Blutone's Boutique Baby!

 I am very pleased to announce the latest dates booked in for gigs.   The list below show the confirmed dates and I am hoping to add to the list...

  Could this be the guitar that I am looking for? A few weeks ago, I had the joy of visiting the London International Guitar Show at Kempton Park Racecourse.  I really like this show.  It brings together not only some of the larger brands in the guitar industry but it also gives punters like myself the opportunity to get one's hands on guitars made by luthiers who are not featured in guitar shops.  One such luthier was Guy Lewis who had brought his collection of independently made electric guitars.  In this article I am going to give you a hands-on review of the Stealthcaster and 'Esquire-esque' looking T-Style with some awesome tonal and visual tricks up it's sleeve. So by way of background, I don't have a single coil based electric guitar such as a Stratocaster, Telecaster or similar.  I have been looking for a guitar of this type for quite a while now.  In 2012, I tried out a Fender Deluxe Nashville Telecaster in Las Vegas at the Guitar Center ther...

  Welcome to this first article of a series I am calling ‘Guitar Stories’.   Everyone has a guitar story, a history of where they came from in their musical journey.  In these articles, I will seek to share some insights about the ‘Guitar Story’ of individuals who have made a living from playing that ever so familiar instrument. I will draw upon interviews and my research with the aim to inspire you as you develop your Guitar Story. First up is UK based guitarist, vocalist and songwriter, Chantel McGregor. Chantel kindly agreed to meet with me over Zoom to have a chat about her Guitar Story.   The opening photo of Chantel for this article is courtesy of Laurence Harvey. Read on to find out more about what we discussed. The Starting Point of Chantel's Guitar Story. Chantel started playing guitar at the age of three and was performing publicly by the age of 12.   At an early age Chantel realised that performing was what she always wanted to do....

 I tried out two almost identical guitars from Fender in the same Butterscotch finish at PMT Cambridge.  The most significant difference between the two being the middle pick up on one of them.  Yes, I have had the opportunity to try out the Fender Player Plus Nashville Telecaster and compare it with the Fender Player Telecaster.  Is the Nashville going to be the obvious choice in terms of the better guitar just because it has more features and a higher price tag?  Let's see with this hands-on comparison. Setting the scene... In my home town we have only one guitar shop, PMT Cambridge.  They very kindly allowed me to try both of these guitars and the amp of choice was the Boss Katana set to edge of breakup. In my head I wanted to see if the simplicity of the standard telecaster won against the more feature rich Nashville.  It is an unfair comparison in this case as I am comparing the Player version of one with the higher spec Player Plus version of t...

  We have all seen those performances when the lead guitarist takes to smashing up their guitars or pouring lighter fluid on them and setting them a blaze.  From a performance perspective, these acts on stage may look cool but equally what a waste when us poorer guitarists would quite happily take those guitars off their hands BEFORE impact. Then you have those guitars that have been given a relic finish, they could cost in the thousands for some brands, just to get that old worn in look. So what if you are someone who enjoys that extreme of the relic look, the (and I have just coined this phrase) ‘Smashed Up’ finish? Brighton based luthier, Daniel Devilson is making it an art form to produce guitars that look smashed up with his company, Devil and Sons. I recently met Daniel at The Brighton Guitar Show and was keen to check out the completely ridiculous End of the Road Stratocaster.  In short Daniel gets different guitars and then ‘destroys’ them and then puts them back ...

  I was recently given the opportunity to try out a loan Vintage V6 Icon electric guitar.  Given that this is a cheap to mid priced guitar modelled on the Fender Stratocaster was I really going to fall in love with it? In this article I am going to share my thoughts on the Vintage V6 Icon after having played with it for for a few weeks.   I have jammed with this guitar... I have taken this guitar to band practise... ... and I have simply grabbed it throughout the day as I have worked from home.  By now I think I know it pretty well but would I recommend it and why? What were my initial impressions? My initial impressions were summed up in my first YouTube video about this guitar which can be seen below: Here are the specifications of the Vintage V6 Icon as lifted from the Vintage website... Vibrato: The Wilkinson WVC vibrato bridge featured on the Vintage V6 is a masterpiece of detail. Positive location, 6 screw design provides return to pitch accuracy; perpendi...