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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 Dawson
Channeling Sol Hoopii in “Singin’ the Blues” Steve Dawson used his unplugged Celtic Cross Weissenborn model lap steel and…
Davy Knowles
Manx Bluesman
The Isle Of Man, which sits in the middle of the Irish Sea, measures 15 by 30 miles. The…
Tone Electronix Animalizzer
Fuzz Feast
At first glance, Tone Electonix’s Animalizzer might appear to be a Big-Muff-style fuzz with too many knobs. A closer look…
Premier Twin 12
Sometimes it takes just the slightest aesthetic twist to get an amp nut all worked up. This 1960 Premier Twin…
Peekamoose Model 3
Modern Retro
There’s no shortage of cool, retro-looking solidbodies on the market today, from the big guys as well as the increasing…
ZT Extortion Expressive Distortion
Mutant Distortion
ZT Amplifiers put their name on the map four years ago with the compact Lunchbox solid-state amp. Now they continue…
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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
Buddy Guy
Keeping the Blues Alive and Definitely Kicking
It was February 21, 2012. As part of the White House’s music series, “Red, White & Blues” featured a cavalcade…
Phil Chen
1946-2021
His business card read “Phil Chen De Bassman,” and his picks had “OD” after his name, standing for the Order…
Johnny Moeller and Mike Keller
Two for T(-Birds)
Every fan of blues music is familiar with the Fabulous Thunderbirds. Founded in 1974 by two guys who would go…
Tagore Grey
British Steel
If you’ve been starving for good old-fashioned hard rock, the Treatment has your number. The British band has been building…
CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS
30 Most Valuable Guitars
To mark VG’s 30th anniversary, we dig into the 30 most-valuable production guitars.
Paul Bigsby’s Myrtlewood Guitars
= Few things are as satisfying as a guitar with a good story to tell. Some vintage guitars might be…
The Mesa/Boogie Mark IIC+
Early Mesa/Boogie Mark Series amps were something of a sensation, but even with the line now having stretched all the…
Jim Lauderdale’s honkey-tonk toe-dip
Singer/Songwriter’s Stylistic Twist Jim Lauderdale paid a visit to one of his favorite Nashville hangs and grabbed a gorgeous 1940…
NEWSWIRE
APPROVED GEAR
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Live Wire
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Narrow(field) Win
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Take Flight
M&V Guitars and Pickups Atlas Large-Pole Precision Bass Pickups
Big Bottom
M&V Guitars and Pickups Atlas P Bass-Style Pickups Price: $75 Info: www.mvguitars.com. Let’s face it – when it comes to…
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…
Radial Headload Guitar Amp Load Box
Taming a Shrew
As low-power amps gain in popularity, one wonders what will happen to all the 50- and 100-watt amps starting to…
API Audio TranZformer GT and LX
Stripped Down
Automated Processing Inc. (API) is best-known for its high-end mixing consoles for broadcast and recording, along with the mic preamps,…
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More Personal
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Rare Pioneer
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…
Rivet ’63/’64 Pickup Set
Pole Position
Rivet Pickups founder David Petschulat made the first locking vibrato with fine tuners for the EVH company, and worked stints…
George Cotsirilos – Jazz Sans Cliché
Deft work on an L-5 for “The Three Doves” George Cotsirilos grew up listening to Bloomfield, Hendrix, and Clapton, then…
Bill Nelson
Brit-Guitar Deluxe
Bill Nelson is one of the unsung heroes of British rock guitar. From his ’70s work with Be Bop Deluxe…
