Feb 1st 2009
Sterling by Music Man®BGW is proud to be the official dealer for Sterling by Music Man® guitars. Introduced by Music Man® at the 2009 Winter NAMM Convention, these guitars are built with a focus on providing high quality at a great value. Aimed at the mid range price point, Sterling guitars bear the same quality expected from the Music Man® family. With features such as all solid tonewoods, Music Man® designed parts, Active electronics, locking tuners, heavy padded gig bags and a final set up/inspection in Music Man's Orange, CA USA facility, Sterling by Music Man® pledges to give you a quality instrument that will meet or exceed your expectations for all of your musical needs. Do check out the following Youtube demos on the Stingray and John Petrucci models! More information on the full range of models is available on the Sterling by Musicman® official website. More Reviews on Sterling by Music Man. - EBMM Forum - Talkbass Forum - Basschat Forum Jan 25th 2009 Cooperstands coming to BGW.Cooperstands fit in the headstock area of a guitar case, need we say more? Dec 20th 2009 More Genz Benz & Dehumifiers coming your way.We will be bringing you more Genz Benz Bass Amplifiers and affordable dehumidifiers coming January. Have a Merry Christmas! Dec 7th 2009 More Value Products.Some award-winning amplifiers, guitars and instrument cables will soon be reaching our shores. Stay tuned as we bring you more value for your dollar. Nov 21st 2009 Plekked Guitars at BGW.In our constant strive to bring you more value for your money, we now offer the option of having your guitars Plekked* when you purchase a new guitar from us. The PLEK machine is a unique computer controlled precision robot that measures and locates differences (within a thousand of a millimetre) on the neck, frets and fretboard. These differences are sanded off which results in a better sounding instrument and improved playability. Even though great instruments are built nowadays, there are still limitations to achieving precision that makes guitars less sonic and not as playable as they could be. These deficiencies can now be eliminated with this innovative invention which has already been applied on all Paul Reed Smith and Martin guitars. *This option is vailable for most guitars we carry. Nov 14th 2009 Epiphone Masterbilts Arriving in a week.These full solid guitars boast premium solidwood, a wide X deep scallop bracing, ultra thin vintage satin finish, a tapered dovetail neck joint and bone nut & saddle. Such features contributes to an extremely resonant guitar with great tone. All at a no frills pricetag. Nov 10th 2009 New Old Stock Guitars!To stretch your dollar, we now offer New Old Stock (NOS) Guitars which are essentially brand new guitars from 2007-2008 at heavily discounted prices. Nov 5th 2009 Over 65 Brands now available at BGWOur inventory has expanded and we can now get you guitars from over 65 brands! We offer free shipping and will peg our prices closely to the cheapest online stores. Oct 22nd 2009 Genz Benz Bass Amps at BGWWe have received our first shipment of Genz Benz bass amplifiers including the highly-rated Shuttle 3.0 Combo! Do check out our introductory prices! 
Oct 14th 2009 Ameritage Silver Series CasesAmeritage announced their newest case line at Summer NAMM 2009. This new line boasts superior construction at a comfortable price. If you liked the original Ameritage Case, but did not want the humidity control system this is for you! The new Silver is the way to go if you want a case that protects your instrument AND your budget. 
Oct 2nd 2009 Genz Benz Shuttle 9 Now Available!Check out the new Genz Benz Shuttle 9.0, a 900-watt RMS bass amplification head which weighs just 1.8 kilograms. Sept 27th 2009 New Capos in the Block.We are constantly on the hunt for cheaper product alternatives which can do their job bloody damn well and here's one of them. The NS Capo by Planet waves boast an ultra-light aerospace grade aluminum which adds virtually no weight to the guitar’s neck when in use. Unlike traditional capos which exert excessive pressure, the smooth micrometer dial on a NS Capo ensures just the right amount of pressure for perfect intonation across all frets. Without excessive pressure, your strings will also feel less tense for fretting as you play on the higher frets. We've compared this capo amongst other brands with similar pricepoints (Keyser, G7th, Schubb, Dunlop etc.) and this came out tops in performance. The only downside would be the screw-on nature of the capo which tends to be slower to move around compared to regular clamp-on designs. For those with a bigger budget, we would recommend the G7th Performance Capo instead. They are still our long time favourites. 
