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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…

Elvis Presley
Guitar Royalty
Should you ever forget why the King is the King, this ultimate boxed set of Elvis’ 57 albums and soundtracks,…
Ray Cummins – Guitar Tutorial #7
Ray Cummins’ latest exclusive lesson for VG expands on the art of playing “thumbstyle” a la Chet Atkins. Using his…

Crucial Audio WahVelope
Tube Funk
Crucial Audio makes high-end tube pedals and studio gear at its shop in southern Delaware. Its latest, the WahVelope, is…

Donald “Duck” Dunn
Memphis Blues Legend
Click Here to view Donald “Duck” Dunn Obit. In the history of popular music, the story of Memphis-based Stax Records…
Spencer Kirkpatrick
Jammin’ Southern Hero
In the ’70s, Hydra was a Southern-rock band that owed more to the heavy British blues of Cream and Free…

Steve Winwood
Voice of a Guitar Great
It would seem contradictory to describe someone as both underrated and a virtuoso, but such is the case with Steve…
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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,…
ARTISTS

Pasquale Grasso
One-Man Duo
In the 1940s, jazz pianist Art Tatum wowed audiences with a virtuoso technique that sounded like two players. Today, Pasquale…

Pop ’N Hiss: King’s X’s Gretchen Goes To Nebraska
Faith, Hope & Pain
By the final year of the ’80s, King’s X was a powerhouse of curiosity cleaving its way through the harmonic…

Gustavo Assis-Brasil
Chromatic Dialogues
While guitarists have more platforms than ever when it’s time to showcase their music, rising above a sea of marketing-savvy…

“Buy That Guitar” podcast with special guest Larry Wexer
“Buy That Guitar” podcast with special guest Larry Wexer Season 01 Episode 07 In Episode 7 of “Buy That Guitar,”…
CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS

Marshall Amplifiers
From Birth to the 21st Century
From the first JTM to models for Clapton and Townshend, Jim Marshall has been building amps since the early 1960s.…

The Doobie Brothers
Road Rules
If you’re making a list of beloved bands with a long string of hook-heavy hits, the Doobie Brothers will surely…

Mick Taylor’s ’58 Les Paul Standard
The Ya Ya’s Out!
Hard-edged face of the British Invasion, the Rolling Stones introduced the world to the implements, trappings, and accessories of rock-and-roll…

Fender Harvard
Given the current craze for semi-small “home” and “recording” amps, Fender’s 5F10 Harvard of 1955-’60 could be the ideal tweed…
NEWSWIRE
APPROVED GEAR
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Live Wire
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Narrow(field) Win
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Take Flight

Tx-Watt Flagship
Tone Big as Texas
For more than three decades on the Texas roadhouse circuit, guitarist Jack Kay’s love of vintage Fender and Marshall tones…

DNA Analogic Effects
Chemical Reaction
If you‘re a “first impressions mean a lot” kind of gearhead, DNA Analogic’s line of effects pedals may just win…

Earthquaker Devices Sea Machine
Chorus of Praise
Earthquaker Devices Sea Machine Price: $215 Contact: www.earthquakerdevices.com Known primarily for its monstrous distortion and fuzz units, the folks at…

The Logan Telemaster
Masterful Mashup
Though Bob Logan has been building guitars since 1972, he worked in construction for a few decades before fully dedicating…
WHAT ELSE IS NEW
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More Personal
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Rare Pioneer

Colby Amplification Park 45
Put It Here
Colby Amplification Park 45 Price: $2,500 (list) Contact: www.colbyamps.com There are legends that gear fanatics all know, and then there…

Santana IV
Describing Carlos Santana’s guitar playing, Greg Rolie, the Santana band’s original keyboardist, declares, “It’s real music; it’s not just a…

Canned Heat
Finyl Vinyl
In the mid/late ’60s, the top American groups of the Blues Revival were Chicago’s Paul Butterfield Blues Band and Los…
Dan’s Guitar RX: Reviving a ’56 Duo-Jet
Ugly, But An Oldy
Blake Burkeholder, a repair expert in my shop, has always wanted a Gretsch. So, when he found a ’56 Duo-Jet…













































