I last did this exercise back in February of 2018 - where the core of the article was solid - while I only focused on 9 of the more popular brands. This time around I up the ante to 25 key electric guitar string brands - so there really should be something for everyone here!

Most 6 string electric guitars are supplied with standard 10 gauge (10-46) strings usually OEM’d for the guitar manufacturer by one of the main manufacturers or overseas subsidiaries. Some guitars are down-tuned by ...

Most people consider JHS Pedals’ 3 Series launch back in October of 2020 as the catalyst and forerunner of this particular effects pedal industry Budget phase / development. While I would go back to August of 2019 to EarthQuaker Devices’ first $99 pedal - the Plumes Small Signal Shredder OD - as the starting point of this trend.

Of course Josh Scott was the first to issue a full range of $99 pedals - where he launched with 7 white utilitarian / industrial style 3-knobs + 1-switch - somewhat...

So this is the 4th in my recent Guitar Elements Series - which started with Ergonomic Headstocks, then Iconic Body Shapes, and Modern Tremolo Bridges. I have a few more to come - next up is Iconic Fret Markers / Fredboards, then Strings, and some more Body shape ones - I’ve already completed the follow-up - and feel I have enough remains for a 3rd 25, I may even be able to do a 4th - so 100 guitar body shapes all-in.

I had some blowback on the use of the word ’Iconic’ - where some ...

Much like my recent ’Ergonomic’ Headstock feature - this was another labour of love really - and essentially the second half to that exercise.

The remit is slightly different here - where this curated selection is a mix of universally held iconic classic guitar body shapes, sprinkled with a few of my own idiosyncratic favourites. I don’t expect your own selection to be entirely the same - while surely there should be a 80-90% overlap or thereabouts.

This exercise has been done by many ...

This is my third feature on headstock ergonomics - following on from my 2016 original, and 2018 follow-up. On this occasion the catalyst for this article was the recent Birmingham Guitar Show - where I liked a lot of the body shapes I saw on display, but was put off by their unergonomic or in fact actually rather ugly headstocks.

Creating an aesthetically beautiful but distinct headstock shape is an incredible difficult task these days - and lots of brands essentially ’fail’ in that area - ...

Gibson famously invented the Guitar Effects Pedal / Stompbox when it released its Germanium Transistor Maestro FZ-1 Fuzz-Tone back in 1962 - and as famously featured on the Rolling Stones’ ’Satisfaction’. Over the span of that sub-brand’s initial run we witnessed the creation of the BG-1 Boomerang Wah, RM-1 Ring Modulator, PS-1 Phase Shifter and EP-3 Echoplex Delay. Which all remain iconic effects to this day.

For its revival Original Collection - Gibson has taken significant visual cues ...

So I discovered these two instruments somewhat by chance - the Les Paul style one fairly recently, while the SG I’ve now come across a few times. The Daniels LP style guitar is actually a couple of years old while the Gibson is the ridiculously limited Billy Gibbons Ultimate SG from the Neiman Marcus Christmas Catalogue back in 2015 - and which retailed for a hefty $30,000 back then. The LP-style is a one-off custom build by UK luthier Darren Daniels whose prices are supposedly relatively...

2018 has been a pretty decent year for new guitar releases - with genuinely something exceptional for near enough every variety. Fender released the really cool alternative range of Parallel Universe guitars - including the above Troublemaker Telecaster. And Gibson released the perfectly packaged Les Paul Junior Tribute.

We also saw Ibanez, Music Man and PRS further build on their quality reputations - while Music Man concentrated more on its Sterling diffusion range as it was so busy ...

Even though my favourite body shape is still the Strat or S-Style Doublecut format, I do still quite like most variations on that theme - including the sharp pointed ’devil’s horns’ of the Gibson SG shape - as most famously rocked by AC/DC’s Angus Young.

These are classically all-Mahogany sort of PAF humbucker affairs with typically Set-Neck 24 and three-quarter inch scale length, and classically Rosewood or Ebony Fretboards. Preferred control layout here also ...