NEW! Devil Dude Pick Holder Keychain. w00t!…

pickhldr_1

 

pickhldr_2The Devil Dudes are back! Well at least one of them is anyway and he’s on our fabulous (and useful!) new pick holder keychain. Emblazoned with The Dude’s portrait in slightly raised rubber on a fine, snap-closed, leather pocket, it will fit up to 3 of our 3.2mm, 5 of our 2mm and a whopping 10 of our 1mm Super Blacks Picks inside. The reverse side is printed with the famous Hell Guitar logo.

Now, think about this… How many times have you driven to the guitar shop to try out a new axe only to discover that your favorite picks are sitting at home? On the other hand, how many times have you driven to the guitar shop without your keys? Never, right?! So now you can simply keep your picks with your keys as nature intended. Superior style and utility. How great is that?!

Regarding the leather, as we are kindly animal-loving folk here at Hell, we regret using it in this product and had, in fact, told our maker (the manufacturer, not God…) to use fake leather. Perhaps they thought our correspondence had a typo and we meant to say “make” leather. In any case, it is made of durable stuff which should hold both your keys and your picks for a good long while. After these have sold, we will be ordering the finest fake leather on the market. So if you prefer leather you should buy now. If you avoid the stuff, perhaps you’d prefer to wait…

So there you are. Full disclosure. Hell thinks animal products are bad except, in a way, they are good (in a utilitarian sort of way). Which is really to say that they’re bad, especially for the poor creature involved, right?

umm…’nuff said…

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From Hell to you…Sonar All-Aluminum pickguard!

Hell Guitars, HellParts, Sonar pickguard


“Sonar” prototype all-aluminum pickguard.

Here’s our first prototype for a new pickguard for Tele-style guitars. Made of aluminum to keep it light and to help shield your guitar from that nasty RF buzz. Once we’ve nailed a proper production guard we will be manufacturing a bunch of styles to be followed by guards for Strats, LPs, SGs and perhaps some Gretsch models.

The guard pictured above is on my ’93 American Standard. Looks stunning if I do say so myself. A side note about my Tele. It has been very stupidly left unstrung, without case and kept in a room with very high temps and humidity (in summertime) for the past 2-3 years. I was using it to fit different pickguard designs and couldn’t be bothered to string it back up and put it away. Well, when I fit this guard on it, I finally decided to string it up figuring that the neck will have probably warped beyond playability. Amazingly it is the same great neck that it always was. It plays (and sounds) faboso. To be honest, this Tele was always a special one to me so I’m not sure how I could have neglected it so but after all, no harm done.

Anyway, please stay tuned for some amazing pickguards that you will not be finding anywhere else. In fact a ton of new products are set to be released– starting very soon!

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Rather difficult to swallow…

Mom (dad?) and babies. Chick on the right just fed a dragonfly

Mom (dad?) and babies. Chick on the right just fed a dragonfly

 

Or should I say, rather difficult to be a swallow…

For the past 5 or 6 years, we have had a persistent pair of swallows (tsubame here in Japan) who have been nesting above our front porch. Until this year they have been dismal failures as prospective parents. The first year the nest fell apart before they started nesting and same with the next year, I believe. The next year they started nesting but apparently didn’t incubate the eggs properly so nothing came of it. The following year, babies were finally born but the nest was raided by a predator bird (perhaps a crow) that wiped out the hatchlings.

Finally, this year they got it right! Five eggs laid and five healthy chicks have been growing daily until finally today all but one of the chicks have flown the nest. As I write, the parents and the little guy’s siblings are flying around the nest encouraging him to take the plunge. We have been watching the whole process with great interest and are so happy to see them finally succeed!

There were some anxious moments yesterday as part of the nest fell apart leaving the chicks precariously hanging on and nowhere for the parents to sleep, but they made their way to flight just in time.

Actually I am especially glad for this happy outcome as I have largely been the blame for the swallow’s (until now) chronic failures. You see, when they first came to build their nest I took a hose to it several times to shoot the mud down as they tried. We had just moved into our new home which was being caked in mud and bird droppings and, as much as I love birds, was having none of it. I was soon informed that having a tsubame nest is considered good luck so I soon stopped the counterattack but my wife was convinced that it was my evil act that started them off on the wrong foot (or wing as it were). So now I am finally off the hook!

It really has been inspiring to watch them go at it. Especially after the babies were born. The parents tirelessly worked from morning til dark catching and feeding insects (often as big as the chicks!). Their perseverance and selflessness made me feel inadequate as a parent (I mean, when was the last time I fed my daughter a nice dragonfly?).

hell guitars, swallow, tsubame

Baby chick trying to “swallow” a dragonfly

As some of you country folk can no doubt tell, I’m a citadin and rather unconnected with nature. I’m sure many of you have had occasion to witness such things on a regular basis but for me, I have been quite moved by the whole thing. The persistence, the effort and the beauty of it all.

tsubame, swallow, hell guitars

All five of the buggers lined up. One especially ready for a meal…

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Mable CD packaging just arrived!

