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THE DOORS LIVE IN PITTSBURGH 1970
Item #: DRCD30

Track Listing:

1. “Back Door Man”

2. “Love Hides”

3. “Five To One”

4. “Roadhouse Blues”

5. “Mystery Train”

6. “Away In India”

7. “Crossroads Blues”

8. “Universal Mind”

9. “Someday Soon”

10. “When The Music’s Over”

11. “Break On Through”

12. “Push Push”

13. The Soft Parade Vamp

14. Tonight You’re In For A Special Treat

15. “Close To You”

16. “Light My Fire”



CD cover not yet finalized - click pre-order image for more information on this release.

Please note: this product is available for pre-order and will be shipped on or about February 29, 2008.

Rhino and Bright Midnight Archives deliver another spectacular live performance from The Doors’ final tour with THE DOORS LIVE IN PITTSBURGH 1970. This single disc serves as a fitting bookend to the three-disc Live In Boston collection released last year featuring shows from the same tour. PITTSBURGH 1970 captures the quartet tightly focused and intent on taking the audience on an epic musical journey. THE DOORS LIVE IN PITTSBURGH 1970 is available March 4 at all retail outlets.



Recorded May 2, 1970 at the Pittsburgh Civic Arena, the album includes more than an hour of fire and energy from singer Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, drummer John Densmore and guitarist Robby Krieger. Always eager to take a chance onstage or otherwise, Morrison experiments with the musical dialogue during a 22-plus-minute version of “When The Music’s Over,” leading the band into bits of songs that they’d never played live. Along with gems like “Five To One” and “Break On Through,” the group also performed covers of Robert Johnson’s “Crossroads Blues” and the band’s signature cover of Howling Wolf’s “Back Door Man.” Before closing with an extended take on “Light My Fire,” Manzarek took the microphone with backup by Morrison for “Close To You.”



LIVE IN PITTSBURGH 1970 is mixed and mastered by engineer Bruce Botnick, who recorded several shows from The Doors’ 1970 tour on multi-track tape for the Absolutely Live album. The concert would have been released sooner if it were not for two missing sections from the 8-track masters. The dialogue section that comes before “Close To You” has been replaced using the live 2-track stereo tapes and titled here as Tonight You’re In For A Special Treat. The other missing section was of the first 16 bars of music from the beginning of Manzarek’s solo on “Light My Fire.” Instead of allowing the missing music to prevent the release of this show, the band decided to insert the missing music from one of the other 1970 concerts.

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Vibratos come and vibratos go, but Bigsbys live forever. This most ancient of whammy bars has been with us since the early 1950s, and was first offered by inventor and guitar- and steel-guitar maker Paul Bigsby around the time that Gibson offered its first solidbody electric model, the Les Paul, in 1952. Despite its heritage, however, the Bigsby unit tends to elicit a “love it or loath it” response from many players: those who don’t work well with the device find it just gets in the way, or throws their guitar out of tune when they do try to use it, whereas those who get it wouldn’t want their wobble from anything else.

The Bigsby has proliferated because it is one of the only, and by far the most popular, vibrato tailpieces that can be retrofitted to a wide range of guitars without major modification other than the drilling of a few small holes for its mounting screws. As such, it often proves the best vibrato for use on classic Gibson and Epiphone models such as Les Pauls and SGs, where it partners perfectly with a Tune-o-matic or wrapover bridge. It is still available as an option on models such as the Gibson Custom Shop 1957 Les Paul Custom VOS and Epiphone ES-295. The keys to getting the most from your Bigsby lie in understanding its limitations, and in setting it up―and setting up your guitar―to allow it to function as efficiently as possible.

And limitations it does have, to be sure. The Bigsby has only a limited travel for down bends―about a semitone at best―and a little play for up bends when desired, and installing one inevitably alters the inherent tone of any guitar, even when it’s not in active use. Whether for better or worse is in the ear of the beholder. That said, a Bigsby vibrato has a smoother, more fluid action than most other vibrato units available, and its limited travel means you can evoke effective, emotive vibrato passages from it without inducing a tone that’s entirely too seasick sounding. It’s exactly the ticket for classic rock and roll, country and rockabilly vibrato tones, and is arguably more elegant sounding than the big dips and divebombs of other vibratos. Work within its limits, and a Bigsby can function beautifully. Your guitar will also stay in tune pretty decently, too, but to get this really happening to its maximum potential you need to…

String up the Bigsby right, and set your guitar up to maximize the Bigsby’s function. When loading new strings onto a guitar with a Bigsby tailpiece, first bend the last inch or so of string at the ball end to curve it to the diameter of the Bigsby’s roller bar; the barrel of a pencil or pen, or a wooden dowel or tool with the appropriate diameter will do for this. Load the ball end onto the Bigsby’s roller bar’s retaining pin, guide the string in a straight line over the bridge saddle and pull it rather tightly toward the nut, and clamp on a capo to keep it in place while you load the tuner. Load the string at the tuner using a self-locking technique (unless you have locking tuners anyway): this is achieved by threading the string through the tuner post hole, then pulling it half a turn clockwise back upon itself for the three bass-side tuners (counterclockwise for the treble-side tuners), then bending the string up under itself where it first enters the post hole before winding it onto the tuner. This will prevent slippage at the tuner post during vibrato use, and help to improve tuning stability in general. Wind the string up to pitch, then pinch it between your thumb and forefinger and pre-bend it by tugging it firmly but carefully away from the guitar all along its length. It will be out of tune again, so bring it back up to pitch, pre-bend it again, and keep repeating the process until it holds its pitch relatively well. Repeat for all strings. If your Bigsby unit has a tension bar that the strings pass under before reaching the bridge, be sure they are aligned in a straight run from roller bar to tension bar to bridge saddles.

On top of all this, use the Bigsby a lot when you first restring the guitar to get the whole system working fluidly, and you’ll find it will return to pitch better than a guitar with a seldom-used Bigsby that hasn’t been strung up right. In addition, a little graphite (pencil lead) or proprietary string lubricant such as Big Bends Nut Sauce applied to the nut slots will help the strings return to pitch more accurately. If you hear “pings” or “creaks” near the nut when you use the vibrato it might indicate slots that are too tight for the gauge of strings you are using, in which case you should take it to a qualified tech to have the slots carefully widened (too wide, and you’ll loose tone and intonation). Even after all this, any guitar with a vibrato tailpiece―Bigsby or otherwise―will still go out of tune occasionally, but heck, so will any hardtail guitar. No big deal. It’s a guitar, tune it up.

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Band :
Lee Bullock - Vocals

Mark Lovatt - Guitar

Dan Lowndes - Guitars / Backing vocals

Matt Whiting - Bass

Dave Tibble - Drums

About Imindain Origins matter not, suffice to say Imindain were a combination of two bands in 2002 CE. The vision was as it is today - to create musick that is the epitome of nihilism and existential darkness. The original line up consisted of: Lee C Bullock, Daniel S Lowndes, J.M. Cox, Richard Farn and Matthew Whiting

Kevin Brady swiftly replaced Matthew Whiting. A demo CD was recorded live called Endless, this was a somewhat primitive and flawed affair but was needed to further develop. Occasional shows were played and more line up changes ensued with Kristopher Clayton replacing Richard Farn.

At the beginning of 2005 CE Brady was considered unsuitable and was replaced by Stacey Booth. This line up remained solid and performed shows with such luminaries as Esoteric, Indesinence, Pantheist and Lazarus Blackstar and recorded the Monolithium demo - which was well received, three songs of extreme funeral/death doom were featured and it helped to secure an album deal with Weird Truth Productions in Japan.

With great regret Kristopher Clayton announced his withdrawal from the project in September 2006 CE, he however is to appear on the album and will be a testament to his contribution.

In 2007 CE Imindain released their debut album "And The Living Shall Envy The Dead..." on Weird Truth Productions. Before the release long term guitarist J.M. Cox and Stacey Booth both left the project for various personal reasons. The line up was finally complete with the return of Matthew Whiting on bass guitar, Mark Lovatt on lead guitar and David Tibble on drums. Imindain at this point are working on the split EP with Ataraxie as a tribute to the seminal dark metal band Bethlehem, a split 7" with american psychos Rigor Sardonicous, and are writing new material for their next full length, of which see Imindain falling into a nexus of further insanity, darkness and extremity.

Imindain will continue to pursue musick that epitomises the grotesque spirit of human worthlessness.



DISCOGRAPHY

- And the Living Shall Envy the Dead - 2007 (Weird Truth Productions)

- Monolithium - 2006 (Factory of Madness Cassette limited to 33)

- Monolithium - 2006 (Self Released CD-r Demo limited to 250)

- Endless - 2004 (Self Released CD-r Demo limited to 100)

 

Tracklist:
1.The Buried Room

2.Nausea

3.Black Water

4.The Curse of Knowing and Becoming

5.Men Shall Be Vessels

6.This Empty Flesh

Official Imindain Forum

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It has recently been bought to my attention that there are more than a few websites on the net at the moment where our album is available for download. We would like to urge people to please avoid these sights and to buy our releases. A lot of money has been put into the album and without the financial support of our fans we simply cannot afford to record our next album and continue gigging.
Much time and effort has been put into the album, and we urge anyone who has downloaded and appreciated the album to purchase it. Whilst we have no problems with P2P file sharing, ourselves, Weird Truth and Ostra Records need support from our fans!

As soon as the new website is up the album and vinyl will be available to buy from us, shirts are available via our myspace page, and the CD and vinyl are available from the following:

Weird Truth Productions (Japan) - CD Version
Ostra Records (France) - Vinyl Version

Should anyone have any trouble getting their hands on the album let us know and we will help in whatever way we can. Also, would people be interested in buying the album as high quality MP3s should we be able to arrange this with Weird Truth?

Thanks,
Dan/Imindain

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Biography:

WillowShee born on April 2007 by Sonia "Perovich" Cenceschi and Alice "Noiseless" Felli. Even if they're from different countries (Sonia from Pisa, Alice from Rome), they decided all the same to unite their passion for the songwriting in a group based on their various musical influences .
Although they are very young, they brag of lots of biographies and live experiences.Sonia plays as lead guitar in THE ORDINARY MADNESS hard Rock folk Tuscany group, while Alice is lead vocal and rythmic guitar in BLUE LILAH, Prog Rock band.

WillowShee name denotes by the story of the screaming fairies : the Banshee, which had their repair on Sidhe Hill, modified in Shee... At last, Sonia and Alice add the great passion for nature that makes birth to their own suggestive sound.

