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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…
Boss SDE-3 Dual Digital Delay
Double Echo
Based on the famed Roland SDE-3000 rack unit, Boss’ SDE-3 combines some classic delay sounds of the 1980s, updated with…
Mick Abrahams
This Was (And Still Is…)
British guitarist Mick Abrahams is best remembered for his work on Jethro Tull’s first album, This Was, followed by a…
Alvino Rey’s “Mini” Gibsons
Alvino Rey’s 1936 Gibson mini guitar. From its beginnings, Gibson has built custom orders and unique instruments for specific artists,…
Magnatone Varsity
Less is More, Plus
Magnatone Varsity Price: $1,699 (list); $1,799 (as tested) Contact: www.magnatoneusa.com Magnatone earned a cult of admirers in the mid 20th…
Gibson’s GA-8 Discoverer
Sonic Satellite
By the end of the 1950s, “space” was the name of the game, and any forward-thrusting gear that hoped to…
David Hamburger
Top-Tier Tutorial
Whoever said, “Those who can’t do, teach” has never heard David Hamburger. Among his two dozen instructional books and videos,…
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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. You also want to grab high frets via double-cutaway and…
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ARTISTS
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…
Eric Krasno
Front Man
Because Eric Krasno isn’t quite busy enough performing 188 dates a year with Soulive, moonlighting with the band Lettuce, or…
Check This Action: Up Jumped Elmore
When someone recently asked me to recommend the most essential Elmore James album, I answered, “Any and all.” I’ve never…
Henry James Schneekluth
Psychedelic
Henry James Schneekluth handles the groovy guitar parts in Robert Jon & The Wreck. While impassioned Southern rock might be an…
CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS
Hank’s Protos
How Hank Garland Helped Gibson Develop Two Models Not Called Byrdland
There are guitars, there are great guitars, there are great historic guitars and there are great historic guitars bearing deep…
Gibson’s Crest Models
Gibson has produced two guitars bearing the “Crest” name. While both designs date to the 1960s, they’re very different instruments.…
Scott Sharrard’s fiery slide!
Little Feat ace plays outro from “You’ll Be Mine” In case you’re wondering how Scott Sharrard got the gig wearing…
Gibson’s Depression-Era Exports
Many aren’t aware that some of the archtop guitars Gibson produced during the Depression were marketed under different brand names,…
NEWSWIRE
APPROVED GEAR
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Live Wire
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Narrow(field) Win
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Take Flight
Supro Comet 1610RT
Desert-Island Jams
Supro’s Comet 1610RT just may be the perfect desert island amp – a high-gain, low-watt 1×10 combo that maybe doesn’t…
Square Amps’ Chippy
Radio King
Matt Richards builds basic cathode-bias amps housed in the carcasses of vintage radios. They’re designed to be compatible with various…
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…
Boss Katana 100
Impressive Amenities
More and more, guitarists’ passion for tube amps is being balanced by the rise of quality digital, solidstate, and modeling…
WHAT ELSE IS NEW
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Consentrik Quartet
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Lookout Highway
Scott T. Jones’ battle, axes
Rippin’ Midwestern Jazz-Rock St. Louis’ own jazz-fusion mainstay Scott T. Jones runs through a few tunes – on a few…
Fender PM-2
Sitting-Room Savoir Faire
Once wildly popular among everyone from drawing-room dilettantes to road-hardened bluesmen shuffling the dusty byways, parlor-sized guitars fell out of…
St. Blues Juke Joint Series
Domestic Bliss
With the elimination of its Korean-made Pro Series and the introduction of the Juke Joint Series, Memphis-based St. Blues can…
Tommy Emmanuel
As the title suggests, this is a collection of performances pulled from several Public Television concerts Tommy Emmanuel has done,…
