Nearly every musician who plays popular music – be it soul, R&B, pop, or the others – has been influenced by Donald “Duck” Dunn. And certainly, every person who has listened to a radio since 1961 has heard his playing. The revered bassist, who passed away in May of 2012, provided the groove on some …

Like a hound dog hit by lightning, the first notes of rock and roll blasted out of radios across the country in July of 1954, courtesy of Elvis Presley’s supercharged-hillbilly singing on “That’s All Right” and “Blue Moon Of Kentucky,” backed by Scotty Moore’s guitar. It was the twang heard ’round the world. That guitar …

Nashville has Music Row and London has Soho, but if your heart starts palpitating at the mere mention of carved wood, PAFs, and steel strings, it’s hard to beat New York’s 48th Street. And while corporate conglomeration has affected many shops there, at the pinnacle of this legendary block of dreams stands Rudy’s Music Stop, …

People having been raving about Julian Lage since he was a young guitar prodigy almost 20 years ago – he even jammed onstage with Carlos Santana at the tender age of eight. Over the past half-decade, the 26-year-old has become a brilliant guitarist who’s taste and depth bely his youth. Lage’s latest recording, World’s Fair, …

Like so many boutique gear companies, Jam Pedals has established a distinct sonic stamp. Its effects have an uncompromising retro personality known for warmth and quality. One of their latest, the LucyDreamer Supreme, is a two-in-one OD; the left side engages a clean boost while the right serves up a range of crunchiosity. The control …

Dunlop Custom Badass ’78 Distortion Price: $79 Info: jimdunlop.com Custom Badass is a new division of MXR that offers the company’s engineers’ hot-rodded takes on popular designs. Packaged in MXR’s classic small housing, the ’78 Distortion is a bit lighter and has a more squared look compared to most MXR units. It has 1/4″ in/out …

There’s something about the Telecaster – as well as its forerunners and inspired imitators – that attracts musicians whose music then reflects the guitar’s straightforward character. It’s a guitar that speaks to players interested in getting right down to picking. Providing the instrumental spine to Corey “Croy” Baum’s smartly constructed, witty, often moving original songs, …

For Austin-based Teye Guitars, taking guitar construction to new artistic heights has been a basic tenet since their inception. Mastermind luthier Teye Wijnterp, an accomplished guitarist, forged his concept of playable art during years of touring. Today, players around the world, including Rich Robinson of the Black Crowes, Zac Brown, and Grammy-nominated guitarist Joe Taylor, …

The new Danelectro ’66 brings together several threads of retro-dom in one hip package. Visually, this Danny brings to mind the Mosrite Ventures models, with its reverse offset, double-cutaway design and wildly slanted neck pickup. But the Korean-made ’66 has a few wrinkles of its own to set it apart from the pack. The ’66 …

Okay, Zep police, sound the alarm and prepare to loose the hounds – we are finally about to lift the lid on the Jimmy Page amp. Well, maybe not the Jimmy Page amp, but almost certainly a Jimmy Page amp, and even this claim should be enough to get the keys clacking and the internet …

Bassist/vocalist/songwriter Greg Lake came to notice in 1969 as member of King Crimson and his membership in Emerson, Lake and Palmer cemented his place in the pantheon of progressive-rock icons. He also recorded numerous solo albums; his most recent, Songs of a Lifetime, is a career retrospective. “The idea came during the writing of my …

Just a handful of years after Peavey turned the world of electric guitar upside-down with its T-60 guitar and T-40 bass, the company was feeling its oats. While the T series caught attention because their bodies were carved by computer numerical control (CNC) machinery that produced very consistent, durable, instruments, they also weren’t overly appealing, …

Looking supremely ’60s-like with its gorgeous, vintage-y cherry-red finish, petite body, and fancy-topped pickups, the Supro Huntington is inviting as all get-out. A short-scale axe, it combines a classic shape (think Ozark/Supro Pocket Bass) and passive electronics with a modern touch or two. The Huntington’s gold-foil pickups are, according to Supro, replicas of the Pocket …

Loar LH-309 VS Archtop Price: $569.99 (street) Contact: theloar.com As the retro craze delves deeper into six-string history, a spate of non-cutaway archtops have hit the market, celebrating an era when giants like Eddie Lang, Lonnie Johnson, Charlie Christian, George Barnes, Eddie Durham, Carl Kress, and Oscar Moore laid down cool chords, sultry bends, and …

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 …

Metal Pedals JH-3 Price: $235 (list) Contact: www.metalpedals.com Like a Swiss Army knife, the multifunction Metal Pedals JH-3 Johnny Hiland has more options than you’d expect in such a small package. Hiland, solo artist and session man for folks from Toby Keith to Hank III, was so inspired after playing through Metal Pedals’ Bomb Shell …

Viewed from our contemporary perspective, it’s difficult to fully appreciate how different the music scene in general – and the guitar scene in particular – was back in the early part of the last century. When the electric guitar hit the ground as a viable entity in the mid 1930s, everything was up for grabs… …