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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…
The Chicago Blues Box Buddy Guy Signature Amp
Buddy’s New (Tool) Box
Whether you’re a blues guitarist, jazz guy, or a power-chord rock player, certain players draw your attention, whether for the…
Joe Walsh
Life’s Still Good
Whether coughing up the #2 talk-box lick of the ’70s, kicking the Eagles into overdrive, or wryly expressing his views…
The Story of Melobar
Stand-Up Steel
Born in Northern California in 1920, Walt Smith took piano lessons and became a child prodigy on several instruments before…
2024 March Issue on Spotify
This month we feature Sue Foley, Mick Mars, Robin Trower, Susan Tedeschi, Paul Reed Smith, The Collins Kids, Santana, Van…
1978 Steinberger Prototype Bass
When introduced commercially in 1979, the Steinberger bass was a truly revolutionary instrument employing graphite construction and a minimalist artistic…
Earliest Gretsch 6120
…Revealed!
The Gretsch company rose to the upper echelon of guitar manufacturers in the 1950s with the introduction of a diverse…
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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,…
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ARTISTS
Gregg Wright
The Shackles Are Off
Gregg Wright’s latest album was forged with fire, intensity, and the music that molded him, from guitar-centric country ballads, boogie,…
Kenny Wayne Shepherd
Blues From the Backroads
Stepping into the spotlight to play the blues with the classic bands that backed Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf, most…
Ty Tabor
Digging Deep
King’s X guitarist Ty Tabor’s latest solo album is a guitar-centric meditation on mindfulness and the complexities of existence. With…
Robert Randolph
Soul Power
“I wasn’t really a Coltrane fan, but when I heard Kind Of Blue I was like, ‘Hell, as long as…
CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS
Eastwood EEB-1 and EUB-1 Basses
Horizontal Vibe
Eastwood’s EEB-1 and the EUB-1 take their design inspiration from Ampeg’s quirky mid-’60s Horizontal Bass series, the brainchild of Dennis…
Beat Portraits: Burns Volume 9
Late ’60s: Baldwin And Decline
In early 2009, VG columnist Peter Stuart Kohman turned his focus on Burns, the pioneering British guitar builder. We’ve compiled…
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,…
A Guide to Vintage Dobros
John Dopyera left National in 1929 to begin work on a secret project – a single-cone resonator guitar he believed…
NEWSWIRE
APPROVED GEAR
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Live Wire
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Narrow(field) Win
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Take Flight
Loar LH-309 VS Archtop
One Cool Cat
Loar LH-309 VS Archtop Price: $569.99 (street) Contact: theloar.com As the retro craze delves deeper into six-string history, a spate…
HeadRush MX5
Many Riches
In 2021, Ibanez re-tooled its hollowbody line to devise big surprises like the Japanese-made AF95, a full-bodied archtop with a…
Newman Guitars 5 String
Less Is More
Getting one’s hands on a five-string electric like the one Ted Newman Jones built for Keith Richards in the ’70s…
Friedman IR-X Dual Channel Preamp
Stack in the Box
Most guitar-electronics companies make a direct-recording preamp, many promising to provide ultimate distortion and overdrive via impulse responses (IR) or…
WHAT ELSE IS NEW
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More Personal
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Rare Pioneer
Bryan Beller
Bass Aristocracy
If you love daredevil musicians, you’ll dig The Aristocrats. A contemporary-fusion trio, the band includes guitar monster Guthrie Govan (VG,…
Mike Campbell
New Band, New Times
Being a true rock star, Mike Campbell was never a morning guy. While living his best life amidst a pandemic,…
Tokai Talbo
For aficionados of copy guitars – replicas of mostly American classics that give U.S. manufacturers apoplectic fits – perhaps no…
The Supro “Model 24”
Okay, Zep police, sound the alarm and prepare to loose the hounds – we are finally about to lift the…
