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MusicNomad is running a fun Valentine’s Day challenge for guitar players — and it’s a good one.
Has Your Guitar Been KISSed? 💋🎸 This Valentine’s Day, MusicNomad is asking one big question: Has your guitar been KISSed? Show your guitar some love with a KEEP IT SIMPLE,…
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“Buy That Guitar” podcast with special guests Robb Lawrence and Kim Shaheen
Season 03 Episode 10 In Episode 3.10 of “Buy That Guitar,” host Ram Tuli is joined by Robb Lawrence and Kim Shaheen. Robb’s experience in the vintage market spans from…
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Pieces of a Prototype
Secrets of a Socal "Parts" Guitar
If you were a guitar – particularly one with a natural or translucent finish – your “fingerprint” would be the grain of the wood used to make your body. …
Mike Keneally
Uncommon Knowledge
For 35 years, Mike Keneally has been a go-to sideman for icons like Frank Zappa, Steve Vai, and Joe Satriani,…
Hangin’ with Kid and Lisa “Little Baby” Andersen
Smooth, Funky Blues With Soul Kid Andersen worked with Charlie Musselwhite and Elvin Bishop before scoring his current gig with…
Gibson’s Experimental Archtop
Orville Gibson invented the carved-top guitar in the 1890s, and his company refined the design with f-shaped sound holes in…
A Hero’s Gretsch 6117
In the 1960s, the astronauts were bigger cultural icons than the Beatles. And no, that’s not the Colorado-based surf band…
Bill Pitman
1920-2022
One of the last surviving members of the record industry’s famed Wrecking Crew, Bill Pitman died at his home in…
Delta Labs Concept 1
Preamp tubes: Two 6U8A, two 12FQ7, in addition to more-common types Output tubes: eight 33JV6 horizontal-output tubes Rectifier: solidstate Controls:…
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VG Q&A: Harmony History
And an Archtop Mystery
I recently received two guitars as gifts and am trying to learn more about them. The first is a Harmony I believe is from the early ’70s. Its serial number…
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ARTISTS
Multi-Generational Blues
Ronnie Baker Brooks
On Blues In My DNA, second-generation blues man Ronnie Baker Brooks continues the legacy of his father, Lonnie Brooks, by…
Bakersfield twang from Nashville Honeymoon
Vintage Instruments, Traditional Sounds Nashville Honeymoon plays country music laden with Bakersfield influence – the best kind! Here, Hank Maninger…
Kansas’ Leftoverture
Iconic American Prog
Progressive rock emerged from the British psychedelic scene in the late ’60s with bands like the Nice, Procol Harum, Moody…
Greta Van Fleet’s Jake Kiszka
Heavy Steps : Road Ready
“Rock and roll is a young man’s game.” Once upon a time, it was the genre’s calling card. A half-century…
CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS
Fender’s Musicmaster and Duo-Sonic
Little Brothers
Often forgotten amongst Fender’s many classics, the Musicmaster and Duo-Sonic were conceived to capitalize on teenagers taking up the guitar…
Gibson Super Jumbo 100
The Super Jumbo 200 is Gibson’s most celebrated flat-top model, and deservedly so, thanks to its use by cowboy movie…
D’Angelico New Yorker
Top of the Line from a Master Builder
Having earned its place in the VG Hall of Fame as one of the finest guitars in the history of…
The Oud
Ancient to Modern
If Beatles guitarist George Harrison had used an oud instead of a sitar to give “Norwegian Wood” its distinct sound,…
NEWSWIRE
APPROVED GEAR
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Live Wire
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Narrow(field) Win
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Take Flight
HomeWrecker Pickups
Slumbering Strats, Awake!
In 2011, session guitarist Joshua Hernandez began winding pickups in his living room. From these modest beginnings, and with no…
Overture JS-Session
Do-It-All Guitar?
Overture JS-Session Price: $ 1,499. Info: overtureguitars.com When designing a new guitar, builders often face a quandary. Some go to…
Rocky Mountain Slides Company Firecracker Aluminum Slides
Slick Slide
Rocky Mountain Slides Company’s new “Firecracker Aluminum Slides” may look like other guitar slides but it is internally flared in…
Magnatone Panoramic Stereo
Tales of True Vibrato
Magnatone amplifiers date back to the 1940s and ’50s – the era of Hawaiian-steel guitar – and boasted pearloid-covered casework…
WHAT ELSE IS NEW
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Five Alternative Club Classic Amps of the ’50s
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Remembering a Heavy Hero
Knaggs Chena A
All-Purpose Axe
Many guitars are a blend of common styles, but few have gone as far as the Knaggs Chena A, a…
Bill Nelson
Still Deluxe
Most people remember Bill Nelson as the front man/guitar hero in the English band Be Bop Deluxe. Since folding that…
Widman Set Neck
An Eye For Detail
Widman Set Neck Price: $3,900 Info: widmancustomelectrics.com. John Widman is a custom guitar builder whose artistic leanings began while he…
The Fender Stratocaster
Aiming High
In 1953, Leo Fender started planning a new standard guitar – the Stratocaster. His partner, Don Randall, who headed Fender…