CJ Wildheart, Hell Guitars, Mable

Looks great. Sounds phenomenal. GET THIS!!!

I just received the CD and packaging for CJ Wildheart’s latest release “Mable” (The cover of which I illustrated with superb package design and art by Rich Jones at T.R.I.M. in London http://turningrebellion.com/site/). I absolutely love the way it turned out and the music is, start to finish, amazingly amazing. Yes it’s THAT good! (And did I mention that he plays a Hell Bender?…) You’ll find more shots below…

CJ's mug. (Talented fellow that CJ...)

CJ’s mug. Talented fellow that CJ…

 

Disc with bonus hypno-whirl background. (Lose weight, break bad habits!)

Disc with bonus hypno-whirl background. (Lose weight, break bad habits!)

 

CJ Wildheart, Hell Guitars, Mable

Back cover

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Mable is here!

Mable CD and Vinyl cover.

Mable CD and Vinyl cover.

Sorry to have been away for so long (yet again!).

CJ Wildheart has just (pre)released his superb album “Mable” (for stream and download) to his supporters only. I just finished my second listen to the full, final release and I am blown away! The best collection of power pop you are likely to find anywhere. Absolutely every track delivers. You really should pick this one up now (and you can thank me later!). www.pledgemusic.com/projects/mable

Above is the CD/Album cover I designed. Had alot of fun doing it. The hen in the title is CJ’s beloved chicken who was the inspiration for the illustration as well. Below is a T-shirt design as well as the label and logo designs for CJ’s new hot sauce, Devilspit. The T-shirts and Hot Sauce are being offered as pledge premiums. Not sure if there are any left though or not.

Mable T-shirt design

Mable T-shirt design

 

cj wildheart, mable, Michael Evanston, Hell Guitars

Devilspit label and logo design.

cj wildheart, mable, Michael Evanston, Hell Guitars

The Hot Sauce army…

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CJ Wildheart Rocks Hell on “Mable”

Our very talented friend, guitarist/vocalist/songwriter, CJ Wildheart is coming out with a new solo effort called “Mable”. I’ve heard demos of 5 or 6 of the 11 tracks and every one of them absolutely rocks. CJ delivers a winning mix of melodic, hard-edged, power pop/rock. I really love all that I’ve heard so far. Perhaps I should also mention, that CJ is recording Mable on his Ivory Hell Bender guitar. You can see it prominently featured in the above clip/preview of “Down the Drain”.

CJ is producing Mable with the cooperation of his many fans via pledgemusic.com (I believe his target was reached in about 3 hours!). I cannot recommend this record enough and urge you to check out his project at http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/mable . £8 for the download and £12 for the physical CD (when both available) plus alot of other pledge perks that are available. Perhaps another reason to check out this CD is that the cover was designed by none other than…well… ME! I’ll be posting a picture of the cover soon as well as some other related artwork soon.

For many of you CJ needs no introduction. His work in several bands (especially The Wildhearts– see below video with CJ on his famous, pimped out red 335) is well known. But whether you are very familiar with his work or not I think you will not find many releases better than this one for 2014. Seriously.

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With a Rebel Hell…

At NAMM, several people came to our booth to tell us that they saw our accessories on one of the guitars of the venerable Steve Stevens. In fact on his main guitar– a Les Paul goldtop. They saw them in this Premier Guitar Rig Rundown. If you check out 6:26 – 7:12 in particular you can get a good look at our “Chequer” toggle switch washer and “Standard” truss rod cover. Both 100% brass (and 100% class!).

It happens fairly often that some distinguished pro players use our parts though we usually keep it to ourselves. Though with Steve Stevens it seems to be already out there so just thought I’d mention it. I remember him ordering from us a couple of years ago and was especially tickled as I am a fan of his playing. Steve, if you’re out there, contact me and I’ll design you something special–on the house!

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Winter NAMM 2014 Report (finally…)

Accessorize, accessorize, accessorize...

Accessorize, accessorize, accessorize…

 

I’ve been waiting for the smoke to clear after returning from this year’s winter NAMM show to post a report, however the smoke is still as thick as ever. Hell Guitars is almost literally blowing up all over the planet (Earth). We’re working morning til morning, moving to bigger digs and hiring some more people to better serve our friends all over this fine world. Thanks again, for coming along with us!

Regarding NAMM, I must honestly say to start off I wasn’t terribly motivated this year due in large part to the fairly recent passing of my mother (please see cookie post). There were alot of things I wanted to add to our line-up and to our booth presentation that I just couldn’t be bothered with. Also, I must say that in general, I am not driven by the commerce side of things. I mean I think capitalism and consumerism have a place in this world however it has never driven me. What I love best about what we do is to be able to realize creative ideas and make lots of friends while doing it. And this year’s show really brought the friends out which was especially gratifying.

