(Source: Yamaha Europe)

Jools Holland, one of the UK’s most popular pianists, has put his tour piano, a Yamaha GT7 digital piano, on auction. It’ll be auctioned at the Bonhams’ Autumn sale of Fine Pianos without reserve, and all proceeds will go towards the Drake Music Project.

FYI, production of this particular Yamaha GT7 model has been discontinued, so you’ll be getting a potential antique as well. On a related note, Holland has announced that he will be replacing this piano with a “similar upgraded model”.

[News via Yamaha Europe]

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No, this isn’t a competition for the Guitar Hero video game. We’re talking about real guitars in a competition at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco that is to be judged by six celebrity judges, i.e. Joe Satriani, Steve Lukather, Ritchie Kotzen, Rafael Moreira, Shredmistress Rynata and Steve Read.

The 10 finalists are:

• David Powers (Brewster, New York)
• Sergei Roudzinski (Russia)
• Patrick Woods (Winona Lake, Indiana)
• Joe Cefalu (Boise, Idaho)
• Ed DeGenaro (Seattle, Washington)
• Trey Alexander (Lancaster, Pennsylvania)
• Josh Karickhoff (New York, New York)
• Anton Tsygankov (St. Peters, Missouri)
• Ron LoCurto (Kenmore, New York)
• Nathan Hahn, (Waxahachie, Texas)

If you’re interested in watching the event, you might want to book tickets online.

[News via Guitar Player]

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(Source: GuitarGearHeads)

As a diversion from the ornate guitar-track into a more natural style, the Samick Remington OM13-CE does a great job. At least, according to GuitarGearHeads in their review of the acoustic guitar.

Construction was deemed solid, with clear tones and balanced sound - though only for light and medium strumming. Like most orchestra model guitars, higher tones were overly accentuated during aggressive strumming.

Overall, the sub-US$500 cedar top guitar was touted as a “great intermediate guitar”, and was awarded GGH’s Rig Ready and Approved Awards for 2006.

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(Source: The Courier Mail)

Some people might consider destroying pianos as art, but we can assure you that we’re not part of them. And apparently, most aren’t either. The Arts Queensland-sponsored (Read: Tax-payer money) chainsawing has received backlash from a variety of music-loving people - from piano teachers to concert organisers.

After all, that’s AU$3000 of public money down the drain - all of which could have been channeled to more productive uses. Heck, there are tons of children from lower-income families who would have loved this particular piano.

Art? Probably. Worth it? No way. But if the artist, Rebecca Cunningham, used her own money, this would be a whole other story altogether.

[News via The Courier Mail]

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(Source: Farley’s House of Pianos)

Charles Walter’s recently (relatively) unveiled a brand new grand piano model, the ebony-polished 5′ 10″ Charles Walter 175.

It is still in the mass production stage, but it has already made some good first impressions on the experienced guys over at the Piano World Forums.

An important point to note is that it’s only US$1000 cheaper than the 6′ 4″ CW190, though it is really hard to say what this price differential is supposed to mean until you get a chance to test the piano out, and compare the two yourself.

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(Source: JetSlide)

You might think only older and established things can be masterworks. But after reading this review on the new Alvarez Masterworks MD350C acoustic guitar, I’m certain you’ll be cleared of that misconception.

Well, with a recommended price of US$1699, I guess quality would have been expected, but even for guitars in this price range, the MD350C seemed to have performed admirably.

It may not be a guitar for a beginner whose passion for guitars has yet to be confirmed, but if you’re an experienced amateur or professional, I’m certain GuitarGearHeads’ final verdict with take you to the store:

The MD350C was a pure pleasure to review. I really enjoy playing this guitar and I will be adding it to my own personal guitar arsenal. Because of this, I award the MD350C the 2006 Rig Ready Award as well as the 2006 Guitar Gear Heads Approved award.

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(Source: JetSlide)

Two months back, the guys over at GuitarGearHeads got a chance to review one of the cooler guitar innovations this year, the JetSlide guitar slide. Unlike conventional guitar slides, this one doesn’t impede normal chord playing.

When you reach a portion of a song where a slide is required, you can easily “flip the slide into place” and you can reverse this when you don’t need it. Moreover, it seems that the thin bar on the JetSlide provides more control than normal guitar slides, and thus more accuracy.

Overall, the ~US$20 slide got lavish praise, with the reviewer concluding that, “The JetSlide™ has become my slide of choice and I am looking forward to becoming a more skilled and competent slide guitar player. My only suggestion would be to figure out how to fit a piece of glass to the ring - then JetSlide™ would own my whole slide arsenal!”

P.S.: There are currently two variants of the slide. One is made of brass, while the other is made of stainless steel.

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