4.52am Issue: 016 - 8th January 2017

theFretBoard is a forum for guitarists, and the occasional bassist.
It’s run by guitarists, for guitarists, and covers just about all the “stuff” that interests
guitarists, including guitars (!), amps, fx, learning, playing, buying, selling and anything
else that comes to the minds of thousands of guitarists every day.
It’s completely free to read and free to join – membership allows readers to see
additional areas of the forum which aren’t visible to non-members, to start their own
discussions and post their own comments.
Best of all, there are NO ADVERTS.
Join the UK’s busiest, most interesting and most diverse guitar related forum for free
(did we mention that it’s free?) at theFretBoard.co.uk.
Now.
Why not pay us a visit, and check:
The Threads of the week, click if you dare:
1. Show Us Your Rare and Unusual Guitars
2. So, How Many Guitars Do You Actually Own?

2017, then
Welcome to our first issue of 4.52am in 2017,
and I’ll ask you to forgive the frazzled look, but
we have been running around trying to get the
first Guitar Quarterly together too, a mixture of
pleasure and pain.
This week, we have the brilliant Theatre of
Hate and a look back at what became of the
Westworld.
On the guitar front, we have a bumper crop
with a first look at something heavy from
Manton Guitars, who are doing some special
things, something old and something new from
the always cool Magnetic Effects, an update
from Spitfire Vintage Pickguards on our Elvis
Costello ‘Homage’, and some fantastic news
for those of you that have bought a Squier VI
and would like some reasonably priced strings
that don’t hang elastic-like, with a chat with
Axion Custom Works.
Oh, and no music reviews this week as we are
revamping things next week and we thought it
would be worth the wait…
Hope you enjoy it…
All at 4.52am

CONTENTS
FEATURES
Theatre of Hate
Whatever Happened to the Westworld?
Manton Customs
Matriarch 8 String
Axion Custom Works
Bass VI Strings and then some
Spitfire Vintage Pickguards
Tort Law For Elvis
Magnetic Effects
Zola & Electrochop

FEATURES

THEATRE OF HATE
Whatever Happened to the Westworld?
I never got to see Theatre of Hate during
the two years that should have been their
glory days, in fact I never got to see Kirk
Brandon at all until much later, fronting
Spear of Destiny in a Hockey Stadium
somewhere in Milton Keynes. It doesn’t
get more New Wave Punk than that, let’s
face it.
Although whilst I loved Spear of Destiny,
I never feel that you can beat what an
artist’s first real band is doing as like
authors and painters, first time around
you get their art in the purest form,
before the real world gets in the way.
With novels you often get them of the
kitchen sink variety where every possible
plot twist and detail is included that has
ever popped up in the author’s brain, and
it is the same with bands and song
writers, it is why there are so many onehitters
out there.
All of which I couldn’t help but think of
when I got the rather brilliant compilation
of Theatre of Hate from those cool chaps
at Cherry Red Records. As they do so
often they have taken something
shortlived but special, and gathered all
the parts that maybe dropped to the side
– live performances, demos, unreleased
tracks – and opulently packaged it for
my delectation. (OK, anybody that
wants it, not just me, but you know.
I’m nothing if not ego-laden.)
Listening to the band now, I have to
say I really can’t understand how it did
go wrong, but like many before them
and since, a little bad luck here and a
bad break there was enough to change
what should have been into another
tale of woe.
The story started earlier of course, but
the first time I remember seeing ToH
was on Top of the pops. It was the only
place you used to see any band of
course, but I can vividly remember the
strutting, spitting rockabilly punks with
the monotonous beats and screaming
guitars, they were like nothing else
around and totally fascinating. Then
there was the saxophone. Man, it was
definitely a good time for music and I
can’t help but wonder how all those sax
players have eaten over the decades
since.
The single that day was of course their
only real hit ‘Do You Believe In The
Westworld’, and the thumping drums

