4.52am Issue: 003 9th October 2016

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WELCOME
Welcome back to 4.52am and I have to say I
continue to be amazed at the feedback we are
getting, it is very much appreciated and makes
all the difference in the small hours.
This week I’m pleased to say we have Palace
Winter who are purveyors of the Big Music,
The Orders who opened the Isle of Wight
Festival last year and are concerned about
seagulls, and then my tips for the band of
2017, Susie Blue from Derry who will blow you
away.
From the guitar side, we have the incredible
Gus Guitars and the guitar that was made for a
Prince, MJW Amps and their stunningly cool
Twin and effects from Magnetic, Cog and
MadebyMike.
Also, for the DIYers, something special from
CeriaTone and some beautiful Old School
Tortoiseshell from Spitfire Vintage Pickguards.
Then there are the Fletcher Pickups…there
really (feels like there is) no end to it all.
And finally, we are pleased to announce that
from Monday you will be able to subscribe to
4.52am’s opulent Big Brother, Guitar Quarterly,
but you had better be quick as there really are
a limited number available for 2017.
If you haven’t registered at
www.guitarquarterly.co.uk
you will miss the invite.
Don’t say I never told you...
Mark Davidson
Editor

CONTENTS
FEATURES
Palace Winter
The Big Music
Gus Guitars
Fit For A Prince
Susie Blue
People Like Us
MJW Amps
The Twin
The Orders
Veronica’s Venom
David Mountain
The Bigsby Guitar
Magnetic Effects
Sonic Tailor
Spitfire Pickguards
Animal Nitrate
Cog Effects
Knightfall 66 Bass Overdrive
Cog Effects
Mini 66 Bass Overdrive
CeriaTone Amplification Kits
Tweedle Dee
MadebyMike
Dreambox
Gareth Gott
Audition 7001
Fletcher Pickups
Hell Level 5
REVIEWS
Adam Torres
Pearls To Swine
Earwigs
Pause For Jets
Frankie Cosmos
Next Thing
Jonny Fritz
Sweet Creep
Martha
Blisters In The Pit Of My Heart
New Portals
Cage
Patience
The Pressure Single
Real Numbers
Wordless Wonder
Red Sleeping Beauty
Kristine
Sam Evian
Premium
END PAPERS
Credits & Thanks

FEATURES

PALACE WINTER
The Big Music
Palace Winter are the type of band that fills
stadiums with ‘soundscapes’, chills festival
goers on balmy summer evenings and
generally produced some seriously cool
music. Back in the ‘80s Mike Scott of the
Waterboys talked about there being a ‘Big
Music’, music that was great in its scope and
wide in its delivery, he ultimately rejected it,
but Palace Winter, Caspar and Carl are
taking it further than perhaps Scott ever had
in mind, but somehow managing to keep it
feeling personal in a way that U2 and the
like have never seemed to manage.
The songs on the album are enormous and
hint at so many things, Soft Machine for
instance, could be ‘Double Fantasy’-era
Lennon fronting Coldplay, something so big
and yet gritty and real too – a hard act to
pull off, but then it isn’t an act.
We chatted to Caspar and Carl on a little
used snowplow just outside a chip-shop in
Smethwick, about the band, how it started
and, well, a little of everything.
Going back to the beginning, can you
tell me how you all got together?
Carl: “We met on a tour bus cruising around
Denmark playing in other projects and
decided it would be cool to try record
something together. Boom! Palace Winter
was born.”
Can you briefly tell us about each
other?
Carl: “I play guitar and sing and generally
kill it. No, but seriously if we're pumping
up each other's tyres, I can tell you
Caspar's strengths include being an
incredibly gifted pianist with a penchant
for catchy pop melodies. He's also an
extremely disciplined and talented
producer and someone that always puts
his art first. His dedication to his work has
had a huge impact on me personally. His
weaknesses include ice-cream, burgers
and synthesizers. It's often hard to get
him out on a Friday night as he's too busy
looking at modular synths on the internet.
I'm serious! That's his idea of the perfect
weekend.”
Caspar: “I play synths and do all the
technical stuff from recording all the way
to the mixing and mastering. And
speaking of Carl, he actually DOES kill it.
He’s a great performer with a natural
instinct for making great songs as well as
for playing them live. And he’s generally
very fun to be around, which is something
everyone will tell you about him. His
weaknesses include eating out a lot (too
much for the budget of a struggling artist)
and a general lack of enthusiasm when it
comes to watching synthesizer videos on
Youtube.”

Carl: “After we decided to hook up in
Caspar's studio, we spent the summer
making the songs that became the
'Medication' EP. Then our label
Tambourhinoceros jumped on and the rest
is history.”
You clearly are coming from different
angles which is great, but in terms of
shared influences, where do you
cross-over?
Caspar: “We share a love for many bands
and artists like Elliott Smith, Neil Young,
Sufjan Stevens, Radiohead, a.o. But our
sound is also forged from our very different
backgrounds. Carl has his root in the
singer-songwriter and alt. country tradition,
as well as classic rock, and mine is
completely different, starting out in
classical music and jazz, which I studied for
a long time before I dived into electronic
music and alternative pop of all sorts.”
So how would you describe your
sound?
Carl: “Epic, cinematic widescreen postcountry
synth-kraut.”
When did you start gigging - what was
your first gig like?
Carl: “Our first one was in a pretty sleepy
suburb of Copenhagen really close to our
studio. It was pretty ramshackle and people
were sitting at coffee tables so generally it
was a classic awkward debut. Humble
beginnings but we rocked it!”
How did that compare to some of the
bigger gigs you have been playing
recently?
Carl: “We recently played Roskilde festival
which was our biggest crowd to date and an
amazing experience. It's always a wild
feeling to see large crowds singing along
and really knowing the tunes. Spot festival
in Aarhus was also a packed house which
really felt like a turning point for us earlier in
the year. We've played some awesome fun
crowds around the UK this summer too and
can’t wait to get back in October.”
In terms of recording, what is the setup?
Caspar: “Luckily we’re pretty self-sufficient
in every part of the process, from demos to

the final master. Everything is done in my
studio in the outskirts of Copenhagen, and
apart from the drums (played by our good
friend Christian Rindorf who was also in the
live-band in the beginning) we play and
record everything ourselves.”
What gear were you using for the
recording?
Caspar: “Carl plays acoustic and electric
guitars and I play all the synths, including
bass, which is also synth on all tracks. That
was sort of a coincidence to begin with, but
we stuck with it, also live. I know this is not
Synth Quarterly, but it’s so rare that we get
to talk gear! On both the album and the EP
most of the synths are the Moog Voyager
for bass and Dave Smith Prophet ’08. I’m a
hardware guy, and haven’t touched a
synth-plugin in years. There, had to get
that out of my system.”
Carl: “I love Harmony guitars. I also played
on a friends Guild Starfire for years that
was insane. I'd also love a small scale
Martin acoustic. But a good Tele suits me
just fine. I often use my Roland Jazz
Chorus 120 from '76 which has a beautiful
chorus effect on the amp. But I'm still
getting used to the clean thing. My acoustic
still sounds so sick out of a Fender Twin
which I use on the road a bunch. My board
is super small, just a (EHX) Small Stone
phaser and a Turbo Tat. My electric is a
cheap Tele copy from Switzerland called a
Levinson Blade with humbuckers on it. It's
a hunk of crap but I dig it. And my acoustic
is a Maton from Australia which my dad
gave me when I was 19. Been thrashing
that baby in clubs for 12 years now. It's a
real tank.”
Carl, do you consider yourself a
guitarist first or is it just a tool of the
trade to you and you are more of a
songwriter?
Carl: “Yeah I think I'm definitely a
songwriter first. Mostly I just rock A-minor
to F and try and make it sound good. I sure
ain't no Santana but I love playing guitar
with all my heart and try and play every
day.”
Moving on to “Waiting For The World
To Turn” - this is one of the freshest
albums I have heard in years. How do
you get that sense of space and how
would you describe the album?
Caspar: “Thank you! Well, we describe our
sound as cinematic or widescreen, and
that’s sort what we aim for in the
production. We try to fill the canvas also
when there are only few elements. Of
course, I spend a lot of time on the mixes.
Part of it is getting the contrast right
between the "hi-fi" and crispy acoustic
guitars and more edgy sounding electric
guitars and atmospheric synths. And finding
a good spot in there for Carl’s characteristic
voice. And you can’t do anything without
good sounding sources, and paying
attention to detail right from the beginning
of the recording process. I’d describe the
album as an epic blend of jangly guitars,
analogue, woozy and atmospheric synths,
hard-hitting drums and classic songwriting.”
How easy was it to put the record
together?
Caspar:”We had the tracklist pretty early on
actually (before there were any final
productions even), so we kind of knew what
kind of journey we wanted listeners to

