• 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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Have Guitar Will Travel – 028 Featuring Mark Agnesi

June 9, 2020 · James Patrick Regan

In the new episode of “Have Guitar Will Travel,” host James Patrick Regan speaks with Mark Agnesi, Gibson’s Director of…

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Joe Walsh

Life’s Still Good

February 14, 2014 · Ward Meeker

Whether coughing up the #2 talk-box lick of the ’70s, kicking the Eagles into overdrive, or wryly expressing his views…

Dave Mustainen

Alive and Shredding

June 5, 2023 · Bret Adams

One of the most rugged, resilient rock musicians ever, Megadeth founder Dave Mustaine is a thrash-metal pioneer who has weathered…

Kevin Keaton’s 1958 Esquire

Swamp Thing

June 17, 2022 · Ward Meeker

June 10, 2020, was a summer night like most in the life of Kevin Keaton, a postal mail carrier and…

Influenced by Benson, Montgomery, and Christian: Jorge Garcia

August 15, 2022 · Vintage Guitar

Flavorful Jazz on “Dedicated to You” Jazz guitarist Jorge Garcia brings many flavors to his musical table. Here, his ’77…

Steve Cropper

Homage to Lowman Pauling

May 12, 2014 · Michael Dregni

All but forgotten today, with his low-slung guitar, stylish rhythm licks, and tasty leads, Lowman Pauling was one of the…

  • 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

Jane Getter

Jazz-Rock Premonitions

March 2, 2022 · Oscar Jordan

Jane Getter’s Anomalia is a mostly instrumental album that traverses the hypnotic seas of jazz-rock, with lyrics. A fusion of…

Peter Stroud and Audley Freed

Two Guys, Many Guitars, One Big Hat

January 3, 2014 · Ward Meeker

Many a noteworthy rock and roll band from the Cotton Belt has been propelled by guitar-playin’ good ol’ boys with…

Rodrigo Sanchez

Philosophical Resonance

March 6, 2024 · Oscar Jordan

The latest from Rodrigo y Gabriela, In Between Thoughts…A New World, shows the acoustic duo in top form with passion,…

Dennis Dunaway

Earwigs, Alice, and Beyond

March 20, 2019 · Ward Meeker

Lungs burning, sweat soaking their shaggy hair in the Arizona sun as miles passed beneath their feet, Dennis Dunaway and…


CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS

’53 Gibson Les Paul Junior

May 2, 2018 · George Gruhn

Gibson records say the Les Paul Junior was introduced in 1954. But this instrument has tone and volume pot codes…

Gibson’s First Reissue Les Pauls

Gibson’s First Reissue Les Pauls

On the Road to ’59

January 28, 2016 · Michael A. Slubowski

Strings and Things Les Paul Many articles have been written about how guitarists and dealers in the mid/late 1970s and…

Delta Labs Concept 1

Delta Labs Concept 1

January 19, 2016 · Dave Hunter

Preamp tubes: Two 6U8A, two 12FQ7, in addition to more-common types Output tubes: eight 33JV6 horizontal-output tubes Rectifier: solidstate Controls:…

Ca. 1960 Custom Mosrite/Gretsch

A Bakersfield/Brooklyn Cowboy

October 2, 2024 · Peter Stuart Kohman

In the history of vintage guitars, Gretsch and Mosrite are sometimes linked, and often associated with ’50s hot-country pickers and…


NEWSWIRE

APPROVED GEAR

McElroy OM Model

OM, Gee!

March 4, 2015 · Pete Prown

McElroy OM Model Price: $7,500 (base; $8,500 as reviewed) Info: www.mcelroyguitars.com. Brent McElroy is a Seattle luthier specializing in high-quality…

Colby Dual Tone Booster 50

Double Versatile

August 12, 2014 · Tom Guerra

Colby DTB50 Price: $3,800 (head); $750 (cabinet) Contact: www.colbyamps.com From 1978 through 2010, Mitch Colby helped Marshall become a preeminent…

Gretsch Malcolm Young “Red Beast” Signature Jet

Let There Be Rock

September 11, 2023 · Oscar Jordan

Forty-odd years beyond when AC/DC first hit American airwaves, the band still inspires multitudes of guitarists with intoxicating riffs, mesmerizing…

Collings CJ-45 T

Golden Child

October 12, 2022 · Michael Dregni

Every now and then, you pick up a guitar and realize you’re holding magic in your hands. Welcome to the…

WHAT ELSE IS NEW

Fender Jimi Hendrix Stratocaster

Flipped Axis

March 1, 2017 · Michael Dregni

Pity the poor right-handed masses. Emulating the vibe of Jimi’s various Strats has always been tough on them. Some players…

Colby Amplification Park 45

Colby Amplification Park 45

Put It Here

January 26, 2016 · Chip Wilson

Colby Amplification Park 45 Price: $2,500 (list) Contact: www.colbyamps.com There are legends that gear fanatics all know, and then there…

The 1912 Martin 000-28

The 1912 Martin

January 12, 2015 · George Gruhn

      By 1912, players of fretted instruments were familiar with steel strings. Mandolins, which were enjoying their period…

Randy Rhoads

Diary of an Axeman, 30 years Later

March 11, 2014 · Pete Prown

(RIGHT) Rhoads’ polka-dot guitar was built in 1979 by Karl Sandoval, with a mahogany body, modified ’60s Danelectro non-adjustable maple…

The Creation

Biff Bang Pow!