soon had me with my nose against the
glass of the 14” screen.
I loved the twanging of the guitars, I
think that was the first thing that hit me,
the thumping noise I’d associated with
my Dad’s Duane Eddy and Eddie
Cochran LPs, but this was much more
vibrant and strident. In fact I think it was
the first time that I really got the feeling
you can get between your ears from the
repetition of a beat, the mechanical
thudding rhythm that just wouldn’t let
you go.
It wasn’t just me of course, the country
was instantly full of ‘younger viewers’
who suddenly had seen something
different, something important, even if
we didn’t quite understand why.
Unsurprisingly, the next weekend saw
the single shooting into the Top 40, and
their destiny as the heirs apparent to the
Clash seemed assured.
Unsurprisingly, looking back, it was a
more familiar story at this point as of
course, indie music in Britain then
always seemed to find a way to mess it
up, and for ToH it was to be no different.
Brandon explains what went wrong,
“Rough Trade distributed the single. It
got to 50,000 sales and our manager
Terry Razor said ‘Press another 50,000
copies’ but they said ‘No.’ So it dropped
down the chart. Then Stiff took it up and
it sold another 50,000 to 100,000 copies
– to this day no one knows exactly how
many it sold. If sales were consistent, it
could have made the Top 5, even Number
1. No one who ever heard that record
could forget it.”
This was obviously a disappointment, but
the album was ready to go and hit the
heights of number 32.
Listening to it now, the depth of the
songs was stunning, and whilst they were
corralled with Killing Joke or Joy Division
at the time, there was a different feel to
the songs than that, edging more toward
the Cure or the Clash themselves.
In a lot of ways having Mick Jones
produce the album probably did them few
favours, and it is only looking back that
you can perhaps see that his later work
with Big Audio Dynamite owed something
to the writing of Brandon. ToH supporting
the Clash didn’t help either although
nobody was about to turn it down.
Stan Stammers explained how Jones got
involved with the band,
“I knew Mick quite well already from my
time following the Clash around and was
stoked when I was told he’d be producing
us.” Brandon interjects,
“I remember Theatre of Hate playing The
Venue in Victoria. Mick Jones was
standing on his own in this big line of
people. I walked up to him and said
“What you doing?” He goes, ‘Waiting to
see a band.’ I went “OK, well come with
us then.” Whether he knew we were the
band or not, I’m not sure. Barring the first
single, he produced all of it.”

The band couldn’t believe their luck and
working with Jones was an eye-opener,
for Stammers,
“The whole Westworld session was an
education. We did the backing tracks at
Redan Recorders in Westbourne Grove
then the overdubs and mixing at
Wessex. It was all done at night. Mick
flew in from the States and had to return
after to do Clash stuff, so he wanted to
stay on American time to avoid getting
too messed up. I just thought he didn’t
want to get up too early! We’d been
playing these songs for a year and knew
them back to front, they went down
really easy.”
John-Boy Lennard agrees,
“Everything was experimental. At 3am
one morning Mick brought in a clarinet.
I told him I had never played one before.
At 6am I was playing my first clarinet
solo. I created other sounds – not
playing the sax but recording just the
sound of the key pads. It was great
being so experimental with an energy
that Mick brought to the table.”
Kirk joins in,
“My voice was basically one-take stuff.
The Clash had recorded an album at
Wessex not that long before, and Jerry
Green said ‘Right, we’ll set you up like
we did Joe (Strummer.)’ So he set me up
in front of the glass of the control room.
He used a Neumann and you get a
reflection straight off the glass going
back to the microphone, so that’s how we
did it.”
The result of which was this other worldly
vocal that defines Brandon’s sound even
today.
Stammer expands,
“Mick had ideas that no-one else was
doing and his chemistry with the band
and understanding of what we were
trying to do was the key to its success.”
Brandon had to work hard to get Jones to
add some of his guitar playing to the
record,
“Mick didn’t want to play on the album,
saying ‘It’s your record, it’s not for me to
play on’, then I persuaded him – ‘Mick
bring in a Les Paul and just do
something.’ The following day he brought
in one of his Les Paul Customs and he
doubled up what I played on ‘Do You
Believe In The Westworld.’ Mick played it
so much better than I do. It was brilliant,
absolutely brilliant.”
The magic didn’t end there though, as
Brandon clarifies,
“When we came to mix it, Mick had all the
delays and reverbs set up and obviously
in those days it was just tape going into
the desk. Mick would jump on it, be
playing it and banging things on and off.
Jeremy Green was the engineer; he was
there with Chris Thomas and Bill Price
doing Never Mind The Bollocks, he’d
worked on Clash albums. To be there was
thrilling. We were making this up as we
went along.”