Direct link to listen the tracks: radio dissident weblog

Contacts:

www.myspace.com/willowshee

www.myspace.com/noiselesslove

www.myspace.com/sonjaperovich

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November 21, 2007 - Wednesday:
"Today we have delivered the master for the copy in series of "Fabrication of Darkness"!! The 100 copies should be ready within two weeks!!! Keep therefore in contact that the wait is almost ended!!!!!!!!!!"

December 11, 2007 - Tuesday:

"We have the album copies! Ready to be sell!!! If you're interested just write us or click on the PAYPAL button on our page!!!!!!"

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To download a free MP3 of J.B. Kline's, "Caress Me Baby," click here!

J.B. Kline is one of those guitarists who has spent the last 30 years out of the limelight but still very much in the center of it all—playing the music that he loves and sharing stages with artists like Chuck Berry, the Drifters, Solomon Burke, Fats Domino, Bo Diddley, and many others.

“For me, it’s more important to squeeze a pound of soul into one note than to play 250 notes,” Kline explains. “When I’m on top of my game, I use this philosophy: ‘Don’t go to the next note ’til you’ve squeezed every bit of soul out of the note you’re already on.’ I think the audience can tell when you do that. A guy came up to me after our last show [sharing a bill with Johnny Winter and Rick Derringer] and said to me, ‘Man, you can really tell you’re feeling it when you’re playing.’ That meant a lot to me.”

The venerable Kline has just released the acoustic-tinged Music Mountain—his long overdue first album—and its eleven tracks capture the emotional brand of R&B and blues-based music that’s his calling card—and plenty familiar to his Garden State fans. It features his Les Paul on the CD’s lead track, “Caress Me Baby,” and Kline employed a borrowed Gibson acoustic on tunes like “What a Price,” “That’s How Strong My Love Is,” and “Long Way from Home.”

Kline can talk guitars (and other instruments) with the best of them, and not by accident. His Lambertville, New Jersey, music store, J.B. Kline & Sons is one of the most extensive East Coast instrument shops of its kind. It’s the kind of place you might wander into and find Kline with one of his favorite axes—a vintage ES-175, a guitar with a great history and an instrument Kline likes to use when playing duo gigs with harmonica man Steve Guyger.

“I bought it from a guy 14 years ago so I could get that old, cool blues, T-Bone Walker-type sound,” Kline says. “But I had to use the mortgage money to buy it, and my wife—soon to be my ex-wife—was gonna kill me! I had to sell it later so that we could have the money to send my daughter on a trip to Australia. I always told everybody that it was the one guitar I wished I could have back. It was in mint condition! Well, just a few weeks ago, a guy walked into my place in Lambertville with a brown case. And guess what was inside? I couldn’t believe it! And it was still in great shape. He said I had told him that whenever he wanted to sell the 175 that he should contact me first—and he did!”

When Kline’s 175 came home, it took its place alongside several other Gibsons in his stash—including a recently-acquired Les Paul Special that he uses to play slide; a ’60s Les Paul Junior; and a double-neck steel model with two eight-string necks. (“Man,” Kline says, “that things looks and sounds cool. But I’ve yet to master it to where I’ll play it in front of anybody.”)

For every vintage guitar that magically reappears, however, there are sadly too many others that seem to be lost forever. Consider the case of Kline’s circa-1950 J-50 acoustic. “It was the best-sounding acoustic I ever had,” he says. “You could feel every note in your chest, and the tone would just about make you cry! When I was young, I answered the door one morning—naked and hungover—to find a local antique dealer standing there. He demanded that I sell it to him. I had offered it to him earlier because I was broke, but I didn’t want to sell it that morning. But he insisted. He said I had promised, and I was young and stupid, so I sold it to him for $150! Man, I wish I had that back.”

Guitar stories (both magic and tragic) aside, there’s no denying that Kline’s decades of slugging it out have started to pay dividends. One watershed moment took place just after Thanksgiving, when he shared a bill with Johnny Winter and Rick Derringer at the historic Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank, New Jersey.

“It was very thrilling, and a little scary, opening up for Winter and Derringer,” he says. “I mean, these guys were my idols when I was getting started. I haven’t really been playing slide that long, and to be playing on the same stage as Johnny Winter, one of the electric slide masters—I’ve gotta tell you, when I woke up the morning of the show, I was a bit nervous. But as the day progressed I dealt with it!”

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BAND: Blind Melon

HOMETOWN: Los Angeles, California

PLAYERS: Blind Melon’s reunited incarnation includes: Glen Graham, drums; Rogers Stevens, guitar; Christopher Thorn, guitar; Brad Smith, bass, vocals; Travis Warren, vocals. Original frontman Shannon Hoon died of a cocaine overdose in 1995.

WHAT TO BUY: Singer Shannon Hoon’s death came shortly after the release of Blind Melon’s second album Soup, and it made the band one of many acts who’ve been forced to halt at the top of their game. The disc wasn’t the commercial blast that their self-titled 1992 debut was—that one having been propelled by sunny sing-along single “No Rain.” But it far surpassed that disc creatively, the band’s Southern-styled rock and roll maturing into jammier, brainier, and funkier melodies paced by long and limber grooves, elevated by Hoon’s darker poetic musings and electric delivery.

After Hoon’s death, the surviving members of Blind Melon pulled together a collection of odds and ends dubbed Nico, after the singer’s daughter Nico Blue Hoon. Rough and rustic, it shows Blind Melon’s graceful natural charm and, particularly in the somber “Soul One,” Hoon’s exceptional ability to evoke tenderness as thoroughly as adrenaline.

REUNITED: There was an initial attempt by the remaining members of Blind Melon to find a suitable replacement for Hoon. But ultimately—and understandably—filling the gritty but exceptionally fluid singer’s shoes proved a near-impossible task.

Christopher Thorn and Brad Smith reconvened a few years later with the band Unified Theory, whose singer, Californian Chris Shinn, approximated Hoon’s range but largely stripped out the grit. Guitarist Rogers Stevens pulled together a few bands as well, including one dubbed Extra Virgin.

Late last year, though, it was announced that Thorn and Smith had stumbled upon 25-year-old Texan Travis Warren, and through that meeting, saw Blind Melon as a possibility again. “I was really skeptical in the beginning about doing anything, and none of us are into doing any kind of ‘nostalgia trip,’” Stevens told Billboard. “We started playing, and I knew within the first half of a song that [Warren] was nailing it. It was something about the way he did it that it immediately disarmed my skepticism.”

The reunited band has a new album in the works, and some new songs available for streaming on their MySpace page. On the tracks, Warren’s voice echoes Hoon’s high registers and smoky grit, but adds bluesy bar-band touchstones.

CRUCIAL FACT: That they printed the words “Blind Melon is a band” in their records was particularly intentional—while Hoon’s voice was a clear foreground force, the creation of Blind Melon’s music was never wholly led by the singer, or any other member. “There's no leader of this band, and there never will be,” Hoon’s been quoted as saying. “That's the key. You can't control how the public perceives you—people see rock and roll bands as the guitar player and the singer—but that's not Blind Melon. We're fortunate that every person in this band can write a great song.”

CRITICAL ENDORSEMENT: Of a late-October reunion show, Billboard’s Greg Prato said, “Blind Melon's members look pretty much the same as they did a decade ago, while both Stevens and Thorn modeled similar ‘Dick Tracy’-style hats. And from the first note of ‘Galaxie,’ the crowd whooped, hollered and sang along to just about every word and note. The layoff has not dulled the band's chops, either. Expectedly, all eyes were on Warren to see how he would handle Hoon's spot, but he sang the classics perfectly throughout the evening.”

WHERE TO FIND THEM: MySpace or at March’s 6th annual Langerado Music Festival in South Florida

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Last year, Gibson turned the legendary Flying V—and the guitar world along with it—upside down with the release of the Reverse Flying V, an eye-popping powerhouse that became the unexpected smash hit of the Gibson USA’s Guitar of the Week program. The original limited run Reverse Flying Vs flew out of stores, selling out faster than any other model, leaving hundreds of guitar players very happy and tens of thousands hollering for one of their own. Since then, the letters and e-mails to Gibson have flooded in, demanding another chance to own a Reverse Flying V.

You asked, we listened, and down at Gibson USA, the greatest guitar makers in the world have handcrafted a small number of Reverse Flying Vs for another very limited run of these flame-throwing cult classic collectables. For those who missed it the first time, here is one more chance to grab an amazing Reverse Flying V from Gibson USA. If there is this much demand for them now, think what they will command when they are vintage. Click here to get yours now.

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Over a dozen years, Lynyrd Skynyrd evolved from a high school band in Jacksonville, Florida to the top dogs of Southern rock. By 1977, they’d released four studio albums, including the multiplatinum Second Helping and Nuthin’ Fancy, and the live classic One More from the Road, which made their epic rendition of “Freebird” an FM radio staple and eventual rock-culture punchline.

Enjoying more chart success than the Allman Brothers, with the Top 40 hits “Sweet Home Alabama,” “Saturday Night Special,” and “Freebird,” Lynyrd Skynyrd even scored twice with the latter: as a studio track in ’73, and as the famed ’76 in-concert performance.

But on October 20, 1977, it all came literally crashing down. On a flight from Greenville, South Carolina, to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the band’s chartered Convair 240 aircraft began having troubles. Pilots attempted an emergency landing, but the plane fell short of the airstrip, into a forest in McComb, Mississippi. Frontman and songwriter Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, singer Cassie Gaines, assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick, and the pilots were killed. Guitarists Allen Collins, Gary Rossington, drummer Artimus Pyle, and bassist Leon Wilkeson survived the crash. National Transportation Safety Board inspectors concluded the plane had run out of fuel due to a combination of mechanical failure and crew neglect.

The tragedy destroyed the original group at their artistic pinnacle. Just three days before the crash Lynyrd Skynyrd released Street Survivors, their creative masterpiece and a testament to the sonic authority of Les Pauls, SGs, Firebirds, and Explorers mated with cranked-up, high-gain amps. The departure of six-stringer Ed King in 1975 and the addition of Steve Gaines, Cassie’s brother, the next year made the group’s unique triple guitar instrumental frontline all Gibson men.

