Nik Huber is well known in guitar circles as the guy responsible for lavish, no-expense-spared, set-neck and humbucker guitars, most notably the fifties meet aughts design of the Dolphin and the more traditional silhouette of the Orca. By using choice woods such as highly figured maple and Brazilian rosewood in addition to some insane inlay work that routinely features everything from abalone to precious metals, “subtle” is not a word typically associated with this German guitar maker. And yet, despite the figured mahogany bodies and abalone fingerboard dots, understated, and even subtle, are the first words that come to mind when searching for descriptions for the two rock n’ roll animals Nik sent us to check out – the Junior and the Special.Based on the earlier Junior, the Special is the newest addition to the Huber line, building on the success of its single-pickup predecessor. Our overseas package contained examples with matching, tasteful two-tone sunburst finishes. Picking up any Huber guitar will belie a strong, vintage Gibson influence, and the Junior and Special are no exceptions. The neck profiles of each are fat, Gibsonish Vs that wouldn’t be out of place on a late-fifties Gibson LP or Junior. The nottoo- tall medium jumbo frets also help impart a vintage feel to the respective instruments and should be comfortable to players from either Gibson or Fender camps. Oddly, the lack of a pickguard and restrained finish impart an almost plain-jane vibe to the Special. The Junior side-steps a similar fate by featuring just a touch more figuring in the mahogany and a handsome tortoiseshell-patterned pickguard to help break things up. Other shared features include an ebony headstock veneer, satin-finished ebony truss rod and control cavity covers, ebony-buttoned Schaller tuners, Brazilian rosewood fingerboard, unique cutaway neck/body joint and a wrap-around, aluminum bridge. Both sunburst finishes also include the ‘burst pattern continuing up the one-piece mahogany neck and headstock, while still allowing plenty of figure to shine through.
"...understated, and even subtle, are the first words that come to mind when searching for descriptions for the two rock n'' roll animals Nik sent us to check out — the Junior and the Special"
Starting off chronologically with the Junior, both the beefy neck and a slightly stiff feel are immediately noticeable. My cheapassed calipers indicate the guitar has a set of .010s, but they felt more like .011s. Also, Nik is shipping his guitars with Elixer strings, which along with the Fendery 25 1/2” scale-length could be contributing to the stiffness, although the Special felt looser. Again, while there are subtle tonal differences between scale lengths, for most pickers scale length equates to feel, and the mixing of traditional elements from both Fender and Gibson’s past should allow a larger cross section of players to feel at home on this guitar. The neck feel on this guitar, while perhaps one of the most subjective subjects in guitardom, is incredible. Before writing reviews, I jam through a familiar amp while recording off the cuff comments. When listening back to the Junior demo, I noticed that I dropped the F-bomb several times while describing how well this neck fit my hand.
Playability is fine, but between the scalelength, strings and wrap-around bridge/ tailpiece combo, traditional Gibson fans may initially be put off. I would identify myself as a Fender fan and even I fought the stiffness a little at first. The setup is also partially responsible with the action setting at a little over 4/46” on the low E at the 17th fret and 3/64” at the high E. Relief was minimal, but along with the medium action allowed for big, bold sonically pure tones to flow easily even with clinically clean amp settings. 
Special LicksPlugging in tells you just how reliant on the fundamental the Junior really is as well as how nice that purity of tone can be. The dog-eared, Huber and Harry Häussel-designed pickup is a phenomenal match for the wood and imparts a very rich, midrange-heavy P-90 tone. There is also a push-pull tone pot to tap the P-90. Harry and Nik have done an amazing job of finding just the right spot to take the stout single-coil from a thick vintage flavor to a thinner sound that falls somewhere between a lower-output P-90 and a fat, Broadcaster-like sound. When first looking over the specs and learning of the tapped P-90 feature on both instruments, I was initially skeptical of its usefulness. In practice, it is perhaps one of my favorite things about the both the Junior and Special after their respective feel and tone. I believe this feature succeeds precisely because it doesn’t try to make the guitar sound like something it isn’t. Rather, it adds a subtly different, closely related flavor to the mix. For the Junior, it allows – along with judicious use of the tone and volume controls – enough flexibility to clean up and rock some chicken picking while being able to get back to rock n’ roll territory easily enough; just push a button and roll both knobs back to ten. The nice thing is it imparts a vintage feel and sound the entire time, despite the high-end tone woods and “wrong” scale-length. I was able to cop fat Les Paul Junior sounds throughout the Huber’s range, easily approximating different P-90 outputs, bordering on the edge of thick, vintage Tele tones at its thinnest, coil-tapped settings.
