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Bob Cianci
Epiphone USA Coronet
Simple Screamer
Single-pickup guitars are flat-out cool: think Leslie West, Keith Richards, Johnny Thunders, Steve Marriott, Johnny Marr, and Jimi Hendrix. Once fluffed off as a one-trick pony or a kid’s guitar, simple pieces like the new Epiphone Coronet USA can be versatile – even great in the right hands – and they’re undergoing something of a…
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Bob Cianci
PRS SE NF3
Expanded Options
The latest result of PRS Guitars “reverse-engineering”/ reconsidering its own instruments, the SE NF3 is the first PRS to be given Narrowfield DD (Deep Dish) S pickups. A spin on the company’s most-popular model, the SE Silver Sky, the SE NF3 also has a poly-finished poplar body with bolt-on maple neck and rosewood or maple…
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Bob Cianci
Supro Amulet 1×12
Supro’s 1×10 Amulet has proven popular with guitarists looking for portability, versatility and classic Supro tone. Now, it has a big brother. The Amulet 1×12 brings all of the same features including a switchable power attenuator that allows the player to choose one-, five-, or 15-watt output. One key change with the Class A 1×12…
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Bob Cianci
D’Angelico Excel SS
Classic Versatility
The modern D’Angelico company specializes in hip semi-hollow guitars with a nod toward their namesake, legendary luthier John D’Angelico. Case in point is the updated version of its Excel SS, which now is dressed with an ebony fretboard and gloss finish options. The Excel SS, touted as the company’s flagship semi-hollow, has maple back, sides,…
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Bob Cianci
Kochel Resonator
Big-Sky Steel
Self-taught guitar builder Sean Kochel has always been a compulsive tinkerer, even as a child. Years ago, he and his father side-hustled by dismantling homesteader farmhouses, barns, commercial buildings, schools, and ice houses, and Kochel began building cigar-box guitars using their stockpile, nicely coinciding with the increasing popularity of stringed instruments made from reclaimed and…
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Bob Cianci
Guild Polara Kim Thayil
Get Your Grunge
With Soundgarden, guitarist Kim Thayil helped define the grunge movement. His unusual weapon of choice was the Guild S-100 Polara, a solidbody often unfairly compared to the Gibson SG. Soundgarden may have disbanded years ago, but Guild has nonetheless seen fit to honor Thayil with a signature-model Polara influenced by his original ’70s S-100s. Made…
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Bob Cianci
D’Angelico’s Deluxe Atlantic Baritone
Lowdown
Baritone guitars have been around for decades, traditionally featured in Nashville and Hollywood studios and elsewhere to “sweeten” a track or for some other “special” application; to hear an example, take a listen to Glen Campbell’s solo on “Wichita Lineman.” Baritones have experienced a resurgence in popularity across genres and especially gained traction amongst modern…
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Bob Cianci
Cordoba Stage
Classical Gas
With a 1.5″/fully chambered mahogany body, the Stage – Cordoba’s first foray into the world of nylon-string electric guitars – brings a pleasing, ergonomic single-cut shape dressed with a beautiful flamed-veneer top. Because its 48mm nut and 16″ fretboard radius are slightly thinner than a traditional nylon-string, the Stage should ease steel-stringers transition to the…
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Bob Cianci
Guild Starfire I-12
Budget Jangle
Twelve-string electrics were ubiquitous in the swinging ’60s, popularized by bands like The Byrds, Beatles, Searchers, Turtles, Beau Brummels, and many others. Though they eventually fell out of fashion as heavier music took over, electric 12s never totally disappeared and were given new life by artists like Tom Petty, The Smiths, R.E.M., The Church, and…
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Bob Cianci
Guild Surfliner
Hang Ten
The Surfliner is Guild’s first new solidbody to come along in decades. A thoroughly modern design with classic features, there’s no mistaking the influence in this offset guitar. Named after a California railroad line that stretches from San Luis Obispo to San Diego, the Surfliner has a comfortable bolt-on, medium C-shaped satin-finish neck with a…
