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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…
Steve Rothery
Prog with a Purpose
Marillion has been playing thought-provoking neo-prog since its 1983 debut album, Script for a Jester’s Tear. Along the way, the…
Fender ’68 Custom Vibro Champ Reverb
Small Wonder
Fender’s ’68 Custom amp series has become popular among pickers who love old-school looks and sounds but prefer contemporary modifications…
Way Cool Version: Newman Guitars’ Honeycomb Chambered Jr.
Following Ted Newman Jones’ passing in 2016, protégé Jeff Smith took over Newman Guitars and is furthering the vision, using…
Scintillating Latin-jazz from Greg Diamond
Improv master on exclusive “Song for Jerry” Greg Diamond revisits “Song for Jerry ” with his Eastman PG-2 Pagelli running…
Road to Rock
The Electrifying Sounds of Post-War Guitar
Fans often mark the beginning of rock and roll as either Elvis Presley’s Sun Sessions or Bill Haley & the…
Radial Tonebone Shotgun and Mix-Blender
Swiss-Army Stompboxes
Whether it’s due to shrinking pedalboard real estate, shrinking discretionary budgets, or both, stompboxes that serve more than one function…
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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
Neil Giraldo
Guitarist, Producer, Partner
Quiz time, guitarheads. What was the second video played on MTV? If you guessed “You Better Run” by Pat Benatar,…
Bryan Bassett
Foghat’s Slide Secret
A half-century after its inception, Foghat has just one original member – drummer Roger Earl – yet the quartet is…
Steve Cropper
Looking Back at Stax
The gloriously soulful music recorded by Stax Records is still entertaining listeners six decades after its release, and the label…
Toronzo Cannon
Blues The Chicago Way
“I’m not trying to be a starving artist at 48 years old,” says blues man Toronzo Cannon when asked if…
CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS
Recording King Ray Whitley
As a maker of high-quality instruments, Gibson was hit hard by the onset of the Depression in the 1930s. Company…
Sound City L/B 120 Mark IV
Preamp tubes: three ECC83 (12AX7), one ECC81 (12AT7, in the phase inverter) Output tubes: six EL34 Rectifier: solidstate Controls: Normal…
Guyatone Micro Effects
Little Boxes, Big Effects
Musical-instrument accessories importer Guyatone introduced its first series of Micro Effects three years ago to widespread praise. Knowing it was…
Gibson M-III Standard
Missing the Mark(et)
Gibson’s bread and butter has long been tried-and-true designs that represent remarkable innovations – even if they date back to…
NEWSWIRE
APPROVED GEAR
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Live Wire
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Narrow(field) Win
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Take Flight
The Eastman SB55
Little Devil
When re-creating a classic, it’s all too easy to feel hidebound to the original – especially if it’s an icon.…
Kiesel JB5 Classic
The look and feel of Kiesel’s JB5 Classic align well with what a bassist expects when they gaze upon it…
Fender American Vintage II ’57 Stratocaster
Period Piece
Sure, we all drool over Fender Custom Shop axes, but those instruments are sometimes out of wallet’s reach. Coming to…
Dr Z Z-28 MK II 1×12
Step On It!
If you’ve driven a classic muscle car like the Camaro Z28, you know that when you step on the gas,…
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
John Sykes 1959-2025
Remembering a Heavy Hero
The guitar universe was rocked on January 20 by the announcement of John Sykes’ death from cancer, at age 65.…
Jake E. Lee
The Legend Returns
Jake E. Lee found fame replacing Randy Rhoads to co-write two of Ozzy Osborne’s most popular albums – Bark At…
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…
Fretprints: Roy Lanham
Hillbilly Jazz Takes Hollywood
Woefully under-recognized guitarist Roy Lanham was a favorite of leading country and jazz pickers and rock innovators; Merle Travis extolled…