embark on. It all came very easy for some
reason.”
I’ve seen the Krautrock + REM
comparisons, but the initial feeling I
had was of something like Talk Talk’s
‘Spirit of Eden’ or even Mark
Danielewski’s ‘House of Leaves’ book
if you have come across it, as the
album seems to have a life of its own?
How do you begin to write for an
album like that?
Carl: “I love that you mention Talk Talk
and that particular album and it's a huge
compliment so thanks! I remember thinking
when we started Palace that I wanted to
make music with that sort of moodiness. I
don’t think we're as 80s or New-Wave as
Talk Talk but we certainly dig the widescreen
cinematic vibe. We sort of wanted
the album to move like a movie. One single
piece of work that should be digested from
start to finish. A mysterious intro, an epic
ending and all the nitty-gritty in between.”
Which song are you proudest of?
Carl: “Probably Woke in the Night for me. I
still get a buzz every time we play that at
shows. I also have a big soft spot for
'Proclamation Day' from our new record.”
Caspar: “I’m honestly proud of everything
we’ve done, but my favourites to play live
are Hearts to Kill and Soft Machine from
new album. I’ve got a soft spot for What
Happened also, partially because I love that
it’s just so different from the rest. It’s sort of
a peak into this alternate reality halfway
through the album, and I think it works
really well like that.”
Are you touring the album?
Carl: “Yes! We have an EU/UK tour coming
up in October that we're psyched for as well
as a bunch more festivals this month
including Green Man and Sziget in Budapest.
We're aso opening for Noel Gallagher here
in Copenhagen which will be sick!”
What is next for you both?
Carl: “More everything really. We're
currently working on new material that will
most likely be for our 2nd album and touring
a bunch.”
Palace Winter are a genuinely special band,
and their album is something that you will
listen to for years.
Treat yourself, Here, why don’t you?

GUS GUITARS
Fit For A Prince
When Prince died in April of this year, there
were many stories about how his last guitar
was made in Britain. The fact that the guitar
in question, the Gus Guitars Purple Special
looked like it had fallen off a particularly
stylish spaceship only seemed all the more
fitting for that most singular of artists. In
many ways Prince was the perfect artist to
play a Gus Guitar as they are clearly made
unlike any other.
We caught up with Simon Farmer, the
genius behind Gus and looked back at how
he got to this point in his career.
It is always best to look at the starting
point, so we asked Simon about his first
experience of making a guitar,
“I built my first electric bass guitar when I
was 14 and was completely hooked from
then on! Guitars are endlessly fascinating
objects to make as there are so many
practical and ergonomic considerations with
the design and material choices to be made
that can have a real impact upon the way
the instrument functions. I still find it an
exciting moment when I put a set of strings
on an instrument for the first time and it
comes alive...magical!”
It was quite a leap to go from making a
bass to some of the outrageous designs (in
terms of something as resistant to change
as guitar tastes) Gus have become known
for. We wondered whether Simon had a
traditional luthiery apprenticeship?
“I didn't study luthiery as such, my
education was in craft and design and it is
this very broad Art School education,
which I credit as the reason I'm making
the guitars that I am today...exposure to
everything from life drawing to ceramics,
jewellery and furniture making all had an
influence on my designing.
I managed to steer most of my projects
towards instrument making though and
produced a number of steel framed
instruments that I called Guitubes, one of
these was later to be featured in Seal's
1991 'Killer' video.

After completing a Master’s degree in
Product Design I left university and set up
Gus Guitars with the help of a Crafts
Council Award and continued to develop
my prototype guitars. I launched the Gus
G1 model in 1994.”
Being so different to the traditional
Fender/Gibson style guitars we all know
and love, like say Vigier, do you find that
your guitars get stereotyped as only being
made for certain styles?
“Over the last twenty-two years I've been
producing my instruments to custom order,
supplying professional and amateur
guitarists all over the world. I've been
delighted to have players as diverse as Bill
Nelson (Bee Bop Deluxe), Pere ap
Gwynedd (Pendulum) and Gus Isidore
(Seal, Peter Gabriel, Thin Lizzy) play my
guitars, proving that they can work well in a
range of musical situations.”
I guess the obvious question is how do you
actually go about making guitars that look
so different?
“The key to my guitar and bass designs is
their carbon fibre composite body
construction. This is a technique that I
developed back in the early '90s when I was
experimenting with a wide range of
materials; I found that combining carbon
fibre with light-weight tone woods gave the
instrument an incredible resonance, with
improved string-to-string clarity, definition
and sustain, but with a musicality to the
tone that other carbon fibre instruments
lacked. The construction was also

immensely strong and stable, so I've been
able to do things with the design that I
wouldn't necessarily want to do with a
purely wooden instrument. I am also very
confident in sending them around the world
as I know that they will cope well with
variations in climate and temperature.
Building bespoke instruments to custom
order is a very satisfying process and I
enjoy working with my customers to
achieve their perfect version of a Gus
instrument!”
Thinking about the Purple Special, how did
that all come about?
“I decided in 2007 to make a guitar for
Prince, partly because people had always
told me that the G1 looked like the kind of
guitar that Prince would play...so in the end
I decided why not, I'll make one to suit
him! I knew that he was coming over to
the UK to do a run of shows at the O2 in
London as part of his Earth Tour and had
around three months to complete the
guitar. I dropped everything else and
worked flat out on his guitar, finally
completing it in the last week of his shows
here. Unfortunately, even though I tried
very hard It wasn't possible to get the
guitar to him at this time. Guitarist
magazine then ran a very nice double page
article which attracted a lot of interest for
me and helped to spread the word on the
internet about the Purple Special. A number
of years passed and I moved on to other
projects but kept the Purple Special in the
hope that it would get to Prince one day.
Then out of the blue Paisley Park got in
touch in February of this year and after
some discussion picked the guitar up and
took it over to the US to Prince. A few days
later I had an email from his manager
saying "At some point Prince would like to
talk to you. Let me know the best time to
call you.".... unfortunately we didn't get a
chance to set this up and it was only a few
weeks later that he died. I was actually
working on a bass guitar that he'd ordered
when I heard the news.”
We’ll be looking in detail at Gus Guitars in
Guitar Quarterly, and nipping back for a
chat with Simon about his new bass design
that, unsurprisingly, looks out of this and
any other world.
You can find out more at Gus Guitars web
site Here

SUSIE BLUE
People like Us
Well, this is a first for us. For a start, so far,
we have only featured bands and artists
that have albums under their belts, big tours
and festivals over their shoulders. But that
really isn’t what 4.52am is all about – I want
it to be somewhere you find out about new
bands, new artists, new music, not just
somewhere you can check out the latest
chapter in somebody famous’s story.
So that is why Susie Blue are here, because
we think they are special, that they have
greatness ahead of them, not just a memory
in the rear view camera of their Range
Rover.
So what makes them so special?
For a start, I love the passion Susie Blue
have for righting wrongs and the fact that
they write seriously cool songs to get their
point across. It is really easy to be cynical
about such things, easy to Bono-ify people
who care.
So who are they?
Well, the Derry four piece are epic tubthumper,
John Goodman, throbbing thickstringer
Mark Doherty, the uber cool player
that is guitarist Caolan Moore and the sirenvoiced
Susan Donaghy who together create
a wonderful explosion of edgy panic before
blowing everything away with a super cool
chorus.
And for those of you confused by my
listing the band members (as I never,
ever, list the band members), I did it for a
reason as I think these names will be
ones that trip off everybody’s tongues
further down the line, as in Donaghy they
have a singer that could eclipse any
southern Sinead or Delores, and not just
because of her voice, but because there is
some serious song-writing going on here,
for you can have nuances and passion in
indie-pop, even if too many others have
gone for the ‘biscuit cutter’ approach
instead.
In fact this may well be the only
historically significant review I ever write,
so bear it in mind and maybe print it out
and stick it on your wall to yellow-fade, so
that for ever more the cool kids will know
you got it first and you got it well.
But I shouldn’t glide over the fact that
People Like Us deals with serious issues
and the fact that as a band they have
been brave enough (and even in 2016 it
is still brave, to our eternal shame) to
make a video that deals with ‘gay
bashing’ and intolerance generally. I
snuck the chance to ask Susan what her
feeling on the song were, and she very
nicely didn’t call security:
"People like us is a song we wanted to
write for people who don't feel like they

