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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. …

Teye Guitars’ Master Series Knights Templar
Knight Time
Guitar fanatics find inspiration from different players. And if Woody swapping licks and practicing “the ancient art of weaving” with…

Andy Summers
Creating Light From Dark
For Andy Summers, it would be easy to compose Police-like music – reggae rhythms, clean/chorus guitar tones, etc. But fans…

Rocky Athas
Livin’ My Best Life
Hailing from the Dallas neighborhood of Oak Cliff, home of T-Bone Walker and the Vaughan brothers, Athas falls closest to…

Vox’s AC10C1
Blast of the Past
Few amps give such an instant jolt of history as a Vox. The golden nameplate, that distinctive crisscross speaker fabric,…

HeadRush MX5
Many Riches
In 2021, Ibanez re-tooled its hollowbody line to devise big surprises like the Japanese-made AF95, a full-bodied archtop with a…

Mustangs of the West
Down at the Palomino
Los Angeles’ all-female country quintet has a new record featuring 12 super-cool songs. Produced by Kirk Pasich and Colin Devlin,…
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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

Pop ’N Hiss: Bad Company
Powerful Purity
Bad Company’s self-titled 1974 debut album defines “classic rock” – no frills, just superb songs and performances from four gifted…

Pat Martino
1944-2021
Music suffered an incalculable loss with the passing of Pat Martino, who died in his sleep on the morning of…

Jorge Harada
Whole Lotta Rockabilly
Call it twang with attitude. Ruby Dee and the Snakehandlers’ new album, Little Black Heart, is a heady mix of…

The Uncanny Approach of Walter Strauss
Fingerstylist melds melodies, polyrhythms, and visceral picking on “Fabara” Walter Strauss shows his extraordinary technique with help from his Sexauer…
CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS

Gibson Les Paul Spotlight Special
Unlocking the Mystery
It was 1983, and Gibson was in the throes of its darkest days. Norlin Industries had incurred excessive debt, sales…

Classics: January 2024
Bill Woodward's 1953 Gibson Les Paul
Gravitational heavyweights in our culture, beyond baseball, hot dogs, and apple pie, few things say “American” more than music and…

Robbie Robertson, 1943-2023
Lasting Legacy
It’s ironic that Robbie Robertson was famous mostly for his songwriting, because beneath the minimal, compositional style that marked his…

Guild in the Post-Fender Era
Round and Round She Goes
Since its beginnings in 1952, Guild has gone through many changes in ownership, location, marketing approach, and design philosophy. In…
NEWSWIRE
APPROVED GEAR
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Live Wire
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Narrow(field) Win
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Take Flight

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…

Guild A-20 Marley
Get Up, Stand Up
When it comes to famous Bobs in rock, Dylan is first to mind. But just behind him is another songwriting…
Music Man Game Changer
Twelve Tons of Tone
Music Man Game Changer Price: $2,275 (street) Contact: www.gamechanger.music-man.com Since the introduction of the electric guitar, builders have sought ways…
Reilander’s Muckbucker Pickups
Fat, But Not Tubby
Reilander’s Muckbucker Pickups Price: $199 (set) Info: www.reilandercustomguitar.com In the 1970s, great guitar-pickup winders began wrapping extra wire on humbuckers,…
WHAT ELSE IS NEW
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Five Alternative Club Classic Amps of the ’50s
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Remembering a Heavy Hero

Recording Acoustic Guitars
The Art of Home Recording
Recording an acoustic guitar is very different from recording an electric, employing different microphones, placement, and technique. Here are a…

Maestro Fuzz-Tone FZ-M
Satisfying Source
Can’t get no satisfaction from your fuzz pedal? Step back to the source, with Maestro’s new Fuzz-Tone. The FZ-M is…

John Leventhal
Rumble Strip
After 45 years as a roots music sideman and record producer, winning six Grammys, Leventhal’s first solo effort is an…

Charlie Musselwhite
Lookout Highway
John Mayall is invariably cited for the succession of guitar greats who passed through his band. But Charlie Musselwhite just…












































