VAUGHN SKOW's blog

WGS Awards Free Custom Guitar Speakers!

I’ll state the obvious once again: WGS customers are a cut above the rest; my latest contest proves this in spades!  In my blog four weeks ago, I asked you all to design your custom dream-speaker and then explain why you chose the components you did.  Of the 150 or so entries, almost all were truly stellar. Wow, you all know your stuff; given your styles and tone objectives, you all made some great choices, backed up by sound reasoning.  It was insanely difficult for Dean, WGS production manager, to pick just one that stood out head-and-shoulders above the rest.  And so, he didn’t.  Dean actually chose THREE winners!  In fact, we are still working on a way to make ALL of you who entered winners ... but we gotta sell the President, David on that idea!

Okay, so are ya ready?  (drum roll please) Here are our threewinning entries: (READ ON)

Meet Jenna, one Super Sexy Custom Strat

I just celebrated a birthday; and I bought myself a present ... a Strat like none other.  This beauty, Jenna, was custom crafted by Bobby Clark of BC Customs.  She’s not just a looker, either; she’s most definitely a player!  So, let me tell you all about this new gal of mine.  Her classily curvaceous body is made of Swamp Ash with a stunning quilted maple top, which gives her a very pleasant, resonant natural acoustic voice.  The Neck began its life as a 50’s "road-worn" that was scraped, sanded, and finished in nitrocellulose; the result is a neck that falls somewhere between a 50’s and 60’s profile.  Thick enough for some serious tone, but thin enough for my lil ol fingers to feel comfortable on.  The pickups are Lindy Fralin Vintage-hot’s, which, contrary to their name, are not really wound very "hot".  Switching is 5-way with a neck blend pot in the 2^nd tone pot position for SRV style neck-bridge blending opportunities.  The bridge pickup is barely wound any hotter than the neck & middle, but sports a steel base-plate, enabling some serious Tele-style twang and an extraordinarily firm bottom.  The Bridge is Wilkinson’s new 5&1 vintage style with a steel block and push-in trem arm.  Tuners are vintage style Goth split-shank.

The result?  Well, let me tell ya, this is one of those cases where the total package adds up to more than the sum of all its parts.  The combination of the light & resonant body with the very solid neck and steel block bridge makes for a gal who loves to sing; the sustain is the stuff of legends.  Tonally, the Fralin’s are the dream of anyone who loves vintage Fender tone.  The neck & middle sound just like a really, really good vintage Strat should sound.  The in-between combinations are a mystical, magical, sparkly, chimey, smooth, sweet, and airy wonderland.  And the Bridge pickup can be either a very vintage Straty Dr Jekyll, or turn into a very Teleesque Mr. Hyde when dug into.  There are no humbucking tones to be had, but the single coil tones are second to none.  The real test is in the playing, and let me tell ya, it’s a love thang!  This lil lady and I rendezvous every night.  I simply can’t leave her alone.  While my wife sleeps soundly, we laugh, cry, scream and make passionate love.

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WGS Folks: as Cool as WGS Speakers

Ya’ll are awesome!  I have came to that conclusion after reading the entries from my current speaker give-away contest and checking out the latest posts on the Q&A forum.  I’m sure you have noticed that often on guitar related forums many of the posts sound like they were written by a totally ignorant 12 year old; complete with a bunch of choice swear words just to drive home the point.  However, you, the WGS folks are different!  It is said that good people attract good people; I think this is the case with WGS. 

As far as the contest entries go ... wow, this is going to be a tough call!  Personally, I wish we could just give every entrant their dream speaker, but I just don’t see that idea being embraced by WGS management!  I’m glad the call belongs to Dean; I hope he’s not too mad at me for giving him the responsibility for choosing the winner!

See ya next week, got all kinds of cool stuff in the ol blog pipeline, so ya’ll come back now, ya hear?

email Vaughn     About Vaughn Skow

Win a FREE "Custom-Shop" WGS Speaker!

***NOTE: THIS CONTEST HAS ENDED! SEE WINNERS HERE ***

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Hi-diddly-ho fair neighbors!  I pen this blog from my back porch on a perfect 70-degree spring day; the sun is shining, the birds are singing like mad, and my dog Sasha is asleep at my feet without a care in the world.  What could be better?  How about a free WGS speaker ... and not just any WGS speaker, but one that is custom designed by YOU to your exact specs?  Okay, go ahead, pinch yourself.  Did you feel it?  You’re not dreaming; this is real!  It’s all the brain-child of WGS production manager, Dean Birdsong.  Truth be told, Dean’s the real speaker guru at WGS; he’s been making speakers his entire adult life.  In all those years, Dean has never happened upon a speaker cone that has inspired him like the cone currently being used in the Liberator.  As Dean puts it "that darn cone sounds great in every configuration we try it in".  And so it is that the concept for the worlds first fully customized hand-made in America guitar speaker was envisioned, built around the Liberator cone.  Dean is so into this idea that when I asked for a pic of him building a speaker, he actually said yes.

Here, the man himself is shown assembling three "H-motor" Liberator prototypes.  READ ON for the full scoop on how to win your own dream life ... okay, I got overly excited there ... what I intended to say was dream SPEAKER (same thing, right?),READ ON!

About Magnetic Attraction ...in speakers...

