This Premier Guitar Web Site (the "Web Site") is provided to you by Gearhead Communications, LLC ("Gearhead Communications"). Access to and use of the Web Site and the services available on the Web Site are subject to the following terms and conditions in this Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. By accessing or using the Web Site, you agree to be legally bound by the terms and conditions set forth below without any modification. Please review them carefully.
© Gearhead Communications, LLC
2022
All Rights Reserved
The copyright on this entire Web Site is held by Gearhead Communications. All material provided on the Web Site is protected under United States copyright laws and international copyright laws and treaty provisions. Except as expressly provided herein, none of the material provided on the Web Site may be copied, distributed, republished, reproduced, downloaded, displayed or transmitted in any form for commercial use without prior written permission of Gearhead Communications. Individual visitors of the Web Site are permitted personal, non-commercial use, provided that they do not modify the materials on the Web Site and that the materials retain all copyright and other proprietary notices contained therein. The permission terminates automatically if you breach any of the terms and conditions contained in this notice. Gearhead Communications does not grant any express or implied right to you under any patents, trademarks, copyrights, or trade secret laws.
The trademarks, logos, and service marks (collectively referred to as "Trademarks") displayed on this Web Site are federally registered and unregistered Trademarks of Gearhead Communications and no trademark license either express or implied is granted by Gearhead Communications. You do not have any right to use the Trademarks displayed on this Web Site without prior written permission of Gearhead Communications. In the event of unauthorized use or misuse of its Trademarks, Gearhead Communications will pursue its legal remedies without delay.
ELECTRONIC INFORMATION SUBMITTED TO THE WEB SITE
Any communication or material other than your personal information submitted to the Web Site by electronic mail is the exclusive property of Gearhead Communications and is considered to be non-confidential and non-proprietary. Such communication may include, without limitation, questions, comments, suggestions, and ideas. Gearhead Communications shall be free to use them for any purpose whatsoever without restriction or compensation.
DMCA NOTICE
Gearhead Communications respects the intellectual property of others, and we ask our content partners and those posting to this Web Site to do the same. If you believe that your copyrighted work has been copied and is accessible on this Web Site in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, you may notify us by providing our copyright agent with sufficient information to allow us to locate the material, including the following information:
- The electronic or physical signature of the owner of the copyright or the person authorized to act on the owner's behalf.
- A description of the copyrighted work that you claim has been infringed and a description of the infringing activity.
- Identification of the location where the original or an authorized copy of the copyrighted work exists; for example, the URL of the web site where it is posted or the name of the book in which it has been published.
- Identification of the URL or other specific location on this web site where the material that you claim is infringing is located.
- Your name, address, telephone number, and email address.
- A statement by you that you have a good faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
- A statement by you, that the above information you provide us is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or are authorized to act on the behalf of the copyright owner.
Our agent for notice of claims of copyright infringement on this Web Site can be reached as follows:
By Mail:
Gearhead Communications, LLC
Patti Erenberger
3 Research Center
Marion, IA 52302
By Phone: (319) 447-5550
By Fax: (319) 447-5599
By Email: patti [at] premierguitar.com
DISCLAIMER
THE INFORMATION IN THIS WEB SITE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. GEARHEAD COMMUNICATIONS SHALL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY ERRORS, OMISSIONS, OR TECHNICAL INACCURACIES IN THIS WEB SITE.
Gearhead Communications is constantly improving its products and services and reserves the right to make such improvements or changes to this Web Site, the materials, products, services, or prices posted on this Web Site without prior notice, as it deems necessary.
PRIVACY
Gearhead Communications is committed to protecting your privacy. Gearhead Communications and its affiliates collect personal information from its users in limited situations as set forth in this Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Unless otherwise indicated, Gearhead Communications and its affiliates will only disclose personally identifiable information to third parties when required by law or in the good faith belief that such action is necessary in order to conform to the edicts of the law or comply with the legal process served on this Web Site. Unless otherwise stated in this Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, Gearhead Communications and its affiliates will not rent, sell or give your personally identifiable information to any outside party without your prior permission. Gearhead Communications and its affiliates may now or in the future use personally identifiable information, such as email addresses submitted by users, to contact users and third parties and provide information on internal promotions of Premier Guitar and its affiliates. If and when this feature becomes available, users will be given the option to opt out of receiving such promotions.
You are responsible for taking all reasonable steps to ensure that no unauthorized person shall have access to your Web Site password or account. You are solely responsible for:
- Controlling dissemination and use of your user name, member ID and/or password;
- Authorizing, monitoring and controlling access to and use of your Web Site user name, member ID or password; and
- Promptly informing Gearhead Communications of any need to deactivate a password.
