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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…

“Buy That Guitar” podcast with special guest Nate Westgor
“Buy That Guitar” podcast with special guest Nate Westgor Season 01 Episode 01 In Episode 1 of “Buy That Guitar,”…

Gibson Theodore Standard
Flower Power
Named in honor of Ted McCarty, the Theodore is based on a design the legendary Gibson president penciled into a…

Gibson’s GA-8 Discoverer
Sonic Satellite
By the end of the 1950s, “space” was the name of the game, and any forward-thrusting gear that hoped to…

Wampler’s Ego Mini Compressor and Faux Tape Echo v2
Both Ends
With an extensive line of nearly 30 devices, it’s no surprise Wampler Pedals has entries in both the traditional-size and…

Mark O’Connor
Virtuoso Comeback
Some musicians are multi-instrumentalists, but Mark O’Connor is something else – a multi-virtuoso. Regarded as a master on guitar, violin,…

Category 5 Samantha
Hook, Line, and Tone
Blues-rocker Samantha Fish (VG, December ’21) electrifies audiences with her high-energy shows. A decade ago, she began favoring Category 5’s…
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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

Paul Benjaman: Tulsa twanger
Funky solo from “Undercover of Night” On his new album, “My Bad Side Wants a Good Time,” Paul Benjaman serves…

Have Guitar Will Travel 068 – Sammy Ash
Episode 68 of “Have Guitar Will Travel” features guitarist, collector, and entrepreneur Sammy Ash, who grew up in his grandparents…

Bernie Marsden
1951-2023
Bernie Marsden, one of the founding guitarists of Whitesnake, co-writer of the band’s massive hit “Here I Go Again,” and…

Jimmy Olander’s D-Bender Baritone
Big-string licks galore! In the mood to play a bit, December cover guy Jimmy Olander grabbed a guitar he…
CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS

Eight-String Basses
Sonic Niche
Emerging in ’60s catalogs from Hagström and Framus, eight-string basses occupy a distinct place among musical instruments – their potent,…

1982 Gibson Victory Custom
When you consider their status as a last-gasp instrument made by Gibson in its waning days as a property of…

Diamond Rio’s Jimmy Olander
Sworn Gunslinger
Grand Ole Opry member, CMA, ACM, and Grammy winner Jimmy Olander is one of the most-admired players in country music.…

1961 Fender Bassman
Blond Ambition
1961 Fender 6G6(A) Bassman • Preamp tubes: four 7025 (12AX7) • Output tubes: two 5881 (6L6GC) • Rectifier: GZ34 tube…
NEWSWIRE
APPROVED GEAR
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Live Wire
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Narrow(field) Win
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Take Flight

Radial Headload Guitar Amp Load Box
Taming a Shrew
As low-power amps gain in popularity, one wonders what will happen to all the 50- and 100-watt amps starting to…

PRS Silver Sky
Stratospheric
Paul Reed Smith has for years experimented with Leo-inspired concepts, and his newest guitar, conceived in collaboration with rocker John…

Jazz Trio
Fender’s Geddy Lee Jazz Bass and Ibanez’s Black Eagle Reissue Take On an Icon
Though it got most of the looks in the family, Fender’s Jazz Bass is nonetheless the tag-along younger brother to…

Gretsch Malcolm Young “Red Beast” Signature Jet
Let There Be Rock
Forty-odd years beyond when AC/DC first hit American airwaves, the band still inspires multitudes of guitarists with intoxicating riffs, mesmerizing…
WHAT ELSE IS NEW
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More Personal
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Rare Pioneer

New Orleans Suspects
When you combine some of the finest musicians from the Louisiana area in one band, there will be extreme funkiness.…

The Daddy Mojo Ozark
All But The Kitchen Sink
For a decade, Daddy Mojo has been making cigar-box guitars that refine the vibe of those rudimentary instruments. In 2016,…

Classics: Jeremy Graf’s 1961 Fender Stratocaster
A lifelong vintage-guitar nut who has had “a million guitars,” Jeremy Graf’s all-time favorite is this 1961 Stratocaster. A native…

Carr Amplifiers’ Mercury V
Carolina Combo
Back in June 2003, Carr’s original eight-watt Mercury combo earned high praise in VG for its top-of-the-line components, attention to…












































