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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…
Martin 5-18
The Martin style 5-18 is the smallest guitar in Martin catalogs; at the lower bout, it measures 11.25″, while at…
Ray Benson
Swing Ambassador: 50 Years of Asleep at the Wheel
“Why are you all playin’ that modern music?” Asleep at the Wheel guitarist Ray Benson fielded the question from Harry,…
Beat Portraits: Burns Volume 7
1965: Summer Of The Hollowbodies
The Way Back Beat survey of instruments designed by James Ormston Burns continues with the final products developed by his…
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…
The Carvin LB70
Höfner Hybrid
When a Carvin instrument has been featured in this space over the years, it was a either a doubleneck or…
Jackson Jeff Loomis Soloist SL7
Seven Up
If you’ve at all followed crunchy guitar playing for the past 25 years, you know players often delve into ranges…
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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
Lightnin’ Malcolm’s One-Man Wizardry
First-Rate Blues with Juke Joint Swagger Lightnin’ Malcolm learned blues first-hand from legends of the genre, and it shows! Here,…
Fretprints: Larry Carlton
Revisiting Room 335
In 1978, Larry Carlton was atop the unforgiving environs of L.A.’s music studios, where technical prowess, precision, creativity, tone, and…
Noah Zacharin: Seriously Agile Fingerstyle
“Lester Brown” Live From The Big Lonely From his home in a forest between Ottawa and Toronto, singer/songwriter/fingerpicker Noah Zacharin…
Mark Knopfler
Straitforward
Very early in life, Mark Knopfler had a connection with music. His mother cared for the family while BBC programs…
CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS
Horray For Hollywood
The Guitars and Amps of Jersey Boys
Movies made in the 1950s and ’60s that included rock-and-roll music acts typically showed them performing in segments using their…
D.K. Harrell and His ’76 ES-335
B.B. King of the Blues Award winner plays “Liquor Stores and Legs” Winner of the B.B. King of the Blues…
Fender’s “First-Gen” Strat
The Fender Stratocaster is arguably the most popular electric guitar model in the world. From the time of its introduction…
Classics: June 2023
Danny Gattons ’51 Nocaster
From learning a first lick to playing an entire song with friends, musicians thrive on motivations big and small. Growing…
NEWSWIRE
APPROVED GEAR
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Live Wire
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Narrow(field) Win
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Take Flight
Blackstar Amped 2
Satisfying Sounds
Blackstar’s entry to the growing market of “all in one” compact amplifier/effects units claims to offer a high degree of…
The Bad Cat Era 30
Retro-Great
So often has the phrase “Mark Sampson era” been applied to pre-2000 Matchless amps or early examples of the Bad…
Knaggs Guitars’ Steve Stevens Signature Model
Rebel Yell
Knaggs Guitars’ Steve Stevens Signature Model Price: $6,000 Contact: www.knaggsguitars.com Everyone wants to build a better mousetrap, and those who…
Kay’s K161 Thin Twin
Post-war Blues Box
In his day, Jimmy Reed was a huge influence on everyone from Eric Clapton and Mike Bloomfield to the Rolling…
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More Personal
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Rare Pioneer
Matching Mojo
During the “guitar boom” of the 1960s, one method of getting a band noticed was to equip it with matching…
MusicNomad is running a fun Valentine’s Day challenge for guitar players — and it’s a good one.
Has Your Guitar Been KISSed? 💋🎸 This Valentine’s Day, MusicNomad is asking one big question: Has your guitar been KISSed?…
Dale Watson
Keep On Truckin’
The seeds of the latest album from Dale Watson were sown in 1998, when he released The Truckin’ Sessions .…
Will Lee
Letter Winner
Musicians being artists and artists needing to express themselves, it says something that Will Lee’s new album, Love, Gratitude &…
