•  Reverend Sensei H90

    VG Approved Gear

     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 have the pitch reliability of a tune-o-matic bridge and locking tuners. Got it. One more thing: it’s got to look cool and old-school. Hmm…. sounds

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Effects Pedals

…For All Occasions!

Effects pedals, stompboxes… call them what you will. But pretty much since the dawn of the electric guitar’s time, they’ve been there, adding to the guitarist’s pallette of tonal spice,…

Retroman effects

Five Boxes of Fun

Retroman proprietor Joe Wolf is a dedicated one-man-shop that designs, builds, and finishes effects pedals all by hisself. Wolf, a guitarist and electronics engineer, began building pedals for his own…

Musicvox MI-5 12-String

Musicvox MI-5 12-String

That Timeless Jangle

The Musicvox MI-5 12-String Price: $899 Info: www.musicvox.com. Since its appearances in the Austin Powers movies, Musicvox guitars have received a cachet for cool ’60s hipness and wicked space-age designs.…

Blackbox Effects Inferno, X-Ray, Cobalt, Ultraviolet 2, Oxygen

Stimulating sounds

During a recent chat with our friends at Willie’s Gui-tars, Minneapolis, we were turned on to an interesting new line of boutique stompboxes made by Blackbox Music Electronics – a…

Zeppelin Design Labs Cortado MkIII

Zeppelin Design Labs Cortado MkIII contact microphone can record everything from acoustic guitars to a train bridge with a frequency range of 23 hertz to 40 kilohertz. It combines a…

Maxon FL-9, CS-9, and AD-9 boxes

Green flashbacks

Japan’s Maxon company has made some of the most popular guitar effects pedals of all time. But because they carried a different brand, you might not equate the box with…

WIDMAN_HOME-MAIN-BIG

Widman Set Neck

An Eye For Detail

Widman Set Neck Price: $3,900 Info: widmancustomelectrics.com. John Widman is a custom guitar builder whose artistic leanings began while he worked as a graphic designer and photographer. After building bolt-neck…

Melancon Custom Artist/P-90 Artist

Attention to Detail

Hailing from Louisiana, Gerard Melancon is a former professional gigging and studio player who parlayed experience on the road and as a guitar repairman into a devout attitude toward building…

Harden Rodeo Boost

Yippee-Ki-Yay

Known for building some of the coolest guitars to roll out of Indiana, Harden Engineering recently expanded its line with a low-gain overdrive pedal called the Rodeo Boost. Bearing the…

Retro Guitar MelodyBurner

Retro Guitar MelodyBurner

Bite and Bark

Retro Guitar MelodyBurner Price: $999 (options available) Info: www.melodyburner.com In the realm of hot-rodded cars, there’s a cool genre known as rat rods – old, relic’d automobiles that sport a…

Taylor AD11e-SB

Small Gem

This latest addition to Taylor’s American Dream line builds on its Grand Theater (GT) series of small-body guitars, the goal being to offer an American-made acoustic that balances subtle ornamentation…

Way Cool Version: Newman Guitars’ Honeycomb Chambered Jr.

Following Ted Newman Jones’ passing in 2016, protégé Jeff Smith took over Newman Guitars and is furthering the vision, using the same offset body as Jones’ original guitars but  employing…

Xotic Guitars’ XSC-1 California Classic

New Connection

Xotic is known for its plethora of sonic effect-pedal goodies, but its current guitar line also tends to turn heads. The Xotic XSC-1 California Classic is an American Strat-style guitar…

Danelectro Baby Sitar Home Feature Image

Danelectro Baby Sitar

Paint It Sunburst

Legend has it that during a break in the filming of Help!, George Harrison picked up a sitar left behind by the prop men and attempted to play it. Soon…

TWA GD-02 Great Divide Analog Synth Octaver

Mono Monster

TWA GD-02 Great Divide Analog Synth Octaver Price: $399 Info: www.godlyke.com . Despite its cumbersome name and the fact it looks like it might require an MIT degree to use,…

Bad Cat Black Cat 1×12 Combo

Roarin’ Back

When Bad Cat Amplifiers trimmed its line to just four models with modern circuits, some wondered if they’d capture the magic of the hand-wired wonders that built the company’s reputation.…

Rob Wrobel Le Voyage Lace III

Boxed Up

Cigar-box guitars are a 19th-century creation that today are enjoying a trendy surge in popularity, and attracting the design expertise of some talented folks. Why? Well, because cigar box guitars…

Seymour Duncan’s Whole Lotta Humbucker, 59/Custom Hybrid Pickups

Dream Babies

Seymour Duncan’s Whole Lotta Humbucker Price: $94 59/Custom Hybrid Pickups Price: $89 Info: www.seymourduncan.com. In lean times, who can afford to introduce anything but a winner? Wisely, Seymour Duncan has…

Musicvox Space Cadet 12

Chime Machine

Musicvox Space Cadet 12 Price: $899 (direct) Contact: musicvox.com As you may have read in Michael Wright’s profile of the Spaceranger guitar (September ’11), Musicvox started producing kooky, retro-styled solidbody…

Reverend Avenger

Tough, Bold, and Fun

Our first entry this month is a new line of instruments, Reverend Guitars, from veteran inventor Joe Naylor, a graduate of the Roberto-Venn School of Lutherie, and well-known maker of…

Valvetech Suplex

A Kinder, Gentler Plexi

Used by rock royalty, the 100-watt Marshall Model 1959 Super Lead unleashed hellacious tones. Problem was, it was ridiculously loud and lacked a master volume. Rob Pierce of Valvetech Amplifiers…

K775V Kay Jazz II and K5970V Jazz Special Bass

A-Ohh-Kay

K775V Kay Jazz II and K5970V Jazz Special Price: $1,495 (K775V Jazz II electric guitar); $1,150 (K5970V Jazz Special electric bass) Info: www.kayvintagereissue.com First heralded for their acoustics and upright…

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 is stand-alone that interfaces with software to create fresh presets…

Legendary Tones Time Machine Boost

Built like a tank, but sings like a bird…

To call Legendary Tones’ Time Machine Boost “…a distortion pedal” would be to sell it extremely short. Designed for use with high-quality tube amps, the Time Machine’s purpose is to…

Gretsch G5260 Electromatic Jet Baritone

From Surf to Cinema

In the days before seven- and eight-string guitars, the easiest way to go low was to grab a baritone guitar. Radio waves and film scores of the ’60s were filled…

Taylor AD17e

Tube SaviorDream Machine

Taylor’s AD (American Dream) line aims to put affordable U.S.-made acoustics in the hands of most any player. The new AD17e employs what Taylor dubs “woods with character,” meaning cosmetic…

The Preston Thompson 12-Fret 000

Old Soul

Until 1928 the largest and loudest guitar in C. F. Martin’s catalog was their 12-fret 000-sized guitar. Until the OM premiered in 1929, the 12-fret body was also the standard…

MOD Kits DIY 102+ Amp Kit

MOD Kits DIY 102+ Amp Kit

Do It Yerself

MOD Kits DIY 102+ Amp Kit Price: $265 (list) Contact: www.modkitsdiy.com A good friend jokingly remarked that building tube amps is the legal equivalent of taking opiates – instantly gratifying…

Gibson’s Memphis ES-275

History Now

Take a quick glance at the Gibson Memphis ES-275 and you might think this is a venerable Gibson from decades past – except it’s a brand-new model. Crafted at the…

The Dr. Z CAZ-45

Prescription Filled

When word got out in early 2020 that Mike Zaite and Alan Phillips (founder of Carol-Ann Amplifiers) were collaborating on a high-gain amp, the buzz was intense. After several prototypes…