The Special adds a neck position P-90 while losing the pickguard. While the pickguards on Gibson’s Les Paul Specials were perhaps some of the most obtrusive scratchplate designs ever, the lack of pickguard here can make things look awfully sparse – I tend to go back and forth on whether or not it was too much so. The guitar still exudes quality through its impeccable workmanship and flawless nitrocellulose finish, but even with the beautifully figured mahogany, the Special sometimes looks almost too austere for its asking price, although this is totally subjective. Again, as with the Junior, both of these instruments are treading new ground by offering subtly along with the Huber signature – my mind might just need some additional time to justify the two previously incongruous elements.
The neck on the Special doesn’t have the same pronounced V shape of the Junior, instead feeling more typical of the majority of vintage Pauls by offering a more subtle V shape that borders on an open C. The string tension seems lighter, although there is nothing indicating why this should be the case – both guitars are set up identically and share the same string gauge, at least according to my dodgy calipers.
Plugged in, the Special offers a slightly less focused bridge pickup sound – perhaps due to the neck pickup route – which may offer up even more usable tones for this exact reason. Whereas the Junior always retains focus, the Special plays around more with the mids and offers up some delightfully honky, horn-like textures that should be old friends to vintage Les Paul Junior and Special fans. The coil tapping is implemented in a push/push tone pot here and is a treat when used with the neck pickup. As was the case with the Junior, this feature walks the tightrope between thick Fender tones – in this case, the fattest Strat neck pickup you’ve ever heard – and traditional solidbody P-90 tones. In fact, it was the coil-tap in conjunction with the neck pickup on the Special that sold me on the feature – the tap really is in the perfect spot for the pickup’s voice.
The Final Mojo
Even though the Junior and the Special are intended as striped down rock n’ roll machines, their high-end pedigree is always evident. The quality is so apparent that the respective axes almost beg you to try to find a visual hiccup or flaw, yet none could be found. The subtlety of the design and delicious smell of the nitrocellulose lacquer draw you in, then the jewel-like fret work let you know Nik and company are just as serious with these “entry level” instruments as with the high-end solid-bodies for which they are best known. Price, which is always a consideration these days, is doubtfully going to work in the Huber’s favor due to the rising cost of materials and horrible exchange rates, but I get the feeling price isn’t a consideration for most Huber customers. If Huber’s Dolphin and Orca models are akin to BMW’s Alpina B7, the Junior and Special are like Porsche’s 911 GT3 RS – well-crafted and built for speed, and yet another in a long list of reasons to be upset if you’re not an independently wealthy guitar aficionado.
Buy if...
you appreciate life’s finer things and have a hankering for a nobullshit set neck
Skip if...
you’ve been saving up for a Billie Joe Signature Gibbo for quite a while and you still don’t have enough
Rating...
MSRP (Special) $3953 (Junior) $3357 - Nik Huber Guitars - nikhuber-guitars.com |
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Duane Denison of the Jesus Lizard, EGC Chessie in hands, coaxing some nasty tones from his Hiwatt.
