-
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…
Freddie King’s Gibson ES-345 Keeps on Playin’
Family Ties
Watching her baby boy become rapt whenever his grandma played country blues on her guitar, Ella May King had a…
McElroy OM Model
OM, Gee!
McElroy OM Model Price: $7,500 (base; $8,500 as reviewed) Info: www.mcelroyguitars.com. Brent McElroy is a Seattle luthier specializing in high-quality…
Kevn Kinney
Small 'N Happy
As any fan of Drivin ’N Cryin can attest, Kevn Kinney at his creative best surrenders little to the greatest…
Gibson GA-83S Stereo-Vib
If you hung around the audio world’s collective R&D room long enough in the late 1950s and early ’60s, you’d…
Carlos Santana
Musical Outreach
Carlos Santana’s creative drive is obsessive, restless – and relentless. For his latest album, Blessings and Miracles, he pooled the…
Guild F-512
Iconic ’70s 12-String
Today, players typically equate the 12-string acoustic with Taylor and Martin. For its part, though, Guild’s F-512 remains one of…
-
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,…
NOW AVAILABLE!
CURRENT ISSUE
Join 25,700+ subscribers & be notified when new articles & more becomes available!
ARTISTS
Leon Rhodes
Country-Jazz Genius, Terrific Texas Troubadour
Leon Rhodes 1932-2017 We are saddened to hear of the passing of guitar legend Leon Rhodes, one of the most-beloved…
Stephen Ulrich
Film Noir Guitar
The instrumental music of Big Lazy echoes of Hollywood soundtracks – scores from gritty detective flicks, suspenseful prison breakouts, and…
Moeller, Moore, and Dayton serve up a Texas jam
Texas Headhunters gonna getcha! Johnny Moeller and his buds in the Texas Headhunters gathered to jam a bit on “The…
Bobby “Blue” Bland
The Guitarists of Blues’ Crown Prince
On June 23 of last year, the blues lost one of its greatest singers with the death of Bobby “Blue”…
CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS
Jay Geils
Blues and Archtops
If you grew up listening to music in the ’70s, you probably associate the name J. Geils with a five-piece…
Paul Bigsby’s Myrtlewood Guitars
= Few things are as satisfying as a guitar with a good story to tell. Some vintage guitars might be…
Premier Twin 12
Sometimes it takes just the slightest aesthetic twist to get an amp nut all worked up. This 1960 Premier Twin…
Fender Coronado XII Wildwood
Instrument Profile
Sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Yea, baby! Okay, to be honest, there’s no real evidence that this 1967 Fender…
NEWSWIRE
APPROVED GEAR
-
Live Wire
-
Narrow(field) Win
-
Take Flight
Guitar Tone Company’s Bloody Finger
Rugged Facelift
While honing his ears at Greene Street Recording Studio in New York, David Harrington was inspired to build studio-quality stompboxes.…
Siegmund Midnight Special
Tried ’N True, Twisted
Siegmund Midnight Special Price: $1,895 (list, as tested) Contact: www.siegmundguitars.com Driven by a quest for preserving the original tonal qualities…
National’s Pioneer RP1
Steel Soul
What do you get when you cross a National Duolian with a solidbody electric? Answer: a guitar that Elmore James…
KJ Audio Hanwell 50
Shake The Walls
KJ Audio Hanwell 50 Price: Head $1,900; cabinet $1,600 Contact: www.kjaudio.com No apologies: Minneapolis-based amp designer Kristopher Johnson’s Hanwell 50…
WHAT ELSE IS NEW
-
More Personal
-
Rare Pioneer
Strymon Ultraviolet Vintage Vibe
Modern Spin
Pioneered by Jimi Hendrix, the Uni-Vibe became synonymous with psychedelic rock sounds in the 1960s. Strymon’s modern interpretation is the…
Washita Love Child: The Rise of Indigenous Rock Star Jesse Ed Davis
Douglas K. Miller
“(Jesse Ed Davis) is the cream of the crop; he’s better than Clapton and Hendrix put together,” said Gram Parsons.…
Boss DD-200 Digital Delay
Test For Echo
Delay pedals are essential, but there are so many different types – tape, reverse, tap, cascade, shimmer, analog and more.…
An Odd Gibson EH-150
10 Strings, Lap-Style
Lap-steel guitars were the first commercially available electrics – ancestors of the guitars we plug in today, regardless of their…