You grant Gearhead Communications and its affiliates the right to transmit, monitor, retrieve, store and use your information in connection with the operation of the Web Site. Gearhead Communications and its affiliates cannot and do not assume any responsibility or liability for any information you submit for your or any third party's use or misuse of the information transmitted or received using their web site.
PUBLIC AREAS
The Web Site may now or in the future provide users opportunities to comment on articles posted on the Web Site and to access public areas including chat rooms, bulletin boards or other online communities. By posting comments or using any public area on the Web Site, you agree that you are solely responsible for your own communications, the consequences of posting such communications, and your reliance on any such communications found in the public areas. Gearhead Communications assumes no responsibility for the consequences of any communications in the public areas.
By using the public areas, you agree that the following actions constitute a material breach of this Terms of Use and Privacy Policy:
- Using a public area for any purpose in violation of local, state, national or international law;
- Posting any material in a public area that infringes the intellectual property rights of others or the privacy or publicity rights of others;
- Posting any material that is unlawful, obscene, defamatory, threatening, harassing, abusive, slanderous, hateful or embarrassing to any other person or entity as determined by Gearhead Communications in its sole discretion;
- Posting advertisements or solicitations of business;
- Upon receiving a warning, continuing to disrupt the normal flow of dialogue or posting comments that are not related to the topic being discussed;
- Posting chain letters or pyramid schemes;
- Impersonating another person;
- Distributing viruses or other harmful computer code;
- Harvesting or otherwise collecting information about others, including e-mail addresses, without their identification for posting or viewing comments;
- Allowing any other person or entity to use your identification for posting or viewing comments;
- Posting the same note more than once or "spamming"; or
- Engaging in any other conduct that restricts or inhibits any other person from using or enjoying the public areas or the Web Site, or which in the judgment of Gearhead Communications exposes Gearhead Communications, its affiliates or licensors to any liability or detriment of any type.
Gearhead Communications reserves the right to record the dialogue in any public areas. Gearhead Communications does not screen communications in advance and is not responsible for screening or monitoring material posted by any user. If notified by a user of communications which are alleged not to conform to this Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, Gearhead Communications may investigate the allegation and determine in its sole discretion to remove or request the removal of communications. Gearhead Communications reserves the right to remove communications which are abusive, illegal, disruptive or that otherwise fail to conform to this Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. In addition to the removal rights described above, Gearhead Communications reserves the right to terminate any user access to any or all public areas upon user's breach of this Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Gearhead Communications reserves the right (but is not obligated) to edit or delete any communications posted on any public area, regardless of whether such communications violate these standards for conduct.
Gearhead Communications reserves the right to take any action it deems necessary to protect the personal safety of its users or the public. Gearhead Communications has no liability or responsibility to users of the Web Site or any other person or entity for performance or non-performance of the aforementioned activities.
CHILDREN'S PRIVACY
We are committed to protecting the privacy of children. You should be aware that the Web Site is not intended or designed to attract children under the age of thirteen (13). We do not collect personally identifiable information from any person we actually know is a child under the age of thirteen (13).
INFORMATION SUBMITTED BY USER
You agree that you will not upload or transmit any type of communication or content to any public area that infringes or violates any rights of any party. By submitting any communication or content, including any business information, ideas, concepts or inventions to Gearhead Communications by e-mail or any other manner, you agree that such submission is non-confidential for all purposes. By submitting any such information to a public area or via e-mail, you automatically grant, or warrant that the owner of such content or intellectual property has expressly granted to Gearhead Communications and its affiliates a royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, non-exclusive license to use, reproduce, create derivative works from, modify, publish, edit, translate, distribute, perform and display the communication or content in any media or medium or any form, format or forum now known or hereafter developed. If you wish to keep any business information, ideas, concepts or inventions private or proprietary, do not submit them to the public areas or to Gearhead Communications by e-mail.
LINKS
Gearhead Communications may provide links to third party web sites. Gearhead Communications and its affiliates do not recommend and do not endorse the content on any third party web site and are not responsible for the content of linked third party sites, sites framed within the Web Site, third party sites provided as search results, or third party advertisements, and does not make any representations regarding their content or accuracy. Your use of third party web sites is at your own risk and subject to the terms and conditions of use for such sites.
COOKIES/LOG FILES
Cookies are files that contain information created by a web server that can be stored on a user's hard disk for use either during a particular session or for future use. Gearhead Communications uses cookies for maintaining user account information, to help administer the Web Site, to measure the use of the Web Site and to improve the content of the Web Site. Users may set their computers to refuse cookies. Most browsers are initially set to accept cookies.