Happy Valentines day ya’all!  A perfect time to discuss magnetic attraction.  Surly you all know that magnetic forces are what actually enable a speaker to "speak".  In a nut shell, a variable electro-magnet (the voice-coil) operates in a permanent magnetic field (provided by the magnet you see on the back of the speaker). At this point I feel it is only fair to warn you that the relationship between the voice-coil and the permanent magnet is a tumultuous one.  For as you know, magnets not only have the power to attract one another, they can also repel; the varying voltage applied to the voice coil (i.e. variable electro-magnet), causes the two to be constantly confused as to whether they love or hate each other!  When they are smitten, the voice-coil, and the attached speaker cone lovingly cling to one another; and when they have an aversion to each other, the voice-coil and cone get as far away from the magnet as it can.  It’s this delicate dance that causes a speaker to sing!  Wanta dig a little deeper?  Then READ ON my friendly friend!

The Dope on Speaker Dope!

If you are reading this blog, you have an affinity for speakers and tone that surpasses that of the casual guitarist.  You have no doubt encountered the term "doping" when researching speakers.  Some believe that doping creates monster speakers the way it creates monster Baseball all-stars.  This is one of those oft misunderstood areas which can approach smoke & mirror status.  So, let’s carefully enter the murky waters of speaker doping.  Put on your hip waders and READ ON!

Yes, You CAN ! (Don't Let Anyone Tell You Otherwise)

Hello fellow lovers of superior sounds!  My blog today has left the tracks and is headed down a dirt road ... so LOOK OUT!  Last month I had the pleasure of doing a show with one of the finest singers I’ve ever worked with, Melinda Doolittle.  Dear God in heaven, how that girl can sing; I have goose bumps as I write this ... just remembering her performance on that evening in December.  For those of you unfamiliar with Doolittle, she’s the long-time American Idol background singer who came out of the background in 2009 to be a contestant; she almost won the thing, and she DID score a record deal.  Well, this morning she was on one of the network news shows, and she said something that I feel is well worthy of repeating.  READ ON to find out what she said!

The Making Of A (Tone) Star:

A few weeks back, I received an email from a WGS fan asking if I could do a video on just how the WGS speakers are made.  First the bad news: The short answer is no.  WGS uses a few very distinctive and proprietary techniques, and as much as they would love to go bragging to the world, some competitors might just seize the opportunity to do a little unauthorized "borrowing".  Now the good news: There IS a bunch I can disclose!  So, read on!

Okay, so ... where to begin?  I guess I’ll begin where speakers begin, raw metal.  WGS does, of course have a full metal shop; it’s kinda like the metal shop I remember from high school, except about a gazillion times bigger.  I don’t remember my high school shop having any metal lathes quite like this monster:

2011 Year-in-Review: WGS Chooses Not To Participate In The Recession

Man, oh man was 2011 a GREAT year!  Now that might not be true for everyone everywhere, but it sure is true at WGS.  Yea, the national housing market spent the year in shambles, our federal government went another Trillion dollars in debt, and National unemployment was still stuck in the 10% range.  And sure it’s true that the EU is reeling from a spending spree on the part of some of its member states that might just bring the whole house of cards down.  Too bad the world’s leaders don’t follow WGS’s example. You see, our 2011 headline reads: WGS Chooses Not To Participate In The Recession ... READ ALL ABOUT IT!

Let’s run the WGS stats for 2011:

• Number of employees laid-off: Zero.
• Sales figures: The best yet.
• New models introduced:  Four.
• Company moral: positive and contagious.

Spin the facts any way ya want, 2011 was a good year in WGS land.   In fact, this past "Cyber Monday" saw more sales than any other single day in WGS history.  Don’t worry, though, WGS will never be one of those companies that gets wildly successful, goes public, and then fires everybody and moves production to whatever country has the cheapest labor and/or loosest environmental laws.  No way!  Success means one thing to WGS:  it ain’t broke, so it don’t need any fixing.

Next week I hope to give you a little insight into just how the magic happens at the WGS factory.  For now I’ll leave you with this wonderful pic of budding young tone-masters in the making.  Ain't they cute at that age?

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A Very Merry Christmas to all!

Howdy folks!  It's Christmas eve; I've been under the weather and wrapped up in bed for the last few days ... but that's not been an entirely bad thing; it's given me some time to reflect on just how blessed I am.  First, when I get sick, it sure is nice to have a warm house with indoor plumbing and a comfy bed; and my wife is an absolute angel,  bringing me chicken-noodle soup and the like.  And of course there are the other wonderful members of my immediate family, my two precious redheads, my daughters Ashley and Callie; though separated by nearly two decades, those girls are like two peas in a pod.  Their laughter is like good medicine.  In the middle of what, I am told, are the toughest economic times since the great depression we managed to buy our dream house ... and even sell our old house!  My career has also never been better.  I love my current adjunct professorship, my current band lineup, my new studio, my church praise leader gig, my DJ biz, and most of all, I love being a part of the WGS family.  I truly wish each and every WGS customer could come and meet the folks who design, build, test, and ship the speakers ... for they are a truly special group of good-hearted and dedicated folks!  I recently received an email asking if I could post a video showing how the WGS speakers are made.  I'm not quite sure I can do that, as there are a few unique and proprietary methods employed.  However, I think I can do a very nice little behind-the-scenes piece on what exactly goes into making a WGS speaker ... oh, and don't worry ... this time, when you get a glimpse of the man behind the curtain ... you will NOT be disappointed!

Until then, on this Christmas Eve I wish a Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!  Be blessed.