Scott Henderson Mini Guitar Clinic

Pentatonic Variations, Time, Phrasing, Trem Set-up Tips, Etc...



Here's some enormously valuable stuff, just uploaded this month by Jude Gold to his Youtube channel iRawk--be sure to check all his vids! Most of us are familiar with Gold as an associate editor at GP, but he's also MI/GIT's Guitar Program Director, where Scott Henderson also teaches when not on the road.

This video's title re: pentatonic secrets hardly scratches the surface of what Scott ends up sharing. Owners of standard 6 screw Strat trems will get a valuable mod/set-up tip here, as well as techniques for trem, hybrid picking and phrasing. Scott covers a lot of areas in 14 minutes, and you'll probably wanna watch this a few times and bookmark it to your favorites. And if we're all reaaaaal lucky, Henderson won't decide to have Jude remove the video anytime soon.;))  

Related Links:

Recent Henderson Interview - Scott narrowly escaped Japan tsunami!

www.scotthenderson.net

Big Dogs Sportswear - Where Scott gets his shirts!

Suhr Gear @ eBay - New & Preowned

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FCS Tennessee Strat Masterbuild Guitar

Hybrid Gear Strat-Tele by Yuriy Shishkov

Click images for close-ups!

With a COA date of 3/16/11, this 1of 4 "Strat-o-Tele" hybrid Masterbuild is fresh out of the oven!

Of all the Strat/Tele crossbreeds out there, this is one of the most interesting. First of all, it is a Masterbuild with the MB style stamp behind the headstock. A rear view also reveals a relief  heel i.e. the Jeff Beck and Eric Johnson Strats. And there is no trem, as the bridge section is mostly Tele with the plate and Texas Special Tele bridge pup, although oddly enough, the saddles are modern Strat type. The neck  pup is Strat Texas Spec, the body obviously Strat... and it has a Tele black guard & control plate. Pretty creative inbreeding here huh! Strat headstock on a Jeff Beck profile 9.5" neck, but no LSR nut. Crazy!

Oh yeah, and a natural ash body resulting in 7.5 lbs total weight! Winner! Winner! Chicken dinner!


Seller: The STRATosphere - Top-rated seller with HUGE history and extensive selection of  in-stock Fender parts, including Artist Series bodies, Custom Shop Necks and everything else.

Hi-end Strats!

Current listings - Top Dealers

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Another Hendrix Interview at Obrecht Music Archive

Second '67 Interview by Steve Barker

"...I just like to be out there. I like the weather, the scenery, and some of the people. You can buy a chocolate milkshake in a drugstore, chewing gum in a gas station, and soup from little machines on the road. It’s great, it’s beautiful. It’s all screwed up and nasty and prejudiced, and it’s great and beautiful. It has everything."

Jimi Hendrix, Nov '67 talking about the United States

In January and November of 1967, Steve Barker, currently a BBC journalist in China, interviewed Jimi Hendrix. Barker has submitted these previously unpublished pieces to Jas Obrecht who just posted the second one. And best of all, they're cellophane free! Check below for both interviews:

January 1967

November 1967

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Matchless Super Chief 120 - HEAVY Gear !

Rare Guitar Amp

 Very little use. Includes orig. carton, packing, manual and misc. items.

I'm helping plug this tone monster for a local friend of a friend currently listing it at gbase with the help of Guitar Crazy of Portland, Oregon.  Matchless didn't make very many of these 120W Super Chief heads. The thing weighs 80 lbs!!! And of course, this happens to be one of those tough situations where the owner has back injuries (5 ruptured discs!) and just can't gig with it-- nor can he use it at the apartment for obvious reasons. So he's been sitting on a major financial investment that can't work for him.

Contact info. details & specs are at the above link. 

Also, for more history and verification-- here's the Matchless company contact page: 

www.matchlessamplifiers.com/contact.html

Vintage-Boutique Amp Search

Current listings - Top Sellers - Buying Tips

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Fender 61 Fiesta Red Strat

Vintage Guitar Gear

On the fence...

