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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…

The Jext Telez Jonathan Wilson’s Canyon Climber, Jext Face
Fuzz Buzz
There’s nothing subtle about Jext Telez stompboxes; they’re about loud colors, loud sounds, and loads of fuzz. The latest creations…

Written In Their Soul: The Stax Songwriter Demos
Various artists
You may think you know Stax, but this seven-CD set of 146 tracks (140 never before released) proves again how…

Gibson GA-CB Custom Built
Gibson GA-CB Preamp tubes: three 6SJ7, two SQ7, two Sj5 Output tubes: two 6L6 Rectifier: 5T4 Controls: Microphone Gain, Instrument…

Bumblefoot
Prog Shred Ain’t Dead
After bursting onto the scene in 1995 with the screwball shred classic The Adventures of Bumblefoot, Ron Thal (a.k.a. Bumblefoot)…

Edgar Winter
Tribute to “Brother Johnny”
Edgar Winter describes making Brother Johnny in tribute to his late brother, blues-rock guitar icon Johnny Winter, as “one of…
Peter Stroud and Audley Freed
Two Guys, Many Guitars, One Big Hat
Many a noteworthy rock and roll band from the Cotton Belt has been propelled by guitar-playin’ good ol’ boys with…
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Carr Skylark Special 1×12
Take Flight
Arriving a little more than 10 years after the original Skylark, Carr Amplifiers’ new Skylark Special adds versatility and enhanced tonal depths to squeeze a lot more into this diminutive…
ARTISTS

Kenny Wayne Shepherd
Laying Down the Blues
Blues-rock suffered a blow in 1990 with the death of Stevie Ray Vaughan. But later in the decade, a crop…

In Memoriam: Tony “T.S. McPhee
Groundhogs leader Tony “T.S.” McPhee ranked with the greatest British blues guitarists, whether solo acoustic or ensemble electric, slide or…
Doobies, Brothers
A Discussion with Tom Johnston and Patrick Simmons
American music rarely is more pure than when it comes from the minds, hands, and mouths of the Doobie Brothers.…

Gwenifer Goes “Cattywomp”
Fierce fingerstyle! Hailing from Wales, former punk-rock drummer Gwenifer Raymond’s fingerstyle playing is inspired by greats like John Fahey and…
CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS

The Gibson GA-20
Behold, this specimen that checks off all the right boxes for fans of vintage amps; beautifully clean, it has a…

Fixing a faulty pickup selector lever
And a few oddball pickups from the Duncan archives
When I use the pickup selector lever switch on my Fender Strato-caster, one of the pickups cuts out. What could…

United They Stood, Part 2
Ghosts of Jersey City
In the history of guitars, the tale of United Guitar Corporation is a ghost story – little documented and lost…

Ray Benson’s Gibson ES-355
Anyone with a taste for real country music – in particular, Western swing – will recognize this guitar. Even though…
NEWSWIRE
APPROVED GEAR
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Live Wire
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Narrow(field) Win
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Take Flight

Dr Z Octal Six 1×12 combo
Valve Variation
Classic guitar amplifiers have made certain vacuum tubes household names (among gearheads) – 12AX7, 12AT7, 6L6, 6V6, EL84, and EL34.…

Larry Alan Guitars’ The Harlot
Siren Song
Hot idea: pack a sturdy-yet-petite 1590B casing with specially selected parts rendering a powerful, variable guitar overdrive, add a couple…

Teye Guitars Gypsy Queen
The Art of Tone
For Austin-based Teye Guitars, taking guitar construction to new artistic heights has been a basic tenet since their inception. Mastermind…

Kochel Resonator
Big-Sky Steel
Self-taught guitar builder Sean Kochel has always been a compulsive tinkerer, even as a child. Years ago, he and his…
WHAT ELSE IS NEW
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And an Archtop Mystery
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Supergroup Alpha

Radial Headload Guitar Amp Load Box
Taming a Shrew
As low-power amps gain in popularity, one wonders what will happen to all the 50- and 100-watt amps starting to…

Pop ’N Hiss: Bruford’s Allan Holdsworth
Landmark Fusion of One of a Kind
Jazz-rock fusion was vastly popular in the mid 1970s, but began to run out of steam as the “smooth jazz”…

The Carr Skylark
Desert-Island Amp
The Carr Skylark Price: $2,390 (list) Contact: www.carramps.com If you could own only a single guitar amp – horror of…

Mike Zito
Mike Zito’s latest serves up large helpings of boogie, blues, and roadhouse-ready rock. His guitar work is stellar as usual…











































