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MusicNomad is running a fun Valentine’s Day challenge for guitar players — and it’s a good one.
Has Your Guitar Been KISSed? 💋🎸 This Valentine’s Day, MusicNomad is asking one big question: Has your guitar been KISSed? Show your guitar some love with a KEEP IT SIMPLE,…
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“Buy That Guitar” podcast with special guests Robb Lawrence and Kim Shaheen
Season 03 Episode 10 In Episode 3.10 of “Buy That Guitar,” host Ram Tuli is joined by Robb Lawrence and Kim Shaheen. Robb’s experience in the vintage market spans from…
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Pieces of a Prototype
Secrets of a Socal "Parts" Guitar
If you were a guitar – particularly one with a natural or translucent finish – your “fingerprint” would be the grain of the wood used to make your body. …

Pop ’N Hiss: UFO’s Lights Out
Shining Bright
Most critics and fans agree that the finest studio album by British hard-rockers UFO was 1977’s Lights Out. The group’s…

Gibson’s 1958-’62 ES-335TD
The Redoubtable “Dot-Neck” Early every guitar conceived or designed by Ted McCarty during his tenure as president of Gibson (1948-’66)…

The Carr Skylark
Desert-Island Amp
The Carr Skylark Price: $2,390 (list) Contact: www.carramps.com If you could own only a single guitar amp – horror of…
Fender Jazz Bass
“Stack-knob” is a catch phrase that for decades has perked the ears of collectors; these relatively rare examples of the…

Check This Action: Back Aboard
Despite (or because of) the huge Folk Boom of the late ’50s and early ’60s, these days “folk” is almost…

Charlie Starr
Celestial Guide
“It’s hot! 77 degrees,” exclaims Charlie Starr from a hotel room in Augusta, Georgia, a few hours before the third…
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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,…
ARTISTS

Fabrizio Grossi leads band through exclusive take on “Right Down Below.”
Ready for the Soul Garage Experience? Fabrizio Grossi gathered the Soul Garage Experience for this VG-exclusive take on “Right Down…

Ray Benson’s Gibson ES-355
Anyone with a taste for real country music – in particular, Western swing – will recognize this guitar. Even though…

Marah
The Kids Are Back in Philly
The south-Philly band Marah, led by brothers Dave and Serge Bielanko, has always danced to the backbeat of its own…

Duke Robillard’s Swingin’ R And B!
Blues/Jazz Great Jams on “Four Bills” Duke Robillard’s custom-made J.W. Murphy 17” archtop is the perfect accomplice for this…
CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS

Gibson 1953 GA-40 Les Paul Model
Brown Sound
Gibson landing Les Paul’s name on the headstock of its debut solidbody electric in 1952 was the biggest guitar-star endorsement…

The Morley Rotating Wah
Chromed Tone
There was a time in the mythic ’70s when guitarists were real men and lugged around 15-pound Morley Rotating Wah…

Tom Petty and Mike Campbell
Guitars at Heart for 30 Years
Remember the first time you strummed a D chord or fumbled your way oh-so-slowly through “Walk Don’t Run”? Chances are…

Gibson Les Paul Juniors
Beauties in Black: Two Rare Gibson Les Paul Juniors
Guitar dealers tell guitar stories much like anglers tell fish stories. There are those they “got” and those that got…
NEWSWIRE
APPROVED GEAR
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Live Wire
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Narrow(field) Win
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Take Flight

Magnatone Twilighter
King of Vibrato
Magnatone Twilighter Price: $2,249 (12″ combo, list) Info: www.magnatoneusa.com. Magnatone is dead, long live Magnatone! The original Magnatone amp company…

Ibanez AF95
Jazzed UP
In 2021, Ibanez re-tooled its hollowbody line to devise big surprises like the Japanese-made AF95, a full-bodied archtop with a…

Rupert Neve Designs’ Portico 5017/ SE Electronics’ Voodoo VR1
Studio on the Go
Despite what some folks may tell you about the merits of “going direct” for guitar, nothing sounds better than a…

Eastwood La Baye 2×4 Devo Signature Model
Whip It Good
For decades, guitarists have lovingly referred to their solidbody guitars as “planks.” In the mid ’60s, a small builder called…
WHAT ELSE IS NEW
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More Personal
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Rare Pioneer

Railhammer Billy Corgan Z-One Humcutters
Clear Crunch
In the quest for tone, the secret is a combination of pickups, wood, construction, and the magic in a player’s…

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…

Susan Tedeschi
Just Won’t Burn
Fantasy Records is celebrating Susan Tedeschi by reissuing the album that introduced her to lovers of soulful music the world…

J.R. Cobb
Classic Bands, Classic Songs
When he joined Atlanta Rhythm Section in early 1972, J.R. Cobb and Barry Bailey had more in common than simply…













