Sept 24th 2009 THANK YOU for sticking with us.We will be sending a set of Planet Waves Fret Polishing System to everyone who have purchased a guitar from us shortly. Thank you for your kind support since our humble beginnings. 
Sept 22nd 2009 Epiphone Masterbilt Guitars arriving at BGWWe have been on the prowl for value-for-money acoustic guitars under $1000 and were extremely excited when we chanced upon the Epiphone Masterbilt. These full solid guitars boast premium solidwood, a wide X deep scallop bracing, ultra thin vintage satin finish, a tapered dovetail neck joint and bone nut & saddle. Such features contributes to an extremely resonant guitar with great tone. All at a no frills pricetag. Check out youtube Videos! Aug 13th 2009 Genz Benz Amplifiers in Store!Our Genz Benz acoustic amplifiers have arrived and are now available at introductory prices (while stocks last)! The Shenandoah junior serves as an excellent bedroom acoustic amplifier with sufficient headroom for even a cafe gig while the Compak 300 brings it a bar higher with 175W of pure acoustic mojo! Both models are extremely portable and lightweight. Check out the specifications and do drop by our showroom for a test run! • Shenandoah Junior SGD$550 (UP SGD$690) • Compak 300 8T SGD$1150 (UP SGD$1390) 
Aug 5th 2009 Genz Benz Amplifiers Arriving August 13thGenz Benz acoustic amplifiers will be arriving at BGW next week. Stay tuned for introductory prices! July 24nd 2009 Genz Benz Compak 300 Review by Acoustic Guitar- Extracted from www.acousticguitar.comJeff Genzler began building speaker cabinets in his garage decades ago, which led to the formation of Genz-Benz in 1984. The company started producing amps designed for acoustic guitars around 2000 and recently introduced two compact and versatile new additions to its popular Shenandoah line. The Compak 300 amps include the SHEN-CPK-8T and SHEN-CPK-10T, which we received for review. The amp can function in several ways: as a stand-alone amp, to power external speakers, or as a preamp/DI in conjunction with a PA system. The head can be easily removed and is extremely portable, allowing you to bring your familiar amp sounds and settings with you. Just plug it in to an external cabinet, and you’re ready to go. In addition, the included XLR mic input allows the amp to be used as a small PA for singer-guitarists. The amp is remarkably light and has a built-in tilt foot, which points the cabinet upward. I tried the SHEN-CPK-10T with several different guitars, including a Taylor 714ce with a Fishman Acoustic Matrix undersaddle pickup, a Gibson J-45 and Guild D50 NT with undersaddle piezo pickups, and a Martin 000-18 with a K&K Pure Western soundboard transducer system. Intuitive Control LayoutIn general, the control layout is easy to use. The two channels have identical knobs, and though they are somewhat small, once you are familiar with them, they pose no problems. The effects control knob is a little more challenging. As you turn it, it is a bit hard to see which setting you’re on because the black line pointing to the settings is on the top of the knob. Placement of the indicator line next to the chassis would make it easier to read. While it may be a challenge to move quickly to the setting you want in the middle of a performance, with experience you’ll get used to finding the settings you prefer.Dial In Your SoundEach channel has its own three-band EQ section that includes a midrange frequency control knob that sweeps between 250 Hz and 5 kHz. You can use this sweepable control to reduce or boost frequencies in a bandwidth about an octave wide. By using the EQ controls and phase switch, I was able to dial in a tone I liked for each guitar, and the amp responded well to both fingerstyle and flatpicking. I played the Irish song “Star of the County Down” on the Martin, both fingerstyle and with a flatpick, and found a good sound with the flatpick by rolling off the mid gain control about 9 dB. This setting also worked well as I flatpicked two jazz tunes, “Nardis” and “Timeless.” The same setting, however, produced a thin, nasally sound from the Gibson’s piezo when I flatpicked the same tunes, but I was able to reduce this by rolling off the high gain almost completely, putting the mid frequency up to about three o’clock and engaging the phase switch. Clearly, tone settings are a matter of taste, but the EQ controls afford a lot of possibilities for finding a variety of tones.Plenty of PowerFor an amp this size, the CPK-10T packs a big sound. There’s a lot of volume with the amp as a stand-alone combo amp. Even when I pushed the volume controls way up, the guitar sound stayed clear and clean. It would easily work in a café setting or with a small band that’s not too loud, and it can power additional speakers to spread the sound around a room (Genz-Benz makes an extension speaker for the CPK-10T, the SHEN-CPK-EXT10, which has a street-price of about $480). If the amp alone is not enough volume for your needs