•  Reverend Sensei H90

    VG Approved Gear

     Reverend Sensei H90

    Live Wire

    So you want a Gibson-style solidbody that can cover humbucker-powered rock, yet also twangier/glassier tones using a P-90 pickup. Check. You also want to grab high frets via double-cutaway and have the pitch reliability of a tune-o-matic bridge and locking tuners. Got it. One more thing: it’s got to look cool and old-school. Hmm…. sounds

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Siegmund Micro Tube Overdrive

Stompbox Subtlety

Chris Siegmund is an up-and-coming guitar/amp wizard from Vienna, Austria. A unique type of craftsman, Siegmund is a musician born to a family of architects and furniture makers. He began…

Lace California Twister

Just This Side of Twisted

When most people go shopping for a new guitar, they look for one with a nice, straight neck. But maybe we’ve been doing it all wrong… The California-based Lace company…

FOMOfx Virtual Jeff Pro

Whammy For All

On most guitars, installing a traditional vibrato is a task ranging from difficult to impossible. And even done right, mechanical vibratos impact tuning stability and increase wear on nuts and…

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Mu-FX Octave Divider

The Mu Is Back

This is rocket science. Or at least as close as a stompbox gets. Sure, building a pedal that tweaks a guitar’s signal around and about isn’t exactly putting a man…

Vintage guitar magazine Silvertone’s 1449 and 1423

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 in vintage Silvertones, current parent company Samick has begun to…

Tech 21’s Boost Series Pedals

The Way Up

Tech 21 Boost Pedals Price: $149 each, street Contact: www.tech21nyc.com Tech 21’s new Boost Series of fuzz, overdrive, and distortion pedals offers a compelling concept – premium effects with the…

Taylor Classic, Custom, and Standard

Worth the Wait

Taylor SolidBody Classic. For years, Bob Taylor fended off the question, “When are you going to build a solidbody guitar?” Well-known as a builder of top-notch acoustics, for his company,…

Guild’s Starfire I DC GVT

Big Green Monster

Guild’s Newark Street guitars are a line of lower-priced instruments anchored by a reissue of the classic Starfire; the most distinctive is the I DC GVT. A handsome semi-hollow, it…

The Dr. Z CAZ-45

Prescription Filled

When word got out in early 2020 that Mike Zaite and Alan Phillips (founder of Carol-Ann Amplifiers) were collaborating on a high-gain amp, the buzz was intense. After several prototypes…

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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 Guitars has been finding creative ways to improve guitar and…

Music Nomad Precision Setup Gauge Set

The Set Up

There’s nothing like playing a properly set-up guitar, but taking it to a repair shop can be expensive – especially if you regularly play more than one instrument. With proper…

PRS Silver Sky

Stratospheric

Paul Reed Smith has for years experimented with Leo-inspired concepts, and his newest guitar, conceived in collaboration with rocker John Mayer, lands squarely in that traditional single-coil solidbody arena. But…

Reverend Greg Koch Signature Gristle ST

Big Time

Greg Koch is arguably the Roy Buchanan of our time, wrestling squawks ’n squeals, burning blues and some absolutely haywire chicken-picking from his guitar. Being not only a big talent…

Fender Jaguar Bass

Four Strings, Vintage-Six Style

Just when you think Fender has explored every conceivable combination and configuration of electric guitar, bass, and amplifier, the mighty crew from Arizona drums up something unexpected. At last January’s…

The Xaviere XV-JT90 and XV-585

Planks for Pennies

Xaviere is a company that imports its guitars from China, sets them up in its Massachusetts shop, then sells direct. The company’s XV-JT90 Offset Hybrid is a solidbody with a…

GIFFIN VITKA

Giffin Vikta

Feelin’ Special

Giffin Vikta Price: $2,295 Contact: premierbuildersguild.com. Roger Giffin is a guitarmaker to the stars, having built for Eric Clapton, Pete Townshend and John Entwistle, Mark Knopfler, Andy Summers, David Gilmour,…

Danelectro ’84

Love Struck

The Danelectro name first surfaced on amplifiers in the late 1940s, then later on guitars made with Masonite bodies and lipstick-tube pickups, along with electric sitars, baritone guitars, and “Longhorn”…

Looks Aren’t Everything

Ugly Amps Big Ugly 50 and 100

Steve O’Boyle got his start converting old tube PA heads into guitar amps. Flash forward nearly 17 years and O’Boyle is at the helm of Ugly Amps, building amps with…

RS Guitarworks Rock Master

Lotta Green, Buncha Mean RS

RS Guitarworks Rock Master In 1994, RS Guitarworks was just another guitar repair joint that every so often did some refinishing work. But it has since grown to become a…

Dean HardTail Collector’s Edition

Grace and Nuance

If you were part of the scene in the late 1970s, you may recall how two companies – Hamer and Dean – at the time carried the torch for players…

Yamaha THR10

Practice Perfection?

Yamaha THR10 Price: $299 Contact: usa.yamaha.com As a rule of thumb, practice amps are a compromise. Blissfully portable, they typically lack tone and features. Yet whether in a bedroom or…

Rick Gram Tone Zone Pedals

Lots of the promised tone, no noise

Rick Gram’s Woman Tone Overdrive, Franken Tone, and Catch-A-Buzz overdrive and distortion effects are designed and hand-built. And despite limited production, they carry a much lower pricetag than many other…

Saga’s Gitane DG-300 and DG-320 Modèle John Jorgenson

Gypsy Stars

John Jorgenson boasts not one, not two, but three signature-model guitars – one for each style he excels at: bluegrass, hot country, and Django Reinhardt’s Gypsy jazz. In fact, two…

Fender’s Duel Pugilist Distortion & Dual Marine Layer Reverb

Double Trouble

Fender launched its Pugilist Distortion and Marine Layer Reverb in 2018, after VP of Innovation Stan Cotey – who’d previously helped design signature amps with Eric Clapton, Joe Bonamassa, and…

Mario Guitars Serpentine

Custom Flagship

Given that Mario Martin credits his guitar-building education to a stint at the Fender Custom Shop, it’s no surprise that his Serpentine is a working player’s instrument: comfortable, light, and…

Knaggs Guitars’ Steve Stevens Signature Model

Rebel Yell

Knaggs Guitars’ Steve Stevens Signature Model Price: $6,000 Contact: www.knaggsguitars.com Everyone wants to build a better mousetrap, and those who build solidbody guitars are no different. Frequently, they strive to…

Electro-Harmonix Tube Zipper

Exotic Tones For Eclectic Players

Hailed by its creators as the greaest product introduced by Electro-Harmonix in over 20 years, the new Tube Zipper was developed jointly by E-H’s legendary stompbox guru, Mike Matthews, and…

EHX Canyon Delay & Looper, Blurst Modulated Filter

Ambient Possibilities

Today’s guitarists looking to create those sounds they imagine in their heads have it easier than ever before. Electro-Harmonix can be partially thanked for this. EHX is notorious for creating…

Jazz Trio

Fender’s Geddy Lee Jazz Bass and Ibanez’s Black Eagle Reissue Take On an Icon

Though it got most of the looks in the family, Fender’s Jazz Bass is nonetheless the tag-along younger brother to the Precision. Benefitting from the elder’s success, it was designed…

Roland Micro Cube

Mighty Mouse

Roland Micro Cube Price: $130 (street) Info: www.rolandus.com. Every once in a while you have to pinch yourself and thank your lucky stars to be a guitarist in the 21st…