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Over 300 of the worlds leading musical instrument distributers and maufacturers will be packed into Londons ExCeL venue on the 14th and 15th of June to inspire you, the consumer with their latest gear.

London International Music Show is 4 shows in one; London Guitar show, Drummer Live, Unplugged and the Sound Recording & Technoligy show all under one roof and one ticket gets you into all shows.

The show promises all the lastest gear and technology with siminars, conferences and even celebrities of the music world. You can expect to see exhibitors from “Acoustic Guitar Magazine” through to “Yamaha Music UK”, and instruments from xylaphones to bassoons.

On the Live stage you can see Paul gilbert playing on saturday for the London Guitar show, Chad smith will be beating them skins for the Drummer live line-up, and the list goes on….

For updates on the event visit www.londoninternationalmusicshow.com and be sure to not miss the best music event this year.

I’ve been a fan of Tanglewood guitars for many years, as a Tanglewood was the first acoustic guitar I bought. The reason I bought a Tanglewood was simple, I didn’t have a lot of money and and it was by far the best guitar I could get for what little money I had.

Things have not changed much since then and Tanglewood are still producing great guitars from £100 to £2000. The TFC-E at this price range could be described as high end entry level, it’s certainly not as cheap as many but it’s certainly not going to force you into a credit crunch.

Construction wise this guitar has had a lot of care taken to ensure that all the seams and joins are finished professionally. From the top the headstock boasts 6 rather oddly shaped Tanglewood machine heads that are actually wider than standard machine heads allowing more control when tuning. They are smoothly geared and very stable.

The Rosewood fretboard is well crafted with a very forgiving action and the Rosewood itself has some very characterful blonde streaks running the length of the neck.

The Body, as I mentioned before, is clearly constructed with a great deal of care. The Mahogany is seamlessly put together and the semi matt finish brings out the richness in colour.

Sound wise, the first thing that is apparent is the tightness of the sound. The shape of the cut away body produces a far less boomy sound than a standard dreadnought, this is also apparent when plugged in. The shadow preamp does a admirable job of reproducing the guitars tone and is very easy to use. With a simple 3 band EQ, volume and presence, it’s very quick to customise your sound.

This guitar is simply ideal if you wish to make your first foray into the world of electro acoustics, the build quality and wood and great for the price. Not to be missed.

Tanglewood TFC-E Acoustic Guitar: Buy Now at the Best Price

There’s lots of guitar packages on the market, so there’s plenty of choice for the beginner. The Encore Blaster pack is currently one of the most affordable kits out there, and also one of the best value.

Available for only £149.99 down from £196, this pack is available in cherry sunburst, black or left handed black variations. Included in the pack is the Encore E99, B.B blaster amplifier, tuner, carry bag, stand, lead, strap, spare set of strings and a plectrum. Also included is an instructional DVD and a Tutor listing to get your rock star career started.

So, out of the box you can expect the guitar to be out of tune, nothing untoward there. The paintwork is great for a guitar in its price range and the overall build quality is rather pleasing. As with most guitars a quick set-up would not go a miss, though probably not immediately necessary.

The remaining items in the pack are the amp and the smaller accessories that sort of speak for themselves. The amplifier is basic and suitable for practice only. At 10 watts the B.B blaster amp will not offend your elderly neighbours, and if it turns out that they have super-sensitive spy-sattalite style hearing, then there’s a jack plug for your headphones to stick into (head phones not provided). Other features on the amp include an overdrive switch marked as “zap”, you also get “beef” (bass) “tweak” (treble) and most importantly “enjoy” (volume).

Other accessories include the carry bag,strings, stand and lead. The stand and carry bag are both Kinsman brand. Kinsman are a well reputed brand and whilst the bag provided does not have the padding you may want it is certainly durable.

Overall, this is a splendid pack that is reliable, affordable and has a good standard of build quality. The pack is bundled with all the extra’s you need to keep you going for a good while. A great package for anyone interested in starting out the guitar.

Encore E99 Play Now Blaster Pack - Cherry Sunburst Finish

Tired of propping your guitars against a wall? I suggest you think seriously about this stand before gravity has its evil way. It’s only a matter of time….

The Stagg SG-A300HBK is pretty much a universal guitar stand as the body shape of your guitar doesn’t actually matter as your instrument is meant to hang from the stand by its headstock. So unless you own one of those headless guitars that were cool for about five minutes in the 80’s you’re pretty much covered. The distance from the hanger to the base of the stand is almost a meter, which will accommodate anything from a guitar to a lengthy bass.

