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Super PickupGiveaway 2025
Win Big! 11 Sets! 11 Winners! Win a set of pickups from one of these sponsors: Deadline is March 15, 2026. Complete the survey below to enter giveaway. One entry…
McGregor Pedals’ Crunch and Crunch Plus
Transparent Pair
McGregor Pedals founder and self-proclaimed “Chief Mad Scientist” Garth McGregor Heslop hand-wires pedals in his Vancouver shop. Two of them…
Jim Campilongo
Back to the Country
A misconception of his own making led to Jim Campilongo’s latest effort with the band Honeyfingers. “I enjoy my trio…
Big Knob Pedals
What’s in a Name?
Big Knob Pedals Price: Tube 808, $139; Echo Flex, $149; Vibe Tone, $159; Octavius, $129 (all list) Contact: www.bigknobpedals.com Gary…
Gibson Goldtops
Molten Mojo, Head-To-Head Vintage Versus Reissue
In the good ol’ days of 1952, jazzmeister Les Paul strutted to the center of the world’s stage and proudly…
Samantha Fish: Slide-Blues Fury!
“I’m Done Runnin’” on a D-18 VG readers know Samantha Fish is the real deal. Here, she uses a Martin…
Chase Bliss Onward
Glitch Niche
These days, there’s a litany of “glitch” pedals on the market – boxes that deconstruct guitar signal into 8-bit bleeps…
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Rickenbacker’s Electric 12-Strings
Double-bound for Glory
George Beauchamp and Adolph Rickenbacher founded Electro String in 1931 to manufacture what everyone would soon call “Rickenbacker” guitars. Success came early and their lap steels set standards of quality,…
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ARTISTS
Phil Chen
1946-2021
His business card read “Phil Chen De Bassman,” and his picks had “OD” after his name, standing for the Order…
Adam Levy’s Wistful Elegance
Vintage ES-335 on “And They All Sang” Famous for supplying charismatic guitar parts while backing Nora Jones and Tracy Chapman,…
Check This Action: Up Jumped Elmore
When someone recently asked me to recommend the most essential Elmore James album, I answered, “Any and all.” I’ve never…
Fretprints: Gary Moore’s Still Got the Blues
Defining Document
Throughout his career, Gary Moore was haunted by a prevailing assumption (in rock circles) that he was simply too good…
CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS
Coppock Guitars
Vintage Rarities from the Pacific Northwest
The obscure Coppock brand of electric guitars first surfaced in 1994, with the publication of Electric Guitars & Basses: A…
Classics: June 2022
David Hood’s Alembic Bass
Like the engineers and musicians who, in the ’60s and ’70s, helped create legendary songs at FAME Studios and its…
Ask Zac: Deep Dive on the Wide Range
Plus, Joey Molland’s Stratotone
I have collected several Fender Wide Range humbucking pickups from the early ’70s, and I’m curious about how to check…
Gibson Firebirds
Say the words “custom color” to a collector or enthusiast and most will think of “Fender.” But Gibson had its…
NEWSWIRE
APPROVED GEAR
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Live Wire
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Narrow(field) Win
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Take Flight
GluBoost MasterGlu, Fill N’ Finish, MasterTint, and Gludry Accelerator
Stick-To-It-Iveness
There exists a subculture of guitarists who build, customize, or resurrect their own instruments, or help friends with theirs. GluBoost’s…
Teye Super Coyote
Zemaitis Redux
Teije Wijnterp has been around. Born in the Netherlands, he studied flamenco guitar in Spain before relocating to Austin and…
Maestro Agena, Orbit, and Mariner
Wavy Gravy
Everyone loves modulation and filter pedals – those swishy, soupy sound makers that doll up a guitar’s signal. Maestro is…
Prestige Guitars DC Coupe Custom T Hybrid
“Tele” Twist
The first Telecasters were so good that today they’re made almost exactly as they were 70 years ago. Working just…
WHAT ELSE IS NEW
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More Personal
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Rare Pioneer
Carolyn Sills Combo
On the Draw
Listening to the Carolyn Sills Combo, you might do a double-take: Is this newly fashioned country music, or a long-lost…
TTS Music BMT Overdrive
Fine-Tune Your Crunch
TTS Music BMT Overdrive Price: $175 Info: www.ttspickups.com. No, the “BMT” in the name of TTS Music’s overdrive pedal does…
DLS TR1 Tremolo and RotoSim
Swirls and Twirls
If you’ve ever played guitar through a Leslie rotating-speaker cabinet, you’re aware of its lush 3D sound. Many guitarists would…
The Soldano
Super Lead Overdrive
One of the leaders of what we might call the second wave of high-end high-gain tube amps, Soldano has been…
