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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. …

Remembering Jeff Beck
The Guitar Hero, Defined
Jeff Beck, the guitarist who pushed the ’60s British Invasion band the Yardbirds from its electric-blues roots to a contemporary…

Eddie Roberts
Making It Up As You Go
The New Mastersounds’ latest album, Made For Pleasure, has the usual mix of soul, jazz, funk, and even a bit…
Effectrode Tube-Vibe and Goran Fat Boy
Premium Pedalin’
Effectrode Tube-Vibe Price: $429 (Tube-Vibe) Contact: www.effectrode.com Goran Fat Boy Price: $429 Contact: www.goranguitars.com In the annals of guitar stompboxes,…

Check This Action: My Kind of Blues
The great Junior Parker sang, “You will feel like dying when you get these kind of blues.” But he sang…

Mike Rutherford
Re-Living The Years
Mike Rutherford prefers focusing on the future, even if recent projects have required the guitarist/bassist to think about life. Late…

Fender AA964 Princeton
What’s (Not) in a Name
Getting the job done – five simple knobs on the Princeton’s control panel. 1966 Fender Princeton • Preamp tubes: one…
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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

Mick Mars
A Piece of His Action
Since emerging from Hollywood’s Sunset Strip in the early 1980s, Mötley Crue has defined the Los Angeles metal scene. Fueled…

Dana Sutcliffe
Here’s the Scoop
Many know Dana Sutcliffe from his classic guitar design, the Alvarez Dana Scoop produced from the late 1980s through the…

The (Way) Back Beat: A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody
Fretted cheesecake advertising through the years, Part 3: The 1960s
Fretted-instrument advertising in the 20th century relied heavily on “glamor” or “cheesecake.” Electric instruments and accessories, in particular, are still…

Fearless Guitar Heroes
Metallica’s Hammett and Hetfield Stage Legendary Solidbodies
Metallica emerged as the antithesis to corporate rock and the “hair metal” that dominated L.A.’s Sunset Strip in the ’80s.…
CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS

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,…

Fender 6G13-A Vibrasonic
Amid the classics in Fender’s “golden-era” amp line, some remained in production only a short time because of timing, misjudgment…

Buddy Holly’s ’58 Magnatone 280
1958 Magnatone Custom 280
When guitarists talk tremolo or vibrato, you can bet the magnificent Magnatone amps will find their way into the conversation.…

Alive! Guitar Revived
The Tale of Frampton’s ’54 Les Paul Custom
Gifted to Peter Frampton after a 1970 Humble Pie concert at Fillmore West in San Francisco, for years, this ’54…
NEWSWIRE
APPROVED GEAR
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Live Wire
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Narrow(field) Win
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Take Flight

Earthquaker Devices’ Avalanche Run
Test for Echo
The story of Earthquaker Devices begins with Jamie Stillman fixing his own overdrive pedal and then deciding to get into…

TC Electronic Spark
Booster Shot
Everyone’s guitar tone sometimes needs a little assistance, especially playing with a band. To the rescue comes the TC Electronic…
Giffin Vikta
Feelin’ Special
Giffin Vikta Price: $2,295 Contact: www.premierbuildersguild.com Roger Giffin is a guitarmaker to the stars, having built for Eric Clapton, Pete…

The D’Angelico Excel 59
Hybrid Hotshot
Some might see it as a Frankenstein’s monster, while others will view it as the best of all worlds. The…
WHAT ELSE IS NEW
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More Personal
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Rare Pioneer

Orange TH30 Combo
Small Clubs, Big Tones
Orange TH30 Combo Price:$1,379 (list) Info: www.orangeamps.com Beyond their eye-catching color, Orange amplifiers have always rendered a distinct sound. Today,…

The Gretsch 6169 Electromatic Twin Western
What good was selling a newfangled electric guitar back at the dawn of the revolution if you didn’t have an…

Harvey Valdes
Switched-On Bach
Ever since Andrés Segovia elevated the nylon-string guitar to a serious classical instrument a century ago, players have been performing the…

Hilton Valentine
1943-2021
“The first song I learned on guitar was ‘House of the Rising Sun’ by the Animals.” The statement could have…













































