AXEL MANRICO HEILHECKER   PHONOKULTUR A.M.H.
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GRAND GUITARS




Brettgeflüster


This site is just about vintage guitars and reissues. It's related to my column "Axel Heilhecker's Brettgeflüster" in the german guitar magazin "GRAND GUITARS" , a column about the classic guitars in Rock, Blues and Jazz culture.


Old Guitars - Young Hearts

THE SOUL OF A GUITAR Producing "My vintage and favorite Grand Guitars and Licks" makes a lot of fun. Concentrating on the character of my old guitars and their appearance in the Classics of Rock, Blues and Jazz it makes a big difference to my usual work in writing my music, as well as playing that close to original classic licks Here i go back to my own beginnings, where i just was lucky to have the possibility to play some great instruments, and some things came up to me from those days in a analystic and conscious way... When i picked up on the music of the late sixties, and the seventies at that time everything was very unintentional and impulsive... I was mostly and more impressed by the idea of spontaneous jams and my ideas, than by copying music, which maybe was helpful in finding a own style. On the other hand my knowledge in certain traditional playing technics were not very deep in those days. Over the years i found time to learn more of those things as well as i got deeper in the soul of the old guitars, the electronics and recording.. technics we used and experienced in those days. So my intention here is to present you some of my favorites of instruments and players came along my own musical yourney including some players who refer themselves to the old sounds and musical traditions but with new reissues of the classic instruments used those days...















Gibson Goldtop '57 - Goldqueen






definetly a great partner for any game ...

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Gibson LP Goldtop '57 / SG '62 - “At Fillmore East"

One My alltime favorite guitar-jam ! A tribute to the unforgetable duo Allman/Betts. The reconstruction of a legendary track - E.Reed
fillmore east




my favorit sg
sg62

























Gibson Es 335 '59 / Es 345 '66 - “Crossroads by Cream"

One of my favorite Cream-Songs was this one. I couldn't effort the
famous Double-Album “Wheels Of Fire“ from '68 - so this single
at least made it for me ! To memorize Eric Clapton's fab playin' and
the great sound of Gibson's ES - series i recorded this coverversion.























Grand Guitars Workshop

Lately i was asked by the "Grand Guitars" Magazin to refer about old guitars and their reissues...For that purpose i produced some covers of old and vintage style tunes to feature those instruments..and their similarities and differences...To feature the exceptional character of these instruments i used the same equipment on each of them...Which is basically the Digtech GSP 2101 and a pedalboard set up for different kind of boostings...No microphones ! - Kind of wild to some Retro-Vintage Freaks, but have a listen ! Recorded live on playback '08





The Tracks

GIBSON ES 335 1959





I play this one for 10 years now, the former owners are great players, so it was luck for me to be the..actual player of this great instrument. Unamplified it sounds already like fullbody acoustic guitar, very open and present. Acoustically my loudest electric guitar. The guitar was original set up with a Bigsby. The pickups are from 58' and accomplish the fantastic dynamic sound of the instrument perfectly cause they're less hot compared to the pickups from 59'. Essential Pickup - Selecting ! B.B King style says hello on the first part, a bit of Carlton flavour, second a version of the Rascals "Jungle Walk" as a tribute to another gifted player : Buzzy Feiten, mixed with some energetic overall West Coast Rock appeal. Part three is a excerpt of "Twomoon" from my Fishmoon - album "Twomoon Music". The pedals i used are : "Fulldrive2", Boss - "BluesDriver", Jam - Rooster and "Ed The Compressor".




GIBSON SG WITH BIGSBY 1962





One of my first guitars, still sounding great, meanwhile with a well repaired neck-break...The track is based in the first part on a cover of a Derek Trucks cover of the Roland Kirk tune "Volunteered Slavery" and featuers playing styles of Derek Trucks, Eric Clapton, Mick Taylor. The second part featueres Frank Zappa styles, these Lead parts are live recorded at the "Grand Guitar Show" in Nürnberg. The third part as a encore is a slide part of my latest Fishmoon - album, and shows the way i use the SG in my own music and producing.The pedals i used for the track are : Fulltone - "Fulldrive2", Jam Pedals - "Rooster", ..Boss - "Bluesdriver", Marshall - "Ed The Compressor"



FENDER STRAT 1967 olympic white





I just love it ! It got a certain soul, as you can hear, it seems to be made for this. Somehow it's like the approach in classical music, to get as close as possible to the notes and the sound idea, why not ?..Here i'm just a player, playin' with a very short, but still noticable and remarkable musical impact in our history. This is my way of honoring these 3 "Astroman Jimi" years of unreversable change in the Guitar Universe. Regards to Mitch Mitchell ! Lead Parts of the Hendrix - styles were completely live recorded at the "Grand Guitar Show" on top of the pre-produced backings inclusively the "Watchtower - Space Parts", which is a real "Pedal-Step Dance" while i have to pick up the slide-ring. Same as "Manic Depression" with strong "Teletronics" - and tape - compression, part three comes with modern electronics, a excerpt of my "Western Electric Suite" from my Fishmoon- album "Twomoon Music". The pedals i used are : "Fulldrive2", Vox - "Satchurator", Boss - "BluesDriver", Fulltone - "Deja Vibe" and 2 units of "Ed The Compressor" Pickups are Kinmans Traditional !







more strat...

more tele...




GIBSON LES PAUL 59' REISSUE 06'





For a change i feature here a temporary Les Paul Reissue. I never owned a original 59' Les Paul, but of coarse it was for me the most attractive electric guitar in my childhood days. No one should expect a today's guitar sound like 50 years old instrument. But the sound of a 59's instrument in its younger days is quite present by all these essential records i grew up with and it's spirit comes along with some of Gibson's reissues. For example one of the most fantastic intros in Rock on vinyl was for me "Statesboro Blues" the start up of Allman Brother's Fillmore Album. You can hear this with my 59' VOS Les Paul followed by the wellknown Kossov riff and some licks from one of best Bop'n Rock players, Danny Diaz one of the founding members of Steely Dan and my favorite player of all their followers. Actually he played this on his modified Tele with humbuckers, but since i always thought in former days it was done with a Les Paul, i stayed with that idea. Part four is a excerpt of "Spanish Electric" from my "Music for 6 String and Tape Echo". Judge yourself ! The pedals i used are : "Fulldrive2", Boss - "BluesDriver", Jam - Rooster, Vox-Satchurator and "Ed The Compressor", Boss Stereo Chorus.






Fender Stratocaster '67 sunburst  with Gladius AVT 18 Amp

Love those early Marshall 18 Watt amps ? Here is what you need !

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Fender Stratocaster '67 versus Customshop Strat '68 Model - "Little Wing"

Choose your favorite yourself out of these two really great guitars !
The Custompshop-Strat i take most of the time on the road - a very reliable good sounding
and versatile player !



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Ramirez '61 Flamenco - Model

Defintly a nice one, you can listen to it together with a Gibson '57 Les Paul !
Unserious video due last years football-world-championship !

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Epiphone Rivera '67

Another '67 beauty, as i used it on this track with Thomas Heberer (trumpet).


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