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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…

Joe Osborn
A Few (Hundred) Hits
Ed. Note: Joe passed away December 14th, 2018, he was 81. Joe Osborn. His face has never been on a…

Kiss
Destroyer 45
Following their Alive! breakout, Kiss hired producer to the superstars Bob Ezrin and cut what became their first platinum album,…

Duke Robillard
Swingin’ with Singers
Robillard needs no introduction here, as he’s been one of the leading old-school players of the past 40 years –…
Alairex H.A.L.O.
Heavenly Possibilities
Alairex H.A.L.O. Price: $399 Info: www.alairex.com. Guitarist Alex Aguilar is a veteran player, former guitar-mag columnist, and today runs an…

Check This Action: A Year In Their Life
Recently, I stumbled onto one of those “reaction” videos by a New Zealander named Courtney, who wasn’t sure if she’d…

Gallagher Bluegrass Bell
Ready, Set, Ring
Pickers sure love to talk about their guitars, and more than a few will enthusiastically tell you about their favorite…
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Carr Skylark Special 1×12
Take Flight
Arriving a little more than 10 years after the original Skylark, Carr Amplifiers’ new Skylark Special adds versatility and enhanced tonal depths to squeeze a lot more into this diminutive…
ARTISTS

Ian Hunter
Defying the Odds
Taking advantage of the time off in the early days of the pandemic, Ian Hunter hunkered down in his Connecticut…
Orianthi Lights It Up
New Music, Signature J-200 With her still-newish signature Gibson J-200, Orianthi strums and sings a chill version of the hard-rocking…

1937 Martin 0-21
Martin is known for its orderly model-naming system, under which all guitars of a certain style from any particular year…

Nick Perri
Constant Creator
The elements of life that mold a person are constant and ever-evolving. Influence is all about perspective. Philadelphia-born Nick Perri…
CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS

Pop ’N Hiss: Taste
Breakout Blues
The ’60s may have been the most musically significant decade in the history of popular music, but very few countries…

Six-String Kicks
Wood from Famed Bowling Alley Set to Sing
Few things scratch America’s cumulative itch for nostalgia like Route 66 – the famed wagon-trail-cum-highway that offered passage to those…

Gretsch 7680 Super Axe
Most of us are – or should be – aware of the enormous contributions of the late Chet Atkins, the…

Beat Portraits: Burns Volume 1
Beginnings – The Early 1960s
In early 2009, VG columnist Peter Stuart Kohman turned his focus on Burns, the pioneering British guitar builder. We’ve compiled…
NEWSWIRE
APPROVED GEAR
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Live Wire
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Narrow(field) Win
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Take Flight
DoleSonic Half Back Stack
Tone Meets Crafts-manship
Shaw Audio Bass 130 Price: $1,350 Contact: www.tremcaster.com, phone: (330) 608-2043 In a day where gear companies often focus on…

Danelectro Baby Sitar
Paint It Sunburst
Legend has it that during a break in the filming of Help!, George Harrison picked up a sitar left behind…

Blackstar Artist 15
All ’Rounder
Blackstar’s Artist 15 is a British amp with an American accent. Though designed and built around good ol’ American-flavored 6L6…

The String Sling
Trapper Keeper
Almost all of us have a guitar – maybe even two – we like a bit more than “the other…
WHAT ELSE IS NEW
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And an Archtop Mystery
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Supergroup Alpha

Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks
Minds Made Up
Collaborations have rendered some of the greatest tunes in the history of music. Whittle the subject to “just” guitarists, and…

Chris Stapleton
Higher
Chris Stapleton’s distinctive style – blending elements of Outlaw country with high-caliber original songs, powerful vocals, and a minimalist, edgy…

Kim Simmonds
Half a Century with Savoy Brown
Now in its 46th year, the Savoy Brown band, fronted by founder/lead guitarist Kim Simmonds, has returned to its blues-and-boogie…
Nioma Guitars
Rarities from a West Coast Music School
NIOMA musical instruments from the 1930s and ’40s – with their vaguely Hawaiian-looking name – have mystified vintage-guitar enthusiasts over…







































