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MusicNomad is running a fun Valentine’s Day challenge for guitar players — and it’s a good one.
Has Your Guitar Been KISSed? 💋🎸 This Valentine’s Day, MusicNomad is asking one big question: Has your guitar been KISSed? Show your guitar some love with a KEEP IT SIMPLE,…
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“Buy That Guitar” podcast with special guests Robb Lawrence and Kim Shaheen
Season 03 Episode 10 In Episode 3.10 of “Buy That Guitar,” host Ram Tuli is joined by Robb Lawrence and Kim Shaheen. Robb’s experience in the vintage market spans from…
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Pieces of a Prototype
Secrets of a Socal "Parts" Guitar
If you were a guitar – particularly one with a natural or translucent finish – your “fingerprint” would be the grain of the wood used to make your body. …
The Victoria VIC 105
Raw And Responsive
Victoria VIC 105 Price: $1,495 Contact: Victoria Amp Co.; phone (630) 820-6400; victoriaamp.com. In the 1990s, Mark Baier put himself…
Q&A With George Gruhn: Formica Pickguard on an Early Les Paul?
And Not-So-Strange Variations on an ’87 LP Standard
I’ve just completed restoring a very early Les Paul that was horribly damaged and poorly repaired, then painted black! I’m…
The Peoples’ Guitar
Gibson’s Depression-Era Exports
Many aren’t aware that some of the archtop guitars Gibson produced during the Depression were marketed under different brand names,…
Ralph Towner
Fifty Years and Counting
As a young musician, Ralph Towner wrote “Icarus,” a revolutionary jazz piece that became a crossover hit for the Paul…
Epiphone Excellente
Sonny James' Epiphone Excellente
The Epiphone Excellente was the fanciest flat-top Gibson made in the 1960s, and to some ears it was Gibson’s best.…
Lance Lopez
Supersonic Blues Machine
Lance Lopez is a guitar-slinging blues machine that burns like Texas hot sauce in August. He has scorched the festival…
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VG Q&A: Harmony History
And an Archtop Mystery
I recently received two guitars as gifts and am trying to learn more about them. The first is a Harmony I believe is from the early ’70s. Its serial number…
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ARTISTS
Laur Joamets
Metamodern Sounds In Country Picking
The time-worn, well-trodden path to Nashville traditionally starts from a Tennessee holler, Arkansas cabin, or Texas jook. For Laur Joamets…
The Dig 3’s Hundt, Duncanson play “Tell Me the Place”
Old-school blues duet Gerry Hundt and Andrew Duncanson play straightforward Chicago-style blues in The Dig 3. Here, they play “Tell…
Michael Schenker
Acoustic Album, Electric Gear
One of the most influential guitarists in hard rock history, Michael Schenker has imbued the music of UFO, Scorpions, and…
Lords of Atlantis: Cliché-Free Surf
Ivan Pongracic Lords of Atlantis includes members from a handful of high-profile surf bands, and its debut album is a…
CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS
Ca. 1960 Custom Mosrite/Gretsch
A Bakersfield/Brooklyn Cowboy
In the history of vintage guitars, Gretsch and Mosrite are sometimes linked, and often associated with ’50s hot-country pickers and…
Rickenbacker 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…
Tracii Guns
Black Diamond Shine
There’s no denying that with Tracii Guns manning L.A. Guns’ lead-guitar slot, the sleaze veterans become a different animal. Since…
Homer Haynes’ ’59 D’Angelico Excel
From 1932 to 1964, independent builder John D’Angelico produced some of the finest jazz guitars. After apprenticing and working in…
NEWSWIRE
APPROVED GEAR
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Live Wire
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Narrow(field) Win
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Take Flight
Dan’s Guitar RX: Reviving a ’56 Duo-Jet, Part Two
Ugly, But An Oldy
In the March issue, I introduced you to my apprentice, Blake Burkholder, and the restoration he was doing to a…
Jam Pedals Harmonious Monk Mk2 & Boomster Mk2
Brothers In Tone
Jam Pedals continually evolves its line by creating a cool menagerie of point-to-point stompboxes that adapt to a multitude of…
MXR Slash Octave Fuzz SF01 and Slash Cry Baby Classic SC-95
Slash 'N Burn
MXR SF01 Slash Octae Fuzz Price: $129 (street) Contact: jimdunlop.com MXR’s new Slash Octave Fuzz pedal employs three fuzz “flavors”…
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…
WHAT ELSE IS NEW
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Five Alternative Club Classic Amps of the ’50s
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Remembering a Heavy Hero
Small Wonder
The Orange Rocker 15 Terror
Small-footprint amp heads – tube and solidstate – are all the rage and getting better all the time. Case in…
Fishman’s Fluence Greg Koch Gristle-Tone P90
A Quiet Place
With the miracle of micro-electronics, you can pack a massive amount of tone into a tight space. Case in point:…
Steve Kimock flashes back to Zero
Amazing improv on “End of World Blues” We review the reissued 1992 album “Naught Again” by Zero, a band that…
Donner DST-700 Hyper
Value City
It’s often the case that guitars with roasted necks cost more than gloss poly finishes, but Donner is challenging that…
