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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? Show your guitar some love with a KEEP IT SIMPLE,…
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“Buy That Guitar” podcast with special guests Robb Lawrence and Kim Shaheen
Season 03 Episode 10 In Episode 3.10 of “Buy That Guitar,” host Ram Tuli is joined by Robb Lawrence and Kim Shaheen. Robb’s experience in the vintage market spans from…
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Pieces of a Prototype
Secrets of a Socal "Parts" Guitar
If you were a guitar – particularly one with a natural or translucent finish – your “fingerprint” would be the grain of the wood used to make your body. …

Billy Strings
Me/and/Dad
Grammy-winning flatpicking wizard Billy Strings was everywhere in 2022. Rightly seen as part of the vanguard of a new generation…

Selmer Truvoice
Selectortone Automatic
Selmer Truvoice Selectortone Automatic, ca. 1961 Preamp tubes: one ECC83, two EF86 Output tubes: two EL34, cathode-bias Rectifier: GZ34 Controls:…

Larry Mitchell
“Great Time To Be a Guitar Player”
Larry Mitchell’s guitar-centered “Ah ha!” moments run the gamut from Roy Clark, Van Halen, Prince, and Elvis. With a string…

Jules Leyhe
Bottleneck Breakout
Forget everything you know about slide guitar. Jules Leyhe just upended the genre on Your First Rodeo, an instrumental set…

Walter Strauss
Right-Hand Man
West Coast fingerstylist Walter Strauss has a remarkable picking technique – powerful and surprisingly percussive – as heard on his…

The Gretsch G5655T-CB Electromatic Center-Block
Gettin’ Gainy
The Gretsch G5655T-CB Electromatic Center-Block Price: $1,275.00 (list); $899.00 (street) Contact: www.gretschguitars.com It’s no secret that hollowbodies don’t excel in…
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VG Q&A: Harmony History
And an Archtop Mystery
I recently received two guitars as gifts and am trying to learn more about them. The first is a Harmony I believe is from the early ’70s. Its serial number…
ARTISTS

VG Q&A: Jimi Flip
Plus, Precision Bass rests and an odd Galliano
I’ve never read why Jimi Hendrix played and set up a right-hand Strat to play left-handed. Surely, he could’ve found…

Nuno Bettencourt
Extreme Versatility
When Extreme reunited for its fifth album, 2008’s Saudades de Rock, it seemed a foregone conclusion the band was back…

Bark: Infectious DIY Garage Rock
Enjoy Tim Lee’s Bass VI Twang Tim Lee grabbed his Fender Pawn Shop Bass VI modded with a Lindy Fralin…

Paul Benjaman: Tulsa twanger
Funky solo from “Undercover of Night” On his new album, “My Bad Side Wants a Good Time,” Paul Benjaman serves…
CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS

Rosewood Dobro
In the 1930s, the original Dobro company went through a series of ownership changes and licensing agreements. It did not…

The Beatles’ Casinos
Of all the guitars made famous by the Beatles, the only one that John, Paul, and George had in common…

Sound City L/B 120 Mark IV
Preamp tubes: three ECC83 (12AX7), one ECC81 (12AT7, in the phase inverter) Output tubes: six EL34 Rectifier: solidstate Controls: Normal…
Gizmotron
Most Bizarre Guitar Effect of All Time?
Led Zeppelin’s final studio album, 1979’s In Through The Out Door, opens with an eerie, otherworldly drone that weaves and…
NEWSWIRE
APPROVED GEAR
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Live Wire
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Narrow(field) Win
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Take Flight

Eastwood La Baye 2×4 Devo Signature Model
Whip It Good
For decades, guitarists have lovingly referred to their solidbody guitars as “planks.” In the mid ’60s, a small builder called…

Oxford Guitar Supply
Fine Finish
One factor keeping many people from working on their guitars is the availability of tools and materials to make those…

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 Grez Mendocino Junior
New Old-Soul
Luthier Barry Grzebik was a Jersey boy who moved to NorCal in his teens. When he began building guitars, he…
WHAT ELSE IS NEW
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Five Alternative Club Classic Amps of the ’50s
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Remembering a Heavy Hero

Ana Popovic
Relentless
Rising victoriously after 14 cancer treatments, Ana Popovic continues to push the boundaries of blues-rock. Her latest album tells the…
Carbe and Durand
The combo of two acoustic guitars and what could be considered modern-day standards seems on first blush like a recipe…
Rockn’ Stompn RS-4
Order!
Powering up your favorite rig in the wrong order can lead to, at minimum, a loud pop through your valued…

Sweet Sustain
Guitar Tech Craig’s Dino Sauce Compressor
Imagine a Strat tuned to open G, a D chord being floated at the seventh fret with a Craftsman deep-well…














































