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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…

Mick Ralphs
Good Company
In 1972, one of Britain’s best bands, Mott The Hoople, still hadn’t made any impact on the charts. Its record…

Altamira TD Birdseye Oval Hole
Djangology
Altamira Guitars has made a specialty of classical nylon-string, replica, and gypsy-jazz guitars. The latter are created with the same…

Star Board: Craig Bartock
This month, we take a guided tour of the pedalboard belonging to Craig Bartock, guitarist with Heart. Craig Bartock, a…

Fretprints: Billy Bean
Missing Link of Modern Jazz Guitar
The rediscovery of a missing link is cause for celebration in any field – historic, scientific, or musical. In modern…

Check This Action: Kathy Valentine: HoF Bassist
In the highly recommended documentary, 2020’s The Go-Go’s, Police drummer Stewart Copeland is incredulous to learn that the band had…

EarthQuaker Devices Zoar
Fuzz Fury
An all-analog, transistor-based fuzzbox, EarthQuaker’s new Zoar is billed as a “Dynamic Audio Grinder Distortion Pedal.” In plain English, it…
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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

Dana Sutcliffe
Here’s the Scoop
Many know Dana Sutcliffe from his classic guitar design, the Alvarez Dana Scoop produced from the late 1980s through the…

Christone “Kingfish” Ingram
Heart & Soul Blues
Born and raised in Clarksdale, Mississippi – homeland of the Delta blues – Christone Ingram learned gospel music in the…

Gary Hoey
Reverence and Feel
On Dust & Bones, Gary Hoey continues his foray into blues using one part guitar virtuosity, one part production skill,…

Steve Cropper
Looking Back at Stax
The gloriously soulful music recorded by Stax Records is still entertaining listeners six decades after its release, and the label…
CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS
Dickerson Standard Lap Steel
Though today they are viewed as little more than curious relics of a lost era, during the Great Depression, “mother…

Recording Acoustic Guitars
The Art of Home Recording
Recording an acoustic guitar is very different from recording an electric, employing different microphones, placement, and technique. Here are a…

The Watkins Clubman
The hokey, amphetamine-tempo’d folk music known as “skiffle” was all the rage with Britain’s youth in 1955, and rock and…

National-Dobro 6107A
Preamp tubes: 56, 57 Output tubes: two 2A3 Rectifier: 5Z3 Controls: Volume Output: 6 watts RMS +/- Speaker: one 10″…
NEWSWIRE
APPROVED GEAR
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Live Wire
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Narrow(field) Win
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Take Flight

Killer B Standard
Feel the Buzz
In a marketplace crowded with indie guitar builders, Killer B differentiates its Standard model with uncommon contours and a customizable…

Fender’s Duel Pugilist Distortion & Dual Marine Layer Reverb
Double Trouble
Fender launched its Pugilist Distortion and Marine Layer Reverb in 2018, after VP of Innovation Stan Cotey – who’d previously…

HomeWrecker Pickups
Slumbering Strats, Awake!
In 2011, session guitarist Joshua Hernandez began winding pickups in his living room. From these modest beginnings, and with no…

Genzler Acoustic Array Pro
Pro on the Go
As gigs at coffeehouses, street festivals, and farmers’ markets become more common, a growing legion of performers is being supported…
WHAT ELSE IS NEW
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More Personal
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Rare Pioneer

Andy Stack
Group Therapy
Andy Stack spent the past few years doing gigs in New York City, staying busy as a session player, doing…

Michael Kelly 1957
Bargain Boutique
Michael Kelly 1957 Price: $875 (list) Contact: www.michaelkellyguitars.com Michael Kelly Guitars has steadily gained a reputation for offering big bang…

Johnny Nicholas
Full-Circle in Louisiana
Johnny Nicholas has been playing “roots music” since long before the term existed. A childhood friend of Duke Robillard, he…

1985 Guild Nightbird Prototype
In early 1984, Mark Dronge, son of the Guild founder Alfred Dronge, was president of Guild. That year, Mark and…














































