GEAR REVIEWS | INTERVIEWS | GUITAR LESSONS | TIPS & ADVICE

THE GUITAR MAGAZINE

ISSUE 386

www.guitarist.co.uk | 5.75 | October 2014

M A C H I N E
Under the hood of

BRIAN MAYS
RED SPECIAL

Internals revealed 8-page gallery

Tech secrets New biography

PLAYERS

Chuck
Berry
Steve
Morse
John
Mayall

PRINTED IN THE UK

5.75

Korg Nuvibe
Supro Coronado
& Dual-Tone amps
PRS S2 Semi-Hollows
Collings SoCo LC semis
Boss GT-001 & much more!

OCTOBER 2014

REVIEWS

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Brian May has inspired an

awful lot of players, but
nobody plays quite like him.
To a generation of
dumbstruck guitarists, the
liquid howl of his solo on
Bohemian Rhapsody sounded
like Mozart conquering the
galaxy. Clapton and Hendrix
walked in the footsteps of blues giants such as
BB King, but Mays sound was truly without
precedent in rock n roll. Its nearest living
relative? Arguably opera at its most flamboyant.
So its fitting that Brian, in a relaxing break from
astrophysics, built his own guitar the famed
Red Special. On paper it sounds like a luthiers
nightmare, with blockboard and bits of fireplace
standing in stead of Brazilian rosewood and
figured maple. And yet that tone... well,
dynamite-with-a-laser-beam just about covers it.
Since then, the Red Special has appeared on
nearly all of Queens landmark tracks and its still
Brians main squeeze. So when veteran Guitarist
scribe and lifelong Queen fan Simon Bradley was
invited to write the official biography of the
guitar, with forensic-grade photography and a
new, detailed account of its construction from
Brian himself, he dived in.
In this issue, Simon explains how exploring
the Red Specials construction involved taking it
completely to bits, and talks us through the
guitars spec from headstock to tailpiece. Turn to
p50 to see the most iconic guitar in rock as
youve never seen it before.
Lastly, as you might well have noticed from
the front cover, this issue of Guitarist comes
with a free digital copy of the mag that you can
download to your tablet or smartphone turn to
p142 to find out how to get yours. Guaranteed to
blow your mind? Anytime...

We are committed to only using

magazine paper which is derived from
well managed, certied forestry and
chlorine-free manufacture. Future
Publishing and its paper suppliers have
been independently certied in
accordance with the rules of the FSC
(Forest Stewardship Council).

Jamie Dickson Editor

October 2014 Guitarist 3

Contents

The Guitar Magazine

ISSUE 386 OCTOBER 2014

20

86
34

70
People & Playing

50

John Mayall. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34

Brad Paisley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Steve Morse. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42
Howard Alden . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Jim Campilongo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .70
Chuck Berry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .78
Danny Bryant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Blues Headlines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

Queen
Machine
Its one of the most iconic
and unique guitars in
rock, but what makes the
Red Special so, er, special?
Guitarist alumnus Simon
Bradley quite literally
wrote the book on Brian
Mays self-made guitar,
and with his help we peer
under the hood of this
legendary axe to find out
what makes it tick

Regulars
Welcome From The Editor . . . . . . . 3
Front End. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Readers Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36
New Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Subscribe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Longterm Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Gear Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Readers Ads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
6 Guitarist October 2014

COVER PHOTOGRAPHY BY JESSE WILD

VIDEOS

New gear this month

Fender Modern Player Short Scale
Stratocaster & Telecaster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Avian Skylark & Songbird
Demi Cutaways. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Supro Coronado & Dual-Tone . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Collings SoCo 15 LC & 16 LC Deluxe . . . 38
Small Gigging Amp Round-up . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
PRS S2 Semi-hollows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Boss GT-001 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Korg Nuvibe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
T-Rex Vulture, Creamer, Karma
Boost, NeoComp, Quint Machine &
Replay Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Positive Grid Final Touch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Empress Compressor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Morley M2VO & M2WV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Eventide MixingLink . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Freshman SONGTRAVTSB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Bigfoot Engineering Trouble Boost . . . . 132

http://bit.ly/
guitarist386
Manson

How to watch
From now on, youll be able to
stream all of the accompanying
video content from a YouTube
playlist, accessible via the short
web link below. Simply type it into
your PC, tablet or mobile devices
web browser and watch it all from
there. In the case of audio-only
files, we will publish a separate
download link on the page.
And fear not, all back-issue Vault
content remains available online
at vault.guitarist.co.uk.
STEP 1
Go to: http://bit.ly/guitarist386

STEP 2

102

112

Play and enjoy. Simple!

116

08

Follow the link

above to get your
video content

October 2014 Guitarist 7

FIRST

PLAY

FENDER MODERN PLAYER

SHORT SCALE TELECASTER
394
WHAT IS IT? Chinese-made short
scale version of the solidbody that
started it all for Fender

FENDER MODERN PLAYER

SHORT SCALE STRATOCASTER
394
WHAT IS IT? A scaled-down Strat
with a difference, thanks in part to a
Guild bridge humbucker

SIZE
MATTERS

Fenders chefs have added a pair

of intriguing new starters to the
menu. Will the smaller
proportions of these Modern
Players satisfy, or do they leave us
hungry for a full-scale portion?
WORDS

CHRIS VINNICOMBE
JAMES LOOKER

PHOTOGRAPHY

hort scale Fenders are nothing new

just ask the users of shortscale.org,
a whole wiki devoted to their charms.
Indeed, the Mustang, Jaguar, DuoSonic, Musicmaster, and even the
Bronco, have been used to create their fair
share of great music over the years. Yet here at
the tail end of 2014, with miniaturisation
abundant in the workshops of amplifier and
effects pedal engineers the world over, we find
The Big F taking two of the pillars of the
electric guitar church and downsizing them.

8 Guitarist October 2014

VIDEO DEMO
Fender Modern Player Short Scale Telecaster & Stratocaster

FIRST

PLAY

http://bit.ly/
guitarist386

October 2014 Guitarist 9

FIRST

PLAY

Fender Modern Player Short Scale Telecaster & Stratocas

Stratocaster
ster
ste
st
er

1 Juicy
Juicy R&B tones lurk
in the Telecasters
middle position,
thanks to the
combination of Fender
and Guild pickups
2 In both cases, the
truss rod adjustment
takes place at the
headstock end
3 It may be well over 60
years old, but the
combination of
ashtray bridge and
brass saddles still
does the business

From more than six feet up in the air, its

difficult for this writers brain to relate to a
scenario in which a regular Stratocaster or
Tele seems just too large and unwieldy. Yet for
a player for whom the standard Gibson scale
length of 624mm (24.6) is home, Fenders
648mm (25.5) can feel, initially at least, quite
different not least the added string tension.
So, the extra elasticity of a shorter scale
length combined with traditional Fender
appointments has its appeal. That said, a
cursory glance at these two Chinese-made
Modern Player instruments reveals much
thats not so traditional.
The classic Telecaster outline is
approximately 320mm at the widest point
across the body, and 399mm straight down the
centre from the edge of the neck join to the
base of the strap pin. The Modern Player Short
Scale Telecaster along with reducing the
scale length to 610mm (24-inch) shaves
those dimensions down to 304mm and 379mm
respectively. It doesnt sound like much
indeed its only about a five per cent reduction
in size in each direction on either guitar but it
makes for a much more compact look and feel
overall. Predictably, perhaps, the Telecaster is
the more successful design revision of the duo
in aesthetic terms; the simpler instrument
appears less cluttered and cramped, whereas

10 Guitarist October 2014