Wednesday, January 30, 2008

IBANEZ ICEMAN








Once upon a time... Hoshino Corporation - (Ibanez's parent company) started exporting copies of American electric and acoustic guitars in the sixties. Their copy guitars were so exacting in detail that Gibson sued Ibanez (unsuccessfully) in the late '70's. As a result of the lawsuit, Ibanez slightly altered their solid body designs so that Gibson and Fender would not be so nervous. Why would the guitar monopolies be concerned? Because by the mid seventies Ibanez had reached a level of quality that equaled them. And lower labor rates plus efficient manufacturing meant that Ibanez guitars could be sold for almost half (or less) of the cost of a


Les Paul or Strat.







In 1974 or 1975 Ibanez co-operatively designed a new shape in solid body electric guitars. Here's the short scoop from Jim Donahue - a 16 year Ibanez employee and now head of Guitar Design, Quality Control, Parts.
"In the mid 70's a Guy in Japan at Ibanez wanted to make a Japanese guitar that was a mark of Japan, something to be proud of. His idea was to build a guitar widely loved and respected, like a Les Paul or Strat. So he called a meeting with the main guitar companies in Japan. Ibanez (Hoshino) Greco (Kanda Shokai) Diawa and Fuji. They had a close door meeting and the Iceman was designed. Each company had distribution rights to it in different global markets. Ibanez for the USA."
This resulted in one of the best looking and original designs to emerge from the Pacific Rim. With the triple coil pickup and mahogany body the first series of Iceman were light weight tone giants ahead of their time. Initial sales were not overwhelming as the very conservative American guitar culture was slow to realize the quality and value of Ibanez.
The Iceman was produced from 1975 to 1983, in various bolt-on and glued-neck models. About eight different models were available at the peak of Iceman popularity in 1978-1979 (including the IC210 that Steve Miller played on the album "Fly Like an Eagle")and they retailed from $295 to $495. If you find a used early model these days, they run from $400 to $800. Early models will sometimes go for $1100 to $1700, and the 1978 PS-10 is worth approximately $2000 to $2500. 1978 - 1982 Production Numbers and Serial Number Chart are on this page.
Sales dwindled in the early eighties as the super-strats captured buyers dollars (why oh why?) and by 1983 only 2 models were offered. By the late eighties the Iceman had somewhat of a cult following and was rising in price as collectors bought them up. I used to rarely see an Iceman in a guitar store or pawn shop. When I did find one it was usually an IC50 and priced at $450. That was in 1991. Since re-introduction to the US in 1994, there are plenty of Icemen to go around. Most of the new models are made in Korea, not Japan - although exceptions can be found (like the PS10-LTD and PS10-Classic). Korean made guitars have replaced Japanese ones on the guitar-snobs shit list these days. Isn't it ironic? Don't ya think?



Daron Malakian is the lead guitarist for System of a Down. In years previous to the release of System's most recent two albulms (Mezmerize/Hypnotize) Malakian played a variation of the Ibanez Iceman ICX, called the Ibanez DMM1. The DMM1 features artwork by Malakian's father, Vartan Malakian









Thursday, January 3, 2008

JERY GARCIA ALEMBIC TRIBUTE CUSTOM (TIGER)

Alembic was founded in 1969 and is a manufacturer of high-end electric basses, guitars and preamps.
Fender's success set the scene for Music Man, G&L (both with input from Leo, himself) Lakland, Sadowsky and numerous less innovative copies. The rise of Alembic in the 70s, opened the door for high-end bass manufacturers such as Warwick, Spector, Wal, Ken Smith and Fodera – and raised expectations for top-of-the-line instruments from large manufacturers such as Yamaha and Ibanez


History

Ron and Susan Wickersham started Alembic in 1969. Originally it was a consulting firm that worked closely with the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and the like to help improve the quality of live sound and recordings of live concerts. Rick Turner also joined the company in that first year, becoming a shareholder in 1970. Rick and Alembic parted company in 1978, and Rick founded Renaissance Guitars.
High impedance pickups have limited bandwidth.[citation needed] Ron Wickersham and Rick Turner designed low-impedance pickups with greater bandwidth. To boost their low output, Ron designed an active onboard preamp. In 1969 Ron installed the first active electronics in instruments owned by Phil Lesh, Jack Casady, Bob Weir and Jerry Garcia. These were the first low impedance pickups with preamps to be installed on a musical instrument. (UK manufacturer Burns introduced active tone controls on its TR2 bass in the 60's, although without the low impedance pickups essential to modern active electronics.)
Alembic became quite busy installing these new active electronics in players' guitars and basses. It also performed many modifications on instruments, such as remanufacturing the headstocks with a 14° angle, machining solid brass parts for the bridge, tailpiece and nut, carving necks and the like. This work led eventually to manufacturing its own line of guitars and basses from start to finish.