Co-founder Rossington employed both SGs and Les Pauls for his lead and rhythm playing and put his Goldtop Les Paul to good use for the slide lines of “Freebird.” He was also the inspiration for one of the band’s most powerful essays in classic, fluid Gibson tone: Street Survivors’ “That Smell.” Collins wrote the cautionary tale of drug and alcohol abuse with Van Zant after Rossington was injured in a car wreck while under the influence. It starts with the bark of Collins’ Natural-finished Korina Explorer, a replacement for the Firebird he used earlier in Skynyrd. From there, he and Rossington twine their fat, elegant rhythm and lead lines, at their most evocative creating storm clouds of smoky feedback and squealing overtones.

Shortly before the plane crash, Collins also began using a Les Paul Junior on stage, but for Street Survivors, it was the blend of Rossington’s and Gaines’ Les Pauls and Collins’ Explorer that gave the album its distinctive low-end six-string honk.

Gaines came to the fore by penning the hit “I Know a Little” and co-writing “You Got That Right” with Van Zant, then leading the songs through their muscular, quick-picked unison passages and solos. Rossington and Van Zant wrote the album’s most popular tune “What’s Your Name” and the sad, soulful ballad “One More Time.” The former is all riff; the latter displays the group’s sweetest, most finessed guitar architecture.

Careful arrangements and impeccable guitar tones make Street Survivors still sound spectacular. Although Lynyrd Skynyrd were notorious for long jams on stage and in the studio, the album’s eight songs are immaculately tailored. At 5:48, the longest number, “That Smell,” is a mini-epic, especially compared to “Freebird,” and half the songs clock in at less than four minutes—all without sacrificing the graceful, powerful guitar solos that were a cornerstone of the band. The six-strings are carefully textured for maximum nuance and punch on Street Survivors, and there’s plenty of space for Billy Powell’s keyboards and Van Zant’s most sophisticated vocal performances.

Street Survivors sold more than two million copies in the wake of the tragic plane crash. After the first pressing, the album’s original cover—a doctored photo of the group standing in flames—was replaced by a picture of the band before a black background. The original was reinstated for the 2001 CD reissue.

A new version of Lynyrd Skynyrd emerged in 1987, drafting Van Zant’s younger brother Johnnie as frontman. Collins, however, could not participate due to crippling injuries from a 1986 auto crash. He died from pneumonia in 1990. Rossington and Powell continue to soldier on successfully under the Skynyrd banner as the only two original members in the line-up.

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Last week Gibson Lifestyle introduced Part I of our distinguished Baddest Badasses of Rock list, which details the hard-living exploits of legends Robert Johnson, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, Johnny Cash, and James Brown. But we couldn't stop there. With too many rowdy tales to tell in just one sitting, we split up the list to bring you another batch of rock’s rebels.

Now Gibson brings you Part II of our list of rock and roll’s baddest badasses.

KEITH RICHARDS

The blood of a poet and a saint—and, if one believes the tales of his transfusions, possibly dozens of others—flows through the Rolling Stones guitarist’s veins. Actually, the reports of Richards’ periodic oil change-like hemoglobin swaps are greatly exaggerated. But there is a loose basis for that weird myth. He did have dialysis in Switzerland in 1973 as a part of a detox effort.

How well did it work? Four years later, he caught his most notorious drug bust. Mounties grabbed Richards in Toronto with 22 grams of heroin, and he was charged with importing drugs, which carried a seven-year minimum sentence.

Richards got out of serving time as only a rock star can, or at least could nearly 30 years ago: by performing two benefit Stones concerts for the Canadian National Institute for the Blind.

Richards’ background is in blues. Heroin addiction was more a jazz tradition. But, like Charlie Parker before him, it didn’t seem to impair his ability to write great tunes and great riffs, from "Satisfaction" to "Gimme Shelter." At least not until 1978’s Some Girls, when he earnestly sought the cure.

Richards’ other famous drug bust, among many, was at his Sussex estate along with Mick Jagger and other friends in 1967. The police raided his home, and he served two days in prison before the public outcry in Richards’ defense caused the Crown to overturn his conviction.

Today Richards’ tastes reputedly hew closer to Jack Daniels. And his father's ashes.

 

IGGY POP

According to Pop, many of his most legendary adventures in self-destruction were accidental. Sure, he smeared peanut butter and raw meat across his chest, shot a lot of heroin, and occasionally exposed himself, but the broken glass just happened to be on the floor when he rolled in it. Many of Pop’s bloodiest concert injuries were the product of his sheer abandon as a performer. He invented the stage dive playing Detroit halls alongside the MC5 in the 1960s, a good decade before it became a punk rock ritual and years before crowds were always ready to catch him.

What makes Pop a badass isn’t just the lack of a survival instinct that marked the first two decades of his career. He was rock and roll’s original nihilist. The sonic brutality and troglodytic arrangements of his early albums with the Stooges, packed with songs like the sneering "1969" and "Search and Destroy," telegraphed a contempt for all aspects of straight society. And his behavior on and off stage displayed a brand of self-loathing rock we wouldn’t see again until the emergence of Sid Vicious.

Today, Pop’s a wiser, straighter 60-year-old with nagging knee and back injuries, but he’s still a maniac once the first drumbeats and guitar chords kick in, diving shirtless into crowds (who are now willing to stop his plunge to earth) with his pants as unzipped as his attitude.

 

JOHNNY ROTTEN

John Lydon and his stitched-together troupe of cronies didn’t invent punk rock. The Ramones did. And theatricality and hype have been part of the music since Guitar Slim died his hair blue in the 1940s, if not since the days of the Moulin Rouge’s Le Pétomane. What Lydon did as Johnny Rotten, frontman for the Sex Pistols, is rob rock of its innocence.

Even the disco age, and the West Coast Babylon that produced the Eagles’ Hotel California and the love pentangle within Rumoursera Fleetwood Mac were idylls compared to Lydon’s world. He proclaimed himself both anti-Christ and anarchist, and cawed out with a fury and impatience that struck a nerve in disaffected youth on both sides of the Atlantic. Not all youth though. The Pistols didn’t sell many albums or play many shows during their initial go’round. But Lydon was like the first vampire. It took just a few bites to breed a new generation whose disaffected influence spread to fashion, politics, and the music business. Especially the music business.

The Sex Pistols disbanded after just one studio album, but their post-mortem release was called The Great Rock ’n’ Roll Swindle, and Lydon’s closing words at the original Pistols’ last concert were "do you ever feel like you’ve been cheated?" With that, he set a new standard of self-awareness in rockers—both musicians and fans. Yes, we had all been cheated. Lydon and his fellow Pistols were robbed of a living by their management and the media, stripped of their meaning by a carnival they helped create, and then became trapped inside. The band cheated listeners and themselves by including Sid Vicious, whose sole claim to fame was his inability to function as a musician or human being.

Sid got caught up in a lifestyle that cheated him and his girlfriend Nancy Spungen out of existence. And those who bought Never Mind the Bullocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols were sold an anti-corporate agenda by a corporation that had the power to pull the plug on the Pistols when it realized it had created a monster. But like Baron Frankenstein, EMI was too late.

When Johnny Rotten informed us we’d all been cheated, he began the process of toppling the corporate record monoliths. It’s been a slow crumble, starting with bands pressing their own 45s in the late 1970s, going on to amateur engineers shutting down studios as multi-track cassette recorders evolved to digital media, and so on. Today musicians have the means to make their songs available to every computer user in the world without the interference, judgement, or cheating of record companies. It just took 30 years for the dragon to realize that Lydon had slain it.

N.W.A.

Gangsta rap burst out of the underground with 1988’s Straight Outta Compton, a wake-up call as searing as the Black Panthers’ Ten Point Platform had been two decades earlier. But Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, Eazy E, DJ Yella, and MC Ren didn’t think of themselves as gangsters. They called their music "reality rap," and the hard truth is that in the gulf of political and social leadership that followed the Civil Rights movement, America’s racial and economic divide was allowed to widen once more.

For these rappers, the streets of their California hometown were hard, poor, and dangerous, and N.W.A. fought back. The most daring salvo was the Ice Cube- and MC Ren-written song "F#$@ tha Police," a protest against law enforcement brutality and racial profiling.

Sure enough, the Man fought back. The F.B.I. complained to N.W.A.’s record company, local police departments refused to work security details on the group’s tour dates, and their album received no airplay. Nonetheless, the song made racial profiling an issue of national debate that still rages today and Straight Outta Compton sold two million copies. Proof that it’s always badass to stand up for what you believe is right.

 

KID ROCK

Sure, Kid Rock’s red-eyed rap-rock-country bag is a blast, but he’s no innovator. What he is, however, is an individual. In an age when too many rock bands sound the same and their biggest desire seems to be scoring guest appearances on reality TV shows, Rock is comfortable veering away from the pack. He is a man who has his own convictions and follows them, whether they lead him to marry Pamela Anderson or punch Tommy Lee. He’s also the kind of rock star you’d like to be. Just this October he bought breakfast for everybody in an Atlanta Waffle House and gave the wait staff a $300 tip.

The flip side of that story is that Rock, his crew, and a patron’s posse got into a brawl when that patron started mocking the Kid, but, hey, a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do. Badass.

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The best rock and roll has always been made by rugged, and sometimes ragged, individuals—musicians so strong, willful, and full of rebel spirit there’s only one word to describe them: badasses. Their iconoclastic natures empower them to change the course of the music. It also makes them outlaws. Some live to tell, others don’t, but they all earn their place in history.

ROBERT JOHNSON

Before you protest that he was a bluesman, consider what we know about Johnson’s flashy performing style, his quicksilver slide and melody playing, his superfly threads, and his way with the ladies. Ol’ RoJo was a rock star, baby—a Delta Jimi Hendrix so far ahead of his era that “Sweet Home Chicago” has never left the blues canon (although it’s probably time that it did), and his “Cross Road Blues” became a staple of ’60s rock when pop culture finally caught up with his high-flying coattails.

Johnson’s lifestyle caught up with him one night in 1938 at a juke joint outside of Greenwood, Mississippi, when a jealous husband fatally poisoned him. Thus he became the founder of rock’s notorious “27 Club,” whose members include Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Brian Jones, Jim Morrison, the Minutemen’s D. Boone, and Kurt Cobain—all of whom died at that age. It’s a first Johnson undoubtedly would have preferred to skip, but proof that being a badass sometimes comes with a heavy price.

 

JERRY LEE LEWIS

Goodness gracious, if there’s still a whole lotta shakin’ going on in Jerry Lee Lewis’ Nesbit, Mississippi, home, it’s likely the bones of the skeletons in his closet.