Desert Sand underneath the Fiesta Red

One day I was telling my son about how red paint doesn't do well in sunny areas, and how red cars in Phoenix oxidize faster. Then the kid explains to me why this makes sense since red is at the bottom of the electro-magnetic spectrum and thus has a lower molecular density... to which I replied, "Yes, exactly."

Anyway, here's a 50 year old Fiesta Red that's seen its share of UV and who knows what else. If only it could talk, huh! Actually the seller says it was covered with stickers and green "spray paint" when he got it, and he managed to clean it up pretty well-- even discovering a layer of Desert Sand finish beneath the Fiesta Red. Old school Fender did stuff like that.

The listing includes lots of photos, including close ups of the 1-'61 marked neck butt, stamped saddles and the brown tolex case. This thing almost looks sandblasted or acetone marinated & still 13 years younger than Steven Tyler. Yikes!

Seller:  j.l.martin-vintage-guitars - Hawaii based, 100% positive, big history seller with lots of hi-end vintage gear listings. We've featured their stuff before.

Hi-end Strats

Current listings - Top Sellers

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Jeff Beck Guitar Collection

A Free '54 Strat and Much More!!!

It's good to be king... even better to be Jeff Beck! Besides these sweet classic vintage guitars and the stories behind them, I'm really diggin' Jeff's guitar playing as he demos the legendary players associated with some of these guitars! We're so used to seeing Jeff do his own unique style, but the cat is a Rockabilly lexicon. And Rockabilly can be a pick intensive style, but check out JB's right thumb!!! Back to the woodshed we go...

caricature by Kerry Waghorn

Special kudos to The Guitar Channel and Guitar Noize blogs who found and featured this clip earlier! Be sure and add these fine blogs to your feeds, favorites and bookmarks!

Jeff Beck Strats

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James Rogers- Bluesman & Pickup Winder

Vancouver, BC Strat-o-Brother



Something tells me Vancouver, BC has a healthy Blues scene! Here's James Rogers covering Freddie King's "Big Legged Woman" with great chops and vocals. I hear some Albert King bends and a little Albert Collins in there too. So basically, Rogers has the right keys in his pocket-- and he's a Strat man too!

James also winds his own brand of Rogers Pickups, and provides full guitar tech services as well as Blues guitar lessons at his Mission, BC location. 

Pickup winders, techs and gear makers are not always good guitar players-- even players at all. So, it's always a nice bonus when your tech or pickup maker has the ears and feel of a good guitarist/vocalist. 

James Rogers Links:

www.rogerspickups.com  - Full pickups line

www.allguitars.ca - Tech svcs

http://jamesrogers.ca/ - Band Site

www.youtube.com/user/allguitarscnc - Lots of videos!

Strat-o-Brothers Directory

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Gatton Tele - Serious Guitar Gear Here!

Not Strat, But Badass Just the Same!

 Frost Gold finish

Maple SYRUP!!!

Remember, we're celebrating the 60th Anniversary of the Telecaster this year, so I'm tossin' in a few Tele's here and there that catch my eye. This Danny Gatton FCS caught my eye for sure! I mean, DAMN! Frost Gold and a neck to pour on waffles.

But that's just the tip of the iceberg, because the Gatton Tele is hot rod and high octane in every respect from the hardware & electronics to the light swamp ash body and 22 fret special "U" shape neck. This 2010 model is listed as new, and includes COA, candy, strap and tweed case. It should also come with a pair of oven mitts... and a waffle iron.

Bizarre Guitar of Reno  eBay Store has a very nice selection of new Fender Custom Shop inventory and other high end guitar gear. And they're a 100% positive seller with lots of history.

FCS Tele Listings

Current items - Top Sellers

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Hand Guitars of Maui - Friday Strat #209

Strategy - Polymer Clay Full Finish

 From indigenous to downright metaphysical!

Hand Guitars is the dream of JP Thomas and Jon Anderson-- two very interesting world traveling artist-explorer types who
independently fell under the creative spell of the island of Bali and set up studios there — JP from '74 and Jon from '89. Years later in Hawaii, JP started building guitars and asked Jon to contribute his expertise ... ultimately resulting in the extravagance you see above.

