I just became aware of these new products from Yamaha. They were
designed based on feedback from their American designers and customers
to be rugged, easy to play, and with built-in electronics. Below is info
on the most affordable of the series and a demo video. A link to the
website is at the bottom.
For generations, Yamaha has been known for quality and value of our
entire range of acoustic and acoustic-electric guitars. Many factors
contribute to our success: from our experience and knowledge of
selecting and utilizing premium materials, to owning and operating our
own factories. For the first time, Yamaha has taken this expertise and
collaborated very closely with the experience and knowledge of our
American guitar team to create the first US-designed Yamaha
acoustic-electric guitars: the A Series.
Acoustic-Electric Dreadnaught, Rosewood Back & Sides with SRT Pickup
The A1R is part of the entirely new A-series line of Yamaha acoustic-electric guitars featuring a stunning fresh look, amazing playability and the cutting edge S.R.T. (Studio Response Technology) piezo/pickup. The A1R dreadnought cutaway is designed for today’s player who requires a reliable workhorse that looks feels and sounds amazing in all applications. A performance level ‘bang-for-your-buck’ guitar offering quality build & materials such as; Solid Sitka Spruce Top, Mahogany Neck, Rosewood Back/Sides, Ebony Bridge and a neck profile that is a thrill to play for hours on end.
IK Multimedia VST effects plugins are easy to use and sound great. They allow different type of amplifiers, effects pedals, and cabinet configurations. Below are demos of the Ampitube 3 and Fender Amplitube plugins. With these plugins, there is less reason to choose a guitar based on sound, because sounds along with the amplifiers are infinitely programmable.
For musicians just looking to experiment and create new multi-track recordings anywhere you have an Internet connection, now you do not even need a separate program. A Chrome browser extension is now available. Aviary's Myna Audio Editor can do the job. There is a demo on their home page. Below is more info, screen shots, and a link. The program is available for free download in the Chrome Web Store. Amazing...
Remix music tracks and audio clips. Apply sound effects and record your own voice and instruments.
Aviary’s Audio Editor is a powerful audio editing tool used to remix your
favorite songs or record your own. From trimming and looping your audio to
reversing it altogether, Aviary's Audio Editor allows for powerful clip editing.
Creating a custom fade-out and adding pitch bends and reverb to your tunes
couldn't be easier. For even more possibilities, create beats in Aviary's Music
Creator and send them over to our Audio Editor to perfect them. This one-two punch
can't be beat!
*Note: This application is not an extension, so it will not appear on your
browser's toolbar after installation. Shortcuts to all Chrome web apps can be
found by opening a new tab - you'll see thumbnails for all your installed apps there!*
Example Uses:
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* Editing your band's new songs
* Remixing your favorite hits for a party
* Manipulating sound effects for tv shows, video clips, and home videos
Features:
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* Powerful Clip Editing
* Easily toggled automation
* Tons of non-destructive effects
* Easy importing and exporting options
* Perfect compatibility with Aviary's Music Creator
Jaguar - An authentically styled Jaguar now joins the Vintage Modified family,
with present-day touches including sharp, clear Duncan Designed™
pickups and a modern fingerboard radius. Squier’s new Vintage Modified
Jaguar rocks the model’s distinctive hallmarks, too - such as the 24”
scale, dual-circuit switching and controls, floating-vibrato bridge and
classically colorful Surf Green, Candy Apple Red, Olympic White and
Three-color Sunburst finishes.
Features include a maple neck
with vintage-tint gloss finish, 9.5”-radius rosewood fingerboard with 22
medium jumbo frets and parchment dot inlays, tortoiseshell (Three-Color
Sunburst and Olympic White models) and white-black-white pickguards
(Candy Apple Red and Surf Green models), Jaguar single-coil pickups,
circuit selector and tone circuit switches, pickup on/off switches,
skirted black control knobs (lead circuit) and black disc knobs (rhythm
circuit), vintage-style bridge and non-locking floating vibrato with
vintage-style tremolo arm, vintage-style chrome tuners and chrome
hardware.
Jazzmaster - An authentically styled Jazzmaster now joins the Vintage Modified
family, with present-day touches including full, clear Duncan Designed™
pickups and a modern fingerboard radius. Squier’s new Vintage Modified
Jazzmaster has the model’s most distinctive hallmarks, too - such as the
dual-circuit switching and controls, floating-vibrato bridge and
classically colorful Sonic Blue, Candy Apple Red, Olympic White and
Three-color Sunburst finishes.
