Guitarist Kevin Comeau details how his mind was blown by Alex Lifeson's playing dynamics that were both medieval and melodic, while also revealing the peculiar chord he lifts from their stash.
The Alex Lifeson signature acoustic is made in PRS Guitars’ Maryland shop and features a bearclaw spruce top and koa back and sides with a mahogany neck and ebony bridge, fretboard, and headstock veneer.
Stevensville, MD (January 24, 2014) -- PRS Guitars is pleased to announce the new Private Stock Alex Lifeson Thinline acoustic guitar, new for NAMM 2014. While the craftsmanship and attention to detail are very consistent with other PRS Private Stock acoustics, this instrument embodies some new design elements that take the instrument in a unique direction. The Alex Lifeson signature PRS acoustic is slightly thinner than the company’s Angelus Cutaway and Tonare Grand and is constructed in such a way that it lends itself to louder stage volumes and the rigors of the road.
“During the 2013 Rush Clockwork Angels Tour, I had the opportunity to spend some time with a PRS Angelus Cutaway. It quickly became my pre-show warm up guitar, and I spent many hours in many hotel rooms lost in the gorgeous sound and tone of that beautiful instrument. I'm very happy to announce that I have collaborated with PRS to develop an Alex Lifeson Signature model based on this superlative platform,” said Lifeson. “If you're like me, you won't be able to put it down.”
The Alex Lifeson signature acoustic is made in PRS Guitars’ Maryland shop and features a bearclaw spruce top and koa back and sides with a mahogany neck and ebony bridge, fretboard, and headstock veneer. It is adorned with Mother of Pearl and Paua “Birds in Flight” inlays and Paua purfling along the top, fretboard, and headstock veneer.
“We are honored to work with Alex, a guitarist with world-renowned acclaim, experience, and talent. It would be difficult to find a better person to lend a discerning ear and such voluminous experience to a project like this. Our goal has been to develop a musical instrument that can perform equally well at home, on the stage, in the studio, or in the practice room. With Alex, we have found the perfect balance of all the above in an elegant package,” Jack Higginbotham, President, PRS Guitars.
The PRS Private Stock Alex Lifeson Thinline acoustic will be available starting in the spring of 2014.
For more information:
PRS
A nine-piece string ensemble joins the group on the Clockwork material, as well as on a few older Rush chestnuts (“YYZ” and “Red Sector A”).
CD/DVD
Rush
Clockwork Angels Tour
Zoe Records/PGD
It’s easy to see why Rush doesn’t tour with an opening act. They need every minute to dig through their 30-plus-year catalog. Always the documentarians, for their latest live DVD/CD Rush culled a majority of the tracks from Clockwork Angels, but this time Canada’s favorite three-headed prog trio aren’t alone. A nine-piece string ensemble joins the group on the Clockwork material, as well as on a few older Rush chestnuts (“YYZ” and “Red Sector A”). To the die-hard Rush fan—is there any other kind?—the band’s setlist choices might signal a newfound acceptance of the more keyboard/synth-centric sounds from their mid-to-late-’80s catalog. The majority of the first set comes from some of the least guitar-friendly albums the band has made, but in the live setting Alex Lifeson’s guitar doesn’t get the shuttered treatment of the original studio versions. Although not as packed with hits as Rush’s previous live DVD, Time Machine 2011: Live in Cleveland, Clockwork strikes a balance that even new fans can appreciate.
Must-hear track: “The Big Money”