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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
Rodney Crowell
Ditchin' the "Country" Connotation
In this modern world, most of us will have at least two major careers by the time we’re 40. Rodney…
Geezer Butler
Sab Aside
Known for holding down the low-end for Black Sabbath, Terence “Geezer” Butler is usually busy with his band GZR whenever…
Robert Cray
Four Nights Of 40 Years
Five-time Grammy winner Robert Cray has always played serious blues. But, early on, he sidestepped a genre that would descend…
Kenny Burrell
Playing It, Meaning It, Living It
Few can claim the title of living legend. Kenny Burrell is just such a person. In fact he’s more –…
CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS
1973 Hayman 3030H
If England has a Leo Fender, his name is James Ormston Burns. Like Fender, Burns was a seminal influence on…
Gibson Humbucker
Crunchy, Clean Dirt
Gibson and Fender may be the longstanding heavyweight rivals of the electric guitar game, but they have one very important…
Sixty Years of Tele-Kinetic Guitar Heroes
Flying Saucers! Tail Fins! Robots!
Taking a cue from the burgeoning world of television, in 1951, Leo Fender married the name “Telecaster” to his new…
Bigsby Merle Travis Electric Guitar
In it's original configuration
Longtime vintage guitar enthusiasts are probably familiar with one of the icons of solidbody electric guitars – the late 1940s…
APPROVED GEAR
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Lively Drives
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Posh Squash
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Chet Powered!
Gallagher Bluegrass Bell
Ready, Set, Ring
Pickers sure love to talk about their guitars, and more than a few will enthusiastically tell you about their favorite…
PRS P22
Split Personality
PRS P22 Price: $6,092 (as tested, retail), $3630 (street) Info: prsguitars.com. While PRS has for several years offered a piezo…
Martin D-13E Ziricote
Contemporary Cannon
From the time the first self-branded models shipped from Nazareth, Pennsylvania, in the early 1930s, the Martin dreadnought has been…
Trussart Steel
Classic Designs, Never Before Seen
James Trussart is a luthier who recently moved his headquarters from Paris to Los Angeles. A guitar builder since 1980,…
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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…
