VAUGHN SKOW's blog

1967 Fender Deluxe Reverb: Quest for the Best Replacement Speaker!

Today I went on one of my most extensive tone quests yet, seeking out a love-mate for my new favorite amp, the ’67 Deluxe Reverb featured in last weeks blog.  I want to be able to box and store the original light duty Oxford 12K5 speaker and preserve it’s vintage value, plus maybe find a speaker with a little more oomph, to give the amp good gigeable volume, and clean headroom (ever elusive in 2-6V6 amps).

I decided to try ALL the WGS models I suspected may be a good match, plus quite a large variety of vintage models by various makers.  Wow, every amp is different!  Some of the results were just as I suspected, others were not.  The Video of my exploits is nearly a full hour long, so make a fresh pot of coffee and join me for a magical mystery tour of tone.  I seriously need YOUR input on this one, so P-L-E-A-S-E post you comments.

Spoiler Alert!!!  If you don’t want to sit through the whole 55-minute video, here is the nitty gritty:

Retro 30: Sounded HUGE, but a little too “modern” without enough vintage midrange warmth for me.

Blackhawk: Sooo sweet, but not enough sparkle and spank for the classic Deluxe Reverb tone.

G12C: VERY nice with sparkle & spank for days, maybe just a bit too much for me.

G12C/S: Nice vintage tweed tone, but too dark and smoky for the Deluxe Reverb.

New WGS light 12: EXACTLY (!!) like the 46 year old original.

Green Beret:  it was awesome! probably tied for second place!!  Like the original on steroids.

ET65: My old DR fav does not disappoint!  Beautiful, this may be #1.

Reaper (30): Very good match just a tad more presence than the ET65, also a #1 contender!

Vintage Jensen P12Q: Sweet, but just a little too much upper-mid bite for this amp.

Fender/Eminence Alnico: Same as the Jensen, only a little worse.

Vintage Oxford 12T6: Though bigger and healthier, it didn’t quite sound as sweet as the amps stock 12K5.

Vintage EV Force 12:  Won the award for most surprising.  Actually sounded nice and vintage; too vintage even, actually very warm and tweedy, in stark contrast to it’s massive look!

The ultimate winner?  Too close to call, so I need YOUR input.  Please post your thoughts here as a comment.  Maybe if we put our heads together we can figure this one out.

Here is that epic video!

See ya all next week!

email Vaughn     About Vaughn Skow

1967 Fender Deluxe Reverb: Mods, Speakers, and More!

By every imaginable yard-stick, the Fender "Deluxe" is one of the most popular musical instrument amplifiers of all time.  The Fender Deluxe Amp has been around since 1948, that’s longer than most of you reading this.  Even more amazing is the fact that the Deluxe Amp actually pre-dates Rock and Roll itself.  Wow.  Six generations of guitar players have now been exposed to the Fender Deluxe Amp.  Probably no other amps influences are as widespread.  From your great-grandpa freshly back from WWII and learning those swingin’ big band chords all the way up to that 12-year old noodler that calls you Dad, never before has a single amp influenced so many.  Maybe I’m biased; after all at the tender age of about 13 I received my first amp, a brown Fender Deluxe Amp!  Since that time Deluxes of all ages have passed through my hands, and I’ve loved them all.  The focus of this blog, however, is the one that sits patiently at my feet as I type away; born in 1967, she’s a still-sexy 46 year old.  She is most definitely still in the prime of her life.

In case you missed my last blog, where I introduced her to you, I’ll give you the quickie version of how she entered my life.  She was listed on Craigslist as a "1970’s silver-face", the aluminum drip-edge clearly visable in the photos told me she was most likely a 1968 in actuality.  When I brought her home and started looking a little closer, I realized that she was in fact one of the rare drip-edge "black-line" models produced in 1967, the date code and serial number make this clear.  The new gal is actually a true black-face 1967 AB763 Deluxe Reverb Amp with that new-fangled “silver” faceplate.  Sweeeet.

This gal sports three classy modifications.  A barely perceivable sticker attributes the mods to Jeff Bober at Precision Audio Tailoring in Baltimore Maryland.  No wonder the mods were beautifully executed; Jeff is the man!  Jeff is a seasoned veteran tube amp repair guy; currently the owner, designer & tone guru at East Amplification, a columnist atPremier Guitar , co-founder / senior design engineer at Budda Amplification and a contributing author for Kendrick Amplification.  How’s that for some creds?

