Oops, looks like you forgot something. There were several main differences between a standard Fender Stratocaster and the Hentor Sportscaster. Lifeson says he feels the same way he did after Peart's teenage daughter died in a 1997 car accident and Peart's wife died from cancer a few months later. Used - Mint. Theres no guitar player that sounds exactly like Alex Lifeson. According to Rushisaband.com, Niagara On The Lake luthier Freddy Gebrsek has received permission from RUSH guitarist Alex Lifeson to create and sell replicas of his Hentor Sportscaster, which Alex used extensively during the early 1980s. . How does the L500 sound? BLAH, BLAH, BLAH. Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson, who is gearing up to release a debut album with new project Envy of None, is giving his . No, that's not the Signature guitar; those had active single coils and no pickguard, and those were circa 1987 or so (Hold Your Fire). The Hughes & Kettner Alex Lifeson Signature Edition Triamp is a 100-watt tube head with three preamps (like the name triamp suggests) and two different channels. It is this performance that critics point to when asked to define the sound of Rush. You can see the incredible Hentor Sportscaster in action for much of the Grace Under Pressure tour, including this live performance of The Spirit of the Radio.. All he would do after he got home from school is go to his room and play guitar. This is an awesome guitar. I found the answer to my question. Regular price $59.99 Geddy Lee Vintage Tour Edition Mini Fender Jazz Bass Model Officially Licensed. Some reference if you can stand the 80'sness of the videos. JULIENS AUCTIONS IS HONORED TO ANNOUNCE OUR PROPERTY FROM THE ARCHIVES OF ALEX LIFESON AUCTION TAKING PLACE FRIDAY, MAY 20th AT THE HARD ROCK CAF NEW YORK AND LIVE ONLINE AT JULIENS LIVE. It may not display this or other websites correctly. Alex Lifeson has always been experimenting with his guitars and equipment. http://wildepickups.com/Wilde_Bill_s_Twin_Blades.html, http://www.eyguitarmusic.com/Right-Angle-3-Way-Toggle-Switch-for-3-pickups-guitar_p_892.html, http://www.warmoth.com/Pickguard/StratPickguard.aspx, http://www.tdpri.com/threads/lifeson-inspired-mod-build.452410/page-7, Low dollar loaded Strat pickguard questions, NGD - FSR Road Worn 60s Strat what a surprise. The Whitey Gibson ES-355TD is expected to fetch between $200,000 and $300,000. Sure thats the 4th one and not just some start they had around for the shoot? Learn More, We understand the importance of online privacy and are committed to complying with the EU General Data Protection Regulation. On ESL, the white Strat had a Gibson humbucker and the stock Fender bridge. Alex Lifeson has given me permission to backwards engineer and meticulously blueprint his iconic Hentor Sportscaster so that I may make and sell accurate replicas. The words Fender, Telecaster, Stratocaster and the associated headstock designs are registered trademarks of the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. Now youll have to play some Rush tunes. To make the guitar even cooler, it has two output jacks. For a limited time, save in the Gibson European Demo Shop. It has been my main guitar and is the iconic Alex Lifeson guitar," said the 68-year-old guitarist in a statement. To power his arsenal of guitars, Alex Lifeson needs quite a few amps to project his sound to a stadium filled with thousands of people. "I didn't really play for about a . Alex Lifeson Hentor Sportscaster replica - Electric Guitars - Harmony Central. Alex Lifeson uses three of his signature Hughes & Kettner amps on stage. #1. The P-90 rout definitely is not a fit as you found out and the uncovered humbucker is probably the closest. If you plug in the second output jack, it splits the magnetic pickups and the piezo pickup, so Lifeson can send the two signals to separate amp configurations! Roughed out on the bandsaw, sanded close to the line and routed to shape. GUITARIST. Special exhibitions will be held in Los Angeles and New York for the public to view highlighted items from the auction the week commencing April 11. Alex Lifeson Hentor Sportscaster Mini Guitar Model Officially Licensed - HANDCRAFTED with all the details just like Alex's famous guitar! Wed love to stay in touch, sign up for The Pick team to contact you with great news, content and offers. There's also a 1992 PRS CE bolt-on neck guitar which was heavily used on Rush's 1993 album, Counterparts, and its accompanying tour which is expected to fetch between $50,000 and $70,000. Currency: "Julien's Auctions is proud to present this magnificent collection of coveted artifacts of rock history directly . Your passion for many of the same things is obvious. it was awful to play, very uncomfortable, but had a particular sound that I liked. Alex Lifeson in Vintage Guitar Magazine, September 2011, You can see Lifeson rock his black Signature Aurora (and an awesome 80s haircut) in this 1989 live performance of Big Money.. Other guitars featured in the Property from the Archives of Alex Lifeson auction include a 1976 Gibson J-55 acoustic used by Lifeson to compose Rush's 1976 platinum-selling album 2112; a 1990 Fender Strat which appears on the majority of latter-day Rush albums; and a 2015 limited run Gibson EDS-1275 double-neck guitar created specifically for Rush's 40th Anniversary R40 tour. So first things first, I needed do some neck and bridge work while I waited for the parts I ordered (we'll get to all that in a later post). While in my possession over the last few months I made suggestions to Alex on upgrading the guitar. Aside from the Guitar Players I used to have a handful of Guitar For The Practicing Musician (an '80s mag with transcriptions for those who don't remember this one). Alex Lifeson: I purchased this guitar in 1976, it was custom-built in