Shun / Duel Jewel Signature Model

Introducing the Combat Guitars Shun Signature Model Guitar!

Shun, the guitar player for Duel Jewel, has been a familiar face around the Combat family circle for quite some time now, and we are proud to finally announce the official launch of his Combat Signature Model Guitar.

*Shun's Signature Model Guitar is available in two variations.

COMBAT SJG-1

Body: Alder

Top: Flamed Maple

Neck: Maple/Walnut 5P

(Flamed Maple head top)

Fret Board: Ebony

Inlays: Pear Blocks

Frets: JD 6105 Medium Jumbo High

Pickups:

-Front / Dimarzio PAF Classic

-Center / Dimarzio Virtual Solo

-Rear / Dimarzio D-Sonic

Bridge: Gotoh 510T

Controls:

-Rotary Switch

-Master Vol

-Master Tone

COMBAT SJG-2

Body: Alder

Top: Quilted Maple

Neck: Maple/Walnut 5P

(Quilted Maple head top)

Fret Board: Rosewood

Inlays: Pear Blocks

Frets: JD 6105 Medium Jumbo High

Pickups:

-Front / Dimarzio Virtual Solo

-Center / Dimarzio Virtual Solo

-Rear / Dimarzio D-Sonic

Bridge: Synchronized Tremolo

Controls:

-Rotary Switch

-Master Vol

-Master Tone

* The price for both the SJG-1 / SJG-2 is ￥300,000 (Japanese Yen).

For more info on Shun and his band Duel Jewel please check out the following websites:

Duel Jewel Official Website:

http://www.dueljewel.jp/

Duel Jewel Unofficial MySpace:

http://www.myspace.com/duel_jewel_forever

As always, if you have any questions about the Shun Model Guitar, please feel free to contact us anytime at: international(at)combat-guitars(dot)com

- Combat Colin.

Ushirokara-Maekawa.

Hey friends,

Check out our Official YouTube Channel to see the latest uploaded vid!

The video is another slap-bass demo, this time featuring the one and only Ushirokara-Maekawa.

Combat Guitars Official YouTube Channel:

http://www.youtube.com/user/CombatGuitars

Ushirokara-Maekawa

As I have stated in a previous post, Maekawa is quite a familiar face around the Combat Guitars family circle. He is a renowned professional session musician who collaborates his amazing bass ability on many different projects. He has been featured in numerous magazines, and has also been welcomed further inside the Combat camp as an instructor in the newly established Combat Guitar School.

Maekawa exclusively, and proudly, plays Combat Basses.

Here are but a few regularly used weapons in his ever growing arsenal of custom Combat Basses:

Maekawa's Combat Custom 4-String Bass

This bass's main specs include:

A solid Ash body, bolt on Hard Maple neck on a Purple Heart fingerboard.

Custom frog inlays. (Maekawa has a thing for frogs).

All gold hardware. Two Haussel pick-ups, Kahler bass tremolo bridge and an Aguilar obp3 pre-amp. The controls are 1 vol, 1 tone, 1 mid and a treb-bass stack pot.

Maekawa's main bass. Custom Combat AYA Series 7-string Bass

Here we go again with another awesome instrument in our ever growing array of AYA Series guitars and basses. This one is Maekawa's main bass, and it is truly a gorgeous instrument.

Here we have an Alder body, laminated and weaved with layers of Bubinga, RoseWood, Flamed Maple, Hard Maple, Ebony and Purple Heart.

The bolt on neck is constructed of Hard Maple, Walnut and RoseWood, with a RoseWood fingerboard.

Four Villex pick-ups, with two Aguilar obp2 pre-amps.

All gold hardware. Hipshot 7-string bridge, 4 stack pots; vol, treb, mid & bass, and 2 balancers.

Maekawa; slappin' the AYA Series LIVE!

Check out my other blog posts for profiles on various other AYA Series guitars and basses! You can also see more pics on our official web site, and official MySpace page!