During his early career heyday at Sun Records, Lewis became the first white performer to embrace the use of sexual double entendre that was popular in African-American R&B. But Lewis was badass for more than that chicken in the barn and those great balls of fire he had the guts to sing about.

Nobody played with such pure frenzy. For Lewis, pounding his piano was an act of demonic possession—literally. He believed his music was a direct affront to God, yet kept right on doing it. Whether defying God is badass or a mortal sin depends on your religious convictions. And speaking of convictions, Lewis’ arrest record contains a banner year. In 1976 he was tagged for drunk driving in Memphis on November 11, only to reappear later that night outside the gates of Elvis Presley’s Graceland, brandishing a pistol and demanding to see the King. Also in ’76, he was booked for firing his pistol at a bottle, missing and hitting his bass player—nearly making his nickname "the Killer" literal.

Lewis’ personal life has been struck by various tornadoes. On December 12, 1957 he married his 13-year-old cousin Myra Gale Brown. It was his third marriage—the second, to Jane Mitcham, took place 23 days before his divorce from his first wife was final—and became a red flag the next year when word got out during a tour of England. Scandalized promoters cancelled shows, and Lewis went from $1,000 concerts to $100 one-nighters.

A foray into country music put Lewis back on top, but his personal losses have been great. His two sons died in auto and swimming pool accidents. Lewis nearly succumbed to bleeding ulcers, and has detoxed at the Betty Ford Clinic.

But through it all he’s remained an uncompromising showman who, at 77, can still play piano with his boots and toss off a flourish with the speed and pageantry of a peacock unfurling his tail. In 2006 he released an album with the bravado title Last Man Standing, in case we hadn’t noticed.

 

CHUCK BERRY

With a Gibson ES-335 strapped over his shoulder, Chuck Berry seemingly duck walked to fame. But what really won him a spot on rock and roll’s Mt. Olympus wasn’t his performing style. It was his subversive thinking. Berry was not only the first rock songwriter; he was a black adult man writing and performing for white teenagers. You don’t think that’s badass? Consider this.In 1955, Berry’s "Maybellene" hit No. 1 on the R&B charts and No. 5 on the Hot 100. That same year, 400 miles away from Berry’s St. Louis, Missouri, home, 14-year-old Emmett Till was murdered for whistling at a white women on the front porch of Bryant’s Grocery and Meat Market in Money, Mississippi.

Early on, Berry baffled segregationist concert promoters, who’d heard him on the radio and thought he was white until he appeared at their stage doors. Sometimes the result was instant audience integration.

With an audacious attitude and a bulletproof catalog of boogie, Berry played a critical role in bringing rock and roll across racial divides—rightfully earning him the badass tag.

 

JOHNNY CASH

Sometimes the sweetest guys on the planet can also be the most ornery. For proof, refer to the famous 1969 photo of Johnny Cash flipping off a cameraman who got in his way one time too many during a rehearsal for his San Quentin State Prison concert recordings.

Cash was a badass because he was a cultural warrior, and he didn’t give a damn what anyone thought about it. He stood up for Civil Rights and took a stand against the Vietnam War. He argued for prison reform. He championed controversial artists like a young Bob Dylan. He also, along with fellow Sun Records innovators Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis, helped invent the beat of rock and roll with early hits like "Cry, Cry, Cry" and "I Walk the Line." And until his death in 2003, Cash was a monumental link to some of American music’s earliest roots.

Cash absorbed songs from the past through his contact with Maybelle Carter, his wife June’s mother, and one of the architects of country music. He was also influenced by other, older musicians who passed along music they’d learned from parents, neighbors, fellow parishioners, and itinerant Appalachian banjo pickers or Delta bluesmen. Cash gave voice to sharecroppers and prospectors, lovers and murderers, preachers and sinners, and his recordings are just the tip of the mountainous repository of American folklore he kept in his head.

But he was an archetypal rock and roll bad boy too. Just before Cash left Sun he got hooked on amphetamines. June helped him kick the pills in ’67, but not before he’d kicked out the footlights of the Grand Ole Opry stage and spent a night in a Mexican jail for smuggling his stash over the border. Throughout the rest of his life he’d struggle with addiction, at times seduced by speed or painkillers.

In 1958, Cash blew up a brand new Cadillac in an incident involving pills and an open tank of propane. He also started a fire that raged while he nodded off in California’s Los Padres National Wildlife Refuge, killing 49 of 53 endangered condors that lived there. When a judge asked Cash if he felt sorry for his rare bird barbecue, he mouthed off about not giving a damn about “buzzards” and paid a hefty fine. Decades later, Cash almost died when an ostrich on his Tennessee ranch tried to gut him with its enormous hind claw. Avian revenge?

 

JAMES BROWN

If bandleader Louis Jordan was rock and roll’s spark plug, James Brown was its nuclear bomb. Sure, Elvis put enough pelvis in his performances to make bobbysoxers shriek, but Brown was a full-grown man who wasn’t too proud to beg for what he wanted. Right from 1956’s "Please, Please, Please," Brown’s performances were rituals of moaning and shouting vocal ecstasy and splits, swoops, and steps that let both the ladies and the gents know who was the cock of the walk.

As the late musician and journalist Robert Palmer explained in his The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll entry on Brown, the South Carolina native’s early blend of gospel harmonies, driving horns, and exaggerated shuffles wasn’t unique. But Brown began incorporating Latin cross-rhythms, and his guitarist Jimmy Nolen invented a choked style of playing chords that amped up the band’s rhythmic thrust. By 1964, Brown’s group had become so percussive the entire unit had morphed into, essentially, a giant drum kit. It was a style that placed a distinctly Western pop-, blues-, and gospel-informed crown atop the fundamentals of African music. Many of his compositions were based on a single chord, offset by one-, two-, or three-note bursts from the horns, staccato guitar riffs, and bass lines of two or three notes. It was mesmerizing, and, at its best—in tunes like "Cold Sweat" and "Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag"—almost heart-stopping.

Brown was on his way to becoming the most popular artist in America until the British Invasion nudged him aside. As it was, Brown prepared the mainstream for Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Joe Tex, Al Green, and other soul testifiers who followed him up the charts, and continued to influence the direction of popular music. His sound provided the foundation of disco, and spread across the world to embed itself in reggae and in the Afro-beat pioneered by Fela Kuti, and the juju exemplified by King Sunny Adé. When hip-hop arrived, Brown became the most sampled man in show business. The beats of "Funky Drummer" alone have been used more than 100 times by rappers. That’s badass.

Beyond music, Brown said it loud: he was black and proud. He befriended Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and his success as a self-managed African-American businessman with his own publishing company, booking agency, three radio stations, and a Lear jet made him a role model. It also gave him power. After Dr. King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, and rioting broke out in many major U.S. cities as African-Americans reacted in pain and anger, Brown used his Boston concert the next night to keep peace in the racially simmering Hub.

That’s the good stuff. The shadowy half of Brown’s badass personality made him a rule breaker and drug taker nearly till the end. In the 1970s he got whacked for back taxes and had to sell his jet and radio stations to pony up $4.5 million to the IRS. In 1987, brandishing a shotgun and high on PCP, he disrupted a business meeting in a building he owned, then led police on a chase that won him his second jail stretch. Nine years ago he was sentenced to 90 days rehab after firing a rifle and leading another cop race.

Even Brown’s death, in December 2006 at the age of 73, wasn’t without controversy. Following a memorial service fit for royalty at New York’s Apollo Theater, Brown’s children quarreled over his final resting place so that the Godfather of Soul wasn’t buried until a full 10 weeks after his death. It was as though Brown’s strong will had survived him. Indomitable in death as he was in life, James Brown will always be remembered as the hardest working man in show business.

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The Gibson Guitartown London Charity Auction is coming. On Tuesday 20th November at The O2’s IndigO2 club you can bid for one of 62 unique hand painted and signed Gibson guitars. Any one of these unique guitars would provide the ultimate Christmas present for any budding guitarist or collector of rare guitars looking for an investment.

The Gibson Guitartown charity auction hosted by Julien’s Auctions will comprise of 62 individual hand painted guitars and signed by a host of British musical legends and mainstream artists such as Sir Paul McCartney, Robert Plant, Rod Stewart, Paul Weller, Noel Gallagher, Brian May, Ronnie Wood, New Order, Mark Konpfler, Slash, Gary Moore, Roger Waters, Ozzy Osbourne, KT Tunstall, Bruce Dickinson, Stereophonics, James Blunt, Kasabian, Razorlight, Slash, Mark Ronson, Katie Melua, Depeche Mode, The View and Kaiser Chiefs to name a few.

Sir Peter Blake, Anton Corbijn, Peter Saville, Alex Echo, Andrew Logan and Gerald Scarfe were just a few of the acclaimed visual artists involved in hand painting the guitars on behalf of the associated musician.

Gibson Guitartown London is a charity inspired campaign bringing the power of music together with art to raise money for Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy, The Prince’s Trust and Teenage Cancer Trust charities. All money raised from the sale of the guitars when they go under the hammer at auction will be split equally between the three mentioned charities. All 62 featured guitars were on public display around London during June to September 2007 outside at More London, South Bank by City Hall and around The O2 Arena attracting over 2.5 million visitors.

Some of the star guitar lots going under the hammer at The IndigO2 on Tuesday 20th November include:

Robert Plant designed and signed 10 Foot Gibson Les Paul replica—Hand painted by visual artist Mauricio Ortiz

Sir Paul McCartney’s signed 10 Foot Gibson Les Paul replica—Hand painted by visual artist Rosie Brooks

The winning bidder of Sir Paul McCartney’s guitar will be required to donate the giant guitar to the Great Ormond Street Hospital. He or She will be invited to present the guitar to the hospital on Monday 17th December with Sir Paul McCartney at the hospital’s Christmas event with many of the children present. The winning bidder will receive a special Gibson Les Paul signed by Sir Paul McCartney at the event and an engraved plaque with the bidders name on it will be placed in the hospital by the 10ft guitar to mark the donation.

