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