And don't forget to check out our official YouTube channel to see Maekawa slappin' it silly on his Combat Custom 4-string!

Combat Guitars Official Website:

http://www.combat-guitars.com

Combat Guitars Official MySpace:

http://www.myspace.com/combatguitars

Combat Guitars Official YouTube Channel:

http://www.youtube.com/user/CombatGuitars

- Combat Colin.

Ohta Katsu!

Head on over to our Official MySpace page, and check out a cool addition!

We just uploaded an awesome song into the music player, an original song recorded by golden boy Ohta Katsu.

Combat Guitars Official MySpace:

http://www.myspace.com/combatguitars

Ohta Katsu

Yesterday, Katsu came by our office with a very nice surprise. It seems he recorded an original song to donate to us for promo on the MySpace. This is an awesome way, not only for you to hear a Combat Guitar being shredded like nobody's business, but for you to also hear Katsu's amazing guitar playing.

For those who don't yet know the name Ohta Katsu, he is one of Japan's golden-boy Guitar heroes. His popularity continues to rise every year and is being featured in an increasing amount of magazine coverage, guitar books, DVD's and other media forms of guitar instruction and adoration, not just in Japan but in many other Countries and websites/ magazines, etc from abroad.

Ohta Katsu stumbled upon Combat Guitars a few years ago and has not looked back since. He continues to play and stand behind Combat, using Combat Guitars for all of his studio and live work.

Katsu's weapon of choice is the Combat ST Series. His are custom made a smaller size than a usual ST style guitar. Made with an Alder body, one-piece bolt on Maple neck and Dimarzio Virtual Solo pickups in all 3 positions. A standard set-up of 3-way toggle switch, one Master Vol and two Tone controls. He changes the head shape on different guitars, all of which are Combat original designs. The jumbo scalloped frets are also an important feature Katsu demands for his guitars.

Ohta Katsu Custom ST

For more info on Ohta Katsu-

Ark Storm Official MySpace:

http://www.myspace.com/arkstorm

Ark Storm Official English HomePage:

http://www.jc-i.jp/j-crave/ark.htm

For more on the Combat ST-Series Guitars, check out my April 12th Blog Post here:

http://combat-guitars.blogspot.com/2009/04/st-series-profile.html

- Combat Colin.

AYA Series Custom ST.

Here's another newly built guitar I just HAD TO show off.
It's a beautiful custom ST based on our AYA series. In case you are not yet familiar with our AYA themed series of guitars and basses, at the end of this blog post I will provide a link to one of my previous posts on the AYA Series.

Just to tell you a little bit right now though, AYA guitars and basses are not a series of instruments based on a specific "shape", but rather an aesthetic design. We have built AYA Series guitars with the ST shapes (like the one I will show you below), AYA TL's, AYA G-Series, and a whole slew of AYA themed basses.

The AYA themed guitar series are Asian influenced aesthetic designs infused into the highest quality hand-made guitars and basses out there.

Check out this custom AYA ST:

AYA Series Custom ST by Combat Guitars

Here we have an Alder body with a pretty stunning top and back. Both top and back are laminated with Purple Heart, Buckeye Maple, Flamed Maple and Ebony. The top is further complimented with a matching hand-made pick guard of the same materials. Awesome sounding Lindy Fralin pickups, with custom made Purple Heart pickup covers.

One-piece Maple neck with a laminated Honduras Rosewood fingerboard. The fingerboard is also weaved with Padouk, Flamed Maple, Ebony and Purple Heart. The inlays are real Abalone weaved with Ebony.

Inverted Combat original head. Stamped with the AYA Series logo.

For more info on the AYA Series Guitars & Basses, check out my April 6th blog post on the AYA Series: HERE

To see more pics of AYA-Series guitars & Basses, as well as the other original line-up of Combat Guitars; the Tele-Warm Series, the ST-Warm, the G-Series, and the LT-Series CLICK HERE!

If you would like to build a hand-made AYA Series guitar or bass, send us an email and tell us your ideas! Visit our official Web Site for our contact details!