The Jesus Lizard’s sixth album, Blue, served as the band’s final statement from the frontlines of noisy rock for the next 26 years. By the time of their dissolution in 1999, they’d earned a reputation for extreme performances chock full of hard-hitting, machine-like grooves delivered by bassist David Wm. Sims and, at their conclusion, drummer Mac McNeilly, at times aided and at other times punctured by the frontline of guitarist Duane Denison’s incisive, dissonant riffing, and presided over by the cantankerous howl of vocalist David Yow. In the years since, performative, thrilling bands such as Pissed Jeans, METZ, and Idles have built upon the Lizard’s musical foundation.
Denison has kept himself plenty busy over the last couple decades, forming the avant-rock supergroup Tomahawk—with vocalist Mike Patton, bassist Trevor Dunn (both from Mr. Bungle), and drummer John Stanier of Helmet—and alongside various other projects including Th’ Legendary Shack Shakers and Hank Williams III. The Jesus Lizard eventually reunited, but until now have only celebrated their catalog, never releasing new jams.
The Jesus Lizard, from left: bassist David Wm. Sims, singer David Yow, drummer Mac McNeilly, and guitarist Duane Denison.
Photo by Joshua Black Wilkins
Back in 2018, Denison, hanging in a hotel room with Yow, played a riff on his unplugged electric guitar that caught the singer’s ear. That song, called “West Side,” will remain unreleased for now, but Denison explains: “He said, ‘Wow, that’s really good. What is that?’ And I said, ‘It’s just some new thing. Why don’t we do an album?’” From those unassuming beginnings, the Jesus Lizard’s creative juices started flowing.
So, how does a band—especially one who so indelibly captured the ineffable energy of live rock performance—prepare to get a new record together 26 years after their last? Back in their earlier days, the members all lived together in a band house, collectively tending to the creative fire when inspiration struck. All these years later, they reside in different cities, so their process requires sending files back and forth and only meeting up for occasional demo sessions over the course of “three or four years.”
“When the time comes to get more in performance mode, I have a practice space. I go there by myself and crank it up. I turn that amp up and turn the metronome up and play loud.” —Duane Denison
the Jesus Lizard "Alexis Feels Sick"
Distance creates an obstacle to striking while the proverbial iron is hot, but Denison has a method to keep things energized: “Practice loud.” The guitarist professes the importance of practice, in general, and especially with a metronome. “We keep very detailed records of what the beats per minute of these songs are,” he explains. “To me, the way to do it is to run it to a Bluetooth speaker and crank it, and then crank your amp. I play a little at home, but when the time comes to get more in performance mode, I have a practice space. I go there by myself and crank it up. I turn that amp up and turn the metronome up and play loud.”
It’s a proven solution. On Rack—recorded at Patrick Carney’s Audio Eagle studio with producer Paul Allen—the band sound as vigorous as ever, proving they’ve not only remained in step with their younger selves, but they may have surpassed it with faders cranked. “Duane’s approach, both as a guitarist and writer, has an angular and menacing fingerprint that is his own unique style,” explains Allen. “The conviction in his playing that he is known for from his recordings in the ’80s and ’90s is still 100-percent intact and still driving full throttle today.”
“I try to be really, really precise,” he says. “I think we all do when it comes to the basic tracks, especially the rhythm parts. The band has always been this machine-like thing.” Together, they build a tension with Yow’s careening voice. “The vocals tend to be all over the place—in and out of tune, in and out of time,” he points out. “You’ve got this very free thing moving around in the foreground, and then you’ve got this very precise, detailed band playing behind it. That’s why it works.”
Before Rack, the Jesus Lizard hadn’t released a new record since 1998’s Blue.
Denison’s guitar also serves as the foreground foil to Yow’s unhinged raving, as on “Alexis Feels Sick,” where they form a demented harmony, or on the midnight creep of “What If,” where his vibrato-laden melodies bolster the singer’s unsettled, maniacal display. As precise as his riffs might be, his playing doesn’t stay strictly on the grid. On the slow, skulking “Armistice Day,” his percussive chording goes off the rails, giving way to a solo that slices that groove like a chef’s knife through warm butter as he reorganizes rock ’n’ roll histrionics into his own cut-up vocabulary.