Paul Weller-signed 10 Foot Gibson Les Paul replica—Hand painted and signed by Sir Peter Blake

Roger Waters signed Pink Floyd “The Wall” Gibson SG—Hand painted and signed by Gerald Scarfe

Ronnie Wood signed and hand painted Gibson SG guitar—By Ronnie Wood

Noel Gallagher signed 10 Foot Gibson Les Paul replica guitar—Hand painted by visual artist Pete McKee

Nick Mason signed Gibson SG guitar—Hand designed by visual artist Justine Smith

New Order signed 10 Foot Gibson Les Paul replica guitar registered with a Factory Records unique catalogue number ‘Fac 473’—Hand painted by visual artist Peter Saville 

Jack Bruce and Pete Brown from Cream signed Gibson SG Bass—by visual artist Paul Hart

Mark Knopfler signed 10 Foot Gibson Les Paul replica guitar—Hand painted by “The Ville Boys” inmates at the Mental Health Department of HMP Pentonville

Ozzy Osbourne signed 10 Foot Gibson Les Paul replica—Hand painted by Gerald Scarfe

For more information on the Gibson Guitartown London Charity Auction or how to pre-bid for any of the guitars, please click here.

For those who can not attend, the Gibson Guitartown London Charity Auction will be streamed live on the Auction Network website.

To view and pre-bid the guitars online please click here. 

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Cette jeune artiste investit l’univers de la musique avec force, maturité et élégance !

Un premier album, réalisé par Dominique Blanc-Francard, tisse 12 titres comme des poèmes, nous raconte des histoires qui l'habitent depuis toujours, couchées sur des carnets de Moleskine, comme un autre grand de l'écriture Monsieur Hemingway lui-même, qu'elle habille de mots pour ensuite se pencher sur le manche de sa guitare et en tisser les notes ...

Alain Souchon, sous le charme, lui propose la première partie de son spectacle a l'Olympia. Depuis la belle Niçoise vit sa vie de jeune artiste et part en tournée dans toute la France avec des dates prévues jusqu'a la fin Juin 2008.

Aujourd'hui, à 28 ans, Rose qui aime à citer Janis Joplin et Bob Dylan dans ses références artistiques, a toute les chances de gagner une nomination au Prix Constantin !

Nous ne serions tous vous conseiller d’écouter son album ainsi que de la découvrir sur une scène proche de chez vous !

 

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WHO: Leading actors Ellen Page (Hard Candy, X-Men 3) and Michael Cera (Superbad)

WHAT: During their interview at Fox Searchlight's national press day for Juno in NYC, Michael and Ellen played two songs on a Gibson Hummingbird and an Epiphone PR5E. The two leading actors were interviewed on camera for TV and web spots to promote the film.

MORE ON JUNO: Juno stars Ellen Page as the title character, a whip-smart teen confronting an unplanned pregnancy by her classmate Bleeker (Cera). With the help of her best friend Leah, Juno finds her unborn child a “perfect” set of parents: an affluent suburban couple, Mark and Vanessa (Bateman and Garner), longing to adopt. Luckily, Juno has the total support of her parents as she faces some tough decisions, flirts with adulthood, and ultimately figures out where she belongs.

CAST: Ellen Page, Michael Cera, Jason Bateman, Jennifer Garner, Olivia Thirlby, J.K. Simmons, Allison Janney, and Rainn Wilson

Juno was released in New York and Los Angeles on Wednesday, December 5.

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Gibson: You are one of the world's most high-profile and respected campaigners, having produced the most influential, memorable, and inspiring pop concerts in modern times: Live Aid and Live 8. How do you beat that?

Sir Bob Geldof: You don’t.

Gibson: Over and above global awareness for the Make Poverty History campaign, were you content with the outcome of Live 8 following the G8 summit in reducing Global poverty in Africa?

Geldof: I am not really interested in “awareness” practical, pragmatic political solutions is my game. 20 million children are in school, 350 million people are free of debt because of Live 8. That’s a good start but they promised more and we will pursue that.

Gibson: You have most recently recorded two tracks on the upcoming Jools Holland collaboration album “Moving Out to the Country” they are "For The Good Times" and "The Pilgrim." How did this come about?

Geldof: He’s my mate. He said “will you” I said yes. I love good country.

Gibson: Your last studio album Sex, Age & Death came out in 2001 to great acclaim, are you planning a new studio album for 2008 and a tour?

Geldof: Maybe. Don’t know, if it feels right.

Gibson: You recently took receipt of a Gibson J-45 acoustic guitar [pictured]. Will you be using it to record or tour with in the months ahead?

Geldof: Absolutely, my favourite. I love them, they’re beautiful. A proper serious guitar.

Gibson: How many Gibson guitars do you own, and which is your favourite?

Geldof:  Lots, the Gibson J-45 acoustic is my favourite guitar. I have four in different states of disrepair, but I can’t throw them out. Old friends are precious.

Gibson: You left The Boomtown Rats back in 1982 after releasing six studio albums. The Best of The Boomtown Rats is out now. Is there a possibility of a Boomtown Rats reunion, new album or tour?

Geldof: No.

Gibson: You have a very busy corporate speaking schedule and have several media business interests including your entertainment and marketing company Ten Alps Communications. Would you ever return to radio following your time at Xfm?

Geldof: Only a station playing absolutely new music. Sometimes I need to get lost in new ideas. I love music that excites my brain, my heart, my soul, then maybe...

Gibson: You have worked with almost every major international artist over the years to support your great charity work, such as Bono, Elton John, Sir Paul McCartney, Madonna, and Pink Floyd, to name a few. Is there any new artist you would like to work with?

Geldof: Yeah, quite a few..

Gibson: What has been one of the highlights of your musical or campaigning career?

Geldof: “Looking After Number 1” and entering the U.K. charts at No. 17. Unimaginable!

 Photo Credit: Dean Fardell

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Even Santa wants a Gibson at 10,000 Feet! Gibson sponsored the Roxy Chicken Jam in Kaprun, Austria, where we also hosted an official Gibson booth with competitors jamming all day long.

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Gibson Repair and Restoration

• What We Do
• How We Do It
• Client List
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• FAQ
• Contact Us
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• Submit a Repair Request
  

EMAIL: RepairRequest@Gibson.com

PHONE: 615.244.0252 ext 5102 or ext 5109

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That’s right, set it up. Or, if need be, get someone else to set it up for you. Whether you set up your guitar yourself, or have it done by a professional tech, a good set-up is crucial to achieving not only optimum playability but maximum tone too. By “set-up,” we usually mean a combination of things that all work toward keeping your guitar in good condition, somewhat like the full tune-up you occasionally give your car. On a guitar, a full set-up generally includes adjusting neck pitch, string height, and intonation, and pickup height relative to strings. It might also include conditioning the volume and tone controls (potentiometers), selector switch, and jack with a squirt of contact cleaner/lubricant, and lightly sanding―or “stoning”―the frets to remove slight divots and uneven spots that have emerged with heavy playing.

Let’s elaborate a little on the benefits of keeping your guitar ship-shape. I say keeping a guitar in good condition is important not only for achieving “optimum playability but maximum tone too” because a guitar that is poorly set up just won’t ring true. Without proper intonation, you might think you are in tune according to your electric tuner, but your guitar will never be optimally in tune with the bigger picture—which is to say, the harmonics that interact to create the lush, vibrant tonal spectrum of any great guitar sound will not be complementary to each other, will not interact in a musically beneficial fashion. Slight dissonances and dead spots will clank against each other―amid full chords in particular, and especially further up the neck―and the overall effect will be an oddly harsh sounding performance, even on a guitar that seems to tune up fine on the open strings. Former Gibson president Ted McCarty developed the famed Tune-o-matic (or ABR1) bridge precisely for this reason, and it remains one of the most influential bridge designs to this day. The unit, as seen on a Les Paul Standard or SG Standard, for example, among many others, allows broad adjustment for each individual string saddle to achieve accurate intonation of each string, and easy height adjustment for a good, balanced overall string height for your playing style (the bridge is curved to match the radius of the guitar’s fingerboard, so individual saddle height adjustment isn’t necessary). Other, more primitive bridge designs, such as the “wraparound” bridge on the Les Paul Junior or 1954 Les Paul Goldtop VOS don’t have individually adjustable saddles, although a “good enough for rock and roll” compromise of overall intonation can be set by adjusting the whole bar. This might seem imperfect, sure, but these guitars are loved by many players for their raw vibe and appealing simplicity nevertheless.

In combination with good intonation, proper adjustment of neck pitch and string height, both to suit your playing style and to allow the strings to ring freely, will also work toward maximum tone. Some players who like a very low action for fast playing styles will constantly fight buzzing strings and compromised tone in the name of pure speed. Working with a slightly higher yet still smooth and fast action lets the strings ring louder and clearer, and therefore also enables the guitar’s body and neck woods to resonate the way they were designed to, all of which increases your tone dramatically (I’m not talking way high here, but an action low enough for good speed, and high enough to eliminate buzzing). Get all of these elements of a good set-up just right―good intonation, and optimum neck pitch and string height (which, combined, constitute what we refer to as “action”)―and your harmonics will ring true, you’ll have a bigger, more melodious sound from the instrument as a whole, and your guitar’s entire voice will feel more at one with itself. On top of it all, you’ll notice a considerable improvement in your guitar’s sustain too.

Beyond the mechanical aspects of a good set-up, it’s also worth remembering to keep your guitar clean. This might seem a purely cosmetic issue, but grimy frets and fingerboard, rusted bridge saddles, and gunky nut slots will seriously hamper both tone and playability. The build up of crud in pickups, controls, and switches will also lead to their eventual failure—possibly mid-solo during that big gig—and will very often hamper their performance along the way, by impeding their ability to pass along a full, clean guitar signal. This is something you can definitely do yourself, with the aid of a soft, lint-free cloth and a few quality cleaning products such as Gibson’s Luthier’s Choice Polish, Fretboard Conditioner and String Cleaner/Lubricant or comprehensive Vintage Reissue Restoration Kit. As for the set-up itself, most players can also learn to achieve good results themselves. Every new Gibson comes with a comprehensive Owner’s Manual or instructive flyers that guide you through bridge saddle adjustments, truss rod adjustment, and more. When in doubt, take your instrument to an Authorized Gibson Repair Center, and let a professional put your guitar into perfect playing condition.

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Playing their first full set in 27 years before a sold-out crowd at last night’s Ahmet Ertegun Tribute concert at London’s O2 Arena, Led Zeppelin not only resurrected their glorious past, but reinvented it for many fans and critics who were but toddlers when the rock gods last laid down their thunder. Led Zeppelin’s triumphant 130-minute show was as dramatic as it was emotional for the band that defined rock music during the late ’60s, and on through the ’70s.

