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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. …
Jeff Golub
Unfinished Business
The route taken by Jeff Golub in making Train Keeps A Rolling is unlike that followed by any other artist.…

Lazer Lloyd
Blues in Israel – A Common Bond
If you ask guitarist Lazer Lloyd, the state of Israel is an appropriate place for blues music. Originally known as…

’39 Gibson EH-185
Preamp tubes: three 6J7, one 6N7 Output tubes: two 6L6 Rectifier: 5U4 Controls: Instrument Volume, Microphone Volume, Bass and Treble…
1933 Gibson L-5 “Special”
Though many collectors focus on instruments in fine original condition, every so often one emerges that, regardless of condition, is…

Gibson’s “blond” J-35
In the world of vintage guitars, people tend to use the words “blond” and “natural” interchangeably to describe a finish…

Jeremy Popoff
Gettin’ Lit Again
After the gloom of grunge, the late ’90s saw a surge of energetic sounds, mixing hard rock, pop, and punk…
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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
Doug Doppler
Art Appreciation, Import-Style – Doug Doppler’s Ibanez Collection
Doug Doppler recalls how, at age five, his first swimming lesson fell on the same day as his first guitar…

Ritchie Blackmore
Machine Head at 45: Tone Secrets of Deep Purple’s Masterwork
In any conversation about the dawn of hard rock and metal, several bands rise up – Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath,…

Earth, Wind & Fire’s “That’s the Way of the World”
Guitars, Groove, and Mysticism
Earth, Wind & Fire played “world music” before the phrase was coined. By 1974, bandleader Maurice White’s ensemble of talented…

“Buy That Guitar” podcast with special guest Redd Volkaert
Season 03 Episode 03 In Episode 3.3 of “Buy That Guitar,” host Ram Tuli is joined by Redd Volkaert, one of…
CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS

Doc Buffington’s ’48 Fender Pro Amp
Gold Bond
Ever plugged into a well-played vintage combo, run your hands over its road-worn tweed covering – scuffed to a cashmere-like…

The Valley Arts Custom Pro Bass
Keeping the Arts Alive
In 1969, when a North Hollywood guitar teacher named Duke Miller teamed up to start a music store with students…
Rickenbacher Model 200A
Several vintage amplifiers that have graced these pages over the years have taken us back to the early days of…

Freddie King’s ’73 ES-355
Thinline Crown
Influenced by Robert Johnson, T-Bone Walker, Lightnin’ Hopkins, John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, Sonny Boy Williamson, and others including jump-blues…
NEWSWIRE
APPROVED GEAR
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Live Wire
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Narrow(field) Win
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Take Flight

Valvetech Amplifier Company’s VAC 25
Tractable Tweed
Who says pragmatic utility and classic tones have to be mutually exclusive? Not Rob Pierce, whose Valvetech Amplifier Company deals…

Rob Wrobel Le Voyage Lace III
Boxed Up
Cigar-box guitars are a 19th-century creation that today are enjoying a trendy surge in popularity, and attracting the design expertise…

Gretsch G5260 Electromatic Jet Baritone
From Surf to Cinema
In the days before seven- and eight-string guitars, the easiest way to go low was to grab a baritone guitar.…

Harley Benton Double Vision
Mod Duo
In this era of combination pedals, it makes sense to house similar effects together, as in the Harley Benton Double…
WHAT ELSE IS NEW
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Five Alternative Club Classic Amps of the ’50s
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Remembering a Heavy Hero

UFO
Lights Out 2024 Remaster
UFO was a ferocious live band, but had trouble translating that hard-rock excitement to the studio. They got close on…

Keeley Electronics Dark Side
Floyd Fare
In the multi-verse of effects pedals, Robert Keeley’s compressors, dirt boxes, and workstation gizmos are a thing of beauty –…
Colin Linden
Bringing it Back Around
Colin Linden’s Still Live is a step back to his first recording – a live album made three decades ago.…

Benjamin Kushner
Soul Patrol
Drawing from a vast well of American R&B and soul, Josh Hoyer & Soul Colossal deliver powerhouse sounds from their…













