If you are interested in creating your own custom Combat Guitar or bass, simply fill out our FREE Estimate Form to as far as you can with all your ideas and specs, etc, and I will get back to you, usually within the next day, with advice and a FREE estimate!

CLICK HERE FOR YOUR FREE ESTIMATE!

CLICK HERE to read more about why hand-made is better.

CLICK HERE to read about all the steps involved in making a custom guitar:

Thanks!

- Combat Colin.

Combat LT-Series Guitar.

This time, I want to get up close with another Combat original body design. The LT-Series guitar! This model is a relatively new design, but it is gaining quite a lot of interest rapidly. The orders for the LT Series are becoming much more frequent, and they are now even finding their way into the hands of many popular musicians, and onto those big stages where they belong!

COMBAT ORIGINAL LT-SERIES GUITAR

Like our other Original line-up of guitars (the Tele-Warm Series, ST-Warm Series, and G-Series) the LT-Series is an arched-top model guitar. (Though we do build all these in flat-tops as per request!) What makes the LT-Series so unique is the actual height of the top. Most, if not all arched-top guitars have a laminated arch of usually around the 15mm mark. The Combat LT-Series has an arched top of 20mm. For those who like the tone characteristcs that arched-tops provide, you will flip over the look and the sound of the LT-Series guitar.

Instead of just flashing a bunch of pics of different LT-Series guitars, like I did in my post about the Combat original G-Series, I thought I would simply focus in on one custom LT we just finished making yesterday. Besides, by looking at some of my previous blog posts (again like the G-Series, the ST-Series, and the TL-Series) I am sure you get the picture by now that, YES, these guitars are all Order-Made and the possibilities for customizable options is virtually limitless.

For example, check this one out!

As I said, we just finished this one yesterday, and it is smokin'!

The main specs on this custom LT-Series include a Maple neck-through-body design, 2-piece

Honduras Mahogany body, Honduras Rosewood finger board, and a beautiful Quilted Maple top

and matching Quilted Maple laminated head. The guitar also has a very nice looking natural wood binding on both body and head.

24 frets, complimented by real Abalone inlays, gold Grover type Combat tuners, gold Gotoh

Tune-O-Matic bridge, and matching gold end pins and controls. The controls are; one master Vol, 1 master Tone. 3-way pickup selector switch above the neck, and a mini tap switch behind the bridge.

The pickups are EMG 89's. These are pretty cool because these active pickups are exactly like having two pickups in one. The tap switch allows the player to either have the tonal qualities of a humbucker (modeled after the EMG 85), flip the switch, and then have the tonal characteristics of a single coil (modeled after the EMG SA).

Takeshi from SUPE. Custom LT-Series Guitar

As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, the LT-Series guitar is rapidly gaining quite a bit of interest, and many professional musicians are choosing to add the LT-Series guitar to their arsenal. One such artist is Takeshi from the band SUPE.

As you can see once again, the LT-Series can be order-made to your exact specs. The differences between Takeshi's guitar and the one I profiled above are countless. Not just color, but neck grip, hardware, pickups, inlays, the list goes on and on. Combat even has a few original head shapes to choose from, and both of these LT-Series guitars feature totally different head designs.

Takeshi rockin' the LT Live!!

For more info on Supe:

Supe Official Web Site:

http://www.supe-web.com

Supe Official MySpace:

http://www.myspace.com/supejp

To see more pics of the Combat LT-Series, as well as the other original line-up of Combat Guitars; the Tele-Warm Series, the ST-Warm, and the G-Series CLICK HERE!

If you are interested in creating your own custom Combat Guitar or bass, simply fill out our FREE Estimate Form to as far as you can with all your ideas and specs, etc, and I will get back to you, usually within the next day, with advice and a FREE estimate!

CLICK HERE FOR YOUR FREE ESTIMATE!

CLICK HERE to read more about why hand-made is better.

