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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…

Carlos Santana
Musical Outreach
Carlos Santana’s creative drive is obsessive, restless – and relentless. For his latest album, Blessings and Miracles, he pooled the…

Grace Bowers
Wine on Venus
It would be easy to dismiss this 18-year-old as a prefab gimmick, but Grace Bowers’ guitar work ain’t no hype.…
Alex Machacek
Stripped Down
When you get the thumbs-up from icons like John McLaughlin and Chick Corea, it’s got to feel good. But, fusion…

The Yosco No. 2
Tenor Banjo
The banjo and American music cross paths in a remarkably entangled web of complexity. The banjo was brought to the…

Have Guitar Will Travel – Featuring 001 Billy Rowe
Billy Rowe is the guitarist/co-founder of Jetboy, which rose to prominence in the mid ’80s while touring with some of…

Top 50 Guitar Songs of the ’70s
By the Readers and Staff of Vintage Guitar Vintage Guitar marked 25 years of publication with a year full of…
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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

Jay Geils
More of That Jazz
Guitar maestro Jay Geils is a musical chameleon. In the ’70s, the J. Geils Band kicked out nine records that…

Jock Bartley
The Return of Firefall
If you listened to pop radio in the late ’70s, it was hard to miss Firefall, whose soft-rock hits were…

Nils Lofgren
Great American Journeyman
Nils Lofgren’s resumé stretches 47 years and counting. He joined Neil Young’s band at age 19 and was a member…

Lincoln Goines
The Bass Choir
Check out the credits on many jazz, pop, and Latin albums over the past four decades and you’ll see the…
CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS

Silver Lining
Gibson and the Master Models
Recognized today as visionary, when introduced in 1922, Gibson’s Master Model L-5 and F-5 were expensive to produce and lacked…

Rickenbacker 345
Rickenbacker guitars have a look, feel, and sound that is remarkably distinct from those made by any other manufacturers. In…

Orange OR80 Combo
Sunshine State
Created when amps were huge and men were men – or at least had roadies to carry the gear –…

Freddie Green
Artistry in Rhythm
Fellow musicians called him “Pep” or “Pepperhead.” He was also known as “Mr. Rhythm,” and he could drive a band…
NEWSWIRE
APPROVED GEAR
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Live Wire
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Narrow(field) Win
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Take Flight

Martin D-28 Standard
If nobody mentioned that Martin’s new Standard line had been updated, a player might be forgiven for not immediately noticing…

Soldano SLO Plus Super Lead Overdive
Icon In Reach
If the iconic Soldano SLO-100 is perpetually on your wish list but its price tag keeps you from pulling the…

Martin GPCE Inception Maple
Bold Beginning
Almost 100 years ago, Martin reinvented the flat-top box when it began delivering X-braced, square-shouldered, and oversized dreadnoughts. Now, the…

Silvertone’s 1449 and 1423
Classic Comeback
Silvertone’s 1449 and 1423 Price: $739 list/$479 street (1423); $629 list/$399 street (1449) Info: www.silvertoneclassic.com With an up-swell of interest…
WHAT ELSE IS NEW
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More Personal
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Rare Pioneer

Tone Pump Solara Studio
Clean ’N Dirty
Tone Pump Solara Studio Price: $1,099 (list) Contact: www.tonepumpamplifiers.com The story is a familiar one. A guy learns to repair…

Joanna Connor
Still Rising
Joanna Connor’s new album is a killer batch of tunes with a live feel infused by the spirit of Chicago’s…

The Return of Slash and The Conspirators
4 From the Floor
In the weeks before they gathered to record a new album in the spring of 2021, guitar legend Slash, frontman/songwriter…

Blues Icon John Mayall
Check This Action
Few living blues artists could merit a package of 35 CDs. But what makes John Mayall: The First Generation most…












































