Priced at entry level and built in Mexico, Fender’s Player Series provides affordable access to Fender’s most iconic solidbodies. The Player Jaguar updates a classic offset with a handful of modernizations. The Player Jaguar features 22 frets, a short 24″ scale length, and a floating vibrato – all in keeping with signature ’60s specs. The…

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Inside its chicken hatchery turned amp shop in Pittsboro, North Carolina, Carr Amplifiers has hatched another beauty in the low-watt/single-channel Super Bee. With three distinct voices plus a wattage attenuator to deliver its supremely satisfying tone at volumes that won’t frighten the children, the Super Bee can also provide a good scare; just turn off…

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Offering hand-built pedals from their shop in Easton, Massachusetts, CopperSound seems to be finding a niche among small-batch builders, namely by rethinking some well-loved tones and technologies. One recent offering is the Foxcatcher. True to its Swiss-Army-knife livery, it combines utility and versatility. Its soft-clipping overdrive circuit is based on the Marshall Bluesbreaker and can…

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Adding to its line of compact DI/multi-effects units for traveling guitarists, Tech 21’s Acoustic Fly Rig is more than a collection of tone sweeteners – it contains a gig bag worth of functionality specific to the needs of acoustic performers. Opening the black tin packaging, it’s immediately striking how miniaturized this pedal is. The chassis…

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For players of a certain vintage, there’s something gratifying about an old-school compact Boss pedal at your feet. Even with the evolution of more-sophisticated pedals, those bright, uniform boxes reliably recall a formative time. Boss is celebrating its compact pedal line with Box 40, a special-edition set containing reissues of the three that introduced the…

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Taste in overdrives is so subjective. A player might luck into a stellar $50 mini pedal or feel the absolute need for a $2,500 Klon. The only possible category killer would be a single stompbox that could generate convincing re-creations of time-honored overdrives and offer the adaptability to customize. Well, guess what? The Sunset from…

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When German luthier Frank Scheucher was first approached about building a guitar from stone, he had the same reaction you’re probably having right now: Say what? It’ll weigh a ton. And even if a player could lift it, does stone resonate – at all? However, experimentation led to a line of models like this Nemesis.…

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Producer George Martin was so fond of John Lennon’s tape-relay keyboard that he described it “as if a Neanderthal piano had impregnated a primitive electronic keyboard, and they’d named their deformed, dwarfish offspring ‘Mellotron.’” Finicky, phased, and frequently out of tune, the Mellotron really is something of a problem child – but a well-loved one.…

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Given that Mario Martin credits his guitar-building education to a stint at the Fender Custom Shop, it’s no surprise that his Serpentine is a working player’s instrument: comfortable, light, and versatile, with quality workmanship and an inviting neck. It also explains why he’s inspired by Fender body shapes of old, like the Duo-Sonic. Imagine the…

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Excitement at the arrival of this offset beauty was dampened by the sad news that its creator had passed away July 1. Ted Newman Jones was known for building guitars in the 1970s for Keith Richards, who helped finance the workshop where Ted crafted customs for a who’s-who of players. While Newman arguably gained most…

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