After a brief news clip about the band’s record-setting 1975 Tampa, Florida concert, Zeppelin kicked off the night appropriately with a raucous version of “Good Times Bad Times,” the first song on their 1969 debut album. They continued with a bluesy rendition of “Ramble On” before roaring their way through “Black Dog,” and on through a career-spanning set list that displayed the band’s renewed fervor at every turn.

Assuming the drum throne of his late father, 42-year-old Jason Bonham not only capably channeled Bonzo’s thumping sound, but impressed many observers by tweaking Zep’s colossal groove with a funk-driven sensibility all his own. With the black-shirt-and-jeans-clad Robert Plant now playing Norse elder to Jimmy Page’s silver-haired country squire, and John Paul Jones’ clean-cut, business-like form, the surviving members played with a youthful vigor that seemed channeled straight from the Summer of ’71. Plant even kicked the mike stand high over his head during “Ramble On” as Page beamed in admiration on the big screens that filled the O2 Arena.

Page’s guitar solos soared with an emotional lyricism reminiscent of past times. And the showman in him would not be denied as he resurrected most of his iconic ax moves, including the ghostly howl of “Dazed and Confused”’s bowed Les Paul strings and the chiming intro to “Stairway to Heaven” on his familiar double-necked SG.

Perhaps most telling was the band’s posture and demeanor, as the surviving members spent much of the set huddled around Bonham’s drum kit as if in rehearsal, and frequently flashed each other smiles that showed just how much they were all enjoying the moment, as well as their renewed partnership. Plant even punctuated “In My Time of Dying” by blurting out, “I just want to have fun!”

Given the reunion’s good vibes, their looming 40th anniversary, and a wealth of speculation and rumor, it’s hard to imagine we’ve seen the last of Led Zeppelin. Pete Paphides of the Times of London perhaps summed it up best: “With a synergy like this going on, it would be an act of cosmic perversity to stop now."

Further fueling speculation that the band’s reunion will be more than a one-time event, British music industry insiders have floated rumors that Led Zeppelin is already on “hold” for two nights at Wembley Stadium next summer.

In an interview with Britain’s Sun newspaper, Plant said that Jason Bonham was the key to the current reunion, however long it lasts. "I've know the Bonham family since I was 15 and I know Pat, John's widow. I've know Jason since he was born. I've spent so much time talking to Jason over the years. He's such a good guy and I've got very close. Jason's such a great drummer and he's now in his reformation character.”

While Plant and Page have recently given mixed signals about the future of Led Zeppelin—Page has dropped several tantalizing hints while Plant has mostly demurred, likely due to his own pending tour plans with Alison Krauss in support of their recent Raising Sand duet album, the singer did tell London’s Sunday Times that “it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to play together from time to time.”

Though later in the same interview, Plant playfully deflated the ongoing reunion speculation balloon: “Somebody else inside me was saying that. Not the bloke from Wolverhampton, the bloke from the land of the ice and snow, the bloke with his shirt unbuttoned down to his waist—and he can shut up. We’re not having any more of that. It was great, but I’ve got to go down the highway now.”

A full DVD document of the show will be available next year, but several clips from the show have already surfaced on the web via British TV and fan-shot videos:

• “Whole Lotta Love”
• “Stairway to Heaven”

• “Black Dog”

Here’s Zeppelin’s complete set list from last night:

“Good Times Bad Times”
“Ramble On”

“Black Dog”

“In My Time Of Dying”

“For Your Life”

“Trampled Under Foot”

“Nobody's Fault But Mine”

“No Quarter”

“Since I've Been Loving You”

“Dazed And Confused”

“Stairway To Heaven”

“The Song Remains The Same”

“Misty Mountain Hop”

“Kashmir”

“Whole Lotta Love”

“Rock And Roll”

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Last year, Gibson turned the legendary Flying V—and the guitar world along with it—upside down with the release of the Reverse Flying V, an eye-popping powerhouse that became the unexpected smash hit of the Gibson USA’s Guitar of the Week program. The original limited run Reverse Flying Vs flew out of stores, selling out faster than any other model, leaving hundreds of guitar players very happy and tens of thousands hollering for one of their own. Since then, the letters and e-mails to Gibson have flooded in, demanding another chance to own a Reverse Flying V.

You asked, we listened, and down at Gibson USA, the greatest guitar makers in the world have handcrafted a small number of Reverse Flying Vs for another very limited run of these flame-throwing cult classic collectables. For those who missed it the first time, here is one more chance to grab an amazing Reverse Flying V from Gibson USA. If there is this much demand for them now, think what they will command when they are vintage. Click here to get yours now.

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Ever pined for a Les Paul or an SG? Now is the time! Get the guitar of your dreams at a price you’ll never see again, and let Gibson buy you up to $100 worth of music from iTunes. Click here for full details.

Gibson USA's incredible holiday promotion―the first-ever of its kind―features three gorgeous Les Pauls and SGs: the Les Paul Classic Custom in Antique Ebony, the Les Paul Standard ’50s Neck in Heritage Cherry, the Les Paul Standard ’60s Neck in Desert Burst, the SG Standard in Ebony, the SG Standard in Heritage Cherry, and the SG ’61 Reissue in Heritage Cherry. Pick one up at select dealers, and Gibson will stuff your stocking with up to $100 in free music from iTunes!

Act now because the promotion ends December 31.

Learn more here!

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I’d like to start this discussion of preamp tubes with a brief look at why so many guitarists still prefer tubes at all to solid state or digital modeling amps. Tubes are what make an amplifier amplify—which is to say, they are at the heart of what enables an amp to make your guitar louder—but it might help to think of tubes not simply as amplifiers (which is what they are, technically) but as tone generators. Sure, there are other ways of amplifying your guitar signal, but the beauty of tubes is that they don’t just make a sound bigger, they make it bigger with style.

Tubes amplify an electric guitar so beautifully mainly because of the way they distort. To put it as briefly and concisely as possible, push a simple transistor circuit hard, and it clips (distorts) in a sudden, harsh, “square wave” way. Push a tube into clipping and it distorts more gradually and more smoothly—it “rounds off” into distortion. If you view these two different types of distorted sound waves on a scope, a signal clipping in a solid-state circuit and one clipping in a tube circuit, you will see waveforms that are literally squared and rounded respectively. There are a lot of other factors involved, of course, but that gets us to the nut of it. This is why any decent sounding solid-state amp requires a lot of extra circuitry to warm up and smooth out the guitar signal, something a very simple tube amp circuit usually does naturally. And be aware, too, that when I’m talking about distortion, I mean the tone that influences even your so-called “clean tone.” Most tube amps, even when set to clean levels (unless you’ve got the volume of a powerful amp set extremely low) are still distorting a little, and that distortion creates layers of harmonics that sweeten and fatten up that thing that we call our tone, even when we’re playing “clean.” This time out, let’s address a few tips regarding preamp tubes.

The fact that tubes distort so organically also means that no two tubes distort or even amplify exactly alike, even two tubes of the same type. Tubes are manufactured under fairly rigorous conditions, but even so they are imperfect devices. Every little fluctuation on the assemble line results in a slightly different sound and performance from each tube that comes along. That’s why good tube distributors need to routinely test tubes they sell: put even two high-quality preamp tubes from highly respected old American or British manufacturers* on a tube tester, say, a pair each of Mullard or RCA 12AX7 preamp tubes that came out of the factory on the same day in 1963, and they will most likely have slightly different readings for gain and other factors. Put enough of them up on a tester and some will even fail to meet standards. That’s the way it is. *What we call NOS tubes, for “new old stock,” tubes manufactured many years ago but never put into use.

What this all means for the guitarist is that it behooves you to get your hands on as many different tubes as you can reasonably afford, and different makes of tubes, and try swapping a few around to see which ones help you to best achieve the tone you are seeking. The first preamp tube position usually affects the tone of that part of the amp the most (read your amp’s tube chart or owner’s manual to make sure you know how to change tubes safely, and are changing the right tube, and please don’t touch any hot tubes! Let them cool down first). Try three different makes of 12AX7 (also called a 7025, or ECC83 in Europe) in that position—assuming that’s the tube type it uses, as the majority do today—and I’m willing to bet you’ll notice a slightly different tonality from each. Search the Internet and read up on what other players consider to be the best current-manufacture tubes coming out today (there’s too much detail on that subject to go into here), and also see if you can find any affordable NOS tubes, or can pull some used but functioning examples from old junker radio or hi-fi systems you find at garage sales and swap meets. Experiment a little, and see which ones work for you. 

In addition to trying different makes of the same type of tube, there are a few different tube types that are entirely compatible with the 12AX7—in an electrical sense—but which offer different gain and performance responses. To lower the gain of a preamp stage a little you can swap a 5751 into any socket that carries a 12AX7, or to lower it even more but retain the same performance characteristics (other than gain) you can use a 12AY7, like many of the classic “tweed” amps of the 1950s used. Many players think the last thing they want to do is lower the gain of a preamp stage, but in doing so you can often prevent your signal from dirtying up in the preamp, and thereby pass a beefy, full-frequencied signal along to the output stage when the amp is cranked, and thereby generate more output-tube distortion, which results in a fatter, fuller tone in many simpler tube amps. (Note that this tip doesn’t usually apply to high-gain type tube amps, whose whole raison d’etre is to generate preamp distortion). This 5751 swap is a trick that Stevie Ray Vaughan used, for one, to help generate his signature tone, and it has also been employed by plenty of other classic blues players. If you’re trying to achieve less of what you hear as preamp distortion and more output-tube distortion, you can also try using a 5751 in the phase inverter position, which is usually the last preamp tube before the output tubes. Again, check your owner’s manual. There’s a lot of fun to be had in swap land. Happy tube tasting.

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It’s difficult to pin down an all-encompassing theme to ’07 musically, although politically and socially it feels like a watershed moment, perhaps a turning point even, and a lot of that is reflected in what has landed big in the realms of entertainment and the arts. Certainly there have been some significant “comebacks,” either from artists who were the new darlings of their genres just 10 or 12 years ago, or from classics who have swung back around to their core strengths. Gear-wise, as concerns Gibson products at least, it has been a year during which technology bloomed in new and wonderful ways, but without leaving behind the root strengths of the wood-and-wire creations that have helped to make the brand great for more than a century now.

As for album picks, it seems worth pointing out that these aren’t necessarily my chip-on-the-shoulder “so cool you haven’t even heard of them” picks. Sometimes it’s fun to celebrate the mass-appeal of this most massive of art forms, and revel in an experience that I still believe is best enjoyed in the company of others.