CLICK HERE to read about all the steps involved in making a custom guitar:

We look forward to hearing from you soon!

Thanks for reading!

- Combat Colin.

You-tubin'!

As promised, various video projects are in the works!

As just a quick set-up for all the big plans we have for various video projects, we have now created the Combat Guitars YouTube profile page, and uploaded a quick video!

Check it out!

Combat Guitars Official YouTube Page:

http://www.youtube.com/user/combatguitars

The video we uploaded features Hirose, who is one of the new instructors at the Combat Guitars Guitar School, here on location in Tokyo Japan.

Hirose teaches one of the Slap-Bass courses, and this quick video is of him hanging out in the multi-purpose room of the Combat Building, which is also the location where we hold all the various classes in the school.

We really do have SO MUCH in the works right now for video. So keep a close eye here on the blog for the latest updates, and don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube page to catch all the cool videos coming up that we will be posting!

For now, check out Hirose messing around on a 6-String Combat Custom Bass!

 -Combat Colin.

Keeping it HARD, with a little Top 5.

Alright, I know I am a little late with a 2008 Re-cap, as we are already WELL into 2009. But, by keeping with the spirit of my last Blog post on my hard-core punk rock project "U.K.L", I thought it might be kinda cool to further expose some of you to some good hard-core music by rating (not ranting), in my personal opinion, what I thought were the Top 5 hard-core albums of 2008.

*(It needs to be said that hard-core is NOT the only type of music I listen to or enjoy. I have been exposed to all kinds of music, and involved within it deeply since I was a very young boy. Also, Combat Guitars makes guitars for all walks of players and musicians- from Jazz to Rock, Blues, etc etc.)*

Usually, I do like to stick with the number 10, however for this one I will keep it as a Top 5. For simplicity's sake, and for the fact that the time put into a Top 10 might make my boss think I have a little too much spare time! 

To keep it biased, I have automatically disqualified any album that I may have had any part in creating or appearing on. I have also automatically disqualified any band that might use Combat Guitars.

Try not to take it too seriously, ok folks. 

I, by no means, declare myself an authority in music reviewing nor am I a recognized critic in this area by any stretch. I am just doing this because I thought it would be kinda fun. Remember? FUN? (The OTHER "F-Word") And hey, it may even turn some of you on to music you might not have had the chance to know or hear about!

So here we go!

Top 5 Hard-Core Albums Of 2008

*Number 05

WolfBrigade - "Comalive"

-Deranged Records

Even if I have never heard of a band before, when I see the "Deranged" logo on a record, I can usually trust that it's all the info I need to be sure that I won't be disappointed. I am already a huge fan of Wolfbrigade. I am also a huge fan of most D-Beat. "Comalive" is a little bit more versatile than the standard D-Beat formula, and it reminds me a lot of the Crust infused punk chargings of American outfit "World Burns To Death", making this my favorite Wolfbrigade effort to date. I heard a lot of good D-Beat in 2008, but with the growth that Wolfbrigade displays on "Comalive", it gets them on this list. However, the number 5 slot is allotted solely due to the recording production. The rhythm guitar kind of overpowers everything else on the record  a little bit. The lead and melody guitar sections, the vocals, and the drums are barely audible over that rhythm guitar strumming, while the bass is practically non-existent. I really think this album could have sounded so much better, because it REALLY IS an album of finely written D-beat. 

Don't send the wolfpack to my door Brigade-dudes! I love you guys!

But the production on "Comalive" is not what we should know to expect from you.  

Still, AWESOME record. Strong, quality song-writing, and misanthropic lyrics similar to fellow 

D-Beating Swedes, "Disfear". 

*Number 04

Extreme Noise Terror - "The Law Of Retaliation"

-Deep Six Records

Though I wanted to keep the list diverse, I had to put another D-Beat influenced record on the list. The new ENT record, "The Law of Retaliation", could not be left out! This one is blistering grind-core at it's finest. England's ENT sort of wandered off my radar for a few years and though I have always, and still do, enjoy their earlier recordings, it had been a while since I took any notice of what they were doing. They came way out of left field with this new album and it knocked the wind out of me. Back with the original twin vocals, and a resurgence of their glory day, "The Law Of Retaliation" is as refreshing as it is brutal. This is definitely how ENT should be represented. 

