Fender Guitar & Basses

Nothing looks, feels and plays like a broken-in guitar. You just know it’s seen some action (unlike yourself, big boy). Fender’s brand-new Road Worn Series guitars and basses haven’t done any time out of the factory, but they certainly look like they did. These guitars and basses are masterfully aged to emulate the worn look of instruments that have been played hard for years, but they’re offered at prices that are easily affordable for working musicians.

Based on classic Fender guitars and basses of the Fifties and Sixties, the Road Worn models include two Stratocasters, a Telecaster, a Precision Bass and Jazz Bass, each combining the best of vintage and modern appointments. All models feature visibly distressed nitrocellulose lacquer-finished bodies, smooth worn-in necks and worn chrome hardware (nickel-chrome for basses) for an aged appearance. While the guitars have been designed with period-correct specifications, several modern upgrades have been built into each model, including Tex Mex single-coil pickups, larger 6105 frets and fiveway pickup switches (Strat models). So while a great guitar or bass gets better with age, with the Road Worns you’re already ahead of the game.

LIST PRICE: ’50s Tele, ’50s Strat and ’60s Strat, $1,200.00; ’50s Precision Bass, $1,500.00; ’60s Jazz Bass, $1,570.00

Hagstrom Tremar Series

If sixties-era Bond girl Britt Eklund is your idea of a Super Swede, here’s some good news, old-timer: Hagstrom’s new Super Swede Tremar Series guitar has all the feel and appeal of axes from Eklund’s heyday.

For that matter, Hagstrom has “Tremarized” many of its classic models, including the Viking, Viking Deluxe, Deluxe-F and HJ-500, giving them an H-Expander Truss Rod, Resinator fretboard and vintage-voiced Hagstrom Custom 58 humbuckers. All Tremar guitars have a carved maple top with flamed maple cap, 25 1/2–inch-scale mahogany set neck, neck and bridge pickups with independent volume and tone controls, mini-toggle coil-tap switch and a Tremar vibrato with roller bridge. With their distinctive vibrato bar, tailpiece and matching hardware, the Tremars look great and produce silky vibrato ranging from smooth to tremulous. Consider us shaken.

Peavey Void III

Peavey's Void III gives true metallists everything they could ever want in a guitar.

The meteoric resurgence of metal has inspired a slew of novel hardcore guitar designs that are in many ways continuing stylistic
trends from the Eighties. Floyd Rose locking bridges, ultra-smooth Kahler trems, blazing EMG pickups and radical shapes are all appropriate again and en vogue. Unlike the Eighties, our modern, computer-assisted tools and methods of manufacture now make it possible to build practically anything we can imagine at prices that are easy on the pocket. Peavey’s new PXD Series Void III is a wicked example of what can be achieved when a company sets out to create a supreme, fully loaded, dominating metal machine. Peavey chose every component and curve on the Void III with evil intent, as if filling a custom order for the dark lord himself. “Extreme” is the common denominator.

FEATURES

The devil is certainly in the details of Peavey’s Void III. The heavy mahogany body looks as though an unholy union was consummated between a deviant Mockingbird and an ill-intended Explorer. Even with all of these curves and points, the Void III
is as comfortable and balanced on the shoulder as it is on the lap. Its satin black finish has a raw feel and the appearance of charred wood.

This Peavey’s set neck has 24 frets on a short 24 3/4–inch scale, equating to a full two-octave range and string tensions that are slinky enough for two-step bends. As expected on a metal guitar, true jumbo frets add to the Void III’s speed potential and volume, especially for players that utilize legato techniques, tapping and frequent hammerons or pull-offs. There’s sufficient meat in the mahogany neck’s shape to ensure proper resonance, but it’s definitely thin enough for vicious shredding.

The Void III’s offset horn headstock is a particularly deranged choice of angles; it looks like a tree that was ripped apart by a bolt of lightning—left alive, yet twisted and deformed. This split design is functional as well as stylish; it rings like a tuning fork
and serves to aid note definition, especially on this stout mahogany guitar.

All of the Void III’s hardware is fittingly black, and I love Peavey’s choices. The skeletonized tuning keys are an infinitely cool addition to this instrument’s theme and provide a great grip. Floyd Roses are the usual choice for a guitar that’s destined for certain whammy abuse, but the top-locked Kahler tremolo offers unequaled resonance, impossibly smooth action and
fantastic tuning stability.

To give the Void III a truly eviscerating attack, Peavey has loaded it with two ceramic-based, active EMG pickups: an 81 model in the bridge and a model 60 in the neck. Peavey also included an EMG Afterburner preamp, which provides up to 20db of gain boost. Each pickup has a dedicated volume pot; a third knob controls the Afterburner’s level of boost and a three-way toggle selects the pickups. As if Peavey hadn’t made the metal theme obvious enough, brushed aluminum is used for the pickguard,
truss rod cover and the single sharkfin inlay.

