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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…

Fred Newell
Steelin’ Away
Guitarist Fred Newell’s best-known gig – as a member of the house band on “Nashville Now” – ended more than…
Reilander’s Muckbucker Pickups
Fat, But Not Tubby
Reilander’s Muckbucker Pickups Price: $199 (set) Info: www.reilandercustomguitar.com In the 1970s, great guitar-pickup winders began wrapping extra wire on humbuckers,…

Ampeg’s Jet Reverb Prototype
Ampeg is frequently credited for being not only one of the first makers to put reverb in its amplifiers, but…

Saga Gitane DG-250M
One Loud Blond
Saga Gitane DG-250M Price: $949 Info: www.sagamusic.com Features: Open-gear 14:1-ratio tuners, solid spruce top with “petite bouche” oval soundhole, birdseye…

Hanburt Electric Guitars
Rarities From the Pacific Northwest
As a brand of American electric instruments, the name “Hanburt” is about the furthest thing from being a household term.…

Country Player of the Year
Albert Lee Awarded in 2018 Known primarily as a virtuoso sideman, over the past half-century, Albert Lee journeyed from British…
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Rickenbacker’s Electric 12-Strings
Double-bound for Glory
George Beauchamp and Adolph Rickenbacher founded Electro String in 1931 to manufacture what everyone would soon call “Rickenbacker” guitars. Success came early and their lap steels set standards of quality,…
ARTISTS

Blooming, In Progress
Larkin Poe
Released in January of 2025, Larkin Poe’s Bloom has Rebecca and Megan Lovell weaving powerful philosophies into strong songwriting and…

J.R. Cobb
Classic Bands, Classic Songs
When he joined Atlanta Rhythm Section in early 1972, J.R. Cobb and Barry Bailey had more in common than simply…

Jimmy Olander’s D-Bender Baritone
Big-string licks galore! In the mood to play a bit, December cover guy Jimmy Olander grabbed a guitar he…

Richie Kotzen
Solo and Salty
Richie Kotzen was one of those kids – always entertaining the family with song and dance, usually in a crazy…
CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS

Fender Custom Colors in the 1960s
Misty Lakes, Foamy Shores
In the 1950s, America’s fascination with the automobile was running at a fever pitch. The booming economy of the country’s…

Classics: August 2021
Guild F-20 Troubadour and Dan Armstong Lucite
John Wiley couldn’t have known it then, but when his parents rewarded two years of applying himself to guitar lessons…

Bell 30 RV Stereo-Reverb Combo
Accordion to Plan
1961 Bell 30 RV Stereo-Reverb • Preamp tubes: three 6EU7, one 7199, one 12AU7, one 12AX7 • Output tubes: four…

Classics: June 2022
David Hood’s Alembic Bass
Like the engineers and musicians who, in the ’60s and ’70s, helped create legendary songs at FAME Studios and its…
NEWSWIRE
APPROVED GEAR
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Live Wire
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Narrow(field) Win
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Take Flight

Mesa Boogie’s Badlander 50 Combo
Rarin’ Recto
When Mesa Boogie introduced its Dual Rectifier amps in the early ’90s, they cemented a place in rock-and-roll history. Over…

Cast Engineering Texas Flood OD
Bring On The SRV
Tube Screamers, those famed overdrives from Ibanez, have been screaming off the shelves ever since guitarists first learned the little…

Maestro Comet Chorus and Discoverer Delay
Return to the Space(y) Age
Maestro’s Comet Chorus and Discoverer Delay, from the company’s Original Collection effects series, may have a retro-chic aesthetic, but they…

St. Blues Juke Joint Series
Domestic Bliss
With the elimination of its Korean-made Pro Series and the introduction of the Juke Joint Series, Memphis-based St. Blues can…
WHAT ELSE IS NEW
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More Personal
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Rare Pioneer

Boss’ SD-1-4A Super Overdrive
Black Magic
Boss’ SD-1 has 40 candles on its cake and the company is celebrating with the SD-1-4A, a new Super Overdrive…

Swart Atomic Jr.
Splitting The Atom
When Swart decided to split their Atomic Jr. five-watt combo into a piggyback, they not only went from an 8″…

Remembering Scotty Moore
Strings for a King
Credited with creating the trio format and incorporating country and Atkins-style hybrid picking into the burgeoning rock-and-roll style, he was…

Marcus King
Swamp Guide
Marcus King is a guitar slingin’ powerhouse barnstormer. Unlike most contemporary pop music – heavy on production, low on everything…










































