RnR Hall of Famer Richie Furay and his gorgeous ’53 Gibson J-200!

December 6, 2022 · Vintage Guitar

Buffalo Springfield/Poco Founder Covers a Country Favorite Richie Furay and his ’53 SJ-200 share a glimpse of their bucolic space…

Positive Grid Spark Go

Ready, Set…

August 4, 2024 · Ward Meeker

Following the success of its highly portable Spark and Spark Mini practice amps, Positive Grid went really small with the…

Fretprints: Robben Ford

The Early Years: Emergence of a Blues/Jazz Virtuoso

January 24, 2022 · Wolf Marshall

“Who is this kid?” gasped incredulous attendees of the Guitar Explosion festival at the Hollywood Bowl in June, 1973. It…

Joe Stump

Professor Shred

September 8, 2022 · Pete Prown

Some musicians use grandiose nicknames like “the doctor” (Dr. John) or “the professor” (Rush’s Neil Peart) – but Boston shredder…

Long Train Runnin’: Our Story of the Doobie Brothers

Tom Johnston, Pat Simmons, Chris Epting

July 7, 2023 · Bret Adams

For 50 years, the Doobie Brothers’ feel-good hits have been radio staples. In these pages, vocalists/guitarists Tom Johnston and Pat…

Axe-Calibur Guitar Stand

May 10, 2022 · Julian Burtell

While guitar stands are a dime a dozen, few bring a sense of style nice enough for the living room.…

  • Carr Skylark Special 1×12

    Carr Skylark Special 1×12

    Take Flight

    Arriving a little more than 10 years after the original Skylark, Carr Amplifiers’ new Skylark Special adds versatility and enhanced tonal depths to squeeze a lot more into this diminutive…

    Read more >>

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ARTISTS

Don Leady, Austin Legend

February 7, 2023 · Vintage Guitar

One of Texas’ “Big Guitars” on “Rattler Run” Co-founder of the LeRoi Brothers, leader of the Tail Gators, and one…

Michael Bruce

Eighteen Again

October 8, 2019 · Johnny Zapp

Before there was an Alice Cooper, man and solo artist, there was the band called Alice Cooper. From 1969 to…

Fretprints: Harvey Mandel

Infinitely Eclectic

January 25, 2024 · Wolf Marshall

Harvey Mandel is a regular on the list of “guitarists’ guitarists,” yet is woefully unknown to the public. With an…

Christone “Kingfish” Ingram

Evolution

June 17, 2022 · Oscar Jordan

Christone “Kingfish” Ingram’s latest album shows the 22-year-old blues prodigy flourishing with maturity and tone for days. Titled 662, the…


CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS

Classics: January 2024

Bill Woodward's 1953 Gibson Les Paul

October 4, 2024 · Ward Meeker

Gravitational heavyweights in our culture, beyond baseball, hot dogs, and apple pie, few things say “American” more than music and…

Vega Model 120

April 4, 2017 · Dave Hunter

Viewed from our contemporary perspective, it’s difficult to fully appreciate how different the music scene in general – and the…

Hot Wires - A Brief History of the Modern Guitar String

Hot Wires

A Brief History of the Modern Guitar String

June 9, 2016 · Pete Prown

If you’ve ever bent a guitar string and given it a shake, send a silent thank you to guitarist James…

New Lease on Life

The Sound of Rock Gets a Brush-Up

April 30, 2021 · Dave Hunter

If restoring dusty, neglected old tube amps built more than half a century ago isn’t challenging enough, restoring amps with…


NEWSWIRE

APPROVED GEAR

Musicvox Space Cadet 12

Chime Machine

August 8, 2013 · Pete Prown

Musicvox Space Cadet 12 Price: $899 (direct) Contact: musicvox.com As you may have read in Michael Wright’s profile of the…

GJM Guitars Tenoroc

Designed To Rock

January 18, 2024 · Oscar Jordan

Road-warrior guitarists with years of gigs under their belt who later design guitars have an advantage over builders without that…

Gibson Falcon 5

Timeless

December 23, 2024 · Charlie Wilkins

Drawing inspiration from its classic Skylark amplifiers of the 1950s and ’60s, Gibson is revisiting those beloved tones with the…

CopperSound Telegraph V2 Autostutter/Killswitch

All the Rage

November 13, 2023 · Oscar Jordan

Need the perfect stutter effect or killswitch in a pedal? Massachusetts-based CopperSound Pedals’ latest iteration of its popular Telegraph Stutter…

WHAT ELSE IS NEW

Scott Metzger

Scott Metzger

Spontaneous Composition

July 7, 2016 · John Heidt

“We started as three side men scheduled to back a singer who was a no-show at this bar in Brooklyn,”…

Walter Trout

Walter Trout

Battling Back

August 24, 2015 · Willie G. Moseley

In his decades of playing, Walter Trout has served as lead guitarist for John Mayall and Canned Heat, and forged…

Area 51 The Alienist Voicing Boost

Manmade Tone Monster

April 24, 2019 · Michael Dregni

Gather ’round, children, for a scary bedtime story. Once upon a time, there was no such thing as a high-gain…

Billy Sheehan

Talas Time Travel

June 29, 2023 · Bret Adams

Billy Sheehan earned notoriety and commercial success in the ’80s and ’90s as a member of David Lee Roth’s post-Van…

Budda’s Chakra and ZenMan Pedals

Zen and the Art of Tone Maintenance

April 14, 2014 · Pete Prown

Budda’s Chakra and ZenMan Pedals Price: $149.99 Contact: www.budda.com Best known in guitar circles as an admired amp builder, Budda…

