Dr Z Octal Six 1×12 combo

Valve Variation

August 13, 2025 · Charlie Wilkins

Classic guitar amplifiers have made certain vacuum tubes household names (among gearheads) – 12AX7, 12AT7, 6L6, 6V6, EL84, and EL34.…

Ernie Ball Music Man Luke3

Cool-Hand Luke

April 10, 2014 · Rich Maloof

The latest model in Ernie Ball Music Man’s Steve Lukather signature series was designed to answer Lukather’s demand for an…

Crazy Tube Circuit White Whale V2

Twin Tones

July 10, 2025 · Bob Dragich

Introduced in 2017, Christos Ntaifotis’ original White Whale tremolo/reverb became one of his company’s best sellers. Its success, however, didn’t…

Popa Chubby’s Dangerous Attitude

November 23, 2023 · Vintage Guitar

NYC blues beast rips on “I Don’t Want Nobody A fixture in New York City blues joints and familiar face…

Tony Gilkyson: Country-Rocker, Punk

January 24, 2024 · Vintage Guitar

Tasty licks On A Vintage Kay An alumnus of country-rock’s Lone Justice and punk-rockers X, Tony Gilkyson plugged his vintage…

Fixing Tuner Holes in a Rare Gibson

Replacement Plague

October 14, 2021 · Dan Erlewine

I’ve worked on plenty of old Gibsons, but guitars like this 1939 J-55 are rare. It’s only the second one…

  • Carr Skylark Special 1×12

    Carr Skylark Special 1×12

    Take Flight

    Arriving a little more than 10 years after the original Skylark, Carr Amplifiers’ new Skylark Special adds versatility and enhanced tonal depths to squeeze a lot more into this diminutive…

    Read more >>

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ARTISTS

Premiere of Seth Lee Jones’ new 110 video!

April 12, 2024 · Vintage Guitar

Filmed at one of our favorite local dive bars, Tin Dog, this is “110.” I played my main guitar, a…

Debashish Bhattacharya

Subcontinental Slide

January 4, 2024 · Pete Prown

Not many musicians can claim to have invented an entire style of music, but Indian guitarist Debashish Bhattacharya is one.…

Henry Garza

Still Familia

May 20, 2025 · Ward Meeker

The music created by Los Lonely Boys – brothers Henry, Jojo, and Ringo Garza – is an amalgam resulting from…

George Ducas: Modern Honky-Tonkin’

September 3, 2024 · Vintage Guitar

Taste of “Long Way From Home” Singer/songwriter George Ducas is a Nashville traditionalist influenced by Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, and…


CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS

The Guitars of Ernst Heinrich Roth

International Influence

December 21, 2023 · Cliff Hall

Now just a sleepy town in Germany, over the last 200 years, Markneukirchen has been home to countless luthiers ranging…

Dave Murphy: Acoustic Country!

May 15, 2025 · Vintage Guitar

 Classic Ballad Style Country/folk/rock singer/guitarist Dave Murphy wrangled guitarist Chris Tarrow for this take on “Josephine,’ from Dave’s new…

Danelectro Viscount

January 11, 2016 · Dave Hunter

1961 Danelectro Viscount Preamp tubes: two 12AX7, one 6AU6 Output tubes: two 6V6GT Rectifier: 6X5 Controls: Volume, Tone, Vibrato Strength,…

Quest for Volume

Django Reinhardt's Selmer #503

April 15, 2020 · Michael Dregni

Revolutionary jazz demanded a revolutionary jazz guitar. In the summer of 1935, just as his Quintette du Hot Club de…


NEWSWIRE

APPROVED GEAR

Relic Guitars The Hague T-Style

Relic Guitars The Hague T-Style

Aged to Perfection

November 29, 2016 · Pete Prown

Relic Guitars The Hague is a Dutch builder that produces, obviously, relic’d guitars. Mostly using the archetypal Strat and Tele…

Collings CJ-45 T

Golden Child

October 12, 2022 · Michael Dregni

Every now and then, you pick up a guitar and realize you’re holding magic in your hands. Welcome to the…

Crazy Tube Circuits SPT

Greece Is The Word

January 8, 2018 · Chip Wilson

The modal mellowness of Apollo’s lyre or the perky chirp of the bouzouki might come to mind when one thinks…

Taylor 724ce

Bold And Bright

June 12, 2023 · Pete Prown

In the Hawaiian tongue, koa means “bold” and it’s an apt name for the wood known in guitardom for its…

WHAT ELSE IS NEW

Sam Bush

Radio John: Songs Of John Hartford

April 24, 2024 · Dan Forte

One of the greatest bluegrass musicians, singer and multi-instrumentalist Sam Bush – playing mandolin, fiddle, acoustic guitar, electric bass, and…

Bare Knuckle Pickups’ PAT Pend, Flat ’52, and Mule

Bruising Tones

March 24, 2014 · Tom Guerra

Bare Knuckle Pickups’ PAT Pend, Flat ’52, and Mule Price: $125-$340 Info: www.bareknucklepickups.co.uk. From the ever-expanding world of boutique pickups…

Joe Bonamassa

Royal Tea

December 9, 2021 · Oscar Jordan

It’s no secret that Joe Bonamassa has a Jones for British blues-rock. Royal Tea is Exhibit A, as it was…

VG Q&A: Parlor Mystery

Plus, a Pro’s List of Repair Glues

January 2, 2026 · Dan Erlewine

My neighbor has an old parlor guitar that he asked me to clean up after years in storage. Inside the…