Thomas is the guitarist, guitar builder, and Anderson is the master of Polymer Clay art which becomes the finish on many Hand guitars. The initial process derives from the classic Venetian Millefiori glass making techniques applied to polymer clay. How the clay is applied and finished on a guitar is mostly proprietary. I should also mention that JP Thomas is a killer slide player with a pretty good grasp of the Sonny Landreth behind-the-bar-style.

You absolutely must visit their website and check out the About page as well as everything else. These guys also make finishes out of coconut shell and other stuff. Absolutely stunning finishes at that! As for the guitars themselves, Thomas is fond of classic designs, implementing hi-end woods, hardware & electronics. Hand Guitars made an official debut at NAMM of Summer 2010, and have already shown up in Guitar Player & Premier Guitar mags. Please check the video links below for more on the Polymer Clay process and a good product overview from NAMM by PG.

Polymer Clay Video - Slammin' soundtrack too!

Hand Feature by PG - NAMM Booth

Friday Strat Archive

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New Gear! Raw Guitar Company

UK Design Engineer Simon Raw Takes on Guitars

Top: "Texas Blue" - Texas swamp ash body and cherry pickguard.

Bottom: "Serena" - Zebra wood body, true oil finish.

 

Before taking up guitar making, Simon Raw's design engineering pursuits have focused on ergonomics and noise-vibration issues in industrial applications. As a consulting engineer in this capacity, Raw's clients have included: Bentley, Rolls Royce, Cummins, Triumph Motorcycles and others. And now, interestingly enough as a luthier, he's involved with cultivating good vibrations with his new company and website.

Like many current boutique guitar builders, Simon is incorporating his own ideas on bridge designs and wood choices into familiar & traditional guitar platforms i.e. S-types, T-types as well as Gibby profiles.

"Yes, my background in ergonomics, noise and vibration has been useful in my guitar designs but not to the detriment of the aesthetic or style of the instruments. If I was to design a guitar that evolved purely from ergonomics considerations the guitar would interact beautifully with the guitarist but look totally alien and not very rock n' roll. Guitar design has to work ergonomically but maintain the essence of rock n roll: Attitude, sex and rebellion. That is my design philosophy and one I suspect Leo and Freddie had too and which is why, in my opinion, the Strat has never been bettered.

My knowledge in vibration was helpful too especially in my Fusion designs where I incorporated acoustic overtones into my work, see our approach to guitar design on my website. "

Check out the growing line of Raw Guitars!

www.rawguitars.net

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Fishman FT-1 Clip-on Guitar Tuner

Best Gear Price

Currently, Musician's Friend has the Fishman FT-1 on sale for $16.99 shipped (USA). I don't know how many they have, or how long this sale is running. I discovered this while looking at clip-on tuners by Snark, Korg, Planet Waves, etc. The FT-1 price was too good to pass up-- fortunately it works great and is loaded with features.

In vibration mode, it senses everything on my Strat and Tele. It also has a mic setting, is fully chromatic, plus has settings for Bass and Ukelele. It shuts down automatically if you forget to turn off, and uses a common 2032 coin type lithium battery just like many car remotes. There just ain't a better deal right now on a digital clip-on tuner! These normally sell for $24.95, which is still pretty good.

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Fender Burgundy Mist 56 Relic Strat

Guitar Gear: FCS NAMM 2011 Special Limited

 click images for close-ups

anodized pickguard & trem cover

Played by Ron Burgundy

Burgundy Mist was originally a 50's Oldsmobile color. FCS made two NAMM 2011 Special '56 Relics this color. The "Limited" run includes other custom colors in the '56 Relic configuration. I'm telling you this, because the above guitar listed by The Music Zoo is #34-- and a call to them let me know that #34 & #35 are Burgundy Mist Metallic. I didn't find out the total run & color number, but some were Sherwood Green, Lake Placid Blue, etc... 

