GEAR 23_COVER - JHS

Phil Thorell and his band "The Force" have a pretty
good pedigree when it comes to touring and
gigging. Over the last few years the band have
supported such luminaries as Steve Vai, Status
Quo and The Red Hot Chilli Peppers. The band
have released two albums "Breakin' Free"
and "Different Worlds" and in addition
to countless venues in the UK, the
band also played Wembley as guests
of the British Music Show.
Phil is also a busy teacher,
splitting his time between
kids and young adults
at schools, and private
tuition. He also took
part in the "Guitarist Of
The Year Competition" at Wembley "It was
a fun weekend," he says smiling, "but
unfortunately no cigar!"
Recently, Phil expanded his guitar collection
to include a Vintage VSA535 semi acoustic
after reading a review. "I wanted that classic
semi-solid guitar favoured by the likes of Larry
Carlton, Alex Lifeson and Eric Johnson. I’d never
played a guitar like this before, so rather than take a
chance on the expensive American model, I opted for
the Vintage. These guitars have a retro-chic about
them but they can live in both contemporary and
nostalgic musical settings easily. The diversity of
tones from the Vintage 535 is ideal for my style of
playing. I like to back off the volume controls and
switch pickups often to soften up the sounds for
blues and jazz, then open it all the way up to get a
blistering full modern rock tone. The 535 does all of
that yet it still keeps its dignity and its identity
throughout."
Many of Phil's students have Vintage guitars ranging
from VS6 to the V100, TC200 and V6 models. "It’s
great that they can see their teacher using the same
brand as them, and us all being just as satisfied.
Regardless of price, the quality of components and
manufacturing, as well as the sound of these instruments
are all excellent. Most importantly the guitars feel
nice to play. They feel like pro instruments not cheap
copies like some other manufacturers churn out."
You can find out more about Phil and the Force at...
Woo, scareeee. One thing scarier than
a shull-shaped hand shaker and that’s surely a
glow-in-the-dark skull shaker! That’s just a whole
different world of scare, baby!
Okay, calm down dear, it’s just a commercial.
Beadbrain Shakers are unique skull-shaped shakers
that produce a loud maraca sound, and are easy to
hold in order to get that rhythm thang movin’!
Extremely durable, they can provide that shikka-shikka
backing to any type of music you want... Except, I
would imagine, classical.
Performing the ritual, time-honoured ceremony of
the ‘passing over of the sum of £2.79’ in your local
music emporium will allow to gain the access to
the darkest shaker rhythms of the Beadbrain...
Though you might want to be
flash and have one of the
new 6-guitar display stands
from Kinsman in the corner
of your front room – and
very nice to look at that
would be, too – it’s much
more likely that music
stores will be able to make
more use of them as a
means of displaying six
guitars in a compact
floor space area.
Capable of carrying
either electric or
acoustic guitars,
the Kinsman KDDGS6
costs £59.99 rrp.
Fishman’s state-of-the-art Aura onboard
preamp systems offer the excitement of
Fishman’s patented Aura Acoustic Imaging
technology in a smaller footprint module.
Four custom-made Aura images are pre-loaded
into the easy to use preamp design.
Featuring a built-in tuner, feedback-fighting
phase control and fully-programmable
digital equalisation, the onboard Aura and
Aura Pro systems offer the best and most
accessible onboard control and sound quality
available for electro-acoustic guitars.
Fishman Aura and Aura Pro systems come complete
with Switchjack Stereo Endpin Jack and an
Acoustic Matrix Undersaddle pickup, available
in Narrow and Wide pickup width formats.
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