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Taylor® Guitars Kicks Off 2026 With Two Major Launches – The Next Generation Of Its Flagship Grand Auditorium Guitars And New Gold Label Square-Shoulder Dreadnoughts
Taylor upgrades its most iconic models, adding “Next Generation” features to its Grand Auditorium body shape while expanding its recently introduced Gold Label Collection with traditional, square-shoulder dreadnoughts EL CAJON,…
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Thomas Custom Guitars
Rarities from the Pacific Northwest
Certain makes and models of electric guitars are rightfully prized for their elegant physical designs and superior craftsmanship. Even better are those also revered for their playability and particularly rich…
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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…

Rodney Crowell
Same Roots, New Branches
Rodney Crowell arrived in Nashville in 1972, bent on finding a niche for himself in the country music he’d loved…

Eli “Paperboy” Reed
“Always” Music
Guitarist/producer Eli “Paperboy” Reed understands the emotional thread between blues, gospel, R&B, and country music. He has created his own…
George Kilby, Jr.
The Succinct Approach
George Kilby, Jr.’s Six Pack is, he says, a “collection of singles” rather than an EP or album. Kilby graduated…

Mack Atomsmasher DB-40
Super Dynamics
What do you get when you have a rockin’ pair of 12AX7 tubes and a pair of EL34 power tubes?…

Gretsch’s ’55 Falcon G6136-55
Look at that “Cadillac”
Gretsch’s 1955 White Falcon was the pink Cadillac of guitars – quite possibly the most outlandish guitar ever produced. The…

Hilary Gardner’s jazz/country connection
Classic sounds on “Silver on the Sage” Hilary Gardner and her band are devout fans of classic cowboy (and other…
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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…
ARTISTS

Micki Free
Feel and Tone
He was the real-life team member on the infamous Charlie Murphy/Prince basketball game parodied on “Chappelle’s Show,” but Grammy…
Billy Sheehan
New Music, Old-School Basses
Among rock bassists, Billy Sheehan has been a standout in four decades. Whether with Talas in the ’70s, tapping toe-to-toe…

Pop ’N Hiss: Eric Johnson
Eric Johnson’s Ah Via Musicom
There were innovative Stratocaster records before Ah Via Musicom, but Eric Johnson’s 1990 opus changed the rules of the game…
Steve Cropper
An MGs/Rascals Soul Summit
Before they were called Booker T. & The MGs, the first song the house band for Memphis’ Stax label cut…
CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS

Replacing Rotted Tuning Keys on a ’62 ES-335
Buttons for a Buzzcock
Steve Garvey played bass in the seminal punk band Buzzcocks during its classic era – 1977 to ’81 – with…

Barney Kessel’s ES-350 Rides Again
Return Of An Icon
Bruce Forman acquired Barney Kessel’s beloved Gibson ES-350 in mid 2021. In prep for recording Reunion!, he made the guitar…

Classics – March 2021
Scarce and beautiful, Gibson’s Flying V was an ahead-of-its-time marketing failure when introduced in 1958. Made of exotic limba (a…

1968 Fender Vibrolux Reverb
Silver Serenade
Amplifier collectors swarm to models with descriptors like “first year” and “golden age,” but other types can be far more…
NEWSWIRE
APPROVED GEAR
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Lively Drives
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Posh Squash
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Chet Powered!

Universal Audio Ruby, Woodrow & Dream
Model Of Perfection
With digital recording more popular than ever, audio designers are working to capture guitar tone directly, without miking an amp.…
Burns Steer Cutaway
The Burns Steer Cutaway
The story of the Burns Steer Cutaway begins in 1925 with the birth of the “British Leo Fender,” James Ormston…

E.W.S. Little Fuzzy Drive
Tiny Footprint, Huge Sound
E.W.S. Little Fuzzy Drive Price: $160 (list); $130 (street) Info: www.ews-us.com. At 1.5″ x 3.5″, the E.W.S. Little Fuzzy Drive…

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,…
WHAT ELSE IS NEW
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Revisiting Room 335
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Plus, a Pro’s List of Repair Glues
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Rising Tides

Darryl Jones
Stones’ Side Man, Ron Wood Fan
“Unofficial” Rolling Stones bassist Darryl Jones, who replaced Bill Wyman in 1994, readily admits that playing with the carousing rockers…

The MXR Eric Gales EG74 Raw Dawg
Bark And Bite
During a recording career that spans three decades and includes 19 albums, blues guitarist Eric Gales has achieved a reputation…

Jim Weider
Shinin’ On
Few American guitarists have roots in Americana as deep as those of Jim Weider. For 15 years following The Band’s…

Aldo Nova’s 2022 “Paradise”
Rock legend’s thunderous return Forty years after “Fantasy,” Canadian rock legend Aldo Nova has returned with two new projects. One…












































