• Seymour Duncan Announces the Slash 3.0 Pickup Set

    Seymour Duncan Announces the Slash 3.0 Pickup Set

    SANTA BARBARA, January 13th, 2026 – Seymour Duncan, a leading manufacturer of guitar and bass pickups, effects pedals, and pedal amps, is proud to announce that the Slash 3.0 Pickup…

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  • Thomas Custom Guitars

    Thomas Custom Guitars

    Rarities from the Pacific Northwest

    Certain makes and models of electric guitars are rightfully prized for their elegant physical designs and superior craftsmanship. Even better are those also revered for their playability and particularly rich…

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  • Super PickupGiveaway 2025

    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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Ampeg Gemini II G-15

Ampeg Gemini II G-15

April 5, 2016 · Dave Hunter

Preamp tubes: three 12AX7, one 6CG7, one 7199. Output tubes: two 7868. Rectifier: solidstate Controls: volume, treble and bass on…

Roger Glover

Time Machine

January 14, 2025 · Bret Adams

Deep Purple’s 1972 album, Machine Head, is one of rock’s totemic monsters, especially its best-known track, “Smoke on the Water,”…

Boss MT-2 3A Metal Zone

Captain Crunch

November 10, 2022 · Pete Prown

Over the years, the Boss Metal Zone has often been lampooned for its ferocious personality. But if you plug one…

Novax Sweet Annie

Silver Anniversary

November 29, 2016 · Chip Wilson

Remember chuckling at the Rick 481 slant-fret guitar? Or wondering about those fret intervals on Joni Mitchell’s dulcimer, or the…

Gibson 1953 GA-40 Les Paul Model

Brown Sound

March 31, 2025 · Dave Hunter

Gibson landing Les Paul’s name on the headstock of its debut solidbody electric in 1952 was the biggest guitar-star endorsement…

Philip Sayce

Scorched-Earth Tones

May 9, 2019 · Oscar Jordan

Philip Sayce’s album Scorched Earth Volume 1 was a live recording from 2016 that displayed the kind of blistering blues-rock…

  • Super PickupGiveaway 2025

    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…

    Read more >>

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ARTISTS

Graham Clise

Bay Area Blaster

March 11, 2019 · Kathleen Johnson

Graham Clise is one of the most-heralded underground rock guitarists of the past 15 years. A mashup of Chuck Berry,…

Mike Morgan’s New Twist on Blues

December 12, 2022 · Vintage Guitar

Texas Native Does “Aiight”’ Texas blues singer/songwriter Mike Morgan does a solo take on “Aiight,” from his new album, “The…

Noah Zacharin: Seriously Agile Fingerstyle

February 29, 2024 · Vintage Guitar

“Lester Brown” Live From The Big Lonely From his home in a forest between Ottawa and Toronto, singer/songwriter/fingerpicker Noah Zacharin…

Mike Zito

Back to Solo Soul-Searching

March 3, 2017 · Willie G. Moseley

Following a stint of nearly four years in the Royal Southern Brotherhood, Texas-based guitarist Mike Zito is focusing on his…


CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS

Ted Nugent 1962 Gibson Byrdland

Ted Nugent’s 1962 Gibson Byrdland

November 12, 2015 · Willie G. Moseley

Anyone who’s ever caught Ted Nugent on tour has seen this instrument, and during the Summer of 2003 it was…

Yamaha Weddington Custom

A Better “Classic”

December 9, 2024 · Michael Wright

In 1987, classic American guitars like the Les Paul and Stratocaster were still going strong, with few changes since their…

Electra MPC

Standard X340

November 1, 2013 · Michael Wright

One of the more successful Japanese-made guitar brands of the 1970s was Electra, the brand name used for electric guitars…

Martin’s “12-Fret” 000-42

December 21, 2013 · George Gruhn

Martin has never been a stranger to producing certain guitars in very limited quantities. But just how rare is the…


NEWSWIRE

APPROVED GEAR

Iconix Pickups Black Mass

Michigan Metal

July 9, 2018 · Chip Wilson

Michigan may have given us the automobile production line, but Troy-based Iconix Pickups is the antithesis of an assembly line…

Zemaitis’ CAG-200HS

Heart And Soul

March 15, 2019 · Michael Dregni

The lutherie art of Tony Zemaitis resulted in some of the rarest, most admired, and most valuable of guitars. Among…

Schertler’s JAM 150

Schertler’s JAM 150

Plays Well with Others

October 21, 2015 · Rich Maloof

Schertler’s JAM150 Price: $1,249.99 (list); $999.99 (street) Info: www.schertler.com Schertler’s JAM150 is a compact combo amp capable of pulling double-duty…

Carl Martin’s Roadie Bandmate 15

Tone-Rich Traits

May 21, 2019 · Oscar Jordan

Denmark’s Carl Martin has built a following with its PlexiTone series of overdrives and effects pedals used by stars the…

WHAT ELSE IS NEW

Guthrie Trapp

Life After Dark

July 5, 2018 · John Heidt

Guthrie Trapp has spent the last couple decades in Nashville, supporting major acts in the studio and on the road.…

Albert Cummings’ creative milestone album

August 25, 2022 · Vintage Guitar

Guitarist Shines on “Ten” Albert Cummings jams like a boss on a Custom Shop Strat through a ’67 Super Reverb.…

Rick Vito – Cadillac Man

July 25, 2024 · Vintage Guitar

Rick Vito – Cadillac Man Make sure to check out Rick Vito’s latest album “Cadillac Man” available now at Blue…

The Uncanny Approach of Walter Strauss

December 27, 2022 · Vintage Guitar

Fingerstylist melds melodies, polyrhythms, and visceral picking on “Fabara” Walter Strauss shows his extraordinary technique with help from his Sexauer…

