• 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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Classics – June 2021

February 7, 2022 · Ward Meeker

Rob Harrelson’s first guitar – a Kay 1160 – entered his life as a 14th-birthday gift from his grandmother. At…

The JangleBox J-Boost

Seamless Sheen

March 5, 2019 · Oscar Jordan

Twelve years ago, Janglebox founder Steve Lasko set out to create effects pedals that capture the sparkling clean chime made…

Home Feature Image

2015 Readers’ Choice

May 25, 2015 · Vintage Guitar

Each year, VG asks readers to select Readers’ Choice winners for Album of the Year, Artist of the Year, and…

The Steepwater Band

More Players, More Music

May 9, 2017 · Willie G. Moseley

The Steepwater Band, based in Chicago, has been a trio for most of its career, purveying guitar-based Americana. Guitarist Jeff…

Acoustik Attak Picks

May 10, 2022 · Julian Burtell

Each of Acoustik Attak’s three guitar picks has a different raised formation that alters the way it interacts with strings;…

Taylor 724ce

Bold And Bright

June 12, 2023 · Pete Prown

In the Hawaiian tongue, koa means “bold” and it’s an apt name for the wood known in guitardom for its…

  • 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

Jeff Berlin

December 17, 2022 · Vintage Guitar

Bass Master Homage to Jack Bruce In the December issue, bass master Jeff Berlin recalls the first time he heard…

Steve Carr

Twenty-Five Years of Tonemaking

August 7, 2024 · Ward Meeker

In the mid ’90s, Steve Carr was a guitarist playing weekends and working weeknights as a waiter in a swank…

Steve Miller

Some People Call Him Rock Icon

January 7, 2011 · Ward Meeker

Not until after he turned 40 did it occur to Steve Miller that he never really needed to fear whether…

Jack Petruzzelli

Jack Petruzzelli

Fab Sideman For Osborne, Wainwright, Smith

October 9, 2015 · Dan Forte

“The first time the Beatles were on Ed Sullivan, I was in my mother’s womb,” says Jack Petruzzelli. “That was…


CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS

1963 Fender Twin Reverb Prototype

1963 Fender Twin Reverb Prototype

July 7, 2016 · Dave Hunter

The Twin has long been the flagship of Fender’s high-wattage amp lineup, and it achieved/retained that status through several iterations…

Classics: August 2022

Billy Soutar’s custom-order 1936 Gibson L-7

April 11, 2023 · Ward Meeker

While scanning an Elderly Instruments ad in Vintage Guitar one day in early 2009, Billy Soutar spotted the description of…

Classics: Marc Schoenberger’s Rickenbacker Combo 600

January 27, 2026 · Ward Meeker

Marc Schoenberger was part of the early-’70s vanguard on the Southern California guitar scene – not as a gigging musician,…

Epiphone by Gibson Firebird 500

Race on

January 6, 2023 · Michael Wright

Gibson will forever be celebrated for its heritage of innovation, including guitars that didn’t look like the common perception of…


NEWSWIRE

APPROVED GEAR

Electro-Harmonix Operation Overlord Allied Overdrive

Sound Assault

April 26, 2019 · Oscar Jordan

Like its namesake World War II invasion, Electro-Harmonix’s Operation Overlord Allied Overdrive involves an assault of sorts – though this…

Seymour Duncan ’78 Model

Upscale Touch

June 26, 2024 · Oscar Jordan

In the late ’70s, rock guitarists fell down the rabbit hole trying to achieve more sustain, harmonics, and extra crunch…

Vintage guitar magazine Silvertone’s 1449 and 1423

Silvertone’s 1449 and 1423

Classic Comeback

October 23, 2014 · Vintage Guitar

Silvertone’s 1449 and 1423 Price: $739 list/$479 street (1423); $629 list/$399 street (1449) Info: www.silvertoneclassic.com With an up-swell of interest…

KJ Audio Hanwell 50

KJ Audio Hanwell 50

Shake The Walls

February 19, 2016 · Michael Dregni

KJ Audio Hanwell 50 Price: Head $1,900; cabinet $1,600 Contact: www.kjaudio.com No apologies: Minneapolis-based amp designer Kristopher Johnson’s Hanwell 50…

WHAT ELSE IS NEW

The Fender Bullet Deluxe/JP-90

No Frills, Didn’t Fly

January 23, 2014 · Willie G. Moseley

    Fender has tried more than once to market basses with a low-budget vibe. And while the idea is…

Charlie Starr

Celestial Guide

April 15, 2020 · Ward Meeker

“It’s hot! 77 degrees,” exclaims Charlie Starr from a hotel room in Augusta, Georgia, a few hours before the third…

Jerry Miller

Back to Basics

March 3, 2017 · Wolf Marshall

Jerry Miller is back. For many he never left – especially admirers of his innovative playing with the legendary Moby…

Yasmin Williams

Urban Driftwood

October 14, 2021 · Oscar Jordan

Acoustic fingerstylist Yasmin Williams takes ambidextrous musicianship to new and adventurous places on her second album. Urban Driftwood finds Williams…

Harvey Valdes does Bach – Electrified!

