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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…
The Subdudes
At its core, the Subdudes’ character sound is Tommy Malone’s sophisticated acoustic guitar blended with John Magnie’s keyboards, their soulful…
Silvertone’s 1449 and 1423
Classic Comeback
Silvertone’s 1449 and 1423 Price: $739 list/$479 street (1423); $629 list/$399 street (1449) Info: www.silvertoneclassic.com With an up-swell of interest…
The Rickenbacker 4000
The model 4000 was not only Rickenbacker’s first foray into the electric-bass market, it was decidedly different from Fender’s Precision…
Italian Smorgasbord
The Goya Rangemaster 116 SB
American guitars made in the 1950s and ’60s constitute an almost-holy canon, yet most players in that era took their…
Magnatone Panoramic Stereo
Tales of True Vibrato
Magnatone amplifiers date back to the 1940s and ’50s – the era of Hawaiian-steel guitar – and boasted pearloid-covered casework…
Little Wing: The Jimmy McCulloch Story
Paul Salley
When a former Beatle name-checks you before a guitar solo on your very first recording with the band, you must…
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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,…
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ARTISTS
Mike Rutherford
Re-Living The Years
Mike Rutherford prefers focusing on the future, even if recent projects have required the guitarist/bassist to think about life. Late…
Gene Simmons
Night Vision
Between stints on its lengthy End of the Road farewell tour, Kiss has been issuing an Off the Soundboard series…
Fab Four’s Big Three
The Beatles’ “Ed Sullivan Show” Guitars, 50 Years On
For Americans, the legend of the Beatles has a very specific starting moment: 8 p.m., February 9, 1964. That Sunday…
Fretprints: Tony Rice
Newgrass Fusion Master
The world lost one of its most innovative and defining guitar voices on December 25, 2020. Bluegrass maestro Tony Rice…
CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS
1924 Martin 00-45
When trying to determine originality, guitar dealers and collectors have a tendency to study instruments with the care of a…
Name that Twang
The Guild-Duane Eddy Connection
The fledgling Guild company scored a coup when it signed Johnny Smith to an endorsement deal in 1956. Perched atop…
Beyond the Parlor
Part Three: Women
Ed. Note: In the final installment in his series on the guitar in 19-century America, Tim Brookes offers a study of several…
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…
NEWSWIRE
APPROVED GEAR
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Live Wire
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Narrow(field) Win
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Take Flight
Fralin’s Wide-Range Humbucker
Gibson and Fender have a long history of influencing each other’s designs. When hard rock and warm, jazzier textures were…
Fishman Loudbox Mini
Little Big Man
The Fishman Loudbox Mini is just what its name says – a small amp that delivers the company’s renowned audio…
Earthquaker Devices Special Cranker
True Grit
Plenty of stompbox fans remember the single-knob simplicity of Earthquaker Devices’ Speaker Cranker Overdrive. Kicking it up a notch, the…
Sweet Sustain
Guitar Tech Craig’s Dino Sauce Compressor
Imagine a Strat tuned to open G, a D chord being floated at the seventh fret with a Craftsman deep-well…
WHAT ELSE IS NEW
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More Personal
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Rare Pioneer
Hall & Collins Signature Echo
Echo Rock
For guitarists whose lives are dedicated to replicating the echo effects heard on songs like Hank Marvin’s “Apache,” Hall &…
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…
2022 April Issue on Spotify
This month we feature Slash, Myles Kennedy, Ventures’ Don Wilson, J.D. Simo, Isaiah Mitchell, Luther Dickinson, Joe Satriani, Earl Hooker,…
Fender’s 60th Anniversary Jazz Bass
Golden-Era Glory
Though it looks to be straight from a ’60s catalog, Fender’s 60th Anniversary Jazz Bass isn’t a true reissue. Rather,…