fit in and are different from what's
considered normal, we would also put
ourselves in that category, but when we
released the video we wanted to highlight
the fact you aren't alone and that there is
acceptance, and you will find your place at
some point, that's really what we wanted
to get across"
I believe Susie Blue are touring soon (we’ll
report dates once they are confirmed), and
that there will hopefully be a new single
before Christmas. But in terms of the live
dates, whatever you do if you get the
chance, do go and see them and you can
look forward to spending the rest of your
life boring yours friends that you were
there. Without having to make it up.
This isn’t just a review, this is a young
band putting down a marker.
This is the start of something seriously
cool.
The Line 6 Verbzilla was set to an octave
reverb (octave up) with the initial note
removed to get the swell sound heard in the
second verse.
As for Susan, during the People Like Us
recording she was playing synths, the
precise models i'm not 100% sure on, but a
combination of a few vintage analogue
synths and a few digital ones
everything was layered in stereo, tonnes of
guitar tracks, some layered in octaves to
fatten it up and give it a really present
sound.”
Susie Blue really are something special, and
I for one think that 2017 is going to be a
very special year for them, and indeed all of
us.
Check out their single Here.
(Musical Interlude)
A little later, I caught up with guitarist
Caolan Moore and got a little geekier.
I asked him about the gear they used in
recording the single,
“I was using a Fender 2001 Mexican Strat
and a Fender Tele Deluxe, the one with the
wide range pickups, running into a Boss
SD1, a Line Six Verbzilla, a Big Muff Tone
Wicker, a Dod Yngwie Malmsteen Overdrive
and a Boss TU3, then that split out to a Jet
City JCA20HV (my main gigging amp) and
a 70s Vox AC15 ran in dual mono as
opposed to stereo.

MJW AMPS
The Twin
Anybody who has lusted after British built
boutique amps, will be well aware of the top
quality, no bull approach Martin Whelan of
MJW Amplifiers takes to the whole process.
The amps he produces are well thought
through and built to withstand any passing
hurricane.
As we keep saying, Guitar Quarterly will be
having a proper look at MJW Amps, but in
the meantime, in 4.52am we thought that
we’d have a look at one of Martin’s amps in
the shape of his Twin.
I asked Martin what the inspiration
“The main thing is sound. If it doesn’t sound
good to me, there’s no point.
Obviously that’s subjective, so some people
may not agree with my taste, but I’m not
trying to be a market leader, so that doesn’t
matter to me.
The main thing I can add is the ability to
custom order, and to customise a standard
amp with things like Power Scaling, effects
loops, gain boosts, dual master volumes etc.
One thing I try not to add is hype.”
And he is quite right, nobody can accuse
him of hyping his wares But it is the Twin
we are interested in today, and as with
everything Martin builds, there are options
to be had, so I asked him to explain the
main choices, starting with the loudest.
“That’s the Electra Twin which is 30-50W.
There’s also the Roadstar Twin at 18W
and the Goldstar Twin at 5 or 10W.
They have the same preamp, which is
designed to give as much as possible
from a 2 valve (4 gain elements) preamp,
including separate EQs.
The clean channel is as close a s possible
to a Blackface Fender, while the overdrive
channel adds 2 more gain stages to that
so will reach Soldano SLO levels of drive.
The usual options can be fitted to all of
them: power scaling, effects loop, valve
or digital reverb.”
So in simple terms, you have all the
benefits of a Fender from beautiful cleans
through to a gorgeous growl, and then
rock mayhem on tap when you go hat
stage further. Perfect.
Unusually, MJW also make their own cabs
in-house, so presentation is obviously
important. I asked Martin whether they
build cabinets in-house, and what sort of
finishes/woods are used?
“Yes, cabinets are built in-house. I use 18
and 12mm Birch ply, using techniques I
learned from my time at Matamp. Simple
butt joints with staples and Titebond glue.
The range of vinyl coverings is huge, and
I use Timebond adhesive so it stays put.
I’m now offering hardwood trim panels on
some amps, with an oiled finish.”

Similarly, speakers are such a big part of
the sound, I wondered whether Martin had
particular favourites or whether it would
vary depending upon the amp?
“It varies, depending on what the customer
wants. My default is the Celestion G12T-
100 ‘Hot 100’ which is an unsung gem in
the Celestion range. Sounds like a
Greenback, with a very sweet, but neutral
tone, a very linear response (sounds good
at low and high volume), a good power
rating and a very decent price. I also like
the G12M and H Creambacks, and the new
Neo Creambacks are also excellent
speakers.”
One thing I (personally) have never gotten
my head around, is the difference things
like cryogenics and NOS/VOS valves offer if
anything at all, as you’d expect Martin cuts
to the chase,
“I mainly use JJ as standard, but will use
other brands. Cryogenics is a gimmick, full
stop. There’s a lot of nonsense talked
about old, or NOS, valves, with no data to
back it up. Proper blind listening tests would
be quite revealing I think. I have to build my
amps using new production valves, and
have been using JJ for nearly 10 years now
with no issues.”
So that is that.
And one final question finished things for
today - what is the average build time for
one of your amps, from order to delivery?
“Depends on how busy I am, but at the
moment 5-6 months. Rarely less than that,
occasionally more. It’s difficult to maintain
schedules as a one-man business, so I rely
on my customers being patient!”
Martin Whelan of MJW Amps, I keep saying
it, but when I grow up, it is what I’ll be
playing through and the Twin with its
options giving so much flexibility from the
start looks like the ideal place to start.
Check MJW Amps out Here

THE ORDERS
Veronica’s Venom
One of the things that is fantastic about the
Isle of Wight Festival, is that they always
have a local band opening it. This year the
honour fell to one of the best new bands
around in the shape of The Orders whose
single Veronica’s Venom is the official single
of the year here in the 4.52am squat.
I took the chance to catch-up with Kyle
Chapman singer/songwriter and lead
guitarist, and ask him some impertinent
questions, that way you’ll know all about
them when they are headlining next time
around.
So Kyle, tell us about your band’s sound?
“It's an indie/psych twist. The sound has
developed into a mature and exciting
movement of creative independence.
There's grooves that are bound to get you
bopping your head and melodies you won't
be able to stop singing, the classic indie feel
of a young band that have been
experimenting with psychedelic sounds from
the 60s, mixed with a ton of influences and
done it successfully.”
Sounds great - describe your fans?
“They’re drunk and they are usually wearing
nice shoes.”
When did you start gigging - what was your
first gig like?
“We started gigging a couple of months
after we formed as our first gig was at the
Isle of Wight Festival 2013 where we got
the opportunity to play a set of covers on
a stage there. We played a couple of gigs
in that first year and got a good name for
ourselves and played in local pubs and
venues which we still do anyway.”
Tell us about your first single - and why
choose vinyl only?
“The recordings had been lying around for
a while, we recorded the single over a
year ago and have only just got it out
which we could have done a while ago. It
was a logical thing to release it on vinyl as
a lot of people are into vinyl now and to
have a limited edition vinyl which you can
only hear if you buy the record because
it's not out digitally. It's a bit different to
what other local bands are doing, we
didn't want to release an EP it was always
going to be a single and there's only ever
going to be 300 of them. So you’re going
to want to grab one quick.”
When did you record the single and what
gear were you using at that point?
“We recorded "If Gold Dust Turns To
Stone" at studio Humbug with the Boe
Weaver boys, they did a great job but I
can't really remember what gear was
used because it was well over a year ago
now. I know that I used my Fender 62
reissue Telecaster and a 12 string
acoustic, I think it might have been

ecorded through a Vox ac30. Isaac used a
Rickenbacker bass which sounded like a fat
juicy steak. Joe recorded on his Premier
60s kit, there was a lot of analogue
equipment used but I can't remember
what.”
How did you opening the Isle of Wight
Festival come to happen?
“It was a local competition that is held
every year for a band to open the main
stage, we had been shortlisted amongst
about 8 other bands to perform 3 songs in
front of a panel of judges, 2 of which were
from Domino Records. We got some really
positive feedback and I got the phone call
later on in the day saying that we had won
the competition and that we are going to
open the main stage on the Sunday, I was
buzzing and jumping out my seat while I
was on the bus because that's when I got
the call. I rang the other lads and told them,
we were all hyped up, right up until we
walked on to the stage.”
What is next for you/band?
Take over the world before seagulls do. We
plan to keep on making music and playing
gigs and grab the public’s attention, that
way they will be on our side and no matter
how big they get, we will be bigger. They
won't be able to take away the land that our
feet walk on because we won't let them
take our freedom as we will be united as
one and they will only have their wings.

