
Update: Oct 31, 2020: GIBSON AND ADAM JONES ANNOUNCE MULTI-YEAR PARTNERSHIP; ADAM JONES 1979 GIBSON LES PAUL CUSTOM GUITAR AVAILABLE WORLDWIDE
Gibson and Adam Jones are pleased to announce the kick-off of their partnership and collaboration with the Gibson Custom Shop Adam Jones 1979 Les Paul Custom guitar.
“I’m proud to finally show the world the first release in our multi-year partnership with Adam Jones,” says Cesar Gueikian, Gibson Brands. “Adam is one of the most talented and sonically innovative guitarists; I call him modern riff lord and sonic architect. His creativity and technical ability in music, visual effects, production, videography and beyond is second to none and our collaboration is a true reflection of Adam. The Gibson Les Paul Custom Adam Jones 1979 Silverburst Aged replica version is the first-ever artist collaboration done at the newly created Gibson Custom Shop Murphy Lab. I hope that fans fall in love with the guitars, starting with this initial release.”
The Adam Jones 1979 Les Paul Custom is a limited-edition guitar offering from Gibson Custom Shop Murphy Lab that exactly recreates Adam’s #1 guitar, his prized original Silverburst 1979 Gibson Les Paul, seen everywhere during the world tour for the group’s blockbuster Fear Inoculum album, which became one of the highest selling albums of 2019. A limited offering of 79 Adam Jones 1979 Les Paul Custom replicas have been precisely aged by the expert luthiers and craftspeople of the Gibson Custom Shop Murphy Lab--led by Tom Murphy--then signed and numbered by Adam himself. An additional 179 Adam Jones Les Paul Custom replicas for 2020 feature exclusive silkscreen artwork on the back of the headstock, created by Joyce Su and Adam. The two also collaborated on the design for the custom hardshell guitar cases housing each instrument.
Each Adam Jones 1979 Les Paul Custom replicates not only the look, but the exact feel of the neck profile down to the unique electronics of Adam’s original--like a hand-wound Seymour Duncan Distortion bridge pickup, a Dimarzio volume potentiometer, and custom capacitors. Even the diamond-shaped strap buttons seen on Adam’s original guitar were painstakingly recreated, as well as the mirror he affixed to the headstock – included with each.
One of rock’s most talented artists, Adam is renowned as the guitarist for the multiplatinum and multiple GRAMMY Award® winning band Tool, as well as his work as a visual artist, sculptor, videographer, producer, and special effects designer (Jurassic Park, Terminator 2, Edward Scissorhands, Ghostbusters 2, Batman 2, A Nightmare On Elm Street). Adam was heavily involved in re-creating the new guitar, working with Gibson’s luthiers in Nashville, TN to ensure the instrument was a clone of his #1 guitar. Utilizing his extensive experience in visual art, special effects and design, Adam Jones is both the director of the majority of Tool’s music videos and creates the visual experience on stage for the band. For the world premiere of the new Gibson Custom Shop Adam Jones Les Paul Custom, a special animated short film, The Witness, was created and scored by Adam and mixed by Joe Barresi. Cli k the INFO button for more....
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Update: Feb 18, 2021: Gibson Announces Brand Partnership with Universal Music Publishing in China.
Update: Feb 18, 2021: News out of NASHVILLE, TN that Gibson has formed a full-scale partnership with Universal Music Publishing Group the world’s second largest music publishing company--in China and Hong Kong. With a catalogue of over three million songs and offices in 46 countries worldwide, UMPG is part of Universal Music Group, a subsidiary of Vivendi and Tencent.
This means Gibson will offer tailor-made support for artists, songwriters, and producers in China. First up for 2021 are the widely popular UMPG songwriting camps and artist events with Gibson outfitting UMP China’s professional recording studios in Beijing and Shanghai and UMP China marketing and social media working closely with Gibson in expanding social media reach via joint promotional social campaigns and artist content launches regionally and globally. UMPG and Gibson are committed to supporting charity campaigns and causes that serve the music community, from forthcoming opportunities with major content sites such as Tencent, Tik Tok and Bilibili, to promoting respective artists’ charitable efforts globally and regionally throughout Asia.
says James "JC" Curleigh, President and CEO of Gibson Brands. “We are very excited about the emerging partnership between Gibson and UMPG China to further our support for musicians and for the broader music community in China,” “We have amazing momentum around the world, and now we have an incredible opportunity to take this momentum to another level with our new partnership in China.”
