, R&B, blues and funk, presents the Epiphone ES-339 Ultra, and plays it. He obviously loves the big, warm sounds in this guitar, and the acoustic Shadow Nanomag pickup. For him, the sound of a guitar is more important than the build-in electronics.

 

Register the ES-339 Ultra (and Les Paul Ultra), and downloading, installing and using Guitarrig-4

The Epiphone ES-339 Ultra comes with a free copy of Guitarrig-4 LE. When you follow the instructions in the manual it's not clear where to register the ES-339 Ultra ( and the Les Paul Ultra) and how to download and install the Guitarrig software. In this video Epiphone gives the answers. It took me a while to figure it out myself, and probably lot's of Ultra-owners had the same problems. Good thing Epiphone provided this how-to video.

The controls and electronics on the Les Paul Ultra (and ES-339 Ultra)

This last video is about the electronics and the controls on the Les Paul Ultra. It shows how to blend  the humbuckers and the Shadow Nanomag, how to use the Nanomag controls, how to use the onboard tuner and how to use the dual outputs and USB output. The ES-339 Ultra uses the same technology and controls as the Les Paul Ultra, so you get the picture!

Electric guitars with acoustic pickups



fishman powerbridge on fender deluxe power

Electric guitars with acoustic pickups, an overview.

It's obvious that I'm interested in electric guitars with acoustic pickups like the Epiphone ES-339 Ultra, (the good and the bad), and the Fender Acoustasonic Telecaster.

In this post I present some other electric-acoustic guitars I like, and the acoustic pickup systems which give these electric guitars the possibility to blend electric and acoustic sounds.

Acoustic pickups for electric guitars

lr baggs t-bridge on electric guitar

The most common acoustic (piezo) pickup systems for electric guitars I found, come from LR Baggs, Fishman (both from the USA), Shadow (Germany), and GraphTech (Canada).

shadow nanomag on epiphone les paul ultra

LR Baggs, and Fishman concentrate their activities on acoustic pickups, mostly for acoustic guitars, Shadow also produces humbuckers, and GraphTech focuses on acoustic pickup systems for electric guitars.

graphtech ghost piezo acoustic pickup

Shadow offers the innovative Nanomag, Fishman scores with the Powerbridge, GraphTech invented the Ghost Piezo saddles and LR Baggs hits the scene with the X-Bridge and the T-Bridge. It's a niche market; only a small percentage of the electric guitars have the "extra", acoustic pickup. The Fishman powerbridge and the LR Baggs bridge are probably the most popular ones. Lot's of technical information about these acoustic pickups for electric guitars can be found on the producers websites.

Electric guitars with acoustic pickups

Obviously there are a lot more electric guitars with acoustic pickups than the ones below. These ones give a good view on what's available on the market, within the different price ranges.
Almost all electric guitars with acoustic pickups are also equiped with 5-way switches, pre-amps and dual output jackets; one for connecting the amplifier and one for connecting an acoustic amp or PA, for blending the electric and acoustic sound.

crafter sa(t) with lr baggs acoustic pickup

Crafter SA and SAT

The Crafter SA and SAT are Les Paul styled, semi hollow body archtop guitars. Sides and back from solid wood, and the tops come in different woods and colors. Both the Crafter SA and SAT are equiped with LR Baggs acoustic pickups. The SA also has a Kent Armstrong Lipstick pickup, and the SAT has a Kent Armstrong P90 humbucker. The Crafter SA(T) is fairly priced, around 550 - 600 Euro.

epi ultra III (3) with shadow nanomag

Epiphone Les Paul Ultra III (3)

The Epiphone Les Paul Ultra III (3) is Epiphones's answer to the demand in electric acoustic guitars. The Les Paul Ultra III (3) has 2 Epiphone Probuckers, and for acoustic sounds a Shadow Nanomag is mounted at the end of the fingerboard. The Ultra III (3) has a chromatic tuner onboard, and even a USB connection is available. After registration of the Ultra, Guitarrig software can be downloaded for free. The Epiphone ES-339 Ultra uses the same technology, my review can be found here and here. Pricing of the Epiphone Les Paul Ultra III (3) is around 560 - 630 Euro.



fender telecaster / stratocaster with fishman powerbridge

Fender (Nashville) Deluxe Power Stratocaster and Telecaster

For an acoustic plus, Fender added the Fishman Powerbridge to the Deluxe Power Strat and Tele. The Deluxe Power Telecaster comes with a middle strat pickup, and tele pickups for neck and bridge, the Stratocaster uses strat pickups for the neck, middle and bridge positions. These electric guitars with the Fishman Powerbridge have a five-way switch for blending the electric and acoustic sounds. Available for around 1100 Euro.

