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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. …
Van Morrison
Wild Nights
In the history of live recordings, there are a handful widely considered to be all-time classics: B.B. King’s Live at…
Deke Dickerson
Making Merle’s Memoir
From the day he first picked up a guitar at 13, Deke Dickerson honed in on guitarists like Chuck Berry,…
Austin Mics DIY Summer Reverb
for Kicks and More
Rick Wilkinson’s Austin Mics company, based in San Diego, specializes in do-it-yourself ribbon-microphone kits and DIY guitar pedals. His latest…
Alembic Essence Zebrawood 4
Alembic basses are the stuff of low-end legend, famed for magical tones in the hands of Stanley Clarke, Jack Casady,…
Stomp Under Foot Ram’s Head
Piece of the Pi
Matt Pasquerella has a reputation as a pi connoisseur… no, not the eating kind, the fuzzy kind. The creator of…
Dan’s Guitar RX: Creating the Iris DE-11
Something New From Something Old
In last month’s “Approved Gear,” VG reviewed the Iris Guitar Company DE-11. If you missed it, I’d suggest you grab…
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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,…
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ARTISTS
Pasquale Grasso
One-Man Duo
In the 1940s, jazz pianist Art Tatum wowed audiences with a virtuoso technique that sounded like two players. Today, Pasquale…
Marty Friedman
Wall of Shred
Between playing on Cacophony’s landmark 1987 shred album, Speed Metal Symphony, and Megadeth’s 1990 classic, Rust in Peace, Marty Friedman…
Bobby Black
Steel Before and After Commander Cody
When he got the invitation, Bobby Black wasn’t sure. The pedal-steel virtuoso, a 20-plus-year veteran of San Francisco’s music scene,…
Midge Ure
The Unexpected Retrospective
While guitarist Midge Ure was a member of Visage and was briefly in an early version of Thin Lizzy, he’s…
CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS
Fender’s First Reissues
The CBS Era Concludes in Style
By the late 1970s, cumulative changes in the details of the various classic guitar models on the market – Fender’s…
J.D. Simo
Playing for Elvis
Psych-blues guitar maestro J.D. Simo was the wizard behind the guitar work heard on Elvis, the new Baz Luhrmann film…
Roy Orbison’s Marshall Model 1961
Dream Baby
One of the most-desirable vintage amplifiers ever made goes by a name it never officially had. Possibly the first Marshall…
The Supro Thunderbolt S6420
Lightning Strikes
Despite their catalog-grade status, Supro amps have been used by several noteworthy guitarists. For many, the sturdy Thunderbolt is the…
NEWSWIRE
APPROVED GEAR
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Live Wire
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Narrow(field) Win
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Take Flight
EHX Walking on the Moon Flanger/Filter Matrix
Andy Flange
With its mouthful of a name – The Andy Summers Walking On the Moon Flanger/Filter Matrix – the latest Electro-Harmonix…
Keeley Electronics Zoma
’65 Vibe
Inspired by Robert Keeley’s fondness for combining effects, the digital Keeley Electonics Zoma Stereo Reverb and Tremolo simplifies interface and…
Elite Acoustics EAE D6-8 Pro
Power-Packed
A knee-jerk first impression of the Elite Acoustics D6-8 Pro might be, “Dang, that is small.” But its one-foot cube…
Fire-Eye Red-Eye Twin DI
Double Your Pleasure
In a simple system, even a basic direct-input box with little in the way of adjustments will work fine. But…
WHAT ELSE IS NEW
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More Personal
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Rare Pioneer
Daniele Gottardo
Bittersweetness
Italian guitar virtuoso Daniele Gottardo’s latest album, Inkblot, combines the whimsy and wonder of the great early-20th-century classical composers with…
Cordoba Stage
Classical Gas
With a 1.5″/fully chambered mahogany body, the Stage – Cordoba’s first foray into the world of nylon-string electric guitars –…
Will Lee
Letter Winner
Musicians being artists and artists needing to express themselves, it says something that Will Lee’s new album, Love, Gratitude &…
Fanny’s June Millington
Grrrl Power’s First Flash in Rock
Before The Runaways, before the Go-Go’s and Bangles, and before there were Riot grrrls, there was Fanny. One of the…
