Gibson Humbucker Guitar Strings

This is a new line of electric guitar string from the Gibson Guitar co. called Gibson Gear, Elgin, Illinois U.S.A. It’s new to me…

I’ve written articles calling the Gibson electric guitar string “the best” actually; they’re my favorite electric guitar strings. Like I’ve said before, “I’ve used most of the major string brands and I play all the time. Also, I know it’s been said time and again “that guitar strings have so much in common that there’s no discernable difference between the various brands of strings”. I can understand this sentiment, yet I’ve come to understand a few things regarding the manufacturing and the elements involved making the string do what it does.

Things like, cover to core ratio, (the gauge or diameter of the wire used for the strings). If you were to put a thicker core the string would seem to have a stiff feel, where if you’d use a thinner core wire the string would be feel loose and seem to bend more easily. Too much in either direction, and the string doesn’t work for anyone. The same for the alloys or types or metal used to make the string effects the sound and feel.

I was a die-hard steel wrapped string guy since the early eighties starting with Bill Laurence steel wrap guitar strings; I switched to The Gibson “Live Wires” and fell in love with the punch and (feel and sound) consistency not so much the gauge. Later, when the “Vintage Re-Issue” nickel wrapped string came out, I tried those and found that they felt smooth on my fingers and, the strings tended to have a different response and sound which I thought was interesting. I guess the nickel wrap with the plain steel strings made me feel like my solos kicked in the high places. And, I switched to those. You know, I liked the way those strings sounded. There was a nice decay and not too much spike compared to a shorter decay and higher spike like I felt with NPS (“Brite Wires”), yet there was a problem. The nickel cover was a very soft one so I’d encounter fret wear immediately. And, the string would lose tone.

The GIBSON HUMBUCKER strings are made to be more alive or easier for the pick-up to respond to. The package says, “The only guitar string optimized for the humbucking pickup, Gibson Humbucking guitar strings utilize a special composite core wire and a specially formulated wrap wire. This design offers a unique magnetic formulation to make the most of dual-coil high-output pickups”. They sure write purdy.

I don’t use high-output pickups; I use the Gibson ‘57 Classic” and “Classic Plus” pickups on my Gibson “Explorer” (called my Frankenfiddle). These strings felt good and the tone had a good blend and consistency between the wrapped and plain strings. I just put the strings on my guitars, the “Explorer” and 56 ”Les Paul ”Jr. (different pickups) forgot about it until I was on stage and rocking. I’ve been using the “Brite Wires” for the last few years Gibson has discontinued the steel wrap (“Live Wires”) because I couldn’t afford to change my strings every single show for a good while there. Which made the “Vintage Re-issue” a no go. Since then I’ve never wanted to play strings that have no sound after the show. Too much hassle. And, the “Brite Wires” sound, was a good sound, everything was there. Nothing jumped out to me and I found myself just “playing guitar”.

So here I am, playing a show and noticed the tone. Plus, my fingers felt different smacking those wires. The rest of the night was fun and “in the moment”. The next week I called Gil Pini at Gibson Gear in Elgin to ask him what was up with these “bad boys” and he hipped me to the extra iron in those “kickin’ rockers”.

I don’t have any “insider details” concerning the “Gibson Humbucker” electric guitar strings. I know they are sealed for protection from oxidization for the elements as all their (Gibson Gear) strings are. These are my immediate reflections as an experienced performing musician, guitarist, and still…. A fan!! Keep up the fantastic work, guys. You ROCK!!!!

When I find out more about the “Gibson Humbucker” electric guitar strings I’ll let you know.

Peace, and find your MUSE,

Michael Tafoya
p.s. I’m not affiliated with Gibson Guitar I’m a fan and customer.

First a Trickle then a Flood.The Birth of the Blues in Britain

Chris Barber’s Jazz Band with the beautiful Otillie Patterson on vocals brought the sound of New Orleans to British traditional Jazz buffs in the late fifties and early sixties. This was just the beginning of a wave of new sounds that culminated in what came to be known as the British Blues Boom! On Banjo was the great Lonnie Donegan who became the Godfather of Skiffle a year or two later. All of the early musical melting pots were springboards for the next generation of musicians and within a couple of years the Music scene was to change forever.

My first exposure to the blues was on Barber’s wonderful L.P. New Orleans Joys. I forget all the titles now but the haunting sounds stirred up strange sensations and led me a few years later to a life long passion for the Blues as I am sure it did with many young kids at the time.
The year 1962 saw the birth of several Blues gigs in London Clubs, notably the Famous<b> Marquee</b> which made its home in Wardour Street, Soho. The great <b>Alexis Korner</b> was to prove to be a nursery slope for what was to come. Cyril Davies on Harp, Dick Heckstall- Smith on the most wailing of saxophones,<b> Mick Jagger</b> (yes that one!) on vocals to name but a few. I guess that first Album recorded live at the Marquee…<b>Alexis Korner’s Blues Incorporated,</b> started the trickle which very rapidly gathered momentum and soon the Blues was the talking point of all young music heads.

Playing at the Marquee shortly after, in 1963 was the man destined to become the <b>Godfather of British Blues</b>… John Mayall…. John’s famous band, The BluesBreakers went onto fame and fortune as many musicians joined and left in quite a procession over the next couple of years. John celebrated his 70th Birthday a couple of years ago and is playing as well as ever. This gives lie to the notion that life is over at forty and its all downhill from there on. The list of John’s protégées is a who’s who of the music business; a good proportion of whom are still playing today. John McVie, co-founder of Fleetwood Mac, Mick Fleetwood, Jack Bruce of Cream, Eric “Slowhand” Clapton, Peter Green, Aynsley Dunbar, Mick Taylor and many more.

