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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. …

Producer Dave Cobb Draws Artists of All Ilks
Music-City tune Charmer
Grandson of a Pentecostal minister, as a kid, Dave Cobb attended church every day, weaving old-time hymnal music into his…

1843 Martin & Coupa
Retail Rarity
In 1833, C.F. Martin, Sr. and his family arrived in New York City. A trained luthier, Martin had studied under…

Check This Action: So Long, Charlie and Top
I was saddened to hear of the passing of ’50s rocker Charlie Gracie on December 16. The 86-year-old rocker sure…
Iconix Pickups Black Mass
Michigan Metal
Michigan may have given us the automobile production line, but Troy-based Iconix Pickups is the antithesis of an assembly line…

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Hosts “Storied Strings” Exhibit
Guitars In Art
Dr. Leo Mazow’s vision for the new “Storied Strings: The Guitar in American Art” exhibition at the Virginia Museum of…

Gemma Ray
Gemma Ray might rock the neo-’50s look, but she’s no Wanda Jackson wannabe; her songs and guitar work are not…
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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…
ARTISTS

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

Vince Gill & Paul Franklin
Homage to Ray Price
Vince Gill and longtime friend, collaborator, and pedal-steel giant Paul Franklin share a love of country music history. Bakersfield, their…

Jorge Garcia
Led Bop
Jazz covers of rock songs often fall flat on their face, but Cuban-American guitarist Jorge Garcia nails it on Crossover.…

The Dig 3’s Hundt, Duncanson play “Tell Me the Place”
Old-school blues duet Gerry Hundt and Andrew Duncanson play straightforward Chicago-style blues in The Dig 3. Here, they play “Tell…
CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS

Sovtek MIG-50
Curtain Call
Given their development in the twilight years of the U.S.S.R. and arrival at the fall of the Iron Curtain, it…

Gibson’s Experimental Kessel Prototype
Gibson Barney Kessel Custom model
This is a guitar which for all practical purposes appears to be a Gibson Barney Kessel Custom model, but the…

National N-275
Gibson is widely known for its guitars, mandolins, and banjos, but many are unaware the company built instruments for nearly…

Gibson’s GA-8 Discoverer
Sonic Satellite
By the end of the 1950s, “space” was the name of the game, and any forward-thrusting gear that hoped to…
NEWSWIRE
APPROVED GEAR
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Live Wire
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Narrow(field) Win
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Take Flight
Colby Dual Tone Booster 50
Double Versatile
Colby DTB50 Price: $3,800 (head); $750 (cabinet) Contact: www.colbyamps.com From 1978 through 2010, Mitch Colby helped Marshall become a preeminent…

Mu-FX Phasor 2X
Next Phase
Mastermind effects mad scientist Mike Beigel is back with another re-creation of a classic Musitronics effect. The Mu-FX Phasor 2X…

Category 5 Samantha
Hook, Line, and Tone
Blues-rocker Samantha Fish (VG, December ’21) electrifies audiences with her high-energy shows. A decade ago, she began favoring Category 5’s…

The Daddy Mojo Ozark
All But The Kitchen Sink
For a decade, Daddy Mojo has been making cigar-box guitars that refine the vibe of those rudimentary instruments. In 2016,…
WHAT ELSE IS NEW
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Five Alternative Club Classic Amps of the ’50s
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Remembering a Heavy Hero

Have Guitar Will Travel – 022 Featuring Adam Lester
“Have Guitar Will Travel” host James Patrick Regan speaks to Adam Lester, guitarist in the Peter Frampton Band, discussing everything…

Jim Heath
A Reverend By Any Other Name
Jim Heath is better known to most folks as psychobilly guitar fiend The Reverend Horton Heat. But on his latest release,…

Oz Noy
Coming to America
When Oz Noy mov-ed to New York City at age 24 in 1996, he was an established guitarist in his…

Dan’s Guitar RX: Rock-And-Roll High School(er)
Building a From-Scratch Class Project, the Conclusion
In my November ’22 column, Ceil Thompson’s class-project guitar was nearing completion – the lacquer coats were applied and, after…










































