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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. …

Epiphone Coronet
This Epiphone Coronet from 1959 was probably a shocking sight to a guitar buyer of the late ’50s. Not only…
Analog Man BC183 Sun Face
Here Comes the (Black Hole) Sun
Analog Man BC183 Sun Face Price: $185 Contact: www.analogman.com Mike Piera has been building his line of stomp boxes bearing…

The PRS Studio
Bird Watcher
The new Studio model is the culmination of many decades of work from the design minds at PRS, as they…

The Birth of Newman Guitars
Newman Guitars was established in Austin, TX in 1977 by Ted Newman Jones. Ted was a pioneer of design…

Jim Lauderdale & The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys
The Long and Lones-ome Letting Go
Bluegrass became part of Lauderdale’s oeuvre decades ago through his collaborations with Ralph Stanley and Roland White. East Tennessee’s Grammy-nominated…

Walrus Audio Messner Stage-One Overdrive
Into Thin Air
First off, who the heck is this Messner guy? Well, in 1978, mountaineer Reinhold Messner became the first person to…
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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

Marty Friedman
Wall of Shred
Between playing on Cacophony’s landmark 1987 shred album, Speed Metal Symphony, and Megadeth’s 1990 classic, Rust in Peace, Marty Friedman…

Wayne Kramer
Renaissance Man
Wayne Kramer has earned his stripes as an American music icon. Whether abusing his signature Strat, scoring a film, or…

Fretprints: Johnny Meeks
Rock-and-Roll Guitar Pioneer
In the 1950s, “rock” music was a melange of blues, country, and hillbilly that also snared elements from boogie-woogie, gospel,…

Fanny’s June Millington
Grrrl Power’s First Flash in Rock
Before The Runaways, before the Go-Go’s and Bangles, and before there were Riot grrrls, there was Fanny. One of the…
CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS

Five Classic Amps
A Tone-Spotter’s Arsenal To Cover It All
When it comes to classic guitar tones – whether it’s blues through a Dumble, country through a Fender, rock through…

The Airline GIM 9151A
After The Fall
1970 Montgomery Ward Airline GIM 9151A Preamp tubes: three 12AX7 Output tubes: four 6L6GC Rectifier: solid-state Controls: Volume, Treble, Bass…

Rocky Athas’ Texas ’Tude!
Genuine Lone Star Jams Dallas guy Rocky Athas built a career playing blues in the vain of T-Bone and SRV,…

The Story of Nudie’s Mosrite Mandolin
In the mid 1970s, Kosmo and Kathy Cominos collected knives, jukeboxes, wristwatches, etc… But their favorite finds were celebrity-associated musical…
NEWSWIRE
APPROVED GEAR
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Live Wire
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Narrow(field) Win
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Take Flight

Cordoba 15CFM
Hawai’i Not?
The ukulele phenomenon shows no signs of slowing, with models ranging from well under $100 on up to thousands. The…

Redplate Amps’ BluesMachine66
Welcome to the Machine
Redplate Amps’ BluesMachine66 Price: $2,799 (list) Contact: www.redplateamps.com Redplate builds boutique amplifiers with point-to-point wiring and meticulous hands-on attention to…
Taylor AD11e-SB
Small Gem
This latest addition to Taylor’s American Dream line builds on its Grand Theater (GT) series of small-body guitars, the goal…

Gretsch G5191BK Tim Armstrong Electromatic
Cool Player, Punk Heart
Few punk-rock guitarists have made their mark like Tim Armstrong. Through his work with renowned punkers Rancid, Armstrong has torn…
WHAT ELSE IS NEW
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Five Alternative Club Classic Amps of the ’50s
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Remembering a Heavy Hero

Pop ’N Hiss: UFO’s Lights Out
Shining Bright
Most critics and fans agree that the finest studio album by British hard-rockers UFO was 1977’s Lights Out. The group’s…

Fender Mike McCready Strat
Evener Flow
Mike McCready’s beat up sunburst ’60s Strat looms large in the history of grunge; heard on Pearl Jam’s illustrious body…

Fender’s 6G9 Tremolux
Preamp tubes: two 7025, two 12AX7 Output tubes: two 6BQ5/EL84 Rectifier: GZ34 Controls: Bright channel: Volume, Treble, Bass; Normal channel:…

Ted Nugent’s 1962 Gibson Byrdland
Anyone who’s ever caught Ted Nugent on tour has seen this instrument, and during the Summer of 2003 it was…













































