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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. …
Martin OM-18 and 000-28
What makes these two Martins remarkable is not necessarily their rarity or historical importance, though both would be welcome additions…

The Coulter Company
More Rarities from the Pacific Northwest
The eye-catching and technologically innovative stringed instruments created by Frank Evans Coulter in the early 20th century are so exceedingly…

Delisle Island Carney/Drifter Amp-in-Case Combo
Econo Classic Reimagined
Delisle Island Carney/Drifter Amp-in-Case Combo Price: $4,000 (list) Contact: www.island-instruments.com A half-century ago, before Marshalls were stacked and ’Bursts dangled…

Ramble FX Twin Bender Fuzz
Whole Lotta Fuzz
Fuzz comes in a lot of flavors. From spitty or choked-off splat to gritty gated sounds, from classic ’60s to…

Dale Watson
Keep On Truckin’
The seeds of the latest album from Dale Watson were sown in 1998, when he released The Truckin’ Sessions .…

Andrew Hendryx on a ’64 Fender Mandocaster
Andrew Hendryx Demoing ’64 Fender Mandocaster On a recent mandolin safari, Andrew Hendryx visited a shop in Asheville, North…
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VG Q&A: Harmony History
And an Archtop Mystery
I recently received two guitars as gifts and am trying to learn more about them. The first is a Harmony I believe is from the early ’70s. Its serial number…
ARTISTS

Motörhead Bassist Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister Passes
1945-2015
Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister, founding bassist for the iconic heavy metal band Motörhead, died December 28, two days after reportedly being…

Bill Pitman
The Man From The Wrecking Crew
On a recent episode of his TV talk show, David Letterman mentioned to guest Cher that he’d just seen the…

Tracii Guns
Black Diamond Shine
There’s no denying that with Tracii Guns manning L.A. Guns’ lead-guitar slot, the sleaze veterans become a different animal. Since…

Scott Holiday
Unrivaled Son
Regardless of the state of pop or rock music, it’s invigorating when a group comes along to remind us what…
CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS

Gibson Wall-Board Guitar
Out of the Woods, Off the Wall
In the world of “guitarcheology,” it’s well-documented that the truly interesting stuff – prototypes, one-offs, custom instruments – usually surface…

The Vox Saturn IV
In the mid 1960s, England’s Vox company was in the right place at the right time. Buoyed by frontline British…
Gibson Style J Mando-bass
Decades before Audiovox or Leo Fender dreamed of making a fretted electric bass, Gibson started manufacturing fretted acoustic mando-basses that…
Rickenbacher Model 200A
Several vintage amplifiers that have graced these pages over the years have taken us back to the early days of…
NEWSWIRE
APPROVED GEAR
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Live Wire
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Narrow(field) Win
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Take Flight

Reverend Billy Corgan
Smashing Sounds
Reverend’s new twist on its Billy Corgan Signature guitar updates several features but remains a stylish retro-meets-modern solidbody. The most…

Danelectro ’59 Resonator
Book This Dano
While guitar enthusiasts expend a lot of brain power waxing poetic about tonewoods, for many VG readers of a certain…

Godin’s A4 and A5 Ultra SA
Brave New Basses
Godin A4/A5 Ultra SA Price: $1,395 (A4 Ultra SA fretted); $1,645 (A5 Ultra SA fretless) Info: godinguitars.com. For years, Godin…

Tx-Watt Flagship
Tone Big as Texas
For more than three decades on the Texas roadhouse circuit, guitarist Jack Kay’s love of vintage Fender and Marshall tones…
WHAT ELSE IS NEW
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Five Alternative Club Classic Amps of the ’50s
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Remembering a Heavy Hero

Carl Martin’s Roadie Bandmate 15
Tone-Rich Traits
Denmark’s Carl Martin has built a following with its PlexiTone series of overdrives and effects pedals used by stars the…

Radial Tonebone Shotgun and Mix-Blender
Swiss-Army Stompboxes
Whether it’s due to shrinking pedalboard real estate, shrinking discretionary budgets, or both, stompboxes that serve more than one function…

St. Blues Bluesmaster, Blindsider, and Delta Blues Box
Straight from the Delta
Saint Blues Bluesmaster/Blindsider Price: $2,399 (Bluesmaster); $2,550 (Blindsider) Info: saintblues.com St. Blues’ history stretches back to the days when its…

Nicolas Meier
Jeff Beck Sideman Steps Out
If you’ve been to a Jeff Beck concert in the past few years, you may have said to yourself, “Who’s…















