The first is the simple adition of a mid control on the first channel, enabling a more Marshall-esque urgent snarl, very similar to the “bass instrument” channel on my blackface 1965 Fender Bassman, featured in earlier blogs.  The added control was inserted in the #2 input jacks hole, and is thus easily reversible.

The second mod is the addition of a pentode/triode switch, labeled as full and half power.  This control was added using the external speaker chassis hole, and is thus also easily reversible.  I would have never expected this addition to be as pleasing as it is; the truth is that it really makes the Deluxe sound positively delicious at bedroom-soft volume levels.  I’m now a firm believer that all Deluxe Reverb Amps should have this feature!

The last mod is one that I personally do to ALL of my vintage blackface Fender amps, it’s a simple one-wire move that enables reverb and tremolo on both channels.  The mod takes only a few minutes and is just as easy to totally reverse should you want it back to bone stock.  You can probably do this one yourself.  Here is the mod, just add the one jumper and lift a leg on the cap rather than removing it altogether to make it more easily reversible.

But all pedigree aside, this is the best sounding Deluxe Reverb I’ve ever laid ears on.  Often black and silver-face Deluxe Reverb Amps sound too brittle and harsh for my Super-Reverb Amp inspired tastes; not this one!  This is truly the Holy Grail (to me); light-weight, lower power, and just plain oozing with fat, warm, juicy, syrupy, tone with a delicious smooth and wonderful top!  One problem: the speaker that’s producing all this wonderful tone may well be on it’s last legs.   When pushed hard, it’s sounding just a tad tired to me.  Now, this speaker is a bit interesting; it looks like an Oxford 12K5-6, but has no markings anywhere, save for the bit of paper label peaking out from behind the blue Fender Special Design Speaker label affixed to the magnet.  If any of you readers know for sure what this speaker is, please be kind enough to post it here as a comment to this blog, it would be greatly appreciated!  At any rate, it is in fact a speaker with what I would term a downright itty-bitty magnet and an equally small voice-coil, which looks to be one inch to me.

From tweed to late silver-face, this is the most diminutive speaker I’ve ever seen in a Deluxe, and it’s the best sounding (stock) speaker I’ve ever heard, too.  Hummm, maybe bigger isn’t always better! 

So now, my challenge: to find a nice healthy new replacement speaker that sounds just as sweet as the totally magical stock speaker (which will be lovingly boxed and properly stored to maintain its magic and the amps vintage value).

That sounds like a lot of fun work!  Next week we will take this journey together right here on this blog.  From current production Alnico and Ceramic models by WGS and other manufacturers; no stone will be left unturned in our quest to find a nice new speaker that retains all the beauty of the original.  Sound like fun?  Then be sure to stop back, videos will abound.

My "outside" site recomendation for this week is an easy one ... Jeff Bober's curent company East Amplification.  Chack it out! http://www.eastamplification.com/about

See ya all next week!

email Vaughn     About Vaughn Skow

The rare and fabled: 1967 drip-edge Fender Deluxe Reverb and Zinky Supro Tremolectric

Life is full of fine lines.  Often we are blissfully unaware that the lines even exist, especially when we are young.  The job we take as a high school kid, unaware that we have just made a decision that will affect the rest of our life.  The girl we kiss, with equally life-altering results.  Receiving a guitar for Christmas.  For some of us, this was an event that would forever change the direction of our lives.

I’m not going to go for exact statistics here, but I imagine the number of 12 year old kids getting guitars for Christmas, birthdays, and so on is roughly a bazillion per year.  About half of these guitars will be quickly relegated to the closet or attic never to be seen or heard from again.  We can consider this a fine line that was NOT crossed.  But what about the rest?  Well, for a very few the guitar will be like a powerfully addictive drug, and from day one the rest of the world will cease to exist.  These folks are destined to be the guitar heroes of the next generation.  But what about the REST of us?

Now we get to the life of the average guitar player.  We get a guitar.  We love it and integrate it as a part of our life, of who we are.  We also get married, have kids, buy houses, launch careers, and so on and so forth.  All the while, "guitar player" remains etched upon the very essence of who we are.  We don’t often realize it, but we are now poised to slowly cross one of life’s thin lines; from the realm of casual guitarist to the realm of the true TONE seeker.

For some, the point of no return will come early, when they replace their first vacuum tube, pickup or speaker.  For me it was a pickup.  At the tender age of 13, I did not realize that by placing an order for a Dimarzio Super-Distortion, I was fundamentally altering the course of my entire life.

