Q: Single-coils vs. humbuckers? Go!
Angel Vivaldi — Guest Picker
A: No surprise ... humbuckers! Not to say single-coils don’t have their place (even in heavy music), but I adore the warmth and thickness of a med/med-high humbucker. My biggest pet peeve is uncontrolled feedback, hum, or noise when using high-gain amps, so humbuckers are the way to go.
Photo by Heiner Bach
Current obsession: Tori Amos’ new record, Native Invader, has been getting a lot of my attention. Every time she releases an album I always find myself delving into her entire catalog. She’s a powerhouse of a songwriter/storyteller.
Taylor Boylan — Reader of the Month
A: Like bread and butter. I love ’em both for different reasons, together or separate. Both work well clean and distorted. Both sound good in the neck or the bridge. Hum-cancelling single-coils are cool, too. I need to try out some P-90s next.
Current obsession: Getting the most out of my entry-level instruments. I’ve upgraded my cheap Starcaster Strat into a super strat. I replaced the stock tuners with Sperzel locking tuners. I upgraded the saddles to Tusq String Savers. I wired the pickups so I can use all of them at once and I can choose between single-coil and humbucking sounds. Musical alchemy.
John Bohlinger — Nashville Correspondent
A: When I moved to Nashville, there was a border guard who made sure you had a Telecaster in your trunk before they’d let you in. Nowadays, those snarly single-coils have all but disappeared from twang-free country radio. I arrived late to the party, but have converted. Current favorite: DiMarzio PAF Masters.
Current obsession: Club dates. Nothing better for your playing than four hours in a sticky-floored club playing a bunch of songs you don’t really know, throwing taste out the window, and soloing too much.
Andy Ellis — Senior Editor
A: Unpotted PAF-style humbuckers driving a cranked, low-gain amp—that’s my favorite sound. Roll the guitar volume back to keep things clean and articulate, then open it wide for juicy, singing solos, à la Mick Taylor. I like humbuckers that respond almost like microphones: If I yell into my pickups and hear my voice through the amp, I’m happy.
Current obsession: Adapting blues harp licks to my fretless Godin A11 Glissentar, which is amazingly well-suited to the task. Right now, I’m mining 1965’s The Paul Butterfield Blues Band for inspiration.
Jason Shadrick — Associate Editor
A: As much as I’ve tried, I can’t escape my single-coil roots. Don’t get me wrong. I can dig some low-powered PAF tones, but the only time I really feel like I sound like me is when there’s just a bit of that hum in the air.
Current obsession: Since the unexpected passing of Tom Petty, I’ve wrangled my band into working up more of his tunes into our set. Hats off to Jason Isbell, who waved the TP flag every night of his Ryman residency.
“The Player II Series represents our continued evolution in design and functionality,” said Justin Norvell, EVP of Product, FMIC. “We listened to the feedback from musicians around the world and incorporated their insights to refine and innovate our instruments. The re-introduction of rosewood fingerboards is a restoration of the ‘original Fender recipe’ and will no doubt be a fan favorite - but we didn’t want to stop there. We’ve also incorporated our rolled fingerboard edges for a broken-in feel, upgraded hardware, and have some new body options as well- which underscores our commitment to providing players and creators with the tools they need to express their unique sound and style. The Player II Series is not just an upgrade, it's a detailed re-imagining of our core silhouettes, highlighting our dedication to quality and the continuous refinement of our instruments.”
Additionally, Player II offers new options for chambered ash and chambered mahogany bodies for the Player II Stratocaster and Telecaster models, which will be available in October. Designed for musicians ready to elevate their craft, the Player II Series sets a new standard for quality and performance in the mid-price range.
Fender Player II Stratocaster HSS Electric Guitar - Coral Red
Fender Player II Jaguar Electric Guitar - Aquatone Blue
The 2018 CCL Deco Custom, in all its Pelham blue glory.
Anyway, we became friends and I started working on him pretty early—my 40th birthday was approaching, and that meant it was time for us to start designing his first solidbody build. If you stopped on this page, it’s because the photo of the finished product caught your eye. Beautiful, right? The 2018 CCL Deco Custom: Never shall there be another.
Old National Glenwood guitars were my design inspiration, but I wanted a slim waist like a PRS and the like. We used a solid block of korina to start, routed like MacGyver to get the knobs and switches where I wanted them. Dale builds all his own lathes and machines (usually out of lumber, y’all), as the task requires. This beast took some creativity—it’s tight wiring under that custom-steel pickguard. Many were the preliminary sketches. Four coats of Pelham blue, 11 coats of nitro. Honduran mahogany neck, Madagascar ebony fretboard with Dale’s signature not-quite-Super-400 inlays. He designed the logo; I just said, “Make it art deco.”
We sourced all the bits and bobs from StewMac and Allparts and Reverb and the like, mostly to get that chrome look I so adore. Graph Tech Ratio tuners, Duesenberg Radiator trem (had to order that one from Germany), TonePros TP6R-C roller bridge. The pickups were a genius suggestion from the builder, Guitarfetish plug ’n’ play 1/8" solderless swappable, which means I have about 10 pickups in the case to choose from: rockabilly to metal. And both slots are tapped, with the tone knobs serving as single- to double-coil switches. I put the selector on the lower horn to accommodate my tendency to accidentally flip the thing on Les Pauls—definite lifesaver.
Reader and guitar enthusiast, Cody Lindsey.
Dale offered to chamber this monster, but I said what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. It weighs in at 11 pounds, if it’s an ounce. We carved the neck to match a ’60s SG, so it’s like the mini bat you get at the ballpark on little kids’ day. Easy peasy. 1 11/16" nut, 25" scale, jumbo frets, just 2 1/8" at the 12th fret.
Delivery in its lovely, hygrometer-equipped Cedar Creek case actually happened a month or two shy of my 41st, but hey, you can’t rush these things. We ended up with a studio Swiss Army knife; it does a bit of everything and does it effortlessly. A looker, too. Dale didn’t spend his career doing this kind of thing—he was in IT or some such—and I imagine he’s winding this “hobby” of his down these days, enjoying retirement with a bottle of Killian’s and a lawn chair at Duluth Blues Fest. But this guitar will live on as a marker of his skill and otherworldly patience. It sits at the head of the class in my practice room, welcoming any visitors and bringing a smile to my face every day. And Dale, my friend, I’ll be 50 before you know it....
Cody requested that Dale design an art deco logo for the guitar’s headstock.