July 12, 2022 · Vintage Guitar

Artist Plugs in to Tackle Work of a Master Harvey Valdes shows us how he does J.S. Bach’s “BMV 999…

Marc Bonilla

Servant Of The Music

April 5, 2022 · Oscar Jordan

On March 11, 2016, keyboardist Keith Emerson took his own life. He was 71 and left a legacy of groundbreaking…

Wayne Kramer

Renaissance Man

January 5, 2018 · Johnny Zapp

Wayne Kramer has earned his stripes as an American music icon. Whether abusing his signature Strat, scoring a film, or…

Dudley Taft

Life At Full Speed

February 2, 2026 · Ward Meeker

A songwriting blues-rocker in the purist sense, Dudley Taft is succeeding in an era when nothing comes easy for his…

Thin Lizzy

Vagabonds of the Western World 50th Anniversary

October 29, 2024 · Pete Prown

Long before “The Boys Are Back in Town,” Thin Lizzy was a pugnacious Dublin trio with bassist Phil Lynott and…

Michael Gregory Jackson inspires on “Meditation in E

August 30, 2022 · Vintage Guitar

Classic ’70s Bluesy-Jazz Flavor Jazz guitarist Michael Gregory Jackson changes it up by using a classic (and seldom-seen) ’59 SG…

Gibson’s Experimental Archtop

February 1, 2024 · George Gruhn

Orville Gibson invented the carved-top guitar in the 1890s, and his company refined the design with f-shaped sound holes in…

FENDER BANDMASTER 5E7

Fender 5E7 Bandmaster

January 29, 2016 · Dave Hunter

Preamp tubes: one 12AY7, two 12AX7 Output tubes: two 6L6s, fixed biased Rectifier: 5U4G tube Controls: Volume, Volume, Treble, Bass,…

Immix Eleven V-Series 30 Amp/Cab

Immix Eleven V-Series 30 Amp/Cab

Lights! Sound! Action!

November 6, 2015 · Chip Wilson

Immix Eleven V-Series 30 Amp/Cab Price: Amp $1,995 (list); cabinet $895 (list) Contact: www.immix11.com Remember the first time you encountered…

Hands On

Lenser Twists Musician Portraiture

July 9, 2019 · Ward Meeker

In 2012, photographer Marc Mennigmann conceived of shooting musician portraits in a very different way – looking beyond faces and…

Don Leady’s Stylish Instro!

February 9, 2022 · Vintage Guitar

Roots-rock doyen does “Blue Cumbia 3” LeRoi Brothers co-founder (and Tail Gators head honcho) Don Leady used his real-deal vintage…

Knaggs Chena Old Violin

Righteous Axe

October 11, 2023 · Oscar Jordan

With notable string-bending monsters like Larry Mitchell, Eric Steckel, and Steve Stevens singing the praises of Knaggs Guitars, Peter Wolf…

Walrus Audio Eons Five-State Fuzz

November 13, 2023 · Oscar Jordan

Hot on the heels of its Ages Five-State Overdrive and Eras Five-State Distortion, Walrus Audio has unleashed the Eons Five-State…

Larry Campbell & Teresa Williams

Live at Levon’s!

February 9, 2024 · Dan Forte

The term “versatile” is laughable when it comes to Larry Campbell. A handful of the artists he has recorded, produced,…

Paul in the Family

Chris Arena's Black '59 LP Standard

March 19, 2019 · Ward Meeker

“I wanna be a musician!” The declaration – typically from an adolescent family member – purses the lips of parents…

Banker Excalibur Derringer

Lordy Mama, Light My Fuse

March 13, 2023 · Charlie Wilkins

Gibson guitars from the ’50s and ’60s are some of the most-sought after instruments on the planet, and re-creating the…

Eastwood Marksman 5

Bullseye!

October 13, 2015 · Zac Childs

Eastwood Marksman 5 Price: $999 (retail) Info: www.eastwoodguitars.com. Reviving great and unusual designs from the past has been the focus…

The Doobie Brothers

Road Rules

January 30, 2026 · Bret Adams

If you’re making a list of beloved bands with a long string of hook-heavy hits, the Doobie Brothers will surely…

Reverend Billy Corgan

Smashing Sounds

January 9, 2023 · Pete Prown

Reverend’s new twist on its Billy Corgan Signature guitar updates several features but remains a stylish retro-meets-modern solidbody. The most…

Heart

August 30, 2016 · Michael Dregni

Heart is beating hard again. It’s been four years since Ann and Nancy Wilson’s last release, but the sisters are…

Greg Howe

Return to Rock with Maragold

December 10, 2014 · Oscar Jordan

Greg Howe continues to evolve, pushing his artistry into fresh territory. One of the most successful artists on Shrapnel Records,…

Fretprints: Steve Khan

Khan-sequential Guitar

April 8, 2024 · Wolf Marshall

Steve Khan is an internationally acclaimed guitarist with a career spanning more than 50 years. Japan’s Jazz Life proclaimed him…

Classics: December 2021

1967 Rickenbacker 360/12

August 11, 2022 · Ward Meeker

Live-music fans who roamed South Florida from the early ’80s until the mid 2000s might recognize Craig Ball’s ’67 Rickenbacker…

Derek St. Holmes

Making Rock and Roll Cool Again

March 2, 2017 · Johnny Zapp

Derek St. Holmes has been in the rock and roll business since the early 1970s and is best known for…

M&V Guitars and Pickups Atlas Large-Pole Precision Bass Pickups

Big Bottom

November 4, 2014 · Ray Wuolo

M&V Guitars and Pickups Atlas P Bass-Style Pickups Price: $75 Info: www.mvguitars.com. Let’s face it –  when it comes to…