in larger venues or with larger groups, you can run the signal from the direct outputs through a PA system.Effective EffectsThe amp’s effects are generated by a 24-bit digital processor and include eight reverb settings, chorus, flange, two delays, two chorus/reverb settings, and a rotary speaker emulation. Each channel has a separate level control for the effect in use, and there is also a master effects volume control. I found that the effects were subtle, and I enjoyed the different tones. In particular, the smaller of the two hall settings added a depth and warmth that enhanced the guitar sound a great deal. If you want to crank the effects (and here we leave the realm of reproducing a pure acoustic-guitar sound), there are a variety of interesting possibilities. Reverbs become large and cavernous, which could be used for a lead acoustic-guitar sound with a band. Chorus and flange effects are strong and clear, and I got more of an electric-guitar sound when I boosted them all the way up.Using the Amp as a Small PAWhile each channel has a 1/4 -inch input jack, Channel Two also includes an XLR input, which can be used to add a mic for voice or another instrument, in essence turning the amp into a small PA. I ran a Sennheiser e825S dynamic microphone into the XLR input and got a clear, warm vocal sound that blended well with the guitar. I also had a friend play another guitar through Channel One so all three inputs were used at once. The sound was impressively clear; we had to raise the volume a bit, but there was plenty of headroom. The amp would also be an excellent stand-alone PA for guitar and vocal in a small café or outdoors at a small party or wedding gig. Although there is only one volume control for the two inputs on Channel Two, you can set the microphone volume to your desired level at the amp and then control the instrument volume on Channel Two with a separate volume control on your instrument or preamp, allowing you to make good use of the amp’s three inputs.Clean, Powerful, and Faithful Sound
Most acoustic guitar players have the same goal when amplifying an acoustic guitar: to reproduce the guitar’s acoustic sound as clearly and faithfully as possible and to make the guitar loud enough to reach a large audience. The Shenandoah SHEN-CPK-10T does just that. It should please anyone looking for a lightweight, clean, and powerful acoustic guitar amplifier.
July 22nd 2009 Taylor 35th Anniversary Preview- Extracted from Taylor Guitars Official WebsiteLike Taylor’s previous anniversary-inspired limited editions, the guiding theme is not the past but the road ahead. To celebrate Taylor’s 35th year, Bob Taylor and his development team chose to craft an eclectic series of limiteds, released in select batches of 35. Some will showcase exotic woods such as feathered koa, grafted walnut and flitch-sawn Brazilian rosewood, while others are Taylor firsts that respond to customer requests from over the years. Among the models currently in development are a parlor guitar, a baritone guitar, a 12-fret Grand Concert, and even a 9-string. Also in the works are exotic top T3s, a series that features a Laskin-style armrest, and more. Some models are scheduled for release starting in August, with other series planned for a September release. We’ll be following up this preview with a complete showcase of each series starting in mid-August, so be sure to check back for full details on each available series, including photos, specs, pricing and dealer availability. 
July 18th 2009 Genz Benz Amplifiers coming to BGWHere's the answer to our search for an affordable acoustic amplifier which will not burn your pockets while giving you the clarity and headroom for a class performance. The Genz Benz Shenandoah Junior and Shenandoah Compak 300 acoustic amplifiers are simply one of the best-sounding acoustic guitar amplifiers in its price range. We have scoured through various makes including the much favourited Fishmen Loudbox, Ultrasound and AER Compact 60 before settling for these. Nothing came close to the performance of the Shenandoah Jr. in the sub USD$500 category while in the sub USD$1000 category, the performance of the AER Compact 60 and Genz Benz Shenandoah Compak 300 were clearly our favourites. Both were able to deliver warm, rich tones and phenomenal output in surprisingly compact cabinets with the Genz Benz sparking a unique removable amplifier chassis which allows the player to extract the amp and use it for even larger venues. It is no wonder that Genz Benz was awarded Guitar World Acoustic's highest mark of recognition, its 'Platinum Award', for its Shenendoah Pro acoustic amplifier and have since established a presence on the international stages of Grammy-winning, multi-platinum recording artists These amplifiers will be reaching our store in about a fortnight. Do make an appointment with us to give these highly affordable amplifiers a test run and do stay tuned for our introductory offers (Limited pieces only)! 
