BANANAS GO WILKES

Following our review of the Wilkes B1 bass last month, it's good to see that our enthusiasm for this relatively new British maker's products is being shared by others - top session bass player (and bassist with Bananarama) Sedley Francis having just taken delivery of the superb sample shown above - a B1 'GAF' version, finished with an amazaque top on a body comprising veneers of maple, paduak and yet more amazaque.

IT was present at London's Allbang & Strummit (from whom Sedley had ordered his 'special') when he took delivery of the fine looking and sounding bass from Doug Wilkes, who'd travelled down to London to hand it over.

The 'GAF' version differs from last month's IT review model Wilkes B1 by having more luxurious woodwork, gold plated hardware, an ebony fingerboard. Canon as well as jack outputs etc. Obviously delighted with his new bass, Sedley told us that his next acquisition will probably be another Wilkes bass - but this time one of Doug's unusual half-fretted, half fretless basses. The man's got taste!

More details on Doug Wilkes' guitars and basses (including the names of local stockists) from Wilkes Guitars Ltd., (Contact Details).

METAL MEN BACK GIBSON

At a time when some heavy Rock guitarists seem to be falling over themselves in a quest for unusual guitars, comes news that West German band the Scorpions (who are currently enjoying massive success both in the States and throughout Europe) have begun an official endorsement arrangement with Gibson.

Gibson (not surprisingly, extremely cautious about endorsements generally) have signed the band, who will be appearing in a promotional campaign later this year.

Chosen instruments by the band are a Flying-V for Matthias Jabs, an Explorer for Rudolph Schenker, an ES-335 for Klaus Meine and one of the newly launched Explorer basses for Francis Bucholz.

BRAZILIAN ROSEWOOD DRIVES MARTIN BUFFS NUTS

Acoustic guitarists who value the absolute (money no object) in guitar luxury might be intrigued to learn that American acoustic guitar masters C.F. Martin have managed to lay their hands on enough of one the world's rarest woods, Brazilian rosewood, to make a very limited edition of instruments in this material. Recent years have seen Brazilian-grown rosewood (traditionally the guitar maker's preferred source of this wood) become so scarce as to deny Martin the chance of making from this material which, many years back, used to grace a lot of their instruments - many of which have become treasured collector's items today. Now that a mere handful have been made once again from this wood, a few have arrived in Britain to find homes. Don't expect a low-price guitar, though - a limited edition D45 could set you back around £4000. More details from Dreadnought Guitars, (Contact Details)

At last - the Bond arrives

After nearly 12 months following its launch at the 1984 Frankfurt Trade Fair, the revolutionary (and highly controversial) Bond Electraglide guitar is finally about to make its appearance in music shops across the country.

The Bond Electraglide (which is the result of some 12 years' planning and development, the makers say) was one of 1984's most speculated about sensations. Despite capturing the imagination of instrument writers, the general Press and even T.V. and Radio, the failure of the guitar to appear for such a length of time has lead to endless rumours that production problems could mean that it never would see the light of day. Apparently the cynics were wrong: the first production Electraglides should have been reaching Britain's music shops during December.

So what's the big deal about the Bond? To begin with it's an all carbon-fibre guitar fitted with a 22-step 'pitchboard' which replaces conventional frets with a 'stepped' fingerboard. Claimed advantages for this system over conventional fretwire include improved tonal quality, greater comfort, faster playing, permanently accurate intonation, lower possible action, reduced string wear and less finger pressure required to hold down a note or chord.

The Bond's attractions don't only include designer Andrew Bond's highly individual approach to materials and construction, but also unusual electronic circuitry devised by Dave Siddeley. This effectively gives the Bond an LED screen showing around 3,400 different possible combinations of sounds, each of them immediately re-locatable! Control itself comes via a series of touch buttons for pickup on/off, giving a multitude of in and out of phase sounds. Three rocker switches govern volume treble and bass, each provided with its own coloured LED. Settings are shown via the LED readout screen and can be noted and re-used later, if desired.

And the cost of all this high-tech? - no, not an arm and a leg, in fact a Bond Electraglide, including the essential extra of a power pack, has an RRP of £583.77. Add a tremolo unit and the price makes £612.73 - not too bad for such advanced ideas, is it?

After such a long wait (and what some pundits were beginning to claim had been a 'hype' of the original Bond prototypes) if s good to see the Electraglide arriving at last - although it remains to be seen how well "the future of the electric guitar" (as Bond call it) translates into practice. IT hopes to be receiving a review sample soon and we'll report back in due course.

Meanwhile, more info on Bond from Audio-Music Marketing Ltd., (Contact Details).