No endorsements

Alembic have always followed a strict no endorsement policy. Everyone, including Stanley Clarke, has paid for their instruments. In Alembic’s view this is the best endorsement of all. In Susan Wickersham’s (co-founder and CEO) words, "the most successful artists can afford to pay for their instruments – but if we gave them endorsement deals the cost of those instruments would have to be recovered from customers who are far less able to afford it".[citation needed]
Alembic did make two exceptions to this rule when they presented Stanley Clarke with a specially inlaid instrument to celebrate 30 years of working together. Alembic also approached Mark King at a gig on the Stevie Winwood tour in 1986 with an offer to build him a bass. Mark received two 34" scale Series 2 basses initially and then ordered two more in identical woods with 32" scale.[


I wanna Discuss only for Jerry Garcia of the gratefull dead i really like his Peggy "o" song's





the song for me is about a man try to marry a woman named peggy that her mother dont want too.

really cool sharing song i think that Garcia gave to his fans, i think he is a great song writer


and i really like this guitar because it is very very beautiful guitar, sound very smooth first hear i immidiately fallin love with this one.

the diagram for this guitar also is crazy enough to learn so it is very very high tech and special
tiger the alembic tribute custom, played by jerry himself almost of his concert for 11 years
this guitar is sold for U$ 850.000 in auction
there still a debate for this guitar for who own it
the grate full dead or the luthier Doug Irwin
Tiger was Jerry Garcia's main guitar from 1979 to 1990. It was built by Sonoma County luthier Doug Irwin. The Tiger is named after the tiger inlaid on the preamp cover located on the guitar's top, just behind the tailpiece. The body features several layers of wood laminated together face-
to-face in a configuration referred to as a "Hippie sandwich" by employees of Alembic Inc., where Irwin worked for a brief period in the early 1970s. The combination of several heavy varieties of wood, plus solid brass binding and hardware results in an unusually heavy instrument that tips the scales at 13-1/2 pounds. After 1990, Garcia switched to a different Irwin instrument, the nearly-identical Rosebud, as his primary guitar with the Grateful Dead. The Tiger was thenceforth kept as a backup; a problem with Rosebud meant that the Tiger was the last instrument Garcia played at the Grateful Dead's last concert, on July 9, 1995.

"Tiger" (pearl coverplate) Description: Seven years to make, ebony fingerboard on maple neck, an arched cocobola top and back, vermilion neck and body striping, and W. flamed-maple body core. Meticulous scrolled inlay finger position markers and hand-crafted brass hardware; Strat approach, but with one DiMarzio SDS-1 single coil and two DiMarzio Super 2 humbuckers that were easily removed 'cause Jerry thought their ouput weakened after a year or two. Also had Jerry's effects bypass loop (he knew his electronics!), as well as an op-amp buffer/amp to maintain the high end during effects "on". Result: Garcia's favorite guitar for the next ll years & most played. Jerry strapped this heavy 13 1/2-pound guitar for 11 years.




















































The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time




















1 Jimi Hendrix
2 Duane Allman of the Allman Brothers Band
3 B.B. King
4 Eric Clapton
5 Robert Johnson
6 Chuck Berry
7 Stevie Ray Vaughan
8 Ry Cooder
9 Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin
10 Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones
11Kirk Hammett of Metallica
12 Kurt Cobain of Nirvana
13 Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead
14 Jeff Beck
15 Carlos Santana
16 Johnny Ramone of the Ramones
17 Jack White of the White Stripes
18 John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers
19 Richard Thompson
20 James Burton
21 George Harrison
22 Mike Bloomfield
23 Warren Haynes
24 The Edge of U2
25 Freddy King
26 Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave
27 Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits
28 Stephen Stills
29 Ron Asheton of the Stooges
30 Buddy Guy
31 Dick Dale
32 John Cipollina of Quicksilver Messenger Service
33 & 34 Lee Ranaldo, Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth
35 John Fahey
36 Steve Cropper of Booker T. and the MG's
37 Bo Diddley
38 Peter Green of Fleetwood Mac
39 Brian May of Queen
40 John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival
41 Clarence White of the Byrds
42 Robert Fripp of King Crimson
43 Eddie Hazel of Funkadelic
44 Scotty Moore
45 Frank Zappa
46 Les Paul
47 T-Bone Walker 48 Joe Perry of Aerosmith
49 John McLaughlin
50 Pete Townshend