Related Links: • Genz Benz Website • Genz Benz Shenandoah Compak 300 Review July 15th 2009 United Breaks GuitarsThe first of 3 installments by Dave Carroll on how United Airlines broke his Taylor guitar. Have a good laugh. Related Links: • Full Story • CNN Cover Story • Taylor Guitar's Response (Great Info Here) July 11th 2009 Taylor T5 SoundroomHere's an excellent soundroom to check on the versatality of the Taylor T5. Hear the T5 through various pickup selections and a large variety of amplifiers. Takes a while to load but it's definitely worth the wait! 
July 10th 2009 Taylor T5 ES NoiseHere's a post to address a simple fix on the older expression electronics installed on pre-2007 Taylor T5s. Depending on how dirty/clean the current is that you're plugged into and the grounding at your facility, a minority of users may experience pickup noise on position 3 and position 5. The noise is often observed to be significantly reduced when the strings/humbucker is touched. The fix is pretty simple and involves the installation of a "fused string ground" or a metallic strip wired to the crcuit ground as shown below. Expression systems on T5s from 2007 onwards come default with the "fused ground string" and do not require further installations. The following photos should be self-explanatory.    
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July 8th 2009
Acoustic Guitar TonewoodsWe've been receiving repeated inquiries on the difference in tone caused by Tonewoods. Here's an excellent demonstration by Ken Stanton Music on 3 Taylor acoustic guitars. | |
July 5th 2009
String ToneHere's a useful site with a list of soundclips which demonstrates how different types of strings will affect the tone on your guitar. A Taylor 414-CE acoustic guitar was used for the recordings in this instance. | |
July 3rd 2009
McPherson ToneritedHere are clips after Toneriting a McPherson 3.5 (Engelmann / Rosewood) for 3 days at high power. The clips don't do justice to McPherson guitars though as it was hard to capture the sweet spot for recording using a single microphone on this guitar. The guitar definitely sounded more "played-in" after the treatment as though a natural reverb was present. McPherson 3.5 ( Original | 3 Days |
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July 1st 2009
Can I Play a Semi-Acoustic Guitar through
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June 30th 2009
ToneRite Soundclips (Part 2)Here's our 2nd installment of ToneRite soundclips from 10 days of ToneRite treatment. ToneRite was kept at maximum power during the first 3 days. All guitars showed a consistent improvement in resonance especially in the lows (bass) and low mids. It was noticed that the trebles were slightly muted due to the overpowering bass response. The guitars were subsequently ToneRited for another 3 days at high power treatment followed by 4 days at low power to bring out the trebles. Once again, all guitars showed a consistent improvement in resonance. The overall tone of the guitars also became more rounded and defined. With the low power settings however, we observed that the improvement in resonance of high mids and trebles became more apparent.
We are pleased by the conclusive results. ToneRite was able to accelerate the natural play-in process and improvements in tone and resonance were significant. This was achieved without altering the original character of the tone. Kudos to the team at ToneRite Inc. !
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June 29th 2009
Mix n Match your ElixirsTo add more value to your purchases, you may now mix any Elixir strings in a single purchase and still be entitled to bulk discounts. 
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June 28th 2009
ToneRite SoundclipsRan a 72 hour ToneRite treatment for 4 selected guitars. Fresh Elixir strings were strung on the guitars before the treatment and were kept on for the 2nd recording. No production magic or effects were used and the ToneRite was set on maximum power throughout. Enjoy the raw soundclips! All guitars showed a consistent improvement in resonance especially in the lows and low mids. The trebles were observed to be slightly muted due to the overpowering bass response. The trebles are expected to mature with a low power treatment subsequently as recommended by the guys at ToneRite. We will be running clips again after a week of treatment. Stay tuned!
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June 27th 2009 Ameritage Cases coming to BGWWe will soon be bringing you Ameritage instrument cases! These guitar cases are of the finest quality and will protect your prized instruments from even the most rugged elements. Ameritage gold series cases features:
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