Kalamazoo just for me. Alex Lifeson Signature Guitar - "Great White". Regular price $49.99 Alex Lifeson Signature ES-355 Gibson Alpine White Miniature Guitar Model. A 1980 custom Hentor Sportscaster that was the main . Figure this was the bass cabinet (bottom) of the 3rd stack, I believe Alex used 4 stacks at the time. That way I could start with a shallower initial cut. As if a Floyd Rose on a Les Paul isnt unique enough, in addition to the two magnetic humbuckers, Lifeson also added a Piezo pickup into the Floyd Rose bridge. ), Gibson three way switch on the lower horn, 5 way with that? Looking for a bit more lead boost during live performances, Lifeson added the Hughes & Kettner Coreblade to his amp setup for the Time Machine tour in 2011. Nov 4, 2017 #1 AnalogKid68 TDPRI Member. But the cool thing is all the notes on the aged masking tape inside the cabinet, which Im curious to discover more about: They recruited bassist and vocalist Jeff Jones and became The Projection, which eventually became Rush in 1968. The Morely made its first appearance in 1975 on the Fly By Night tour and has been a consistent part of his pedalboard ever since. Well done and keep up the great work! Playing bigger gigs, he needed the extra power! By continuing to use Reverb, you agree to these updates, and to our cookie policy. Lee. Wow.and I thought I was a Rush dork!! i know he was endorsed by them back then. It has been my main guitar and is the iconic Alex Lifeson guitar." . The Hentor Sportscaster! His guitar, however, is a Rickenbacker with a brass neck and a 12-string neck. To project the awesome sound from the amps out into the audience, Lifeson three Hughes & Kettner 212 cabinets. He missed the sound of his old signatures and asked Paul Reed Smith to build him a PRS with one of the old pickups, so he did! Hello Chris, great article but Id like to bring some corrections to your information the Signature Guitars section: Alex started using the Signature Aurora Prototype built buy Russ Heinl (a personal friend of Alexs) for the Hold Your Fire and Presto albums almost exclusively (this it the White Aurora, his #1), he had 5 Auroras on tour with him and used mostly his #1, #2 Charcoal grey & his #3 Dark emerald green metallic in the live performances. He has them on many of his Les Pauls, including his signature Axcess Les Paul. That's his Hentor "Sportscaster" I believe That's his "Flockcaster" to match his hair from that era. https://images.reverb.com/image/upl,t_large/v1581972430/h0nfvf6whdarq19a1o7i.jpg, Fender "Squier Series" Floyd Rose Standard Stratocaster 1992 - 1996 | Reverb, https://reranchstore.stores.yahoo.net/vintagecream.html, https://www.tdpri.com/media/hentor-sportscaster-wiring-diagram.32741/full?d=1427069188, 2023: The Year Epiphone Became Unaffordable, Don't store picks in zip bags for too long. It looked like a Fender Stratocaster with a few stark differences. It can be heard on 16 of the band's studio albums from their 1974 self-titled debut to 1996's Test for Echo and seen in several music videos. I only get one shot at this so I've been doing a lot of research on this. For the wiring check, the link to the build thread I linked to above in post 6. Joining the ES-355 was Lifeson's 1976 Gibson Dove acoustic, . The prototype was eventually made into an official Gibson signature model and had a limited production run in 2015. Garrison Guitars was an instrument manufacturer in Canada founded in 1999. The guitar is expected to sell at auction for between $100,000 and $200,000. In the later tours, Lifeson swapped from having a chorus foot pedal to a rack-mounted chorus effect. He even uses it during Rushs induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Its an HSS, two knobs (volume / tone) with a Floyd rose non fine tuner trem (no locking nut). Lifeson played a Signature Aurora almost exclusively for the Power Windows Tour and kept it in rotation for a few shows after that. All his Strats were 1977 models and I believe all had alder bodies. Geddy Lee also has a set of Moog Taurus Bass Pedals on his pedalboard, preset with different sounds. I'm not familiar with the original that inspired this build, but I can still tell that this turned out exceptionally nicely! I'd almost consider the Hentor Sportscaster to be more iconic of a guitar of his than anything else he used, considering how much mileage he got out of it and how many classic songs he was using . The auction will also play host to a 1976 Gibson Dove acoustic guitar which was used to write several songs from 1977's A Farewell to Kings, including Closer to the Heart and a 1970 Gibson Les Paul acquired by Lifeson during Rush's inaugural tour in 1974. Another notable guitar going under the hammer is Lifeson's 1980 Hentor Sportscaster, the custom electric guitar which Lifeson played on albums such as 1981's Moving Pictures and 1984's Grace Under Pressure. Also did this for a tele I'm working on as well. You can see these cabinets in action on the Time Machines tour. The attention to detail shows, and I can only imagine what a special instrument this must feel like, how much pleasure it must bring just to look at it. In 2011, Alex Lifeson got to team up with his friends at Gibson once again to create another unique signature guitar. Hello my fellow Rush fans! The Hentor Sportscaster (build complete! These two upgrades as well as others are listed in my OPTIONS category. There have been various discussions over the years, for those looking to build their own replicas of Alex's customized Strats, and not only do I want . I just wanted to compliment you for the outstanding job that you did, researching and writing such a detailed, informative, interesting, and enjoyable article. TDPRI, short for Telecaster Discussion Page Reissue, is the leading online community and marketplace for Telecaster guitars.