• Super PickupGiveaway 2025

    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…

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Boss SDE-3 Dual Digital Delay

Double Echo

November 14, 2025 · Pete Prown

Based on the famed Roland SDE-3000 rack unit, Boss’ SDE-3 combines some classic delay sounds of the 1980s, updated with…

Alday B-Blender

Alday B-Blender

One For The Masses

September 13, 2015 · Michael Dregni

Taylor 814ce Price: $129.95 (list) Info: www.b-blender.com Why aren’t we guitarists ever happy to have our guitars sound like guitars?…

Jonathan Pearce

Kiwi Krunch

June 12, 2023 · Pete Prown

Hailing from New Zealand, the Beths play crackling power pop fronted by singer/guitarist Liz Stokes with Jonathan Pearce on lead…

DryBell Unit67

Balkan Boost

October 15, 2021 · Oscar Jordan

DryBell Musical Electronic Laboratory has been kicking out great pedals for a few year, with clients like Mike Landau, John…

TWA Triskelion MK3 Harmonic Energizer

Functional Filter

January 6, 2023 · Tom Guerra

Based on the Systech Harmonic Energizer pedal made famous by Adrian Belew, Frank Zappa, and Greg Lake, the TWA Triskelion…

David Bowie’s Young Americans

January 15, 2026 · Bret Adams

David Bowie was always creatively restless. The English musician decided to step away from the glam rock he’d recorded for…

  • Rickenbacker’s Electric 12-Strings

    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

Adrian Belew

Still Going Up

June 29, 2023 · Pete Prown

Even after 45 years of guitar heroics with King Crimson, David Bowie, Frank Zappa, and solo, Adrian Belew’s career is…

Have Guitar Will Travel 083 – Martin Guitar: Thomas Ripsam, Chris Martin and Rich Robinson

February 3, 2023 · James Patrick Regan

The new episode of “Have Guitar Will Travel” digs deep into the story of – and latest happenings at –…

Have Guitar Will Travel – 030 Featuring Lzzy Hale

July 7, 2020 · James Patrick Regan

Episode 30 of James Patrick Regan’s “Have Guitar Will Travel” podcast features Halestorm co-founder Lzzy Hale. They delve into the…

Alex Lifeson

Fresh Sonic Horizons

March 10, 2023 · Bret Adams

What do you do when you’re the beloved guitarist in a legendary band whose career was ended by the premature…


CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS

Ask Zac: Deep Dive on the Wide Range

Plus, Joey Molland’s Stratotone

December 1, 2021 · Zac Childs

I have collected several Fender Wide Range humbucking pickups from the early ’70s, and I’m curious about how to check…

Vintage Instrument Research

An Ever-Changing Landscape

May 9, 2019 · George Gruhn

Fretted instruments can be examined in much the same way as zoological taxonomist or forensic pathologist would approach them. They…

Dan’s Guitar RX: Doubleneck Redux

A Return to Glory for “Jerry”

July 31, 2025 · Dan Erlewine

In 1977, I was doing guitar repair in Big Rapids, Michigan, and my services included picking up and delivering repair…

L-5 to Super 400

L-5 to Super 400

The Story of Gibson’s Big Archtops

September 30, 2015 · George Gruhn

The archtop guitar is a uniquely American instrument which can be traced directly to the creative genius of one person…


NEWSWIRE

APPROVED GEAR

Eastwood Marksman 5

Bullseye!

October 13, 2015 · Zac Childs

Eastwood Marksman 5 Price: $999 (retail) Info: www.eastwoodguitars.com. Reviving great and unusual designs from the past has been the focus…

KRAMER_PACER_HOME-MAIN-BIG

Kramer 84 and Pacer Vintage

Tap, Shred, Dive!

January 4, 2016 · Sean OBryan Smith

Kramer 84/Pacer Vintage Price: $1,166 (84); $1,267 (Pacer Vintage) Info: kramerguitars.com It’s hard to think of ’80s guitars as vintage,…

The Gretsch G5655T-CB Electromatic Center-Block

The Gretsch G5655T-CB Electromatic Center-Block

Gettin’ Gainy

May 13, 2016 · Bob Dragich

The Gretsch G5655T-CB Electromatic Center-Block Price: $1,275.00 (list); $899.00 (street) Contact: www.gretschguitars.com It’s no secret that hollowbodies don’t excel in…

Backlund 400

Over the Moon

July 24, 2019 · Pete Prown

If George Jetson – or his daughter Judy, for that matter – played guitar, it’s safe to assume they’d go…

WHAT ELSE IS NEW

Fender Mustang

Truly Transitional

April 28, 2020 · Willie G. Moseley

Despite its short scale, the Mustang has a potent sound, and as a result it was used by many notable…

Strobel Rambler Travel Bass

Traveling in Style 

December 2, 2016 · Phil Feser

As a rule, travel guitars and basses are intended to help one keep up their chops while on the road…

Electro-Harmonix Operation Overlord Allied Overdrive

Sound Assault

April 26, 2019 · Oscar Jordan

Like its namesake World War II invasion, Electro-Harmonix’s Operation Overlord Allied Overdrive involves an assault of sorts – though this…

Woody Harris: Fingerstyle a la Fahey, Basho

April 25, 2022 · Vintage Guitar

Reemergence With a Rare Guitar Woody Harris used his ’76 John Mello guitar (“It has dimensions of a classical guitar,…