Thinking about your approach to
songwriting. What comes first - words or
music?
“Music always comes first then I build the
vocal melodies around it and then fit the
lyrics in with the melodies. Or will
sometimes have to change the melodies
slightly to fit certain lyrics in but usually it's
just a syllable count change.”
How did you learn to write a song?
“I’ve been writing songs for years, I just
used to make up guitar riffs or chord
sequences and then the melodies and lyrics
came after that and throughout the years
my writings just developed, creatively and
dynamically.”
Which one are you proudest of?
“Veronica's Venom, it was one of the
simplest ones to write, but the melodies
and lyrics are so perfect and catchy that
everyone knows how to sing the chorus. As
soon as I wrote that song and called it
Veronica's Venom I thought that's the best
fucking thing I've ever wrote and it was
true.”
These days you can record a song at home
and have it distributed and heard around
the world in no time at all - what do you
think are the good and bad parts of the
ways things have changed?
“It's good because it's handy and you can
do what you like without having anyone else
do it for you but it takes the authenticity out
of it all, you really want to go to a studio
and use loads of cool equipment and make
it sound the best you possibly can.”
What gear are you using now?
“A load of dodgy equipment. My pedal
board has a cry baby, boss tu-3, EHX Soul
Food Overdrive, Tubescreamer mini and a
EHX Holy Stain. Isaac goes through a bass
Marshall head and cab amp (can't
remember the model) I'm going through a
fender deville. Joe's got his premier 60s kit.
I have a Fender 62 reissue Telecaster and
Isaac had a Fender Precision bass.”
Find out more about one wicked band, The
Orders are Here

DAVID MOUNTAIN
Bigsby BY50 Prototype
On this our second visit through the garden
of earthly delights that is David Mountain
and his Father’s guitar collection, again I
perversely avoid their Gretches and take a
left turn to check out another oddity – the
Bigsby BY50.
Now historians among you won’t need
telling that in the 1940s, Paul Bigsby worked
in the Crocker Motorcycle factory, when he
became friends with country music star
Merle Travis. Having quite the ‘can do’
attitude, one evening when Merle sketched
out an idea for an electric guitar, including
the tuners all on one side of the headstock,
Bigsby wasn’t going to turn down a
challenge, and set about turning it into a
reality.
This he did, and over the next few years his
guitars, along with his innovative lap-steel
and tremolos came to be in high demand.
However, as the history of Bigsby goes, Paul
was a bit of a control freak and he wanted
to do everything, which meant that he
ended-up with waiting lists lasting years,
and in the end the tremolos became the
priority and the production of guitars was
very limited in terms of numbers.
In fact, whilst records are scarce, it is
believed that only six of Bigsby’s original
guitar were produced.
All of which makes the Bigsby BY50
Prototype which David has in his
collection all the more interesting. This
was made in 1982 as one of a handful of
prototypes, Gretsch (who became owners
of the Bigsby name and rights) were
planning to release. But (it is thought)
were shelved when Fender took over
Gretsch.
In terms of accuracy, the specification is
apparently spot on, and it is perhaps
typical that the 2002 Prototype of the
Bigsby Guitar has itself become a rarity.
In fact trying to find one anywhere is
incredibly difficult and expensive – one
recently sold on Reverb for $3064 and in
the UK you would have had to add both
postage and Import Duty, VAT and fees
to that.
I’ll reproduce the specification below as it
is interesting to read, and for those of you
wondering how Bigsby got away with
copying Leo Fender’s trademarked
headstock so closely, when nobody else
seems to get away with it – well, the
Bigsby one pre-dates the sainted Leo by
quite a while, but there we are.

2002 BY50 prototype:
Birdseye maple flat top with amber finish –
black binding on sides – single florentine
cutaway/opposite shoulder is rounded –
Rosewood tailpiece – rosewood pickguard –
rosewood decorative piece on lower bout –
scrolled rosewood bridge base – walnut
birdseye headstock w/12° pitch – in line
Vintage style tuners – BIGSBY logo on
headstock – black scrolled adjustment rod
cover plate – mother of pearl playing card
inlays on bound rosewood fretboard – set
neck – 21 frets – 2 rosewood control knobs
– 3 position selector switch/slide – chrome
tun-o-matic style bridge w/mounted posts
– 2 Bigsby single coil dog-ear style pickups
– strings terminate through body
Rosewood Fingerboard
12 Degree Pitched Headstock
24.7 Inch Scale
21 Medium Jumbo Frets
Various Fingerboard Inlays
Binding on Body and Neck
Single Coil Dog-Ear Pickups
Vintage Style Tuners
Tune-a-Matic Style Bridge.
Bigsby Hardshell Case
Many thanks to David and his Father once
more for access to their incredible collection.
Specification:
Single Cutaway
1/4″ Birdseye Maple Top
3 pc Maple Body
Hollow Chambers in Body
Body Thickness 2″
Set Maple Neck

MAGNETIC EFFECTS
Sonic Tailor
One of the really cool things I’m finding
about doing all this magazine bobbins is that
all these wonderful guitar, amplifier, pickup,
stand, strap, pickguard and effects maker
chaps let me know when they have
something new going on. Not to mention all
the bands too, but nerdiness is clearly
numero uno.
So I was more than a little pleased to see
that Christian from Magnetic Effects was
doing that thing he loves to do and
releasing something a little special as a
limited edition. And the thing with Christian
is that he really means it when he says
limited edition, not just ‘limited until people
stop buying them’ like others I could
mention (ahem).
Incidentally, if anybody has one of his
Spacemen 3-in-a-box pedals, give me a
shout, I missed that one.
But to the announcement, and this time he
has excelled himself with his ‘Sonic Tailor’, a
Germanium transistor overdrive with a
blendable mid-range boost. Naturally, he is
using some NOS Germanium Transistor he
has discovered and it will be designed and
executed build-wise to the usual crazy high
standards.
I terms of what it does, Christian
describes it as,
“ an original design that offers colourful
overdrive with a distinctive Germanium
character. It excels at vintage style 60's
and 70's midrange based overdrive but,
thanks to its extensive eq controls, it has
the ability to dial in a wide range of tones.
The Sonic Tailor is great at providing
Treble Booster style tones into a clean
amp. Thus eliminating the need for a
loud, overdriven amp. It is also a master
of boosted, fixed wah style tones.
In addition to standard Volume and Gain
controls the Sonic Tailor has Treble, Bass,
Frequency and Mix controls.
The Sonic Tailor has a high input
impedance and a low output impedance.
This makes the pedal compatible with
buffered pedals as well as pedal switchers
and wireless systems. The Sonic Tailor
uses True Bypass switching.”
Check it out Here

SPITFIRE PICKGUARDS
Animal Nitrate
Anybody that has tried to put together an
authentic looking Fender, whether it is a
Jazzmaster, Jaguar, Jazz Bass or even if for
some reason you might want to waste your
time on a Strat – whichever flavour you like,
you will sooner or later come-up against the
same problem: Where the hell do I get a
proper Nitrate CelluloidTortoiseshell
scratchplate.
And of course it isn’t just if you are making
guitars – go buy an otherwise perfect replica
from the Fender Custom Shop, and you are
still left with some Tortie that looks like it
was done on a 50 quid inkjet printer.
Shocking looking things.
And we’ve all been there, and to be
perfectly honest, all of us that have tried to
be particularly authentic, until recently have
had to buy genuine Vintage Fender ones
(which when you think of it is more than a
bit pony) which are reaching crazy prices on
ebay (one today I’m sure has been chewed
near the bridge post holes and is still £200.
Bargain, not.)
And this was the situation that faced Mark
Townsend just a few years ago, having
become obsessed by a particular Fender
Jaguar he had seen on MTV. I asked Mark
to explain what triggered his obsession with
all things Tort.
“When I was a child my dad would pull out
his 1965 Daphne Blue Fender Mustang
guitar which was in mint condition and
sounded beautiful. His guitar mixed with
the Beach Boys, Jan and Dean, and surf
oldies on the radio all the time gave me a
deep passion for vintage gear and
everything 1950s-60s. Right around that
time, my older sister introduced me to the
band Nirvana. I immediately fell in love
with the sound, but knew nothing about
who they were. After seeing Nirvana in
magazines or on MTV (Music Television) I
saw that Kurt Cobain was playing a very
rare cool guitar that I have never seen
before. I asked my brother in law, who
was an avid musician, “What guitar is
that!?” He told me it was the Fender
Jaguar.
Seeing the Fender Jaguar for the first
time was love at first sight. I became
obsessed with the Jaguar, but didn't know
where to see more of it other than in
Fender Magazines and anything related to
Nirvana. In deeper study of the Fender
Jaguar, I became mesmerized by the
pickguard material. It looked like
solidified fire or a smoky red cloud locked
in time forever. This became the thing
that I thought I could never obtain. My
dad had the Daphne Blue Fender Mustang
so it only had the pearl pickguard. I
knew no one who owned this tortoiseshell
material and this was before the internet
to feed my curiosity. The closest I could

