Today's Top Stories:

  New Limited Edition Relics
The Fender Custom Shop has been building dream guitars for nearly 20 years now. These include everything from faithful reproductions of classic models of the past to fully tweaked instruments built to an individual's personal specifications. A select few instruments are hand-built by the master luthiers, the same skilled artisans that build custom instruments for the likes of Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, and Merle Haggard. Other Custom Shop models are "Team-Built" stock instruments. Most recently, the Custom Shop set out to build two limited-edition Esquires and four Stratocasters. Today we'll be looking at the two Esquire models, which are patterned after the early pre-CBS instruments. This includes a limited run of only 100 Fender Custom Shop Builder Select Esquire Heavy Relic LTD (John English) models in a Vintage Blonde nitrocellulose lacquer finish with special hand-wound "Stealth" pickups under the pickguard (the original Esquire had only a single coil bridge pickup, so to keep the vintage look, Fender put the pickups where they couldn't be seen). It's also gotten the full Relic treatment and includes all the cool vintage appointments. The second Esquire, which is dubbed the Fender Custom Shop Esquire Relic LTD, is also going to be limited to a run of just 100 guitars, but these are more like the original Esquires, with just the single pickup in the bridge position, plus the full Relic treatment and all the vintage appointments. Both include a certificate of authenticity and a limited edition black hardshell case. As you can imagine, these will become instant collector's items, so call your Sweetwater Sales Engineer right away for complete details, pricing, and availability.

  More Universal Binary Updates
More and more applications are getting the Universal Binary treatment, so that the software will run on both PowerPC Macs and the new, blistering hot Intel-based Macs. Today we have two to report. Arturia has updated their CS-80V to version 1.6. This particular update does not require the previous CS-80V updates to be installed on your computer and is not compatible with the demo version. However, it is VST 2.4 Cubase 4 ready, includes a brand new installer, fixes a Pro Tools integration bug, and comes with factory presets that have been fully updated and optimized. To install this update, you will need to insert your original installation CD into your CD-ROM drive. IK Multimedia has a download for the new SampleTank 2.2 that provides full compatibility for IK Users with Mac Intel Core Duo Systems. SampleTank 2 L and XL users can download this software update for free on the IK Web site. Along with Mac Intel compatibility, there are also other enhancements that include improved MIDI compatibility, dramatically improved speed when loading instruments, improved search function reliability, Pro Tools 7 native support, and more.

  New In Stock At Sweetwater

• McDSP Classic Pack Native Bundle - Now you can pick up a bundle of McDSP's most popular plug-ins and save a bundle in the process! The McDSP Classic Pack combines the company's world-renowned Analog Channel, CompressorBank, FilterBank, and MC2000 plug-ins, delivering a powerful suite of mixing and mastering tools for Pro Tools LE. McDSP's Analog Channel reproduces the sound of high-end analog tape machines, analog tape, and analog channel amplifiers and gives you complete control of analog gain staging, acting as a "digital pre-amp" (in AC1 mode), or as analog tape and tape machines (in AC2 mode).
• McDSP Emerald Pack Native Bundle - The Emerald Pack is nothing less than every high-end, full version McDSP plug-in ever made in one amazing package. That's 30 sonically superb, DSP-efficient plug-ins! The bundle has won one PAR award, two Blue Ribbon awards, and three TEC award nominations, all of which adds up to the most comprehensive suite of professional audio tools ever assembled. It includes: Analog Channel, Revolver, Channel G, CompressorBank, FilterBank, MC2000, Chrome Tone, Synthesizer One, and many more, all at a special Sweetwater price that includes free shipping!

  Guitar Of The Day
Ibanez launched the JEM Series of electric guitars as a tribute to Steve Vai, the Grammy Award-winning guitarist, composer, and producer. Prior to attending Berklee College of Music, Steve got lessons from (and eventually jammed with) Joe Satriani, but Steve really hit the "big time" when he hooked up with the legendary Frank Zappa. With these credentials, you know that Steve isn't going to play just any guitar. The Ibanez JEM7VWH Steve Vai Signature Series Guitar is, in fact, the flagship of the Ibanez line and one look tells you this isn't a "me-too" instrument. For one thing, the JEM7VWH has a hole in its body called a "monkey grip"! What this guitar has in huge quantity is personality. It starts with a contoured alder body finished in white with a pearloid pickguard and gold hardware, which includes the Ibanez Edge Pro bridge/vibrato with extra deep routing. Then there's a 5-piece maple/walnut JEM Prestige neck with a long-grain rosewood fingerboard, and an eye-popping pearl and abalone vine inlay. To deliver optimum tones, the JEM7VWH is equipped with three DiMarzio Evolution pickups: Two humbuckers at the bridge and neck positions and a single coil in the middle. A 5-way blade selector switch lets you choose fat humbucking sounds or those slinky single-coil tonalities. It ships in a JEM hardshell case.