Check out the Deluxe Edition HERE

Jones soon had the album finished, but
he hadn’t gone for a straight forward
reflection of the band’s full on Rock of
the live shows, deciding instead to look
deeper at the darkness that was within
the music. There were elements of dub
that again you later found on Big Audio
Dynamite, and a real dark and haunting
treatment of the saxophone through the
album. It was something that genuinely
hadn’t been heard before.
As Brandon concluded,
“The music wasn’t up, but there was still
an incredible buzz about it. Mick wanted
to make an album that stood apart from
is age.”
From this point on, the band constantly
changed until it imploded just months
later.
Booked for the support spot with the
Clash and then their own tour, Billy Duffy
joined the band as a second guitarist.
Duffy quite literally gave up his job,
bought a Gretsch White Falcon and got
his first passport before disappearing off
around the world, and appearing on Top
of the Pops. Brandon remembers how he
was recruited,
“I met Billy Duffy at the Whisky a Go-Go
in Wardour Street. I said I needed a
guitar player and he said ‘I play guitar.’
So I said, ‘Come down to the Sunday
School.’ He did, it was great, we clicked
immediately, he was a smart guy.”
Stammers saw the changes though, as
not only Duffy joined the band but
drummer Rendell was also replaced by
Nigel Preston.
“It was different with Billy and Nigel, but
the band continued to get bigger. They
did fit in, but I think we lost some of the
space and feel we used to create. Lots of
tom-tom bashing and wailing guitars, it
was still great just a different vibe.”
Brandon agreed,
“When Nigel joined it felt different. Not in
a good or bad way, just different. Nigel
was an incredible drummer and a really
funny guy, a great laugh.”
Lennard could see the changes they
brought,
“Billy was great and brought a good rock
‘n’ roll vibe to the band. Nigel was a
strong drummer, but like any new
musician it brings a new direction. Luke
was Theatre of Hate and Nigel was
Nigel.”
Of course by the sessions for the second
album, the band had fallen apart.
Brandon looks back on the debut as a
triumph though,
“With Westworld people expected it to be
really loud and angry. But Mick captured
the essence of the songs without the fullon
total fury that used to go on onstage.
He said, ‘This is like a statement of who
you actually are – these songs that you’ve
written, and where the band is today.’ He
had an overview-perspective, he’d been
there and back long before I got the band
together. That’s what helped make it
what it was.”

Do You Believe?

Theatre of Hate

MANTON CUSTOMS
Matriarch 8 String
Lord knows I love a bit of flamed maple
as much as the next chap-who-isn’t-thatkeen-on-posh-guitars,
and I can even
just about put up with a bit of quilt too.
In small doses.
When it comes to good old fashioned
wood grain, especially ash or walnut or
rosewood, well, I’m your man, and then
of course you can’t go too far wrong with
Du Pont’s finest either. Or Paisley.
Saying all of that though, sometimes and
on some guitars I can’t help but feel that
it would be nice if one or two of our uber
talented luthier chaps stepped away from
their book-matching-manuals, and just
painted the bloody things black.
I mean, it is playing them not looking at
the we’re really bothered about, isn’t it?
So I practically got all Pope JP2 and
kissed the ground when I happened
across Manton Guitars, recently, and
snapped up an interview with Mr Robin
Manton himself which will be appearing
in the first Guitar Quarterly.
As is my wont though, I thought that we
could look at a couple of the models he
produces under the moniker of Manton
Guitars over the next couple of weeks,
with this week’s starter for ten being
the rather stunningly cool Matriarch 8
String.
Why the Matriarch? Well, clearly it is
because it is the Mother of all Strats,
and looking at the spec I really don’t
see how anybody could argue.
From the top it is an 8 string guitar –
something I’ve only recently got
interested in, I hate to admit, and one
that I think will appeal to a lot of
people. Manton are (they believe and I
do too) the only UK luthier to offer their
guitars built using the True
Temperament Fretting System. If you
haven’t come across this before, the
first thing you will notice is that the
frets are, as my daughter described, all
‘wiggly’. The second thing you will
notice is that every single note on the
fretboard sounds bell clear, has a
beautiful resonance and sustains way
beyond what you would normally
expect. I won’t get into the thinking
behind it here (not least because we
are looking deeper at that in GQ but it
is a fantastic thing for Manton to be
doing and when you look into what it
entails, it is a level of accuracy and skill
way beyond traditional luthiery.

