-
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…

Horses of Another Color
1) This ’57, from batch 253xx, has the added intrigue of a gold G-cutout tailpiece in place of the Bigsby…

Grace Bowers
Truth of Youth
The word “prodigy” is overused in the music biz, but Grace Bowers is a real-deal young funkster. Just 18 years…

Fender American Vintage II 1954 Precision Bass
Ageless Anchor
It wasn’t literally the first electric bass, but Fender’s Precision was the genesis of the instrument the world knows today.…

Guyatone Micro Effects
Little Boxes, Big Effects
Musical-instrument accessories importer Guyatone introduced its first series of Micro Effects three years ago to widespread praise. Knowing it was…

Steve Cropper
Friend, Legend
Even before he began to record seminal music using an Esquire plugged into a Harvard amp – creating one of…

Blues Hall of Famer Joe Louis Walker
“Blue Mirror” jam from “The Weight of the World” Blues Hall of Famer Joe Louis Walker grabbed his pearl-front Zemaitis…
-
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,…
ARTISTS

Pop ’N Hiss: King Crimson’s Red
Commendable Coda
In the late ’60s, a new style of rock emerged in Britain, influenced by classical music and fronted by bands…

Albert Castiglia
Righteous and Raucous
Guitarist Albert Castiglia’s blues-based music has gone through a lot of changes since VG first interviewed him in 2008. In…

Gregg Wright
The Shackles Are Off
Gregg Wright’s latest album was forged with fire, intensity, and the music that molded him, from guitar-centric country ballads, boogie,…

Kenny Wayne Shepherd
Into The Future
Kenny Wayne Shepherd’s Dirt On My Diamonds Volume One finds the Strat-wielding blues-rocker blending the best elements of pop country,…
CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS

Rickenbacker 375F
Seven Siblings
Every guitar company has had its odd ducks, its failures, its forgotten models. While some are consigned to the scrapheap…

Dan’s Guitar RX: Doubleneck Redux
A Return to Glory for “Jerry”
In 1977, I was doing guitar repair in Big Rapids, Michigan, and my services included picking up and delivering repair…

GA-20’s Matt Stubbs and Pat Faherty
FlashBack Sounds, Forward Steps
Musical gateways opened by Jimi Hendrix and the Doors led Matt Stubbs to become a disciple of Johnny “Guitar” Watson,…

Jabo, Vince, and Broadcaster 0048
Special Addition
It’s routine for Vince Gill, as one of Nashville’s true connoisseurs of electric and acoustic gear, to receive tips about…
NEWSWIRE
APPROVED GEAR
-
Live Wire
-
Narrow(field) Win
-
Take Flight

Rockn Stompn Sequential Power Strip
“Good” Power!
Power. Juice. Electricity. The brilliance of Ben Franklin, James Watt, and Nikola Tesla helped harness, if not tame, this vital…

The Postal Delta Zephyr
No Reservations
It’s nice to find guitar builders producing hand-made guitars that are more than a rehash of familiar models, while using…

Crucial Audio DUB-1
Lesson Learned
It’s not uncommon for novice guitarists to seek out stompboxes with zillions of features. As guitarists mature, however, they learn…
Taylor AD11e-SB
Small Gem
This latest addition to Taylor’s American Dream line builds on its Grand Theater (GT) series of small-body guitars, the goal…
WHAT ELSE IS NEW
-
More Personal
-
Rare Pioneer

Michael Angelo Batio
The Fine Art of Face Melting
Michael Angelo Batio is one of the most prodigious guitarists on Earth. Since his stint with the rock band Holland…

Guild’s S-100/S-200 “Kickstand” Models
Much like several other well-known manufacturers, Guild has, through the years, changed ownership, locations, and identities. Guild was founded in…

Robert Randolph and the Family Band
For those who like their sacred steel music a little less sacred, Robert Randolph and the Family Band’s latest is…

Weymann Model 848
Mail-Order Rara Avis
From 1864 through the 1940s, H.A. Weymann and Son, Inc. made, imported, and sold marching band, orchestral, percussion, and other…












































