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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…
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Dan Hawkins
Toast of the Town
When The Darkness roared out of England with its 2003 debut Permission to Land and the hit “I Believe in a Thing Called Love,” the music world was slapped across…
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NEWSWIRE
ARTISTS
Carson Creation
One Very Personal Stratocaster
An itinerant Western-music guitarist who befriended Leo Fender and other employees at his up-and-coming company in the early ’50s, Bill…
Howard Leese
Heart-less But Guitar Laden
Guitarist/ producer/ entrepreneur Howard Leese has come a long way since his early days with Heart in the 1970s. He…
Scott Gorham
Heavy Fire
It’s hard out there for a ’70s guitar hero. With the struggles of keeping older fans happy verses the challenge…
Scott Holt
Mojo Risin’ in Foghat
It’s been more than 50 years since Foghat unleashed its freewheeling rock and roll, steeped in its blues beginnings. Sonic…
CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS
Beat Portraits: Burns Volume 11
Burns Oddities and Ends
In early 2009, VG columnist Peter Stuart Kohman turned his focus on Burns, the pioneering British guitar builder. We’ve compiled…
Fender Telecaster Thinline
Weight-Loss Trial
Born in turbulent times on the downslope of the “guitar boom,” Fender’s Telecaster Thinline has always existed in the shadow…
Valco ‘Thunder stick’
Put your gut money on a dark horse every so often, and you might find the rest of the regurgitating…
Echoplex
Roots of Echo Part IV
For those of you checking out our Echoplex series for the first time (and regular readers, too), a brief glance…
APPROVED GEAR
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Lively Drives
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Posh Squash
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Chet Powered!
Fender’s Player Plus Meteora HH
Familiar Face
Billed as “futuristic and familiar,” Fender’s Meteora design first arrived as part of the Parallel Universe line – mashups of…
Walrus Audio Eons Five-State Fuzz
Hot on the heels of its Ages Five-State Overdrive and Eras Five-State Distortion, Walrus Audio has unleashed the Eons Five-State…
CopperSound Strategy
Strat-Jack Boost
CopperSound pedals started in the winter of 2014 as a group of friends in Massachusetts who wanted to build pedals…
Gibson’s “Non-Reverse” ’Birds
In the ’60s, Gibson strived mightily to meet the demands of players of all levels while also working to maintain…
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Tommy Castro
Circling Back
In a career spanning four decades, Tommy Castro has crafted a commendable catalog and built a devout following with his soul-infused music, informed by the blues, R&B, pop, and rock and delivered with conviction. Beloved for his guitar work and vocal style, he has carved his own niche. Born and raised in San Jose, California,…
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Classics: Tommy Castro’s ’66 Fender Stratocaster
Tommy Castro has never been much for sitting with a guitar teacher, preferring instead to rely on good ol’ time in the saddle to hone his craft. But this 1966 Stratocaster has taught him a couple lessons. The guitar entered Castro’s universe in the hands of San Francisco music legend John Newton – known on…
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Classics: Arena-Rock Alternative Amps
Mad Maxed
As rock started hitting the big time in the mid ’60s, it became clear to guitar-amplifier manufacturers that 100 watts or more was the way to go. The best approach to big power, however, would follow several paths. The stories of the high-powered amps introduced by Fender, Marshall, and Vox through the ’60s have been…
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Vivi-Tone “Skeleton
A Master’s Magnificent Misfire
The eternal question “Who invented the electric guitar?” has no single answer. By the late 1920s, many players, tinkerers, and inventors were exploring ways to get more volume from fretted instruments. Steel-string flat-tops from Martin, f-hole archtops from Gibson, and metal-bodied resonators from National were louder than their predecessors, but ran up against physical limits.…
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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 per customer, any double entries will be automatically disqualified. See previous winners!! *ELIGIBILITY. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED OR RESTRICTED BY LAW. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY.One entry per…
