500 Word Micro-Fret Guitars

Quick! Name the guitar company that had Carl Perkins, Mike Rutherford, Mark Farner, and Martin Gore as one of their many fans?

Nope, it’s not Fender, Gibson or even Gretsch .

I’ll give you a couple of hints, the majority of their guitars were semi hollowbody electrics and some even featured a built in wireless system.

You may be forgiven if you said Rickenbacker but it was Micro-Frets.

Who?

You’re forgiven if you hadn’t heard of Micro-Frets because they sank beneath the waves in the Seventies.

Started by Maryland based engineer Ralph S. Jones in the early Sixties Micro-Frets had more to do with Washington state based builder Harvey Thomas than any of the major builders at the time.

Like Harvey Thomas’ designs Ralph Jones’ guitars where both idiosyncratic and forward-looking.

Jones’ guitars used a 52-piece “Micro-Nut” compensated nut that allowed a player to intonate each string at the nut.

While some of Jones’ guitars sported DeArmond pickups quite a number of Micro-Frets also sported pickups by the late Bill Lawrence.

During their heyday Micro-Frets produced mandolins, baritones and basses but they are most closely associated with their unique looking guitars.

Both rockabilly legend Carl Perkins and Depeche Mode’s Martin Gore favored the dual cutaway Spacetone. While difficult to describe the Spacetone looked somewhat like a Gretsch Duo Jet with the paintjob of a Burns Double-Six.

Somewhat more unusual was the Orbiter. Imagine what would happen if you hired Gumby creator Art Clokey to cross Gretsch Billy-Bo Jupiter Thunderbird, and a Rickenbacker 360 then you may get an idea what an Orbiter looked like.

Yeah, funky but in a good way.

Another standout is the Huntington. To say that the Huntington is something like a paring of a BC Rich Seagull that has gone through some radioactive mutations does the guitar a disservice. But there are some guitars that are so amazingly bizarre they are beautiful.

Information concerning Micro-Fret guitars is somewhat spotty but there appears to be an effort during the Seventies by a man named David Sturgill to keep the name going with the short lived Diamond-S model.

In my research I’ve only been able to find one demonstration of a Micro-Fret guitar on YouTube, a Stage II posted by mjm33mjm. Tonally the Stage II seems to have it’s own thing going for it and is somewhere between a Jazzmaster and a Rickenbacker or some sort. The sound is throaty, woody but still has plenty of punch and sparkle. Granted, a Micro-Fret Stage II would probably not the first guitar you would reach for if you were in a Gorgoroth cover band but it wouldn’t be out of place if you were playing early Elvis Costello songs.

More recently, however, a partnership between Will Meadors and Paul Rose has arisen to get Micro-Frets back on their feet again. I have a soft spot for early Sixties oddity guitars so I for one can’t wait to see them up and running again.

For more information check out http://www.guitar-list.com/brands/micro-frets and keep an eye on their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Micro-Frets-157147700976396/ for updates.

For more on Paul and Brother’s Brown- http://www.paulbrownjazz.com

For more on Peach- http://www.peachmusic.com/live/

“The Economy of Practice”

Stop! Stop and take time to practice, sounds simple enough right? Scott Gailor discusses the subject of “Making Time” for you and your playing.

Want more Scott Gailor? http://www.scottgailor.com/new-products/scott-gailor-technicolormonochrome-cd

Check out Vernon- http://www.vernonneilly.com

Check out Prashant- http://prashantaswani.com

500 Words European Guitar Builders You Should Know

We’re kind of spoiled in the US. What I mean by that is we have a lot of great guitars to choose from. We have Gibson, Fender, Guild, C.F. Martin, etc., etc., etc. It can be argued there are almost too many guitars!

What if, however, you live in Europe or the UK? Welcome to the world of European guitars. While there isn’t enough room to talk about every company I have narrowed things down to a few notables.

Framus; Started in Germany in 1946 and originally started as a violin manufacture but as rock ‘n’ roll became more popular they started making guitars. Today they are a division of Warwick GmbH & Co Music Equipment KG that also makes Warwick basses. Notable users have been Paul McCartney, Willi Stich (a.k.a. Bill Lawrence), Jan Akkerman, Earl Slick and Devin Townsend. http://www.warwick.de/en/Home.html

Eko; If Framus were the upper tear guitars Eko were decidedly more pedestrian. Perhaps more famous for being cheap and funky rather than “good” Eko guitars started in Italy in 1956 was more than happy to cash in on the rock ‘n’ roll craze. Eko were notable for making the teardrop Vox Phantom and Mark III guitars. Eko is still around but gone are the sparkly metaflake guitars of the past but in their place are high quality acoustics and electrics with a distinctly Euro vibe. http://ekousaguitars.com

Vigier; Vigier are a relative unknown in the US market but are well respected in Europe and England. Based in France and started in 1980 Vigier are noted for their 90/10 design (90% wood, 10% carbon) and the use of stainless steel frets. Like Framus, Vigier has also have an impressive lineup of players including Geezer Bulter, Guthrie Govan, Stanley Jordan, and Gary Moore. http://www.vigierguitars.com/index.php

