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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…
Classics: November 2021
Gibson Les Paul Personal
Billy Soutar loves the vibe of his 1969 Les Paul Personal and matching LP-12 amp. While the guitar’s mahogany body,…
Heart
Heart is beating hard again. It’s been four years since Ann and Nancy Wilson’s last release, but the sisters are…
Arlen Roth
Flourishing After Adversity
By any measure, Arlen Roth’s recent spate of creativity would be impressive. It began with his solo acoustic CD, Drive…
Jim Lauderdale
My Favorite Place
Since his 1991 debut, Planet of Love, Jim Lauderdale has produced a body of award-winning work few modern country or…
Fretprints: Pee Wee Crayton
Tiny Titan of Blues Guitar
Though he is today largely forgotten, blues aficionados recognize Pee Wee Crayton as a legend. “The little man with a…
Matching Mojo
During the “guitar boom” of the 1960s, one method of getting a band noticed was to equip it with matching…
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Check This Action: Up Jumped Elmore
When someone recently asked me to recommend the most essential Elmore James album, I answered, “Any and all.” I’ve never heard a bad Elmore cut, and I’ve heard nearly everything…
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ARTISTS
Eric Clapton
A Return To The Crossroads: Slowhand Meets Mr. Johnson
In many ways, 2004 marks a return to the crossroads for Eric Clapton. With his latest disc, Me And Mr.…
Mark Tremonti
Rock Star, Amp Snob!
Many of the people we today consider “guitar heroes” – Eddie Van Halen and Stevie Ray Vaughan, to name a…
Joe Peña
Bad Breakups, Free Guitars
“[My ’59 Les Pal Junior] sounds so good that whoever’s going to play the main part in a song plays…
The Gringo Pistoleros’ Larry Wilson
Classic P-90 tones! The Gringo Pistoleros’ Larry Wilson shows us a bit of “I Can Still Remember When,” from the…
CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS
Classics: October 2021
Ibanez IC200 Iceman
Pete Prown’s obsession with the Ibanez Iceman began when the company’s 1978 guitar catalog landed atop dealer display cases; the…
Gretsch 7680 Super Axe
Most of us are – or should be – aware of the enormous contributions of the late Chet Atkins, the…
The Rogue VB-100 Violin Bass
Fab As It Looks?
The Rogue VB-100 Series II is an homage to the venerable Höfner 500/1 semi-hollowbody. Popularly known as the “Beatle bass,”…
Adam Levy’s Wistful Elegance
Vintage ES-335 on “And They All Sang” Famous for supplying charismatic guitar parts while backing Nora Jones and Tracy Chapman,…
NEWSWIRE
APPROVED GEAR
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Live Wire
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Narrow(field) Win
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Take Flight
Yamaha’s THR100HD Dual Amp
Double Vision
Modeling amps have evolved rapidly as software and circuits have improved and become, dare we say, more organic sounding. The…
Radial Tonebone Hot British V9 and North-Star
Tone Deep Down
Since the mid ’90s, Radial Engineering has been making audio products with a rep for superb performance and top-tier construction.…
Santa Cruz HT/13 Happy Traum
Fingerstyle Dream
In a career spanning more than 60 years, Happy Traum has been a fixture of the American folk scene, from…
Fralin’s Wide-Range Humbucker
Gibson and Fender have a long history of influencing each other’s designs. When hard rock and warm, jazzier textures were…
WHAT ELSE IS NEW
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Black Light/White Noise
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All I Got and Gone
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Consentrik Quartet
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…
Seymour Duncan ’78 Model
Upscale Touch
In the late ’70s, rock guitarists fell down the rabbit hole trying to achieve more sustain, harmonics, and extra crunch…
VG Q&A: Jimi Flip
Plus, Precision Bass rests and an odd Galliano
I’ve never read why Jimi Hendrix played and set up a right-hand Strat to play left-handed. Surely, he could’ve found…
Epiphone Riviera
The Epiphone Riviera helped reinvent Epiphone in the 1960s as a modern guitar company whose instruments sported such contemporary features…
