-
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…

Univox Uni–Fuzz & Super–Fuzz
Full, Fat Fuzzzy
Pete Townshend sent many a guitar and amp to an early grave. But there’s no known evidence of him doing…

First Guitar of Rock and Roll
Scotty Moore’s Gibson ES-295
Like a hound dog hit by lightning, the first notes of rock and roll blasted out of radios across the…

Sue Foley
Femme Flamenco
In a time when pop-music performers rely heavily on post-recording fix-ups and pre-recorded tracks onstage, it’s refreshing – even admirable…

Pop ’N Hiss: Lou Reed
Definitive Riffs- Lou Reed’s Rock ’N Roll Animal and Live
Eccentric and enigmatic, composer/singer Lou Reed gained notoriety in the mid-’60s while fronting the NYC band Velvet Underground. Not particularly…

Alex Haddad and Kyle Lewis
Two Times the Vibes
Nashville’s Them Vibes hearken to the two-guitar teams of yesterday. Established by the songwriting duo of front man Brother Love…

Gibson J-35
Dreadnought guitars originated as early as 1916 with instruments made by Martin and distributed by Ditson, followed in 1931 with…
-
Carr Skylark Special 1×12
Take Flight
Arriving a little more than 10 years after the original Skylark, Carr Amplifiers’ new Skylark Special adds versatility and enhanced tonal depths to squeeze a lot more into this diminutive…
ARTISTS

Beat Portraits: Burns Volume 2
The Black Bison Leads the Herd
In early 2009, VG columnist Peter Stuart Kohman turned his focus on Burns, the pioneering British guitar builder. We’ve compiled…
Ian Hunter
New Music and a Mott Reunion
Ian Hunter is upbeat when he discusses his newest album, Man Overboard, and the upcoming reunion with old friends in…
Between Gibbons and Holdsworth
John Ziegler Of Volto!
John Ziegler’s band, Volto!, emerged from L.A.’s fusion scene with bassist Lance Morrison and drummer Danny Carey, who’s primary gig…

Bruce Bouillet
From The Shadow Of Racer X
Former Racer X guitarist Bruce Bouillet overcame carpal tunnel syndrome to return to his first love – shredding. Now, he’s…
CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS

First Guitar of Rock and Roll
Scotty Moore’s Gibson ES-295
Like a hound dog hit by lightning, the first notes of rock and roll blasted out of radios across the…

Carvin 8-15-B
Mail-Order Prize
In the days when the printed catalog was king, Carvin guitars and amplifiers often boasted a stature that outweighed their…

Gibson’s Earliest Dreadnought?
Gibson was a late entry into the flat-top guitar market, offering its first model in 1926, but Gibson was a…

Epiphone Riviera
The Epiphone Riviera helped reinvent Epiphone in the 1960s as a modern guitar company whose instruments sported such contemporary features…
NEWSWIRE
APPROVED GEAR
-
Live Wire
-
Narrow(field) Win
-
Take Flight

Singular Sound BeatBuddy
Drums Even You Can Play
Everyone knows a good drummer joke. Or two. Drummers are indeed a special breed. Singular Sound’s BeatBuddy drum-machine pedal, however,…

Sitori Sonics pedals
New Highs with Sitori Sonics’ Doob Dreamer, Tidal Phase, and Reel Repeat
Sitori Sonics pedals Price: $188 list (Doob Dreamer, Reel Repeat); $168 (Tidal Phase) Info: sitorisonics.com. Despite the vast possibilities of…

St. Blues Bluesmaster, Blindsider, and Delta Blues Box
Straight from the Delta
Saint Blues Bluesmaster/Blindsider Price: $2,399 (Bluesmaster); $2,550 (Blindsider) Info: saintblues.com St. Blues’ history stretches back to the days when its…

Carvin’s HH2 Allan Holdsworth
Off With Their Heads
Headless guitars and basses, which had their heyday back in the big-hair/thin-necktie ’80s (think Power Windows-era Geddy Lee), still have…
WHAT ELSE IS NEW
-
And an Archtop Mystery
-
Supergroup Alpha

Golden State-Lone Star Blues Revue
Welcome to a cross-country meeting of blues minds. The first release from this group of veteran California and Texas bluesmen…

The Fender Tremolux
Most amp nuts are utterly fascinated by Fender’s rapid evolution from archaic to modern through the course of the 1950s.…

Kirk Fletcher
The Mid-life Crisis Sessions
Back from barnstorming the globe, blues guitarist Kirk Fletcher’s latest is music for the people. Heartache by the Pound is…

Classics: June 2023
Danny Gattons ’51 Nocaster
From learning a first lick to playing an entire song with friends, musicians thrive on motivations big and small. Growing…










































