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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…
Fralin’s Wide-Range Humbucker
Gibson and Fender have a long history of influencing each other’s designs. When hard rock and warm, jazzier textures were…
Gretsch G5191BK Tim Armstrong Electromatic
Cool Player, Punk Heart
Few punk-rock guitarists have made their mark like Tim Armstrong. Through his work with renowned punkers Rancid, Armstrong has torn…
Eddie Cochran’s Gretsch 6120
Don’t Mean a Thing If It Ain’t Got that Twang
One night in the late 1950s, Eddie Cochran set the world alight onstage in the City of Angels. Though the…
Joe Satriani
Creativity and Chaos
Calling any player “the hardest working guitarist in the business” is rather like referring to one as the “best guitarist”…
Dan’s Guitar RX: Finding An Old Friend, Part 2
What Goes Around…
In the September, issue I told the story of the ’58 ES-335 I sold to my friend, Al, for $225…
Guild Aristocrat HH
High Roller
Since its arrival in 1954, the chambered Guild Aristocrat and it’s later solid cousin, the Bluesbird, have offered an alternative…
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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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ARTISTS
Fretprints: Stevie Ray Vaughan
Texas Flood
Stevie Ray Vaughan was unknown when he premiered at the 1982 Montreux Jazz Festival. Born and bred in Dallas, he’d…
Alan Gogoll
Harmonic Convergence
Hailing from the Australian island state of Tasmania, Alan Gogoll is reshaping acoustic guitar before our eyes. Sure, you’ve heard…
Jules Leyhe
Bottleneck Breakout
Forget everything you know about slide guitar. Jules Leyhe just upended the genre on Your First Rodeo, an instrumental set…
John Pisano
The Godfather of Jazz Guitar
He’s a straight-ahead jazz guitarist who wrote a smash-hit pop song that’s still yielding handsome royalties. In addition, he has…
CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS
Martin Style 000-28K
During the 1920s and ’30s, Martin made a considerable number of guitars with bodies constructed of Hawaiian Koa wood. The…
VG Q&A: Jimi Flip
Plus, Precision Bass rests and an odd Galliano
I’ve never read why Jimi Hendrix played and set up a right-hand Strat to play left-handed. Surely, he could’ve found…
Metropolitan Tanglewood
A Rare Modern Map
Many guitar aficionados are aware of the instruments proffered by Houston’s Alamo Music. The Texas manufacturer has created unique low-end…
Fender’s First Reissues
The CBS Era Concludes in Style
By the late 1970s, cumulative changes in the details of the various classic guitar models on the market – Fender’s…
NEWSWIRE
APPROVED GEAR
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Lively Drives
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Posh Squash
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Chet Powered!
Mu-FX Octave Divider
The Mu Is Back
This is rocket science. Or at least as close as a stompbox gets. Sure, building a pedal that tweaks a…
Cort’s Sunset I and II
Jonesin’ For Tone
When Cort isn’t busy making guitars and basses for major musical instrument companies, they’re hard at work building some pretty…
The Supro Delta King 10
Down To The Crossroads
With the increasing popularity of compact, low-wattage combo amps has come an overwhelming variety of choices. Supro has entered the…
Taylor Baritone-8
Crazy Eight
The Taylor Baritone-8 Price: $3,998 list; $3,200 street Info: www.taylorguitars.com Some guitarists are happy with conventional guitars and basses. Others,…
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
Chris Butler’s Vox Mark VI: Waitress Server
Melding garage rock with glam, punk emerged in the early ’70s, set on stirring society’s pot. From New York to…
The Murph 12-String
Tugging At Your Heartstrings
Here’s a story that has “Hollywood blockbuster” written all over it. It’s got so many cinematic staples, you can almost…
Robert Mugge
Capturing the Blues
In 1991, Robert Mugge made the documentary Deep Blues, with the help of journalist Robert Palmer, who wrote the book…
Stephane Wrembel
Django New Orleans
The concept is simple enough: a mashup of Django Reinhardt’s gypsy swing with the buoyant sounds of Louis Armstrong and…
