THE WORLD MIGHT world-class designs getting still be in a state of recovery, but it’s been a spectacular year for gear, with all kinds of enticing offerings and launched across the past 12 months. If anything, the guitar trade has been remarkably buoyant — maintaining momentum even when the biggest events and exhibitions were unable to take place. There were some big surprises, like recording hardware and software specialists Universal Audio moving into the effect pedal market, Gene Simmons teaming up with Gibson for his own G² guitars and basses, Boss launching their very first six-string, as well as a whole host of truly innovative ideas coming from companies old and new. So, without further ado, here’s our roundup of some of the best guitar gear released in 2021.
GIBSON
JERRY CANTRELL “WINO” LES PAUL CUSTOM
$8,999, gibson.com
They’ve signed a few big names over the last couple of years, but teaming up with Jerry Cantrell was an especially wise move for Gibson. The Seattle riff lord has always used Les Pauls alongside his G&L guitars — one of which being the Wine Red Les Paul Custom that inspired his first “Wino” signature. Limited to only 100 and each hand-signed by Cantrell, the guitars feature Gibson’s 490R and 498T pickups, as well as a Fishman Powerbridge piezo pickup-equipped bridge to cover the acoustic tones Alice in Chains have long utilized. With a Murphy Lab aged finish, it’s an instrument that looks as good as it sounds. “The Wino has a bit more of a rounder tone than the other three Les Pauls I own… it’s a fuller, richer and warmer sound,” Cantrell explained in August.
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Kittie - Guitarists Morgan Lander and Tara Mcleod discuss the canadian metal powerhouse's unexpected rebirth — by fire!
Guitarists Morgan Lander and Tara McLeod explain that making new music was “not on their bingo card” when the band regrouped in 2022 for a few festival appearances, preferring to think of the sets as more of a “final lap” than a new beginning. But drilling into old favorites — whether the nu-flavored teenage slams of 1999’s Spit or the more venomously groove-thrashed tunes of their late-’00s period — revealed that despite not having raged together in years, there was something undeniably special about Kittie’s musical connection. “Playing with these girls is like putting on an old pair of pants,” Lander says. “It’s very comfortable — and it looks good too.”
McKinley James - Why all you really need is a guitar, a drummer and some serious low-end six-string skills
Nashville-based blues rocker McKinley James came flying out of the gate in 2022 with his Dan Auerbachproduced EP, Still Standing By. His momentum screeched to a halt, however, when his keyboardist split, leaving only him and his drummer, Jason Smay (who also happens to be his father). “For a moment, I was like, ‘What are we going to do?” James says. “But then I thought, ‘Well, other bands have succeeded as a duo. Maybe we can, too.”
TC Electronic TC 2290P Dynamic Digital Delay
THE MID EIGHTIES was a golden age for digital delay, thanks to the proliferation of pro- and studio-quality rack effects units from Eventide, Korg, Lexicon, Roland and Yamaha.
Danelectro Doubleneck
WHEN I THINK back to the Seventies, the famously coined “Me” decade, it seems the only surefire way you could leave audiences awestruck was to strap on a doubleneck guitar.
CARLOS ALOMAR
The former David Bowie guitarist talks Young Americans, Station to Station and the Berlin Trilogy, plus recording (and co-writing) \"Fame\" with John Lennon
GEORGE TERRY
It turns out Eric Clapton's Seventies guitarist (and co-writer of \"Lay Down Sally\") also played on ABBA's \"Voulez-Vous.\" Below, he looks back on a decade-plus of E.C., Bee Gees, Diana Ross and more
FRANK MARINO
The Mahogany Rush frontman charts the band's Seventies lows and highs, plus SG's, pickups and how he was definitely not visited by the ghost of Jimi Hendrix
DEWAYNE "BLACKBYRD" MCKNIGHT
The jazz/funk/fusion veteran on his smooth segue from Herbie Hancock sideman to full-on Funkdaledic member -plus his '70s gear and what he learned from Shuggie Otis
PAT TRAVERS
The Canadian-born virtuoso discusses the rise and fall of the Pat Travers Band, witnessing the U.K. punk revolution and the riotous roots of \"Snortin' Whiskey\"
JOE PERRY
The iconic guitarist looks back on Aerosmith in the Seventies, the decade that literally made and temporarily broke apart those Bad Boys from Boston