get was at the local guitar store seeing the
modern “tree bark” brown 2D stuff. This
was also cool, but didn't look the same to
me. Over the years I became obsessed. I
called Fender a dozen times to make
requests, I called pickguard manufactures,
I even got in touch with a Fender Crafted
In Japan (CIJ) dealer that apparently had
the bright red tortoiseshell material on their
Fender Jaguar's that I have always been
looking for. In deeper research, I found
that even the CIJ Jaguar's didn't have the
correct material, but rather had a printed
pixelated copy of what I was trying to
obtain. This obsession lead me nowhere,
so I was forced to put it to rest since no
one had it, I couldn't find it, and it didn't
exist anymore.”
Anybody else reaching this point would
have just given up, but not Mark, this was
becoming a serious obsession,
“I remember when I was in college, my
family moved to a new small town. In that
town was a small mom and pop guitar
shop. My sister took me out to lunch one
day and I asked if we could check out the
guitar shop. As we entered the guitar
shop, for the very first time I saw a vintage
tortoiseshell pickguard in front of me. I
could have sworn it was glowing and
calling out my name. Even though the
guitar was five thousand US dollars and I
only had about one hundred dollars to my
name I still asked to see the guitar and
play it. I was drooling over the guitar and
examining every inch of the pickguard. I
asked if they had any pickguards for sale.
They showed me a box and to my
amazement I found a bright red 70s-80s
tortoiseshell pickguard. This wasn't vintage
by any means, but was still the second
coolest tortoise pickguard I had ever seen in
person and it also was bright red. It was
cheap since it was more modern so I bought
it. It didn't have the depth, the
smoothness, and the smoky look that the
vintage pickguards have, but I loved the
bright red color and up to that point, all I
could find were dark brown and computer
pixelated printed stuff. I really tried to give
my sister my attention over lunch, but I
couldn't keep my eyes and conversation off
of the pickguard.
Years went by and due to the stress of my
work situation in the Hollywood film
industry, I desperately needed a way out.
It was so stressful that my wife and I would
often take small trips a few times a month
to get out of the city. On a small get-away
trip with my wife, we started discussing how
beautiful the tortoiseshell material is. The
idea came to mind, “Since it doesn't exist
anymore, why don't I just recreate it
myself?” I don't know why I never thought
of that before. I was so inspired that I
actually couldn't wait to get back home to
start my research and development. When
I returned home my tortoiseshell journey
began.”
In terms of the production process, can you
talk me through the key steps?
“In terms of the making process, each
company has their own secret recipe. One
thing we all have in common is that we can't
give away our secret recipe. What I can say
is that these materials are extremely
dangerous and if not handled with the
utmost care and responsibility, severe
health issues can occur.
The process usually starts with the
customer. I give the customer a wide range

of options so that they can customize their
own pickguard down to the smallest detail.
After we discuss the details and payment
has been made, we start the material
making process. The top tortoiseshell
material is made first according to the
customer’s specifications and then it goes
into the sheeting process. It is cut and
laminated with white and black sheets to
become a 4-ply pickguard sheet. After
about a week, the sheet is ready to be cut.
We cut it into the shape that the customer
requires and it either goes into the polish
and cleaning stage for new pickguards or
to the relic stage for aged/relic pickguards.
When finished we are always very excited
to send pictures to the customer to show
off their beautiful new Spitfire pickguard.
All of our pickguards ship worldwide. “
So what are the options you offer?
“Spitfire Tortoiseshell Pickguards offers a
number of options to suit any tortoiseshell
enthusiast. Let's first talk style. We have
gathered our styles from research and also
by demand. Our most popular and
authentic style would be our Speckled 60s.
This is what you would see most commonly
on a large variety of 60s instruments. This
has a nice combination of darker red spots,
brighter red spots, and the beautiful fiery
yellow spots. We then have a Subtle 60s
which is truly gorgeous. It is a smooth
very well blended pattern without many
yellow spots which gives a much more
conservative classy look. So when seen
from far away it almost looks like a solid
colour. Our third style option is the classic
Crazy 60s. Every once in a while, you will
see a vintage 60s pickguard with a wild
fiery pattern. This is rare and is generally
described as fiery yellow patches randomly
throughout the surface. This one looks just
like a hot magma lava pit with flames of fire
and lava bubbles exploding out, hence the
name Spitfire Tortoiseshell. Our last and
final trademark option is our famous Solar
Flare. This is the most wildly unique style.
This looks just like a giant solar flare
exploding from the surface of the sun.
These all definitely need to be seen to be
believed. For our colours we stick with
mostly what we have seen through the 60s
decade. Our colour options are: Vintage
Dark, Vintage Burgundy, Vintage Bright Red,
and finally Vintage Faded Orange. I would
say my favourite and what lead me to
starting this business would definitely be a
Vintage Bright Red with a Speckled 60s
pattern. Our most popular would tend to be
the Vintage Burgundy with the Speckled 60s
pattern, which is also lovely and probably
the most vintage authentic combination.”
How authentic do you think the various reds
and oranges are in terms of how
Tortoiseshell really ages?
“An interesting discovery I found from my
research was that our colour options
actually mimic the aging stages of the
vintage tortoiseshell pickguards. In the 60s,
Fender didn't widely produce bright red or
orange tortoiseshell material. They actually
started with a dark tortoiseshell colour that
when left in the sun, exposed to air, and
normal use, over time faded into the wide
range of tortoiseshell colours we see today.
I have done some experiments where I took
a dark 1960s original vintage tortoiseshell
pickguard and left it in the sun to see how it
fades. I left it baking in the window for
over two years and to my amazement it has
gone through all the colour stages that we
see on vintage instruments. After about a

year it went from a dark burgundy to a
bright red. Then after the next year, it
turned completely faded orange. It's quite
amazing and this has helped me to fine
tune my colours to the exact hues for the
most authentic accuracy.
As Spitfire Pickguards has progressed, we
have had many requests and demand for
new items over the years. We have also
introduced our line of age white or vintage
mint pickguards. We have yet to find an
authentic vintage mint material produced,
so we have been forced to come up with a
process to completely hand make our own
mint pickguards to authentic perfection.
Once again, “If it doesn't exist, create it.”
We also make Spitfire Tortoiseshell key
chains. This is a great way to take a
decorative piece of your Spitfire pickguard
with you no matter where you go. Most of
the time your key chain will be made
directly from your personal material that
you ordered, perfectly matching your
pickguard.”
What is the most popular style/shape?
“Our most popular style and shape would
definitely be the Fender Jazzmaster. I
started this business obsessed with the
Fender Jaguar hoping to be making and
selling Jaguar pickguards most of the time,
but found the Jaguar pickguards were not
high in demand.
Everyone was asking if I could make
Jazzmaster pickguards instead. When we
finally got the Jazzmaster templates ready,
I couldn't keep up with the demand, but
was happy to be doing what I was
passionate about. The second most
popular pickguard Spitfire produces would
be either the Fender Precision Bass or the
Fender Stratocaster.”
I understand you have other things planned
that perhaps aren’t as vintage-oriented, can
you tell us a little about them?
“Some other ideas that I have been playing
around with are out of this world, literally. I
have been fascinated with space and the
unknown for most of my life. Recently my
interests in space has become stronger and
this has lead me to doing tests for making
gas-like Nebula patterns out of the
tortoiseshell material. My first prototype
was a black border with a striking red and
blue Nebula cloud bursting through the
middle of the pickguard. This combination
of colours made for quite a beautiful display.
The mix of colours brought out a wide array
of reds, purples, pinks, aqua blue, deep
blue, and even white in some areas. I didn't
stop there. I also found out a way to
implement stars made from different sizes
of chrome flakes. These are all circular
shape and have a mirror like finish so they
reflect brightly whatever light they come in
contact with. I still didn't feel this was
enough.
I was working with a customer at that time
who wanted one of my pickguards, but
wanted it to have a semi-transparent
backing. He wanted it transparent so that
he could put lights behind his pickguard to
illuminate the tortoiseshell pattern. This
was quite the challenge, because the
transparent backing had to also be opaque,
white enough for my tortoiseshell layer to
pop with its vibrant colours and details
when the guitar lights are off. Over a black
backing all tortoiseshell would be hardly
visible since its mostly transparent. So we

found a material that was cloudy bright
white and also transparent. Before I made
my customer's pickguard I needed to test it
and what better way to test than on my
Nebula prototype. After the full process of
installing lights into my Stratocaster guitar
perfectly placed to replicate planets, stars,
and bursts of fire, I found that I came up
with something that has never been done
or seen before. So, this is on the horizon,
pun intended, and hopefully we will start
seeing Spitfire Nebula space pickguards
sometime in the near future.”
And you have to say Mark has re-created
something that genuinely has improved the
quality of guitars, OK aesthetics perhaps,
but we all buy with our eyes before our
ears. He really is a fascinating guy to talk to,
and I must admit I have a couple of guitars
that I think may need a change of livery in
the near future. I’ve noticed in the last few
weeks a few other people in the States have
started to sell authentic Tortie, but I’ve yet
to see one like Mark makes with Spitfire. In
fact, I compared my own ‘60s one to one of
Mark’s a year or two ago, and I have to say
his looked better, so even better than the
real thing in this sample of one. Sometimes
you find people who really deserve to
succeed, and Mark is definitely in that
category.
Check his wares out Here and say Hi, he is a
diamond geezer.