Hofner; You can’t talk about European guitars without mentioning Hofner. Besides making the infamous “Beatles bass” Hofner makes a wide range of stringed instruments and the Verythin 335 style electric. Starting in 1864 Hofner is still based in Germany.
http://www.hofner.com/?___store=store_en&___from_store=store_de

Burns London; I don’t know any guitar that screams “swinging London” more than Burns London. Starting in 1959 Burns London were a cheap alternative to Gibson and Fender and found a ready champion with Hank Marvin. Granted, the Burns London guitars have their own sort of funky appeal. Think of them as the Vauxhall Velox of the guitar world.
http://www.burnsguitars.com

Nik Huber; Perhaps one of the best known European guitar brands Nik Huber are known for their painstaking approach to guitar building, great sound and jewel colored finishes.
http://nikhuber-guitars.com

Fibenare; Stepping out and doing something different Fibenare not a yet another Gibson, Fender or PRS clone. Fibenare are unusual because they are based out of Budapest Hungary and have their own artistic flair. Despite their “arty” look these guitars are extremely well made and are amazingly comfortable to play. http://www.fibenare-guitars.com

Also check out:

Dusenberg: http://duesenbergusa.com

Jaydee: http://www.jaydeecustomguitars.co.uk/index.html

Italia: http://www.italiaguitars.com/intro/intro.html

Ruokangas: http://www.ruokangas.com

For more on Russ go to http://www.russhewittmusic.com

For us at Guitar Radio Show, there’s one show we really look forward to every year. The Dallas International Guitar Festival, the part guitar show/part concert is truly a yearly Woodstock for the most popular instrument in the world.

People from all over the planet make the mecca to Dallas Texas to gawk, wheel and deal and get treated to some of the most intense guitar performances ever to take place under one roof. As you walk the dealers hall you can see and purchase some of the most incredible new and astounding vintage guitars, amps and accessories known to man.

This year was the 39th year for this show, one can only speculate what Jimmy Wallace the events creator has in store for us next year when the show turns 40. One thing for sure, we’ll be there.

If you ever been to this event you know what i’m talking about, if not, you need to experience this amazing weekend.

Go to http://www.guitarshow.com

Here’s some snippets from across the weekend-

Eric Gales Burns down the house-

Sonny Landreth doing as only he does-

Brad Whitford teaches us how to play “Toys in the Attic” on the Dealers floor-

Johnny Hiland lays down some blues-

Whitford St. Holmes gives us a medley of Aerosmith and Nugent-

Go to – http://www.johnnyhiland.net For more

This is some hot picking-

My Thanks to Kelly Richey- https://kellyrichey.com And Adam P Hunt for joining me for this conversation.

500 Words How Frets Affect Your Tone

Travel back in time. The year is 1600 and you land in the Baroque study of Giovanni Paolo Foscarini. He’s a well-dressed man of the period and he’s scribbling down some notes for his latest composition.

On his workbench is stringed instrument that is slightly larger than a ukulele. After listening him compose you are able to convince him you’re not the Devil and you want to play his guitar.

After getting used to the guitar’s unusual tuning and neck markers that are made out of sinew wrapped around the fingerboard you break into “Street Fighting Man” by the Stones.

He explodes in anger, wrests the guitar from your hands and smashes it to bits and stops composing.

Francesco Corbetta never travels to the court of Queen Anne of Great Britain and the guitar never becomes popular in England. The entire British Invasion never happens and in America Lawrence Welk was considered a god.

Angelo Michele Bartolotti becomes a mathematician and we land on the Moon thirty years earlier due to his work with advanced calculus.

Fig Newtons would be named “Bartolottis” due to fondness of sweets.

According to Gibson USA’s website: “Frets are typically made of nickel-silver or nickel-steel alloys, or – less often – brass, copper alloy or stainless steel. The harder and more dense the material, with stainless at the top of the scale and soft nickel at the bottom, the brighter and more cutting the notes played on a guitar should sound. Most manufacturers use nickel alloys because the metal is soft and easy to work with”.

Eddie Van Halen has been a proponent of stainless steel frets for his latest signature model due to the tone and longer fret life.

Paul Reed Smith talked about using very hard nickel frets but also mentioned that frets must be molded to the radius of the fretboard and secured with Krazy Glue so they wouldn’t rattle out of the fretboard.

Michael DeTemple uses frets to help stabelize and temper the neck by creating “A special fret saw to facilitate cutting slightly narrower slots on the bass side of the fretboard than on the treble side; this allows for a compression fret installation.

By putting a slightly wider tang into the narrower fret slot, the neck wood is compressed back and more tension is exerted on the bass side of the neck. This will ensure a more consistent relief in the neck and prevent any dead spots in the frets”.

Is there truth to the legend that Stevie Ray Vaughn had bass frets put in his guitar to improve the sound or was it simply a happy coincidence?

It would be interesting too see if he did replaced the frets on all of guitars or if he did that only his famous battered sunburst Strat. Rene Martinez would know if any one.

Whatever your fret size preference may be it is important that they are good quality and well dressed.

Like a well made suit.