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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…

Charles Moothart
Fuzz: Sons of Sabbath
While ’80s metal is past its heyday, the proto-metal of the late 1960s and early ’70s is making a huge…

The Modulus Graphite Flight 6 Monocoque
High-/Low-Tech
In guitar history, irony is almost always the result of circumstances. The market changes overnight or someone makes a mistake…

Nils Lofgren Shines Solo – Again
Star Grabs Vintage J-50 for “Ain’t the Truth Enough? An in-demand sideman for more than 50 years, guitar wizard Nils…

Farewell to a Venture
Nokie Edwards 1935-2018
Nole Floyd “Nokie” Edwards, former lead guitarist and bassist with The Ventures, passed away March 12 from complications related to…

Del McCoury
Absolute Pride
Del McCoury remembers the seeds of his new album, Almost Proud. “I played the Grand Ole Opry on Tuesday night,…

Jim Kelley FACS Reverb
Truly a deserving name in the early era of the “boutique” amp scene, Jim Kelley is also an extremely under-recognized…
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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

Ron Jackson: Standards and Originals
Warm, Inviting Jazz a la Montgomery and Benson Jazz guitarist Ron Jackson is a specialist on the seven-string. Here, he…

Steve Howe
Yes: In The Present
Progressive-rock icons Yes are still going strong after more than 40 years of recording and performing. Throughout their reign as…

Larry Coryell
1943-2017
Guitarist Larry Coryell died February 19 in New York City after performing the previous night at the Iridium. He was…

The Dig 3’s Hundt, Duncanson play “Tell Me the Place”
Old-school blues duet Gerry Hundt and Andrew Duncanson play straightforward Chicago-style blues in The Dig 3. Here, they play “Tell…
CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS

The (Way) Back Beat: A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody
Fretted cheesecake advertising through the years, Part One
There are many ways for an advertiser to attract attention, and in the history of 19th- and 20th-century print hucksterisim…

1971 Dumble Special 16 #0001
Prehistoric Beast
1971 Dumble Special 16 • Preamp tubes: three 12AX7 • Output tubes: eight 6L6GC (most likely) • Rectifier: solid-state •…

Vahdah Olcott-Bickford and the Martin Style 00-44G
Special Signature
Of the nearly 200 artists who have been granted a “signature” Martin guitar, only one was given their own style…

A Guide to Vintage Dobros
John Dopyera left National in 1929 to begin work on a secret project – a single-cone resonator guitar he believed…
NEWSWIRE
APPROVED GEAR
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Live Wire
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Narrow(field) Win
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Take Flight

Matchless DC-30
Preamp Tubes: One EF86, three 12AX7s (one for PI) Output Tubes: Four EL84s in class A, cathode-bias. Rectifier: GZ34 Controls:…

The Peavey HP2
Best Of Both Worlds
Introduced in 1996, the EVH Wolfgang was an evolution of Eddie Van Halen’s previous models from Music Man, Kramer, and…

Vintage Tones, ’07 Style
HAO Musical’s Rust Driver and Sole Pressure
For nearly 20 years, Japanese electronics distributor J.E.S. International has been providing gearheads in its country with guitars, amps, and…

The Drew & Sebastian Avenger
Multi-“caster”
At first glance, the D&S Avenger looks like a long-lost prototype from Leo’s shop, with its offset-waist shape and familiar…
WHAT ELSE IS NEW
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More Personal
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Rare Pioneer

Ray Gomez
A Time for Honor
One of the hottest guitarists to emerge from the mid-’70s fusion scene was Ray Gomez, who first became known through…
James Elkington
Windy City Diversity
James Elkington tweaked the paradigm when he began working at a luthier shop before hitting his stride as a guitarist.…

Jorma Kaukonen
Hot Tuna, Part 1
Guitarist Jorma Kaukonen and bassist Jack Casady have been playing music together for 53 years – 40 of them as…

Carl Verheyen
On <em>Mustang Run</em> and Making a CD that Lasts
Fresh off a 42-show/13-country European tour with his own band, Supertramp guitarist and L.A. studio ace Carl Verheyen has just…










