May 2, 2017 · Rich Kienzle

Hard as it seems to imagine, there are U.K. bands of the ’60s who’ve remained obscure and unsung despite increasingly…

Gibson’s Mastertone Banjos

Gibson’s Mastertone Banjos

July 10, 2015 · George Gruhn

This Gibson RB-3 five-string from 1925 is a rare piece, as is any five-string banjo from the era dominated by…

Terry Burrows

May 15, 2016 · Michael Dregni

Two boards, three pickups, some hardware, and various electric bits and pieces: Stratocasters are simple creations at heart. But setting…

Have Guitar Will Travel – 013 Featuring Josh Zee

August 16, 2019 · James Patrick Regan

In this episode of the Have Guitar Will Travel podcast, I speak with Josh Zee, who has recorded two major label albums…

All That Glitters

Gibson’s Copper Iridescent Les Pauls

October 24, 2023 · Ward Meeker

Like large celestial bodies, some guitar collectors have a gravity that draws objects to them. In 2016, rare custom-color Les…

Henretta Engineering Pedals

Henretta Engineering Pedals

Good Things, Small Packages

September 7, 2014 · Michael Dregni

Henretta Engineering Pedals Prices: Green Zapper, Bluebird, and Purple Octopus, $125 each; Chord Blaster, $140 Info: www.henrettaengineering.com. Bigger is not…

“Buy That Guitar” podcast with special guest Kevin Borden

July 30, 2024 · Vintage Guitar

“Buy That Guitar” podcast with special guest Kevin Borden Season 01 Episode 04 In Episode 4 of “Buy That Guitar,”…

Martin D-42 Modern Deluxe

Boom Box

March 7, 2023 · Pete Prown

Martin’s new Modern Deluxe line offers a tantalizing idea – a traditional-looking/playing premium acoustic, but with high-tech innovations under the…

Christone “Kingfish” Ingram

662

June 8, 2022 · Oscar Jordan

Christone “Kingfish” Ingram’s second album shows the 22-year-old prodigy in bloom with a flourishing musical maturity and compassionate world view.…

Michael Lee Firkins

Meditations in Southern Rock

April 2, 2014 · Oscar Jordan

Michael Lee Firkins began his career as the ’80s shred era wound down and grunge began to boom. His out-of-the-box…

Greg Martin

Elder Statesman

March 14, 2019 · John Heidt

Albums by Kentucky Headhunters have a history of making guitar players shake their collective heads at the great sounds made…

Gibson Everly Brothers SJ-200

Full Dress

March 20, 2024 · Michael Shirek

Gibson has always had a knack for producing distinctive guitars. The EDS-1275 in Cherry finish will forever be tied to…

Heavy Trash

May 15, 2016 · Michael Dregni

Heavy Trash is an on-again-off-again band headed by Jon Spencer and Matt Verta-Ray. They’ve released three superlative albums of their…

Slim Bryant

Early Country Guitar’s Last Man Standing

July 13, 2022 · Rich Kienzle

Thomas Hoyt Bryant, known to family and friends as “Slim,” met Perry Bechtel in Atlanta 1929. “I heard your record,…

Teye Guitars’ Master Series Knights Templar

Knight Time

April 23, 2019 · Chip Wilson

Guitar fanatics find inspiration from different players. And if Woody swapping licks and practicing “the ancient art of weaving” with…

Way Huge Saffron Squeeze MkII

Way Huge Saffron Squeeze MkII

Fresh-squeezed

July 7, 2016 · Oscar Jordan

Twenty years after its launch, the Way Huge Saffron Squeeze compressor has been improved upon. Doing fierce business with an…

Muireann Bradley

I Kept These Old Blue

October 8, 2024 · Pete Prown

If you conveyed the soul of a 1930s bluesman into an Irish teenager, you might have Muireann Bradley, who is…

Allan Holdsworth

1946-2017, Lion of Legato

April 15, 2019 · Pete Prown

Music fans were relaxing on Easter Sunday when word of Allan Holdsworth’s death began filtering about, bringing shock to the…

Austin legend Jon Dee Graham plays “This Old Guitar”

April 16, 2024 · Vintage Guitar

From the Continental Club to You! Jon Dee Graham’s parts Strat has been his stage and studio mainstay for more…

Guild in the Post-Fender Era

Guild in the Post-Fender Era

Round and Round She Goes

March 4, 2016 · Jay Pilzer

Since its beginnings in 1952, Guild has gone through many changes in ownership, location, marketing approach, and design philosophy. In…

Great Eastern FX Small Speaker Overdrive

Little Big Tones

March 13, 2023 · Oscar Jordan

Recording engineers and DIYers have long known what a small amp can do in a big room – that is,…

Kim Simmonds

Kim Simmonds

Back to Basics with Savoy Brown

November 11, 2014 · Willie G. Moseley

Under the aegis of founder Kim Simmonds, Savoy Brown has always been a band “subject to change.” Formed in 1965,…

The Highwaymen

August 30, 2016 · Rich Kienzle

Country’s first supergroup emerged from a 1984 Johnny Cash Christmas special taped in Switzerland. Along with Marty Stuart, the guests…

Check This Action: One Sax, Three Guitars

June 7, 2023 · Dan Forte

It starts with a tenor saxophone floating above spare electric guitar arpeggios. After a dipsy-doodle cadenza, the sax states a…

Mark Bosch

New York State of Mind

December 26, 2017 · Tom Guerra

As the longtime lead guitarist for Garland Jeffreys and Ian Hunter, Mark Bosch’s resumé reads like a who’s who of…