Category: Guitar Reviews

Bjarton – Vintage Guitars from Sweden

A couple of years ago, I was visiting my local vintage guitar store, Paul’s Boutique, here in Toronto. As I made my rounds of the vintage gear, I went to the back room where they keep their acoustic guitars. I scanned for something interesting and a used classical guitar caught my eye due to its natural finish. I picked it up, and proceeded to play some spanish guitar licks, classical music, and a bit of blues. Immediately I was struck by the beautiful tone.

As I inspected the guitar, I saw that it was made by a company called Bjarton. It was a weird sounding name which I had never heard before. Noticing that the price tag was $150, I figured it was a good deal for a good playing instrument with a nice warm tone. Also I like used guitars for some reason as it feels like they have their own little history. And being 3/4th’s the size of a regular classical, I thought it’d be cool to have! I paid at the register, was given the crummy soft case that came with it, and I was on my way.

bjarton guitar
My Bjarton Guitar

After playing a little more at home and appreciating its nice open, beautiful sound, I needed to do some investigative work on this guitar made by Bjarton. My model specifically was the Carmencita as written in the inner label. It definitely had the spanish vibe, thats for sure. After some googling, I found that Bjarton was an old company from Sweden who handmade their guitars. And my guitar specifically was made in 1971! Wow, a 40 years old classical guitar! No wonder it sounded so good. And now it sounds even better since I have played it in.

RELATED: Which are the Best Classical Strings?

The Bjarton Carmencita has a very nice comfortable fretboard made of Jakaranda! Very cool! The bridge is made from the same material. The top, neck and sides are made of mahogany, which the top is solid spruce. Just a fine, well made instrument, and for $150, I felt so lucky to get my hands on it!

Bjarton seemed to have started sometime in the ’50s, and stopped making guitars in the ’80s. Check out these pictures from back in the day at their factory in Sweden:



All in all, Bjarton makes some excellent guitars, and if you ever see one in a shop, my advice is to pick it up. Why? Because it will be cheap, and you will be getting a handmade, aged, beautiful-sounding instrument!

George Harrison’s Guitars in the Beatles

This article will show you which guitars George Harrison was using with the Beatles. Some of the most legendary guitar solos came from Harrison, not to mention the great tone he had. So lets take a closer look starting with the early Beatles. Continue reading George Harrison’s Guitars in the Beatles

Sweet-Tone Instrument Cable Review

Recently, we got our hands on some boutique instrument cables made by Sweet-Tone. Over on their site, these cables promise ‘high quality sound performance’. But with a $50 price tag for a 10-foot cable, I thought ‘how much better can these be compared to standard cables I get from my local music shop in the $10-$20 price range?’

Sweet-Tone Cable in Box

I unboxed my two 10-foot cables and proceeded to plug my ’68 strat into a Tweed Blues Deluxe. Before doing so, I made sure to play with a regular instrument cable right before so I had a good idea of the overall sound.  Now time for the Sweet-Tone cables. I plugged in, turned off the standby on the amp and proceeded to play some improvised blues. WOAH!! All of a sudden, I felt like a better guitarist! I did not imagine that I would notice this much of a difference. There were 3 things that stuck out with the Sweet-Tone cables:

1) My tone was so much clearer. Each note had its own clarity and definition. All this time, I thought I knew the tone of my 68 strat. But trust me, I did not know at all!

2) Absolutely no noise or hiss! Just the light hum coming from the strat as usual, though even the hum sounded better. These cables are so much more quiet.

3) My guitar became more responsive. Hammer-ons and pull-offs sounded more noticeable. Holding notes seemed to have greater sustain despite the amp settings. And when I did really subtle things on the guitar, they were much more noticeable to the ear.

Overall, my tone had gotten  a lot better. I honestly couldn’t believe it. I continued to play for much longer than I normally do, because of how additive the tone was.

Out of Box

What intrigued me about Sweet-Tone is their cables are made by a guitar player who is also an electrician. The fact that he has knowledge of high-quality components and an ear for tone is what makes these cables so good.

I really wanted to make sure I wasn’t the only one seeing this. Good thing we have testers at GuitarToneTalk! All 3 of our guys here noticed everything I mentioned. I didn’t even tell them what to expect, so there was no bias.

All I can say is that if you have nice guitars/amps/pedals, but are playing with cables from your local music store, than you are NOT getting the full benefit of the tone you should have. Plug in some Sweet-Tone cables, and your gear will sing to their fullest potential. I don’t plan on using any other cables. Now I just gotta get my hands on some of their patch cords!

For more info on Sweet-Tone or to purchase their cables, visit:

www.Sweet-Tone.com

 

Fender Japan 1968 Reissue Stratocaster Review

Todays review is on one of my favorite guitars I own, a Fender MIJ 1968 Reissue Strat. If you are familiar with this guitar, you know thats its not easy to attain as they aren’t made anymore. I had actually gotten lucky. One day I was gas-ing for this strat in particular and decided to check Ebay to see if any were listed. I had done this in the past, but only found one or two that were very overpriced due of the rarity of the instrument. But on this particular day, there happened to be one for about $500 or $600.

There was one catch however: it was a lefty strat. Being a big fan of Jimi Hendrix, I took the opportunity to flip the guitar upside down and play it that way. It was a ’68 strat after all. After another couple hundred to cover shipping, taxes, and a new nut for the reversing, this strat was ready to play!