Buy the SG-A300 H BK

First impressions on opening the box are that this is quite a solid bit of kit, when folded the stand is 90cm in length and 15cm at the widest point. A little too large to stick in your gig bag or rucksack, but you could chuck it in the boot of a car without it taking up any significant space at all.

At the top of the stand there are 3 hangers that fold upwards when being stored, when extended they protrude about 20 cm outwards at 120 degree angles from each other.

The hangers themselves are 5mm thick layer of tough rubber sponge. Tough enough to stop the heaviest guitars neck and headstock from getting scuffed.

As this is a hanging guitar stand there is no guitar body rest for the guitar (like in A-frame guitar stands) this is so you can hang pretty much any shape guitar from the stand with no problem. Instead of a body rest there are 3 rubber sponge covered rests that protrude lower down the stand beneath each hanger to stop you guitar from bashing against the metal frame.

The base of the stand is a tripod, each pole has a tough rubber foot on the end and extends out about 35cm giving a large circumference and making the stand good and steady.

All in all this is one of those bits of kit that’s really, really boring. However you’ll really REALLY kick yourself if your precious gets kicked over and for the sake of £15 it would be silly not to buy one really.

It appears that a Stone Temple Pilots reunion this year is not just rumor, but it’s almost certain. On January 20th of 2008, lead vocalist Scott Weiland told the Miami Herald at a charity event in Miami that Stone Temple Pilots fans “should be on the lookout for a STP reunion in the coming months.”

The rumor of a STP reunion had been circulating for some time since reported problems in Velvet Revolver rose up again, which also coincided with Scott Weiland reconciling with Robert and Dean Deleo, who were also the main songwriters with Stone Temple Pilots. Stone Temple Pilots broke through in 1992 with the release of their debut album ‘Core’ which has since gone 8 times Platinum on the strength of the single ‘Plush.’ Stone Temple Pilots released their last full length studio album ‘Shangri-La Dee Da’ in 2001 and the fans have been wondering if Scott and the Deleo brothers could ever reform.

While Weiland formed Velvet Revolver with former members of Guns N Roses and the Deleo brothers went on to release an album under the name Army of Anyone, it seems STP fans can finally get excited about the certain. We caught up with Robert Deleo recently at an Army of Anyone show to find out how he feels about Stone Temple Pilots long list of accomplishments and if there were any hard feelings between him and Weiland.

Deleo Proud Of Stone Temple Pilots Accomplishments

“You know, I haven’t seen Scott in awhile. I wish him the best and there’s no hard feelings at all. We just kind of moved on and I’m very proud of what we did.”

In 2006 Scott Weiland was questioned if he could see a Stone Temple Pilots reunion in the future and he stated “the only thing that’s left unfinished is the completion of the story. If all the planets lined up, you never know what might happen one day,” implying that the end of the bands story had yet to be written. Recently, current Velvet Revolver and former Guns N Roses guitarist Slash, who is currently working on a solo album, mentioned a Guns N Roses and Stone Temple Pilots reunion tour wouldn’t be impossible to happen. Although anything that would involve Axl Rose certainly wouldn’t be easy to make possible. Look for Stone Temple Pilots to confirm their plans for in the coming months.

Related Blogs:
Superblast Story

Hollywood Insider Story

Metal Sucks Story

The January Sale is NOW ON!!
Check out the specials page to see our latest time limited special offers. We have a great range of guitars and other musical instruments, equipment and loads more.

You can view the January Sale items in the normal PlayRecord.Net view, or if you prefer then viewing as a list is a nice way to quickly scan for offers you would be interested in.

Click Here to go to the Sale Page

The last day that we can despatch things in time for Christmas is this Friday 21st of December. There is still time for last minute shoppers to get their Christmas presents in time!!

Search in this box to find items that can be delivered in time for Christmas:

Alternatively give us a call on 0844 8844 765 and we can recommend something that can be delivered in time for Christmas.

Christmas can be a pretty stressful time. We all know this and despite our best efforts at keeping up the Christmas Spirit sometimes the hassle of Christmas shopping can be a strain. However, we are here to help you!

While we try to offer as much of our catalogue on a next day basis as possible, there are some items which take us more like a week to despatch. These items are marked as delivery estimate 3-10 days.

If you are looking to purchase something for Christmas that is showing as this delivery estimate, this still shoudl not be a problem. If time is a bit tight though, we recommend getting in touch on the phone to double check the delivery time frame and maybe see if there is an alternative item that we could get to you sooner.

