Careful With That Axe

Preparing David Gilmour’s Guitar Collection For Auction Is A Daunting Task, Not Just Because Of The Iconic Nature Of The Instruments – But Because Some Are Incredibly Rare Vintage Pieces In Their Own Right. How Do You Put A Value On All That? We Join Christie’s Guitar Expert, Kerry Keane, To Find Out

On The Turning Away

It Is, Undoubtedly, The Guitar Sale Of The Century. On 20 June, David Gilmour’s Most Prized Guitars, Including The Celebrated Black Strat, Go Under The Hammer In New York. We Join Gilmour To Hear Why He’s Letting Go Of So Many Of His Most Cherished Guitars – And Examine Some Of The Icons On Sale

Radioshop Pickups

Six years ago, two ex-schoolteachers with a mutual love for great guitar tone went into business building pickups with a few twists that are uniquely their own…

Sea Change

Guitarist gets the inside perspective on the Grand Pacific in Nashville with master luthier Andy Powers, who reveals “it’s like an entirely different thing than what we’re known for”

The Bright Side

‘My strat is too bright,’ said a forumite. But compared to what? Dave Burrluck offers some basic advice about listening before you mod

Guitar Man

On the eve of JJ Cale’s first posthumous album, his widow and former bandmate, Christine Lakeland, gave us a tour of his guitar collection. This is the truth behind the legend’s one-off models, his refusal to release a signature guitar – and the gig that meant he never trusted a tech again…

Ariel Posen

With his long-awaited debut album, How Long, now out in the wild, the Canadian songwriter joins us for his second Guitarist masterclass, sharing the tricks of his well-stocked pedalboard and his go-to guitar tunings

ESP USA

What happens when you take exacting Japanese guitar design and craft it in California, the spiritual home of the electric guitar? We meet the elite luthiers of the ESP USA workshop to find out…

Labour Of Lovetone

25 years after Lovetone’s first pedals launched, designer Dan Coggins explains how this tiny British brand’s effects ended up on U2 and Radiohead hits and acquired legendary status among tone heads...

SE: The Affordable PRS

It’s been 18 years since the first ‘offshore’ SE was introduced to the PRS range. Making guitars in Asia, however, hasn’t always been as straightforward as it might seem…

Longtermers

A few months’ gigging, recording and everything that goes with it – welcome to Guitarist’s longterm test report

Tal Wilkenfeld

Top bassist on the reviving qualities of tea and a ghastly experience at 35,000ft

70 Years Of The Telecaster From Prototype To Present

FEW DESIGNS EVOLVE FROM PROTOTYPE TO SHOWROOM FLOOR IN JUST A COUPLE OF YEARS AND THEN GO ON TO REMAIN RELEVANT – AND, IN THEIR ESSENCE, UNCHANGED – FOR THE NEXT 70 YEARS. SEVEN DECADES ON, WE PAY TRIBUTE TO THE FIRST, AND JUST MAYBE THE GREATEST, SOLID BODY ELECTRIC GUITAR: THE FENDER TELECASTER. JOIN US AS WE TRACE ITS EVOLUTION FROM SINGLE-PICKUP ESQUIRE ANCESTRY TO THE LATEST ACOUSTASONIC INCARNATION OF THIS AGELESS ELECTRIC

Longtermers - Fender American Professional Deluxe Shawbucker

A few months’ gigging, recording and everything that goes with it – welcome to Guitarist ’s longterm test report

Remembering Renbourn

John Renbourn’s death sent shock waves throughout the acoustic guitar world when he passed away in 2015. We asked Clive Carroll, who toured with John extensively, for his reminiscences about the man and his music

Origin Effects

This issue, we venture to the leafy outreaches of Buckinghamshire to discover more about an effects manufacturer whose pedals are turning up on the ’boards of top players all around the world

Tailoring Your Tone

In the fourth part of our PAF focus, Mark Stow of OX4 Pickups explains how customised PAF repros can help you achieve the ultimate tone

Telebration!

Dave Burrluck celebrates the first, and still the best, modding platform: the Fender telecaster

The Darkness

15 years ago, Justin and Dan Hawkins of The Darkness swept the board at the BRIT awards. Catapulted onto the world stage, they arced high then crashed back to earth in flames when the band split in 2006. With the band now firmly back together and making joyous, hard-edged rock once again, we join the brothers to hear their advice on how to squeeze top performance from Marshall amps – and learn why they “didn’t come here to ride the teacups…”

True Colours

From the whites of early prototypes and 50s hot-rod colours, through the many shades of Fiesta Red and beyond, we take a look at Fender’s colourful history with David Davidson of Songbirds Guitar Museum

Riding With the King

Gordon Giltrap gets a second signature model from the ‘affordable boutique’ guys at Fret-King. We take the production prototype for a spin…

Scott Holiday

Rival sons’ guitar man on the perils of touring Europe in a van nicknamed ‘Castle Grayskull’

Keeley Tone WorksTaTion £239

John Mayer helped bring this ‘multi-pedal’ solution out of retirement, with a no-fuss front-end for your amp that can save you ’board space and cash…

'61 Gibson Les Paul 'SG' Custom

The Gibson Les Paul Custom underwent a sea-change in 1961 that confuses some people even today.

Makoto Terasaki

One of Japan’s most influential luthiers, Mr Makoto Terasaki’s designs have made Takamine guitars a near-universal presence on the world’s concert stages. He joins us to bust some myths about acoustic tone and share his setup secrets...

Meris Polymoon

Delay with a difference! This aptly named pedal will put your sound into several exotic orbits at once and open up new soundworlds

Here I Go Again - Fool For The Touring

In the first of a two-part tour diary blues rock legend Bernie gives us an AAA pass to his run with Gov’t Mule

The Gary Moore Collection Auction

Bonhams Rock Memorabilia Sale, Knightsbridge 28 June

Allan Holdsworth 1946 – 2017

Just before we went to press with this issue, we heard the news that Allan Holdsworth had died.

Catherine MCGrath

With over a million streams on spotify, Catherine McGrath’s EP, One, is creating quite a stir on the international country scene…