The neck on the 1968 reissue strat is probably the best features on the guitar all together! Reason being is that its maple capped. What this means is that instead of the neck being all one-piece maple, the maple fretboard is separate and glued on, much like a rosewood fretboard strat. This was only done around this time period in the late 60s’. The result is one of the smoothest necks I’ve ever played on. Two things to note, the neck is extremely thin, which is ideal for fretting with your thumb a la Hendrix. The other notable is that the neck features vintage frets. The fret wire is thinner and smaller than the fret wire used today. I prefer this and find that it contributes to the vintage tone.

The tone of the 68′ strat is very very good. Some notes on the electronics: Many Japanese guitars are quite amazing, but are not usually known for their electronics. What I did is change out the pots and cap for a vintage electronics kit from RS Guitarworks. This really improved the overall tone and usability of this strat. The pickups are very very good though, and I am very happy with the tone they produce. Though I would consider some boutique pickup options is you are really trying to nail the 1968 tone exactly. But don’t worry, the stock pickups do enough justice.

Overall, I gotta say, this is a very very fine instrument, better than the majority of American Made Fender guitars made today (with the exception of the Custom Shop of course). I spent around $750ish in total for a guitar that is worth double that. Right now, it is my main stage guitar. The cleans are sparkling, and when it gets dirty, there is a very nice growl. If you are looking for the Hendrix guitar without shelling out the big bucks, this is it!

Fender 1968 Reissue Strat Sound Clips:

Blues Through a Fender Blues Deluxe

Fender Standard Stratocaster Review

As one of the most famous electric guitars of all time, the Fender Stratocaster does it all. With 3 single coil pickups, strats can give you some smooth blues to a country twang. You can find this guitar in literally any genre. Lets take a closer look..

Used by some of the greats such as Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Eric Clapton, many are fully aware of the Strat’s ability to be a rocking blues machine. And the best part of this guitar is that it allows your characteristics to come through in your playing, whereas a guitar with humbucking pickups (such as a Gibson Les Paul) tend to sound similar from player to player.

The Stratocaster is equipped with one volume and two tone controls. One set controls the neck pickup, and the other set controls the middle pickup. Along with these controls comes a 5-way pickup selector. You can either play each pickup separately or team up the middle pickup with either the bridge or neck pickup. You’ll see a lot of mods online to be able to use the bridge and neck pickup together.

The majority of strats are made of alder in the body, and the neck is usually maple with either a rosewood or maple fret board. There has always been a big debate as to which fretboard wood is better. Simply put, some people prefer rosewood and others prefer maple. Maple is said to have a bit of a brighter sound. You’ll notice that in the last two years of Jimi Hendrix’s life, he primarily used 2 strats, both with maple boards.

If you want to make the best of your strat tone, then you should run it through a tube amp. Strats tend to pair up well with Marshall amps, particularly the Marshall Plexi, equipped with at least a 4×12 cab. You’ll see Hendrix rocking a row of 100w Plexis in live situations. But, we can’t forget how well strats pair with Fender Amps. Many consider blackfaced fender amps from the 60s to be some of the greatest amps of all time. I personally like a Fender Deluxe Reverb, or a Vibrolux Reverb. Once you have found your desired amp, the secret to getting amazing tone, is to crank the amp up. That means a whole lot of volume. The reason being is that it gets the tubes nice and hot and adds a lot of natural harmonics to your tone. If you are playing in an apartment or somewhere that can bother your neighbours, you may want to consider a Fender Champ coming in at 5 watts. These amps still give unbelievable tones when cranked.

All I can say is that the Fender Stratocaster is probably my favorite electric guitars, and as a blues player, it gives me that elusive tone I’ve been looking for. If you haven’t already, run to your local music store to play one. You won’t regret it! View the Fender American Standard Stratocaster on Amazon.

Fender Standard Jazz Bass Review

I recently purchased a Fender Jazz Bass while at a store comparing bass tones. It was evident right away that its tones was the most transparent, that is to say, you could clearly hear each note. Its dynamics were almost reminiscent of a strat. I knew this was the Bass for me when playing some blues lines.

I turned the amp up pretty loud to push the tubes a bit. It really made this guitar sound alive. If you want amazing bass tone, I highly recommend a tube amp, especially for this guitar. It really gives a 3-dimensional sound.

Not only does the Jazz Bass cater to alot to famous blues and jazz players, you’ll also see this guitar in a heavier setting. Jimi Hendrix, said to be one of the loudest guitar players ever, was accompanied by Billy Cox in 1969/70 to join his band and tour. You can hear some live stuff on youtube, particularly at the isle of wight in 1970. Cox used the Jazz Bass predominantly with hendrix, and his funky, soulful playing really vibrated well with the Jazz Bass.

My current set up with my Jazz Bass is running through a 70s’ Traynor BassMate equipped with EL-84 power tubes. Again, if you want to make the most of this guitar, or any guitar, get a nice tube amp. When those tubes get hot, the tone is unbelievable. .

All I can say is, if you are into blues, jazz, rock, or whatever really, try out the Fender Jazz Bass. It’ll bring life to your sound. View the Fender American Jazz Bass on Amazon.

JV Stratocasters

Or Japanese Vintage Strats as they are called, were produced in the 70s/80s. This includes Fender Japan, Tokai, Greco, etc. At the time, these companies were making strats that some say were better then those that were being made at Fender’s American factory. Alot of these JV strat makers would reissue vintage spec guitars closer to the original then what Fender reissuing at the time.

Today, these guitars are considered collectors items, and many use them as their playability and even pickups are incredible. Lets take a look at some of these strats.

Below, we have a Squier 83′ 2TS ’57 Reissue

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Below: 1988 Tokai ’68 Reissue