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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…
Brian Setzer
What a Dude Does
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Dan Hawkins
Toast of the Town
When The Darkness roared out of England with its 2003 debut Permission to Land and the hit “I Believe in a Thing Called Love,” the music world was slapped across…
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NEWSWIRE
ARTISTS
Danny Fender
Danny Fender was one of the great guitarists you may never have heard. He died December 3, 2024, at age…
Jimmy Thackery
Heavens to Mergatroid!
Few guitarists working the blues circuit today can boast a signature sound as unique as Jimmy Thackery’s. As far from…
Good Times In Bad
The Origin of Fender’s Vintage Series
The years leading up to CBS Musical Instruments’ 1985 sale of the Fender brand were fluid times at the instrument…
Jim Lauderdale’s honkey-tonk toe-dip
Singer/Songwriter’s Stylistic Twist Jim Lauderdale paid a visit to one of his favorite Nashville hangs and grabbed a gorgeous 1940…
CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS
Peavey RJ-IV
Peavey RJ-IV bass, serial number 04938996. Photo: Bill Ingalls Jr. Instrument courtesy of Naffaz Skota. Americans by the millions “know”…
The Travis Bean TB1000S Standard
A Better Idea
Guitar history is littered with “better ideas,” some of which stayed around, went nowhere, or went somewhere before landing in…
Park 75
Park 75 Preamp tubes: three ECC83 (12AX7 equivalents) Output tubes: two KT88 Rectifier: solidstate Controls: Volume II, Volume I, Treble,…
Seth Lover
Seth Lover
The history of the musical instrument business is full of stories, from the drab to the miraculous. Some bean-counters will…
APPROVED GEAR
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Lively Drives
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Posh Squash
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Chet Powered!
Guild’s S-200 T-Bird
Cult-Fave Phoenix
Sometimes admired, often maligned, the cult classic Guild S-200 T-Bird has enjoyed a rebirth in the hands of Black Keys…
Vintage Tones, ’07 Style
HAO Musical’s Rust Driver and Sole Pressure
For nearly 20 years, Japanese electronics distributor J.E.S. International has been providing gearheads in its country with guitars, amps, and…
Breedlove C25 and Custom XII
Beauty, brains, and brawn
Breedlove Guitar Company is a small, independent gui-tar and mandolin builder in Oregon’s high desert region east of the Cascade…
Analog Man’s King of Tone Overdrive
Holiest of Holies
Amid this golden age of music gear, the Analog Man King of Tone Overdrive, first produced in 2005 in collaboration…
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Tommy Castro
Circling Back
In a career spanning four decades, Tommy Castro has crafted a commendable catalog and built a devout following with his soul-infused music, informed by the blues, R&B, pop, and rock and delivered with conviction. Beloved for his guitar work and vocal style, he has carved his own niche. Born and raised in San Jose, California,…
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Classics: Tommy Castro’s ’66 Fender Stratocaster
Tommy Castro has never been much for sitting with a guitar teacher, preferring instead to rely on good ol’ time in the saddle to hone his craft. But this 1966 Stratocaster has taught him a couple lessons. The guitar entered Castro’s universe in the hands of San Francisco music legend John Newton – known on…
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Classics: Arena-Rock Alternative Amps
Mad Maxed
As rock started hitting the big time in the mid ’60s, it became clear to guitar-amplifier manufacturers that 100 watts or more was the way to go. The best approach to big power, however, would follow several paths. The stories of the high-powered amps introduced by Fender, Marshall, and Vox through the ’60s have been…
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Vivi-Tone “Skeleton
A Master’s Magnificent Misfire
The eternal question “Who invented the electric guitar?” has no single answer. By the late 1920s, many players, tinkerers, and inventors were exploring ways to get more volume from fretted instruments. Steel-string flat-tops from Martin, f-hole archtops from Gibson, and metal-bodied resonators from National were louder than their predecessors, but ran up against physical limits.…
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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 per customer, any double entries will be automatically disqualified. See previous winners!! *ELIGIBILITY. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED OR RESTRICTED BY LAW. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY.One entry per…
