In the second episode of Guitar Shopping, we head down to the wonderful Northern Guitars in Leeds with Yard Act’s Sam Shipstone, who sampled some of the shop’s finest vintage oddities.
Along the way Sam meets – and tries – such rarities as a mini-humbucker-loaded Rapier 33, a Westone Rainbow II and a Ronnie Bennett Lap Steel. There’s nothing quite like going guitar shopping in Northern Guitars, or indeed any shop packed to the rafters with pre-loved instruments – and Sam clearly loves the strange selection on display!
Subscribe for more cool stuff from @GuitarDotCom
Check out Northern Guitars: https://northernguitars.co.uk/
Along the way Sam meets – and tries – such rarities as a mini-humbucker-loaded Rapier 33, a Westone Rainbow II and a Ronnie Bennett Lap Steel. There’s nothing quite like going guitar shopping in Northern Guitars, or indeed any shop packed to the rafters with pre-loved instruments – and Sam clearly loves the strange selection on display!
Subscribe for more cool stuff from @GuitarDotCom
Check out Northern Guitars: https://northernguitars.co.uk/
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MusicTranscript
00:00 Right, my name's Sam, I'm from a flash in the pan band called The Ard Act.
00:15 We're here at Norva Guitars in Leeds, quite a long established guitar shop, and it mostly
00:19 sells second hand guitars, so that's going to be mint, I can't wait.
00:25 Right mate, let's look at some goddamn guitars.
00:30 I think I'd like to know what the pickups in this sound like.
00:33 Do you mind if I give this one a go?
00:35 Yeah, go on.
00:36 They look like they're going to be like gold foils or something, but they're actually mini
00:38 humbuckers.
00:39 Might just give that a little whirl if that's OK.
00:41 I don't know what the guy's called who redesigned them.
00:43 Sounds like the bass player from The Who.
00:47 I think one of those mental, like what they used to put on in the 60s, zero fret.
01:11 Oh right, what's this about?
01:12 I think it's meant to help with intonation or something, you know, like it's got a fret
01:16 after the...
01:17 Yeah, for sure, for sure, for sure.
01:19 But like no one really does it anymore, like Hofner Guitars, they had that.
01:22 I always find it funny how like the contact points on a guitar, this is often like plastic
01:27 or bone and this is metal.
01:28 Yeah.
01:29 Why is there two different...
01:30 I think it's just the way things evolve, I don't know.
01:34 I think that's quite nice, this.
01:36 Oh yeah.
01:37 They're cheap as hell, these, like.
01:39 Same sort of thing, you know, it's got like an offset trim and that.
01:43 The only thing I would change on it is the middle bit makes them go out of phase.
01:46 So it's like that quack, quack sort of a quacky sound, out of phase sound.
01:53 I do think though that the pickups like the most important thing.
01:56 Oh totally, yeah, it's like all of the sound of the guitar, man.
01:58 All of the sound.
01:59 Having said that, I did get my Rick refretted and I had stainless steel frets put on it.
02:04 I didn't, it's the first time I've had one refretted and it did change the sound, it
02:08 was like tinny and bright, but in a nice way.
02:10 Yeah, see.
02:11 Yeah, see.
02:12 Yeah, cool though.
02:13 I like this.
02:14 Like that should, in my mind, should be like metal or something, chrome, but they've put
02:23 a like three ply white on there.
02:26 String might be a bit different.
02:33 I will play something other than E major.
02:38 These are good guitars.
02:39 I really like the bass versions, have you seen those before?
02:41 Westones, they used to be dead cheap, but they like, they've went up a bit in price
02:44 now.
02:45 No, I don't remember that brand.
02:46 I think like everyone in the 80s had one.
02:48 Really?
02:49 That's lovely.
02:50 In the fingers.
02:51 Yeah, sometimes like when you buy guitars, I think although the pickups, the most important
02:56 part of the sound, how a guitar feels is just important because it's such a physical thing
03:01 playing.
03:02 Let's have a look at a Holley body, because I don't actually own one.
03:05 Yeah?
03:06 That same brand of that guitar that you just had in your hand, this one's really nice.
03:09 Yeah.
03:10 It's funny though, because we buy guitars from Japan, you don't actually ever see these
03:15 like for sale anywhere.
03:16 I think they must have just been, you know, like for the UK market.
03:21 Yeah, these are quite nice.
03:23 It's like a proper through neck one as well.
03:26 It's cool though.
03:27 It's quite heavy.
03:28 Yeah, it's all right.
03:29 I did think the other day that I have sort of played quite light bodied guitars.
03:39 Yeah.
03:40 Like a Noel Gallagher, you know, playing the Gibsons, they've got real heavy bodies.
03:46 Not all of them actually.
03:47 We had a 345 coming here, like a walnut one.
03:50 We didn't actually buy it then, but when I picked it up, I was really surprised because
03:54 before we had a custom shop copy of that and it weighed a tonne, but the real one was like
04:01 nothing.
04:02 I don't know whether because it's so old, you know, like the water or whatever, like
04:05 moisture and stuff.
04:06 But yeah, it felt fragile, but it was like really nice.
04:10 Hey.
04:11 What else should we try?
04:35 This one.
04:36 Yeah, I'll go for that one.
04:38 Come on.
04:39 It's a bit mad, isn't it?
04:40 Yeah, it's a bit negative on the edge.
04:41 Come on.
04:42 It's got a lovely neck, that.
04:43 It's really like narrow this way.
04:44 Oh, wow.
04:45 The shallow on it.
04:46 I find that the different necks make you play different, you know what I mean?
04:51 You'll end up coming up with a different idea because you'll lean to a different shape or
04:55 something.
04:56 Yeah, there's a point right when you start getting sweaty where it gets really rubbish
04:59 and then when you get really sweaty, it's fine again.
05:05 Yeah, in some ways, it gives you a bit of a rest on.
05:28 Yeah, a bit of assistance over there because I was just thinking this lap steel.
05:33 Oh, yeah.
05:34 I think that's an open A, that.
05:35 Oh, is it an open A?
05:36 It didn't sound like it was to me.
05:37 Maybe somebody's changed it.
05:38 Oh, I can hear it now, yeah.
05:39 It's a really weird system.
05:40 I find that a little bit harder to play than just playing like a regular slide guitar.
05:41 It feels like you've got to have it at a different point visually.
05:42 Yeah, I think that's a bit of a shame.
05:43 Yeah, I think that's a bit of a shame.
05:44 Yeah, I think that's a bit of a shame.
05:45 Yeah, I think that's a bit of a shame.
05:46 Yeah, I think that's a bit of a shame.
05:47 Yeah, I think that's a bit of a shame.
05:48 Yeah, I think that's a bit of a shame.
05:49 Yeah, I think that's a bit of a shame.
05:50 Yeah, I think that's a bit of a shame.
06:14 I always think it sounds a bit drunk, doesn't it?
06:32 Thank you for watching Guitar Shopping for Guitar.com.
06:35 We're in Northern Guitars in Leeds.
06:37 I've been Sam.
06:38 I'm Tommy.
06:40 See you later.
06:41 [Music]