CATEGORIES

RIVAL SONS
As the Californian rockers release their “cinematic” seventh album, Scott Holiday invites us into his jaw-dropping guitar room to talk mad-scientist fuzz pedals, the merits of musical brainwashing, and why he’s no longer a modder

Supreme Team
Blackstar’s latest Amped product adds built-in effects to its 100-watt head – which is small enough to sit on a pedalboard or studio desktop. And it’s set to be another game-changer

Grand Designs
Taylor has revamped its 'workhorse' rosewood and spruce 400 Series for this year to feature sunburst tops and new inlays. Then we have the innovative V-Class bracing, not to mention the ES2 electronics. A match made in heaven?

GRAHAM NASH
As the CSNY legend releases the \"most personal record\" of his half-century career, he tells us about speaking truth to power, selling his Woodstock D-45, and making up with David Crosby in his final days

GIMME SHELTER
Many British guitar heroes of the 60s started out on budget archtops, and models associated with the early careers of stars retain nostalgia-value today. But what if you thought you had found Keef's actual guitar?

RODRIGO Y GABRIELA
The duo that proved it's possible to rock out on nylonstring guitars returns with a new concept album, inspired by immersing themselves in the spiritual discipline of non-dualism

STRETCHING TIME
Some might say a new guitar needs a few weeks to settle in and that there’s no point in thinking about mods or the like until it has. Dave Burrluck doesn’t quite agree…

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

Passion Project
With small ’shop boutique makers popping up on a seemingly daily basis, what’s different about Paoletti Guitars? We ask the company’s MD, Filippo Martini

Roll Out The Barrels
Let Paoletti transport you to the rolling hills, history and culture of Tuscany with a direct link to a classic wine or two. Oh, and the company makes rather fine guitars! Time for a taste…

True Colours
Three Grand Auditorium models from the Czech Republic manufacturer's catalogue, with price points varying from entry level to top end. What's the difference? Let's find out...

MARTY STUART
As he readies his first studio album in six years, the country legend reflects on being a road dog, surviving Covid, his favourite memories of Johnny Cash and why heartbreak will never go out of fashion

UNEARTHED 'BURST
This undocumented one-owner vintage Les Paul recently arrived at Vintage 'n' Rare Guitars from South Africa. We take 'Sunny' for a spin...

Super 70s
Compared to the hallowed 50s or the swingin’ 60s, when it comes to guitars, the 1970s has long suffered from an image problem.

SAMANTHA FISH
Death Wish Blues is a brand-new collaborative album from Samantha Fish and Jesse Dayton and will see the pair touring the UK later this year. We invited Samantha to our studios to hear the story behind the release

SCOTT HOLIDAY
The Rival Sons guitarist on bad trades, stolen Strats and why character beats pedigree every time

Small Size, Big Tone
The mini-humbucker deserves better than also-ran status as Gibson’s ‘other’ pickup, writes Jamie Dickson

Made To Measure
Most of us are happy with off-the-shelf guitar designs, but there’s nothing quite like ordering up your own custom-made guitar. We ask Maybury Guitars to build us one!

Black Country
Based on the Takamine used by Bruce Springsteen and Bon Jovi, the GD34CE has all of its stablemate’s classic good looks on a budget. But how does it sound?

HÖFNER S7L
How a little known and short-lived guitar from Höfner found its way into the hands of The Stranglers’ Hugh Cornwell around the time of the band’s hit Golden Brown

DAVID LINDLEY 1944-2023
Remembering maxi-instrumentalist slide guitar master David Lindley, who died at the age of 78 after a long illness

GARY ROSSINGTON 1951-2023
The survivor of the infamous Lynyrd Skynyrd plane crash, who helmed the band for a further three decades and gave countless gunslingers their start, has died aged 71

Korina, Korina
This intriguing collaboration between Epiphone and Gibson's fabled Custom Shop yields faithful reproductions of two of the most brilliantly radical guitars ever devised

SOUND AND VISION
Timeless in tone and style yet built with advanced lutherie techniques, Furch Guitars deserves your serious attention. We travel to the Czech Republic to find out more…

Cloud Nine
Strymon gives the BigSky Cloud algorithm its own pedal as the first in a new, more compact series

JOHN FRUSCIANTE
The Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist spills the beans about his love of Eddie Van Halen and his attraction to clean tones, with a first-hand dive into seven guitars behind the group’s hits. John Frusciante’s tech, Henry Trejo, and former tech, Dave Lee, fill in the details

MOONSHINE - Pink Floyd: 50 Years Of The Dark Side Of The Moon
Pink Floyd's masterwork, The Dark Side Of The Moon, celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. Although it remains one of the greatest studio albums of all time, Floyd's opus began life as a live performance and it went on to be toured twice in Floyd's career: once in the early to mid 1970s and again in 1994. In this special edition, we examine why the 20-year-evolution of Dark Side as a hypnotically powerful live performance was a longer and even more fascinating journey than the creation of the album itself. We also find out how the journey to The Dark Side Of The Moon shaped David Gilmour's gear choices as he strove for the signature tone we know so well today, 50 years on

'Bear Necessities
Jamie Dickson asks Stuart Robson of Sunbear Pickups for advice on getting more from your magnets

Hold The Line
Alex Bishop takes extra special care to \"measure twice and cut once\" in the crucial task of neck joining

Brand Awareness
Neville Marten recalls moments when his gear, no matter how fantastic its pedigree, was not quite enough to impress certain onlookers