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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…

Marcin
Dragon In Harmony
Acoustic/electric sensation Marcin effortlessly traverses the fretboard with a guitar style that embraces the companionable influences of classical, flamenco, and…

Greg Howe
Nimble-fingered fusion monster Greg Howe has been keeping busy since the release of Extraction in 2003. He has appeared as…

Eric Krasno
Funk, Soul, and Jazz
Eric Krasno is on a roll. The guitarist in the soul-jazz organ trio Soulive moonlights with the funk ensemble Lettuce,…

Jeff Waters
Canadian Thrash-Metal Veteran
Trends come and go, but Canadian rockers Annihilator always deliver crushing speed metal. Their newest release, Triple Threat, is aimed…

Noah Zacharin: Seriously Agile Fingerstyle
“Lester Brown” Live From The Big Lonely From his home in a forest between Ottawa and Toronto, singer/songwriter/fingerpicker Noah Zacharin…
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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,…
ARTISTS

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…

Blu DeTiger
Funk-Pop Pioneer
When she was seven years old, sibling rivalry spurred Blu DeTiger to get a bass so she could play along…
Cliff Goodwin
335 Reunion
Cliff Goodwin was catapulted into the big time on a decade-long stint with Joe Cocker that began in the late…

Jake Shimabukuro Plays the Beatles “Something”
Silky-Smooth Shimabukuro Jake Shimabukuro’s playing is a silky delight on this run through the Beatles “Something.” That’s his Kamaka tenor…
CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS

KayKraft Style A
Almost any guitar can be viewed in terms of a confluence of influences that produced it, from the company history…

The Ray Butts EchoSonic
If you want to talk star-user ratio, the Ray Butts EchoSonic is near the top of the heap. Most accounts…

Dan’s Guitar RX: Installing an Acoustic Pickup System
Un-Unplugged
For years, one of the most common jobs I’ve been asked to do is put a pickup in an acoustic…

Classics: Harold “Sonny” Wright’s 1965 Gibson J-45
Growing up 10 miles from Earl Scruggs’ birthplace in North Carolina with a music-loving father and two older sisters who…
NEWSWIRE
APPROVED GEAR
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Live Wire
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Narrow(field) Win
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Take Flight

Dusky Electronics Toasted Overdrive
Let It Burn
Dusky Electronics’ new Toasted Overdrive is an upgrade of the company’s two-stage MOSFET amp in a box; builder Chris Rossi…

Godin’s A4 and A5 Ultra SA
Brave New Basses
Godin A4/A5 Ultra SA Price: $1,395 (A4 Ultra SA fretted); $1,645 (A5 Ultra SA fretless) Info: godinguitars.com. For years, Godin…

Killer Guitar Components Killer Trem Bridge
Bridging the Gap
In the mid 1950s, Leo Fender and his crew spent countless hours on the design and manufacture of their revolutionary…

To The Limit
The Effectrode LA-1A Leveling Amplifier
In the world of guitar effects, there are consumer-grade pedals and pro-grade pedals. The former are affordable and fun, the…
WHAT ELSE IS NEW
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More Personal
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Rare Pioneer

Carolyn Sills Combo
On the Draw
Listening to the Carolyn Sills Combo, you might do a double-take: Is this newly fashioned country music, or a long-lost…

Darryl Jones
Stones’ Side Man, Ron Wood Fan
“Unofficial” Rolling Stones bassist Darryl Jones, who replaced Bill Wyman in 1994, readily admits that playing with the carousing rockers…

Classics: September 2022
Danny Gatton’s ES-295
Glenn Holley was just five years old when he became infatuated with the sound of rockabilly music thanks to Elvis…

Remembering Ronnie
Phillips Finishes Guitarist’s Final Recordings
Ricky Phillips has many fond memories of his friendship and musical association with Ronnie Montrose (1947-2012). The bassist is finishing…












