Specs for this '56 run include: alder body, Fat 50's pups, 9.5" radius, tapered V neck and 6105's. Listing includes full close up photo of COA. Guitar is new and comes with case, candy and cert.

The Music Zoo is a huge FCS dealer with special runs, i.e. the Not Rod's, NoNecks as well as the new 60th Anniversary Telecasters, including Snake Head models!

Fender Custom Shop Dealers

(selected eBay Stores directory)

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Magneto T-Wave Guitar

Boutique Guitar Gear: Lollar Equipped Magneto "Vanilla Fudge" T- Model For Sale!

T-Wave "Vanilla Fudge" with Lollar P90 neck

(Magneto also builds a Strat-type model)

CGB listing at eBay - customguitarboutique

CustomGuitarBoutique.com of NYC is now the exclusive USA/Canada dealer for Magneto Guitars, a high-end instrument line based in France, and crafted in Japan.

We say "crafted" in Japan because there's no CNC involved in these luthier produced guitars. Magneto is a partnership between France based designer Christian Hatstatt and veteran instrument builder Kei Yatsuzuka. They produce S & T-type guitars like those pictured above, using top hardware, electronics and woods. Some woods and components are USA produced, as well as Sen Ash grown in Japan.

Full  specs & details are available at: Magnetoguitars.com

Contact Kelcey @ CGB for USA/Canada availability & quotes. And tell 'em Stratoblogster sent ya!

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I Play Guitar "Both Handed"

Why Play Lefty or Righty?

Guitar Shorty

I play righty, but sometimes people who have seen me write or use a fork with my left hand will ask, "Why don't you play guitar left handed?", to which I reply, "I play guitar with both hands."

Regardless of which way YOU play, you're using both hands. And whether it happens to be lefty, righty or even lefty upside-down-- is all fine, as long as it's fine & natural with you, and you are progressing.

However...

No Friday Strat this Week...

I'm traveling and don't even have time for this. But just so ya know I didn't fall off the earth.

Next week we have something big! I promise, and I'm not just sayin' this either. A major Friday Strat. And my new looper is coming. Demo videos are gonna get ridiculous.

Our flagship McStrat featuring all beef body, fret fries, pickle ups, cheese guard, ketchup cup knobs and more.

Friday Strat Archive

Hi-end Strats!

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Fender FCS Limited 59 Strat & Pro Jr. Pair

Teal Relic NOS Guitar Gear

Late 60's - early 70's Lincoln Motor Co. offered a similar Teal Green color option. The darker, but similar Sherwood Green was a Chrysler color.

 

Here's something green for St. Paddy's. Currently listed at eBay by Alto Music of Middletown, NY, this Custom Shop Relic guitar/amp config comes with case, candy and COA. I contacted the seller as the listing lacked photos of COA and FCS stamp. The guitar is also listed as a "60's Relic" instead of a '59 per spec sheet in the full description. Confirmed the cert., and that this guitar was built in '07, and is not listed as new because it has been a store display model.

Not a heavy Relic version, we see mostly aged metal, maple tinting and some paint checking & wrinkles. The amp appears to have more actual missing paint areas. Specs also indicate Fat 50's pups, 9.5 radius, med jumbo frets (I hate that description) and alder body. 

Hi-end Strats!

Current listings - Top Dealer

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Happy St. Patrick's from Stratoblogster!

And SAINT GARY MOORE!

Normally on this date I would post the traditional Whiskey In the Jar clip from the gospel according to St. Phil Lynott. But it's been so soon since our dear Irish friend Gary moved on, I thought it only fitting to feature him today.

The video is from a special 2004 show celebrating the Stratocaster's 50th Anniversary.

Be well and be safe!

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FCS Rockit-caster Moto Strat

Art Esparza Masterbuilt '96

Freaky deaky moto finish also on headstock face.

Ed Note: Not Deja Vu! This one we featured in a January post is still listed ($$$!).

