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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…
Eastwood Marksman 5
Bullseye!
Eastwood Marksman 5 Price: $999 (retail) Info: www.eastwoodguitars.com. Reviving great and unusual designs from the past has been the focus…
Phil Manzanera’s “Magdalena”
Roxy Music legend solo instrumental Roxy Music guitarist Phil Manzanera used his beloved ’64 Gibson Firebird VII to create this…
Traynor’s Darkhorse DH15H
Canadian Bakin’
Hugely popular in its native Canada, Traynor amps are a formidable force from north of the 49th parallel and its…
Mike Campbell
Little Movies
Longtime Tom Petty right-hand man Mike Campbell’s new album, Vagabonds, Virgins & Misfits, is a cinematic, guitar-heavy offering with irresistible…
Charis Acoustic SJ
Spirit in the Wood
Charis Acoustic SJ Price: $4,800 (base); $7,100 (as reviewed) Info: www.charisacoustic.com. The spiritual aspects of music perhaps originate with the…
George Lynch
New Roads
A lynch pin is a narrow shaft of metal that keeps a wheel from falling off – without it, the…
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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
Brian Setzer
Still Rockin’ the Holidays
Brian Setzer’s guitar – usually a Gretsch 6120 – is the compass that leads him down various musical roads, live…
Neil Giraldo
Road Routine
The hard-driving husband-and-wife rock act that hits the stage as Pat Benatar and Neil “Spyder” Giraldo is responsible for more…
Pop ’N Hiss: Bad Company
Powerful Purity
Bad Company’s self-titled 1974 debut album defines “classic rock” – no frills, just superb songs and performances from four gifted…
Dave Haskell
Wings and Strings
Plenty of improbable stories involve guitarists making first records amid peculiar circumstances. But few match Dave Haskell’s journey to Pivot…
CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS
Jim Campilongo & Steve Cardenas
Mutual Musical Idiosyncrasies
Steve Cardenas and Jim Campilongo have been playing guitar together for a long time, though the constellations only recently aligned…
The Guitars of Ernst Heinrich Roth
International Influence
Now just a sleepy town in Germany, over the last 200 years, Markneukirchen has been home to countless luthiers ranging…
Custom-Color Stratocasters
The Stratocaster was born in 1954. A solidbody with three pickups, contoured back and top, vibrato, and bolt-on neck, it…
Gibson Marauder M-1
Every once in awhile, someone in Gibson R&D gets a brainstorm like, “I know! Why don’t we make a bolt-neck…
NEWSWIRE
APPROVED GEAR
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Live Wire
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Narrow(field) Win
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Take Flight
Mojo Hand Swim Team Chorus Flanger
Double Duty
Michigan-based Mojo Hand Effects has been building a variety of hand-assembled pedals since 2010. Their latest, the Swim Team, pulls…
Epiphone 1966 SG G-400 PRO
For Those About to Rock
Epiphone’s 1966 SG G-400 PRO Price: $582 (list); $349 (street) Info: www.epiphone.com Gibson’s SG is a classic design with plenty…
Carl Martin’s Red Repeat Delay Echo, Greg Howe’s Lick Box
Boxes of Rock
After hearing – and taking to heart – feedback from players, Carl Martin recently upgraded its Red Repeat Delay Echo…
Visual Sound’s H20 V3 Liquid Chorus & Echo and VS-XO Premium Dual Overdrive
A Step Further
Visual Sound’s H20 V3 Liquid Chorus & Echo and VS-XO Premium Dual Overdrive Price: H20 V3 $199 (list); VS-XO $199…
WHAT ELSE IS NEW
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More Personal
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Rare Pioneer
The Fender Tremolux
Most amp nuts are utterly fascinated by Fender’s rapid evolution from archaic to modern through the course of the 1950s.…
Dan Fogelberg
The sociopolitical attitude of the American population is often said to be gauged in reference to a town in Illinois.…
Supro Thunderbolt
Designed “…exclusively for the electric Bass guitar,” it was simplicity itself, with no “fancy extra circuits.” But much like with…
Marah
The Kids Are Back in Philly
The south-Philly band Marah, led by brothers Dave and Serge Bielanko, has always danced to the backbeat of its own…