Oh, and I’m not trying to rank any of these in a 1-to-10 order. Instead, they’re listed according to a secret, arcane code that I will only refer to here as “alphabetical.”

CJ-165 EC Modern Classic
The CJ-165 EC carries the lush, curvaceous shape of the big SJ-200 launched way back in 1937, but is built to a smaller scale that has also proved friendly to fleet-fingered pickers and fingerstylists. Beyond tonal splendors such as its solid sitka spruce top with hand-scalloped bracing and solid rosewood back and sides (maple optional), the CJ-165 EC packs an impressive technological punch in the form of its Ellipse Aura System pickup with sophisticated Aura Acoustic Imaging Technology. This piezo pickup and preamp system lets you select the sound of the CJ-165 EC as recorded through any of four classic microphones, to cut all the extra cables, restrictions, expense, and hassles out of getting top-quality, miked-up tone in the studio or on stage. Truly a great leap forward.

 

ES-339
Gibson has played around with its classic formats plenty over the years, but 2007’s redraw of the ES-335 took a slightly different approach, and a clever one at that, to the usual “hotrodding” that the modification of an existing model usually entails. For the new ES-339 the Custom Shop retained the iconic shape and proportions of the ES-335. Luthiers used similar construction techniques and laminated maple top, back, and sides with a solid maple center block and mahogany neck, but designed a body that was smaller overall, and therefore lighter and easier for many players to get to grips with. The reduced acoustic element in this updated semi-acoustic design also helped to further reduce feedback—one of the original goals of the ES-335 of 1958. Perhaps most importantly, the venture achieved all this while retaining the original’s characteristically rich, toothsome semi-acoustic tone. A new classic.

HD.6X-Pro Digital Les Paul
Gibson’s digital-access guitar was a long time coming, but when it hit the scene early in 2007 it was instantly clear that the formative maker had taken its time in order to get the format right, rather than just making a token nod toward this amazing technology’s capabilities. In addition to two traditional magnetic humbucking pickups mounted in a guitar that performs exactly like an analog Les Paul Standard, the HD.6X-Pro carries an innovative new Hex pickup, which forms the link between analog and digital in the system, and is actually comprised of six small individual humbucking pickups. Each of these sends a signal from an individual string to the guitar’s onboard, studio-grade preamps and converters, where the signals are converted from analog to digital, and sent down via Ethernet cable to a proprietary Break out Box (BoB), from which the player can then route the output to be processed externally in mono, stereo (splitting the three lower strings and three higher strings), or as six individual signals, one per string. The HD.6X-Pro’s onboard preamp system also includes a headphone output for in-ear monitoring, and a facility to return a monitor feed from an external mixer via the BoB and Ethernet cable. Its capabilities are, in short, simply breathtaking, and probably more than its inventors have even yet conceived.

Live Earth Concerts
Live Earth might have been deemed a mixed bag musically by some critics and fans, but the event turned out some stunning performances by any standards, and embodied a show of unity―of the kind that is all too rare in these times―behind the most important issue of our day. Sure, music is music, but now and then it blends darn well with a little social and political awareness, too, and at least it feels good in the process.

Brad Paisley, 5th Gear
Between the deliciously indulgent pedal-steel and guitar duals of “Mr. Policeman,” the neo-country guitar workout of “Throttleneck,” and the slightly sappy tears-in-your-beer weepers like “Letter to Me” and “With You, Without You,” Brad Paisley carries the flag forward for contemporary commercial country. A guilty pleasure. (Deserving of an honorable mention is the hard-twang classic country outing of the year, Dwight Yoakam’s Dwight Sings Buck, on which the Kentucky boy channels the Bakersfield hit-maker.)

 

 

Radiohead, In Rainbows
Notable not only for the music―which shows Radiohead in fine form once again, combining infectious near-pop hooks and melodies with sonic experimentation and a myriad aural delights―but for the “event” it represented. By sidestepping the major labels, releasing the album themselves (and online-only, originally at least), and letting each fan choose their own price, Thom Yorke and co. have shown one way out of the mire that the recording industry has found itself stuck in. Stunning in a lights out, volume up, let it float you kind of way.

 

Robot Guitar
Finally the instrument that every player has dreamed of at one time or another: a guitar that tunes itself. The Robot Guitar is a traditional Les Paul Standard that functions entirely as a normal, analog guitar, but is equipped with an automatic tuning system. This system contains a built-in pitch-sensing and mechanized adjustment system that literally tunes the guitar for you. It is operated solely from the guitar, with no external connections or interface from a third-party device. A Master Control Knob (MCK)―which performs like a standard Tone knob in its down position―provides selections between standard tuning, Open E, Dropped D, DADGAD, Open G, Hendrix Tuning (half-step down), or any of a player’s own custom tunings. To activate it, the player simply turns to the desired selection, presses the MCK, strums the strings, and the six individual electronic motors in the tuners rotate to bring the guitar to pitch. Totally tuned-o-licious.

Bruce Springsteen, Magic
Back with the E Street Band, Bruce Springsteen sounds so big, so solid. “Radio Nowhere” is utterly contemporary as the embodiment of un-genre-fied rock—pure, straight-up, uncalculated, if perhaps a little over-produced (and he always was, though on those ’70s albums the overproduction now sounds retro to us). “Long Walk Home” verges on vintage Boss, and elsewhere the album touches on all points in between. As a whole, Magic reminds us that Springsteen is perhaps the most American of rock artists―part rock and roll, part country and Americana, a dash of classic R&B, and something entirely his own.

Neil Young, Chrome Dreams II
Neil Young confirms himself yet again to be rock’s most borderless artist. Completely unrestrained by preconception or expectation, he gives us top-drawer Young through and through―eviscerating themes and insightful lyrics, epic melodic constructions, and utterly compelling instrumental workouts on that battered, sprayed-black Les Paul Goldtop with well-oiled Bigsby vibrato. The Godfather of Grunge, and so much more.

 

 

 

Wilco, Sky Blue Sky
From its alt-country beginnings Jeff Tweedy’s outfit has evolved into a Yankee Radiohead: lush soundscapes, infectious tunes, cerebral yet accessible musicianship. Bookended by the optimistic melancholy of “Either Way” and “On and On and On,” with the vibrato-tinged Sunday afternoon pop of “Impossible Germany,” the loping ’70s R&B of “Hate It Here,” the boisterous slide-driven nouveau-Southern-rock rave up of “Walken” and other delights in between, it’s a post-modern epic of sorts that nevertheless avoids taking itself too seriously.

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“Hand-made” still carries a lot of weight in the realm of craftsmanship, in regards to musical instruments in particular. While the close, personal attention of Gibson’s skilled luthiers still gives Custom Shop guitars much of their cache, all of these fine electrics now have their playability perfected by an extremely advanced machine, known as the PLEK system.

When considering all the elements that provide you with that warm, fuzzy glow when selecting your next high-end instrument, think again if you think the PLEK sounds like a step backwards. The PLEK is no ordinary machine. It is, in fact, the embodiment of precision as regards to fret dressing and nut slot cutting, and it is quite possibly the most significant advancement in servicing technology since the electric guitar was conceived.

In short, the PLEK system, developed by Gerd Anke of A+D Guitarrentechnologie GmbH in Berlin, Germany, is a computer-controlled “robot” that reads a guitar’s frets with incredible accuracy, then automatically files and finishes them to produce the desired “action” as determined by a Gibson technician. This sounds simple enough, perhaps, but it’s an incredibly complex operation, and one that offers unprecedented precision.

“We use the PLEK for fret finishing and for cutting nut slots,” says Matthew Klein of the Gibson Custom Shop. “First, it reads [measures] a guitar’s neck and frets, which it’s able to do to an accuracy of a thousandth of a millimeter, then it machines [files] them to an accuracy of a hundredth of a millimeter.” The scan itself records a wealth of data about each individual guitar, including the height of each fret from the fingerboard, each fret’s individual radius, fingerboard radius, neck pitch and relief (bow), nut and bridge alignment, and much, much more. The PLEK can even tell its operating technician whether a truss rod adjustment is required before optimum fret dressing can be achieved, and once it has measured all the frets in such detail—and dressed them—the machine knows exactly how to cut the nut for optimum string spacing and slot height in relation to the fret height and the edges of the fingerboard. All of this is achieved with access to a myriad of different software packages that the PLEK references according to the type of set up desired, the guitar’s string gauge and scale length, neck curve, and other significant factors.

Gibson now has two PLEK machines, each of which takes approximately 15 minutes to complete a guitar. The PLEK system was first used on the Custom Shop’s Les Pauls, then the SG line got the treatment. Now, says Klein, the entire Custom Shop electric guitar range gets PLEKed.

“As soon as a guitar comes out of that machine it’s almost a given that it’s going to be an extremely playable instrument,” Klein enthuses. “There’s no guesswork. Obviously the wood can age, or if a player leaves the guitar in the trunk of their car in adverse conditions, we can’t account for future changes like that. But it’s playable right off the machine. And if that changes down the road, they can return the guitar to Gibson for service to have it re-PLEKed.

“We’ve had great testimonials from top players and session people,” Klein relates. “They can’t believe it. Skepticism is there, but when they get their instrument they go, ‘I’m sold!’”

To top it all off, once a Custom Shop customer is “sold” on the system, their own personal setup specs and requirements can be saved in a personal file within the PLEK’s computerized memory, so all of their guitars can be dressed to the same standards, or an instrument returned for work in the future can be re-PLEKed for the same faultless playability. Check out a Gibson Custom Shop guitar for yourself, and experience the unparalleled playability that the PLEK system helps Gibson’s top luthiers to achieve.

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Composer, arranger, and Baldwin pianist David Chesky can now add another Grammy nomination to his already lengthy list of accolades. News of his nomination for Best Classical Contemporary Composition came Thursday, December 6 at the Grammy’s annual announcement ceremony in Los Angeles. Chesky is being recognized for his “Concerto for Bassoon and Orchestra,” a track off this year’s Urban Concertos.

Chesky plays a Baldwin SF10E Concert Grand, and after learning of his Grammy nod Thursday, he said, “Do you know why I was nominated for the piece? ’Cause I wrote it on a seven-foot Baldwin!”
 

An innovative musician revered by audiophiles for developing new recording technologies, Chesky is also a saavy businessman who, along with brother Norman, has helmed classical and jazz audiophile record company Chesky Records in Manhattan for more than 20 years.

