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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…

Dwight Twilley’s ’57 Fender Super
Cowboy Fringe
Plenty of vintage amps have made it into these pages on their own merits. But when a hallowed creation also…

Don’t Call it Fusion: Julien Kasper’s “Upon a Green Hill”
Beck (et al) Connection! The music made by Julien Kasper is connected to Miles, Beck, Hendrix, Mahavishnu, and Scofield, but…

Custom VG Backgrounds
Time to give your computer, tablet, or phone a new look? VG offers different classic images, each downloadable in a…

The Gibson SJ-200
Long Live The King
Introduced in 1937, Gibson’s Super Jumbos radiated star power and quickly became the guitar of choice for those who wanted…

Ceil Thompson and her self-made guitar
“Dan’s Guitar Rx”: VG’s Rock-and-Roll High School(er)! In 2022, Dan Erlewine’s “Guitar Rx” column walked readers through a class-project guitar…

Max Cavalera
Roots Revisited
To the casual fan, heavy metal can get a bit “same sounding” after a while. But then there are those…
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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,…
ARTISTS

Bumblefoot
Prog Shred Ain’t Dead
After bursting onto the scene in 1995 with the screwball shred classic The Adventures of Bumblefoot, Ron Thal (a.k.a. Bumblefoot)…

Beckley and Bunnell
America History Lesson
Few bands warrant a career-retrospective box set, let alone two. Then again, most don’t keep going after 50 years. America…

Brian Setzer
Rocking Back to the Future
Brian Setzer wears several hats – rockabilly, swing, even hard-rocking Christmas music. But through it all, by and large he…

Kim Simmonds
Back to Basics with Savoy Brown
Under the aegis of founder Kim Simmonds, Savoy Brown has always been a band “subject to change.” Formed in 1965,…
CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS

The Real Story of Martin’s 14-Fret Orchestra Models
OM Irony
Martin Orchestra Model (OM) guitars made prior to World War II are some of the finest ever made for fingerpicking.…

Thomas Custom Guitars
Rarities from the Pacific Northwest
Certain makes and models of electric guitars are rightfully prized for their elegant physical designs and superior craftsmanship. Even better…

Fender’s Mid-’50s Precision Bass
The "In-Between" Version
In the world of electric basses, the 1952 Fender Precision is the one that started it all. While it’s true…

Epiphone Coronet
This Epiphone Coronet from 1959 was probably a shocking sight to a guitar buyer of the late ’50s. Not only…
NEWSWIRE
APPROVED GEAR
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Live Wire
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Narrow(field) Win
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Take Flight
Carvin Steve Vai Legacy 3 VL300
The Legend Continues
Carvin Steve Vai Legacy 3 VL300 Price: $899 Info: www.carvin.com. For more than 13 years, Steve Vai has been collaborating…

The Universal Audio Astra Modulation Machine
Stately Shimmer
Famous for well-regarded interfaces, plug-ins, and vintage-gear emulations, Universal Audio has entered the pedal business with the Astra Modulation Machine,…

The Grez Mendocino Junior
New Old-Soul
Luthier Barry Grzebik was a Jersey boy who moved to NorCal in his teens. When he began building guitars, he…
Fender’s J Mascis
Fender’s J Mascis Artist Jazzmaster – J’s Rockin’ Axe
Introduced in the late 1950s as Fender’s “jazz guitar,” the Jazzmaster was also supposed to compete in the market with…
WHAT ELSE IS NEW
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More Personal
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Rare Pioneer

Fender’s Dhani Harrison Signature Ukulele
Here Comes The Fun
Ukuleles are inherently charming, and Fender amplifies (literally) that charm with the Dhani Harrison Signature model. A tilted four-inline headstock…

Morphine
No Guitar, No Problem
They were a band like no other – either before or since. That was the inevitable description of the rock…

2Frontiers’ Authentic Appalachian Sounds
Exclusive run at “Long Dead Man” When you’re in the mood for old-timey Appalachian music done very well, grab “New…

Six-String Kicks
Wood from Famed Bowling Alley Set to Sing
Few things scratch America’s cumulative itch for nostalgia like Route 66 – the famed wagon-trail-cum-highway that offered passage to those…











