If you have never heard of a band before, it is almost always best to start at the beginning- but this record sticks so close to their roots, and it sounds so gosh-darn amazing, that a newcomer to ENT could start right here. This is a crossover album of grinding hard-core punk that even Napalm Death would give a nod of approval to.  

*Number 03

Ceremony - "Still Nothing Moves You"

-Bridge  Nine Records

I normally do not listen to any of the "tough-guy hardcore" or straight-edge stuff that "Bridge Nine" tends to put out, so I consider the label lucky to have landed a band to break up the monotony in their roster, especially a band like California's CEREMONY. My first listen of Ceremony was the 2006 full length release "Violence Violence", which I acquired from a young guy I met at the airport in Tokyo. I have been following the band's steps ever since. "Still Nothing Moves You" picks up right where "Violence Violence" left off. Post-punk Indie on crystal-meth, hard-core in the old-school sense. I love that California sound. It seems that the mark "Black Flag" has left, not just in music, but in the very area where they dwelled so many years ago has branded an irremovable influence on that entire scene forever. The songs on "SNMY" are a bit more thought out than their previous stuff, and a bit lengthier. But keep in mind, this still means everything is still pretty much around the 1 minute mark. Ceremony are keeping the true, original spirit of old-school American hard-core alive- and this new release is a testament to the damn good job they are doing at it.

 

*Number 02

Fucked Up - "The Chemistry Of Common Life"

-Matador Records

If you took the guys from Boston's "Negative Approach", added a female bass player to their ranks, blasted them 20 odd years into the future and landed them in the streets of Toronto- they would reform and call themselves "Fucked Up". Everything this band does impresses me in volumes. "The Chemistry Of Common Life" is a tad more experimental than their previous efforts of straight-forward old-school hardcore. But their progression and growth as recording artists does not take much away from the same intensity and purity felt on everything this band stamps their name on. The experimental and instrumental pieces of "TCOCL" occur a tad more frequently and at longer lengths than their previous stuff, which might disturb the flow of the album when listening to it as a whole, but the true magic of this band has always been the ability to capture their live performance into their recordings. 

Another beautifully written and executed performance from Fucked Up.

*Number 01

Victims - "Killer"

-DeathWish Records

The title says it all! KILLER! This is fast, raucous, biting, hard-core punk rock as it should be! "Killer" is by far the Victims most impressive release to date. Victims touch on a lot of various influences on this release, ranging from their trademark, almost metal edge, to crust, and straight-out punk rock. It's a tad on the short side, but that just gives me incentive to hit "repeat", as this album has been on rotation around my ears for a while now and still has not lost it's flavor. Great anthemic choruses and breakdowns, and well produced vocals with an almost "Sick Of It All" approach. This one was a pretty easy choice for the Number 1 spot here, as it truly is THAT friggin' good. 

-----*-----

Hey, that WAS kinda fun! Maybe next time I attempt to do something like this I will review some cool things in Japan for you guys out there. Maybe the Top 5 Sushi Shops in Tokyo, or the Top 5 Train Stations to avoid at all costs.. or maybe the Top 5 ways to make your boss think you are actually working on something constructive.

hmmm.....

Hopefully soon I will have collected enough customer feedback/ reviews, etc, so I can post some stuff like, the Top 5 Combat Custom Guitars of 2009, as chosen BY YOU! (Or something like that)

Anyway, that was enough sporadic mess for now.

Next time, I will get back to posting some more cool Combat stuff! A lot is in the works! Got a few cool video projects coming up, some new sweet looking custom guitars, and a few artist Signature models to show off!

So keep checking back!

See ya back here soon!

- Combat Colin.