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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. …
Mr. Mojo Sustainin’
The Teye Jazz Cat
Teye Wijnterp is a top-shelf guitar craftsman whose work brings to mind Keith and Ronnie’s famous Zemaitis guitars of the…
Pop ’N Hiss: Deep Purple’s Machine Head
Definitive Riffs
Now regarded as the “Beethoven’s 5th” of rock and roll, “Smoke on the Water” became a surprise hit in the…
Alex Hall
Pandemic Re-Think
Six Strings, the debut EP by 26-year-old Alex Hall, establishes the Georgia native as one of the new generation of…
Gibson’s Mastertone Banjos
This Gibson RB-3 five-string from 1925 is a rare piece, as is any five-string banjo from the era dominated by…
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,…
The PRS HX 50 and HX 2×12 Cabinet
Jimi Jam
Paul Reed Smith has earned a reputation building guitars of the highest quality. It wasn’t until just over a decade…
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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
Check This Action: Feeling Jazzy
Jazz guitar is one of my main loves, whether it’s Eddie Lang’s work with Bing Crosby in the early ’30s…
Johnny Hiland
Mr. Versatility
“…when you’re onstage, in the heat of the moment in the middle of a solo, you want to have bandmates…
Carlos Santana
Holding That Tone
Carlos Santana is illustrating a point. “Most people play like this – around the note,” he says, making a fist…
Robben Ford
The Space Between the Notes
When it comes to blues, Robben Ford has always been inspired by the most profound practitioners of the form and…
CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS
Small Screen, Big Pickin’
Crew Strives to Keep it Real on “Nashville”
It’s not often that prime-time network television captures an audience of working class, professional musicians. In 1968, players watched Elvis…
VG Q&A: A Gilded ’63 Jazz Bass
Plus, Swappable Pickups, Bartell Guitars, and a Mystery Lap Steel
I am the third owner of a 1963 Jazz Bass with a neck stamp “7Jan63A,” pots dated that May, and…
L-5 to Super 400
The Story of Gibson’s Big Archtops
The archtop guitar is a uniquely American instrument which can be traced directly to the creative genius of one person…
Arbiter Fuzz Face
When Jimi Hendrix released his first album, 1967’s Are You Experienced, he launched a new level of guitar heroics as…
NEWSWIRE
APPROVED GEAR
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Live Wire
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Narrow(field) Win
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Take Flight
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…
Godin ACS SA
Nylon Dreams
Too often, the notion of plugging in a thin-body guitar and getting a reasonably natural acoustic/electric tone is more dream…
ToneTron’s Billy-Rocker
Best Amp You've Never Heard of
ToneTron’s Billy-Rocker Price: $1,200 Info: www.tonetroamps.com. On a quiet residential street in Minneapolis lives a mad scientist. Erstwhile rockabilly guitarist…
Budda’s Baby Budda Amp Head
Big-Boy Tone
Budda Amplification staked its claim in 1995 with the Twinmaster boutique amplifier. Its hand-wired construction and user-friendly tones were hits…
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Five Alternative Club Classic Amps of the ’50s
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Remembering a Heavy Hero
Fretprints: Mick Ralphs
Delivering in Bad Company
Unabashedly British and irresistibly swaggering, Bad Company personified ’70s arena rock. Detractors denounced them as machismo, but fans have bought…
Nat Talks Strings!
The Strings of Power Hey there! Nate Westgor from Willie’s American Guitars dives into the world of guitar strings, discussing…
Gibson Grenada Five-string
The Gibson Granada five-string banjo is primarily known for being played by Earl Scruggs, who had an enormous impact on…
Keith Nelson
Buckcherry Gear Jammer
Over the last few years, Buckcherry has offered a lot of music to fans – online via its monthly Singles…
