David “Honeyboy”Edwards passed away at his home in Chicago on August 29. He was 96. Often cited as the “last link” between post-war blues and the current generation of players, Edwards was born in Mississippi and learned to play guitar as a child; his mother played the guitar, while his father, a fiddler and guitarist, performed…

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On August 12, the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum unveiled an exhibit titled Chet Atkin: Certified Guitar Player, which pays tribute to the legendary guitar artist. The Gretsch Company is the title sponsor for the exhibit; Atkins helped design and popularize several Gretsch models that are still best-sellers today. Prior to the opening, the Hall…

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Lava Cable’s solder-free plugs are now being offered with caps available in four colors – black, white, red, and green, intended to help set up pedalboards using color-coded cables. The Lava Cap is made in the U.S.  Learn more at lavacable.com.

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Epiphone’s 50th Anniversary 1961 Casino is, like the original, a true hollowbody made of five-ply maple/birch with a solid mahogany SlimTaper neck, attached using traditional mortise-and-tenon neck joint. Hardware includes a Tune-O-Matic bridge and the choice a trapeze tailpiece or Epiphone’s new reissue of the original Tremotone vibrato. Learn more at epiphone.com.

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Gretsch has announced the release of its G6120 Eddie Cochran Signature Hollow Body guitar. A single-cutaway instrument with western motif, its features are based on Cochran’s Gretsch 6120 Chet Atkins hollowbody. Cochran (1938-1960) played the Atkins hollowbody he bought new in 1955, at age 16, on hits such as “Summertime Blues,” “Twenty Flight Rock,” “C’mon…

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Billy Grammer, a renowned country-music guitarist and singer, died August 10. He was 85 and passed from natural causes. A member of the Grand Ole Opry, he is arguably best known for his hit “Gotta Travel On,” which reached the Top 5 on the country and pop charts in 1959, the year he was inducted.…

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Charvel ‘s new Desolation series includes  four single-cutaway “DS” models, three double-cutaway “DC” models and three Skatecaster “SK” models loosely based on the Charvel Surfcaster of the early 1990s. All have mahogany bodies and necks, dual humbucking pickup configurations with three-way toggle switching, solid and transparent finishes (with flame maple veneer on trans finishes) and black nickel hardware. Most feature compound-radius…

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Burriss Amps’ Boostiest 2.5 combines two gain pedals in a single enclosure. On the input side, is an adjustable-gain preamp. On the output side is a “TS”-flavored overdrive circuit. Burriss  also offers the Dirty Red and Royal Bluesman heads, the Shadow combo tube amps, and the Boostier & Chaloopa foot pedals. For more, go to burrissamps.com.

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Marshall Grant, original bassist for Johnny Cash’s band, the Tennessee Two, died August 7 in Jonesboro, Arkansas. He was 83. A resident of Hernando, Mississippi, he was in the area to attend the Johnny Cash Festival, a charity event that raises money to restore Cash’s childhood home. After a rehearsal for the event, Grant apparently suffered…

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The Electro-Harmonix Ravish Sitar pedal uses guitar signal to produce a polyphonic lead voice and tunable sympathetic string drones that react to a player’s dynamic touch. It allows the player to create custom scales for the sympathetic strings while setting the decay time for the lead voice. Used with two expression pedals (it has inputs…

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