Last year was our first year exhibiting so there were lots of folks learning about us for the first time. This year many of them returned with increased love for Hell Guitars. Particularly appreciated was a music student from a major U.S. university who pulled a Hell Super Black pick out of his pocket and said that he just wanted me to know that everyone in their school loves our picks. Seems one of their professors recommended them and now our picks have become the local pick of choice. Lots of love for the Super Blacks this year and in fact for our guitars and accessories as well.

NAMM_2014_hell_guitars_2

Along with the Enigma and Serana Rose, our dear friend and incredibly talented player/teacher extraordinaire, Robert Renman spent some time in the booth with us over several days. Can’t get enough of Robert. Wish he lived closer… If you can’t get enough of Robert either, check out his Master Guitar Academy site: http://www.masterguitaracademy.com/ Terrific FREE instructional content (and more for pay).

Some friends that we met last year, a So. California based band called Bristol to Memory, stopped by and dropped off their newest CD. I must say that I love it and plan to do some things to help promote them as I believe they deserve a bigger world. We’re also quite pleased that they use some of our gear. Very happy to be associated with them. Check these pages in the near future to read and hear more soon.

Mike Scuffham, the man behind the brilliant S-Gear amp plug-in stopped by for a chat. Mostly to thank me for the review I posted here: http://www.hellguitars.jp/machinehead/?p=321. It was really a pleasure talking with him. I learned that they’ve added a new amp which I still haven’t had a chance to download but hope to soon. If you haven’t tried this plug-in I really can’t recommend that you try the free trial enough. Nothing to lose and you might just find that it is something you wish you had had a long time ago.

Really I could go on for pages with more people and stories but, suffice it to say, it was really just a very uplifting and positive show for us. It helped to reaffirm my vision for our company and the many positive contacts we had were both personally and professionally meaningful. And yes, we received lots of orders too…

If you were expecting a NAMM report from outside of our booth I am sorry to have disappointed. The only thing I visited on the other side was the men’s room…

Personal thanks to Mark Jones and my brother John who helped in the booth and to my dear friend, John, who hung out for awhile in his Hell Guitars T and who lent his moral support.

 

We hope to meet some more of you next year!

Hello Kitty...

Hello Kitty…

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NAMM, bam, thank you man!

The great Enigma with the lovely Serana Rose. True friends of Hell!

The great Enigma with the lovely Serana Rose. The ShowDevils!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Right… Just a quick post to say that we recently returned from the NAMM show which was, by all measures, a success. We met a lot of old friends and made some new ones too. Met with some willing and very capable distributors wanting to biz with us as well. Can’t be bad. In fact it was great!

Please stay tuned for a whole bunch of new news coming soon. I promise. Soon. Really…

By the way, the above photo is of our friends, The Enigma with his Show Devils partner, the lovely and talented Serana Rose. They spent a very pleasant Saturday at the show with us graciously posing for tons of pictures with NAMM attendees and supplying even more tons of good cheer. The Enigma even supplied breakfast. Breakfast in a Bag, Breakfast to Go, Baggy Break…something like that. The kind of American convenience-minded product I’d forgotten about. Kinda made me wish I had some Tang to go with it. Juss like the astronauts…

http://www.showdevils.com/home.html

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The Finest Cookie Ever Made

No other cookie (or baked goods for that matter) compares...

No other cookie (or baked goods for that matter) compares…

My apologies for being away for so long but about a month and a half ago, I discovered the rarest and finest chocolate chip cookie ever made. How could a mere cookie keep me from writing, you ask? Surely this must be some lame excuse you say?* (well,… perhaps…) But the cookie was a special one and in fact, most precious…

As chocolate chips cookies go, it wasn’t the biggest, nor was it crammed full of rich chunks of boutique chocolate. It was, in fact, quite small, with a modest amount of fairly typical, off the shelf, Nestle Toll House chips. Made not with some fine farine à pâtisserie but most likely a supermarket gold medal flour or its CostCo equivalent.

What was so special about this cookie went far beyond its appearance and ingredients. At the first bite, I was instantly transported to my childhood or, more accurately, to my entire childhood simultaneously. I was hit by a rush of memories and a flood of emotions. Then, after finishing the first bite, I was instantly catapulted to a brief glimpse of the future before being jerked roughly back to the present. Oh yes, and it tasted fantastic. The whole experience would be best described as intensely bittersweet.

You see, this cookie was much more than just a cookie. I found it along with 3 other cookies in a freezer bag in my mother’s freezer. They were the last cookies that she would ever make. The very last of which I will ever eat again. I felt that it was the perfect parting gift from the remarkable and beautiful woman who gave me my life and so much more. A very special cookie indeed!

*Note: I really couldn’t get down to writing anything more here until I wrote something about my mother’s passing. I know that the main focus here is guitar related however also meant for this blog to reflect me personally. So here then is my excuse. I shall hereafter be writing more often and soon. Thanks for your understanding!

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