• Super PickupGiveaway 2025

    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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Xotic Bass BB Preamp V1.5

In Your Face

August 28, 2024 · Oscar Jordan

Sometimes, bassists need boost, too, like when that bass-solo interlude from Sade’s “Smooth Operator” comes along and it’s time to…

Jorma Kaukonen

Hot Tuna, Part 1

November 23, 2015 · Dan Forte

Guitarist Jorma Kaukonen and bassist Jack Casady have been playing music together for 53 years – 40 of them as…

Jensen Tornado Stealth Speakers

Sheer Magnetism

April 23, 2019 · Yoel Kreisler

Jensen has been in the speaker game for a very long time and its wares are some of the most…

Have Guitar Will Travel – 047 Featuring Reb Beach

March 24, 2021 · Art Department

In the new episode of “Have Guitar Will Travel,” host James Patrick Regan welcomes Reb Beach. The renowned guitar slinger for Winger and Whitesnake delves into his…

Jim Peterik

Collection Reflection

May 9, 2019 · Willie G. Moseley

Guitarist/songwriter Jim Peterik, who helped compose hit songs like “Eye of the Tiger” and “Hold On Loosely,” has remained active…

Catch Ron Bosse Rumblin’

February 10, 2023 · Vintage Guitar

Great jazz on a Strat Ron Bosse learned to play saxophone in grade school and was raised on classic rock,…

  • Rickenbacker’s Electric 12-Strings

    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

Michael Sweet

Frontman, Shredder

December 3, 2013 · Oscar Jordan

The yellow-and-black attack of the Christian-metal band Stryper has returned. The band’s new album, Second Coming, helps mark 30 years…

Fanny’s June Millington

Grrrl Power’s First Flash in Rock

May 30, 2017 · Kathleen Johnson

Before The Runaways, before the Go-Go’s and Bangles, and before there were Riot grrrls, there was Fanny. One of the…

Buddy Merrill

1936-2021

December 2, 2022 · Rich Kienzle

Buddy Merrill, guitarist, steel-guitarist, composer, arranger, recording artist, and occasional vocalist, died December 5. He was 85. A seasoned musician…

Jerry Douglas

Slide Ruler – Jerry Douglas’ Love Affair with the Dobro

October 8, 2015 · Michael Dregni

You know, it’s the coolest-looking instrument that ever was made!” It should come as no surprise that Jerry Douglas is…


CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS

Dano Redux

A Look at Everyone's First Electric Guitar

May 25, 2021 · Eric C. Shoaf

In his book, Neptune Bound: The Ultimate Danelectro Guide, author Doug Tulloch charts the adventures of Nat Daniel as he…

1978 Gibson RD Artist

May 5, 2016 · Michael Wright

Throughout most of the 1970s, Les Pauls ruled the guitar roost. But toward the end of the decade, some players became…

Paul Bigsby’s Myrtlewood Guitars

April 30, 2024 · Deke Dickerson

= Few things are as satisfying as a guitar with a good story to tell. Some vintage guitars might be…

Martin 0-28K

Martin 0-28K

June 8, 2015 · George Gruhn

The exotic figuration of Hawaiian koa wood on this Martin 0-28K from 1923 has a visual appeal that matched the…


NEWSWIRE

APPROVED GEAR

Carr Amplifiers’ Lincoln

Hot Rod

March 1, 2017 · Pete Prown

Carr Amplifiers has a fine reputation for high-quality, boutique tube combos with tons of vintage style and panache. Their gear…

The Pinter SB1-R

Days of Sustain

September 8, 2025 · Pete Prown

Mike Pinter conceived his new SB1-R as a do-it-all “rock star” guitar that would combine design concepts and tone choices…

Fender’s Jason Isbell Custom Telecaster

Songs Not Included

July 1, 2022 · Rich Maloof

Fender can’t guarantee its Jason Isbell Custom Tele will instill every player with Isbell’s talent for songcraft, but it sure…

Dogu Custom Electric Guitars’ MOS-01

Dogu Custom Electric Guitars’ MOS-01

This Old Strat

October 2, 2015 · Oscar Jordan

Dogu Custom Electric Guitars’ MOS-01 Price: $2,200 (list) Contact: www.actionfigurestudios.com Improving upon classic designs is a consistent theme in the…

WHAT ELSE IS NEW

Crown Lands

Fearless

February 9, 2024 · Pete Prown

This Canadian duo doesn’t disguise its Rush fanaticism. The obvious parallel is Greta Van Fleet, and what that quartet did…

Roger McGuinn

Head Byrd Looks Back

February 27, 2018 · Greg Prato

Few ’60s rockers have had the lasting influence of the Byrds’ Roger McGuinn, whose 12-string Rickenbacker “jangle pop” sound influenced…

Shawn Purcell’s Jazz from the East (Coast)

October 31, 2025 · Vintage Guitar

Influences Aplenty! A child of the ’80s, Shawn Purcell grew up listening to Stern, Scofield, and Metheny alongside Zeppelin, Van…

Grant Geissman

Grant Geissman

Jazz-Rock Renaissance

July 8, 2016 · Oscar Jordan

’70s culture may have provided a target-rich environment for parodied depictions of giant Afros, bell-bottom jeans, and Saturday Night Fever,…

Suzi Quatro

The Devil In Me

February 7, 2022 · Bret Adams

Why didn’t Suzi Quatro become a star in America? The ahead-of-her-time Detroit native, now 71, had a distinctive voice, catchy…