Check This Action: The Swinging Steel of Bobby Black

January 17, 2023 · Dan Forte

Few instruments are as synonymous with a genre as pedal steel and country music. But for a seemingly conservative style…

Pop ’N Hiss: Lou Reed

Definitive Riffs- Lou Reed’s Rock ’N Roll Animal and Live

December 2, 2021 · Willie G. Moseley

Eccentric and enigmatic, composer/singer Lou Reed gained notoriety in the mid-’60s while fronting the NYC band Velvet Underground. Not particularly…

Extreme

Six

March 20, 2024 · Oscar Jordan

Extreme’s sixth studio album – their first since 2008’s Saudades de Rock – was a long time coming. With only…

Soul Tramp Tweed 12

5E3 (Non) Copy

January 8, 2018 · Anders Fransson

Soul Tramp Amps are builder Don Hill’s take on classic amp circuit designs… for instance, his Tweed 12 offers a…

The Pigtronix Envelope Phaser 2

Sophisti-Phaser

October 29, 2013 · Zac Childs

Pigtronix Envelope Phaser II Price: $249 (street). Contact: Phone (631) 331-7447; Pigtronix.com. Pigtronix effects are known not only for their…

Little Feat

Sailin’ Shoes Deluxe Edition & Dixie Chicken Deluxe Edition

August 12, 2024 · Pete Prown

One of the most influential outfits of the ’70s, Little Feat was a powerhouse with guitarists Lowell George and Paul…

National Style 3 Hawaiian

February 9, 2023 · George Gruhn

Metal-bodied guitars built by the National String Instrument Company before World War II represent a giant leap in guitar design…

Ernie Ball Music Man Luke3

Cool-Hand Luke

April 10, 2014 · Rich Maloof

The latest model in Ernie Ball Music Man’s Steve Lukather signature series was designed to answer Lukather’s demand for an…

Gibson’s 17″ Pre-War Electrics

ES-300 of 1940-’43

December 1, 2014 · Andre R. Duchossoir

Among musicians and collectors, Gibson’s pre-World-War-II ES-300 may be less popular today than the ES-250, but in terms of sheer…

Wayne Kramer

Renaissance Man

January 5, 2018 · Johnny Zapp

Wayne Kramer has earned his stripes as an American music icon. Whether abusing his signature Strat, scoring a film, or…

Have Guitar Will Travel 086 – Ruthie Foster

April 26, 2023 · James Patrick Regan

The new episode of “Have Guitar Will Travel” has host James Patrick Regan speaking with Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter/guitarist Ruthie Foster, who grew…

Warren Haynes

Peace, Love, and Rock & Roll

May 3, 2024 · Oscar Jordan

Warren Haynes and his Gov’t Mule crew aren’t the kind of guys to let something like a pandemic slow them…

Eastwood Black Box Series

Stomp City

May 4, 2023 · Pete Prown

Eastwood Guitars promises retro-themed gear at wallet-reassuring prices, as seen in their new Black Box Series of stompboxes. Among the…

Positive Grid’s Experience Hendrix For Spark & BIAS FX 2

Get Experienced

December 8, 2022 · Oscar Jordan

In the pantheon of guitar gods, few are studied to the degree of Hendrix. And, given the warp speed at…

Fretprints: Randy Rhoads

Transcendent Tribute

August 19, 2024 · Wolf Marshall

September 20, 1980, marked the release of Ozzy Osbourne’s debut solo album Blizzard of Ozz, a hard-rock recording that introduced…

Jesse Johnson

Jesse Johnson

Quad City Funk

March 24, 2016 · Oscar Jordan

In the early 1980s, Jesse Johnson traveled from Rock Island, Illinois, to Minneapolis and found fame with The Time and…

Friedman Amplification JEL-20

Firebreather

August 4, 2024 · Charlie Wilkins

For 25 years, Dave Friedman has been creating amplifiers that helped him (eh-hem) gain amp-guru status. His limited-run Jake E.…

Classics: March 2022

Chris Leuzinger’s 1952 Gibson Les Paul

November 17, 2022 · Vintage Guitar

If your radio was tuned to a country station even for a few minutes anytime in the last 30 years,…

Eric Gales

Stand Up

October 11, 2021 · Bob Dragich

In a recording career that spans 30 years and includes 18 albums of his own and 28 more tributes and…

Effectrode Blackbird Vacuum Tube Preamp

Uncaged

March 5, 2019 · Pete Prown

In a nutshell, the Effectrode Blackbird is a tube amp’s entire preamp section in a floor unit. And just why…

Pop ’N Hiss: UFO’s Lights Out

Shining Bright

December 23, 2024 · Bret Adams

Most critics and fans agree that the finest studio album by British hard-rockers UFO was 1977’s Lights Out. The group’s…

Pop ’N Hiss: Led Zeppelin’s IV

Heaven Sent

August 1, 2022 · Bret Adams

It’s impossible to overstate the influence Led Zeppelin’s “untitled” fourth album – call it IV, ZoSo, Runes, Four Symbols, whatever…

Penco A-15-JD

July 29, 2023 · Michael Wright

The 1970s is often called “the Copy Era” for the dominating presence and spectacular success of Japanese “copies” of popular…

Matching Mojo

May 4, 2023 · Willie G. Moseley

During the “guitar boom” of the 1960s, one method of getting a band noticed was to equip it with matching…