Guthrie Govan Guitar Interactive Magazine Issue 13. In this free Issue of Guitar Interactive Magazine we have a Guthrie Govan Jam and Interview taking about his career.
We interview guitarist Derek Trucks & take a look at how to play Derek Trucks style slide guitar.
In our acoustic magazine section - The Quiet Room - we talk with canadian acoustic guitarist Don Alder, with an extensive amount of Live footage he performed whilst he at the Guitar Interactive Studio. Don Alder also provides Guitar Interactive readers with a free guitar lesson on vibrato!
Issue 13 of Guitar Interactive is packed FULL of free guitar lessons! This month learn how to play hybrid picking with Andy James, expand your chord vocabulary with Tom Quayle, learn guitar vibrato with Rick Graham, Michael Casswell shows you how to play Melodic guitar runs.
Guitar Interactive The free online guitar magazine.
THE QUIET ROOM_GUITAR REVIEW
Worried about the dwindling supply of tonewoods and damage to the environment,
but still want the best sounding acoustic you can get for your money?
UK brand Mariner builds guitars using ‘sustainable’ woods. But how do they
compare tonally? Tom Quayle finds out.
Designed in the UK and made in China, Mariner
Guitars are a breath of fresh air in an industry that
isn’t exactly always dedicated to environmental
sustainability. By its nature, guitar manufacturing
uses many woods that are becoming more and
more scarce and whilst many steps have been
taken over the years to counter this, Mariner has
gone to great lengths to make sure that it embraces
the use of woods that are sustainable and don’t aid
the destruction of rainforests.
This is an admirable goal for certain but there are
very good reasons why woods like mahogany and
rosewood have been used for so long and we’ve
all become used to the sound, feel and look of
these classic tone woods - so can Mariner produce
sustainable guitars that sound great? Well, this
reviewer thinks so.
The guitar we had in from Mariner was a Vertys
AX-BB model, featuring solid Paulownia back
and sides, a one-piece Nato neck with maple
binding, a Sonokeling fingerboard and bridge,
mated to a more traditional solid Sitka spruce top.
It’s essential these days that guitars in this price
range have a solid top and even though you may
not have heard of the other woods on offer rest
assured that they look and sound every bit as good
as their more conventional counterparts. The guitar
is finished off with mother of pearl inlays, rosette
and logo, bone nut and bridge saddle, quality die-
STAR RATING CHECK THE SPEC
154 Guitar Interactive Magazine Issue 13
cast tuners, multi-wood binding and a choice of
brown-burst or honey finish.
The build process takes place in a specialist
acoustic guitar factory in China and each guitar
is handmade as far as possible. Thanks to the use
of Asian woods, prices can be kept down and this
allows for great build quality at a very good price
for the consumer, Mariner says.
The review model was flawless in construction and
gave the impression of a much more expensive
instrument with no obvious corner cutting taking
place. Aesthetically the Vertys is pretty, with its
auditorium shaped, lightweight body. I’m not so
taken with the Mariner headstock shape but that’s
a very personal preference and others may love its
unique appearance. The Paulownia back and sides
have a lovely, strong grain and the brown-burst
is skilfully applied for a classy and individual
looking guitar.
The Mariner’s set-up was also very good with
a very playable low action with no buzzing to
speak of and a 628mm scale length giving a very
comfortable playing experience for chordal and
lead work.
Tonally, the Mariner is a great sounding guitar
thanks to that solid Sitka Spruce top and quality
construction and it will only improve over time.
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