Pass the SORS

Details have snuck out of a remarkable new development in acoustic guitar pickups from Gibson. The SORS system — which stands in true Yankee Jargonese for Symbiotic Oriented Receptor System — is based on a new piezo polymer film which is claimed to offer incredible frequency response, a signal strong enough not to need DI boxes or pre amps, almost invisible fitting in the bridge, and a clear, realistic tone.

As yet it's only available fitted to the new Gibson acoustic guitars unveiled at the American NAMM show, but watch out for the system making inroads into the acoustic guitar market soon. Contact distributors Rosetti on (Contact Details).

Who's Who

The Who's bottom-end virtuoso John Entwistle — one of the men who defined and stretched the role of the bass guitar in Rock — has divulged the secrets of his technique for the Hotlicks series of tuition tapes. The inimitable Entwistle technique shortly become a lot less inimitable, as the tapes cover his styles of false harmonics, right-hand tapping, popping, slapping, string bending and lots more in their double C60 and 64-page book format. It also covers advice on equipment, effects and much more so for just £21.40 you too could grow a little beard, an Alembic and write songs about Spiders. They're available through Labtek, at (Contact Details).

Shurely A Grand Offer

Not content with being probably the best known mike in the world, Shure's SM57 and 58, with their cousins the PE66 and 86, are probably about to become one of the best selling. The reason being that distributors HW International are going to give every 250th buyer a cool thousand quid. Clearly they're making far too much money, but who are we to argue? Contact HW International on (Contact Details).

Television Studios

Hot news in the studio bookings scene is the Prestel link between studios and record companies that's just been set in motion by the APRS. Engineered by Gwynn Williams Viewdata, the service costs APRS member studios £100 per page per year, on which they can give details of free time up to three months ahead. The service can be accessed by record companies and as loads of major studios have already pledged support, it's off to a flying start and could make the multi-phone call bookings hassle a thing of the past. The APRS can be contacted on (Contact Details).

Phil Digs Digits

In the midst of his worldwide smashes, Phil Collins, our March cover megastar, stopped to enthuse about the digital gear he recently bought from HHB. His Sony PCM 701ES and PCM 1610 are just a few of the products HHB are offering to the connoisseur of notes-to-numbers devices, and at a recent bash they neaped praise on the CLUE editing and logging system, a computer-driven mastering controller,and the PCM F1, which Sony have recently started manufacturing again in Japan, going back on their earlier decision to discontinue the line. In fact, they've done so well flogging the state-of-the-art audio that it's becoming one of their biggest markets. If you fancy getting digitalised, HHB are on (Contact Details).

Newer Fenders, Arbiter Takeover

As predicted in these very pages sometime ago (April's Frankfurt review, to be exact) the Arbiter company have won the prestigious Fender distributorship for Britain and the Benelux countries, and they staged a rockin' good party at Ronnie Scott's Jazz club recently in which they showed several of the new range — and very nice they looked too. Variations on the Strat and Tele abounded, with new pickup and tremolo configurations, and the Jazz/Precision hybrid was there in all its glory, as was the Katana, a very futuristic-looking beast indeed. Watch your shop's guitar racks for more weird developments in the Fender saga, or phone the Arbiters on (Contact Details).

Son Of Steinberger

Musimex man Tony Morris dropped us a line to say that our reference to the cheaper Steinbergers as 'semi-pro' was a wee misnomer. The Pro Series, as they're called, ain't by any means 'semi-pro' he griped, but at £795 and up they're certainly cheaper than the top-line models. Does this mean that the old series should be defined as more than professional? Whatever, the Pro ones (as we reviewed in our April issue) will be distributed by the aforementioned Musimex man and will be in the shops at any moment. Watch out for them. More details on (Contact Details).

Toa Take The Lead

Cover versions of Radio Stars songs have never seemed so affordable. Toa have introduced a new wireless guitar system, based on their radio mikes, and undercutting the price of the Nady and similar top systems considerably. It costs just over £500, which is by no means a lot for the privilege of not tying yourself in several knots during your big solo, and is Home Office approved. It runs on batteries with a life of up to 30 hours (no more mid-set sputters) and the receiver connects to any amp or mixer input with its switchable levels. Contact Toa on (Contact Details).

Making a Good Case

AKG have broadened their range to include two new flight-type cases; obviously ideal for holding their mikes and headphones but equally good for any other manufacturer's stuff and all those bits that rattle around in your ex-army tool box. At £65 each they're by no means extortionate, and can be obtained directly from AKG Acoustics, (Contact Details).