Back in December I featured a guitar called the ’The Electric Gypsy‘ by Teye Guitars and GL Wilson left a comment saying how it was inspired by Tony Zemaitis, well I admit I hadn’t heard of Tony so I looked him up, and did I find some crazy and cool guitars! Tony passed away in 2002 but it seems he left behind quite a legacy as he built guitars for the likes of Ronnie Wood, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton to name but a few. Check out Wikipedia for more details.

Anyway the guitar above probably should have been featured on Valentine’s day but I didn’t see it until a few days ago, I have to say I’m not a fan of the heart shaped soundhole but it certainly is different! The top is Sitka Spruce and the sides and back are Indian Rosewood, a combination often favoured for acoustics. The neck is 3 piece Honduran Mahogany with an Ebony bridge and fretboard. I think the Rosette is a combination of Mahogany/Rosewood/Sycamour at least that is a combination used on other models.

I have no idea how much this particular model costs but I did find a similar model here which is retailing for $3079.99.

Can I start by saying that this guitar has the most ridiculously long product code ever, the MSC750NT, phew thats a bit of a mouthful. Well this guitar is probably no suprise I mean how long did you think Ibanez would wait before getting a share of the hybrid market? So how many is that now? Well check out my Hybrid Guitar category. There’s the Ovation VXT, Taylor’s T5, the Michael Kelly Hybrid and the incredibly popular according to my stats Parkwood Hybrid! There is obviously a market for these guitars!

So what have Ibanez done differently? Well for a start the guitar has a few different modes from pure acoustic using the Piezo pickup to a clean electric using the magnetic pickup and a blend of both but it also has onboard DSP for distortion, chorus and reverb as well as phase canceling, dual notch filter and tuner. The tuner I have to say is a very useful addition, I have a built in tuner on my Takamine which I find invaluable.

So what does it sound like? Well why not check out Larry Mitchell demonstrating the various features. It certainly seems pretty versatile but I’m not sure it has the finesse of the Parkwood or the Taylor and I don’t think that these guitars are in any way a substitute for an electric but if you regularly have to switch between acoustic and electric mid set… well maybe you have a case for adding one of these to your arsenal.

The Malden Subhuman is firmly aimed at the metal market with it’s pointy headstock and jagged lines, in fact it has some similarities to the Parker Fly with the top cutaway although dare I say a little more elegant and less clumsy looking compared to the Fly. The guitar is solid Mahogany with a Mahogany set in neck and Rosewood fingerboard for a full sounding metal guitar and if that wasn’t enough the guitar comes with 2 Tesla VR Extreme humbuckers and if you haven’t heard of these check out this user review on Harmony Central.

If you can’t be bothered to read the review here is a summary: “It has replaced all of the previous pickups I’ve used so far: Lawrence L500, SD Screamin’ Demon, carvin STock, and EMG81”. So we’re talking a pretty high gain pair of pickups, oh and there is also a push-pull coil-split function on Tone pot. The Subhuman also comes with a Tune-o-matic-style bridge with through-body stringing for a bit of extra sustain and nickel hardware for that extra bit of sparkle (ooh probably shouldn’t use that word about a metal guitar!) against the Black finish. 

I’m afraid I can’t tell you much about Motoby Guitars because my German isn’t too good. The site does say that an English language version is coming soon so I will bring you more information then but in the meantime I couldn’t wait to post this crazy guitar, the Batkiller. It is one of Motoby’s custom guitars for Chris Laney made from Agathis with a hand carved top. The neck and fretboard are both Maple and the inlays are ebony according to the spec page but from the picture it would appear that the fretboard is Ebony with mother of pearl or similar inlays. The bridge is a Tune-o-matic with string through body tailpiece.

Check this out, we have a great competition for you! Guitar Noize in association with IK Multimedia is giving you the chance to WIN a StompIO™ USB floor controller valued at $1049 / €799.99! Not only that but it also comes with AmpliTube 2® Ampeg® SVX, AmpliTube Jimi Hendrix™, AmpliTube Metal* and AmpliTube X-GEAR ($1,200/€990 value!) and one expression pedal!!

This is a massive prize, not only do you get the cool StompIO™ which was recently unvelied at Winter NAMM 2008, but you also get all the modelling software like AmpliTube 2® as well! To find out how you can be the winner of the mega prize head over to the competition page here on Guitar Noize.

Up until April 30th 2008 IK Multimedia have a special promotion running where purchase and register any of the qualifying IK products, Full or crossgrade and get one FX plug-in of your choice for free. So if you were thinking of crossgrading or buying one of their plug-ins now would be a really good time to do it!

