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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…
Stroger lays it down on “Bob’s Back in Town”
Chicago Blues Mainstay and His Legendary Bass Enjoy as Chicago mainstay bassist Bob Stroger uses his 1960 Jazz Bass (with…
Michael Schenker
Temple Of Rock
Michael Schenker has had the kind of stormy past that could give Keith Richards a run for his money. He…
Outlaws
Rising Tides
By the mid ’70s, Southern rock emerged as one of the most-exciting and successful genres in pop music, thanks to…
Del Casher
“Papa of the Wah-Wah” Marks Its 50 Years
The wah pedal is one of the most widely used effects in popular music, employed by artists playing rock, blues,…
Custom VG Backgrounds
Time to give your computer, tablet, or phone a new look? VG offers different classic images, each downloadable in a…
Cash Box Kings
Oscar’s Motel
For two decades, the Cash Box Kings have stood apart from the multitudes of “blues bands” that focus on bar-band…
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Carr Skylark Special 1×12
Take Flight
Arriving a little more than 10 years after the original Skylark, Carr Amplifiers’ new Skylark Special adds versatility and enhanced tonal depths to squeeze a lot more into this diminutive…
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ARTISTS
Marc Bonilla
Servant Of The Music
On March 11, 2016, keyboardist Keith Emerson took his own life. He was 71 and left a legacy of groundbreaking…
Bob Seger and the Borneo Band
Lakeview High School, St. Clair Shores, Michigan, April ’73
If you were a Detroit kid in the 1960s, it was impossible to cruise Woodward Avenue and not hear a…
George Kilby, Jr.
The Succinct Approach
George Kilby, Jr.’s Six Pack is, he says, a “collection of singles” rather than an EP or album. Kilby graduated…
Steve Winwood
Voice of a Guitar Great
It would seem contradictory to describe someone as both underrated and a virtuoso, but such is the case with Steve…
CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS
Gibson Custom Colors in the 1960s
Burning Embers, Chilled Whites
Unlike its rival from the West Coast, Gibson did not readily embrace the concept of offering custom-color finishes. It wasn’t…
Marcus King
Swamp Guide
Marcus King is a guitar slingin’ powerhouse barnstormer. Unlike most contemporary pop music – heavy on production, low on everything…
Gibson’s Fabulous Florentines
Archtop Elite
The image of Elvis Presley on his 1968 NBC “comeback special” was, in a word, badass. Dressed in black leather…
Gibson’s First Reissue Les Pauls
On the Road to ’59
Strings and Things Les Paul Many articles have been written about how guitarists and dealers in the mid/late 1970s and…
NEWSWIRE
APPROVED GEAR
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Live Wire
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Narrow(field) Win
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Take Flight
Worland Prairie
Built For Speed
Worland Prairie Price: $1,950 Info: www.worlandguitars.com. It’s been well-documented how car-crazy vets and teens in postwar America reimagined the American…
Roland Micro Cube
Mighty Mouse
Roland Micro Cube Price: $130 (street) Info: www.rolandus.com. Every once in a while you have to pinch yourself and thank…
PRS Swamp Ash Special SE
Bolt-On Beauty
Known historically for its set-neck guitars, PRS has produced a number of killer bolt-ons, like the CE and Silver Sky.…
The Taylor 712e
Naturally Bold
Taylor Guitars recently redesigned their 700 Series, to add performance bracing, two-piece maple/spruce bridge plate, protein (hide) glue on bridge…
WHAT ELSE IS NEW
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And an Archtop Mystery
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Supergroup Alpha
“Buy That Guitar” podcast with special guest Neal Shelton
“Buy That Guitar” podcast with special guest Neal Shelton Season 01 Episode 06 In Episode 6 of “Buy That Guitar”…
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…
Dr Z Octal Six 1×12 combo
Valve Variation
Classic guitar amplifiers have made certain vacuum tubes household names (among gearheads) – 12AX7, 12AT7, 6L6, 6V6, EL84, and EL34.…
The Xaviere XV-JT90 and XV-585
Planks for Pennies
Xaviere is a company that imports its guitars from China, sets them up in its Massachusetts shop, then sells direct.…
