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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…
Dave Haskell
Wings and Strings
Plenty of improbable stories involve guitarists making first records amid peculiar circumstances. But few match Dave Haskell’s journey to Pivot…
Check This Action: Bluegrass, Newgrass, Whograss
One night in 1976, I drove into San Francisco with no agenda other than to hear music. I passed by…
Supro Thunderbolt
Designed “…exclusively for the electric Bass guitar,” it was simplicity itself, with no “fancy extra circuits.” But much like with…
Tom Feldmann
Delta Blues DeLuxe
Tom Feldmann burst out of Minneapolis with an authentic take on acoustic blues unlike anything heard in years. Gifted with…
Johnny Nicholas
Full-Circle in Louisiana
Johnny Nicholas has been playing “roots music” since long before the term existed. A childhood friend of Duke Robillard, he…
Mark Lettieri
Baritone Funk
Snarky Puppy’s Empire Central was recorded in front of a live audience and pays homage to the city of Dallas.…
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Reverend Sensei H90
Live Wire
So you want a Gibson-style solidbody that can cover humbucker-powered rock, yet also twangier/glassier tones using a P-90 pickup. Check. You also want to grab high frets via double-cutaway and…
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ARTISTS
Julien Kasper
Non-Traditional Jazz
Berklee School of Music guitar professor Julien Kasper isn’t fond of having his music called “fusion,” especially given the connotation…
Marty Friedman
En Fuego on Inferno!
As he gears up for a co-headlining tour with Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Gus G., Marty Friedman has 13 solo albums…
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…
Roger McGuinn
Head Byrd Looks Back
Few ’60s rockers have had the lasting influence of the Byrds’ Roger McGuinn, whose 12-string Rickenbacker “jangle pop” sound influenced…
CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS
The Musical Instrument Museum
Blooms in the Desert
When traveling the American desert southwest, one should expect the unexpected. Visit in the springtime and you might witness the…
The Mesa/Boogie Mark IIC+
Early Mesa/Boogie Mark Series amps were something of a sensation, but even with the line now having stretched all the…
The Roland Space Echo
Perfect Slap-Back
When Brian Setzer kickstarted the Stray Cats into action in 1979, his gear lineup was a hodgepodge of orthodox rockabilly…
Ray Cummins – I’ll See You In My Dreams
Ray Cummins Plays the 1956 Gretsch Chet Atkins 6120 prototype “Dark Eyes” VG ace online tutor Ray Cummins uses the…
NEWSWIRE
APPROVED GEAR
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Live Wire
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Narrow(field) Win
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Take Flight
Ibanez Artcore Expressionist AM93QM
Semi-Hollow Magic
There comes a time in a guitarist’s life when one becomes hollowbody curious, and semi-hollow guitars are often the gateway…
Colby Dual Tone Booster 50
Double Versatile
Colby DTB50 Price: $3,800 (head); $750 (cabinet) Contact: www.colbyamps.com From 1978 through 2010, Mitch Colby helped Marshall become a preeminent…
Positive Grid’s Bias Head
Tone-Tweaker’s Dream
Designed to be a dream machine for players who just love to “experiment” with tone, the Positive Grid Bias Head…
5150 Iconic Series 60-Watt 2×12
Little Monster
When Edward Van Halen released his 5150 head with Peavey in 1992, it quickly grew famous for its massive gain,…
WHAT ELSE IS NEW
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Consentrik Quartet
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Lookout Highway
Spectrum 5
Joining playful mid-’60s cultural icons such as the Ford Mustang, NBC’s “The Monkees,” the Beatles’ “Nowhere Man” and Cassius Clay, the…
Pop ’N Hiss: The Rolling Stones’ Beggars Banquet
Feast Your Ears
The Rolling Stones were back. Well, they’d never really gone anywhere, but most fans thought they’d lost their way with…
SynapticGroove Snapperhead OD/Distortion
Dirty Deeds
With their first offering, Benjamin Harrison and Chrystal Gilles of SynapticGroove set out to fill the gap between heavy effects…
Rick Turner Model 1 Deluxe LB
All-Terrain Guitar
Ever wonder about that strange-looking guitar Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac has been playing all these years? The same one…
