Music is the universal language
“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” - Luke 2:14
Guitar.com
Kirk Hammett co-founded pedal brand KHDK Electronics is now making guitars
Kirk Hammett co-founded pedal brand KHDK Electronics has branched out into guitar building, with a range of new models debuted at the recent Guitar Summit 2025 in Mannheim, Germany.
While info is relatively sparse at this time, we do know that the guitars unveiled sport some unconventional shapes, which some commenters have picked up on…
That said, it looks like some of the shapes are inspired by classic designs, including a model reminiscent of a Les Paul with P-90 pickups and Bigsby vibrato, an Explorer-style model, and what looks to be an SG-inspired double cut.
In response to one user on its Instagram post unveiling the guitars, who wrote, “I’m so sick of copyrights, all it does is make companies release ugly guitar shapes,” KHDK simply replied: “We love ugly guitars.”
As we say, information surrounding spec sheets for these guitars or pricing is few and far between at this stage, but we’ll endeavour to keep you in the loop as we know more…
Founded in 2012 by Kirk Hammett and collaborator David Karon, KHDK has, until now, been a pedal brand, with signature stompboxes designed for the likes of Deftones’ Chino Moreno, Anthrax’s Scott Ian and Avenged Sevenfold’s Zacky Vengeance.
The brand’s foray into electric guitars is a bold one, and a move not often undertaken by pedal brands.
Visit KHDK Electronics for more information as it comes out.
The post Kirk Hammett co-founded pedal brand KHDK Electronics is now making guitars appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
“I’ll never forget the sound of 82,000 people singing back at me”: Watch Sophie Lloyd open the Women’s Rugby World Cup Final with a 5-minute shred medley
Last weekend, Sophie Lloyd opened the Women’s Rugby World Cup Final with a stunning five-minute shred medley, before the game that would ultimately see England triumph over Canada.
In an Instagram post uploaded shortly following the event, the guitarist calls the occasion “one of the proudest moments of my life”, adding: “It felt like such an empowering day for women everywhere and I’m so honoured to have played a part in it.”
Now, speaking to Metal Hammer, Lloyd reveals that she was entrusted by organisers to “take their vision into my hands and create something new”. “I loved the song choices and had the best time composing the arrangement,” she says.
“Walking onto that pitch, I could really feel the support of everyone there, it was such a powerful moment of unity. Rock and roll has a way of bringing people together, and I’ll never forget the sound of 82,000 people singing Livin’ on a Prayer back at me.
“The whole day felt bigger than music or sport; it was about women showing strength, power and unity on a global stage. It was incredibly empowering, and I’m beyond honoured to have been part of it. Massive respect to every player who left it all out on the pitch, and huge congratulations to the Red Roses for making history and bringing the cup home.”
Sophie Lloyd rose to fame posting shred videos of classic songs to her YouTube channel. Her considerable following – 1.25 million on YouTube and 1.3 million on Instagram at the time of writing – even caught the attention of superstar Machine Gun Kelly, who drafted her into his backing band in 2022.
For her World Cup final performance, Lloyd wove together a medley of several tracks, combining her own track Battleground with Bon Jovi’s hit Livin’ On a Prayer and Black Eyed Peas Pump It
This performance was a pit stop before Lloyd hits the road this month with Deep Purple’s Glenn Hughes, whom she’ll be playing with as a special guest on his Chosen Years tour, with dates across the UK starting in October.
The post “I’ll never forget the sound of 82,000 people singing back at me”: Watch Sophie Lloyd open the Women’s Rugby World Cup Final with a 5-minute shred medley appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
“They were expecting him to say, ‘Can you turn the bass up?’ And he probably never did”: …And Justice For All producer says James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich “hated” that Jason Newsted was a Metallica fan
![[L-R] Jason Newsted and James Hetfield of Metallica](https://guitar.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Jason-Newsted-and-James-Hetfield-of-Metallica@2000x1500.jpg)
Though one of the iconic records in the history of thrash and prog metal, Metallica’s landmark 1988 album …And Justice For All has not been without its critics, mostly pointing to the lack of volume on Jason Newsted’s bass lines.