Another Fender electric guitar with a Fishman Powerbridge acoustic piezo pickup is the Acoustasonic Telecaster I wrote about, one of my favourites.



godin montreal with lr baggs t-bridge

Godin Montreal

The Godin Montreal is part of the Signature series from guitar builder Godin, located in Montreal, Canada, and they are well know for their new guitar concepts. The Montreal has a carved solid Mahogany body with two f-holes, Jazz Style. Godin was inspired by the Montreal Jazz festival when creating this electric-acoustic guitar. The Montreal blends electric and acoustic sounds by using two Godin Humbuckers and a LR Baggs acoustic bridge and a custom PreAmp. Pricing of the Godin Montreal is around 1600 Euro.

parker fly with graphtech ghost piezo

Parker Guitars (Fly Series)

Guitars build by Parker are something special, as Parker combines woods with modern composites and fibers. Apart from that, most electric Parker guitars are stufed with acoustic technology.

The Parker Fly DeLuxe, MaxxFly, Fly Select and others come in different, modern shapes and colors, and are powered with different humbuckers. What they all have in common is the acoustic technology from the GraphTech Ghost Piezo saddles. Parker guitars don't come cheap.



prs p22 with lr baggs acoustic bridge

PRS   P22 and (singlecut) Hollowbody II

For more than ten years, PRS is using LR Baggs acoustick pickup systems for the PRS Hollowbody II and singlecut Hollowbody II.

In 2012 PRS added the P22 in the program range, their first piezo acoustic pickup equiped solidbody guitar.
The LR Baggs system used in the P22 is the same acoustic pickup system that is used for the longer existing and popular hollowbodies. Only the design of this bridge is smaller than the original LR Baggs used in the hollowbodies, so it fits perfectly in the solidbody. The electric-acoustic guitars from PRS are expensive, starting with prices around 3600 Euro for the P22, and 4300 Euro for the PRS Hollowbody.



gibson les paul with lr baggs piezo pickup

Gibson Les Paul Piezo.

Unfortunately not in production anymore, the Gibson Les Paul Piezo, a Goldtop with EMG (rocking) humbuckers, and a golden LR Baggs piezo bridge. The Les Paul Piezo can still be found in (web)shops.





Gibson Custom Alex Lifeson LP Axcess

Still in production is the Gibson Custom Les Paul Alex Lifeson Axcess with Graphtech Ghost Bridge for authentic acoustic sound, and Floyd Rose vibrato. Humbuckers: Gibson's 496R and 498T. The first 50 guitars were signed by Alex Lifeson.

The longest guitar solo ever

Longest guitar solo ever by Thom Kubli



Who played the longest guitar  solo ever?

Does one ever get an answer on questions like: "who's the best guitar player", "what's the greatest guitar solo", or "who's the best rock guitarist",
I don't think so. Read the discussions on the internet! But what about the "longest guitar solo ever", that should be easy answered, right?


Thom Kubli longest guitar solo

On the 4th of october 2012, Thom Kubli, a German guitar player from Heidelberg, who studied jazz guitar, performed his attempt to hit the first world record in the catagory "longest guitar solo ever played". His performance took place in Gijon, in the North of Spain, and his goal is to get listed in the Guiness Book of records. Thom played for 17 hours, 21 minutes, and 2 seconds, monitored by a notary. This information I read in a little article in a Dutch newspaper. So far so good.

When surfing the internet, I Googled "the longest guitar solo ever", expecting to find the same information I read in the newspaper.
Surprise! Google not only showed Kubli and his record, but also came up with articles (Time magazine) about David DiDonato, an Austin, Texas, guitarist who broke the world record for "longest guitar solo", schredding for 24 hours and 55 minutes in may 2012. Both players claim to have broken the official world record for "longest guitar solo".

david didonato longest guitar solo

Thom Kubli works with WSM, World Records in Sound and Music, but the website does not seem to be up to date.
The setup and regulations of his attempt can be found here (PDF).
As I understand, his performance will be presented to the Guinness Book of Records.

What is the official world record for the "longest guitar solo"?

So the question still remains: "who played the longest guitar solo ever", and what is the official world record!
The authority on world records is Guinness World Records.
If a record is not in the book, it's not an authorized world record.
When searching the Guinness site, I found no record listed for "the longest guitar solo". For me, it's not clear what the official record for "longest guitar solo" is, or was, or who holds it.
But does it really matter? Discussions are more about the "best guitar solo" than about the "longest guitar solo", and "the best" can't be measured!