Tom Feldman Vintage Guitar magazine Video Lessons

Tom Feldmann: Son House – “Death Letter Blues” Riff

December 1, 2016 · Tom Feldmann

Using his concert-sized 1930s Stella Decalcomania with mother-of-toilet-seat (MOTS) fretboard, Tom Feldmann shows you how to play the main riff…

Greta Van Fleet

The Battle at Garden’s Gate

January 24, 2022 · Oscar Jordan

Surviving the slings and arrows of Led Zeppelin comparisons, a world tour, and Grammy win, Greta Van Fleet’s second LP…

Jerry Douglas

Resophonic Resonance

September 5, 2025 · Oscar Jordan

Dobro master Jerry Douglas’ first solo album in seven years, The Set mixes old and new compositions painting gorgeous rural…

Luther Dickinson

Luther Dickinson

Acoustic Odyssey

December 9, 2013 · Oscar Jordan

When Luther Dickinson isn’t writing and performing with the North Mississippi Allstars or on the road with The Black Crowes,…

Warren Haynes

G-Mule Shout!

February 27, 2015 · Ward Meeker

Gov’t Mule’s blues-based rock has never followed a formula, opting instead for an improvisational modus operandi that gives its music…

Ray Benson

Swing Ambassador: 50 Years of Asleep at the Wheel

April 6, 2022 · Rich Kienzle

“Why are you all playin’ that modern music?” Asleep at the Wheel guitarist Ray Benson fielded the question from Harry,…

In Memoriam: Tom Verlaine

February 9, 2024 · Ward Meeker

Tom Verlaine, co-founder of the influential garage/new-wave band Television, died January 28. He was 73 and passed after a battle…

Friedman Motor City Drive & Fuzz Fiend

Sonic Rapture

April 26, 2019 · Oscar Jordan

An innovative designer, builder, and repairman, Dave Friedman has worked with some of the biggest names in the music industry,…

Mick Abrahams

This Was (And Still Is…)

November 30, 2016 · Willie G. Moseley

British guitarist Mick Abrahams is best remembered for his work on Jethro Tull’s first album, This Was, followed by a…

The Rivolta Combinata Bass VII

Euro Flash

July 18, 2022 · Pete Prown

Rivolta’s Combinata VII bass takes ideas from Rickenbacker, Höfner, and various European builders lost to history and wraps them into…

Lovepedal Purple Plexi

Glory & Overtones

February 9, 2023 · Oscar Jordan

Fans of guitarists with superb tones routinely spot Lovepedal boxes on pedalboards in almost every music genre. From their early…

Setting Up Effects

Certain Guidelines Apply to a Signal Chain, But Your Ears Are the Ultimate Judge

June 2, 2015 · Lisa Sharken

One question frequently asked by guitar players is how to set up effects and arrange them in a 
proper signal…

Martin D-28 and D-45

Definitive Flat-tops

April 4, 2018 · George Gruhn

Martin’s pre-WWII dreadnought guitars set the standard for the modern flat-top, and thus both have been inducted into the VG…

Paul McCartney & Wings

Band on the Run 50th Anniversary

January 9, 2025 · Pete Prown

McCartney’s 1973 classic is a post-Beatles favorite for its title cut (a #1 U.S. single) and rockin’ singles “Jet” and…

Dave Amato

Collect 'Em and Smile

June 30, 2020 · Willie G. Moseley

This year marks Boston-born Dave Amato’s 19th annum with REO Speedwagon. The guitarist moved to California in 1980 and became…

Dumble Overdrive Special OD150 WR

March 6, 2019 · Dave Hunter

Alexander Dumble’s creations were already established as legendary when we probed our first example in this space back in May…

Joe Osborn photo: Ed Hirsch.

Joe Osborn

A Few (Hundred) Hits

July 8, 2004 · Vintage Guitar

Ed. Note: Joe passed away December 14th, 2018, he was 81. Joe Osborn. His face has never been on a…

Maxon Fuzz Elements Pedals

Maxon Fuzz Elements Pedals

Elemental Fuzz

April 28, 2016 · Michael Dregni

Maxon Fuzz Elements Pedals Price: $189 to $199 Contact: www.maxonfx.com Classic fuzz pedals are some of the fine wines of…

GIBSON F-7 1934

1934 Gibson F-7

January 12, 2015 · George Gruhn

Prior to Gibson’s innovations, mandolins were bowl-back instruments with a lute-like back usually constructed with rosewood or maple back ribs…

Classics: October 2022

Eddie Quinn’s Gibson L-5

June 14, 2023 · Ward Meeker

Had you been a music-loving resident of Bogalusa, Louisiana, at the height of the jazz age, you would’ve caught wind…

Hilary Gardner

On The Trail with The Lonesome Pines

May 2, 2025 · Dan Forte

Vocalist Gardner explores the association between jazz and country, the Great American Songbook, and cowboy movie stars. Similar territory was…

Michael Sweet

Frontman, Shredder

December 3, 2013 · Oscar Jordan

The yellow-and-black attack of the Christian-metal band Stryper has returned. The band’s new album, Second Coming, helps mark 30 years…

“Monster” Mike Welch

May 16, 2023 · Vintage Guitar

 “Monster” Mike Welch digs deep on “Walking to You Baby” “I was thinking about my late friend, Luther ‘Guitar…

UAFX Galaxy ’74 Tape Echo & Reverb

Space, Man

June 26, 2024 · Pete Prown

The original Roland Space Echo was a thing of sonic beauty, used by everyone from Brian Setzer to Bob Marley…

Justin Johnsoné

The Biscuit House

January 9, 2025 · Dan Forte

His online videos are hard to cruise past. There’s his wide stylistic range, but also the guitars he built out…