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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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Dan Hawkins
Toast of the Town
When The Darkness roared out of England with its 2003 debut Permission to Land and the hit “I Believe in a Thing Called Love,” the music world was slapped across…
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NEWSWIRE
ARTISTS
Ernie Isley
Burning Desire
Contrary to what longtime fans may have heard, Ernie Isley didn’t take guitar lessons from Jimi Hendrix. Though Ernie hung…
Tinsley Ellis’ “Devil May Care” attitude
Blues ace gets rowdy on his 345 through a tweed Champ The fiery Tinsley Ellis and his ’67 Gibson ES-345…
Ana Egge
"Lazy" Covers By A True Original
Photo: Dan Forte The myspace page of singer/ songwriter/ guitarist Ana Egge has the usual stuff most musicians put on…
Samantha Fish and Jesse Dayton
Alt-Blues Summit
Blues is a language of many dialects, and when regionalisms collide, sparks fly. So it has been since Texas six-stringer…
CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS
Delta Labs Concept 1
Preamp tubes: Two 6U8A, two 12FQ7, in addition to more-common types Output tubes: eight 33JV6 horizontal-output tubes Rectifier: solidstate Controls:…
1968 Fender Vibrolux Reverb
Silver Serenade
Amplifier collectors swarm to models with descriptors like “first year” and “golden age,” but other types can be far more…
1976 Hagstrom Jimmy
In the world of archtop guitarmaking, the legendary luthier James L. D’Aquisto (1935-’95) is considered one of the greats. A…
Gibson Mark 53
1978 Gibson Mark 53. Photo: Michael Wright. Part of the fallout from the guitar boom of the 1960s was an…
APPROVED GEAR
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Lively Drives
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Posh Squash
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Chet Powered!
Chaos Audio Stratus Multi FX Pedal
Smart, Swift Stomp
Imagine a world where all of your pedals work together so seamlessly that you can quickly and easily experiment with…
The JangleBox J-Boost
Seamless Sheen
Twelve years ago, Janglebox founder Steve Lasko set out to create effects pedals that capture the sparkling clean chime made…
Evil Robot EVR-C30
Advances in Mojo
Evil Robot EVR-C30 Price: $999 (list) Info: www.frettedamericana.com. In 2010, music retailer Fretted Americana joined forces with amp wizard John…
Debut Drive
Slamo Guitars’ Turquoise Cabronita
Slamo Guitars may not have yet achieved the name recognition of certain others, but Frank Silano has been building guitars…
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Tommy Castro
Circling Back
In a career spanning four decades, Tommy Castro has crafted a commendable catalog and built a devout following with his soul-infused music, informed by the blues, R&B, pop, and rock and delivered with conviction. Beloved for his guitar work and vocal style, he has carved his own niche. Born and raised in San Jose, California,…
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Classics: Tommy Castro’s ’66 Fender Stratocaster
Tommy Castro has never been much for sitting with a guitar teacher, preferring instead to rely on good ol’ time in the saddle to hone his craft. But this 1966 Stratocaster has taught him a couple lessons. The guitar entered Castro’s universe in the hands of San Francisco music legend John Newton – known on…
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Classics: Arena-Rock Alternative Amps
Mad Maxed
As rock started hitting the big time in the mid ’60s, it became clear to guitar-amplifier manufacturers that 100 watts or more was the way to go. The best approach to big power, however, would follow several paths. The stories of the high-powered amps introduced by Fender, Marshall, and Vox through the ’60s have been…
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Vivi-Tone “Skeleton
A Master’s Magnificent Misfire
The eternal question “Who invented the electric guitar?” has no single answer. By the late 1920s, many players, tinkerers, and inventors were exploring ways to get more volume from fretted instruments. Steel-string flat-tops from Martin, f-hole archtops from Gibson, and metal-bodied resonators from National were louder than their predecessors, but ran up against physical limits.…
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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 per customer, any double entries will be automatically disqualified. See previous winners!! *ELIGIBILITY. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED OR RESTRICTED BY LAW. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY.One entry per…