The Web Site may also use cookies and/or log files to collect information such as date and time of use, users' IP address and links and pages viewed by users of the Web Site. Such information is gathered for the purposes of maintaining user account information and is not used to disseminate significant information about users over the Internet or to analyze any information that users have knowingly or unknowingly provided. Such information will be accessible only by Gearhead Communications and its internet Web Site service provider.
INDEMNITY
You agree to defend, indemnify and hold Gearhead Communications and its affiliates and their respective officers, members, employees, agents, licensors and suppliers harmless from and against any claims, actions or demands, liabilities and settlements, including, without limitation, reasonable legal and accounting fees resulting from or alleged to result from your violation of this Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
GENERAL
Gearhead Communications, LLC is an Iowa limited liability company. Gearhead Communications makes no claims that the content provided in the Web Site is appropriate or may be downloaded outside of the United States. Access to the content in the Web Site may not be legal by certain persons or in certain countries. If you access the Web Site from outside the United States, you do so at your own risk and are responsible for compliance with the laws of your jurisdiction.
In the event all or a portion of the assets owned or controlled by Gearhead Communications or any parent, subsidiary or affiliated entity are sold, assigned, transferred or acquired by another company, information from or about Web Site users may be among the transferred assets.
JURISDICTION
You expressly agree that the exclusive jurisdiction for any dispute with Gearhead Communications, or in any way relating to your use of the Web Site, resides in the courts of the State of Iowa and you further agree and expressly consent to the exercise of personal jurisdiction in the courts of the State of Iowa in connection with any such dispute, including any claim involving Gearhead Communications or its affiliates, subsidiaries, employees, officers, members, telecommunication providers, licensors and suppliers. This Terms of Use and Privacy Policy is governed by the internal substantive laws of the State of Iowa without respect to its conflict of law principles. If any provision of this Terms of Use and Privacy Policy is found to be invalid by any court having competent jurisdiction, the invalidity of such provisions shall not affect the validity of the remaining provisions of this Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, which shall remain in full force and effect. No waiver of the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy shall be deemed a further or continuing waiver of such term or condition or any other term or condition.
COMPLETE AGREEMENT
This Terms of Use and Privacy Policy constitutes the entire agreement between you and Gearhead Communications with respect to the use of the Web Site and content.
Thank you for your cooperation. We hope you find the Web Site helpful and convenient. Questions or comments regarding the Web Site should be directed by electronic mail to patti [at] premierguitar.comor via U.S. Mail to Gearhead Communications, LLC, Three Research Center Marion, IA 52302.
This case, from TKL, is an example of the classic approach to guitar protection.
Be sure to guard your 6-string investments from damage. Here’s a guide to a variety of options for dependable guitar protection.
I have had many guitars pass through my hands, and I’m happy to say that I have only been involved with the demise of one. This happened when the shelving above my workbench collapsed. Needless to say, I no longer have any shelves above my workbenches. However, even without structurally compromised shelves, guitars are fragile things. If they are not taken care of properly, they can, and will, be damaged. The key is to make sure your precious instrument is not put in harm’s way, so making good choices when storing or transporting your guitar is paramount.
Storing guitars on stands creates a major risk for damage. Even though we all use them, I don’t use my stands for storage. When they’re not being played, I put guitars back in their cases. As a repair person, I routinely talk to my customers about the importance of storing guitars in their cases, which protect them from impact and are your primary line of defense against humidity fluctuations. Even though countless priceless vintage guitars have changed hands, many still reside safely in their OEM hardshell cases. That’s a testament to a good, old-school hardshell case.
It's my opinion that a 5-ply hardshell guitar case with an arch top and back (which has been routinely produced by many case manufacturers for decades) is a perfectly acceptable option for guitars of any value. If treated with respect and care, it will hold up to the life of an instrument, offering decades of protection. For my line of Galloup Guitars, I use Cedar Creek cases produced by TKL as my baseline. I have used these cases to transport my guitars to conventions across the world for decades without issue, so that’s a pretty good track record.
If you’re a player who requires a more durable case for ultimate protection, there are some high-end options to consider, though they can run well over $1,000. A well-established brand is Calton Cases, produced in Austin, Texas. These cases are absolute vaults, so when the SHTF, your guitar has an excellent chance at survival—whether it’s thrown off of an equipment truck or mishandled by a baggage person—maybe even if a ship goes down at sea. However, Calton Cases are big, heavy, and therefore not particularly easy to transport. If you consider the overall size and weight, coupled with their added cost, these are generally not a prime option for everyday use. But for heavy-duty protection in volatile environments, yes.
