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Taylor® Guitars Kicks Off 2026 With Two Major Launches – The Next Generation Of Its Flagship Grand Auditorium Guitars And New Gold Label Square-Shoulder Dreadnoughts
Taylor upgrades its most iconic models, adding “Next Generation” features to its Grand Auditorium body shape while expanding its recently introduced Gold Label Collection with traditional, square-shoulder dreadnoughts EL CAJON,…
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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 are those also revered for their playability and particularly rich…
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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…
Ray Cummins – Guitar Tutorial #9
Ray Cummins – Guitar Tutorial #9 For his ninth exclusive lesson for VG, Ray Cummins shows how to play a…
Friedman IR-X Dual Channel Preamp
Stack in the Box
Most guitar-electronics companies make a direct-recording preamp, many promising to provide ultimate distortion and overdrive via impulse responses (IR) or…
La Baye 2X4
1967, the Summer of Love. Everything still seemed possible, and anything went. No more war, racial and gender equality, Fresh…
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…
D’Angelico Excel EXL-1
Laudable Likeness
Few vintage guitars are as vaunted as John D’Angelico’s original handcrafted Excel archtops. Building a new – and affordable –…
George Kilby, Jr.
The Succinct Approach
George Kilby, Jr.’s Six Pack is, he says, a “collection of singles” rather than an EP or album. Kilby graduated…
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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…
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CURRENT ISSUE
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ARTISTS
The Return of Slash and The Conspirators
4 From the Floor
In the weeks before they gathered to record a new album in the spring of 2021, guitar legend Slash, frontman/songwriter…
Kristian Borring
Up From Down Under
Born in Denmark, Kristian Borring now lives in one of the most-remote major cities on earth – Perth, on the…
Tom Feldmann
No Need to Sell Your Soul
“And the Oscar goes to…” If they gave out Academy Awards for the best guitar instructional film, Tom Feldmann’s latest…
Tony Iommi
When Sabbath Rocked with Ronnie
Black Sabbath sounded reinvigorated and refocused on its first two albums of the ’80s – Heaven and Hell and Mob…
CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS
Guild’s S-100/S-200 “Kickstand” Models
Much like several other well-known manufacturers, Guild has, through the years, changed ownership, locations, and identities. Guild was founded in…
Clapton’s Fool
History’s Greatest Guitar?
Eric Clapton’s The Fool. A name immediately recognizable to guitarists, yet baffling to others. What is Clapton’s Fool? Very simply,…
The Schaffer-Vega Diversity System
Making Rock Roll
“ The best thing I ever did in the beginning was not use effects,” AC/DC’s Angus Young told VG in…
Bruce and Butter
It would be an understatement to say that REO Speedwagon bassist Bruce Hall and his 1965 Fender Jazz Bass, dubbed…
NEWSWIRE
APPROVED GEAR
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Lively Drives
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Posh Squash
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Chet Powered!
Magnatone Varsity
Less is More, Plus
Magnatone Varsity Price: $1,699 (list); $1,799 (as tested) Contact: www.magnatoneusa.com Magnatone earned a cult of admirers in the mid 20th…
The KW Cabs ST-220T SSB
Who Woodn’t?
Like you, Kurt Wyberanec knows that good extension cabinets, like acoustic guitars, serve their player as resonant sound chambers. Those…
Epiphone’s Inspired by 1955 Les Paul Custom
Dressed to Kill
Produced from 1954 to 1956, the Black Beauty Custom is one of the most revered Les Pauls. Marketed as the…
Ibanez Artcore Expressionist AM93QM
Semi-Hollow Magic
There comes a time in a guitarist’s life when one becomes hollowbody curious, and semi-hollow guitars are often the gateway…
WHAT ELSE IS NEW
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Revisiting Room 335
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Plus, a Pro’s List of Repair Glues
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Rising Tides
Loar LH-309 VS Archtop
One Cool Cat
Loar LH-309 VS Archtop Price: $569.99 (street) Contact: theloar.com As the retro craze delves deeper into six-string history, a spate…
Pop ’N Hiss: King Crimson’s Red
Commendable Coda
In the late ’60s, a new style of rock emerged in Britain, influenced by classical music and fronted by bands…
Kalamazoo KG-1
Collectible value in guitars can be defined any number of ways, and not just by having a popular brand name…
Unsung: The Story of Marlo Henderson
The creation of great music is almost always a collaborative effort. From session players to engineers, producers, arrangers, and marketing…