Features include a maple neck
with vintage-tint gloss finish, 9.5”-radius rosewood fingerboard with 21
medium jumbo frets and parchment dot inlays, tortoiseshell (Three-Color
Sunburst and Olympic White models) and white-black-white pickguards
(Candy Apple Red and Sonic Blue models), Jazzmaster single-coil pickups,
circuit selector switch and pickup selector toggle switch, white
Stratocaster®-style control knobs (lead circuit) and black disc knobs
(rhythm circuit), vintage-style bridge and non-locking floating vibrato
with vintage-style tremolo arm, vintage-style chrome tuners and chrome
hardware.
Squier's Vintage Modified guitar and bass range is designed
to take old school designs and make them work for contemporary players
on a budget. And that's exactly what the new Jaguar HH we have here is
all about.
You get the classic offset body, gloss finish bolt-on maple neck, a
big CBS-era headstock and, well, that's pretty much all the vintage
stuff covered.
To bring the guitar's performance up to date, Fender has fitted it
with beefier pickups, dropped the old school vibrato that made the
original guitar an acquired taste and worked in a 241mm (9.5-inch)
fingerboard radius (in place of the original 184mm/7.25-inch) for
improved string-bending and general playability.
"Kurt Cobain played a '65 sunburst Jag with DiMarzios, and that sums up the player Fender is trying to hook here."
The recessed Stratocaster-style
jackplates and stacked concentric '62 Jazz Bass controls are also
obvious departures from Leo Fender's original blueprints. The chrome
knob on each control handles volume duties, while the bottom ring part
is a tone.
Then there's the isosceles trapezium-shaped hardtail bridge. It
looks very similar to a Danelectro unit and is mounted like one too -
the front of the bridgeplate rests on two screws that raise or lower the
action.
You can also tweak the action and intonation with the six individual
saddles. The rear of the bridge is secured with a single large screw
that can alter the angle of the whole unit.
Build
Our Jaguar has a four-piece basswood body. Basswood is known for
providing good sustain and has become the go-to timber for many modern
rock guitars.
The bolt-on maple neck has a shallow 'C' profile and a rosewood
fingerboard studded with 22 medium jumbo frets. Incidentally, there's no
maple board option on this Jag.
The guitar's 610mm (24-inches) scale length is shorter than the 648mm
(25.5-inches) of the Jazzmaster and other classic Fender models, the
Stratocaster and Telecaster. This makes it considerably easier to bend the guitar's supplied 0.010 to 0.046 Fender USA NPS (nickel-plated steel) strings.
The HH part of the VM Jaguar model name signifies two humbuckers in
the engine bay - specifically Duncan Designed HB-102 bridge and neck
humbuckers with zebra bobbins. Packing Alnico 5 magnets, this set is
based on the popular Seymour Duncan SH-4 JB Jazz Blues bridge and the
SH-2n Jazz Model pickups.
As mentioned earlier, the Jaguar HH comes with a Strat- style
jackplate and '62 Jazz Bass controls. These are the guitar's Marmite
bits - the jackplate looks odd to us; a bit out of place. The controls
have an annoying habit of snagging on each other, meaning both move when
you're trying to adjust only one.
Sounds
Kurt Cobain played a '65 sunburst Jaguar fitted with DiMarzio
humbuckers, and that sums up the type of player Fender is hoping to hook
with this Squier version. It's basically a rock beast with retro charm
and a bridge humbucker with enough wallop to satisfy most fuzz fiends.
It cleans up well but then again, that's not really a surprise. If
you've played any twin-humbucker guitar, you'll know what to expect.
If you're a bit cheesed off with pointy headstock guitars with lollipop stick necks, the Jaguar offers a very cool alternative.
As mentioned, we're not keen on the jackplates and super- sized
controls, but in every other regard our time with the Vintage Modified
Jaguar HH has been great.
It's vibrant, easy to play and comes loaded with great sounding
pickups. Yes, Fender has squeezed an incredible amount of juice out of
its old classics, but when the result is an instrument that playa and
sounds a step above its price bracket as this does, few will be
complaining - big knobs or not.
Like the Vintage Modified Jaguar, the new VM Jazzmaster represents an
affordable version of the classic Fender model with a more traditional
setup than its hardtail-equipped predecessor.
Video
Tech specs
Body: Basswood
Body Shape:
Jazzmaster
Series: Vintage
Modified
Neck: Maple,
"C" Shape
Fingerboard:
Rosewood
Finger Board Radius:
9.5 inches (24.1 cm)
Frets: 21, Medium
Jumbo
Scale Length: 25 inches
(63.5 cm)
Nut Width: 1.650 inches
(42 mm)
Hardware: Chrome
Tuning Keys: Vintage-style
chrome
Bridge:
Vintage-style with non-locking floating vibrato