There is more to the Matriarch than its
intonation though, and as with all of
their guitars on this Manton have been
especially careful about the wood
selection with the guitar boasting a top
quality Mahogany Body, along with a
Thick AAA Carved Spruce top. The neck
receives special attention of course,
having a five-piece Maple and Black
Walnut construction along with the AAA
Grade Ebony Fingerboard.
Despite my liking for the simplicity of the
colour scheme, there is of course a few
aesthetic flourishes, a Matching Spruce
Head Plate, and a quite large and
opulent Mother of Pearl inlay toward the
headstock that certainly catches your
eye.
The design of the guitar itself takes
many notes from that of a cello and it is
a quite beautiful construction to see.
This Matriarch was actually a custom job
for Vortigern from the Avant-guarde
Metal band Lychgate, who wanted an 8
String with 27” scale. As Robin explains,
“All music in the band is written on piano
first and then transcribed to guitar. On
recording the album 'An Antidote for the
Glass Pill' the tracks were performed on
pipe organ and accompanied by the
band. Due to the organ vs. guitar
combination, it is said that the tuning
and intonation issues of a normal guitar
were occasionally cause for a headache
during the recording sessions. So, as a
way forward, not only will the true
temperament guitar remove these
issues, but also expand the octave range
of the guitar in order that there will be
greater flexibility during transcriptions
from keyboard to guitar.”
Vortigern was more than pleased with the
guitar,
"It was almost surreal to finally play a
guitar with such accurate intonation
everywhere on the fretboard. I would
press a key on my keyboard and find the
corresponding note on the guitar, and
find a very pleasing-to-the-ear
relationship. There was no more tuning
oscillation to be heard in the third "G"
string (as is the case with most guitars)
and no buzz anywhere on the fretboard;
even on the first fret, bottom string. The
action is exactly as I like it and I think we
also couldn't have chosen our string
gauge any better.
Working with Manton Customs has been
a positive experience from start to finish.
Nothing was ever too much trouble and
all my concerns at every step of the
building process were answered by the
kind of luthier that really knows his job.
This guitar is the model I have waited for
in the back of my mind for a very long
time, and it is truly given me back the
passion and inspiration that I need. I'm
now looking forward to pushing myself as
a musician to the next level with a truly
reliable and greatly engineered
instrument."
Next week we will be taking a look at
another of Robin’s guitars, but in the
meantime you really should go and check
them out HERE.

AXION CUSTOM WORKS
Bass VI Strings and then some
One of the things that Fender have done
well in recent times, is to finally get their
act together and re-issue some guitars
that aren’t Strats or Teles. It has taken
decades, but good on them. Jazzmasters
and Jaguars were the opening salvo, and
they followed it up with something I
never thought I’d see in the shape of
Starcasters and Coronados (and folks, if
you are reading, an Electric XII is long
overdue), but one that they got exactly
right was the rebirth of the Bass VI.
Now, OK, there may have been the odd
baritone before, but the Fender Bass VI
they released as part of their Pawn Shop
imagining was cool, but for me the Squier
VI whilst being cheaper, was closer to the
real deal and definitely the one to get.
In fact the only thing they seem to have
struggled with was the strings and
everybody I know who has a VI has had
to bite the bullet and pay through the
nose for some to make it sound anything
at all.
Imagine how chuffed I was then to hear
that not only had somebody got it
together to produce a set of top quality
strings for a ridiculously cheap price that
isn’t much more than a bog standard set
of Elixirs, but to then find out they were
being made in the UK, well, blimey. I
had to find out more. And so I caught
up with Glen Havelock the chap in
question, of Axion Custom Works, who
explained how he happened to become
the go to guy for VI Strings.
Glen explained,
“I spend a couple of days a week doing
guitar repairs and tech work at a
Fender dealer in Manchester, so a few
years ago when there was a revival of
interest in the Bass VI with a couple of
reissues, I immediately found a couple
of problems with the instruments when
asked to set them up. The bridge issues
I could sort out by modifying the
intonations screws, and it has since
been addressed more thoroughly by
StayTrem among others. But the
horrible slackness of the A and
especially low E strings made setups at
a sensible playable string height just
about impossible. The low E, with stock
strings and set up to 2.5 or even 3mm
at the 12th fret, has fret rattle along
the whole fingerboard length and
sounds like a slightly metallic rubber
band.

