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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…
J.D. Simo
Tele-Free Trio
J.D. Simo moved to Nashville seven years ago and quickly landed in the coveted hot spot as the lead guitarist…
GJ2 Arete 5-Star
Monster of Rock
Bergen Guitars ST and TL Price: $3,999 Info: www.gj2guitars.com. Grover Jackson is a name forever associated with classic metal and…
Gamechanger Light Pedal
Spring Thing
All-analog and made with a genuine spring tank, Gamechanger Audio’s Light Pedal adds a wrinkle to the reverb equation in…
1978 Dean Z
The mid 1970s were a turbulent time in guitar history. The American guitar establishment – at least Gibson and Fender…
The Pinecaster: Early Electric Guitars 1920-1955
Nacho Baños and Lynn Wheelwright
Four volumes, 960 pages, more than 1,000 photos and historical documents – The Pinecaster is heavier than the heaviest 1958…
Greg Lake
Recalling the Music
Bassist/vocalist/songwriter Greg Lake came to notice in 1969 as member of King Crimson and his membership in Emerson, Lake and…
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Rickenbacker’s Electric 12-Strings
Double-bound for Glory
George Beauchamp and Adolph Rickenbacher founded Electro String in 1931 to manufacture what everyone would soon call “Rickenbacker” guitars. Success came early and their lap steels set standards of quality,…
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ARTISTS
Have Guitar Will Travel – 029 Featuring Greg Koch
Episode 29 of James Patrick Regan’s “Have Guitar Will Travel” podcast features “The Gristlemaster,” Greg Koch, who talks about his…
Jenny Boyd
Searching For The Source
Dr. Jenny Boyd is founder and director of Spring Workshops, “organizing psychotherapeutic groups for people in need of personal development.”…
Tommy Allsup
1931-2017 From Buddy Holly to Bob Wills
No article on the late Tommy Allsup would be complete without the story of an unsuccessful coin flip saving his…
Pop ’N Hiss: The Rolling Stones’ Black and Blue
Groove-Heavy
By the mid ’70s, rock and roll had matured into a big business, with top acts including Led Zeppelin, The…
CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS
Classics: October 2023
Michael Bloomfield 1963 Fender Stratocaster
Antonio Mazzara’s passion for music started at age 10, when he started playing a nylon-string classical guitar before moving up…
MXR Custom Shop GT-OD Overdrive
Snappy and Smooth
From its early days with the script-logo Distortion + to the modern Zack Wlyde overdrive, MXR has been a mainstay…
Tom Petersson’s Gretsch 12-string Basses
Tricked-Out Trio
Cheap Trick fans are aware of his contribution to the band’s songs, but few know he actually invented the 12-string…
Orville Gibson A model
All carved-top guitars and mandolins trace their ancestry back to Orville Gibson of Kalamazoo, Michigan. However, as this A model…
NEWSWIRE
APPROVED GEAR
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Live Wire
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Narrow(field) Win
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Take Flight
Crucial Audio WahVelope
Tube Funk
Crucial Audio makes high-end tube pedals and studio gear at its shop in southern Delaware. Its latest, the WahVelope, is…
Music Nomad Precision Setup Gauge Set
The Set Up
There’s nothing like playing a properly set-up guitar, but taking it to a repair shop can be expensive – especially…
Budda Verbmaster 112
Versatile 18-Watter
Budda Verbmaster 112 Price: $1,800 (street) Contact: budda.com As part of its Hand-Wired series, Budda has reissued the tube-rectified Verbmaster…
Henriksen Amplifiers’ The Blu
Sound Cube
One old cliché among gigging musicians is, “They pay me for the aggravation, the music is free.” A good deal…
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More Personal
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Rare Pioneer
Geddy Lee
Geddy Lee’s Big Beautiful Book of Bass: A Compendium of the Rare, Iconic, and Weird
Nearly two years in the making, Geddy Lee’s Big Beautiful Book of Bass: A Compendium of the Rare, Iconic, and…
Jimmy “Duck” Holmes
Mississippi Blues Holdout
The unique and insular Bentonia style may be the deepest and darkest of all blues. Skip James personified the music:…
Freddie Krc gets “Dandy” on a ’64 SJ
FTop-Flight Tune by Texas Stalwart You can’t blame Freddie Krc for loving his ’64 Southern Jumbo, which he’s using here…
The MXR M234 Analog Chorus and M87 Bass Compressor
Opposite Ends
MXR M87 Bass Comp and M234 Analog Chorus Price: $318 (M87 Bass Compressor), $170 (M234 Analog Chorus). Info: jimdunlop.com For…
