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Demos > Vintage
Effects > Alan Holdsworth, Ibanez AH-10 |
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IBANEZ AH-10, Alan Holdsworth: Deep Red solid body, designed by Alan Holdsworth, built by Ibanez. 25 1/2 in scale, bolt-on neck, with 22 large frets, ebony fret board. Has one bridge humbucking pickup, wound to AH's specs. The vibrato is combined with a small Aluminum block for added sustain. The Basswood body is light weight, & stratoid in shape, with a tone chamber under the pick guard. The Maple neck has big, wonderful, nasty frets on the fingerboard. Combining the rather flat fingerboard radius; with the somewhat rounded neck profile, plus BIG frets, makes for effortless string bending.
The AH-10 neck profile is a curious combination of being rather slim, yet wide: despite this, the curve is as rounded as possible, along lines that would run parallel, behind the first & sixth strings. There are no thin sharp edges where the fingerboard and neck, meet. All this shows his departure from the standard mentality of the time: that a very thin neck somehow allowed for faster playing. True: shorter distances take less time to cross, but accomplishing motion while playing on a guitar neck involves: gripping, bending strings, leverage, hammer ons/pull offs, creating vibrato, inflecting notes, physics, nuances: you're acomplishing lots of tasks, myriad micro & macro tasks. Guitar pickin' ain't a sprint, boys, it's a cross country outing. Some make it look easy, but it isn't...is it? :-)
We'll get to it in more detail later, but if you have any sense guitar playing isn't loaded with zillions of tasks, read "The HAND", by Doctor Fank Wilson, a Neurologist. This reporter met the Doc when he was leaving practice for two years, to study why some people can play SO damn fast. Some super players/Typists etc. can eventually overload their nervous system. Check out "The Hand", it will rock your world. *
* Exceptions: Thin necks could be "faster" in deed, for electric, neo-classical finger style, where most playing involves double & triple etc. stops, or chord fragments, with about NO string bending; ever. These are are hallmarks of Classical, Baroque, and Romantic derived, hybrid styles. Another exception might be, the very light touch player who runs his Amp very hot, with strong pickups, deftly selecting notes; (few can maintain this control), letting the Amp do the work. (Joe Satriani seems like he may be in this refined touch category, and watch Yngwie's left hand sometimes, it's certainly a compliment).
In more recent years, Holdsworth has crystallized the concept that a rounded neck profile, and rather flat fretboard radius makes for nearly effortless accomplishment of varied tasks, with the left hand. His latest design, (late 1990's, built by Carvin in San Diego California), has a Manly neck profile, fit for Allen's King-sized hands. Despite the neck's ample girth, this average sized reporter, was shocked to find it among the easiest to play guitars he's ever owned. Yep, this devout Gibson scale fan, now owns two Carvin AH's. Can't argue with a fine design.
In our humble opinion: Gear in which Mr. Holdsworth had design input, is very worthy of respect, and time necessary to check it out. Soft spoken, and polite, but not an aimless sheep following the group mind. Holdsworth has his own ideas, and they're good ones!
We've posted audio samples of his Ibanez, Allen Holdsworth AH10 guitar, below photos to come.
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