Jeff Hoffee in Chicago, Illinois, also makes high-end acoustic guitar cases that are some of the more attractive I have seen, sporting a smart, stylish, and modern look. These carbon-fiber cases offer a nice amount of protection at a pleasing weight. With the added option of the accompanying shoulder strap, you have a good overall package. However, I have had Hoffee cases fracture during shipping. My guitars were never damaged, and Jeff has always been stellar about repairing them. In fact, he offers a lifetime warranty.
Quick side note: The case is an extension of the overall guitar package. If it is damaged, you have every right to claim through your insurance policy for any repair cost or replacements.
Then, there’s the topic of guitar-case accessories, of which there are two in particular I find notable. One is a shoulder strap. When I order cases, I make sure they are equipped with “D” hooks, ready to accept shoulder straps. If the company does not offer that feature, I’m not interested. For me, it’s a must.
There are also case covers, which are less essential but certainly have their advantages. They add a level of protection from the elements that, in some circumstances, just might be the edge you need to protect your guitar from certain peril. Plus, there’s the obvious protection to the case itself through external padding. The brand that seems to be making the rounds with many pro players is Caseadillo. These quality units are produced in several colors with added external storage for personal belongings.
Of course, I have only touched on a few cases available. If you go to NAMM, there are seemingly hundreds of case makers to choose from, but this overview should give you some guidelines to consider when choosing a case for protecting your investment. PG
Billy Gibbons Receives BMI Troubadour Award in Rocking Ceremony
Billy Gibbons and Keith Urban at BMI’s Troubador Awards ceremony on Monday night.
Guitarists Keith Urban, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Chris Isaak, Robert Earl Keen, Elle King, Tom Bukovac, and Guthrie Trapp performed in honor of the Rev. BFG in Nashville on Monday night, as his body of work was recognized.
NASHVILLE, TN — From 1967, when he founded Texas psychedelic rock band the Moving Sidewalks, to 2023—a span that includes 15 ZZ Top studio albums and three solo recordings—Billy Gibbons has written songs as indelible as the dirty tones of his revered 1959 Gibson Les Paul, Pearly Gates. Those songs, including “Jesus Just Left Chicago,” “La Grange,” “Tush,” “It’s Only Love,” “Cheap Sunglasses,” nearly every cut on 1983’s Eliminator album, and many more, earned Gibbons BMI’s prestigious Troubadour Award in a ceremony at the performing rights organization’s Music City headquarters on Monday night.
Rising blues star Christone “Kingfish” Ingram digs into his signature Tele as he delivers “Waitin’ for the Bus,” from the 1973 ZZ Top album, Tres Hombres.
The Troubadour Award, which has also been bestowed on John Hiatt, Lucinda Williams, John Prine, and Robert Earl Keen, recognizes songwriters who’ve made a profound impact on the creative community and who are substantially influential. At the private ceremony attended by many notable fellow guitarists, including Steve Cropper, John Oates, and Molly Tuttle, Gibbons was honored by a series of filmed and live testimonials, and, more vividly, by performances with a house band that included Nashville 6-string heroes Tom Bukovac and Guthrie Trapp.
Urban’s nuanced playing on “Rough Boy,” from ZZ Top’s 1986 album Afterburner, was one of the night’s highlights.
Performers included Keith Urban, who delivered a sensitive version of “Rough Boy,” replete with tightly controlled feedback melody lines; rising blues star Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, who tore up “Waitin’ for the Bus” on his signature Fender Tele; Chris Isaak singing “Sharp Dressed Man” while wearing the night’s spangliest Nudie-inspired suit; fellow Troubadour Keen, delivering “La Grange” (with especially ripping turns from Bukovac and Trapp); and Elle King singing “Gimme All Your Lovin’.” In typical Gibbons style, his acceptance speech, which focused on his more than four decades of visiting, playing, and songwriting in Nashville, also included references to gambling debts and sneaking beers while writing a tune for his wife’s teetotaling mother in Music City.
Two legendary green overdrives are melded in a OD of many moods.
Imagine being able to combine your favorite parts of different overdrive & boost pedals in order to create hybrid sounds no one has ever played through before. That is exactly what we've engineered with the Noble Screamer. It’s a 4-in-1 pedal that gives you two very familiar drive circuits and two brand new amp-like distortion tones that no one has used before. It’s almost like pedal-modeling, except these are 100% analog circuits, and you decide which tone-control or clipping-section you want to play through. You can play through battle-tested, classic overdrive effects or innovate new music with hybrid tones, let your ears be the judge. Even with all of these features the pedal remains a simple and easy to use three knob overdrive. The innovation in the Noble Screamer doesn’t end there; our new design features true-bypass or buffered, truly silent switching, on the fly. The Keeley Noble Screamer Overdrive and Boost is entirely manufactured at Keeley Electronics and is the first in our new aluminum enclosure.
Learn more here.