When Jim Adkins, guitarist and frontman for platinum-selling Jimmy Eat World, cheerfully challenged Fender to design his perfect guitar, the collaboration began that resulted in the new JA-90. The designers at Fender sat down with Adkins and went over his old Fender TC-90 spec by spec, making some important changes that resulted in this unique new model. Features include a mahogany neck set into a semi-hollow ash body, Seymour Duncan® soapbar pickups, independent volume and tone controls, an Adjusto-Matic^TM bridge and anchored tailpiece. Sweetness, indeed! Credit: Fender.

 Ibanez is extremely proud to announce the longest running artist signature model is celebrating its 30^th anniversary this year. The Ibanez GB30TH hollowbody electric commemorates 30 years of collaboration between Ibanez and George Benson. This extremely limited edition model features a gorgeous, unique gold foil finish inspired by the traditional Japanese Garahaku art form, along with a spruce top, maple back and sides, pearl inlays, and a 3-piece GB Prestige set-in neck. Only 30 of these beauties will be made, just 16 in the US. Credit: Ibanez.

 Guild Guitars is proud to introduce and feature the NEW Wave-Length^TM pickup and pre-amp from D-TAR®, with the exclusive Load ‘N Lock^TM battery access. Wave-Length^TM is D-TAR’s NEW under-saddle pickup system that combines a thin, piezo transducer with an 18-volt, low-noise, high-input impedance preamp.

Eighteen volts translates to twice the headroom and dynamic range of a typical 9-volt system. This means you can strum extra hard without experiencing dreaded piezo “quack.” Simply put, the Wave-Length^TM is the most non-invasive acoustic guitar pickup and preamp system ever, and is as sonically spectacular as it is visually discreet. The D-TAR® Load ‘N Lock^TM system is available on Guild® Contemporary and Traditional Series instruments. Credit: Guild Guitars.

 Juha Ruokangas of Ruokangas Guitars has posted Part 6 of his Video Diary on the building of his new model the Unicorn. The entire desing and build process is being filmed and posted on YouTube for the entire world to see! You can check out Part 6 here.�

If you are having a problem with machine screws on your guitar or amp coming loose you can use Loctite to prevent this. This is helpful on small screws like the ones used for guitar bridge height adjustment. This also works well for the mounting screws on amp handles that come loose occasionally. I like to use just a very small amount of the Loctite Threadlocker Green for the smaller screws on guitars as well as some of the larger amp screws. Only use a very small amount just enough to prevent the screws from coming loose. You do not want to use too much making it difficult in case you want to remove or adjust the screws. You will find many uses for this product. Loctite Threadlocker is available at any hardware store or an Home Depot or Lowe’s. A little dab will do ya!

 Exciting News! The good folks over at Musikraft have listened to their customers feedback and are extremely happy to now offer Licensed Blackguard style Tele necks. These necks are built in the spirit of the early Fender Telecaster years 1950-1954. Through extensive research and feedback gathered from the Telecaster community, they are offering necks as close to the original specs as possible. Musikraft has the expertise and modern technology which enables them to accomplish this goal along with their talented staff that brings life to each of these special custom creations. Many thanks go out to Nacho Banos the author of the Blackguard Book. Without it we would not be able to offer necks in the spirit of this author inspired research. The Blackguard Tele necks are available now. Click here for more detailed information about the Blackguard necks. For more information about Musikraft you can check out last month’s Spotlight feature here.

 Many players have experienced the exhilaration of finding that perfect spot in front of a good valve amp. You enter a zone of sustain, power, and string sensitivity. Now imagine controlling and enlarging this capacity even at bedroom levels? (No hearing loss here!)

Instead of forcing the resonate energy to the outside of your guitar, the Internal Combustion Guitar’s proprietary driver system gently pumps it back inside. Then our coupling mechanism redistributes the controlled energy to your strings. Your touch sends signal to a small amp (6 watts or less) or processor combo. The small amp sends the conditioned signal back to the Internal Combustion Guitar. The Internal Combustion Guitar power driver reenergizes the now harmonically enriched and colored string tone The Result = Control, Color, Texture, and Feel. Click here for video clips and more in depth info. Credit: Woody B.

 TV Jones has a brand new YouTube channel. There are a few performance videos and a video on how to pop out the wooden shims on a 6120 type guitar and replace them with rubber pieces. This allows height adjustment of the pickups. Brand new. Check it out here.

 Between October1, 2008 to December 31, 2008 Vox is offering a free padded carrying bag when you purchase a ToneLab LE. Click here for more details. for more details. Credit: Vox.

 When a world class player asks for a custom 81/85 set in camouflage it’s a matter of when, not how. The biggest challenge was ensuring that the cap could withstand the typical punishment of picks and strings. We abandoned the standard paint and airbrush options and went with a more roadworthy and durable “dipping” method. The result was the EMG-CAMO SET, a quality bundle of our classic 81 and 85 hum buckers wrapped in a camouflage design. As a special “thank you” to all of our fans we’ve decided to make these collectable pickups available to the public. A limited run of 300 sets were made, (with some going directly to artists now on tour) and there is no information on the EMG web site as these will not be stock products. It is strictly a limited one time production. Credit: EMG.