Our last despatch day for Christmas is friday the 21st of December.

Our search system lets you filter results for in stock only items. These are items which according to our stock system we have plenty of stock of and are therefore a safe bet for next day delivery.

Here are some popular searches:

Guitar Stands

Guitar

Electric Guitar

Acoustic Guitar

Bass Guitar

Classical Guitar

Left Handed

Tanglewood

Fender

Ibanez

Dean

Pearl

Drum

Bass

Yamaha

At this time of year we sell a lot of electric guitars to people looking to buy an electric guitar as a christmas present. We think this is a great idea, playing the electric guitar is great fun, promotes creativity and is generally a highly positive thing to get into.

For someone getting their first electric guitar, or buying someone their first electric guitar, we usually recommend going for one of the great guitar packages we have on offer. These include everything you need to get playing the electric guitar in a nice box, great for Christmas.

If you would prefer to put your own package together, or would like to spend a bit more and get a nicer guitar than comes in the packages, we offer an easy solution called the beginners package. Simply add this product to whichever electric guitar you prefer, and you have everything you need to start playing the electric guitar.

Heres a brief rundown of the essential accessories for an electric guitar.

Amplifier
An electric guitar is useless without an amplifier. You can spend anything from around £50 to as much as you want. The smallest cheapest amps are usually 10 Watts. This means that they are only really loud enough for playing at home on your own. If you intend to play in a band, or most importantly, with an acoustic drum kit (which are loud) then we would not recommend getting less than 100 Watts.

Lead
A guitar lead is essential to connect up your electric guitar to your amplifier. We sell a huge range of leads. If you go for the more expensive ones, expect them to last a long time and not degrade in quality. A cheaper lead will save you money, but may not last all that long if used heavily.

Plectrums
Picks or Plectrums are essential tools for strumming and picking the electric guitar. You can play some styles with your fingers, but most electric guitar styles require a plectrum. There are many thicknesses to choose from. We recommend going for the middle thicknesses to start with, and then see what feels right from there.

Tuner
A guitar tuner is really useful for getting and keeping your electric guitar in tune. You can cope without one, but unless you have some other reference to tune against, your guitar will gradually drift out of standard tuning and you will find it hard to sort out. A digital tuner is a cheap and easy option and is highly recommended.

Case or Bag
A case or bag is very useful for keeping the guitar safe whilst not in use and especially whilst in transit. A solid hard case will always be the best option for safety. A lightweight case or bag will generally be easier to carry around, but does compromise on protection.

This time of year we find that we are definitely selling more guitars to people who are buying for someone else than buying for themselves. We think that buying a guitar for someone else as a surprise Christmas present is a brilliant idea, but to get the best effect, you need to make sure you are buying the right kind of guitar.

The two things you need to decide when buying a guitar as a christmas present are:

1. What type of guitar?
Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Classical Guitar or Bass Guitar. There are some other kinds of guitar including Electro Acoustic Guitars, which is really an acoustic guitar with some electronics added and Semi Acoustic Guitars which are effectively an electric guitar with a hollow body, making it a bit like an Acoustic Guitar.

For someone who already has a guitar, it makes sense to get a different kind of guitar so that they will enjoy a different guitar playing experience. So if the person you are buying a guitar for currently has an electric guitar, we would recommend getting an acoustic guitar and vice versa.

If you are buying someone their first guitar, then we recommend going for one of the great guitar packages available.

2. What kind of budget do you want to spend?
This really is up to you. We recommend getting an idea of budget though before you start trying to make your choice of guitar as it is a great way of cutting down the options so that you are not overwhelmed with choice. Generally anything over £100 will get a nice playing guitar these days. However if you think they are worth it, spending more will definitely mean a much nicer guitar.

Once you have decided which type of guitar and what kind of budget you want to spend, the final decision simply involves having a look through our range of guitars and picking out right one, based on the colour and style that you think they will appreciate the most.

If you need any help at all at any step of the way, our team of professional guitar salespeople will happily give you some pointers. Simply give us a call on 0844 8844 765 or email us using our contact form with your queries and we will get back to you as quickly as possible with our recommendations. It would help us out if you could have some idea of the budget and type of guitar you are looking for first, so that we can narrow down the options for you and get straight to the right guitar Christmas present for the person you are buying for.

Blogs about Christmas Guitar
blog.musicnotes.com
Musicnotes.com Blog: One More Christmas Guitar Guru Song

headrush.typepad.com
Creating Passionate Users: What I want for Christmas

www.guitarist.co.uk
Guitarist