“During recording sessions, his first solo takes are usually what we decide to keep,” explains Allen. “Listen to Duane’s guitar solos on Jack White’s ‘Morning, Noon, and Night,’ Tomahawk’s ‘Fatback,’ and ‘Grind’ off Rack. There’s a common ‘contained chaos’ thread among them that sounds like a harmonic Rubik’s cube that could only be solved by Duane.”
“Duane’s approach, both as a guitarist and writer, has an angular and menacing fingerprint that is his own unique style.” —Rack producer Paul Allen
To encapsulate just the right amount of intensity, “I don’t over practice everything,” the guitarist says. Instead, once he’s created a part, “I set it aside and don’t wear it out.” On Rack, it’s obvious not a single kilowatt of musical energy was lost in the rehearsal process.
Denison issues his noisy masterclass with assertive, overdriven tones supporting his dissonant voicings like barbed wire on top of an electric fence. The occasional application of slapback delay adds a threatening aura to his exacting riffage. His tones were just as carefully crafted as the parts he plays, and he relied mostly on his signature Electrical Guitar Company Chessie for the sessions, though a Fender Uptown Strat also appears, as well as a Taylor T5Z, which he chose for its “cleaner, hyper-articulated sound” on “Swan the Dog.” Though he’s been spotted at recent Jesus Lizard shows with a brand-new Powers Electric—he points out he played a demo model and says, “I just couldn’t let go of it,” so he ordered his own—that wasn’t until tracking was complete.
Duane Denison's Gear
Denison wields his Powers Electric at the Blue Room in Nashville last June.
Photo by Doug Coombe
Guitars
- Electrical Guitar Company Chessie
- Fender Uptown Strat
- Taylor T5Z
- Gibson ES-135
- Powers Electric
Amps
- Hiwatt Little J
- Hiwatt 2x12 cab with Fane F75 speakers
- Fender Super-Sonic combo
- Early ’60s Fender Bassman
- Marshall 1987X Plexi Reissue
- Victory Super Sheriff head
- Blackstar HT Stage 60—2 combos in stereo with Celestion Neo Creamback speakers and Mullard tubes
Effects
- Line 6 Helix
- Mantic Flex Pro
- TC Electronic G-Force
- Menatone Red Snapper
Strings and Picks
- Stringjoy Orbiters .0105 and .011 sets
- Dunlop celluloid white medium
- Sun Studios yellow picks
He ran through various amps—Marshalls, a Fender Bassman, two Fender Super-Sonic combos, and a Hiwatt Little J—at Audio Eagle. Live, if he’s not on backline gear, you’ll catch him mostly using 60-watt Blackstar HT Stage 60s loaded with Celestion Neo Creambacks. And while some boxes were stomped, he got most of his effects from a Line 6 Helix. “All of those sounds [in the Helix] are modeled on analog sounds, and you can tweak them endlessly,” he explains. “It’s just so practical and easy.”
The tools have only changed slightly since the band’s earlier days, when he favored Travis Beans and Hiwatts. Though he’s started to prefer higher gain sounds, Allen points out that “his guitar sound has always had teeth with a slightly bright sheen, and still does.”
“Honestly, I don’t think my tone has changed much over the past 30-something years,” Denison says. “I tend to favor a brighter, sharper sound with articulation. Someone sent me a video I had never seen of myself playing in the ’80s. I had a band called Cargo Cult in Austin, Texas. What struck me about it is it didn’t sound terribly different than what I sound like right now as far as the guitar sound and the approach. I don’t know what that tells you—I’m consistent?”
YouTube It
The Jesus Lizard take off at Nashville’s Blue Room this past June with “Hide & Seek” from Rack.
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.
Galloup’s Plek tech Adam Winarski preps a Yamaha acoustic for the machine.
