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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…
Greta Van Fleet’s Jake Kiszka
Heavy Steps : Road Ready
“Rock and roll is a young man’s game.” Once upon a time, it was the genre’s calling card. A half-century…
Harden Muddy Waters
Mojo Working
Harden Engineering is a small Chicago shop that specializes in hand-made instruments in a variety of shapes and sizes and…
Lovepedal Purple Plexi
Glory & Overtones
Fans of guitarists with superb tones routinely spot Lovepedal boxes on pedalboards in almost every music genre. From their early…
Fretprints: Paul Simon
Postmodern Troubadour: The Simon & Garfunkel Years
Troubadours – poet/musicians active in Europe in the 12th and 13th centuries, played a defining role in Western civilization. The…
Tinsley Ellis’ new dimension
Unplugged, and Worth the Wait! A prominent blues artist since the late ’80s, Tinsley Ellis grabbed the ’37 National Style…
Justin Johnsoné
The Biscuit House
His online videos are hard to cruise past. There’s his wide stylistic range, but also the guitars he built out…
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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
Noshir Mody’s Elegant Flow
Contemporary-jazzer sets the mood with “The Yards” Noshir Mody’s new album, “A Love Song,” is highlighted by his elegant…
“Monster” Mike Welch
“Monster” Mike Welch digs deep on “Walking to You Baby” “I was thinking about my late friend, Luther ‘Guitar…
Les Paul Remembered
When news of the passing of Les Paul spread through the guitar community August 13, 2009, reaction was swift and…
Elliot Easton
Driving Classic Cars
The Cars transcended the new-wave movement of the late ’70s by creating a never-duplicated sound. The band’s self-titled debut album…
CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS
Gibson Les Paul Special 3/4
Gibson’s double-cutaway Les Paul Special 3/4 from 1959 is one of the rarest Les Pauls from the “golden era.” It’s…
Carson Creation
One Very Personal Stratocaster
An itinerant Western-music guitarist who befriended Leo Fender and other employees at his up-and-coming company in the early ’50s, Bill…
The Rickenbacker 4000
The model 4000 was not only Rickenbacker’s first foray into the electric-bass market, it was decidedly different from Fender’s Precision…
Revisiting The Jazzmaster
While volumes have been written about its more-famous sibling, the Stratocaster, surprisingly little attention is paid to the Jazzmaster –…
NEWSWIRE
APPROVED GEAR
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Live Wire
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Narrow(field) Win
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Take Flight
Electro-Harmonix Operation Overlord Allied Overdrive
Sound Assault
Like its namesake World War II invasion, Electro-Harmonix’s Operation Overlord Allied Overdrive involves an assault of sorts – though this…
K775V Kay Jazz II and K5970V Jazz Special Bass
A-Ohh-Kay
K775V Kay Jazz II and K5970V Jazz Special Price: $1,495 (K775V Jazz II electric guitar); $1,150 (K5970V Jazz Special electric…
Gibson’s J-45 50s Faded
Lore Holder
In the decade leading up to World War II, guitar builders started scaling up their acoustic offerings to meet the…
Walrus Audio’s Monument Harmonic Tap Tremolo
Delirious Tremors
At some point, nearly every guitarist realizes they simply can’t function without an effects pedal that creates warm, pulsating modulation.…
WHAT ELSE IS NEW
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More Personal
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Rare Pioneer
Cliff Gallup
Crazy Fingers
There was a custom at Owen Bradley Film & Recording Studios in Nashville; artists cut vocal tracks with backing from…
Weissenborn Style#4
The acoustic Hawaiian guitar of Hermann Weissenborn is one of the most specialized instrument designs of the 20th century. Weissenborns…
Oz Noy
Coming to America
When Oz Noy mov-ed to New York City at age 24 in 1996, he was an established guitarist in his…
Tony Gilkyson: Country-Rocker, Punk
Tasty licks On A Vintage Kay An alumnus of country-rock’s Lone Justice and punk-rockers X, Tony Gilkyson plugged his vintage…
