98 Baker Masterbuilt Cherry Burst - Friday Strat #231

2011-12-17T12:45:00.001-08:00

Melodee-Music of Leesburg, VA is listing this maple intense Gene Baker Masterbuild from May '98. Besides the AAA quilt maple top, the flame neck is pretty outrageous! All certs and stamps look in order. This one has 9.5" fat "C" with vintage frets, gold hardware, nitro finish and Texas Special pickups. Tweed case includes orig. case candy and COA. Pearly pickguard adds a nice touch too!

Interestingly the seller indicates no fret wear, and that this hasn't been a "gigging" Strat, but still lets us know there are several finish dings on front and back that aren't visible in the pics. Interesting, right? Possibly this is attributable to the nitro being much more vulnerable than a poly finish. Also, the orig. owner coulda been a bit of a klutz...

COOL GEAR ALERT: Agile Partners GuitarToolkit 2.0

2011-12-17T12:44:00.001-08:00

PRESS RELEASE

Agile Partners Announces GuitarToolkit 2.0
Featuring All-New iPad Version and GuitarToolkit+ Upgrade for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, December 15, 2011 - Agile Partners, a leading developer of iOS apps for guitar players, today announced GuitarToolkit 2.0, featuring an all-new iPad version that is free for existing GuitarToolkit users and the GuitarToolkit+ Upgrade, an in-app purchase that adds Chord Sheets, Custom Instruments, and Advanced Metronome.
One of the App Store’s top-rated apps for guitar players, GuitarToolkit was introduced on the opening day of the App Store in July, 2008 and has received thousands of five-star ratings from customers around the world. Recognized as an iPhone Hall of Fame inductee, GuitarToolkit on iPhone, iPod touch, and now iPad is a collection of essential tools for guitar players: an extremely accurate tuner, a precision metronome, an extensive library of chords, scales and arpeggios, standard and alternate tunings, and more. In addition to 6, 7 and 12-string guitar, GuitarToolkit also supports 4, 5 and 6-string bass, banjo, mandolin and ukulele, with chords, scales, arpeggios and alternate tunings for each instrument.
“We redesigned GuitarToolkit specifically for iPad to take advantage of the large screen and power of the device,” said John Berry, a principal at Agile Partners. “The large, high-resolution screen is perfect for displaying the interactive Chord Sheets that are included in the new GuitarToolkit+ Upgrade. Users can capture chord progressions and song ideas by adding any combination of chords from GuitarToolkit’s vast chord library. You can touch any chord on a chord sheet to hear it play, print the entire chord sheet to an AirPrint-enabled printer, and email a PDF of the chord sheet to a band member or student,” said Berry.
Among GuitarToolkit’s biggest benefits is its massive library of over two million chords, 924 scales with more than 16 million playable scale positions, and 71 arpeggio types with over two million positions. Chords, scales and arpeggios are available not only for standard EADGBE guitar tuning, but also for alternate tunings (over 60 for guitar alone), and users can create their own custom tunings. Full capo support means that users can now enable and slide a capo to any fret and the chords, scales and arpeggios automatically adapt. Chords, scales and arpeggios can be shown with notes or intervals, as well as finger positions for chords. Users can strum chords and touch scale and arpeggio notes to hear what they sound like. With Chord, Scale and Arpeggio Finders, users can touch notes on the fretboard and GuitarToolkit will identify matching chords, scales and arpeggios. iPad users can even jump between scales or arpeggios and matching chords with a single tap.
The new GuitarToolkit+ in-app purchase adds Custom Instruments, allowing users to create a virtual collection of instruments within GuitarToolkit that matches their real-world instruments and playing styles. Users choose instrument type (6, 7 and 12-string guitar, 4, 5 and 6-string bass, banjo, mandolin or ukulele), string and pickup type (e.g., acoustic/nylon or electric/humbucker), fretboard texture, and a unique instrument icon. The instrument can be assigned a name, a tuning (e.g, standard, predefined alternate, or custom), and a capo can be added if desired. Even the audio tone is customizable: GuitarToolkit+ starts with high-quality recorded samples for each instrument / string / pickup type, and then processes that audio through any of over 60 amp/effects presets powered by Agile Partners’ AmpKit tone engine and tailored for both acoustic and electric guitars.
“The GuitarToolkit+ in-app purchase also takes the GuitarToolkit metronome to a completely new level,” added Berry. GuitarToolkit comes with a precision metronome with a visible flash option, a tempo tap pad, 25 sound effects, and 22 time signatures. The new GuitarToolkit+ in-app purchase enables users to unlock an Advanced Metronome with a powerful drum machine. “Each custom drum pattern can include as many as 32 tracks and users can set the drum pattern’s time signature, designate the number of bars, and select from a total of 75 sounds in 9 different categories: drum kit, cymbals, hand percussion, metronome, orchestral, bells, African, Latin, Electronic.” The Advanced Metronome is available today on iPad and coming soon to iPhone and iPod touch.
One of GuitarToolkit’s most popular tools is the highly accurate chromatic tuner. The tuner can be set for standard tuning, all notes, common alternate tunings or any custom tuning that the user sets. A high-contrast mode on iPhone and a full-screen mode on iPad can be turned on for easy viewing of the tuner at all times.
GuitarToolkit is available for US$9.99 in the iTunes App Store. The new version of GuitarToolkit for iPad is free for current users of GuitarToolkit. The GuitarToolkit+ in-app purchase that enables users to turn on interactive Chord Sheets, Custom Instruments, and Advanced Metronome is available for only US$4.99. For more information about GuitarToolkit, visit http://guitartoolkit.com.

David Byrne’s ‘Guitar Pedals’ installation

2011-12-17T12:39:00.000-08:00

Check out David Byrne’s Guitar Pedals art installation:
“An interactive art piece consisting of a grid of 96 guitar effects pedals that are wired together, as well as a guitar and an amplifier. As people step on the different pedals they activate various effects, which multiply over one another, creating a dynamic sonic experience.”
Interactive Guitar Pedal Art Installation — by David Byrne from Todo Mundo on Vimeo.
That’s gotta be the coolest pedalboard in the world. And all Boss too! Say, you reckon they’ve disabled all of the volume controls so feet don’t randomly turn down one pedal and kill the whole signal chain? That’d drive me nuts!
More info here!

Guitar Blog and News.

98 Baker Masterbuilt Cherry Burst - Friday Strat #231

COOL GEAR ALERT: Agile Partners GuitarToolkit 2.0

David Byrne’s ‘Guitar Pedals’ installation