Presently, many certified guitar-repair specialists possess the expertise required to deliver an instrument that both sounds and plays wonderfully. The standards set by manufacturers and distributors have significantly risen, safeguarded by rigorous quality protocols to guarantee the best possible acoustic experience for customers. Additionally, lutherie training has raised the bar for critical processes, and one of the most tricky is fretwork.
Traditional fretwork once involved manual labor, with technicians utilizing sandbags or similar supports to steady the neck as they straightened it with a truss rod during the filing process. A notable advancement in this field came in the mid 1970s when Don Teeter, an author and repair expert, imposed a new method: fixing the guitar body to the bench and using blocks to maintain the neck in a playing position. This refinement was one of many in the continued quest to produce superior instruments by standardized methods.
An example of the Plek’s readings from an acoustic guitar.
Photo courtesy of Galloup Guitars
In the late 1970s, another pivotal innovation was introduced by Dan Erlewine. He created an advanced fret jig with a specialized body-holding system and neck supports, adding another layer of precision to the repair process. During my collaboration with Dan in 1985, we developed a rotating neck jig that counterbalanced the forces of gravity, keeping the instrument in its playing orientation while adjusting the neck supports. This step represented a significant leap in establishing control and standardization of fretwork procedures in our industry. By 1986, our approach had evolved into a freestanding workstation coupled with a sophisticated hold-down mechanism and enhanced neck supports, culminating in increased accuracy, efficiency, and consistency. Over the decades, the Erlewine/Galloup rotating neck jig has become a benchmark in numerous shops, enhancing fretwork performance.
"This step represented a significant leap in establishing control and standardization of fretwork procedures in our industry."
By the 1990s, automated and computerized technologies permeated the guitar manufacturing and repair sectors. Initially applied by import companies in the mass production of guitars, the technology, although expediting processes, did not immediately achieve high execution standards. However, the tech dramatically improved over time, with computer-driven systems eventually transforming the industry. Contemporary automated production utilizing such advancements meets exceedingly high standards of precision. Some bespoke guitar manufacturers, such as Steve Andersen, were pioneers in adopting these methods, but it was companies like Taylor that established them in the modern era.
Inevitably, the progression of technology extended beyond the mere production of parts. Around 1995, German engineer Gerd Anke envisioned the integration of computer-assisted technology into enhancing instrument playability, giving rise to Plek technology, which uses computers to precisely measure and analyze the various components of a guitar, like neck relief, fret height, nut and bridge specs, and more. Nashville guitar-repair tech Joe Glaser was among the first to recognize the machine’s value, followed by San Francisco luthier Gary Brawer. When Heritage Guitar Inc. invested in a Plek machine, the guitar industry could no longer disregard the significance of this innovation.
“The machine’s scanning data confirmed that there was one nature of an ideal fret plane, done by hand or machine, and unsurprisingly, it conformed exactly to what physics predicts, not personal mojo.”
In the spring of 2022, Galloup Guitars obtained its first Plek machine. Promptly, our technician Adam Winarski paved the way for the Plek’s integration in our shop. Now, it’s a rarity for an instrument to leave our shop without having undergone Plek analysis and machining. Impressed by the results of our integration, we created “Intro to Plek” as a course for all students enrolled at the Galloup School of Lutherie, offering our students a practical introduction to this technology. We furthered this educational initiative with a comprehensive one-week intensive “Plek Certification Training Course” for both students and the public. This advanced Plek course serves those seeking to boost their knowledge base and employability in this high-precision field.
Plek is rapidly becoming an industry standard for major manufacturers and smaller shops alike. However, this does not mean that those without access to this technology cannot execute proficient fretwork. Personally, I continue to use my Erlewine/Galloup neck jig—not only out of nostalgia, but also because it remains an excellent method for delivering accurate and reliable guitars. Still, it’s undeniable that the process of fretting, fret dressing, and analytics of fretted instruments has undergone significant transformation, resulting in better sounding—and playing—guitars. And ultimately, that’s what it’s all about.