So, I wondered, how about just
replacing those two strings? Well it is not
as easy as you think. Firstly, it is short
scale but with a long run to the tailpiece.
Effectively this means you need the least
common bass scale strings, 32" (usually
referred to as "medium scale"). Long
scale 34" strings won't work, because
Bass VIs have vintage Strat style
machine heads, so you can barely get
the string through the split, never mind
down the hole, so they need to have a
taper at just the right point. The other
issue is that big bad bass ball ends
struggle to fit under the tailpiece, and
can interfere with the trem action (not
that it is great anyway). So they need
smaller, almost guitar string sized ball
ends.
Hofner make a string set for their reissue
violin bass on which the E and A strings
are just about perfect, apart from having
a green silk wrap and costing over £30 a
set (singles not available!) But there was
pretty much nothing on the market that
was right for the Bass VI until LaBella
introduced their range, which sadly
begins at around £50 a set at UK street
prices.
I realised I needed to find an alternative
and I had been getting speciality strings
for the shop from Newtone in
Derbyshire, they make all sorts and have
a great reputation for making odd gauge
sets for acoustics when people play in
fairly extreme open tunings, usually for
the folky crowd. I remembered reading
something about Newtone making
custom sets for Peter Hook to go on both
his Bass VI and his Shergold Marathon 6.
So I got in touch with the very
approachable Neil Silverman to see if we
could do something. I went through a few
iterations of string specs and testing
before finally settling on a set that was,
for the first four courses, pretty similar to
the stock strings, but with a heavier A
(0.080") and a much heavier low E
(0.100").
One secret of this set is that some strings
have a thicker than standard core, to try
and maintain an even tension
throughout, so they feel and sound alike
and can achieve a good working setup.
They are nickel plated steel, roundwounds,
but there may well be some
other varieties later on.
Neil shipped me the first production batch
about a month ago, and while I was
trying to get all the marketing ducks in a
line, Marc Ransley from Mojo Pickups
(and a complete offset and Bass VI nut)
tried a set out and gave me an
unexpectedly busy Sunday - he raved
about them on Instagram and I was
suddenly swamped with enquiries before
I was really ready to go.
I’ve just launched them officially on the
Axion web site (HERE) so people can
order them now – they are a similar price
to a lot of the alternatives – apart from
La Bella obviously, but they work a lot
better.”

You really can’t underrate just how big a
step these strings are, but I couldn’t help
notice some of the other things Glen
offers us guitar modders, and more to
the point his willingness to manufacture
one-off parts.
For example, I have to say that I love
the copper scratchplate he has made to
house a couple of Mojo Pickups’ Gold
Foils, which is just beautiful. I remember
making myself a much simpler one a few
years ago (I still have the scars) so I can
appreciate how ‘good’ that makes him.
But then I noticed the incredibly
beautiful black Perspex Strat
scratchplate inspired by a certain Mr
Gilmour and something designed to
again work with a couple of Mojo Pickups
fantastic pickups in the shape of their lap
Steel and Gold Foil pickups.
For me though the really impressive thing
about Glen and Axion in particular, are his
willingness to create parts as one-offs or
that are otherwise unavailable.
A great example of this are some of the
pickup rings he has created (not least
because I have a guitar that needs
something along these lines very soon),
and I have to say I love the look of the
‘Goof Rings’ he has already put together
for people.
All in all, Axion are a lot more than your
standard guitar repair or set-up
emporium, and they will certainly be top
of my list for more than just strings. Go
check them out HERE and if you have a
VI you seriously have to try these strings.