The album’s producer Flemming Rasmussen has put forth several theories as to why the band opted for a reduction in bass volume, including last year when he suggested they did so to “get a reaction out of” Newsted, as he had joined the band as a fan.
Now, in a new interview with Chile’s Futuro [via Blabbermouth], Rasmussen explains that the lack of bass on the album may have been due to James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich wanting to better hear their guitar and drum parts, respectively.
As the story goes, Rasmussen “had to say no to doing that album [at first]” because he was fully booked, and so the band worked with a series of “hotshot Los Angeles mixers”.
“They started it out with Mike Clink,” he says. “And then three weeks into January, after they’d been in the studio for three weeks, Lars called me up and said, ‘Oh, Flemming, when can you come?’ And I put all my sessions together and postponed some of them. And I went over there [on] 14 February and recorded for five months.
“And by the time I got there, they already got some hotshot Los Angeles mixers, Steve Thompson and Michael Barbiero, to mix it.”
Rasmussen explains how the band listened to what those producers had done, and said: “no, no, no. Where’s my drum sound? Where’s my guitar sound?”
“And actually Lars said, ‘Now take the bass down so you can just hear it,’” he continues. “They did that… And then once [they’d] done that, he said, ‘Take it three dB more down.’ So, it’s Lars and James that decided, and why they did that, I’ve asked them a thousand times. I do not know.”
Flemming Rasmussen also doubles down on his assertion that the band didn’t like that Jason Newsted joined Metallica as a fan.
“I think the reason why they turned the bass down is, like 50 percent of it is because they were on tour with Van Halen, and they flew in and heard the mix,” he goes on. “And I think that’s the point where Lars and James realised that, ‘We don’t have Cliff anymore. It’s not his bass. It’s a totally different sound.’ And I just think they couldn’t relate to that at that point…
The other half is what they hated most about Jason was that he was such a Metallica fan, so every time they asked him anything, he just did it. So I think they took it down just to piss him off, ‘cause they were expecting him to say, ‘Can you turn the bass [up]?’ And he probably never did. That’s why the bass is so low. But I don’t know.”
Despite its lack of bass volume, …And Justice For All has cemented itself as one of the most classic metal albums of all time, hosting tracks like One, Harvester of Sorrow, Blackened and Dyers Eve.
The album’s mix has even prompted some savvy fans, though, to ‘fix’ the audio by ramping up Jason Newsted’s bass parts. Check out this fan-remastered version of Blackened below, and compare it to the original:
The post “They were expecting him to say, ‘Can you turn the bass up?’ And he probably never did”: …And Justice For All producer says James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich “hated” that Jason Newsted was a Metallica fan appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Meet Man/Woman/Chainsaw, the London art-punks who love jamming with their dads and chasing the perfect BPM
For a while there, it seemed like solo stars were keeping the music industry afloat. Think Taylor Swift’s Eras tour or Beyoncé’s Renaissance. But if this summer’s festivals are anything to go by, then guitar bands are back — in a big way. Take the post-pandemic pop of Isle of Wight wonders Wet Leg, who amped up their two-piece into a full-blown fivesome. Or Fat Dog, dubbed “the wildest band in Britain,” pushing punk with skronking sax and onstage hi-jinks.
Now from the same South London scene comes Man/Woman/Chainsaw, a six-person art ensemble fusing virtuoso violin lines with the furious tempo of a Black Midi backline. For guitarist Billy Doyle, the shift towards these sizable setups was inevitable. “It’s turning away from that 2000s-2010s indie sound of four-piece, all-male bands. Like, how fucking wacky can we get? In five years, people will say, ‘What the fuck was going on in the 2020s with all the six-piece bands?’” “With saxophone and timpani,” quips frontman/guitarist Billy Ward.