Eric Bibb

Beyond the Blues

June 30, 2022 · Pete Prown

It’s almost a curse to categorize a musician a “blues artist,” as it implies someone who simply plays standard I-IV-V…

Danelectro Viscount

January 11, 2016 · Dave Hunter

1961 Danelectro Viscount Preamp tubes: two 12AX7, one 6AU6 Output tubes: two 6V6GT Rectifier: 6X5 Controls: Volume, Tone, Vibrato Strength,…

Eric Krasno

Front Man

January 5, 2018 · Oscar Jordan

Because Eric Krasno isn’t quite busy enough performing 188 dates a year with Soulive, moonlighting with the band Lettuce, or…

Tedeschi Trucks Band

I Am The Moon

May 1, 2023 · Oscar Jordan

Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi have released the first of a four-album set called I Am The Moon. Comprised of…

Ace Frehley

10,000 Volts

January 9, 2025 · Bret Adams

Kiss’ original guitarist didn’t appear at the band’s final concert, crushing the rock-and-roll dreams of diehard fans. But, his latest…

Pete Seeger

Pete Seeger

1919-2014

September 8, 2014 · Ward Meeker

Renowned folk singer/songwriter, musicologist, organizer, and political activist Pete Seeger died January 27 at a hospital in New York City.…

B&G Little Sister Private Build

Doncha Go And Do…

April 19, 2019 · Yoel Kreisler

B&G Guitars just about do it all – from mixing their own nitro finishes to winding pickups and even casting…

Pop ’N Hiss: Eric Johnson

Eric Johnson’s Ah Via Musicom

January 24, 2022 · Pete Prown

There were innovative Stratocaster records before Ah Via Musicom, but Eric Johnson’s 1990 opus changed the rules of the game…

Recording King Ray Whitley

August 24, 2025 · George Gruhn and Walter Carter

As a maker of high-quality instruments, Gibson was hit hard by the onset of the Depression in the 1930s. Company…

Marshall Handwired Series 2245THW Head and 1960AHW Cabinet

Marshall Handwired Series 2245THW Head and 1960AHW Cabinet

Bluesbreaker Redux

March 29, 2016 · Zac Childs

Marshall Handwired Series 2245THW Head and 1960AHW Cabinet 2245THW Prices: $4,800 (list); $3,299.99 (street); 1960AHW Prices: $2,180 (list); $1,399.99 (street)…

Holy Cripes!

The Story of Jerry Garcia’s Last Guitars

December 29, 2015 · Steve Armato and James D. McCallister

Steve Cripe left a unique legacy in the annals of music history. He was not a guitar player, not a…

National Style O

Industrial Art

August 27, 2017 · Eric C. Shoaf

National. The name is patriotic! And what else but American inventiveness could have brought about a metal-bodied guitar? The answer…

Eve Monsees and Mike Buck

& Their Groovy Orbit

November 7, 2025 · Dan Forte

This is not a solo album as much as an anthology of Austin artists and styles – from blues to…

John Sykes 1959-2024

Remembering a Heavy Hero

January 28, 2026 · Pete Prown

The guitar universe was rocked by John Sykes’ death from cancer, December 21 at age 65. Forty years ago, the…

George Cotsirilos – Jazz Sans Cliché

December 14, 2022 · Vintage Guitar

Deft work on an L-5 for “The Three Doves” George Cotsirilos grew up listening to Bloomfield, Hendrix, and Clapton, then…

Tonk Brothers/Washburn 5241

January 23, 2017 · George Gruhn

From the late 1920s through the early ’40s, Gibson produced instruments under a variety of brand names for retailers like…

National Westwood Home Feature Image

National Westwood

May 12, 2016 · Michael Wright

Whether Valco – the company that made National guitars in the 1950s and ’60s – was actually inspired by U.S.…

Bob Weir

Ace: 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition

December 25, 2023 · Pete Prown

When is a Grateful Dead album not a Dead album? When it’s Bob Weir’s solo debut from 1972, also featuring…

Scott Gorham

Heavy Fire

March 14, 2019 · Oscar Jordan

It’s hard out there for a ’70s guitar hero. With the struggles of keeping older fans happy verses the challenge…

Magic Magnets

TV Jones’ Starwood Humbuckers

April 16, 2020 · Oscar Jordan

Best known for making the vintage-sounding Magna’Tron, Power’Tron, and Supra’Tron pickups, TV Jones has expanded its well-regarded line to include…

Pop ’N Hiss: Grand Funk’s We’re An American Band

Rockin’ Patriots

October 30, 2025 · Bret Adams

Thundering out of Michigan in 1969, Grand Funk Railroad quickly became one of the most popular bands in the world.…

2025 June Issue on Spotify

June 3, 2025 · Vintage Guitar

This month, we feature The Meters’ George Porter, Tommy Emmanuel, Jedd Hughes, Dudley Taft, Lari Basilio, Ally Venable, The Police,…

The Story of Melobar

Stand-Up Steel

October 4, 2022 · Willie G. Moseley

Born in Northern California in 1920, Walt Smith took piano lessons and became a child prodigy on several instruments before…

Warwick Thumb Bass

Generational Innovation

April 15, 2019 · Willie G. Moseley

Founded in the early 1980s by Hans-Peter Wilfer, Warwick has a familial connection to another well-known German brand from a…

Sunny War

Anarchist Gospel

December 25, 2023 · Oscar Jordan

Sunny War’s latest record blurs stylistic boundaries, rejecting fatuous labeling. Instead, it’s a document of the human experience – a…