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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…
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Dan Hawkins
Toast of the Town
When The Darkness roared out of England with its 2003 debut Permission to Land and the hit “I Believe in a Thing Called Love,” the music world was slapped across…
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NEWSWIRE
ARTISTS
Beat Portraits: Burns Volume 2
The Black Bison Leads the Herd
In early 2009, VG columnist Peter Stuart Kohman turned his focus on Burns, the pioneering British guitar builder. We’ve compiled…
Britt Daniel
Spoonful of Sounds
If the Beatles were still around, chances are they’d be checking out Spoon. Like the Fab Four, the group revels…
The Reverend Horton Heat
Bringin' it home for a <I>Revival</I>
Photo courtesy of Yep Roc Records. After two decades of constant touring, Jim Heath decided it was time to go…
In Memoriam: John Teagle
Guitarist, historian, and author John Teagle passed away March 26 in New York at age 66 after battling cancer. Teagle…
CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS
Six-String Kicks
Wood from Famed Bowling Alley Set to Sing
Few things scratch America’s cumulative itch for nostalgia like Route 66 – the famed wagon-trail-cum-highway that offered passage to those…
Gibson’s “SG” Les Paul
Classic Shape That Filled Big Shoes
In 1961, Gibson replaced the single-cutaway Les Paul with a new line of lighter, thinner, mahogany double-cut solidbodies. Developed under…
Paul Bigsby’s Myrtlewood Guitars
= Few things are as satisfying as a guitar with a good story to tell. Some vintage guitars might be…
Gibson Mark 53
1978 Gibson Mark 53. Photo: Michael Wright. Part of the fallout from the guitar boom of the 1960s was an…
APPROVED GEAR
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Lively Drives
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Posh Squash
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Chet Powered!
The ASIA Symposium
Kinship and Connections
As much a celebration of kinship as it is an educational forum, the biannual Association of Stringed Instrument Artisans (ASIA)…
Fishman AFX Pedals
Tiny Tools
The shrinkologists at Fishman recently introduced a line of mini AFX pedals that do many jobs in an acoustic/electric guitar…
Amptweaker’s TightDrive Jr
Big Surprise, Small Package
You may remember James Brown as the mastermind at Peavey Electronics and Kustom Amplification. In addition to being the brains…
Ernie Ball Earthwood
A Big ABG
Way before “unplugged” became a popular way to play music and fretted acoustic bass guitar (ABG) models began appearing from…
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Tommy Castro
Circling Back
In a career spanning four decades, Tommy Castro has crafted a commendable catalog and built a devout following with his soul-infused music, informed by the blues, R&B, pop, and rock and delivered with conviction. Beloved for his guitar work and vocal style, he has carved his own niche. Born and raised in San Jose, California,…
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Classics: Tommy Castro’s ’66 Fender Stratocaster
Tommy Castro has never been much for sitting with a guitar teacher, preferring instead to rely on good ol’ time in the saddle to hone his craft. But this 1966 Stratocaster has taught him a couple lessons. The guitar entered Castro’s universe in the hands of San Francisco music legend John Newton – known on…
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Classics: Arena-Rock Alternative Amps
Mad Maxed
As rock started hitting the big time in the mid ’60s, it became clear to guitar-amplifier manufacturers that 100 watts or more was the way to go. The best approach to big power, however, would follow several paths. The stories of the high-powered amps introduced by Fender, Marshall, and Vox through the ’60s have been…
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Vivi-Tone “Skeleton
A Master’s Magnificent Misfire
The eternal question “Who invented the electric guitar?” has no single answer. By the late 1920s, many players, tinkerers, and inventors were exploring ways to get more volume from fretted instruments. Steel-string flat-tops from Martin, f-hole archtops from Gibson, and metal-bodied resonators from National were louder than their predecessors, but ran up against physical limits.…
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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 per customer, any double entries will be automatically disqualified. See previous winners!! *ELIGIBILITY. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED OR RESTRICTED BY LAW. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY.One entry per…