Here is a list of the qualifying products for the offer:

• AmpliTube® 2
• AmpliTube Jimi Hendrix™
• Ampeg® SVX
• ARC System™
• Classik Studio Reverb-CSR™
• Miroslav Philharmonik™
• Miroslav Philharmonik CE
• SampleMoog®
• SampleTank® 2 L
• SampleTank® 2 XL
• Sonik Synth™ 2
• T-RackS® Plug-in
• Total Workstation Bundle™
• Total Effects Bundle™
• Total Studio Bundle™
• StompIO™

and here is the list of FX Plug-ins you can choose from:

• AmpliTube® 2 - Guitar Amp and FX Modeling Plug-in
• Ampeg® SVX - Bass Amp & FX Modeling Plug-In
• AmpliTube Jimi Hendrix™ - Guitar Amp and FX Plug-in
• Classik Studio Reverb™ - A suite of four high-end studio-quality reverbs
• T-RackS® Plug-in - Analog Modeled Mastering Plug-ins

This promotion is only available for products shipping at the launch of the promotion and all free products will be supplied as downloads. AmpliTube® 2 Live and StealthPlug™ are excluded from the promotion. For eligibility purposes, StompIO and Total Bundles count as single products.

Customer must own at least 1 IK product full or bundle to be eligible for the Crossgrade price.

For more information on the Plug & Mix Madness promotion from IK Multimedia, go to: http://www.ikmultimedia.com/plugandmix

Stay tuned for another massive IK Multimedia promotion coming very soon!

Robert Benedetto is widely acknowledged as today’s foremost maker of archtop guitars. Since building his first archtop back in 1968 he has personally handcrafted nearly 800 instruments, including 500 archtops! Robert has created 2 different series of guitars the ‘Professional series’ which include chambered and hollowbody electrics as well as 2 archtops and the ‘Flagship series’ which are all archtops. Aside from these guitars Robert has also created 2 one of a kind guitars, the first called ’The Vinodetto‘ was commisioned by Dave Miner of Miner Wines. The guitar has a spruce top but the maple sides and back are stained with a Miner WInes Cabernet Sauvignon. The other one off creation is the 35th Anniversary guitar pictured left which was custom made for Ratthakrai Sirisook to celebrate Benedetto’s 35 years as an acoustic archtop guitarmaker at the time of its commission in 2003.

”This exquisite guitar, completed in January, 2006, was hand- crafted from the finest, naturally aged tonewoods the world has to offer. Graced with original appointments including custom floral sound openings, elegant abalone inlays and a 14K gold inlay at the 12th fret, it represents the epitome of tonal balance, ease of playing and tasteful detailing for which Benedetto is renowned.”

I’d like to know how much Ratthakrai paid for this amazing instrument!

So here is the original that the Eastwood Rocket 6 copied, the Eko Rock IV. Eko Guitars was founded in 1959 by Oliviero Pigini and within a few years, became the biggest guitar producer in Europe. EKO is back with a new and wide variety of guitars, which will surprise for the accuracy within their building, for their excellent quality/price ratio, and for their look in typical “EKO style”.

EKO have an interesting array of Classical, Acoustic, Bass and Amps but their most interesting instruments by far are the electric guitars which seem to break away from traditional designs, just check the D-Tone, and 700. The D-Tone is similar to the Ibanez Voyager made famous by Reb Beach only it is a little more curvy. The Eko Rock IV on the other hand is more of a flying V inspired design, although I think the Eastwood Rocket 6 was more aptly named, I think Rock IV is a bit unimaginative to be honest!

To view the latest EKO products check out their online catalogue.

This guitar was sent to me by Ovidiu from Guitar Flame, at first I thought I had already posted about the Eastwood Rocket 6 before but then realised I was getting confused with the Tregan Firewick. The Eastwood Rocket 6 has unfortunately been discontinued but it seemed to be available with the option of a fixted bridge or a Bigsby trem which I think suited the look of the guitar much more. It also only cost $399 which is a bargain, but that is because it is a faithful reproduction of the 1960’s EKO ROKES guitar, but I’ll save that for another post!

I recently came across a metal band called Chimaira from Cleveland, Ohio who I liked the sound of. They reminded me of the metal bands that used to get my interest when I started playing guitar back in the late 80’s like Slayer, except the production is probably a bit more polished these days. They have a really big heavy guitar sound so I did some research to find out what guitars the guitarists Rob Arnold and Matt DeVries play. Well I wasn’t too suprised to see that they are ESP endorsees as they are probably the biggest metal guitar brand these days. What happened to Jackson and B.C. Rich dominating the metal genre?

Anyway pictured above are Rob Arnold’s LTD RA-600 which offers a Floyd Rose bridge and a single EMG 81 pickup in a light alder body, it also has a Neck-Thru-Body design and chrome hardware and Matt DeVries LTD MFA-600 for those who prefer more of an SG style. The MFA-600 also features a single EMG 81 pickup and Black Nickel Hardware as well as ESP Locking Tuners and a Tonepros Locking Bridge & Tail.

Chimaira are currently on tour in the US until mid March when their European tour kicks off! Some people have all the fun!

Photography by: Angie Martin