Last week I received my Black Label Society model Shredneck, I didn’t even know there was a Black Label Society model there certainly doesn’t seem to be one in their product section, having said that Zakk Wylde is top of their Artists section! So let me just say I was a bit skeptical about how useful the Shredneck would be before it arrived, I used to own a Grip Master and used it occasionally to build finger strength as it was nice and portable but it was no substitute for the real thing.
The Shredneck is quite large, it is in fact the first 7 frets of a regular guitar neck but let me explain a few things before I go any further. Straight out of the box I assumed (rather naively when you think about it) that I would be able to play the Shredneck like a regular guitar, obviously at a much higher pitch than a regular scale guitar. What I forgot to take into consideration is that with such a short scale length in order to have chromatic notes up and down each string would mean having frets very close together probably to the point of making it unplayable anyway and beside it is not the point of the Shredneck. This is an important concept to remember. You tune the strings arbitrarily until you are happy with each strings’ tension rather than the tuning. This may sound crazy but once you pick one up it all makes sense, it does mean you can do some crazy bends though, I reckon I can pull a couple of octaves!! Also the headstock acts as the body of the guitar and has a velvet pad so you can rest it on your leg for one arm operation, or you just grab hold of the headstock for more stability. There is no point practicing picking to be honest because there isn’t really space to pick, it is like picking over the fretboard.
Now we are past the technical difficulties that I could have got through a lot quicker if I had read the manual, how useful is it? Well although it looks great I wasn’t sure I would get past the whole tuning thing but it has sat on my desk all week and I have suprised myself how many times I have picked it up! Whenever I have a spare couple of minutes, waiting for files to upload, rebooting etc. I pick up the Shredneck and start doing a few left hand exercises. Sure it doesn’t beat the real thing but I don’t have the luxury of working with a guitar on my lap or even in the vicinity so this gives me a few minutes here and there to get my fingers working which is great. It is quite bulky and I’m not really sure you need 7 frets considering it is a practice tool 5 would probably do and that would make the unit more compact. I think it is aimed more at people like me who would really prefer a guitar at their desk but can’t so are happy with this as a silent substitute rather than professional musicians who need to warm up before a gig, surely they would be using their own guitars for that?
Shredneck have expanded their range to include a classical guitar neck, acoustic guitar neck and even a bass guitar neck so obviously there are a lot of people finding the Shredneck a great accessory. Check out their range at Shredneck.com and don’t forget to ask about the Black Label Society model!
A big thank you to Anthony from Niche Music Supplies in NSW, Australia for supplying the Shredneck. Check out his site for some other interesting guitars and guitar accessories.
No comments yet. You should be kind and add one!
By submitting a comment you grant Guitar Noize a perpetual license to reproduce your words and name/web site in attribution. Inappropriate and irrelevant comments will be removed at an admin’s discretion. Your email is used for verification purposes only, it will never be shared.