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Taylor® Guitars Kicks Off 2026 With Two Major Launches – The Next Generation Of Its Flagship Grand Auditorium Guitars And New Gold Label Square-Shoulder Dreadnoughts
Taylor upgrades its most iconic models, adding “Next Generation” features to its Grand Auditorium body shape while expanding its recently introduced Gold Label Collection with traditional, square-shoulder dreadnoughts EL CAJON,…
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Thomas Custom Guitars
Rarities from the Pacific Northwest
Certain makes and models of electric guitars are rightfully prized for their elegant physical designs and superior craftsmanship. Even better are those also revered for their playability and particularly rich…
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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…

The Leo Krebs Tape Echo Amplifier
Twenty-Three and Thee
If you have no recollection of the revolutionary amplifier with 19 knobs, 23 tubes, and built-in tape echo created by…

Jeremy Popoff
Gettin’ Lit Again
After the gloom of grunge, the late ’90s saw a surge of energetic sounds, mixing hard rock, pop, and punk…

Joni Mitchell
Archives – Vol. 2: The Reprise Years (1968-1971)
A year ago, Mitchell unearthed a batch of rare ’60s recordings called Archives – Vol. 1 and, boxed separately, remasters…

The Dallas Rangemaster
Eric Clapton christened it “woman tone.” On the famed 1966 “Beano” album, John Mayall’s Blues Breakers With Eric Clapton, the…

Gibson’s Style O Artist Guitar and K-4 Mandocello
Two For the Scroll
The mandolin originated in the Middle East as a bowl-back instrument. Crusaders brought it back to Europe and early Italian…

Kustom’s The Bag
A New Dimension in Electro-Thoracity
When Steppenwolf’s John Kay took the stage, it was easy to believe he was performing a suitably ’60s ceremony celebrating…
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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…
ARTISTS

Jim Lauderdale’s honkey-tonk toe-dip
Singer/Songwriter’s Stylistic Twist Jim Lauderdale paid a visit to one of his favorite Nashville hangs and grabbed a gorgeous 1940…

Chris Tapp
Low-End Addendum
On the latest Cold Stares album, Voices, guitarist Chris Tapp did the unthinkable – he hired a bass player! With…

Six-String Kicks
Wood from Famed Bowling Alley Set to Sing
Few things scratch America’s cumulative itch for nostalgia like Route 66 – the famed wagon-trail-cum-highway that offered passage to those…

Joe Bonamassa
Betting On Yourself
The British effect on American blues is undeniable. From the wicked guitar stylings of Paul Kossoff and Mick Taylor to…
CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS

Rickenbacker Transonic
Rickenbacker Transonic TS100 Topology: Solid State Output: 100 watts RMS Controls: Volume, Treble, Bass controls and Hollow, Mellow and Pierce…

Beyond the Parlor
Part Three: Women
Ed. Note: In the final installment in his series on the guitar in 19-century America, Tim Brookes offers a study of several…

Gretsch Jet Firebird
One of the flashiest Jets in the Gretsch Company’s Air Force
Given the number of jet-related model monikers in Gretsch’s 1950s and ’60s catalogs, one might get the impression the company…

Echoplex EP-2
Sam Phillips didn’t invent tape echo with his mid-’50s recordings of Elvis, but he just as well may have. So…
NEWSWIRE
APPROVED GEAR
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Lively Drives
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Posh Squash
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Chet Powered!
Electro-Harmonix 45000 Multi-Track Recorder
Gettin’ Loopy!
Electro-Harmonix 45000 Multi-Track Recorder Price: $476.21 (street); $119.25 (foot controller) Info: www.ehx.com. Looping has a rich history, with roots tracing…

Singular Sound BeatBuddy
Drums Even You Can Play
Everyone knows a good drummer joke. Or two. Drummers are indeed a special breed. Singular Sound’s BeatBuddy drum-machine pedal, however,…

Keeley Monterey Rotary Fuzz Vibe
Stomp Festival
Jimi Hendrix passed into infinity at the tender age of 27. The fact that his influential career lasted only four…

Chase Bliss Onward
Glitch Niche
These days, there’s a litany of “glitch” pedals on the market – boxes that deconstruct guitar signal into 8-bit bleeps…
WHAT ELSE IS NEW
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Revisiting Room 335
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Plus, a Pro’s List of Repair Glues
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Rising Tides
Music Man’s JP13
Petrucci Pick
Music Man’s JP13 Price: $3,500 Info: www.music-man.com. Music Man has a knack for building blazing artist models for the likes…

Jay Geils
More of That Jazz
Guitar maestro Jay Geils is a musical chameleon. In the ’70s, the J. Geils Band kicked out nine records that…

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…

Name that Twang
The Guild-Duane Eddy Connection
The fledgling Guild company scored a coup when it signed Johnny Smith to an endorsement deal in 1956. Perched atop…












































