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2025 December Issue on Spotify
This month, we feature Rick Derringer, Kid Ramos, Booker T and The M.G.’s, Steve Stevens, Phil Manzanera, Doug Aldrich, Kenny Burrell, Eric Johanson, Gary Moore, and more! Spotify is free…
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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…

Pop ’N Hiss: King Crimson’s Red
Commendable Coda
In the late ’60s, a new style of rock emerged in Britain, influenced by classical music and fronted by bands…
Gibson’s 1941 SJ-100
Second Coming
Gibson 1941 SJ-100 Price: $3,868 (list)/$2,999 (street) Info: www.gibson.com Sporting a unique “stair step” headstock, the first Gibson SJ-100s began…

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…

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…

Jane Getter
Jazz-Rock Premonitions
Jane Getter’s Anomalia is a mostly instrumental album that traverses the hypnotic seas of jazz-rock, with lyrics. A fusion of…

Written In Their Soul: The Stax Songwriter Demos
Various artists
You may think you know Stax, but this seven-CD set of 146 tracks (140 never before released) proves again how…
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Paul Johnson
The Hepcats Live at the Ajax Novelty Company
This isn’t live, there may not be an Ajax Novelty Company, and the three felines known as the Hepcats are actually the brainchild of Paul Johnson, whose Belairs were early-’60s…
ARTISTS

Stanley Clarke
Godfather of Bass
Despite being widely credited for pushing the electric bass past its status as a rear-of-the-stage device intended to simply help…

Sheryl Bailey
New Ground in The SBQ
Sheryl Bailey has enjoyed a steady upward trajectory since her career launched 20 years ago. One of the leading proponents…

Adam Hawley’s Joyous Jazz
Adam lays it down on “Escape” Jazz hitmaker Adam Hawley, who has backed Jennifer Lopez, Natalie Cole, and played in…

Richie Kotzen
Venn Master
If a Venn diagram reveals a surprising truth between overlapping concepts, Richie Kotzen is the Venn core of heavy rock,…
CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS

The Rickenbacker B14A
Silver Service
For most guitarists today, glimpsing a vintage Rickenbacker combo elicits a response like, “Wait… Rickenbacker made amps?” But remember,…

The Dallas Rangemaster
Eric Clapton christened it “woman tone.” On the famed 1966 “Beano” album, John Mayall’s Blues Breakers With Eric Clapton, the…

Fender Palomino
Whether all collectors are as attached to nicknames as guitar enthusiasts is unclear. Do salt-and-pepper shaker collectors have fond shortcuts…
1933 Gibson L-5 “Special”
Though many collectors focus on instruments in fine original condition, every so often one emerges that, regardless of condition, is…
NEWSWIRE
APPROVED GEAR
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Lively Drives
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Posh Squash
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Chet Powered!

The Hi-Tone HT30/JP 15
Living Loving Gain
While many have tried via transistor trickery to replicate the tone of Jimmy Page’s Hiwatt at Led Zeppelin’s legendary January…

JHS Pink Panther
Diamond Delay
To mark the 10th anniversary of its original Pink Panther delay, JHS has created an updated edition that packs a…

Holbrook TS50 Tommy Skeoch Head
More Than Modded
After Kevin Holbrook and rock guitarist Tommy Skeoch began working on a custom amp, the former took several trips to…

Supro Super 1606 and Reverb 1605R
Little Amps That Could
In guitardom, players far too often believe there is nothing more sonically pleasing than a tall stack. Yet, plenty of…
WHAT ELSE IS NEW
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Plus, a Pro’s List of Repair Glues
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Rising Tides

The BBE Soul Vibe
Taking Soul to New Levels
The original Shin-Ei Uni-vibe became hugely famous after Jimi Hendrix used it with Band of Gypsys (and at Woodstock). Later…

Hints of Benson and Martino – Eric Zolan plays “D.D.L.O.D.”
NYC Jazzer Brings Tasty Jazz/Blues/R&B Confection Guitarist Eric Zolan knows jazz guitar has been cool, and his new album, “Calder’s…

Ibanez PN1-NT
Parlor for Pennies
In recent years, the parlor guitar has exploded into popularity, reviving a 19th century instrument that was, as its name…

1968 Fender Vibrolux Reverb
Silver Serenade
Amplifier collectors swarm to models with descriptors like “first year” and “golden age,” but other types can be far more…














































