Ernie Ball Music Man announces a number of new instruments to their 2023 lineup, including the all-new Kaizen 6-string guitar.
Available in 4 finishes, this collaboration with virtuoso guitarist, Tosin Abasi (Animals asLeaders, Abasi Concepts), is welcomed along with the all-new Steve Lukather L4 Collection, the Steve Lukather 30th Anniversary L4, and new finishes for the StringRay Special bass guitar.
This new 6-string guitar incorporates a number of advanced and innovative features like:
- Multi-Scale - 24.75" to 25.5"
- Infinity Radius Neck - Strategically positioned conical radius increases comfort while maintaining enhanced visibility of the fretboard and fret markers.
- Steinberger Gearless Locking Tuners - Accurate, lightweight tuners that feature smooth rotation, and allow for a straight string pull.
- New Music Man Pickups - A custom HT (Heat Treated) humbucker in the bridge position and a slanted mini-humbucker in the neck position have been specifically designed for the Kaizen
- Multi-Scale Tremolo - Super smooth modern Music Man tremolo with spring dampeners to alleviate unwanted overtones and ringing
- “Decidedly Contoured” - Ultra-lightweight design, deliberate body carves for extreme comfort, well-balanced with unrestricted fret access
The Kaizen is offered with an alder body, roasted maple neck, and ebony fingerboard. Both the Kaizen 6-string and the Kaizen 7-string are available now in 4 unique finishes, including ApolloBlack, and 3 limited-to-60 finishes which include Indigo, Mint, and Chalk.
The Steve Lukather line of signature guitars gets an extensive makeover this year with the introduction of the all-new L4. Available in an HT SSS and HT HH configuration, and a limited edition 30th anniversary version featuring an HT HSS pickup configuration with Music ManFloyd Rose bridge. The L4 is the culmination of over 30 years of collaboration with Platinum andGrammy award-winning artist Steve Lukather whose list of accomplishments includes an extensive session career (guitarist on over 1500 recordings), major contributor on the multiplatinum Michael Jackson "Thriller" album, and leader and a significant contributor of the legendary rock band Toto.
Lukather stated, “In our never-ending quest for tone and fresh sounds, the team at Music Man implemented their new HT pickups that really knocked me out! As we have had three versions of the guitar, the new Luke 4 model is a fresh step forward in tone with their specially designed pickup technology. I love ALL the different MM versions of my guitar and use them all, but this new one is gonna impress! So many new sounds. Please check it out and play and hear one yourself!”
The all-new L4 Collection will be available this Fall.
First introduced in 1976, the StingRay has been revered as one of the most iconic bass guitars in history. The flagship of the Music Man line, today's StingRay Special retains the same signature features that it had some forty years ago, including a solid roadworthy construction, iconic oval pickguard, 3+1 and 4+1 tuning key configurations, and the ever-popular Music Man humbucker, all of which combine to produce a look, feel, and sound that is remarkably unmistakable.
For 2023, Music Man welcomes 4 new finishes including; Sea Breeze, Laguna Green, PuebloPink, and Butter Cream. Each finish features a Rosewood fretboard and will be available in both 4-string, 5-string, H, and HH configurations. These all-new new colorways will be available this summer.
For more information, please visit music-man.com.
- Ernie Ball Expression Tremolo Review ›
- Ernie Ball Ambient Delay Review ›
- Ernie Ball Music Man Kaizen Review ›
LR Baggs HiFi Duet High-fidelity Pickup and Microphone Mixing System
"When a guitar is “the one,” you know it. It feels right in your hands and delivers the sounds you hear in your head. It becomes your faithful companion, musical soulmate, and muse. It helps you express your artistic vision. We designed the Les Paul Studio to be precisely the type of guitar: the perfect musical companion, the guitar you won’t be able to put down. The one guitar you’ll be able to rely on every time and will find yourself reaching for again and again. For years, the Les Paul Studio has been the choice of countless guitarists who appreciate the combination of the essential Les Paul features–humbucking pickups, a glued-in, set neck, and a mahogany body with a maple cap–at an accessible price and without some of the flashier and more costly cosmetic features of higher-end Les Paul models."
