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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…
Seth Lee Jones
Pedal Pusher
Thanks to giants like Derek Trucks, Warren Haynes, and Sonny Landreth, we’re living in a golden age of bottleneck guitar,…
Frank DiBussolo
Jazz Master
Frank DiBussolo is an eight-time Grammy nominee who has been a featured soloist in the bands of Buddy Rich, Dizzy…
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…
Paul Reed Smith
Lions Roaring in Quicksand
The new album by guitar builder Paul Reed Smith and his band, Eightlock, offers soul-based sounds with deep grooves, three…
Yes
Close to the Edge: Super Deluxe Edition
Are you a high-fidelity audio geek? If the answer is, well, yes, this Rhino release brings together an HD experience…
Allen Hinds
The Good Fight
The latest from the Lord of Legato features compositions that blur the line between prog, fusion, and Americana. From the…
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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
Shredding and songcraft – Kire Najdovski
Talas guitarist offers taste of “1985” Kire Najdovski does a great take on “Close to the Killer,” from Talas’ new…
Steve Hackett
No Limits
Steve Hackett is one of the busiest guitarists around, regularly issuing new studio and live albums. His latest, Live Magic…
Marty Stuart
Current Traditions
The latest record from Marty Stuart, Ghost Train: The Studio B Sessions, is a tour de force of country music…
Tinsley Ellis’ “Devil May Care” attitude
Blues ace gets rowdy on his 345 through a tweed Champ The fiery Tinsley Ellis and his ’67 Gibson ES-345…
CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS
Roy Smeck’s Gibson L-5
One For the “Wizard”
Player endorsements are part of the tradition of guitarmaking going back to its earliest use for public performance. LeRoy G.A.…
Star Stomps
Famous Sounds Abound in New Book
Stompboxes inspire their own special mania. While the allure of guitars is obvious with their colorful, curvaceous looks, effects are…
Danelectro’s Four-String Basses
The guitars and basses made by Danelectro in the ’60s epitomized “no frills.” And though they were considered the nadir…
Epiphone Rivoli
Former Gibson president Ted McCarty (1909-2001) is credited for his leadership of the company when it peaked in terms of…
NEWSWIRE
APPROVED GEAR
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Live Wire
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Narrow(field) Win
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Take Flight
Fishman’s Aura Spectrum DI, ToneDEQ
Potent Preamps
Unlike most electric guitarists, acoustic-electric pickers tend to worry about preamps. A lot. This front stage is critical because acoustic…
Universal Audio Max and Del-Verb
Smart Stomps
After rolling out several “amp-in-a-box” pedals last year, Universal Audio is back with a fresh line of stompboxes to help…
Heritage Guitars’ H-155M
Best-Kept Secret
Heritage Guitars still builds instruments by hand… in Kalamazoo. Like its veteran brethren in the industry, it focuses on craftsmanship,…
Yamaha THR10
Practice Perfection?
Yamaha THR10 Price: $299 Contact: usa.yamaha.com. As a rule of thumb, practice amps are a compromise. Blissfully portable, they typically…
WHAT ELSE IS NEW
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More Personal
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Rare Pioneer
Guild in the Post-Fender Era
Round and Round She Goes
Since its beginnings in 1952, Guild has gone through many changes in ownership, location, marketing approach, and design philosophy. In…
Prince
Rhapsody In Purple
A year after his death, VG remembers Prince, a musical revolutionary, whose emergence was jarring, even for the most youthful…
Roy Buchanan
When a Guitar Plays the Blues
After a recording hiatus, the blues-rock pioneer enjoyed a 1985 comeback with this Telecaster manifesto, now reissued on vinyl. The…
John McLaughlin
The Montreux Years
This retrospective from the Swiss jazz festival spans 28 years, covering miles of jazz-rock territory. In 1984, McLaughlin formed a…