According to the seller, this Strat is 1 of 6 Moto finish art Strats created from '94 to '96 under John Page. This one is built by Art Esparza. They also refer to it as "1 of 1" because each moto finish of the 6 is different. At least that's how I interpret it. This guitar is claimed to be mint NOS with case, candy and FCS cert.

Ser# AE022 - March 1996

"Rockit-caster"

Fender Consumer Relations 1 (800) 856-9801 can verify a ser# and provide/confirm background info on an instrument.


Seller: 2009jtw02 - current item ID# 250755519766

Hi-end Strats!

Current listings - Top Dealer

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Graphical Strat Pickguard Gear

Custom Graphic Strat Pickguards

And the big bad wolf huffed and puffed, and huffed and puffed some more. But he just couldn't blow that Strat off the stage.

Brickguard Pickguard - recommended by 3rd little piggy!

Dried Dirt Pickguard - Beyond Relic. "Can't grow nothin' here... 

We're movin' ta California, Ma!"

Here are just a few more samples from the huge selection of graphical pickguards at Rockin' Billy's Guitar Parts. Their wide range of graphic themes includes classic pin-up girls, B-movies, westerns, sci-fi, horror, textures, prints, etc. 

Go take a browse. Use the menu categories for finding different styles for different guitars. Tons for Strats, including a huge assortment of engraved neck plates in their Parts/Hdwr section.

Pimp Your Strat!

More Resources for Mods, Gear Upgrades, Parts & Axe Decor

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Bryan Baker & Strat Reinventing "Fusion"

Telephone Project Mixes Blues with Beyond


"TRAIN JUMPER"
(also check out "Refugee")

Here's a video with all the elements, and then some. Starting from the Blues in some smokey sepia tone basement, one is abruptly transported into the surreal. And who doesn't want that? Bryan Baker can play anything, as can Guthrie Govan. But Baker always seeks to combine the unexpected in unexpected ways, while making it seem natural... at least to him, similar to Hendrix, Jeff Beck and Scott Henderson. Other "shredders" can sound slick and predictable in spite of chops, velocity and musical depth.

So when Bryan Baker decides to pick up a Strat, go power trio, stick a ciggy in the headstock, lose his picks and claw in Blues first, ya kinda gotta wonder if the Berklee alum has discovered that magic door to the universe...

Bryan's latest project- among many- is "Telephone". Listen for the call. 

Baker Links: 

http://www.youtube.com/user/libraartistmgmt

www.bryanbakermusic.com

Strat-o-Brothers Archive

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Rittenhouse Heavy Relic Burst Strat

Another Rory Gallagher Tribute

These images would work nicely in a guitar calendar format for October or November. Built by Florida based Rittenhouse Guitars, this 3 tone burst is severely "Roryfied". Rittenhouse is currently listing this Strat at eBay as a NO RESERVE auction*, so ya might wanna watch in, and maybe even bid.

• Lollar Blackface Pickups
• Bone nut
• 100% Nitrocellulose lacquer
• Kluson style vintage tuners
• USA Alder body cut by Wildwood Mfg in California
• Medium C Fender Licensed Allparts maple neck with rolled fretboard edges for a broken in feel.
• Vintage style electronics: 5 way CRL switch, Orange Drop Cap, Switchcraft jack and all cloth wiring. 

*Seller:  port_of_miami (aka Rittenhouse) 100% rated.

Hi-end Strat Listings

Current Listings - Top Sellers

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Matching Suhr Classic T - Badger 30 Head & Cab

NAMM 2010 Show Special

Click ALL images for close-ups!

Remember we're featuring some special Tele types in honor of the 60th anniversary. And who could pass up this stunning ensemble from John Suhr!

What more can I add to this? Pretty sweet rig alright! If your priorities are correct, this beats a new ski boat anytime. Or a trip to Europe that ends you up with 3000 digital photos you're never gonna organize, and an intestinal parasite issue. Priorities! 

ANDY'S GUITARS, ETC. - of Tallahassee, Florida is listing this dynamic duo burst of heaven-- a lovely addition to any room!  Andy's has some serious boutique inventory from top names like Suhr, Trussart, Melancon, Nash and others.

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