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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…
The Schaffer-Vega Diversity System
Making Rock Roll
“ The best thing I ever did in the beginning was not use effects,” AC/DC’s Angus Young told VG in…
The Dean Ween Group
The Dean Ween Group’s debut showcases all the genre-hopping shenanigans that became the stock in trade of Ween’s first band…
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…
Martin 00-18
They were days, before Kent State, when everywhere you looked, kids sat under trees, singin’ songs and swappin’ licks. Fresh-faced…
Scott Sharrard
Destined for the Gig
Anyone who has seen the Gregg Allman Band in person or caught its new CD/DVD, Back to Macon, Ga, knows…
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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
Christone “Kingfish” Ingram
Heart & Soul Blues
Born and raised in Clarksdale, Mississippi – homeland of the Delta blues – Christone Ingram learned gospel music in the…
Check This Action: Folk Festival of Blues
I heard blues records earlier than I can remember. My dad had Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee albums, and a…
Robert Lockwood, Jr.
1915-2006
With the death of Robert Lockwood, Jr., the blues world lost one of the few direct links to Robert Johnson…
Jules Leyhe says “Start Your Engines”
Greasy, dirty slide on this VG exclusive Jules Leyhe takes his ’61-reissue SG for a slidin’ spin through “Start Your…
CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS
The Modulus Graphite Flight 6 Monocoque
High-/Low-Tech
In guitar history, irony is almost always the result of circumstances. The market changes overnight or someone makes a mistake…
History of the Fender Bassman
High Times for Low-End
If they could have just one amplifier, many guitarists – from bar-room grinders to arena megastars – would choose a…
Beat Portraits: Burns Volume 11
Burns Oddities and Ends
In early 2009, VG columnist Peter Stuart Kohman turned his focus on Burns, the pioneering British guitar builder. We’ve compiled…
Philip Sayce – Strat monster!
Post-SRV blues-rock wizard Godmonster beast on his (two) ’63 Fender Strats, Philip Sayce plays the one he calls Mother running…
NEWSWIRE
APPROVED GEAR
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Live Wire
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Narrow(field) Win
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Take Flight
Taylor 814ce
New Life at 40
Taylor 814ce Price: $4,378 (list); $3,399 (street) Info: www.taylorguitars.com Of all the guitars in Taylor’s product line, the 814ce is…
The Epiphone ES-175 Reissue
Return of a Classic
There are plenty of affordable hollowbodies on the market, but Epiphone’s recent reissue of the Gibson ES-175 is almost a…
Colby Amplification Park 45
Put It Here
Colby Amplification Park 45 Price: $2,500 (list) Contact: www.colbyamps.com There are legends that gear fanatics all know, and then there…
Ramble FX Twin Bender Fuzz
Whole Lotta Fuzz
Fuzz comes in a lot of flavors. From spitty or choked-off splat to gritty gated sounds, from classic ’60s to…
WHAT ELSE IS NEW
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More Personal
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Rare Pioneer
Jimmy Olander’s D-Bender Baritone
Big-string licks galore! In the mood to play a bit, December cover guy Jimmy Olander grabbed a guitar he…
Jim Weider
Telecaster Master, Camp Counselor
Ever dream of hanging out with a couple handfuls of guitar legends while breathing fresh mountain air and (mostly) unplugging…
James Elkington
Windy City Diversity
James Elkington tweaked the paradigm when he began working at a luthier shop before hitting his stride as a guitarist.…
Brown’s Guitar Factory Lap Steel
Steel Yourself
At the beginning of amplified music, one of the first instruments to get a magnetic pickup was the Rickenbacker “frying…
