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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…

In Memoriam: Lasse Wellander
Lasse Wellander, longtime guitarist in ABBA and a renowned studio and solo musician, died April 7. He was 70 and…

Lost Planet Airmen
Back from the Ozone
Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen were true country-rock and Americana pioneers. Their unique, uncompromising brew of rockabilly, R&B,…

’66 Epiphone Casino
In the Epiphone line of the 1960s, the Casino occupied middle ground. In appearance as well as electronics it ranked…

Return Of The Prodigy
Michael Schenker
Michael Schenker is back with an album covering the music of his early days. My Years With UFO is a…

Walter Strauss
Right-Hand Man
West Coast fingerstylist Walter Strauss has a remarkable picking technique – powerful and surprisingly percussive – as heard on his…

Boggs’ Quad
Four-neck Fender From a Friend
Noted in musical history as one of the players who pushed the steel guitar beyond Hawaiian music to more-complex chording…
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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,…
ARTISTS

John Abercrombie
1944-2017
After a lengthy illness, jazz guitarist John Abercrombie died August 22 at a hospital outside Peekskill, New York. He was…

Brad Paisley
Keep Pushing Play
Ten years into what has become a stellar career, when Brad Paisley hits your town to play a show these…

John Oates
Rhythm-Minded
From 1975 through ’85, John Oates and Daryl Hall created a trove of era-defining R&B-influenced pop/rock hits on the way…

Fretprints: John Abercrombie
Modern-Jazz Innovator
John Abercrombie operated in four dimensions. A guitarist of unbounded breadth and depth, he redefined space in long, improvised flights…
CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS

The Airline GIM 9151A
After The Fall
1970 Montgomery Ward Airline GIM 9151A Preamp tubes: three 12AX7 Output tubes: four 6L6GC Rectifier: solid-state Controls: Volume, Treble, Bass…

Classics: September 2022
Danny Gatton’s ES-295
Glenn Holley was just five years old when he became infatuated with the sound of rockabilly music thanks to Elvis…

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…

Chordal Colorations
Iconic Axes of Different Hues
Though their colors are complementary, Brian May’s Red Special and Brian Setzer’s ’59 Gretsch 6120 couldn’t be more different in…
NEWSWIRE
APPROVED GEAR
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Live Wire
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Narrow(field) Win
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Take Flight

Metal Pedals JH-3
Swiss-Army Distortion
Metal Pedals JH-3 Price: $235 (list) Contact: www.metalpedals.com Like a Swiss Army knife, the multifunction Metal Pedals JH-3 Johnny Hiland…

Big Knob Pedals
What’s in a Name?
Big Knob Pedals Price: Tube 808, $139; Echo Flex, $149; Vibe Tone, $159; Octavius, $129 (all list) Contact: www.bigknobpedals.com Gary…

Reverend Sensei H90
Live Wire
So you want a Gibson-style solidbody that can cover humbucker-powered rock, yet also twangier/glassier tones using a P-90 pickup. Check.…

National Dueco
Still Resonating
Blues man Charlie Parr recently philosophized in VG that National resonator guitars are as much mechanical creation as musical instrument,…
WHAT ELSE IS NEW
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More Personal
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Rare Pioneer

Adrian Legg
The Wizard of Strings
Aside from witty asides on social issues, natural disasters, and Renaissance history, Adrian Legg’s formidable fingerstyle and deep musicality remain…

Fire-Eye Red-Eye Twin DI
Double Your Pleasure
In a simple system, even a basic direct-input box with little in the way of adjustments will work fine. But…

1976 Hagstrom Jimmy
In the world of archtop guitarmaking, the legendary luthier James L. D’Aquisto (1935-’95) is considered one of the greats. A…

Pat Rush
Johnny, James, Et Al
If the name “Pat Rush” doesn’t immediately ring a bell, the names of people he’s played with – Muddy Waters,…













































