Carvin’s AE185-12 Price: $1,239 (base retail) Info: www.carvinguitars.com. Most guitarists love the sound of a 12-string, but the thought of owning one often raises several questions. Should you get an acoustic or an electric? What about controlling feedback onstage? And aren’t they hard to tune? Carvin attempts to answer all of these questions with the …

Former Racer X guitarist Bruce Bouillet overcame carpal tunnel syndrome to return to his first love – shredding. Now, he’s back with a third solo album The Order Of Control, a hard-hitting concept record with big ideas, fat tones, and impressive production. Before carpal tunnel forced him to stop playing, Bouillet played on albums by …

Ask anyone who geeks out on vintage guitars, from the well-heeled collector to the dreamer whose prized possession is a relic’d reissue, and you’ll hear the stories… First sighting of a real ’Burst. That trip to the famous shop to get that photo beside the ’59 Flying V. Knowing someone who knows a guy who …

The Electro-Harmonix Epitome, Tone Tattoo Price: $491.84 list (Epitome) and $292.35 list (Tone Tattoo) Info: www.ehx.com The concept is smart yet so obvious it’s a wonder no one came up with it sooner. With both the Epitome and the Tone Tattoo, Electro-Harmonix manages to cram three effects into a single housing. Did life just get …

The Fender Stratocaster is arguably the most popular electric guitar model in the world. From the time of its introduction in 1954, no other electric has outsold its archetypical design. And unlike its fellow archetype, the Gibson Les Paul and its numerous variants including the Junior, Special, Standard, and Custom, the Stratocaster was always been …

There’s a vibrant instro-guitar scene in Finland and among its chief architects is Jussi Jaakonaho. Well known as a producer and engineer, his first solo album, Ghost Riot, is a gem of suspenseful twang and vintage tones. VG caught up with Jussi in his Helsinki studio to learn more. What made you cut a guitar-oriented …

Birthday congrats to Paul Gilbert, who today hits the big 5-0! Paul and his Trio are on tour in support of his album, “I Can Destroy.” They’ll play the U.K. and Europe through November 13, then return stateside for shows before going to South America in January and February. Details are forthcoming, so fans should …

Phantom Guitarworks is dedicated to producing odd-shaped guitars based on designs introduced in the early 1960s like the Vox Mark VI “Teardrop,” which helped the company make a name in guitars. While Jack Charles at Phantom is painstakingly true to the originals, this limited edition Teardrop hollowbody, in all of its purple-and-chrome glory, ups the …

Brian Setzer wears several hats – rockabilly, swing, even hard-rocking Christmas music. But through it all, by and large he plays only one guitar – a Gretsch. And ideally, just a Model 6120 at that. With his new album, Setzer gets back to his roots, both in playing scorching rockabilly, but also in using his …

Teye Wijnterp is a top-shelf guitar craftsman whose work brings to mind Keith and Ronnie’s famous Zemaitis guitars of the ’70s, but with an obvious Spanish influence. With its semi-hollow construction and Bigsby vibrato, Teye’s Jazz Cat has a bit more twang than other Teye (pronounced tie-uh) models. It also has quite a few features …

Episode 29 of James Patrick Regan’s “Have Guitar Will Travel” podcast features “The Gristlemaster,” Greg Koch, who talks about his current tour, his guitar collection, the signature models he has designed, his (4,000-plus) demo videos for Wildwood Guitars, and his instructional books and videos for Hal Leonard. Greg has met and played for/with a lot …

The latest album from Colorado’s Big Head Todd and the Monsters, New World Arisin’, delivers what fans have come expect from a band that has spent slightly longer than three decades honing its sound. The most obvious attributes are great songs and blistering lead guitar from namesake Todd Park Mohr. But, Mohr points to a …

Many a noteworthy rock and roll band from the Cotton Belt has been propelled by guitar-playin’ good ol’ boys with names that ring through music lore in (sometimes) poetic-sounding tandems – Allman and Betts, Collins and Rossington, Caldwell and McCorkle, Petty and Campbell, Hlubeck and Roland (or Holland!), Medlocke and Hargrett, Van Zant and Carlisi, …

A year after his death, VG remembers Prince, a musical revolutionary, whose emergence was jarring, even for the most youthful and open-minded. Supremely talented on several instruments, guitar was an early and obvious love.

The proliferation of digital guitar gear grows by leaps and bounds every year as more players learn to love the world of tones and effects offered by the technology. You’ll obviously get no argument from us that tube amps and analog stompboxes are great, but for more and more musicians, digital is here to stay. …

When Shawn Colvin’s Steady On won a Grammy in 1989, John Leventhal was instantly transformed from NYC sideman to in-demand producer, songwriter, and player. The first to call were Rodney Crowell and Rosanne Cash, followed closely by Marc Cohn, who was working on his self-titled debut album. Leventhal’s work with Cash resulted in the introspective, …

Carr Impala Price: $2,490 (retail, in black); $2,640 (two-tone) Info: www.carramps.com. While the new Carr Impala amplifier gets its name and some of its aesthetic inspiration from the classic Chevy muscle car, its tone inspiration comes from one of the classic ’60 workhorse amps – the Fender Bassman. The Impala’s overall look and vibe are …