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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…

Lost Planet Airmen
Back from the Ozone
Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen were true country-rock and Americana pioneers. Their unique, uncompromising brew of rockabilly, R&B,…

The D’Angelico Excel 59
Hybrid Hotshot
Some might see it as a Frankenstein’s monster, while others will view it as the best of all worlds. The…

Kentucky Colonels
1966
Clarence White is best known as the B-bendin’ Telecaster pioneer with the Byrds – and his tragic 1973 death. But…

Gibson’s Depression-Era Exports
Many aren’t aware that some of the archtop guitars Gibson produced during the Depression were marketed under different brand names,…

1988 Guild Liberator Elite
Every once in awhile you find a guitar that’s almost too beautiful to play. It’s just enough to sit there…

Peerless Retromatic
Modern Vintage
Peerless Retromatic Price: $1,699 Info: www.peerlessguitars.eu While many new guitars of the last decade have touted authentic (or semi-authentic) “retro”…
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Reverend Sensei H90
Live Wire
So you want a Gibson-style solidbody that can cover humbucker-powered rock, yet also twangier/glassier tones using a P-90 pickup. Check. You also want to grab high frets via double-cutaway and…
ARTISTS

Rik Emmett
Triumphant Return
Triumph was one of the leading arena-rock acts of the late ’70s and early ’80s. Striking gold and platinum with…

Alex Masi
Danger Zone
Grammy-nominated guitarist Alex Masi has been maneuvering his way through the shark-infested waters of the music industry since the 1980s.…
Tyler Morris – Eleanor Rigby
In this series, Tyler Morris will perform music that inspires him, in a laid-back context using just a guitar and…

Belfast Bluesman Dom Martin
Gallagher, Buchanan Inspiration! Dom Martin grew up listening to blues-guitar legends including his Irish countryman Rory Gallagher, and has created…
CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS

The Voxmobile
Too Fast to Live, Too Cool to Die
Free love, slick guitars, hot cars! Few pieces of late-’60s pop culture were anywhere near as hip and groovy as…

Custom-Color Stratocasters
The Stratocaster was born in 1954. A solidbody with three pickups, contoured back and top, vibrato, and bolt-on neck, it…

The Gibson Starfire TR 1000 RVT
Trans-Galactic Toneway
Relatively unsung among early entrants to the field of solid-state guitar amplifiers, Gibson was the first high-output, high-quality manufacturer to…

Dan’s Guitar RX: Rock-And-Roll High School(er)
Building a From-Scratch Class Project, the Conclusion
In my November ’22 column, Ceil Thompson’s class-project guitar was nearing completion – the lacquer coats were applied and, after…
NEWSWIRE
APPROVED GEAR
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Live Wire
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Narrow(field) Win
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Take Flight

Metal Pedals JH-3
Swiss-Army Distortion
Metal Pedals JH-3 Price: $235 (list) Contact: www.metalpedals.com Like a Swiss Army knife, the multifunction Metal Pedals JH-3 Johnny Hiland…

Fender Acoustic Pro and Acoustic SFX
Curved Air
Fender has been making acoustic guitar amps for decades – now they’re reinventing the genre, and their designers deserve a…

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…

Fishman’s Aura Spectrum DI, ToneDEQ
Potent Preamps
Unlike most electric guitarists, acoustic-electric pickers tend to worry about preamps. A lot. This front stage is critical because acoustic…
WHAT ELSE IS NEW
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Consentrik Quartet
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Lookout Highway

Two Tickets to the Top
Keeley Electronics’ Katana and Flexi 4×2
Any gearhead who’s been paying attention the last seven years knows the name Robert Keeley. Since 2001, he and his…
Brian Setzer
What a Dude Does
You can’t keep an iconic rocker down. Brian Setzer’s The Devil Always Collects is his first album in more than…

Gibson Wall-Board Guitar
Out of the Woods, Off the Wall
In the world of “guitarcheology,” it’s well-documented that the truly interesting stuff – prototypes, one-offs, custom instruments – usually surface…

GA-20 blends R&B, Blues, Hendrix, and much more
VG Exclusive “Dry Run” GA-20 blends influences from Hendrix to the guitar Kings to East Coast Family cassettes. Here, Matt…











































