Thursday, November 27, 2008

StratMasters The DVD

ORIGINAL: StratMasters

Rory Gallagher featured in Fender promotional DVD StratMasters

Strat® Masters is the most ambitious film to date documenting the story of the world’s most iconic guitar - the Fender® Stratocaster®.
A Headstock production, this feature length documentary traces the history of the Strat
® through the words of some of the world’s greatest musicians. Produced by director Michael Bayley Hughes and former Guitarist Magazine contributor Bob Buddy MerrillHewitt, their passion for the Fender® guitar was the inspiration for this absorbing film.

Sonny Curtis - Buddy Holly’s friend and sideman in those early years of rock ‘n roll - tells how he saw Buddy evolve as a musician to become one of the most influencial Strat® players of all time. The cover of ‘The Chirping Crickets’ album inspired many of the great musicians interviewed for this film.

Buddy Merrill, one of Fender’s earliest endorsees, was just a teenager when he found fame with the Lawrence Welk orchestra. Today retired, Buddy tells how Leo Fender made personal modifications to his guitars – some just to make him look great under the television lights!

Leo Fender’s business partner, Don Randall explains how he christened the Stratocaster
® and gives a glimpse of those early days in Fullerton when he and Leo produced the perfect instrument, just in time for the emerging rock n’ roll era.
Filmed in California, Japan and the UK - there is exclusive factory footage of the Fender
® facilities in the USA and Japan. Legendary pickup guru Seymour Duncan and Vice President Evan Skopp give an unique tour of their Santa Barbara facility where the world’s greatest guitar pickups are made. The entire manufacturing process can be seen and, as he custom winds a pickup, Seymour tells of his association with Leo Fender….and his love for Strats® and Telecasters®.

Pickup manufacture at Seymour DuncanRy Cooder, the maestro himself, talks enthusiastically about his Stratocasters® and unique slide guitar technique, pickups and string gauges. Clive Brown of Guitar Art - one of the world’s most respected guitar builders and restoration experts, talks about the idiosyncrasies of the Stratocaster® - and all those ‘little secrets’ everyone wants to know about. Clive has worked on around 600 vintage Strats® and has an intimate knowledge of the instrument which he shares with us in this film.
Renowned Fender
® historian and author Richard Smith is filmed at the Fullerton Museum and talks about the early days - if anyone knows about Fender®, it's Richard!

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Bruce WelchThe story of the first Strat® to arrive in the UK is told in detail by Bruce and Hank of the Shadows. That very first instrument sits on Bruce’s lap as he vividly recalls the day it arrived.

Strat
® Masters is a ‘who’s who’ of great Stratocaster®players and their thoughts on the instrument: Jeff Beck, Ry Cooder, Robert Cray, Mark Knopfler, Chris Rea, Rory Gallagher, Albert Lee (yes, he plays a ‘58 Strat® too!) The Shadows. The film includes a rare interview with the late Zimbabwean singer / guitarist Jonah Sithole, the first musician to transpose African mbira music to electric guitar; a testament not only of his own ingenuity but also the Strat’s versatility.Malina Moye

In contrast, Malina Moye an L.A. urban R&B singer/guitarist brings us bang up to date; she flips a Strat® over for her left handed unique style of playing - just like Hendrix !
Barry ‘Slim’ Martin of The Hamsters, the UK’s hardest working rock band, pays tribute to Hendrix and plays some great ‘homage’ riffs to the master.Headstock’s association with Strange Music, provided exclusive access to previously unseen interviews with the late great Rory Gallagher who plays and talks about his famous beat up Strat
®.

Friday, November 21, 2008

Joe Bonamassa - Kansas EPK

12 yr old Joe Bonamassa with Danny Gatton

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Joe Bonamassa - If Heartaches Were Nickels