Chesky was previously nominated for a Grammy in 2005 for Best Engineered Classical Recording for Area 31. 

The Grammys will air live on CBS on Sunday, February 10.

For more information on David Chesky, click here.

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Learn more about Gibson V.O.S. (Vintage Original Specs) in our new video.


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This section is designed to assist in dating and/or identifying instruments manufactured or distributed by Gibson Guitar Corp. Please note that most of this information relates to serial numbers used from 1975 to present. For more details on Gibson Serialization prior to 1975 and historical product specs, use your Gruhn's Guide or view the following PDF files:

• Gibson Serial Number Information
• Gibson Electric Guitar Descriptions from the Blue Book of Guitars
• Gibson Acoustic Guitar Descriptions from the Blue Book of Guitars

PURCHASE YOUR BLUE BOOK NOW click here

If you do not have the Adobe Acrobat reader, download it here.



Corrections and additions to this section will be made as necessary. 

Gibson USA, Gibson Acoustic, Gibson Memphis

- From 1975-1977 the number is typically found on a decal on the back of the headstock. This should be an 8 digit number that can be dated by the 1st and 2nd digits as follows:



99 = 1975

00= 1976

06 = 1977



- In 1977, Gibson introduced the serialization method that we primarily use to this day at Gibson USA, Gibson Acoustic, and the Gibson Custom facility in Memphis, TN.



The serial number will be an 8 digit number impressed into the back of the headstock with "MADE IN USA" below.



The pattern is as follows:

YDDDYRRR

YY is the production year

DDD is the day of the year

RRR is the factory ranking/plant designation number.

Prior to 1984 when the Kalamazoo, MI factory was closed, the numbers 001-499 indicated Kalamazoo production. Ranking numbers 500-999 continued to indicate Nashville production through 1989.



Since 1989, all Gibson acoustics are built in Bozeman, MT and all Gibson electrics are built in Nashville or Memphis. Ranking numbers for Bozeman start each day at 001 and the electrics may start as low as the 300s.



Examples: 70108276 means the instrument was produced on Jan. 10, 1978, in Kalamazoo and was the 276th instrument stamped that day.



82765501 means the instrument was produced on Oct. 3, 1985, in Nashville and was the 1st instrument stamped that day.



NOTE - Gibson USA goes to a 9 digit serial number in early July 2005..

The sixth number is now a batch number- batch 0 starts at the beginning of the day, and once we stamp 699, the batch number will change to 1. The first 5 numbers remain the same, the last 3 numbers will remain the same. The only difference is the addition of this batch indicator.



There are always exceptions to these rules, the two listed below are worth noting:



Les Paul Classic: This model features an ink stamped serial number with no "MADE IN USA" (just as we used on the original 1952-1960 Les Pauls). Most will be 5 to 6 digits in length, but the earliest examples feature 4 digit serial numbers. There should be a space after the 1st digit with the 4 and 5 digit serial numbers, and no space with the 6 digit numbers.



The 1st digit indicates the year of manufacture for the 4 & 5 digit serial numbers, these were used from 1989-1999. The 1st and 2nd indicate the year of manufacture for the 6 digit serial numbers which we've been using since 2000.



Examples -

9 xxx = 1989 (4 digit number beginning with "9" used only in 1989)

0 xxxx = 1990

9 xxxx = 1999

00xxxx = 2000

05xxxx = 2005



Those beginning with "94":

In 1994, Gibson's Centennial year, many instruments have a serial number that begins with "94" for the year, with the remaining 6 digits indicating the ranking number.

Gibson Custom

1952-1960 Les Paul, Explorer, Flying V, and Futura reissues (since late 1992):

M YRRR or MYRRRR

M is the model year being reissued

Y is the production year

RRR® indicates the guitar's place production for that year. NOTE: This number includes all models for a particular reissue year - so, for example, a 1958 Reissue serial number may include '58 Reissue LP Standard and '58 Explorer production.



Example: 7 5123 is the 123rd 1957 reissue model produced in 2005.



1961-1969 Firebird, Les Paul, and SG reissues (since 1997):

YYRRRM

Y is the production year

RRR® indicates the guitar's place in production for that year.

M is the model being reissued

Reissue model codes:

1= SG Custom and Special

2= SG Standard

3= 1963 Firebird 1

4= 1964 Firebird III

5= 1965 Firebird V & VII

8= 1968 Les Paul Custom



Examples: 050102 is the 10th SG Standard reissue produced in 2005.

030084 is the 8th 1964 Firebird III reissue produced in 2003.



Historic ES MODELS (since 1995):

(A or B)-MYRRR

M is the model year being reissued

Y is the production year

RRR indicates the guitar's place in the sequence of Historic ES production for that year.

Reissue model codes:

2= ES-295

3= 1963 ES-335 (block inlays)

4= ES-330

5= ES-345

9 with an "A" prefix = 1959 ES-335 (dot inlays)

9 with a "B" prefix= ES-355



Example: A-38005 is the 5th '63 ES-335 Reissue produced in 1998.

Carved Top models (serial number on orange label)

YDDDYRRR

YY is the production year

DDD is the day of the year

RRR indicate the guitar's place in the sequence of carved tops made that day.

NOTE - as of 2000, 1st digit will be a "2"



Examples:

91418009 is the 9th carved top produced on the 141st day of 1998.

20045002 was the 2nd carved top stamped on the 4th day of 2005.



Custom Shop regular production models

CSYRRRR

CS stands for "Custom Shop"

Y indicates the production year

RRRR indicates the guitar's place in the sequence of production



Example: CS10845 is the 845th reg. production CS model produced in 2001.



CS Signature Models:

The list below is not an exhaustive listing but we have included many of our most popular Signature models. Please contact us at service@gibson.com should you have any questions.



Ace Frehley Les Paul

- 1997 Limited run, numbered in sequence as "ACE xxx"

Note: The discontinued Gibson USA Ace Frehley Signature Les Paul has a standard 8 digit serial number.



Andy Summers ES-335

Limited edition of 50. Numbered in sequence as "AS xxxx"



Dickey Betts '57 goldtop Les Paul

Limited edition of 114. Numbered in sequence as "DB xxx"



Dickey Betts '57 red top Les Paul

Numbered in sequence as "DBR xxx"



Gary Rossington Les Paul

Limited edition of 250. Numbered in sequence as "GR xxx"



Gary Rossington SG

Limited edition of 250. Numbered in sequence as "13xxx"



Jimmy Page Les Paul (3 versions)

-1st 25 aged models were hand numbered 1-25 and signed by Jimmy Page, no other number is on this model.

-Limited run of 150 aged models are numbered in sequence as "PAGE xxx"

-Unlimited run of Custom Authentic models are numbered in sequence as "JPP xxx"

Note: The discontinued Gibson USA Jimmy Page Signature Les Paul has a standard 8 digit serial number.



Joe Perry Les Paul (2 models)

- Joe Perry Signature Les Paul from 1996 (trans black finish) - numbered in sequence as "JPxxx"

- Boneyard LP - Pilot Run models have an inked number and hand written "Pilot Run". The production version (no difference in spec) numbered in sequence as "BONE xxx"

Note: The discontinued Gibson USA Joe Perry Signature Les Paul made has a standard 8 digit serial number.



Johnny A.

Numbered in sequence as "JA xxx"



Pete Townshend LP Deluxe

Limited run of 75, numbered in sequence as "PETE xxx"



Peter Frampton Les Paul (2 models)

- PF LP Custom - numbered in sequence as "PF xxx"

- PF LP Special - numbered in sequence as "PFYxxx" Y indicates the year of production.



Slash Les Paul (2 models)

- 1997 limited edition model, cranberry finish: numbered in sequence as "SL xxx"

- Regular production model introduced in 2004, also numbered in sequence as "SL xxx"

Note: The discontinued Epiphone Slash Les Paul made has a standard Epiphone serial number.



Tony Iommi SG

Numbered in sequence as "TI xxx"



Zakk Wylde Les Paul

Bullseye and the rare "Rough Top" version numbered in sequence as "ZW xxx"

Camo version numbered in sequence as "ZPW xxx" 

Gibson Banjos 1988 to present

Earl Scruggs Models

Standard:

Sequential production number, starting at 001



'49 Classic:

YY-RR

YY = Year of manufacture

RR = ranking number (starts at 01)



Golden Deluxe:

YY-RR

YY = Year of manufacture

RR = ranking number (starts at 01)



Flint Hill Special:

FH-YY-RR

YY = Year of manufacture

RR = ranking number (starts at 01)



Special:

ES-YY-RR

YY = Year of manufacture

RR = ranking number (starts at 01)



Style 250

250-TT-RR

YY = Year of manufacture

RR = ranking number (starts at 01)



Granada

YY-MM-RR

YY = Year

MM = Month

RR = ranking number (starts at 01)



RB

RB### = sequential production number



All other models

S(S)-YYMM-RR

S(S) = style (excluding style 250 - see above)

YY = Year

MM = Month

RR = ranking number 

Epiphone

Most regular production models since ca. 1993. Many '80s and early '90s serial numbers may follow a similar scheme, but may not include a factory ID code.

FYYMMRRRR

F= Factory code (this can be 2 letters as well)

YY= year of manufacture (this can also be just 1 digit for '90s models)

MM= month of manufacture

R= ranking number (may be more or less digits, not necessarily indicative of total units produced)

Example - S02021234 was issued in Feb. 2002.



Another code used on some current Epiphone models

FYYMRRRR

F= Factory code

YY=Year of manufacture

M= This will be a letter code corresponding to the month (A=January, B=February, etc...)

RRRR= ranking number

Example - R03D0263 was issued in April 2003.



Epiphone Elite/Elitist models

FYSSSS

F= Factory Code (this code will be an "F" or "T")

Y= Year of manufacture (2 = 2002, 3 = 2003, etc.)

SSSS= Sequential Serial Number

Example - T41234 is a 2004 Elitist model. 

Dobro (1995-present)

1995-1997

A(A) (#)###YY

A(A) = model code

(#) ### = ranking number

YY = last 2 digits of year

Example - BA xxx 95 dates to 1995



1997-Current

YMMDDRRY

Y = last digit of year

MM = Month

DD = day of month

RR = ranking number

Y (last digit) = decade 

Gibson Goldtone Amps

Product code/production number/quarter and year made



Example - G-03/207/299



Note that the "'G" is often mistaken for a "6". This amp was made in the second quarter of 1999.

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