-
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…

1986 Dumble Overdrive Special
The exalted amps of Alexander Dumble have been legendary since he began building in the late ’60s, and have become…

The Band, Robbie Robertson
The Waltz Goes On
By now the story of the Band’s epic Thanksgiving 1976 swan song is as well-known as the music itself –…

Winter NAMM 2017
Experience Winter NAMM 2017 with James Patrick Regan (1 of 42). Experience Winter NAMM 2017 with James Patrick Regan Experience…

The Mavericks
Since reforming five years ago, the Mavericks have released two studio albums and 2016’s All Night Live, Vol. 1. And…

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…
Cry, Baby!
The Story of the Vox Wah
Beyond being crowned “Album of the Century” by Time magazine, Marley and the Wailers’ 1977 LP Exodus is a wah-wah…
-
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,…
ARTISTS

Les Claypool
Child’s Play
The words “concept album” conjure images of long-haired, cape-wearing prog musicians from the ’70s. On their ninth studio album, The…

Rev Rock
Billy Gibbons Goes Solo
“BFG ain’t anybody ’cept BFG,” proclaims ZZ Top co-founder/front man/face Billy Gibbons, discussing his first solo album, Perfectamundo. “What is…

Hands On
Lenser Twists Musician Portraiture
In 2012, photographer Marc Mennigmann conceived of shooting musician portraits in a very different way – looking beyond faces and…

Cheetah Chrome
The Dead Boys Live Again
As the punk rebellion exploded in 1977, the New York scene became dominated by the Ramones, Television, Patti Smith, Richard…
CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS

Classics: January 2022
Sam Ash’s Early PRSs
Sammy Ash first laid eyes on a PRS guitar in the early ’80s, after catching a glimpse of one in…

Classics: Marc Schoenberger’s Rickenbacker Combo 600
Marc Schoenberger was part of the early-’70s vanguard on the Southern California guitar scene – not as a gigging musician,…

Simon Adahl’s 1958 Höfner 162
Missing Link
He may not be part of anthropological history like Dutch paleontologist Eugene Dubois, but Simon Adahl did have to dig…

Gretsch Country Gentleman
Consider American guitar manufacturers that have been in business during the last 100 years and the different instruments they’ve produced.…
NEWSWIRE
APPROVED GEAR
-
Live Wire
-
Narrow(field) Win
-
Take Flight
Dutch Kazoo Analog Fuzz Pedal
OD Treat
Dutch Kazoo Analog Fuzz Pedal Price: $225 retail Info: www.dutchkazoo.com It’s not easy for a new boutique overdrive or distortion…

D’Angelico Excel EXL-1
Laudable Likeness
Few vintage guitars are as vaunted as John D’Angelico’s original handcrafted Excel archtops. Building a new – and affordable –…
Rockn’ Stompn RS-4
Order!
Powering up your favorite rig in the wrong order can lead to, at minimum, a loud pop through your valued…

Guild’s B-240EF
Stop Your Frettin’
It would be easy to look at the price of Guild’s B-240EF and assume it’s just another low-end acoustic/electric bass…
WHAT ELSE IS NEW
-
More Personal
-
Rare Pioneer

Marshall JCM800 2203
Preamp tubes: three ECC83. Output tubes: four 6550. Rectifier: solidstate Controls: Pre-Amp Volume, Master Volume, Treble, Middle, Bass, Presence. Speakers:…
Acoustic Remedy’s ClimaStand Display Case
Open and Shut
Acoustic Remedy ClimaStand Price: $899 (walnut) Info: www.acousticremedycases.com Most players have at least one guitar they would like to display…
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…

The Life and Times of Roy Buchanan
Roy Buchanan and his battered 1953 Telecaster guitar got inside your head and grabbed you in the gut. He…










