COG EFFECTS
Knightfall 66 Bass Overdrive
In last week’s 4.52am we introduced the
rather swish Cog Effects Analogue Octave,
and had always intended to also show you
(as it was a bit of a bass special with Mr
Mark King, Status Graphite and all) the
rather wonderfilled Cog Effects Knightfall 66
Bass Overdrive. That we didn’t probably
came down to my tendency to witter on
about things I find interesting, as you have
probably just noticed with the Spitfire
Vintage Tortoiseshell Pickguards article.
So anyway, today I get to put things right
and let you see another superbly, spotlessly
assembled pedal from those nice chaps at
Cog.
From the top it is pretty much the perfect
Bass overdrive. It will easily give you a
beautifully thick clean tone, will also give
you some grit, but then also go absolutely
ape-shit-crazy when the need arises.
What is particularly cool is that there are in
effect two overdrive pedals in one, so that
you have two separate channels, with
independent controls, and a simple A/B
switch to let you choose between the two.
Perfect.
Or as Cog put it,
“Two separate Gain controls can be
switched with the A/B footswitch, and each
Gain control also has a Level control to allow
balancing between the two drive settings.
The Voice knob adjusts pre-gain low end
providing additional control over the
shape of the overdrive, and the Tone
control cuts high end after the clipping
circuit giving a broad sweep from dark
through to very bright.
The clean channel is filtered in a similar
way to the Grand Tarkin's clean channel
and designed to properly blend with the
drive channel - rather than sounding
"side-by-side", the two channels integrate
for a more natural tone.”
Here is the gen:
* A/B footswitch gives different Gain
settings without losing balance of levels
* Filtered clean blend allows extensive
sound shaping in conjunction with Gain,
Voice and Tone
* 2.1mm Boss-style 9v-18v DC input
(power supply not included)
* North-mounted jacks to reduce
pedalboard footprint
* True Bypass
* Die-cast Aluminium box
Check it out for yourself Here anyway and
the demo is well worth a listen.

COG EFFECTS
Mini 66 Bass Overdrive
Well, as we are finally looking at Cog
Effects’ wonderful Knightfall 66 Bass
Overdrive, it would have seemed churlish
not to check out it’s little brother, for those
who perhaps struggle in the pedalboard
‘real estate’ department, being packed into
a teeny little Hammond 1590A sized
enclosure.
But before you start thinking that this is a
cut down version in every way – forget it –
this thing sounds massive. I mean like
enormous.
For a start, Cog may have simplified the
controls but it is cleverly done to ensure
that the best of what makes the Knightfall
such an impressive pedal is retained if not in
the same form.
So instead of the Voice knob instead we get
a three-way ‘Fat’ switch that gives three
perfect setting at the low-end as it goes into
the gain stage.
This is a great idea as in a lot of ways this is
in fact better than the Voice control,
especially for those of us that want to plugand-play
rather than fiddle around searching
for that perfect setting.
Especially good if there are important tonal
changes to be made on a dim-lit stage, for
instance. Saves on the glow-in-the-dark
Tippex if nothing else. (Bet that is on a Cog
advert before the month is out.)
And if you have a good idea, you may as
well use it twice, would seem to be the
approach, and there is definitely genius in
the repetition here as the Big Brother’s
Tone knob is again replaced by a threeway
cut switch which will allow you to cut
the top end by pre-defined increments.
On top of these we also have the Filtered
Clean knob from the Knightfall which
gives so much more control over the way
the signal mixes, so much more natural
than the usual approach.
All together then, whilst you may be
losing the twin-channel approach of the
larger unit, the Mini 66 is a brilliant
reinterpretation and in a lot of ways, not
just the size of the pedal, for a lot of
gigging bass players it could well prove to
be a lot more useful
Why not check it out Here, see what you
think

CERIATONE AMPLIFIER KITS
Tweedle Dee
One of the things we are looking forward to
doing with Guitar Quarterly, is have a few
articles that run over the months and cover
multiple issues. From issue one we will be
following three chaps who have taken on
the challenge and will be giving their honest
opinions as they do their best to complete
Guitar, Amplifier and Pedal kits from three
of the premier companies out there.
I’ll introduce the other two in the coming
weeks, but I thought it would be cool to
give you a little background on out friends
from CeriaTone Amplifiers who have
graciously donated one of their kits for us to
play with.
In terms of the kits, they have a quite
amazing range, but it is one of their newer
ones that we went for, the Tweedle Dee.
I took the opportunity to ask Nik from
CeriaTone to explain the kit for us,
“It's a 5E3 tweed deluxe, but with supposed
Dumble tweaks. And we added a few of our
own tweaks too. The push for it is that we
were trying to get most our smaller amps
into the lunchbox format. So, the 5E3 was
of course going to be in this format.
While we were at it, I thought it would be
good to add this amp to it as well.
Essentially, it's a tighter, faster 5E3, with a
bit more headroom.
To me, it crunches better than a 5E3 as
well, less fartiness. Better clarity, and it
doesn’t feel so slow in your hands, with
the GZ34 rectifier tube, vs the 5Y3GT
which is saggier.”
As a complete coward when it comes to
even 9V power supplies, I asked Nik
about his feelings about safety when it
came to selling kits and how do they
ensure that people don’t put themselves
into danger when building your kits?
“We need to make the layout, i.e the
guide as to wiring, safe. If they follow
this, and their wiring is fine, then it should
be fine.
Other than that, regular safety
precautions do apply, when making the
amps. I am a common sense kind of guy -
it should be obvious one do not put a fork
into the mains receptacle, for example.”
You can check out the kit Here or better
still follow it being built in Guitar Quarterly

MADE BY MIKE
Dream Box
We looked at Made By Mike Effects last
week too – I know there is a theme of
things being talked out of parliament
happening here – and again I meant us to
have a shufty at his Dream Box too, but
space ran out.
So I am doubly pleased to introduce to you
a quite wonderful pedal – or rather two
quite wonderfilled pedals in one box, a
Dream Box, aiming squarely at fans of the
Smashing Pumpkins and a certain Mr
Corgan’s tones.
I asked Mike Livesley to explain his thinking
in terms of this pedal, to his credit he didn’t
run away.
“In terms of why I built the Dream Box, it
has an interesting backstory in that at the
time I was producing my '78 IC Muff pedal
(with tone bypass and an optional mids
control) as made famous by Billy Corgan of
the Smashing Pumpkins on the Siamese
Dream record. I was really excited the first
time I built one and firing it up was a real
"that's the sound" moment in my head.
They were proving quite popular and indeed
many other builders have produced similar
riffs on this pedal now, though I believe I
was one of if not the first to recognise it's
potential and offer it. Some kids on
Harmony Central FX Forum (which at the
time was a thriving discussion group)
pointed me in the direction of a video of
Corgan discussing his effect pedal use
and some lesser known nuggets of
information came to light including that
he'd used an old unfavoured until then
MXR Distortion II pedal in conjunction
with the Big Muff for the leads on
Siamese Dream. At the time the Distortion
II was an even rarer and off the radar
pedal than the Big Muff version, so I had
to do a lot of digging to find a schematic,
which was of the handwritten style! In the
end I spent a long time working on this
one, retaining the core audio path but
modernising the circuit to get rid of the
large and noisy power supply, reduce
noise and improve the performance of the
controls. What I ended up with was in my
opinion a great sounding pedal, and is
what I call the Dist 2 (dist squared). I've
had customers buy them to use in place
of old (now valuable) and unreliable
originals and I've had a lot of good
feedback, people saying they sound
exactly the same but are better behaved
and offer more sounds on top of the base
tones. I combined this in a pedal with the
IC Muff which was christened by a guy on
the HCFX forum as the Dream Box. He
now runs his own pedal company SHOE
PEDALS I believe.”
Check it out Here, you know you want to.

