Guitar Noize

In their own words “Dunlop Manufacturing will be giving away one box (bass - 6 sets, electric - 12 sets, acoustic - 12 sets) per week until we just don’t like feel like it anymore”. Fair enough! If you want to enter and you are a US resident, go to their website for details. (At this time I can only see Acoustic Strings being given away)

I haven’t seen any news about this but Fender have just launched a new design of their website which seems to be a lot more community focussed and uses one of my personal fave tricks the lightbox overlay when you click to enlarge a guitar, try it yourself click on the enlarge image button under the guitar picture on this page. Very nice.

I only wish they would update the Australian site it looks like it was designed by a 12 year old in 1994!

My personal favourite brand of Acoustic Guitar strings Elixir are offering you the chance to get a free 10th anniversary T-Shirt simply by buying 2 sets of strings (1 set of bass strings) then filling out and sending off a claim form from their website, you can find the link to the form here.

Gibson have just released details of their 2nd annual Summer Jam. The even takes place on June 13-14 in Nashiville TN at the Gibson Custom Shop and will host the regional finals for the Fortune Battle Of The Corporate Bands. There will be guitar clinics and workshops, tours and live music. For all the info click here.

Ernie Ball have just launched a competition to give 1 band a chance to play on the Crossroads 2007 bill alongside some of the greatest guitar players in the world, Eric Clapton (obviously), John Mayer, Buddy Guy, BB King, Jeff Beck… For a chance to be in the running go to playcrossroads.com and sign up. Bands upload mp3’s which are then judged by a panel based on the top 100 voted by users.

Eddie Van Halen emerges from rehab with a new haircut and a new tan not to mention a new guitar (well okay, a new replica of Frankenstein but this time Eddie says it’s perfect!) and a new amp the EVH 5150 III although there is no mention of the amp on the site yet.

Check out the article about Eddie at the Phoenix NASCAR race for more info and pictures.

I just saw this story on Fender.com, Nils Lofgren (“acclaimed Stratocaster master, successful solo artist, Neil Young sideman at age 18 and guitarist for Bruce Springsteen and the E Street band since 1984″) is offering 1 hour video lessons on his website for US$15 a pop.

Daisy Rock guitars look like they have started to carve a niche market for themselves as producers of girls guitars. They have even managed to get into Cosmo!

UPDATE: After reading this interview with Tish Ciravolo the founder of Daisy Rock guitars I was made aware of the Gibson Les Paul Vixen and Les Paul Goddess, lighter and smaller guitars more suited for female guitarists.

For those of you who live near Maryville, TN Steve Kaufman’s Acoustic Kamp kicks off on June 10 and features instructors such as the great Stephen Bennett an incredible fingerpicking virtuoso.

Hot on the heels of Taylor’s T5 comes Ovation’s VXT which apart from the dedicated microsite also has its own MySpace page and YouTube Profile with loads of demo videos showing that it’s not just for fingerpickers there’s some serious shredding going on!