• Super PickupGiveaway 2025

    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…

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Seth Lee Jones

Pedal Pusher

July 27, 2022 · Pete Prown

Thanks to giants like Derek Trucks, Warren Haynes, and Sonny Landreth, we’re living in a golden age of bottleneck guitar,…

ORVILLEGIBSONA-HOME-MAIN-BIG

Orville Gibson A model

March 20, 2015 · George Gruhn

All carved-top guitars and mandolins trace their ancestry back to Orville Gibson of Kalamazoo, Michigan. However, as this A model…

BASSMAN-HOME-MAIN-THUMB

1964 Fender Bassman

February 17, 2016 · Dave Hunter

1964 Fender 6G6-B Bassman Preamp tubes: four 7025 (12AX7 types) Output tubes: two 5881 (a more-rugged 6L6 type), fixed-bias Rectifier:…

Ray Benson

Swing Ambassador: 50 Years of Asleep at the Wheel

April 6, 2022 · Rich Kienzle

“Why are you all playin’ that modern music?” Asleep at the Wheel guitarist Ray Benson fielded the question from Harry,…

Billy Mure

Supersonic Guitarist Remembered

February 29, 2016 · Dan Forte

Guitar great Billy Mure (born November 4, 1915) passed away September 25, at the age of 97. He last performed…

Alex Lifeson

Fresh Sonic Horizons

March 10, 2023 · Bret Adams

What do you do when you’re the beloved guitarist in a legendary band whose career was ended by the premature…

  • Check This Action: Up Jumped Elmore

    Check This Action: Up Jumped Elmore

    When someone recently asked me to recommend the most essential Elmore James album, I answered, “Any and all.” I’ve never heard a bad Elmore cut, and I’ve heard nearly everything…

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ARTISTS

Noah Zacharin: Seriously Agile Fingerstyle

February 29, 2024 · Vintage Guitar

“Lester Brown” Live From The Big Lonely From his home in a forest between Ottawa and Toronto, singer/songwriter/fingerpicker Noah Zacharin…

Aldo Nova

Fully Engaged

February 7, 2023 · Bret Adams

I did a lot of disappearing acts in my career. And when I disappear, I disappear,” Aldo Nova says with…

John Oates’ Prized Guild F-30

Roots Return

October 8, 2019 · Oscar Jordan

Most people know Hall & Oates as a pop-music hit machine that has sold millions of records. What you may…

Ellen Harper

Music is the Family Business

February 19, 2016 · Dan Forte

“Ben likes to joke that this album had a lifetime of pre-production,” Ellen Harper says of Childhood Home, her collaboration…


CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS

Vega Model 120

April 4, 2017 · Dave Hunter

Viewed from our contemporary perspective, it’s difficult to fully appreciate how different the music scene in general – and the…

Ted Nugent 1962 Gibson Byrdland

Ted Nugent’s 1962 Gibson Byrdland

November 12, 2015 · Willie G. Moseley

Anyone who’s ever caught Ted Nugent on tour has seen this instrument, and during the Summer of 2003 it was…

The Fender Tremolux

January 29, 2024 · Dave Hunter

Most amp nuts are utterly fascinated by Fender’s rapid evolution from archaic to modern through the course of the 1950s.…

Bruce Kulick

Star Board: Bruce Kulick

March 7, 2016 · Ward Meeker

Bruce Kulick played lead guitar in Kiss for more than a decade, and today stays busy as a solo performer…


NEWSWIRE

APPROVED GEAR

Epiphone 1963 Firebird V

Legacy-Worthy

July 10, 2025 · Bob Dragich

Looking to up the ante in the market battle with Fender, in October of 1962, Gibson CEO Ted McCarty asked…

Hull Amplifiers’ Model H5

Hull Amplifiers’ Model H5

Pretty, Stunning

January 20, 2016 · Ray Wuolo

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,…

Deluxe Dirt

Wampler’s Tumnus Deluxe & Paisley Drive Deluxe

April 16, 2020 · Pete Prown

Already road-proven overdrive stompboxes, the Wampler Tumnus and Paisley Drive have received a makeover for 2018. But, is there is…

Strymon Iridium Amp & IR Cab

Model Citizen

March 4, 2022 · Oscar Jordan

It can be tough, living in the golden age of gear tech. Which piece of amazing equipment to get next?…

WHAT ELSE IS NEW

Mike Beigel

Resurrection of the Mu-Tron III

January 11, 2016 · Michael Dregni

Mike Beigel is no guitarist. But that never held him back in crafting one of the most legendary of all…

Classics: July 2022

Jack Jones Doubleneck

March 7, 2023 · Ward Meeker

In November of 1954, 16-year-old Jack Jones walked into a Seattle pawn shop and noticed a strange doubleneck guitar. “It…

Gregg Wright

King of the Rockin’ Blues

November 18, 2014 · Oscar Jordan

Gregg Wright is a force to be reckoned with. He took the top spot in the Southern California Blues Society’s…

Lance Lopez

Hard-Time Music

August 8, 2024 · Oscar Jordan

Several years after being liberated from Supersonic Blues Machine, Lance Lopez is back and better than ever. Wielding hard lessons…

1988 Guild Liberator Elite

May 27, 2020 · Michael Wright

Every once in awhile you find a guitar that’s almost too beautiful to play. It’s just enough to sit there…