51 Paul Kossoff of Free
52 Lou Reed
53 Mickey Baker
54 Jorma Kaukonen of Jefferson Airplane
55 Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple
56 Tom Verlaine of Television
57 Roy Buchanan
58 Dickey Betts
59 & 60 Jonny Greenwood, Ed O'Brien of Radiohead
61 Ike Turner
62 Zoot Horn Rollo of the Magic Band
63 Danny Gatton
64 Mick Ronson
65 Hubert Sumlin
66 Vernon Reid of Living Colour
67 Link Wray
68 Jerry Miller of Moby Grape
69 Steve Howe of Yes
70 Eddie Van Halen
71 Lightnin' Hopkins
72 Joni Mitchell
73 Trey Anastasio of Phish
74 Johnny Winter
75 Adam Jones of Tool
76 Ali Farka Toure
77 Henry Vestine of Canned Heat
78 Robbie Robertson of the Band
79 Cliff Gallup of the Blue Caps (1997)
80 Robert Quine of the Voidoids
81 Derek Trucks
82 David Gilmour of Pink Floyd
83 Neil Young
84 Eddie Cochran
85 Randy Rhoads
86 Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath
87 Joan Jett
88 Dave Davies of the Kinks
89 D. Boon of the Minutemen
90 Glen Buxton of Alice Cooper
91 Robby Krieger of the Doors
92 & 93 Fred "Sonic" Smith, Wayne Kramer of the MC5
94 Bert Jansch
95 Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine
96 Angus Young of AC/DC
97 Robert Randolph
98 Leigh Stephens of Blue Cheer
99 Greg Ginn of Black Flag
100 Kim Thayil of Soundgarden

Based by Rolling Stones Magazine

mark by green are my favorite guitarist

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Gibson ES-150

By the time Gibson began work on its first electric guitar, the company had a 40-year tradition of quality and innovation to uphold. The first Gibson electric had to be nothing less than the best electric guitar the world had ever seen.
In the spring of 1935, Gibson enlisted musician Alvino Rey to help develop a prototype pickup with engineers at the Lyon & Healy company in Chicago. Later that year, research was moved in-house, where Gibson employee Walter Fuller came up with the final design



The Gibson Guitar Corporation's ES-150 guitar is generally recognized as the world's first commercially feasible electric guitar. The ES stands for Electric Spanish, and it was designated 150 because it cost $150 along with an EH-150 amplifier and a cable. After its introduction in 1936, it immediately became popular in jazz orchestras of the period. Unlike the usual unamplified guitars utilized in jazz, it was loud enough to take a more prominent position in ensembles. Jazz guitarist Eddie Durham is usually credited with making the first electric guitar solo in 1938 with the ES-150.Gibson introduced the distinctive hexagonal pickup on a lap steel model in late 1935. The pickup was installed on an F-hole archtop guitar, dubbed the ES-150 (ES for Electric Spanish), and the first one shipped from the Gibson factory in Kalamazoo, Michigan, on May 20, 1936.
Was the ES-150 the best electric guitar that guitarists in 1936 had ever seen? Jazz musician Charlie Christian, who would establish the electric guitar as an instrument with its own unique voice, thought so. Sixty years later, the Gibson ES-150 is still known as the Charlie Christian model, and
some jazz players consider the ES-150's
"Charlie Christian" pickup to be the best jazz pickup ever made !!!


The most important player of the ES-150, however, is Charlie Christian. Because of his popularization of the guitar, the instrument's distinctive single-coil pickup, was renamed after him. His warm, flowing solos, and warm sound revolutionized the jazz guitar and, to this day, influence countless players.
After WWII, the ES-150 was re-introduced (production was halted during the war) as a 17" (originally 16") laminated (instead of carved spruce top) hollowbody with a P-90 (replacing the "Charlie Christian" pickup) in the neck position. This model was discontinued in the mid-1950s.
In the late 1960s, Gibson introduced the ES-150DC, which was a significantly different instrument, despite its similar model number. The ES-150DC was a full hollow-body electric guitar with a double-cutaway body similar in appearance to the semi-hollow 335 guitars (except for a greater body thickness). It featured two humbuckers, a rosewood fingerboard with small block inlays, and a master volume knob on the lower cutaway. This model, however,
was not particularly popular, and it was discontinued by Gibson in the mid-70s. The ES-150 (in its original design),