Fast forward a few decades!  My life is now a sea of guitars in various states of modification and "upgrades".  My God, one look at my shocking main ax, the 5-pickup stratobastard, complete with several extra switches, a roller nut, Wilkinson Vibrato, and Sperzel tuners will signify how thoroughly I have crossed the line from a fellow who enjoys playing guitar to one who is obsessed with unlocking ALL the secrets hidden within the enigma that is the combination of ingredients that result in electric guitar tone!  Where’s that paper bag, I’m hyperventilating.

The room I sit in as I compose this blog is literally littered with various guitar paraphernalia.  Most notably would be the 30-something odd amplifiers.   God, I love amps.  From sensible gals born in the 1940’s to wild young things.  I could be wrong, but I believe that for those who have fully crossed the line into the realm of the Tone Seeker, Amplifiers are in fact the final frontier.  Nowhere else can such drastic and dramatic tonal differences be had, nor can such subtle changes be realized. 

It is in this spirit that I introduce you to the two newest gals to join my little amp harem: The rare and fabled 1967 drip-edge Fender Deluxe Reverb (the blackface that isn’t), and the equally rare and fabled Bruce Zinky “Supro” Tremolectric (the VibroKing that isn’t).

I have a strange suspicion that in the upcoming months these two rare beauties will be lavished with all manner of speaker and tube upgrades.  And seriously, they deserve it, right?  Tone seekers, you’re going to LOVE the next few blogs as we delve into the mysteries of these fine ladies.

See ya all next week!

email Vaughn     About Vaughn Skow

The Ultimate Poor Man’s Guide to Guitar Shows (10 Reasons Why You Should Go)

Most of you reading this blog probably live within a day’s drive of at least one annual guitar show.  You should go.  I know what you’re thinking, "those shows are only for folks with big bucks to spend", or maybe "it’s just too long a drive, it’s not worth it".  I her ya, in fact, I used to feel the same way.  Man was I wrong.  I’m blessed to live just outside of Nashville, TN, with several local and regional shows each year.  Even still, I always found reasons not to go to one.  Until a few years back; and now I’m hooked!  Let me tell you why.

Reason # 1, consider it a "Guitar Museum" ... where you actually can ask to touch and play the museum pieces!  Maybe you DON’T have sixty grand to drop on a sweeeet ’58 Strat, but man, it’s wonderful to be in the presence of such a fine instrument.  This thing actually SMELLED cool!

Strats not your thing?  There are always plenty, and I mean PLENTY of vintage LesPauls to gawk at.

Acoustic players will find more vintage Martins than you can shake a 70 year old Brazilian rosewood stick at.

And where else will you reconnect with the childhood friends that taught us to play, and were our BEST friends, even when we were in that awkward adolescent stage?

Reason #2: consider it a vintage AMP Museum ... As a man with a self-confessed amp addiction, I practically passed out when I turned a corner and ran into these fine vintage Fender gals all decked out in tweed.

How about this little cutie?  Nearly 70 years old, and just as fresh as the day she was born.

And this one, too!

Man, I wanted to just bask in the presence of this pair of 1^stgeneration Marshall 45’s.  Oh the Rock-n-Roll stories THEY could tell.

Before we leave the amp museum, I would like to draw your attention to the holy-grail of Texas tube tone, the blackface Fender Vibroverb.  Holy-cow.

Reason #3: Wife says the two of you need to do something TOGETHER.  Invite her to accompany you to the guitar ART-GALLERY!  These masterpieces by artisan James Macdonald are equal to art found in any gallery anywhere. Period.

Reason #4: Because everyone needs to broaden their horizons from time to time.  Ever imagined playing a triple-neck steel guitar in an Oklahoma cowboy bar circa 1949? It’s easy to do when you’re standing in front of this honky-tonk time capsule.

Reason#5: To be taught that’s what’s old really is the NEW thing!  When my eye caught this flawless Magnatone I thought "holy cow, that baby looks showroom new".  It should, ‘cause it is. Turns out the Magnatones are being made once again just like they were decades back, right here in the Good old USA, St Louis to be exact; and yes, they still have that infamous Magnatone tremolo. Sweeeeeeeet!

Reason #6: To be reminded that one of your heroes lives on through others that are continuing in his footsteps.  As a devote of Mr. Leo Fender, I can truly appreciate it anytime someone flatters Mr. Fender by generously borrowing from his design features and producing guitars and amps the way he did in his early (best) years: small numbers, one at a time, and in America.  Take for example Dr. Mojo guitars.  The only way you’ll find a Strat or Tele style guitar with more mojo is to find one made prior to about 1965.