Ana Popovic

Relentless

January 30, 2024 · Oscar Jordan

Rising victoriously after 14 cancer treatments, Ana Popovic continues to push the boundaries of blues-rock. Her latest album tells the…

Keeley Electronics Compressor Mini

The Tighten-Up

November 9, 2022 · Oscar Jordan

One entry in Keeley’s next-gen pedals, the Compressor Mini is an automatic “Manhattan-style” compression. The tiny tool’s secret is an…

Phil Brown

A different kind of Jimi

July 13, 2020 · John Heidt

Records featuring the music of Jimi Hendrix are pretty far from a new thing. Since Jimi’s death, various forms of…

Watkins Joker

Beat-Gen Beaut

April 22, 2019 · Dave Hunter

This could be just what every well-heeled young “Beat” guitarist and singer in Britain needed in the early 1960s –…

Jimmy Olander’s D-Bender Baritone

December 4, 2023 · Vintage Guitar

 Big-string licks galore! In the mood to play a bit, December cover guy Jimmy Olander grabbed a guitar he…

Eddie Cochran’s Gretsch 6120

Don’t Mean a Thing If It Ain’t Got that Twang

August 10, 2022 · Michael Dregni

One night in the late 1950s, Eddie Cochran set the world alight onstage in the City of Angels. Though the…

St. Blues Juke Joint Series

St. Blues Juke Joint Series

Domestic Bliss

April 9, 2014 · Phil Feser

With the elimination of its Korean-made Pro Series and the introduction of the Juke Joint Series, Memphis-based St. Blues can…

Wampler Pedals’ Bravado

Tone Tweaker’s Delight

April 24, 2019 · Chip Wilson

What’s a pedal platform? Nope, it’s not a carbon-fiber Pinarello mountain bike with Shimano shifters and derailleurs. It’s another term…

Dano Redux

A Look at Everyone's First Electric Guitar

May 25, 2021 · Eric C. Shoaf

In his book, Neptune Bound: The Ultimate Danelectro Guide, author Doug Tulloch charts the adventures of Nat Daniel as he…

Relic Guitars The Hague T-Style

Relic Guitars The Hague T-Style

Aged to Perfection

November 29, 2016 · Pete Prown

Relic Guitars The Hague is a Dutch builder that produces, obviously, relic’d guitars. Mostly using the archetypal Strat and Tele…

Hull Amplifiers’ Model H5

Hull Amplifiers’ Model H5

Pretty, Stunning

January 20, 2016 · Ray Wuolo

Hull Amplifiers’ Model H5 Price: $3,199 (list) Contact: www.hullamps.blogspot.com A beat-up ol’ blackface amp can be a thing of beauty,…

Dan Hawkins

Toast of the Town

December 8, 2025 · Bret Adams

When The Darkness roared out of England with its 2003 debut Permission to Land and the hit “I Believe in…

Supro Thunderbolt

Supro Thunderbolt

October 25, 2017 · Christopher Tackett

Designed “…exclusively for the electric Bass guitar,” it was simplicity itself, with no “fancy extra circuits.” But much like with…

Chris Cain

Tales to Tell

June 10, 2022 · Oscar Jordan

Armed with a new deal with Alligator Records and producer Kid Andersen (of Rick Estrin & The Night Cats), Chris…

First Guitar of Rock and Roll

Scotty Moore’s Gibson ES-295

June 10, 2022 · Michael Dregni

Like a hound dog hit by lightning, the first notes of rock and roll blasted out of radios across the…

Keith Richards’ 1963 Gibson SG Custom

Ready to Ramble

February 9, 2022 · Jim Carlton

In 1961, Gibson introduced the double-cutaway Les Paul to replace the original version, which had been endorsed by guitarist Les…

Scott T. Jones

Midwest Fusion Ace

November 3, 2022 · Pete Prown

A lot of guitarists aspire to play jazz-rock, but it’s a high bar. Based in St. Louis, Scott T. Jones…

The Yosco No. 2

Tenor Banjo

March 6, 2014 · Michael Wright

The banjo and American music cross paths in a remarkably entangled web of complexity. The banjo was brought to the…

Eric Clapton

Crossroads Festival 2019

January 26, 2022 · Oscar Jordan

Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Festival has become the guitar event since its inception in 1999. With a diverse cast of the…

ToneTron Billy-Rocker 10

Small Is Beautiful

January 25, 2022 · Michael Dregni

Small amps are big. As venues become increasingly intimate and amplifiers are miked through sound systems rather than muscling-up to…

Ray Gomez

A Time for Honor

March 2, 2017 · Tom Guerra

One of the hottest guitarists to emerge from the mid-’70s fusion scene was Ray Gomez, who first became known through…

National Model N-720

Star of an Era's End

November 3, 2005 · Michael Wright

Most acoustic guitar players will likely show disdain for any instrument with a bolt-on neck. Even though there have been…

The Siegmund Doppler Vibe

The Faster We Go, the Rounder We Get

December 19, 2013 · Tom Guerra

Siegmund Doppler Vibe Price: $495 Info: www.siegmundguitars.com. It’s been said that Buddy Guy was the first guitarist to put his…

Hints of Benson and Martino – Eric Zolan plays “D.D.L.O.D.”

June 3, 2023 · Vintage Guitar

NYC Jazzer Brings Tasty Jazz/Blues/R&B Confection Guitarist Eric Zolan knows jazz guitar has been cool, and his new album, “Calder’s…