PERFORMANCE

I was prepared for the Void III’s ample use of mahogany and satin finish to create a very dark demeanor. But acoustically, this Peavey really has more scream than chunk. In fact, there’s almost a natural metallic tinge to the sound, as if the fretboard was made of steel. Combining this sound with the ceramic EMG-60 neck pickup gave a defined and brutal rhythm foundation à la James Hetfield. The EMG-81 sounded especially lively and intense in the Void III, delivering enough gain, punch and sustain to satisfy most metalheads’ lust for wild leads. I wanted more of everything, however, and the EMG Afterburner didn’t disappoint. Kicking in that preamp was like poking an angry bull in the ass with a hot prod. Every note slammed the front end of the amp, distortion was rampant and harmonics screeched like an eagle on the attack.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Peavey's Void III gives true metallists everything they could ever want: a rock solid Kahler trem, a comfortable yet fast neck, active EMGs with hardhitting ceramic magnets, skeletonized tuning keys, razor-sharp tones and a Lucifer-approved storm of gain via an EMG Afterburner preamp. It even comes in a custom Coffin case. Metal never gleamed so brightly!

Ernie Ball Guitar

The Music Man 25th Anniversary is a fitting celebration of the quality and innovation that the company has nurtured over the years.

Although Music Man was established in the Seventies and produced the first post-Fender guitars designed by Leo Fender, the company that we know and love today got its true start when Ernie Ball purchased Music Man’s trademarks and designs in 1984. In addition to reviving the beloved StingRay bass, which was initially designed in the mid Seventies with considerable input from current Ernie Ball Music Man CEO Sterling Ball, Music Man has produced a wide variety of acclaimed new instruments like the Silhouette and Axis guitars, the Sterling and Bongo basses, and the John Petrucci, Steve Morse, Steve Lukather and Albert Lee Signature model guitars.

With a stock lineup like that, as well as the limited-edition Ball Family Reserve Series, Music Man couldn’t celebrate 25 years in the business by just slapping a custom paint job on a pre-existing design and calling it an anniversary model. Instead, the company designed a totally new guitar that combines several familiar Music Man features with some new innovations. As a result, the Music Man 25th Anniversary model guitar adds a brilliant new voice to the company’s already stellar lineup.

FEATURES

The Music Man 25th Anniversary has a single-cutaway body shape that’s similar to the Axis model, but its body is slightly longer and wider, which actually makes the guitar’s curves seem more trim and subtle, and it is more dramatically contoured to provide greater playing comfort. But the biggest difference lies underneath the highly figured, book-matched maple top. In addition to a mahogany tone block that extends from the top of the neck pocket to the end of the bridge, a feature first introduced on the Silhouette 20th Anniversary guitar, the 25th Anniversary model has a basswood body with a few dozen angled routed chambers surrounding the tone block. As a result, the guitar is exceptionally lightweight and delivers big, resonant tone with a fast, percussive attack and full, rich sustain.

The guitar features a pair of custom DiMarzio humbucking pickups, but a versatile wiring configuration provides 10 different sounds instead of just the usual bridge/both/neck tones. A Stratstyle five-position switch offers the following settings: both bridge coils, outer coils of bridge and neck pickups, all four coils, inner coils of bridge and neck pickups, and both neck coils. A two-position switch toggles between parallel and series wiring. Parallel wiring is where the current is “split” or “divided” to each pickup or coil, while in series wiring the current must flow through one pickup or coil to reach the other one. On its own, a traditional (i.e. non-coil split) humbucking pickup is wired in series, which increases inductance and reduces the resonant frequency. This is partly why a humbucker delivers increased output and fatter tone than a single-coil pickup. While a humbucking pickup itself may be wired in series, the entire pickup circuit is usually wired in parallel. The 25th Anniversary’s ingenious wiring scheme provides a full array of authentic humbucking as well as single-coil tones without any buzz or hum.

PERFORMANCE

Ernie Ball Music Man guitars have some of the best-feeling necks in the business, and the 25th Anniversary model is no exception. My example featured a maple fingerboard, although rosewood is also available. The neck is finished with gunstock oil and hand rubbed with a special wax blend to balance the resistance of raw wood with the slick comfort of a finished neck. As a result, the neck feels like it’s already broken in.

The chambered basswood body, maple top and pickup wiring combine to deliver unique tone. The guitar sounds exceptionally bright and punchy, with a very pronounced attack, while it retains the fatness, depth and warmth attributed to most dual-humbucker guitars. It’s as if the guitar has its own presence control built into it and is cranked all the way to 10. This pronounced upper midrange/treble peak may take some humbucker traditionalists a while to get used to, but for many players it will sound as if someone removed a wet blanket that was covering the speaker cabinet.

The series wiring configuration provides plenty of enticing tones, from huge humbucker girth to screaming Brian May–like treble booster squall. One of my favorite tricks was to use the center dual-humbucker setting in parallel and then switch to series to provide a natural-sounding signal boost that easily pushes an amp into overdrive. It’s like having a Tube Screamer at your fingertips.

THE BOTTOM LINE

The Music Man 25th Anniversary is a fitting celebration of the quality and innovation that the company has nurtured over the years. With its unique sound and exceptional playability, it also points to a bright future for a company that has refused to compromise since the beginning.