And then there are newly minted tweed honeys that live up to their legacy.

Reason #7: To answer the age old question: Do blonds really have more fun?  This stately old gal is a good argument that indeed they do.

And certainly this little blond bombshell looks like a bunch of fun:

Reason #8: To snag some impossible to find parts.  Where else can you walk out with an original pickguard for your 72 Strat, a replacement handle for your old Silvertone amp, and  a single ’69 Grover replacement tuner?

Reason #9: You just might learn something new!  For instance, did you know that Rickenbacker ever made 12-string guitars with this little contraption to grab and sequester six of the strings, thereby rendering it a regular 6-string (sorta) with the flip of a lever?

Or, have you heard about Switch Vibracell guitars?  Some ingenious dude (Trevor Wilkinson of Wilkinson Vibrato fame) came up with a composite material that REALLY does sound flat out awesome, and makes a gerrrr-ate guitar.  The company only survived a couple of years, and precious few guitars were produced during that time, but man-oh-man are they sweet.

Reason #10: This one’s a no-brainer ... because there are tens of thousands of square feet of guitars!  Old ones, new ones; traditional and bizarre! Electric, acoustic, space age and archaic.  All shapes, sizes, and colors.  I’m tellin’ ya, it’ll make your head spin and your heart race.  It’s a rush.  Seriously, ya gotta do it. 

Oh, and then there’s the reason I probably shouldn’t mention ... but what the heck, my wife never reads my blog anyway ... you just might find a honey that rocks your world and hitches a ride home from the show with you. In my case it was that super-sexy and equally unique gal wearing the Champaign-sparkle dress with the Gold accessories.  Yep, I bought the Vibracell :-)

See ya all next week!

email Vaughn     About Vaughn Skow

My Somewhat Unconventional take on Ideal Speaker Cabinet Size

Every now and then I am asked a question that directs my thoughts towards cabinet dimensions.  A good one just came in to the WGS Q&A forum.  When I get to thinking, I often get to blogging.  So ... let’s talk guitar speaker cabinet dimensions!

First rule: there are no rules.  There are a plethora of "ideal size" cabinet calculators available.  Those are fine for some purposes, like for getting the most bass response in a certain frequency range out of a certain sub driver, but I personally don’t believe they have much to offer when we’re talking guitar speaker cabinets.  This is particularly true where open-back cabinets are concerned.  I just took a quick inventory, and I have 12 1x12 combos, and no two of them have the same dimensions.  Here is a quick run-down of a few notable models, all of which sound quite good in their own way. (All dimensions in inches, rough, simply a quick tape-measure reading)

My old narrow panel 5e3 tweed Deluxe: 20”x16”x8” (width, height, depth)

A late 60’s Unicord 65: 16x29x7

My 1965 Deluxe Reverb: 22x16.5x9.5

My 1983 Rivera erea Concert: 24x19.5x10.5

A Gibson GA20RVT “Gold Tone”: 24x17x10.5

Jet City JCA2112RC: 21x20x11

Bugera Vintage 22: 22.5x18.5x10.5

My Bob Burriss Boutique "convertible" 1x12 cabs: 23x17x10

It is notable that all of these, save for the Burriss cabs, are open-back to varying degrees.  The Burriss cab can be either open or closed back.  In my view the lesson here is that, when it comes to an open-back cabinet, there is a great luxury of acceptable variance.  Probably the best sounding of the bunch is the smallest, the old tweed Deluxe, but I don’t think the cabinet dimensions account for much of that.  If anything, it’s the 55 year old nearly floating baffle and pine cab constructions that formulate it’s mojo.  And, of course the circuit itself!  As Fender went on to higher power amps that used bigger speakers, Leo really just made the cabinets as big as was necessary to contain the chassis and speaker while allowing for easy access.  Leo, the old repair man, was always making stuff that was easy to service.

So, my take on an open back cabinet is pretty much this: Make it something that will comfortably accommodate your speaker(s) and other size needs and make it about 9-11 inches deep.  Let the baffle resonate, and use a light resonant wood for the cab itself.  I know, that’s terribly un-scientific, but remember, I come from the Leo Fender school of thought.  Now, let’s think like Jim Marshall.

