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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…

Ralph Towner
Fifty Years and Counting
As a young musician, Ralph Towner wrote “Icarus,” a revolutionary jazz piece that became a crossover hit for the Paul…

Dennis Dunaway
Earwigs, Alice, and Beyond
Lungs burning, sweat soaking their shaggy hair in the Arizona sun as miles passed beneath their feet, Dennis Dunaway and…

Six-Strings, 60 Years Ago
A Likely First
Had he survived to this day, Elvis Presley – cultural icon extraordinaire – would be 80 years old. The man…

Isaiah Mitchell
Crowe’s Feat
When not playing with the Black Crowes, guitarist Isaiah Mitchell works with Earthless, a power trio that just released Night…

The Chase Bliss Clean
Posh Squash
With is Clean compressor, Chase Bliss set out to create a pedal that would duplicate the vivid interactivity of a…

Charlie Musselwhite
Lookout Highway
John Mayall is invariably cited for the succession of guitar greats who passed through his band. But Charlie Musselwhite just…
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Carr Skylark Special 1×12
Take Flight
Arriving a little more than 10 years after the original Skylark, Carr Amplifiers’ new Skylark Special adds versatility and enhanced tonal depths to squeeze a lot more into this diminutive…
ARTISTS

Fretprints: Stevie Ray Vaughan
Texas Flood
Stevie Ray Vaughan was unknown when he premiered at the 1982 Montreux Jazz Festival. Born and bred in Dallas, he’d…

Graham Dechter
Post-War Perfection
Since his debut at age 19, Graham Dechter has rekindled a post-war jazz sound, effortlessly swinging and always in the…

Have Guitar Will Travel – 030 Featuring Lzzy Hale
Episode 30 of James Patrick Regan’s “Have Guitar Will Travel” podcast features Halestorm co-founder Lzzy Hale. They delve into the…

Zakk Wylde
Electric Heart, Acoustic Soul
Storming the stage like King Conan The Biker, former Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Zakk Wylde was one of the highlights of…
CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS

Simon Adahl’s 1958 Höfner 162
Missing Link
He may not be part of anthropological history like Dutch paleontologist Eugene Dubois, but Simon Adahl did have to dig…

Two Tickets to the Top
Keeley Electronics’ Katana and Flexi 4×2
Any gearhead who’s been paying attention the last seven years knows the name Robert Keeley. Since 2001, he and his…

The “Okie Dokie Stomp” Esquire
Gate’s Swing
As a high-school student and emerging guitarist in Houston in the early ’60s, John Andrews couldn’t get a club gig…

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

Gibson ES-335 Joe Bonamassa Signature Model
A Semi-Hollow For Joe
Gibson ES-335 Joe Bonamassa Signature Model Price: $3,335 (street) Contact: gibson.com. The collaboration of Gibson and blues-rocker Joe Bonamassa began…

Great Eastern FX Small Speaker Overdrive
Little Big Tones
Recording engineers and DIYers have long known what a small amp can do in a big room – that is,…

Hull Amplifiers’ Model H5
Pretty, Stunning
Hull Amplifiers’ Model H5 Price: $3,199 (list) Contact: www.hullamps.blogspot.com A beat-up ol’ blackface amp can be a thing of beauty,…
The Pigtronix Envelope Phaser 2
Sophisti-Phaser
Pigtronix Envelope Phaser II Price: $249 (street). Contact: Phone (631) 331-7447; Pigtronix.com. Pigtronix effects are known not only for their…
WHAT ELSE IS NEW
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And an Archtop Mystery
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Supergroup Alpha

Marcus King
Swamp Guide
Marcus King is a guitar slingin’ powerhouse barnstormer. Unlike most contemporary pop music – heavy on production, low on everything…

Strymon Iridium Amp & IR Cab
Model Citizen
It can be tough, living in the golden age of gear tech. Which piece of amazing equipment to get next?…

100 Years of Boston’s MFA
Playable Exhibits
Musical instruments – guitars – present an interesting philosophical dichotomy. On one hand, they’re utilitarian objects whose very purpose –…

Marty Friedman
En Fuego on Inferno!
As he gears up for a co-headlining tour with Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Gus G., Marty Friedman has 13 solo albums…









