The band that I believe was the turning point at this time was undoubtedly <b>The Yardbirds</b>, whose incredible energy and enthusiasm were absolutely unparalleled on stage. My first exposure to this Juggernaut was on a Monday morning at school one time when some friends told me about this amazing band that they had seen at the Marquee who had a Guitarist that was simply unbelievable. The Year was 1963, the man in question (well he was only 18 years old!) was<b> Eric Clapton.</b>

 The Legend was already underway at this stage and I believe Eric was responsible for the huge interest brewing in the Blues in Britain as the Yardbirds became household names on the R n’ B circuit. Many Guitars were sold at this time as young bloods attempted to emulate Clapton, some with success and many without. Probably one reason for the upsurge in Guitar bands as opposed to wishy washy pop sounds of the time was the discovery of the almost forgotten <b>Gibson Les Paul </b>which produced the sound closest to the Chicago Blues of a decade earlier. Eric’s use of this instrument took the Blues to a new height and no-one could escape the flood that was on the way. With the Yardbirds there was a mix of Gibson and Fender guitars in use. Eric initially played a Fender Telecaster with Rhythm Guitarist Chris Dreja using the<b> Gibson 335</b>, but the favourite in years to come particularly in ’65 and ’66 was the Les Paul.

In 1963 one of the first Bluesmen to arrive on this side of the Atlantic for a Tour was the legendary Harp player<b> Sonny Boy Williamson</b> who recorded a wonderful live album with the Yardbirds that was not released for several years. The restrained backing that the band provided to Sonny Boy showed them to be tight and controlled but Keith Relf the Lead singer and Harpist was a little put out at having to take a back seat to the Master during the gig. Many more Blues legends toured Britain and Europe in the following years which not only revitalised their own flagging careers but gave the budding white Blues players a chance to learn from the Maestros. These include <b>Howling Wolf</b> and the legendary<b> Son House</b> who had been a contemporary of Robert Johnson in the nineteen thirties. The author was privileged to see Son House play in London in 1970 shortly before he died. He was very frail but he certainly could make that <b>National Steel Guitar</b> sing sweetly!

The Album that preceded the Flood was of course the 1966 rendition by John Mayall entitled simply<b> “John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton”</b> recorded on the Decca label .This album marked the first vocal airing by Slowhand and he chose Robert Johnson’s <b>“Rambling on my Mind” </b>as his debut. The interrelating of Mayall’s gutsy Barrelhouse Piano together with Eric’s Les Paul and his tentative vocals, wrote a  piece of Blues History  that day in the studio.  That Album sums up for me not only the musicianship involved and the passion of the music but the very essence of the British interpretation of the Blues. I have listened to this song so many times now since the first momentous day that it came through the speakers and every time it’s hard to keep the emotions steady.

<b> The Robert Johnson Legacy</b> forms an integral and vital part of the Birth of the Blues in Britain and is responsible for the undoubted vitality of today’s thriving Blues scene on both sides of the Atlantic. There are no Blues Bands past or present who do not owe a debt to Robert Leroy and his magic. His genius and virtuosity with the bottleneck will live forever!

A Look At The History Of The Electric Guitar

Electric Guitars

The Electric guitar hasn’t been around nearly as long as the Acoustic and Classical guitars. In fact, the Electric guitar was created just 70 years ago (the 1930s) by Adolph Rickenbacker. Since that time, the Electric guitar has greatly evolved to the where it is today. In this article, we’ll go over the history of the Electric guitar.

The History

Guitars, or similar instruments, have been around for thousands of years. The Electric guitar was first manufactured in the 1930s by Rickenbacker. Original Electric guitars used tungsten pickups. Pickups basically convert the vibration of the strings into electrical current, which is then fed into the amplifier to produce the sound.

The very earliest Electric guitars featured smaller soundholes in the body. These guitars are known as semi-hollow body Electric guitars and still are somewhat popular today, mainly due to the fact that they are flexible guitars.

However, with the use of pickups, it was possible to create guitars without soundholes (like the Acoustic and Classical guitars have) that still had the ability to be heard, if plugged into amplifiers. These guitars are called solid body Electric guitars.

The Electric guitar’s popularity began to increase during the Big Band era of the ‘30s and 40s. Due to the loudness of the brass sections in jazz orchestras, it was necessary to have guitars that could be heard above the sections. Electric guitars, with the ability to be plugged into amplifiers, filled this void.

The Electric guitar that is most prevalent today is the solid body Electric guitar. The solid body guitar was created by musician and inventor Les Paul in 1941. It is a guitar made of solid wood with no soundholes. The original solid body guitar created by Paul was very plain—it was a simple rectangular block of wood connected to a neck with six steel strings. Les Paul’s original solid body guitar shape has, of course, changed from the original rectangular shape to the more rounded shape Les Paul guitars have today.

During the 1950s, Gibson introduced Les Paul’s invention to the world. The Gibson Les Paul, as it was and still is called, quickly became a very popular Electric guitar. It has remained the most popular guitar for 50 years.

Around the same period of time, another inventor named Leo Fender came up with a solid body Electric guitar of his own. In the late 1940s, Fender introduced the Fender Broadcaster Electric guitar. The Broadcaster, which was renamed the Stratocaster, was officially introduced to the public in 1954. The Strat, as it is now known, was a very different guitar in comparison to the Les Paul. It had a different shape, different hardware and was significantly lighter. Fender’s Stratocaster Electric guitar is the second most popular guitar in the world, second to only the Les Paul.

Over the years, other companies, such as Ibanez, Jackson, Paul Reed Smith, ESP and Yamaha have all produced solid body Electric guitars of their own. However, most Electric guitars still feature the familiar shape of a Les Paul or Strat guitar.