Marshall may not have invented the closed-back guitar cabinet, but he sure perfected it.  A closed back cabinet has a lot more ability to influence the sound of a Driver than an open back, and I think that here the dimensions become quite important.  Here, I will be very brief.  This wheel has already been invented by Mr. Jim Marshall; we need not re-invent it.  I’ve never heard a closed-back cabinet that sounds better than a Marshall 1960.  Same goes for Marshall’s 1965 4x10 cab and their 1936 2x12 (24x30x12).  Mind you, I’m talking about what folks usually want out of a closed-back cabinet: huge, thumping, tight urgent tone.  The relatively new Marshall 1912 1x12 (18x20x11.5) cab is okay, but I think they skimped on cabinet volume a little.  My personal fav here is the slightly larger Avatar G112 at 24x20.5x11. 

For me, the difference between the really good sounding closed-back cabs and the ones that leave me wanting more usually comes down to this: the bigger box wins.  I always refer to the 1960’s and 1936’s as “big box” cabs, since they are among the largest examples of the form you will find.  Put head to head, a 1960 will blow away an MG 4x12 loaded with the same drivers.  Sure, construction is a little different, but it’s the added size that really matters!

So, back to that "optimum size" calculator.  Don’t use it.  Guitar speaker cabinets are like guitar speakers themselves; what looks good on paper rarely sounds good in real life.  Unlike, say, control room monitors, where you WANT a nice flat and wide response, guitar cabinets, generally speaking, should substantially color the sound.  On paper, transistors whoop butt on tubes, but we all know which usually sounds better in real life.

So, my suggestion on "ideal" size for a closed back cabinet is this: flatter Jim Marshall by copying his best cabinet designs.

Yes, there are a few guitar cabs that use tuned ports/vents to enhance low-end response.  Here, it becomes important to take into account all of the T/S parameters of a given speaker and mate it to a cab that is of the proper dimensions and with the proper port dimensions.  But, this is rare in guitar cabinets, and in real life these cabinets rarely fare as well in real live as on paper.  When you start tuning the vents/ports on a cabinet, you usually are augmenting a narrow band in the lower octaves of human hearing.  Good stuff in the land of bass bins and bass guitar cabs, not usually so good in guitar cabinets (think WOOFY).  Feel free to disagree, post it here if you wish.  Ultimately guitar tone is all about personal preference, and what I’ve laid out here is simply one man’s personal preferences.

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Secret New WGS Speakers for 2013!

Today, ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure to introduce you to the new models slated to be rolled out in early 2013.

This first speaker is near and dear to my heart; we don’t have a for-certain name yet, for now we are simply calling it the low-power 12.  Here’s some history:  A few months ago, I heard a low-power boutique tube amp with a tome that simply took my breath away.  I can’t tell you the exact amp, but I can tell you that it was an exceptionally expensive boutique model that was only produced in extremely small quantities.  I can also tell you that it was flat-out the best sounding amp I’ve ever heard for low-volume tone.  Sweet, full, big, rich, expressive, touch sensitive.  Yea, it was all that.  The speaker employed in this amp was a custom run just for this particular amp, but no longer!  Now, WGS is making this petite beauty available to all.  Here are some initial pics of prototype #2, without final paint color or a lable.  Prototype #1 was sent to a respected WGS customer.  To say he liked it is an understatement.  Don’t believe me?  Check out his post on the user forum!http://wgs4.com/new-low-powered-wgs-12-my-princeton

Second is a speaker that also has a history as a special run for an uber-high-end boutique builder.  The speaker is, in fact an ET65 with a Heavy magnet.  As any regular reader of this blog knows, theET65 is one of my very favorite WGS models.  However, every now and then I discourage someone for using one, even if the tone is EXACTLY what they are looking for.  Why?  Because the ET65 is a medium magnet speaker; so, for some folks who want maximum SPL sensitivity or clean headroom, it might not be a good choice.  The new heavy-magnet version will change all that.  Again we don’t have a final name yet.  Rest assured, it’ll be cool.

So now you are in on the WGS secrets!  Cool stuff, huh?  Next week I’ll be into the hard core speaker shootouts.  Thanks to all of you who chimed in with your requested shootouts; I’ll get to as many as is humanly possible!  I promise.

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The Fargen John Lennon Guitar Amp

Yesterday I was preparing my annual January blog on cool new WGS products when I received a commanding "stop the press" shout.  Actually, it was a text.  The text was from WGS production manager Dean Birdsong, from the floor of the big NAMM convention in California.  It contained the image you see here.  Okay, so it’s cool to see WGS guys Jason, David & Dean; but man, look at that amp!  Let’s talk about that amp.

