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Future Publishing Limited, Quay House, The Ambury, Bath, BA1 1UA Telephone 01225 4 4224 4 Email guitarist@futurenet.com Online www.guitarist.co.uk Wizards & Wands Are famous guitars imbued with some of the spirit of the people who played them? Perhaps that’s too much like magical thinking for some, but certainly there’s a relationship between the player and these old planks of wood we love that involves a kind of alchemy. No guitar typifies that better than ‘Greeny’, the ’59 Les Paul that, successively, Peter Green, Gary Moore and now Metallica’s Kirk Hammett (see page 56) have made music with. The people who built that guitar at Gibson would have been astonished if you’d told them three of the biggest guitar heroes of all time would all find inspiration in the very same Kalamazoo-built electric over the course of six decades. So is there truly something about Greeny that is a bit magic? The answer is, there probably is something a bit special about it, something resonant, sonorous and timeless that guitarists find it easy to connect with. But the rest has to do with how every guitarist looks up to a player who came before them. Gary Moore admired Peter Green and, later, Kirk Hammett admired both players in his turn. Buying the actual guitar or guitars used by your heroes is, of course, the ultimate expression of that desire to emulate – and the upcoming auction of Peter Green’s guitars (page 66) shows that needn’t necessarily be beyond the financial reach of ordinary players. But the value of serial production replicas, such as the new Gibson USA Kirk Hammett ‘Greeny’ Les Paul Standard model (page 62) is harder to quantify. They’ll make a lot of the people who buy them feel closer to the players they love, but it’s harder to make the case that they will inspire new music. Still, if the sounds and vibe are compelling, it’s not a completely outlandish idea. But the most practical reason to buy signature guitars is they tend to have spec details that you can’t find on stock models, be it a reverse-polarity pickup or a one-off finish. So, ironically, copies of other people’s guitars have ended up being a way to buy something different and distinctive in a cautious, homogenous market. Enjoy the issue and see you next time. Editor’s Highlights Tyler Bryant The Texan rocker has some wise and hard-earned advice on buying guitars to pass on, plus some nice tone insights on p110 Jamie Dickson Editor-in-chief Sister Act One of the prime pioneers of blues and early rock ’n’ roll, Sister Rosetta Tharpe deserves more credit for her contribution to music p76 Jason Lollar He’s the man behind some of the most widely admired aftermarket pickups you can buy and he shares his tone secrets with us on p102 COVER: KIRK HAMMETT IMAGE BY ROSS HALFIN; TYLER BRYANT PHOTO BY RYAN PIORKOWSKI; SISTER ROSETTA THARPE PHOTO BY JAMES KRIEGSMANN/MICHAEL OCHS ARCHIVES/GETTY IMAGES; JASON LOLLAR PHOTO BY RICK DAHMS COURTESY OF LOLLAR PICKUPS J ULY 2023  GUITARIST 3

Future Publishing Limited, Quay House, The Ambury, Bath, BA1 1UA Telephone 01225 4 4224 4 Email guitarist@futurenet.com Online www.guitarist.co.uk

Wizards & Wands

Are famous guitars imbued with some of the spirit of the people who played them? Perhaps that’s too much like magical thinking for some, but certainly there’s a relationship between the player and these old planks of wood we love that involves a kind of alchemy. No guitar typifies that better than ‘Greeny’, the ’59 Les Paul that, successively, Peter Green, Gary Moore and now Metallica’s Kirk Hammett (see page 56) have made music with. The people who built that guitar at Gibson would have been astonished if you’d told them three of the biggest guitar heroes of all time would all find inspiration in the very same Kalamazoo-built electric over the course of six decades. So is there truly something about Greeny that is a bit magic? The answer is, there probably is something a bit special about it, something resonant, sonorous and timeless that guitarists find it easy to connect with. But the rest has to do with how every guitarist looks up to a player who came before them. Gary Moore admired Peter Green and, later, Kirk Hammett admired both players in his turn. Buying the actual guitar or guitars used by your heroes is, of course, the ultimate expression of that desire to emulate – and the upcoming auction of Peter Green’s guitars (page 66) shows that needn’t necessarily be beyond the financial reach of ordinary players. But the value of serial production replicas, such as the new Gibson USA Kirk Hammett ‘Greeny’ Les Paul Standard model (page 62) is harder to quantify. They’ll make a lot of the people who buy them feel closer to the players they love, but it’s harder to make the case that they will inspire new music. Still, if the sounds and vibe are compelling, it’s not a completely outlandish idea. But the most practical reason to buy signature guitars is they tend to have spec details that you can’t find on stock models, be it a reverse-polarity pickup or a one-off finish. So, ironically, copies of other people’s guitars have ended up being a way to buy something different and distinctive in a cautious, homogenous market. Enjoy the issue and see you next time.

Editor’s Highlights

Tyler Bryant The Texan rocker has some wise and hard-earned advice on buying guitars to pass on, plus some nice tone insights on p110

Jamie Dickson Editor-in-chief

Sister Act One of the prime pioneers of blues and early rock ’n’ roll, Sister Rosetta Tharpe deserves more credit for her contribution to music p76

Jason Lollar He’s the man behind some of the most widely admired aftermarket pickups you can buy and he shares his tone secrets with us on p102

COVER: KIRK HAMMETT IMAGE BY ROSS HALFIN; TYLER BRYANT PHOTO BY RYAN PIORKOWSKI; SISTER ROSETTA THARPE PHOTO BY JAMES KRIEGSMANN/MICHAEL OCHS ARCHIVES/GETTY IMAGES; JASON LOLLAR PHOTO BY RICK DAHMS COURTESY OF LOLLAR PICKUPS

J ULY 2023  GUITARIST

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