GARETH GOTT
Audition 7001
In what is no doubt to become an on-goingsaga-of-classical-proportions,
the brilliant
Gareth Gott of the Fretboard Forum,
answered my plea for people to share their
vintage, beautiful, home built or just plain
strange guitars.
I asked Gareth to tell us about what was
once a common, ‘Woolworths Special’ but is
now considered something a bit more
special.
You only have to read the Mojo Pickups
Gold Foil article in Issue 001 to see why.
Here is what Gareth had to say,
“I received this Audition 7001 for Christmas
in 1989 when I was 9 years old, it was my
first electric and I would go on to play the
strings off it every day until August 1995
when I bought a Jackson with my paper
round money.
I am not too sure when it was made as the
only way to check is to take the neck off
and I am reluctant to do so, but I
understand that Teisco made most of these
between 1968 and 1972 with very few
changes, mostly the knobs and pick guard
material.
It has a very warm and mellow sound from
the sole single coil pick up. The back of the
neck is covered in lashings of gloop which
gets quite sticky after 20 minutes but that is
its only real negative, the fretwork is as
good as anything else I've played and the
rosewood fretboard has a rather deep
appearance as if it'll never dry out and
crack!
It seems a pity that it has spent over two
decades in its fitted hard case that my
parents made from plywood and a denim
maxi dress, only to see the light of day for
an occasional strum and to be
photographed.”

FLETCHER PICKUPS
Hell Level 5
Ben Fletcher has launched a new UK-based
pickup company in the West Midlands this
year, taking no time at all to get up to
speed with a variety of designs and pickup
types.
As with most things in 4.52am we will be
looking at Ben’s approach and the company
in Guitar Quarterly, whilst here, over the
coming months we will be checking out
each of his different pickup designs.
As for no apparent reason they are always
the last thing I look at, I thought I’d start
with Ben’s hotter humbuckers, a range he
has quite aptly named ‘Hell’.
First things first, and something that I’m
sure will appeal to a lot of people reading
this, Ben is making
handwound/scatterwound pickups, using
top quality components in the UK.
Bear that in mind.
Ben is also doing it at price-levels that we
would normally expect to be buying massproduced,
Eastern pickups from the likes of
IronGear and Tonerider, in fact the Hell I’m
looking at here is the same price as the
IronGear Tesla Shark. So I’ll say it again,
Ben is making these pickups in the UK by
hand.
Trying not to dwell on his profit margins, I
asked Ben to describe his Hell Pickups, here
is what he had to say,
“Hell are my hottest humbuckers, and the
blue ones you see in the photo were
made especially for a customer.
I should explain, that all of my pickups
can are made to order and as such as are
available with a variety of options.
There are four levels to Fletcher Hell:
a. Level 5:
This has an Alnico 5 magnet and is
reasonably balanced tone-wise
with nice, full mids.
b. Levels 8:
This has a clearer high end than
the Alnico 5.
c. Rock Bottom
This has a Ceramic magnet giving
Fatter mids and lows, and
d. NeoHell: This is as bad as it gets
with a Neodymium magnet and is
simply described as - Childish!
For this set, the customer required
uncovered Blue bobbins to match his
guitar.
As for the customer’s response,
Thanks a million Ben, FANTASTIC sounds,
really crunchy clear as a bell. BRILLIANT
work, LOVE 'EM."
Check Fletcher Pickups out Here

REVIEWS

ADAM TORRES
Pearls To Swine
Adam Torres is that rarity in these days of
X-Factor production lines, the genuine
article, and though the word has been
sullied by repeated mouthing by fools, he is
what he is, a proper artist. Musically, Pearls
to Swine is low key, in a good way, where
simple tones can add colour to what could
otherwise be a sepia, gritty slow-motion
filmscape of some anonymous American
town you’ve never seen or heard of. But the
music is secondary on everything Torres
does as it genuinely is all about his voice,
which is mesmerising, angel clear and at
times other worldly.
Comparisons spring to mind with a
Telecaster picking Jeff Buckley, but Torres
leaps beyond such obviously lazy clichés as
his song-writing is perhaps stronger than
Buckley’s ever was and certainly his voice
holds a hollow maturity that Buckley
never had the time to reach,
unfortunately.
And there is that sense with Torres that
his compelling back story of turning his
back on music to travel, do aid work and
the rest is more than a PR company
angle, as there is a depth to his songs
that you continue to explore, beatifically.
However many times you listen to them
they point to the fact that the boy, and
the artist have grown and his horizons are
now limitless.
Is this his Grace? I don’t know, but I’d
suggest it betters Buckley’s masterpiece,
and not many can lay claim to such
standards. Check him out Here

EARWIGS
Pause For Jets
I hate to admit this, because nobody wants
to appear to be an idiot, however qualified
they may be, but I had never heard of the
Earwigs, or more to the point I think that I
had heard of them, but I don’t think I had
heard the Earwigs, before this album
arrived.
Forgetting the fact that I really should get
out more, I can only say that I’ve been
wasting the last twenty years of my life. (I’ll
apologise to the family later.)
For they have been around since the ‘90s,
and if this is the quality of music they have
been producing over that period, my life is
definitely poorer for missing it.
For Pause For Jets is an absolute classic of
an album. There is no corner of the musical
spectrum that they can’t or won’t nod at -
the introduction to Silverheels is like you
took acid listening to Prince’s Let’s Go Crazy,
for instance, and the general vibe is a space
opera on steroids whilst dressed like
Thurston Moore in drag.
And that is a good point, this is the type
of album Mr Moore should be producing if
he could ever remove that stick from his
arse, as the songwriting is quite simply
brilliant.
I’ve said before that it takes a special
talent to make a perfect pop song look
like a slacker throwaway at first view and
OK, I don’t mind admitting that it wasn’t
catchy as quotes go, but I have said it
before, but the Earwigs nail that sort of
bobbins for breakfast.
To summarise, don’t live your life as halfa-life
anymore and join me as I listen to
this and then go digging through the
Earwig’s back catalogue.
The Earwigs are awesome; it really is as
simple as that. Please go and check them
out Here you will thank me for it later.

FRANKIE COSMOS
Next Thing
I can’t do anything, when I listen to
Frankie Cosmos, other than smile.
They just make me happy, and even for
reactionary old misery-is-my-middlename
indie fans of an olden-daze
school, that is still quite a cool thing to
find about yourself.
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not about
to tell you that they are a twee,
Nutrasweet kind of alternative band, that
they write meaningless songs and are
instantly forgettable.
Indeed, it is the total opposite, the
songs are strong once you scratch the
surface and the jangle of guitars is ‘60s
Fender short-scale, but still carries
authority - and I’m trying hard to
describe how much I like them.
I guess a simple way is an example,
back in the olden days the Cardigans
produced the perfect pop album Life
way before Gran Turisimo and
heavier-MTV-guitars, and it too could
make me smile, and as a
consequence it has stayed with me
forever.
And I think the truth is that Frankie
Cosmos will do that for your life, as in
the same way that the Throwing
Muses or Belly will forever have a
corner of the world painted for their
glory, Frankie Cosmos will too.
I think you’d enjoy this one, give it a
go. Check them out Here.