In a nutshell, this is one insanely cool piece of gear.  For all the details, I suggest you go to the Fargen Amps site.  Mr. Fargen pulled out all the stops and left no detail un-attended to, no matter how infinitesimal.  From the meticulous circuit design to the nearly obsessive attention to ascetic detail to the totally over-the-top selection of individual components, this amp has no peers.  As a bona fide tone freak, I can intimately appreciate the vintage style "mustard" tone caps and old-world hand selected carbon-comp resistors; but that speaker, man oh man, that speaker!  That beautiful white alnico honey is quite a thing to behold, it appears just as lovingly selected and nourished as every other piece of this beautiful tapestry of an amplifier.  And well it should.  That speaker, you see is a very special product produced by WGS specifically for the John Lennon amplifier, in design cooperation with Mr. Ben Fargen himself.  Yes, that stunning beauty was produced with love by expert hands in Paducah Kentucky; that beauty is one of our own.

If you are a guitar tone aficionado, and are able, I can not suggest highly enough that you acquire one of these uniquely beautiful tone and time machines.  If not, enjoy these images; so sexy that some may consider them guitar-porn.

For all the details on this beauty, see: http://www.fargenamps.com/products/john-lennon

Next week: The inside scoop on new WGS products slated to roll-out in 2013.  You are going to want to hear this!

email Vaughn     About Vaughn Skow

The Ultimate Speaker Tonequest ... I need YOUR input!

So, my blogging has taken a bit of a backseat to life the last two weeks, but things are fixin’ to heat up!  I’m going to assemble a group of my fellow Nashville guitar tone affectionados for some serious black-belt speaker tone shootouts. 

Will you all help?  I want some "outside" opinions.  Let me know what speakers YOU want to see compared.  I promise, we will get to as many as possible.  You can post your requests here as a response to this blog, on my YouTube channel, my Facebook page, or email me directly.

Oh, and give us as much detail as you can, follow a form something like:

Speakers I want to see compared:

Amp type I’d like to have used in the comparison:

Guitar type I’d like to have used in the comparison:

Music style I’d like to have used in the comparison:

Any other pertinent tidbits:

There you have it.  Let’s go!  We’re all in this quest together :-)

See ya next week!  -Vaughn-

Why Play Guitar?

Ladies, I apologize in advance: this blog is going to be written from a distinctly male perspective!  I’m taking the week off from my relentless pursuit of tone and speaker dissection to have a little fun.  Next week we’ll be back to our regularly scheduled programming; but for now, let’s kick back and have a little fun.  Ya ready?

Okay guys, when it comes right down to it, why did you start playing guitar?  Be honest, to get chicks!  Right?  Dude, when I was 13, I was like human girl repellant.  I was barely over five feet tall, and was absolutely terrible at any and all sports.  If my future was to include a girlfriend, I needed to do SOMETHING quick.  Short Story: I got a guitar and amp, started a band with some kids from one town over (who didn’t know what a dweeb I was), did a few gigs, and ... vola!  Vaughn the dweeb was put to rest, and Vaughn the guitar player was born.  Sprinkle a little guitar pixie-dust over most any guy and the girls come running. My girlfriend problem was solved.  I’ve been playing outta my league ever since.  It’s proof you want?  I present exhibit A: my beautiful wife of many years.

Kim coulda had any guy, but she didn’t want just ANY guy, she wanted me ... a GUITAR PLAYER!

Having trouble with the ladies?  It’s never too late to assert your awesome guitarness.  Here are some pointers:  Always have a pocket full of picks, so when the ladies can’t actually see you with a guitar, you can casually pull one out when reaching for your keys.  Wear guitar related clothing & jewelry ... not the tourist/fan crap ... the good stuff: like t-shirts put out by manufacturers.  What gal can resist a guy in a U.S.A. Gibson shirt?  None that I’ve met.

Oh, and when you actually are on stage, cop a pose like my buddy Brian Downing & you’ll have to hire a body guard to keep the groupies at bay!

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See ya next week!  -Vaughn-

Happy Rockin' Hollidays From WGS!

It's been our best year in business yet all thanks to our loyal customers!  We are celebrating by giving away speakers!  Here are the winners:

Clarence Deveau - G10C/S
Randy Nelson - Retro 30
Joel Labat - Reaper HP
Brad Ryan - ET65
Charlie Cyr - Invader 50
Roger Cochran - G10C/S

From all of us at WGS have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

• Ever wonder what Veteran 10's sound like with screaming high gain riffs?  Wonder no longer.  Our good friend Siarhei at Samp Custom Cabinets sent us this video to prove that the Veteran 10 has what it takes to shred:
  
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pr1d3lVmle8