Jackson Adrian Smith San Dimas DK

88 Guitarist July 2009
JACKSON/FENDER IRON MAIDEN SIGNATURES
£1,139-£1,799
ELECTRICS/baSS
ESP GL56 £1,599
More mainstream but with a
definite custom vibe is this
faux-aged S-type, based on
George Lynch’s first ever ESP
guitar. With a huge yet very
playable neck – plus a Custom
Shop Seymour Duncan Pearly
Gates in the bridge and a pair
of ESP SS-120 single-coils to
offer great tone – this is a real
steal for the money.
Lakland Skyline Bob
Glaub four-string bass
£1,025
LA session player Glaub has
worked with Jackson Browne
and Rod Stewart and this bass
is modelled after his ’64
Precision. With an ash body,
maple neck and Lindy Fralin
split-coil pickup, this offers
vintage sounds with a modern
feel and contemporary looks.
Yamaha ATT Limited
II Billy Sheehan
signature bass
£1,947
Billy’s bass features an alder
body, bolt-on maple neck and
scalloped ’board to give a
unique feel. While DiMarzio
WillPower pickups at neck and
middle positions with separate
outputs provide a huge sound
range. There’s even a Hipshot
D-Tuner, but it’s a pricey axe.
The Rivals
performance is just as we’d
expected – very impressive.
Fender Dave Murray
Stratocaster
Back in issue 242, Dave gave us
the story behind his original
black and white Strat, a guitar
that he’d recently removed
from service.
“Yeah, that’s been retired,”
he said with a smile. “I got it in
1976 through an ad in Melody
Maker. I’d done some research
and I thought, okay, this is it.
I had a Les Paul at the time and
I sold that, borrowed some
money, and went for that Strat
specifically because of the
history behind it.
“I mean, I think I used it for
something like the first five
albums,” he continues. “But we
were touring a lot and it was a
case of, Well, it’s done me well,
y’know? The newer guitars are
good road guitars.”
That guitar was an original
1957 Strat once owned by the
late Free guitarist Paul
Kossoff. Murray recorded
many of Maiden’s greatest
songs with it and the pair of
Super Distortions were, of
course, retrofitted.
A late fifties Strat is certainly
a very attractive article and,
aside from the provision of two
double cream DiMarzios, this
is not as far removed from an
original model as you may
perceive. For example, the
guitar is loaded with a
three-way selector (albeit
topped with a black rather
than white switch cap), and the
maple neck offers a ‘V’-shape.
That said, this profile has been
softened slightly and the
subsequent feel, as we’ll
discover, does benefit the
guitar’s likely target audience.
The chrome pickup
surrounds add some suitably
flashy rock credentials and,
although Dave uses Floyd Rose
vibratos on his current stage
axes, the classic vintage
‘Synchronized’ vibrato is more
in keeping with the original.
Sounds
The basic bridge rock tone isn’t
as dark as that of the Jackson,
which is interesting, but as
we’ve said, the softer ‘V’ neck
fills the hand far more
comfortably than, for example,
a Clapton Strat. Considering the
complex music Maiden play, a
more pointed profile could have
really caused mobility problems
and, as usual, the Strat is
faultless in its playability.
A classic rock tone enjoys an
almost breathy character that,
when used for solos above the
12th fret, offers just the right
amount of treble cut. When the
volume is backed off a touch,
there’s a lovely warm and
bluesy character to the sound.
However, Murray is best-
known for his soulful solo use
of the neck humbucker and,
with a DP-103 (DiMarzio’s
version of the PAF) in that
position here, the trademark
tone is instantly evident,
especially when it’s put through
our Marshall.
The guitar’s versatility is
cemented by the ability to select
the central single-coil easily
Tight and tough, [the Precision’s set-
up] invites you to get stuck in, and
when you hear the sound that’s
exactly what you’ll want to do
GIT317.rev_fender 88 20/5/09 6:12:51 pm