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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…
George Lynch
New Roads
A lynch pin is a narrow shaft of metal that keeps a wheel from falling off – without it, the…
How Ron Wood’s New Barbarians Saved the Stones
Ear-to-Ear Violence
Today, the Rolling Stones continue to perform live, more than 50 years since their first gig. But few realize how…
Revisiting The Jazzmaster
While volumes have been written about its more-famous sibling, the Stratocaster, surprisingly little attention is paid to the Jazzmaster –…
Les Paul Remembered
When news of the passing of Les Paul spread through the guitar community August 13, 2009, reaction was swift and…
DiMarzio’s Black Angel Pickup
Got a Sweet…
Back in the old days, adding a pickup to an acoustic guitar was a major operation that required a luthier’s…
Fender’s 1951-’54 Telecaster
In Detail
Fender’s first Spanish-style guitar was a lesson in functional simplicity with its solid body, single pickup, and bolt-on neck. And…
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Rickenbacker’s Electric 12-Strings
Double-bound for Glory
George Beauchamp and Adolph Rickenbacher founded Electro String in 1931 to manufacture what everyone would soon call “Rickenbacker” guitars. Success came early and their lap steels set standards of quality,…
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ARTISTS
Lemmy Kilmister
Lessons in Longetivity (and Loud Music)
Motörhead bassist/vocalist and heavy metal icon Lemmy Kilmister will, in a few years, be 70. But the enthusiasm for his…
Albert Cummings
Genre-Free
Albert Cummings’ new album, Ten, carries a simple title while serving as an easy way to count discography entries, but…
Mike Keneally Makes the Gravy
Dig his Meaty “Celery” The track is called “Celery,” but Mike Keneally sure makes it meaty! With a splash of…
Classics: June 2022
David Hood’s Alembic Bass
Like the engineers and musicians who, in the ’60s and ’70s, helped create legendary songs at FAME Studios and its…
CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS
The Clark Gainster
Trick Your Tweed
Before he got into the effects pedal biz, Michael Clark had a reputation for building killer tweed-inspired amps. In 2001…
The Story of Jay Gower
Startup in Music City
In Nashville today, there are enough professional luthiers to meet the need for guitar repairs, modifications, and custom builds. In…
David Hidalgo Plays Joe Walsh’s ’59 Les Paul
David Hidalgo Plays Joe Walsh’s ’59 Les Paul The video that helped convince Joe Walsh to reunite with his…
The Bass That Waited
Rickenbacker’s Early 4000 and 4001
In the January and February installments, we looked at Gibson’s Thunderbird, an instrument condemned by its maker to a quick…
NEWSWIRE
APPROVED GEAR
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Live Wire
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Narrow(field) Win
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Take Flight
SurfyBear Compact Reverb
Bringin’ Springs
Reverb got a big push into the world of guitar when Leo Fender installed Hammond’s Accutronics Type 4 Spring Reverb…
Dr Z Octal Six 1×12 combo
Valve Variation
Classic guitar amplifiers have made certain vacuum tubes household names (among gearheads) – 12AX7, 12AT7, 6L6, 6V6, EL84, and EL34.…
Positive Grid’s Experience Hendrix For Spark & BIAS FX 2
Get Experienced
In the pantheon of guitar gods, few are studied to the degree of Hendrix. And, given the warp speed at…
Dr Z Z-28 MK II 1×12
Step On It!
If you’ve driven a classic muscle car like the Camaro Z28, you know that when you step on the gas,…
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More Personal
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Rare Pioneer
Prince
Rhapsody In Purple
A year after his death, VG remembers Prince, a musical revolutionary, whose emergence was jarring, even for the most youthful…
Kay Jazz Special and Value Leader
Kay entered the electric bass market in the mid 1950s with the K162, which later morphed into the similar K5965…
Relic the Hague’s Scumbag
Rock-and-Roll Animal
On the surface, the Scumbag is a simple rock beast. With a 25.5″-scale neck, maple fingerboard, and bolt-neck construction, it…
Marshall Super Tremolo Model 1961
The often-told story of Marshall’s birth as a re-creation of the tweed Fender Bassman rarely includes mention of this rendition…