Joe Fang, Managing Director of UMPG China. Added, “I’m excited to announce that UMPG China will be partnering with Gibson, the number one guitar brand in the world,” “With Gibson’s support, we will now have the chance to jointly promote emerging artists, support music education, and create causes for music education and charity events.”
In other news, the launch issue of Rolling Stone China, just came out and features Wang Yuan (aka Roy Wang)—leader of the most-popular boyband in China, TF Boys—and Zhang Chu, one of China’s most respected and legendary musicians pictured on the cover and inside pages with Gibson Dove and Hummingbird acoustic guitars
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Update: Jan 22, 2021: Epiphone introduces ‘Nancy Wilson Fanatic’
Update: Jan 22, 2021: News out of NASHVILLE, that Epiphone, has introduced the new Nancy Wilson Fanatic. The Fanatic is created and co-designed by Nancy Wilson of Heart and marks Wilson’s first Epiphone signature guitar and her second guitar overall with Gibson Brands.
A guitar virtuoso from the age of 9, Nancy--and her sister Ann--lead the multi-platinum group, Heart, who have sold over 35 million albums, garnered 10, Top Ten albums, been nominated for four GRAMMY Awards, and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Nancy is revered as an ingenious guitar player, as well as a gifted songwriter and lead vocalist. In an era when females in rock ‘n’ roll were scarce, Nancy carved out a place for women to front rock bands and dominate on stage across the globe. In fact, that’s Nancy singing on Heart’s first #1 hit song, “These Dreams.” As a songwriter, Nancy has co-written a collection of indelible songs that have earned their way into the classic rock canon including “Magic Man,” “Crazy on You,” “Barracuda,” “Straight On” and more.
says Nancy Wilson."In the midst of the distant eighties, I was approached by Gibson to design a signature model,” “I put pencil to paper to first design the body shape and chose a curvy female diminutive silhouette for the cut away. Many years later the body shape remains exact and the hardware I requested makes the Fanatic a solid citizen amongst the great rock guitar screamers.”
The Nancy Wilson Fanatic features a classic Nighthawk shaped mahogany body and a figured maple veneer top. The Epiphone Nancy Wilson Fanatic comes equipped with ProBucker™ humbuckers, a 5-way pickup selector switch for a wide variety of tonal options, master volume and tone controls, a fast-playing rounded C profile mahogany neck with an Ebony fretboard, and an attractive Fireburst Gloss finish and hardshell case.
says Krista Gilley, Brand Director of Epiphone and Kramer. “We are proud to present the exclusive, Nancy Wilson Fanatic guitar to the world,” “It’s such an honor to work with Nancy, an icon who has been instrumental and influential to generations of players around the world. She has paved the way for female musicians to believe in their passion, talent and in music, and that comes with an obligation for all of us at Epiphone to pay tribute to Nancy.”
The Epiphone Nancy Wilson Fanatic is now available worldwide www.epiphone.com. Click the INFO button for more.

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IBANEZ ANNOUNCES NEW ADDITIONS TO THEIR 2021 ELECTRIC GUITAR LINEUP
Bensalem, PA. Ibanez has JUST announced the latest editions to their vast selection of electric guitars. New for 2021, the exceptional AZ-N Series and three new Prestige Hollow Body models are sure to help guitarists ring in the new year.
New for 2021, the AZ line is adding a new offshoot called the AZ-N series. This new breed of AZ is built around three principal differences from the originals. The first, are newly designed Seymour Duncan® Fortuna™ pickups with a more scooped mid-range, giving them a classic, organic, open voice. As a result, the guitar is extremely natural sounding which is what the “N” in AZ-N represents. This design also features a Rosewood fingerboard, with a compound radius; 9” towards the nut and 12” towards the bridge. This creates a neck that strikes the perfect ergonomic balance for clean melodies and chordal playing along with searing fast solo work higher up on the neck. The AZ-N still retains the musically flexible nature of the originals, while offering specifically tailored elements aimed at the player whose sound centers on a more traditional tone.
