Dogu Custom Electric Guitars’ MOS-01 Price: $2,200 (list) Contact: www.actionfigurestudios.com Improving upon classic designs is a consistent theme in the guitar-manufacturing community. While many companies take a pragmatic approach to updating older designs for better performance, Mehmet Dogu (pronounced “Dough”) took a wistful one. He was determined to replace the guitar that got away. The …

Fender’s new nine-product Bassbreaker series combines popular traditional amplifiers with modern technology. Classic tones and flexibility are the name of the game, which means a plethora of wattages and sizes providing the kinds of tonal succulence guitarists have come to know and love. The Bassbreaker 45 Combo is the series flagship, and it has a …

One of three stunning L-series models (along with its brothers, the El Toro and Cleopatra) introduced by guitar builder Teye, the single-cutout/mahogany-body Apache has a maple cap that echoes a Les Paul, and most guitarists will instantly recognize the influence of Tony Zemaitis in its etched-aluminum plates and inlaid faux turquoise. Workmanship on the Apache …

Dr. Jenny Boyd is founder and director of Spring Workshops, “organizing psychotherapeutic groups for people in need of personal development.” She is also the “Jennifer” who inspired Donovan’s “Jennifer Juniper.” Like her sister Pattie, Jenny became a model in swinging-’60s London. Pattie married and divorced both Beatle George Harrison and Eric Clapton; Jenny married and …

Like politics, religion, and overdrive pedals, echo boxes are sure to incite staunch views, heartfelt arguments, and perhaps even fisticuffs. But Strymon’s El Capistan is one worth fighting for. To get the squabble started, this pedal creates analog-inspired echo via DSP (digital signal processing) technology. If you’re an enemy of all things unnatural and digital, …

Steve Dawson shines as a session player and producer supporting other artists’ work. But when he hides away in his own studio and cuts his own tunes, his music truly comes alive. On his 2015 album, Rattlesnake Cage, he showed what he’s got on the solo acoustic front. Now he’s back, better than ever, with …

Preamp tubes: Two 6U8A, two 12FQ7, in addition to more-common types Output tubes: eight 33JV6 horizontal-output tubes Rectifier: solidstate Controls: Volume, Treble, Mid, Bass, Resonance, Distortion; Echo effect: Mix, Repeat, Delay; Tremolo: Speed, Intensity. Pushbuttons for voicing. Output: 300 watts RMS +/- Speaker: two 12″ and four 10″ Eminence speakers You’d be forgiven for assuming …

Keb’ Mo’s latest album, Blues Americana, nearly wrote itself. “Going in, I had planned to make a solo acoustic record,” he said. “I got the songs together, but felt it didn’t really hold up. So, I made the record like I wanted – started simple, with guitar and vocal and a click track, because I …

It’s less improvisational than other types of blues, but East Coast (a.k.a. Piedmont) blues is no less expressive or impassioned. In addition to roots in African American folk music shared with other blues styles, it developed through a range of inputs, including ragtime, Broadway, and Tin Pan Alley stylings. Thus, deceptively lively guitar and measured …

MXR M87 Bass Comp and M234 Analog Chorus Price: $318 (M87 Bass Compressor), $170 (M234 Analog Chorus). Info: jimdunlop.com For decades, players in virtually every musical genre have been familiar with MXR pedals; the name connotes a solid road-warrior stompbox associated with great tones from ’70s through today. The Analog Chorus M234 is designed to …

A silver-spoon teen who loved sneaking into Chicago’s southside blues clubs, Michael Bloomfield reveled in absorbing all he could from the many legendary players he saw perform in the city’s famed joints. The de facto lessons served Bloomfield well as he went on to contribute to the works of many famed performers while forging his …

These 26 recordings delve into the heart of the prolific song-smithing of Jack White, providing an eye-opening retrospective of B-sides and re-imaginings, and insight into White’s muse. It also features the previously unreleased “City Lights” and “Love Is The Truth.” Filled with tuneful performances, the collection begins in chronological order (by conception) with songs made …

When Robin Trower segued from his wah-driven blues-rock riffing into the slowed, deep-blues groove of the second half of his ’74 anthem “Too Rolling Stoned,” he kicked it over to a progressively more aggressive overdrive sound. And in his final screaming solo, he hits those big bluesy bends that made him famous, powering his Strat …

So he’s not burning up the Top 40, but Richie Kotzen has been a soul-crooning monster guitarist for a very long time. With almost 20 solo albums and group projects with Greg Howe, Poison, Mr. Big, Stanley Clarke, and most recently, The Winery Dogs, the guitarist would like you to get to know him a …

“Unofficial” Rolling Stones bassist Darryl Jones, who replaced Bill Wyman in 1994, readily admits that playing with the carousing rockers has been a revelation compared to working with stern jazz masters like Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, and Wynton Marsalis. “What I’ve learned from Mick and Keith is that rock and roll is fun. It’s not …

Paul Gilbert was a teenager when he appeared on the music industry’s radar after Mike Varney of Shrapnel Records introduced him in Guitar Player magazine’s “Spotlight” column. After attending Hollywood’s Guitar Institute of Technology (GIT), Gilbert unveiled Racer X to the mid-’80s shred generation and made his mark as a top player in the genre. …

When Jimi Hendrix released his first album, 1967’s Are You Experienced, he launched a new level of guitar heroics as well as a sartorial fad for ruffled shirts and band jackets. He also fed a fashion for fuzz. One of Jimi’s main weapons was the Arbiter Fuzz Face, a cheap, crude fuzz box that would …