Now, the Les Paul Studio has been reimagined. It features an Ultra-Modern weight-relieved mahogany body, making it lighter and more comfortable to play, no matter how long the gig or jam session runs. The carved, plain maple cap adds brightness and definition to the overall tone and combines perfectly with the warmth and midrange punch from the mahogany body for that legendary Les Paul sound that has been featured on countless hit recordings and on concert stages worldwide. The glued-in mahogany neck provides rock-solid coupling between the neck and body for increased resonance and sustain. The neck features a traditional heel and a fast-playing SlimTaper profile, and it is capped with an abound rosewood fretboard that is equipped with acrylic trapezoid inlays and 22 medium jumbo frets. The 12” fretboard radius makes both rhythm chording and lead string bending equally effortless, andyou’re going to love how this instrument feels in your hands. The Vintage Deluxe tuners with Keystone buttons add to the guitar’s classic visual appeal, and together with the fully adjustable aluminum Nashville Tune-O-Matic bridge, lightweight aluminum Stop Bar tailpiece, andGraph Tech® nut, help to keep the tuning stability nice and solid so you can spend more time playing and less time tuning. The Gibson Les Paul Studio is offered in an Ebony, BlueberryBurst, Wine Red, and CherrySunburst gloss nitrocellulose lacquer finishes and arrives with an included soft-shell guitar case.
It packs a pair of Gibson’s Burstbucker Pro pickups and a three-way pickup selector switch that allows you to use either pickup individually or run them together. Each of the two pickups is wired to its own volume control, so you can blend the sound from the pickups together in any amount you choose. Each volume control is equipped with a push/pull switch for coil tapping, giving you two different sounds from each pickup, and each pickup also has its own individual tone control for even more sonic options. The endless tonal possibilities, exceptional sustain, resonance, and comfortable playability make the Les Paul Studio the one guitar you can rely on for any musical genre or scenario.
For more information, please visit gibson.com.
Introducing the Reimagined Gibson Les Paul Studio - YouTube
Phat Machine
The Phat Machine
The Phat Machine is designed to deliver the tone and responsiveness of a vintage germanium fuzz with improved temperature stability with no weird powering issues. Loaded with both a germanium and a silicon transistor, the Phat Machine offers the warmth and cleanup of a germanium fuzz but with the bite of a silicon pedal. It utilizes classic Volume and Fuzz control knobs, as well as a four-position Thickness control to dial-in any guitar and amp combo. Also included is a Bias trim pot and a Kill switch that allows battery lovers to shut off the battery without pulling the input cord.
Silk Worm Deluxe Overdrive
The Silk Worm Deluxe -- along with its standard Volume/Gain/Tone controls -- has a Bottom trim pot to dial in "just the right amount of thud with no mud at all: it’s felt more than heard." It also offers a Studio/Stage diode switch that allows you to select three levels of compression.
Both pedals offer the following features:
- 9-volt operation via standard DC external supply or internal battery compartment
- True bypass switching with LED indicator
- Pedalboard-friendly top mount jacks
- Rugged, tour-ready construction and super durable powder coated finish
- Made in the USA
Static Effectors’ Street Series pedals carry a street price of $149 each. They are available at select retailers and can also be purchased directly from the Static Effectors online store at www.staticeffectors.com.
This outing of Dipped In Tone kicks off with an exciting update from Zach Broyles’ camp: He’s opening a brick-and-mortar guitar shop in Nashville, called High Voltage Guitars. Opening on October 8, the store will carry gear from Two-Rock, Divided By 13, Dr. Z, Castedosa, Fano, Novo, and of course Mythos Pedals. Zach hints that there might be some handwired JHS pedals from Josh Scott himself, too, and Rhett reveals that he plans to consign some of his guitars at the shop.
The business side of Zach’s new venture brings them to a key piece of today’s episode: Rhett and Zach aren’t running charities. They do what they do to make money; guitars, gear, podcasting, and content creation are their literal jobs. And they’re not as glamorous and breezy as most armchair commentators might guess.
Want to do what Rhett and Zach do? Welcome to the club. The guitar-influencer field is what one might call “oversaturated” at the moment, and it’s difficult to break out—but not impossible. As our hosts explain, it requires putting in 60-hour work weeks, a diverse skillset, a knack for catching people’s attention, and a certain level of genuineness. Rhett knows this path well, and he has hard-earned advice for staying true to oneself while building a following in the gear world.
Tune in to learn why Rhett thinks Fretboard Summit, a three-day guitar festival organized by Fretboard Journal, blows NAMM out of the water and builds legitimate connections between guitarists, and catch the duo dipping a Dick Dale-inspired, all-Fender rig.