JOHNNY FRITZ
Sweet Creep
One of the interesting new things that are
going on in musicland these days, is that all
of sudden country has somehow gotten
cool. We looked at Julia Jacklin a couple of
weeks ago, and she is from Australia, utterly
brilliant and if it has got that far things are
really on the turn.
More to the point there is definitely a flavour
to even non-country music at times. I don’t
know what the country equivalent to a bluenote
is (a fine whine?) but it is appearing
more than you would think.
Attune thine ears and listen, for mine words
are your truth.
All of which is good, we always knew they
had the best players after all, and the kids
always rebel (first law of Melody Maker, I
learned my lessons well) so the fact that
country has been naff for decades, well, it
was only a matter of time.
I’m not young though and really should
know better, which is why I have surprised
myself by basically having a geezer-crush on
Jonny Fritz, at least on his fourth album,
Sweet Creep, for it is definitely country
and even has pedal steel, and whilst he
isn’t so lonesome he can die, his songs
definitely exhibit that heartfelt, yearning,
burning, learning even, that the best
exhibit. I mean he hasn’t gone country
kitsch, but equally he isn’t playing it down
like (say) someone like Jeff Buckley did in
the past.
As an album (and not being an aficionado
of the form) I would say it is compelling,
you genuinely can’t take your ears off it,
and I honestly think it has added
something to my life.
I can even say it now,
there is country I like.
There is country I like.
There is country music I like,
and I’m proud.
“Western” mind you, that is a step too
far.
Check Mr Fritz out Here

MARTHA
Blisters In The Pit Of My Heart
I was going to write a really witty review
about Martha, bit of a surreal play on
words about Mary Berry and Martha
Stewart, weave in something about
wanting to leave Old Durham Town and
then finish on a crashing cliche about
something or other.
But to be honest, it really wouldn’t do
them justice.
So then I kinda thought I’d play on the
cartoon punk thing - they are young,
make the coolest of cool videos
(promos? I’m still catching up on the
lingo du zeitgeist) and that would be
closer to the truth as it would at least
cover one of their dimensions.
Another was more serious, where in
terms of their lyrics, I would reveal that I
honestly think that they are Morrissey’s
natural heirs as nobody has captured
the mundane and the humerus with
such a beautiful turn of phrase since,
well, since Sheila Took A Bow, as it
happens.
But that is a pressure nobody needs
and could get you hated as soon as
loved, so I won’t mention that, instead
perhaps I should stick to the fact that
they have created a brilliant album,
that musically is varied, hardy and
gorgeous all at the same time, lyrically
they are super smart and if their image
is cartoon toytown with eyelash
crimpers, then who gives a shit, this is
still one of the best albums I have
heard this year, or in years.
Giddy gorgeous with sprinkles.
Go find out more Here

NEW PORTALS
Cage
The New Portals are perhaps the best
thing to come out of Belfast since
Johnny Evans, maybe even The
Undertones, neither of which I say
lightly.
As a band they are a little bit R&B and a
smidgen of Celtic lore, but always
inspiring, powerful and memorable, even
if at times they seem to be trying too
hard to find the perfect sound, without
realising that they already have it.
A common affliction in the perfectionist, I
believe.
And there is such a control over every
aspect of Cage and their other releases
before it, that you can almost taste their
desire to attain perfection - the perfect
song, the perfect record - when maybe
they should just relax a little and let it
flow, which would pay-off by the
bucketload once they get to releasing
a full album as at the moment they
have individually unique gems that
glister, where maybe a string of pearls
is more effective in establishing them
at the level they should be playing at.
It would be tragic if they really don’t
become massive though, I can
imagine them doing better in New
York than cliquey London, at least
initially, but with talent and songs like
these, in truth they have it all at their
feet. Cage is an awesome song, and I
really can’t wait to hear more, I just
wish they’d chill, I worry about their
blood pressure. Check them out Here.

PATIENCE
The Pressure
Patience is Roxanne Gifford (if you
remember Veronica Falls, that be her
previous) and The Pressure is her follow up
to her quite wonderful debut single The
Church which will seriously wow you if you
check the video out which should be around
here somewhere or other...
And excellent though The Church was, The
Pressure is a definite step forward with its
1982 synth groove and Ms Gifford’s disdainfilled-and-chilled
delivery.
And to be totally honest on first listen I was
back in King’s Norton suffering double Maths
with some psycho teacher or other and can
still see her on that night’s Top of the Pops
all sultry and with a Kim Wilde makeover,
stripy top and all. There is this guy in
glasses at the front dancing whilst his
tank top starts to rise up and you can see
he is missing a button on his shirt, his
mother (who he still lives with to this day,
although now she is in an urn) still tuts
when she thinks about it.
For as retro vibes go, Patience has it
nailed, but with a beautiful modern twist
that even now I know would have left my
teenage obsessive self, and that guy in
the tank top, perplexed and maybe a wee
bit sweaty.
Seriously cool song, really looking forward
to the album. Check it out Here.

REAL NUMBERS
Wordless Wonder
If Patience took me back to 1982, the Real
Numbers are definitely putting a smile back
on my face as they take me back to the
days of ‘proper’ indie music, before all that
dance malarkey came along and messed
things up.
This is the music of the Shamen, Primal
Scream, the Soup Dragons, the Happy
Mondays, when they were proper bands and
not remix projects, playing half empty
student unis and beer-sweating back rooms
of smoky pubs and all those C86 bands that
came before them.
This is the sound of the Wedding Present,
the New Fast Automatic Daffodils, the
Housemartins even, with ‘that’ indie guitar
rhythm, playing faster and faster as you
progress thru a track and everybody
wearing second-hand postman jackets and
black 501s with turn-ups, girls in printed
tights from the Sock Shop, Snakebite and
Black all around.
This is the sound of Melody Maker and
Sounds, NME and Record Mirror, this is
history revisited, the sound of proper
indie labels before their ‘marques’ were
bought by the men in suits, this is
authentic, the Blue Aeroplanes and Mighty
Mighty, the Shrubs and the Mackenzies,
gorgeous, proper, singers in fishermen
jumpers and glasses called Tim*, this is
bleedin’ brilliant, one of the most lifeaffirming
albums I’ve heard in years, and
if you were ‘there’ you’ll love it, if you
weren’t fill the gaps and prepare to be
stunned, as this is as smile-inducing and
uber cool an album you’ll have heard. It’s
30 years since C86, it sounds better now
than ever. Check them out Here.
*In the ‘80s we all named our spex, it was a thing.

RED SLEEPING BEAUTY
Kristine
When I heard that Red Sleeping Beauty had
a new album out in the summer, I must
admit I had to double-check as I thought
they were long gone, and indeed it is
coming on twenty years since their last
outing. In between the two, singer Kristina
Borg, for whom the album is named, has
overcome breast cancer (thankfully) and
whether this has had an impact on the
writing or not, it certainly hasn’t dimmed
their quality as the album is all kinds of
beautiful.
From the start they have essentially
continued from where they left off crafting
quite perfect pop songs, based around
luxurious, icy synths and two great vocals
and more hooks than the average Tyson
Fury interview. And in a lot of ways they
are a grown-up version of what were their
contemporaries, the Cardigans, Saint
Etienne, Cola Boy and the rest, but then
looking back they always were.
Sometimes you groan at bands coming
back, but sometimes they genuinely
should as they are better than ever.
Check them out Here, they are awesome.

SAM EVIAN
Premium
Premium is New Yorker Sam Evian’s debut
album, and you will be shocked at just how
accomplished a sound he has managed to
put together so early in his career. It could
easily be a 70s Classic we are reviewing, full
of songs written by James Taylor or Carole
King as without aping anybody - and he has
definitely a sound and style of his own -
every track has that innate familiarity that
has you muttering along halfway through
the song, feeling like you should know the
words, and glad nobody else is taking any
notice of you.
Not that many will manage to singalonga
Sam as vocally he has a range that would
have many of his contemporaries thinking
twice and finding something else to do
quicksmart if a suggestion of duet came up,
and despite keeping it hidden a lot of the
time, when he turns the power on, it is a
definite force.
As songs and style, Premium does have
that classic feel but is most definitely
new, and I’ve mentioned James Taylor
but it is John Lennon that I was instantly
comparing him to in my head, although
the songs are perhaps less raw than the
fish shaver was known for.
I won’t say ‘for a debut’ as that is
insulting, as this has all the hallmarks of a
classic album all by itself, and in Sam
Evian the world has found itself a modern
troubadour and in Premium he has set his
stall out for future world domination.
Check him out Here

CREDITS & THANKS
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All content © Guitar Quarterly 2016. No parts may
be reproduced or stored in any format without the
express written permission of the publisher
Articles/Reviews: MD, NJ, LP, FM, TJ & RT
Artwork: MD, FJ
Design: MD, JM & TJ
Photo Credits:
Palace Winter: Palace Winter
The Orders: The Orders
Susie Blue: Susie Blue
Gus Guitars: Simon
MJW Amps:
Magnetic Effects: Magnetic Effects
Cog Effects: Cog Effects
Made By Mike: Made By Mike
Ceriatone Amplifiers: Ceriatone Amplifiers
Spitfire Pickguards: Mark Townsend
Fletcher Pickups: Ben Fletcher
Audition 7001: Gareth Gott
Bigsby Guitar: David Mountain
Adam Torres: Adam Torres
Earwigs: Ryan Miller
Frankie Cosmos: Frankie Cosmos
Jonny Fritz: Johnny Fritz
Martha: Martha
New Portals: New Portals
Patience: Patience
Real Numbers: Real Numbers
Red Sleeping Beauty: Red Sleeping Beauty
Sam Evian: Sam Evian