SPITFIRE VINTAGE PICKGUARDS
Tort Law For Elvis
In case you somehow missed it before
Christmas, having had a look at the rather
beautiful Fender Elvis Costello Jazzmaster
guitar, we thought it would be many
kinds of wonderful to pay homage to it,
and the man himself, by putting together
a Jazzmaster that vaguely matched the
looks, but using the best of the 21 st
Century guitar parts we could lay our
hands on.
It would be a good chance to see what
was out there and compare them to what
you can buy off-the-shelf, as it were.
Over the coming weeks then, we’ll look at
all manner of things, but if I had speed
dial (or actually knew what it was), top of
my list would have been Mark Townsend,
and it was him I talked to, as his company
Spitfire Vintage Tortoiseshell Pickguards
(and breathe) makes what are quite
simply put the very best, most beautiful
Tortie scratchplates known to mankind.
Now I’ve mentioned before that Mark was
up for the challenge, and I may be dumb
(I am most definitely qualified for that)
but one thing I know is that if you find an
artist, or you find somebody who knows
their stuff and to my mind Mark is both of
those – you let them get on with it.
I previously showed the list of options
I had chosen, but when it came down
to it I did something bright and just told
him to do something special, to create
something that he thought would be
right.
Needless to say he did just that.
There really isn’t too much to say, as
the photos tell the story far better than
I could, but I wanted to start with the
one to the left as it showed what it is
that so many people making printed
‘Tortoiseshell’ scratchplates get wrong.
The key is pretty clear, you create a
beautiful top layer and meld this to
three layers, white-black-white below
it.
Mark of course will age ours as you’ll
see and obviously cut it to shape and
include the pickups, pot and switch
routings too.
I’ll say no more though, just have a
look at the pretty pictures and enjoy.
Hopefully next week I’ll show you it
nailed on the body…
As before, check out Spitfire HERE

MAGNETIC EFFECTS
Zola & Electrochop
I think everybody that plays guitar needs
a certain few pedals, and let’s face it
without a good clean boost you are
halfway stuffed. OK, a new clean boost
may not be the most exciting news in
pedal-land, but when you consider just
how much oompth Magnetic Effects’ new
Zola gives you, it is probably time to sit up
straight and get serious.
As the chaps describe it, “the Zola is an
ultra high headroom clean boost with a
linear response, active EQ and
switchable buffer. It boasts an internal
voltage multiplier internally converts 9V
up to 30V for unparalleled headroom. The
incredible 30V of headroom means the
boost stays totally clean at all levels and
can handle large input signals. It also
makes Zola suitable for use as a boost in
amp effects loops. EQ flexibility is
provided by the two-band active EQ
offering Boost and Cut ability to the treble
and bass response. Use the EQ controls
to fatten or tighten the low end, add
presence or smooth the top end or
match the EQ response between
different instruments.
Over 20db of signal boost give you
plenty of boosting ability. The Boost
control can also attenuate the signal
adding more flexibility. Use it at the end
of your signal chain as a level matcher
and tone enhancer. A switchable buffer
gives the user the choice of true bypass
or a high quality, high headroom
buffered bypass when the effect is off.”
I couldn’t have put it fairer than that.
As ever it looks brilliant, Magnetic
Effects are one of the coolest pedal
makers in the UK today, and their
quality is second to none.
You can find out more and treat
yourself HERE

If Magnetic Effects’ Zola is a bit of a
must-have, their reissue of their quite
exceptional Electrochop is a god given
gift as far as I am concerned, as it is
simply put one of the great effects
pedals of the last very many years.
In fact I have to confess a secret love for
this pedal as it is basically Spacemen 3
in a shiny new tin can, and I was gutted
when I initially (many moons ago)
discovered that Magnetic Effects made
the Electrochop and worse that they had
discontinued it. And trust me, you don’t
see them come up on the second-hand
market, I’ve been looking, often hourly.
Timing is everything, and I felt so bad
about it I nearly threw myself behind a
train.
designed around the LFO, resulting in a
tremolo that sounds like the Repeat
Percussion but with a fuller, louder sound
and more controls. All the classic throb
but with more user-friendly features!
The controls are: Volume, Depth and
Speed plus a toggle switch that alters the
overall speed range.
The speed range goes from very slow to
crazy fast. At higher speeds the sound
morphs into a ring modulator type
effect.”
You really should check one of these out,
but maybe let me go first, eh? Some of
us have been waiting a while..
Read all about it HERE
Of course, what makes it special is that
the sound is rich and spinetingling and
when you whip it up it joins together into
a total trance. More technically, I’ll leave
it to the chaps at Magnetc Effects to
describe it, whilst I raid the kids’ piggy
banks…
“The Electrochop is a super choppy
tremolo that features the classic, unique
LFO section from the Vox Repeat
Percussion. A new audio circuit has been