Gibson GA-80T Vari-Tone

May 6, 2015 · Dave Hunter

In the late ’50s and early ’60s, Gibson was apparently convinced the Vari-Tone switch was the way of the future,…

Phantom Reissue 1964 PH12

Ghost of Vintage Past

September 25, 2014 · Chip Wilson

From the Hollies to the Mahavishnu Orchestra, from Robert Junior Lockwood to the Stones, the electric 12-string has a prominent…

Nat King Cole

Live at the Blue Note Chicago

May 30, 2025 · Dan Forte

Many Nat Cole fans, even diehards, are unaware that, in addition to his beautiful singing voice, he was among the…

Strymon’s Riverside Multistage Drive

Down By The River

April 16, 2019 · Phil Feser

At first glance, the Strymon Riverside Multistage Drive doesn’t look much different from the rest of the herd. But dig…

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

Dream Babies

June 17, 2014 · Zac Childs

Seymour Duncan’s Whole Lotta Humbucker Price: $94 59/Custom Hybrid Pickups Price: $89 Info: www.seymourduncan.com. In lean times, who can afford…

Universal Audio’s OX Amp Top Box

The Tube Abides

October 14, 2019 · Ray Wuolo

Since the mid ’60s, electrical engineers have been trying to drive a stake into the heart of the vacuum tube,…

Walrus Slöer Ambient Reverb

Reverb Reimagined

August 4, 2024 · Bob Dragich

Reverb is nearly omnipresent in modern music, and for those looking to add some with a twist, Walrus Audio has…

Check This Action: Unearthing Blues Treasures

August 29, 2022 · Dan Forte

Steve Buscemi’s depiction of a socially challenged record collector in the movie Ghost World is not inaccurate – at least in…

Pop ’N Hiss: Lynyrd Skynyrd’s (Pronounced ‘Leh-Nerd Skin-Nerd’)

Down-South Guitar Assault

March 31, 2023 · Willie G. Moseley

By early 1973, “Southern Rock” had come into its own, spearheaded by Capricorn Records and its keystone act, the Allman…

David Hamburger: masterful playing, 00-18 deep dive

July 26, 2024 · Vintage Guitar

David Hamburger and his ’56 00-18 Singer/songwriter David Hamburger is also an impressive fingerstyle player who knows a great guitar…

Have Guitar Will Travel 093 – Martin Simpson

March 1, 2024 · James Patrick Regan

Features In this episode, host James Patrick Regan speaks with Martin Simpson, discussing his new duet record with Thomm Jutz,…

Nathan East

March 30, 2017 · Oscar Jordan

Nathan East’s phone hasn’t stopped ringing in 40 years. Offered gigs with Quincy Jones, Eric Clapton, Michael Jackson, Beyoncé, and…

National Style O

National Style O

February 11, 2010 · George Gruhn

Although it has never been the favorite guitar of Hawaiian players, National’s Style O, with its shining metal body and…

Fender Princeton, Deluxe, and Tremolux

Three Small Tweeds

Fender Princeton, Deluxe, and Tremolux

November 24, 2015 · Baker Rorick

From 1954 through ’59, the Fender Electric Instrument Mfg. Co. built guitar amplifiers with controls mounted atop using “chickenhead” knobs…

The Nels Cline 4

Currents, Constellations

July 5, 2018 · Dennis Pernu

Outtasight Known these days for his lead work in Wilco, Nels Cline is a true guitar polymath, equally conversant in…

John Leventhal

Rumble Strip

January 9, 2025 · Rich Kienzle

After 45 years as a roots music sideman and record producer, winning six Grammys, Leventhal’s first solo effort is an…

KayKraft Style A

March 31, 2010 · Michael Wright

Almost any guitar can be viewed in terms of a confluence of influences that produced it, from the company history…

Teisco Del Rey Basses

’60s Egalitarianism from Japan

July 13, 2015 · Willie G. Moseley

Teisco Del Rey basses from the 1960s are exemplary of the Japanese-made instruments that swept into the American market like…

Eric Ambel

August 2, 2016 · Dennis Pernu

Eric “Roscoe” Ambel is accomplished guitarist (Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Steve Earle) and go-to “roots rock” producer (Bottle Rockets,…

The Uncanny Approach of Walter Strauss

December 27, 2022 · Vintage Guitar

Fingerstylist melds melodies, polyrhythms, and visceral picking on “Fabara” Walter Strauss shows his extraordinary technique with help from his Sexauer…

Have Guitar Will Travel – 035 Featuring Joe Robinson

September 15, 2020 · James Patrick Regan

In Episode 35 of “Have Guitar Will Travel,” host James Patrick Regan speaks with guitarist Joe Robinson. Mentored by Tommy…

Epiphone Tony Iommi SG Special

Monkey Time

March 16, 2024 · Pete Prown

Digging into the primordial ooze of heavy metal, players often start with Black Sabbath and their resident guitar necromancer, Tony…

Frank DiBussolo

Jazz Master

January 14, 2025 · Steve Walker

Frank DiBussolo is an eight-time Grammy nominee who has been a featured soloist in the bands of Buddy Rich, Dizzy…

“Buy That Guitar” podcast with special guest Daniel Escauriza

August 27, 2024 · Doug Yellow Bird

“Buy That Guitar” podcast with special guest Daniel Escauriza Season 01 Episode 06 In Episode 8 of “Buy That Guitar,”…