Loni Specter, the man who put the whole show together, was in fine spirits when I met up with him upon my arrival at the Airtel Plaza Hotel. I’m not sure how Loni gets away with making so much noise in the hotel. I can only guess that he has bought out the whole place. Can you imagine how a regular Joe, with no interest in guitars at all would feel if they were next door to one of these rooms full of amps on 10? Yet, somehow Loni pulls it off, and the show goes off without a hitch.…

I should probably note from the outset here that I am not as unbiased or objective on the subject of The White Stripes as a reviewer really ought to be. After all, is it even possible to think ill of a band if you learned to play guitar listening to their records?

It is no great secret that the Fucking Champs is one of my favorite bands, and I can’t think of reason why they are not one of your favorites as well.

Ronnie Sargent is a Bay Area guitar maker. Ronnie made the 2 guitars in my previous article about the classic 9 string guitars Josh Smith used in The Fucking Champs.  Check out the incredible Sargent guitar workmanship at the upcoming Lucky Juju show in Alameda, CA. These guitars will be on display May 1 - June 2nd, 2009. Check em out!

http://www.ujuju.com/item.php?id=658

Josh Smith is a greatly talented Bay Area guitar player that has played in bands such as The Fucking Champs (also referred to as The Champs), Drunk Horse, Thee Makes Nice, The Futur Skullz, and Breakout (Thin Lizzy Tribute band) to name a few. He was the first 9 string guitar player that I ever noticed, and he played 2 very special guitars during his 10+ years in ethereal/metallic/indie/prog band The Fucking Champs. The guitars were built by another Bay Area guitar staple, Ronnie Sargent. The following is an interview with Josh about the 9 string and its involvement in…

Fender guitars are an iconic status symbol for any musician or casual rock follower and it makes sense that the Stratocaster, Telecaster and Precision Bass models are all trademarked to Fender, right?  Actually, they are not trademarked and the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board of the United States Patent and Trademark Office recently handed a smackdown to Fender Musical Instruments stating:

It would be difficult to imagine modern music without the electric guitar.  Starting with jazz and big band as early as the 1930s, amplified guitars became necessary in order to be heard over the rest of the band.  The earliest amplified guitars were basically hollow body guitars with microphones placed inside them.  Crude, but effective given the technology at that time.  Today’s electric guitars generally rely on magnetic pickups to convert the sound from the strings into an electrical signal that can be amplified.

Let’s have a how-it-works discussion of one of my favorite effects: the tremolo.  This is a classic sound that goes way back to the late 1940s and was incorporated into several popular amplifiers beginning around that time. It’s an absolute staple of surf rock, but it’s also great at weaving dreamy guitar sounds.