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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…

Check This Action: Playing Guitar With The Ventures
Think of your favorite rock band, and imagine sitting in with them – or better yet, being a member. The…

Kirk Douglas
Music In a Blender
As guitarist on “The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon,” “Captain” Kirk Douglas has an enviable gig. He also performs on…

A Tribute To Chuck Berry
That Brown-Eyed Handsome Guitar-Playing Man
When those first notes of Chuck Berry’s first Chess single came blasting out of the radio in July of 1955,…

Tony Valentino
75, Still Rockin’
Most fans of classic-rock radio know The Standells garage-punk classic “Dirty Water,” which was listed in Rolling Stone’s “Top 500…

Todd Rundgren
Rock’s True Renaissance Man
For 50 years, Todd Rundgren has been compiling one the most eclectic and impressive resumés in music. From forming the…

Carr Bloke
No Regular Fella
From early models such as the Carr Slant 6V and the Rambler to more recent offerings such as the Artemus…
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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

Fretprints: Dave Grohl
Beyond Grunge
“Alternative rock” – more descriptor than genre – was a reaction to hair bands, technical excess, and pop-metal formulae. It…

Dave Davies
Personal Songs and Power Chords
For more than a half-century, the world has known of guitarist Dave Davies and his raucous electric sound, thanks to…

Nuno Bettencourt
Extreme Versatility
When Extreme reunited for its fifth album, 2008’s Saudades de Rock, it seemed a foregone conclusion the band was back…

Michael Manring
Bass Convergence
Most music fans who learn that the eclectic trio 3Below is all bass players will react with, “You gotta be…
CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS

Gibson’s “Non-Reverse” Firebirds
When Down Was Up
Some guitars get no respect, at least historically. At the dawn of the ’70s, Gibson’s original (1963-’65) Firebirds were already…

Daion Headhunter HH-555
The trajectory of the Japanese guitar industry in many ways has mirrored that of the United States, though in a…

Freddie King’s ’73 ES-355
Thinline Crown
Influenced by Robert Johnson, T-Bone Walker, Lightnin’ Hopkins, John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, Sonny Boy Williamson, and others including jump-blues…

Jim Campilongo & Steve Cardenas
Mutual Musical Idiosyncrasies
Steve Cardenas and Jim Campilongo have been playing guitar together for a long time, though the constellations only recently aligned…
NEWSWIRE
APPROVED GEAR
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Live Wire
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Narrow(field) Win
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Take Flight

Killer Guitar Components Killer Trem Bridge
Bridging the Gap
In the mid 1950s, Leo Fender and his crew spent countless hours on the design and manufacture of their revolutionary…
Railhammer Hyper Vintage Humbucker
Poles Apart
Railhammer Hyper Vintage Humbucker Price: $139 list / $89 direct Contact: railhammer.com Developed by Joe Naylor of Reverend Guitars, Railhammers…

Becos FX TS8-JZ Ziffer Overdrive
Dirty Deeds
Based on the highly revered Maxon/Ibanez 808 circuit and co-designed with guitarist Jordan Ziff (Ratt, Marty Friedman, Hot Crazy), the…
PRS SE Custom Semi-Hollow
Multi-Functional Gem
While most guitarists are familiar with PRS (and some dream every day of adding one of the company’s Private Stock…
WHAT ELSE IS NEW
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More Personal
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Rare Pioneer

Tony Gilkyson
Avenging Angel
You know an album is promising when its sidemen include Buck Owens pedal-steeler Jay Dee Maness and Watts 103rd Street…

2023 March Issue on Spotify
This month we feature Jeff Beck, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Savoy Brown, Uriah Heap, King Crimson, The Yard Birds, The sons…

Seymour Duncan SFX-07 Shape Shifter
Vintage Trem Sounds & Beyond
Seymour Duncan’s reputation when it comes to pickups (from dead-on vintage replicas to his own designs) has been well established…

Joe Peña
Bad Breakups, Free Guitars
“[My ’59 Les Pal Junior] sounds so good that whoever’s going to play the main part in a song plays…













































