Blutone's Boutique Baby!

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  Today the world of music is mourning the loss of influential guitarist, Wilko Johnson. Most famous for his work in Dr Feelgood playing their version of Rhythm and Blues, Johnson went onto to collaborating with many other musicians as well as establishing his solo act. Playing his infamous 1962 Vintage Telecaster in black and red, Johnson used an unusual finger style that has influenced many guitarists since. The video below is an awesome example of how he played with energy and fun... A more recent reissue of a vintage 1960's telecaster can be found on the PMT website here I was fortunate to see Wilko Johnson live a number of years ago at the Corn Exchange in Cambridge where he toured with John Otway. Personally I found his antics on stage as interesting as his guitar style.  He was a great showman. More recently Johnson was diagnosed with 'terminal cancer' that resulted in him undertaking a world wide farewell tour only later on to find that he could have an operation th...

  It was my absolute pleasure to play at The White Lion Pub in Sawston , Cambridgeshire at the weekend.  It was a solo gig and I took my trusty PRS SE Starla, Boss Nextone Artist amplifier and my 'Little Blue' parlour guitar from Art and Luthier. A friend of mine, Skelly, recorded the opening track which was the classic folk song, The House of the Rising Sun made famous by the Animals in 1964. Incidentally, Skelly was a backing vocalist on the track of the same name by John Otway some years ago, but he hasn't let fame go to his head. As for my version of the song, I do not play it like the Animals do as I have my own rhythmical style but take a listen below and let me know what you think. Many thanks to Paul Skelton for recording this video for me. Gear List PRS SE Starla Boss Nextone Artist 80w Amplifier Behringer Bass Overdrive Pedal Please note that I get a small commission if you click on my links and that results in a sale. This helps me to continue to support m...

 In follow up to my article about the Epiphone Emperor Swingster, I felt that I should mention my latest guitar, the PRS SE Starla and tell you why I bought it, despite the fact that I was on the look out for the Swingster. To cut a long story short, I saw the Swingster being demonstrated on YouTube at a time when I really wanted a large hollow body guitar.  So I was waiting for it to come into stock at PMT Cambridge .  I waited and I waited and sadly I wasn’t able to get hold of one unless I put a deposit down and they order one.  Well that wasn’t going to happen, what if I didn’t like it? So whilst waiting, I tried out the equivalent Gretsch products which I really liked, but not to the point of “I really have to have one!” Then I had a weird discussion with a friend over dinner one night.  My mate, Richard, is a beginner guitarist and when we met up he told me that he had bought a new guitar… The story goes that his wife told him that he should get himself a...

  PRS made a design decision that I was not aware of and it confused the hell out of me on Saturday night! Read on to find out more... Before I tell you which guitar is in the picture, let me set some context. The local pub was having a 'Rock Night' and my mate Skelly and his wife, Helen were going and they invited me along. There were two bands playing, Jonny and The Aces and the local rock band, Long Time Dead.  Both I haven't seen before, so I was intrigued to see how they were. I got there early deliberately to see what gear everyone was playing and then I spotted the above guitar! Initially I thought that maybe it was a PRS Paul's Guitar , but then where were the little switches for the coil split on the humbuckers? I should add that at this point I was staring at the guitar through a closed door so I couldn't actually see the headstock and truss rod cover (which would have told me what the guitar was). Before I give out the 'Big Reveal', take a listen ...

Introduction. At the back end of 2021 I got really interested in ‘Jazz boxes’, big bodied semi acoustic guitars that were perfect for jazz and blues. What really caught my attention was the new release of the Epiphone Emperor Swingster , a big bodied semi-acoustic, that had an added feature of being able to put the pick ups into parallel or series with each other thus bringing about a bunch of tonal options. These guitars looked and sounded great on YouTube videos but sadly my local PMT store in Cambridge didn’t have one to try out and I didn’t have the budget to order one. Anyway, without having access to one, I therefore ended up trying the equivalent Gretsch Electromatics and Streamliners and weirdly, after a while my search switched to weird PRS guitars such as the PRS SE Starla which I eventually purchased. Today I happened to be in Cambridge and thought I would have a look around PMT with the idea of trying out a PRS Paul’s Guitar and as I looked around for the PRS, the Forest G...

  On Friday 4th November, myself and my buddy Andrew Keen, delivered another 'Blutone & The Druid' performance at The Lodge, Duxford, Cambridgeshire . In this article I simply want to share some thoughts about what happened as well as give a mini review (from a live music perspective ) of Drew's guitar, the PRS SE Hollowbody ii . The Venue. We were booked to provide music whilst the guests ate in the hotel's courtyard that was covered by a gigantic tipi.  With gas burners and the stone pizza oven keeping everyone warm and toasty we played two sets with a break whilst the hotel set off their fireworks. The area that we played in was visually stunning and the vibe for eating pizza and enjoying listening to music was really nice. The evening itself went well apart from a minor moment when I was playing Voodoo Chile by Jimi Hendrix on my Art and Lutherie Roadhouse electro-acoustic guitar and one of the waiters walked past and knocked a microphone stand onto me.  I manag...

  I recently visited Matt Oram at Fidelity Guitars to try out some of his own guitar models but I also went to drop off my Fender 1972 Reissue Thinline Telecaster as it has become increasingly less playable recently and had been going out of tune a lot. Find out about my visit to see Matt and his guitars here. When I set up the visit I didn't realise that Matt did repairs and so when he mentioned that he particularly loved working on Telecaster style guitars, it just seemed like the right thing to do in getting him to sort mine out. So I dropped it off and waited for his call to tell me when he had done the work. Find out more about the Fender 1972 Reissue Thinline Telecaster - Click here. How is my Telecaster now? So Matt got in touch to say that he had finished it and I am delighted with the result!  So much so that I recorded the video below.  Let me know what you think of the tone? Disclaimer Please note that the links contained within the text of my articles could be...