Latest Features
“With a through-neck, two DiMarzio Super Distortion pickups, an onboard booster preamp, and a fixed adjustable wrap-around bridge, the B.C. Rich Mockingbird was the ultimate hard-rock weapon”: How a small Los Angeles shop changed the rock guitar game
Used by the Runaways’ Lita Ford, the Alice Cooper tandem of Dick Wagner and Steve Hunter, Slash, and Aerosmith's Joe Perry, the Mockingbird made the models of the '50s and ’60s look like old hat upon its mid-'70s debut
“Comically ridiculous appearance aside, this guitar plays great”: Boasting “a Mayan temple of angles” this custom Crosley Radio Tone guitar combines bizarro looks with snappy, versatile tone
Made from a blue-and-gold 1950 Crosley E-15TN tube radio, this custom build has a truly wild appearance that belies its sound and playability. No matter what music you play on this guitar, seeing it will make people smile
“Breathtakingly beautiful and strikingly different from just about everything that has come before”: An homage to the original Paisley Tele, Joe Yanuziello's stunning, Japanese paper-adorned Gold Paisley Washi Paper Deluxe is a guitar like no other
With a precision-engineered, modded Bigsby, a trio of Curtis Novak’s Guyatone-style GT-V Tokyo Vintage pickups, and a fascinating blend of Telecaster, Les Paul, Guyatone, and Harmony aesthetics, this gorgeous build has incredible looks and equally incredible tone
“An impressive rethink of the best of early British rock tones”: The Tone King Royalist MkIII 1x12 combo is reviving the attitude of the British invasion
However you slice it, this amp cleverly packages classic British rock tones to suit a wide range of 21st century performance needs
“A fun vintage find that delivers unique and useful sounds”: Gibson’s GA-79RVT combo is an underrated gem – and cheaper than many of its rivals
One of the world’s earliest reverb-equipped combos, the GA-79RVT is a quirky, temperamental beast that nonetheless is capable of producing a wide array of sweet vintage tones
"A guitar that sounds as aggressive as it looks, with four gold-foil pickups wired in series, resulting in a very hot output…" The green monster that is the 1970 Kimberly Deluxe
More attitude than Godzilla, it's a mean-in-green Japan-made classic
"It was all there in the parlor guitar: that depth and inspirational tone. The only reason guitars got bigger was to compete with barking dogs and juggling children in vaudeville…" The big history of small acoustics
Richard Hoover unravels the history and mystery of parlor guitars
"The Bryn Athyn Cathedral in Pennsylvania called me about a stack of leftover Brazilian rosewood that would have been a living tree in the 1700s": How Santa Cruz's Richard Hoover sources antique materials for his luxurious lutherie
Santa Cruz captain Richard Hoover applied his ultimate artistic expression to his historic Vault Series that made its stunning debut at NAMM 2024 last week.
Eric Clapton's "Beano" Les Paul, George Harrison's 1965 Rickenbacker, Joe Satriani's "Pearly" prototype: Six stolen guitars that are still missing
The stories behind six famous purloined axes.
“I thought whatever made me happy’s gonna make everybody happy. I didn’t think it out”: How legendary guitar designer Les Paul bet on the “Black Beauty” in 1954 and lost…
Despite its glammed up features and appearance, Gibson’s “Black Beauty” Les Paul Custom aka “the fretless wonder” was no match against the glitzy Goldtop. Discover its rocky road to guitar greatness