No word yet on the ESTIMATED STREET PRICE:
Ibanez also Announced Three New Prestige Hollow Body Models the professional-grade Artstar series. The influences of these legendary instruments are immediately apparent with a bone nut, ebony fretboard, and Ibanez's signature Super 58 custom pickups. The critical eye will appreciate the attention to detail poured into these instruments like the smoothness of the fretboard and the skill applied to the fretwork, generally found on instruments costing twice as much. The Artstar embodies the pure jazz-box and the continual evolution the genre represents.
For 2021, there are three revamped made-in-Japan Artstar models: the AF2000, AS2000, and AM2000. The AF2000 represents the quintessential Jazz Box and is the most traditional design among the three. It’s full-hollow body construction produces a rich, complex tone, expressed with a pure voice and full body, the tonal characteristics most highly desired among the discerning Jazz player. The AS2000 utilizes a semi-hollow body construction and is built to tackle just about any genre of music you throw at it, with the pickups mounted directly to the center block for increased sustain and feedback elimination. The AM2000H Is smaller in size than other two models, but this guitar provides warm, punchy tone and abundant sustain. It offers the added benefit being compact enough that players more accustomed to a solid body electric will feel right at home on this new Artstar guitar.
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Update: Jan 15th, 2021: Jerry Garcia Music Arts Releases "Front Street Outtakes", rare studio recording session between Jerry Garcia and Sanjay Mishra.
News out of SAN FRANCISCO, that the Jerry Garcia Music Arts label has just released a new album titled "Front Street Outtakes" featuring studio out-takes from a 1994 recording session Jerry recorded with Indian American guitarist-composer, Sanjay Mishra.
The unreleased recordings represent one of Jerry's last full album recording projects completed at the Grateful Dead's iconic Club Front Studios and originate from unedited material used in the creation of the 1995 album "Blue Incantation."
As with all of Sanjay Mishra's work, the music on the album has a multicultural and eclectic appeal merging Eastern and Western influences, combining his brilliantly Indian-inspired guitar textures with Jerry's masterful musical fluidity.
Jerry Garcia Music Arts will donate 25% of its net revenue from every digital music stream of the album to the Self-Realization Fellowship founded by Paramahansa Yogananda back in the 1920's. Yogananda is known for writing the highly acclaimed "Autobiography of a Yogi" and the Self-Realization Fellowship is a worldwide spiritual organization founded by Paramahansa Yogananda to serve as an instrument for the preservation and worldwide dissemination of his writings and teachings, including Kriya Yoga.
"Front Street Outtakes" was mastered by Grammy Award-winning audio engineer David Glasser and the album will be available on most digital streaming platforms. As you can see on the album cover, Jerry played the Eagle guitar for this recording — the first of several custom instruments built for him by Luthier Doug Irwin in 1971, it's interesting to note that a Sanskrit prayer for happiness is inlayed on the guitar's fingerboard.
Reflecting on the music that he produced with Garcia, Mishra commented, "Unique and mysterious, these mixes consist of the recordings in pure form, with just the guitars and percussion, all unedited, including the tape reel running out on the first track."
The visual elements that accompany the release include a booklet of liner notes featuring rare in-studio photos of the session along with Garcia's music-themed pen-and-ink drawing "Uncorrected Manuscript." This image, in its unedited and pure form, can be interpreted as a visual metaphor for the recordings on "Front Street Outtakes."
said Manasha Garcia, co-producer at Jerry Garcia Music Arts, "It is an honor to support Paramahansa Yogananda's teachings with my late husband's music. There's an interesting circularity to this project, as my grandfather gave me his copy of 'Autobiography of a Yogi' to read when I was a teenager. Later, when I began singing in the Self-Realization Fellowship choir, Jerry would listen to the choral practice tapes and play guitar to help me follow the sheet music for the holiday recitals."
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