Samantha Fish and Jesse Dayton

Alt-Blues Summit

February 4, 2024 · Oscar Jordan

Blues is a language of many dialects, and when regionalisms collide, sparks fly. So it has been since Texas six-stringer…

JONATHAN WILSON

Jonathan Wilson

Charlotte to Cali

March 12, 2014 · Kathleen Johnson

Jonathan Wilson is having a very good year. His Gentle Spirit CD (Bella Union), a hippie-soul drenched 80 minutes of…

Metropolitan Tanglewood

A Rare Modern Map

January 25, 2006 · Willie G. Moseley

Many guitar aficionados are aware of the instruments proffered by Houston’s Alamo Music. The Texas manufacturer has created unique low-end…

Mike Beigel

Resurrection of the Mu-Tron III

January 11, 2016 · Michael Dregni

Mike Beigel is no guitarist. But that never held him back in crafting one of the most legendary of all…

Doug Doppler

Art Appreciation, Import-Style – Doug Doppler’s Ibanez Collection

September 25, 2013 · Ward Meeker

Doug Doppler recalls how, at age five, his first swimming lesson fell on the same day as his first guitar…

Mike Vernon

July 26, 2022 · Vintage Guitar

Surf-Guitar Ace Mike Vernon Chills on “Lucky Boy” Surf-instro revivalist Mike Vernon grabbed his (semi-hollow) Gretsch Tennessee Rose (with flatwounds)…

John Hart

Mainline Florida

January 5, 2018 · John Heidt

Inspiration can come from a lot of places. For jazz guitarist John Hart, a visit to a familiar place provided…

Jim Lauderdale

December 30, 2016 · Rich Kienzle

From the beginning, four-time Grammy winner Jim Lauderdale’s masterful body of material has reflected a gifted vocalist/writer infused with country…

Have Guitar Will Travel 075 – Sam Weber

May 12, 2022 · James Patrick Regan

On Ep 75 of “Have Guitar Will Travel,” host James Patrick Regan interviews singer/songwriter Sam Weber who grew up in…

1942 Martin D-45

October 23, 2013 · George Gruhn

The Martin D-45, offered from 1933 through 1942, is well-known as the Holy Grail of acoustic guitars. While players and…

St. Blues Scoundrel

St. Blues Scoundrel

Walking the Dog

May 2, 2015 · Rich Maloof

St. Blues Scoundrel Price: $1,898 (list)/$1,349 (street) Contact: www.saintblues.com Intended as a versatile instrument for the player with a budget…

Gibson J-35

Gibson J-35

July 5, 2016 · George Gruhn

Dreadnought guitars originated as early as 1916 with instruments made by Martin and distributed by Ditson, followed in 1931 with…

John Wetton

1949-2017

March 12, 2019 · Pete Prown

Born June 12, 1949, British bassist and front man John Wetton died of colon cancer on January 31 at the…

Daniele Gottardo

Bittersweetness

September 1, 2023 · Oscar Jordan

Italian guitar virtuoso Daniele Gottardo’s latest album, Inkblot, combines the whimsy and wonder of the great early-20th-century classical composers with…

Sebastià Gris’ flavorful Two-for One

June 10, 2024 · Vintage Guitar

 Fresh from Barcelona Sebastià Gris used his Gibson SG as eye-candy to play a sample of “Clickbait,” from his…

Ray Cummins – Guitar Tutorial #9

September 13, 2022 · Ray Cummins

Ray Cummins – Guitar Tutorial #9 For his ninth exclusive lesson for VG, Ray Cummins shows how to play a…

The Audiovox 736 Electric Bass and 936 Amp

Rare Pair

August 12, 2022 · Peter Blecha

Eight decades ago, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer revealed the story of Paul H. Tutmarc debuting his latest invention – a solidbody…

The Fender Tremolux

January 29, 2024 · Dave Hunter

Most amp nuts are utterly fascinated by Fender’s rapid evolution from archaic to modern through the course of the 1950s.…

The Guitars of Ernst Heinrich Roth

International Influence

December 21, 2023 · Cliff Hall

Now just a sleepy town in Germany, over the last 200 years, Markneukirchen has been home to countless luthiers ranging…

Lincoln Goines

The Bass Choir

November 13, 2023 · Pete Prown

Check out the credits on many jazz, pop, and Latin albums over the past four decades and you’ll see the…

Matteo Mancuso

The Journey

June 19, 2024 · Oscar Jordan

When guitarists as diverse as Al Di Meola and Joe Bonamassa are singing your praises, something’s up. Sicilian guitar prodigy…

Jack Bruce

Shadows and (Erstwhile) Short-Scale Basses

April 14, 2016 · Willie G. Moseley

Veteran bassist Jack Bruce is back in action with a new album and tour. Best known for his membership in…

Leslie West

Leslie West

Hangin' With Unusual Suspects

January 17, 2014 · Ward Meeker

In deciding who to hit up to play on his new album, Unusual Suspects, Leslie West put a lot of…

'62 Les Paul Rarity

’62 Les Paul Rarity

December 21, 2015 · George Gruhn

In its early years, the Gibson Les Paul Custom evolved through several body-style and spec changes and was the earliest…

Carl Filipiak

Knack for Jimi

November 14, 2020 · John Heidt

After 20 years of play-ing and recording his blistering fusion of jazz and rock, Carl Filipiak’s latest record, I Got…