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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…
Ally Venable
Fire and Honey
Ally Venable’s latest album, Real Gone, features excellent production, accessible songwriting, intense guitar playing, and guest spots by Joe Bonamassa…
Tinsley Ellis
Tougher Than Ever
After decades of roadhouses, bars, and international touring, bluesman Tinsley Ellis is still going strong. A 1979 graduate of Emory…
Toronzo Cannon
Blues The Chicago Way
“I’m not trying to be a starving artist at 48 years old,” says blues man Toronzo Cannon when asked if…
Marcus King
Young Blood
Young gun Marcus King enlists Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys as producer on this latest project. Young Blood combines…
Kenny Sultan
Left-Coast Blues Machine
Kenny Sultan is a best-selling author of music books and instructional videos covering blues guitar, and is the guitarist in…
The Creation
Biff Bang Pow!
Hard as it seems to imagine, there are U.K. bands of the ’60s who’ve remained obscure and unsung despite increasingly…
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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,…
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ARTISTS
In Memoriam: Tom Verlaine
Tom Verlaine, co-founder of the influential garage/new-wave band Television, died January 28. He was 73 and passed after a battle…
DAN ROSE AND HIS TASTY TAKE ON A CLASSIC
DAN ROSE AND HIS TASTY TAKE ON A CLASSIC! Dan Rose used his ’58 ES-175 (with a PAF at the…
Mark Knoll
It's about Time
Despite spending three-quarters of his life as a professional musician, singing and playing blistering lead guitar in various groups, until…
James Elkington
Windy City Diversity
James Elkington tweaked the paradigm when he began working at a luthier shop before hitting his stride as a guitarist.…
CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS
Benson Model 300H
Wrecking Ball
Even with all the excellent guitar amps available by the late ’60s, nothing was quite good enough for jazz and…
GA-20’s Matt Stubbs and Pat Faherty
FlashBack Sounds, Forward Steps
Musical gateways opened by Jimi Hendrix and the Doors led Matt Stubbs to become a disciple of Johnny “Guitar” Watson,…
Forty Quid of Klunk
Tales of the Harmony Bass
Duh-Duh-Duh-Duh-Duh, Klunk! It’s not the most artful musical introduction, but it was effective. And by the time a screaming Hammond…
Fender Custom Shop Marks 30 Years
Dream Makers
In “official” terms, the Fender Custom Shop opened in 1987. But its story actually began February 1, 1985 – the…
NEWSWIRE
APPROVED GEAR
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Live Wire
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Narrow(field) Win
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Take Flight
SynapticGroove’s SlackJaw OD/Boost/Fuzz
Fuzz for Grown-Ups
SynapticGroove’s SlackJaw OD/Boost/Fuzz Price: $239 Info: www.synapticgroove.com Last year SynapticGroove entered the stompbox arena with the Snapperhead Overdrive/Distortion, attracting high-profile…
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…
Jim Kelley Reverb Model
Legend, Resurrected
Jim Kelley began making his highly acclaimed guitar amplifiers 1978. His big revelation came while he was still doing mods…
Guild’s S-200 T-Bird
Cult-Fave Phoenix
Sometimes admired, often maligned, the cult classic Guild S-200 T-Bird has enjoyed a rebirth in the hands of Black Keys…
WHAT ELSE IS NEW
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More Personal
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Rare Pioneer
Homer Haynes’ ’59 D’Angelico Excel
From 1932 to 1964, independent builder John D’Angelico produced some of the finest jazz guitars. After apprenticing and working in…
R.L. Burnside – Poor Black Mattie
Tom Feldmann demonstrates how to play the signature lick from R.L. Burnside’s classic “Poor Black Mattie.” Tom is playing a…
Yamaha Image
Some years back, an insurance company promoted itself as “the quiet company.” While they probably wouldn’t like to hear it,…
The Bad Cat Era 30
Retro-Great
So often has the phrase “Mark Sampson era” been applied to pre-2000 Matchless amps or early examples of the Bad…
