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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…
Banjo Master Tony Trischka Plays “Chinese Breakdown”
Prime “Earl Jam” sample! One of the most influential figures in roots music, Tony Trischka, master of the five-string, shows…
Alex Machacek
Stripped Down
When you get the thumbs-up from icons like John McLaughlin and Chick Corea, it’s got to feel good. But, fusion…
Carl Verheyen
Well-rounded and busy
Carl Verheyen says it all came to him when he heard the Eagles’ album called The Long Run. At that…
Gibson’s 1966-’70 Flying V
In Detail
Body is two-piece mahogany. Pickguard mounts to body with 13 screws. Pickups are patent-number humbuckers with chrome-plated covers. Tune-O-Matic bridge…
Area 51 Fuzzwah
Two Great Tastes
Fuzz wahs are nothing new, of course. Released under scores of badge-engineered monikers, they’ve promised aural overload ranging from sirens…
Trainwreck Express “Nancy”
World’s most desirable amplifier? Aside from any “standard” vintage amps that have been elevated through their associations with major artists,…
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Reverend Sensei H90
Live Wire
So you want a Gibson-style solidbody that can cover humbucker-powered rock, yet also twangier/glassier tones using a P-90 pickup. Check. You also want to grab high frets via double-cutaway and…
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ARTISTS
Buzz Osborne
Heavy Bass
Over the years, fans have come to expect the unexpected from the Melvins. But they just may have outdone themselves…
Steve Kimock flashes back to Zero
Amazing improv on “End of World Blues” We review the reissued 1992 album “Naught Again” by Zero, a band that…
Jack Bruce
Surging Septuagenarian
Bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce, who turned 71 in May, recently released Silver Rails, his first solo album in a decade, with…
Carl Verheyen
The Tools of Trading 8s
Carl Verheyen is a member of that elite (and shrinking) group of musicians known as “session guitarists.” Super-qualified pickers, they’re…
CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS
1978 Gibson RD Artist
Throughout most of the 1970s, Les Pauls ruled the guitar roost. But toward the end of the decade, some players became…
Classics: December 2022
Reid Farrell’s Fender Tele
In 1964, high-school freshman Reid Farrell bought a Fiesta Red ’59 Telecaster with help from his guitar teacher, John Andrews.…
Gibson’s Style O Artist Guitar and K-4 Mandocello
Two For the Scroll
The mandolin originated in the Middle East as a bowl-back instrument. Crusaders brought it back to Europe and early Italian…
VG Q&A: Odd Dots
Import fretboard markers, and Kay’s Model 1961
In the mid ’60s, why did some Japanese electric-guitar manufacturers put the marker on the 10th fret rather than the…
NEWSWIRE
APPROVED GEAR
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Live Wire
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Narrow(field) Win
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Take Flight
Fender’s ’57 Custom Pro-Amp
Big Brother
When most guitarists consider Fender’s famed vintage tweeds, the first that come to mind are the 5E3 Deluxe and 4×10…
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…
B&G Little Sister Private Build
Doncha Go And Do…
B&G Guitars just about do it all – from mixing their own nitro finishes to winding pickups and even casting…
Blackbird Guitars’ Lucky 13
Nice Roll
Blackbird Guitars’ Lucky 13 Price: $1,850 (list)/$2,050 (with Fishman electronics) Info: www.blackbirdguitar.com What has a 13-fret neck, a small-but-curvaceous body…
WHAT ELSE IS NEW
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Consentrik Quartet
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Lookout Highway
Have Guitar Will Travel – Featuring 001 Billy Rowe
Billy Rowe is the guitarist/co-founder of Jetboy, which rose to prominence in the mid ’80s while touring with some of…
Blood, Sweat & Tears
What the Hell Happened to Blood, Sweat & Tears?
In 1970, Blood, Sweat & Tears was one of the most popular bands on Earth. The Woodstock headliner’s second album…
Ronnie Earl
Redemption, Reconciliation, and Reinvention
Ronnie Earl is one of the most prolific blues guitarists working today. And though his solo career now spans almost…
Buddy Merrill
1936-2021
Buddy Merrill, guitarist, steel-guitarist, composer, arranger, recording artist, and occasional vocalist, died December 5. He was 85. A seasoned musician…