Despite the band’s eclectic output, bandleaders Ward and bassist Vera Leppänen bonded at school over the classic riff catalogue. “My first riff was Smoke on the Water,” laughs Leppänen. “My dad made me learn a lot of KISS songs. We jam a lot together, and still do that whenever I see him.” Meanwhile, Ward was picking up Nirvana before stumbling upon their more angular counterparts. “When we started the band, it was a lot more chaotic. Sonic Youth was a big touch point for tunings,” he recalls. You can hear those nods in last year’s Ode To Clio single, which alternates four and five-bar phrasing as the track builds to a frenzied crescendo. But it’s how these cleverly mastered moments land with the crowd that spurs the sextet on.
“There are moments when we’re writing things,” explains Ward, “and we think, ‘Okay, that’s where the drama is, and then we do it live, and the audience responds to a totally different bit!” Doyle noticed the impact on stage, too. “When you see people responding to a song, it’s a big adrenaline kick. Trying to remain composed with your playing is tricky when you’re excited by watching people move around.” Leppänen insists there could be more of that, though. “At Boomtown, I tried to figure out the BPM that made people move — around 120. But people don’t wiggle enough at our shows.”
Stacked Up
Last year’s Eazy Peazy possesses a few possible crowd-swellers. Recorded in Eastbourne’s Echo Zoo Studio with Gilla Band’s Dan Fox, the five-track EP found the group digging into the playbox, feeding violinist Clio Harwood’s strings straight through full guitar stacks and a sub bass and cranking up the vintage Selmer amplifiers, despite the lack of master volume. “If you turn them up, they sound better!” admits Ward. “But the most fun thing was the Watkins Copicat tape echo. There’s a lot of that to drive the guitar and the violin by cranking the preamp.”
Ward’s obsession with bending sound extends to his instruments too. “My first proper guitar was a Fender Player Jaguar. I still think a Jaguar is the coolest-looking guitar, especially with the plates.” Not content with the off-the-rack model, though, Ward began experimenting. “I’m such a perfectionist that I very quickly started to mod that guitar. I stripped the finish off it, painted it white, changed all the pickups, and the trem.”
The Frankenstein fettling didn’t go unnoticed in their South London setting, however. “Some asshole stole it from The Windmill about a year and a half into us doing shows!” he exclaims. “They just grabbed the case! But that’s fine. I hope they can never get the action right. I hope they’re making shit music with it, and may your riffs always suck.”
For all the sonic explorations, it’s easy to forget that Man/Woman/Chainsaw are still just a bunch of pals having a good time. Too much in some cases when I quiz Leppänen about her memories of the studio. “I had to leave for talking when we were doing overdubs,” she admits bashfully. “Because there are six people, right? Six teenagers, and then one person in there doing takes, and five people on the outside, talking shit, backseat producing, having a little wine. Then Dan’s like, ‘Guys, I actually can’t work. You need to leave!’”
Image: Sophie Barloc
Shifting Perceptions
If Eazy Peazy saw the group capturing their lairy live energy, then this year’s double A-side ManDog/Adam&Steve sees the collective sharpening those chaotic compositions and leaning on a more traditional rock and roll bedrock. A notable shift from his early Thurston Moore-inspired soundscapes, as Ward explains. “I quickly realised that alternate tunings come with a big bag of problems, and you could just get a big swamp of notes. Now I always stay in standard, and it’s more classic guitar stuff like The Rolling Stones.”
That’s true of the players’ latest instrument choices, too. Ward’s handling a fresh-looking tomato red Stratocaster on our call while Doyle remains loyal to his Telecaster, inspired by players like King Krule and Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood. Leppänen began on a Wunjo Bass-bought Tanglewood, but after a few early Chainsaw shows, the then-sixteen-year-old musician needed an upgrade. “I said to my dad, ‘Look, I’m in this band. We should probably get me an instrument!’ We got the ESP LTD Surveyor in pearly white.”
Since then, and thanks to the band’s inclusion in this year’s Fender Next Class of 2025 series, she’s added a new number to her live set-up. No awkward pitching necessary. “I’ve always wanted a P-bass,” she beams. So, as studious members of the latest class, what would the Chainsaw string section say is their greatest learning from life on the road so far? Ward’s learnings come straight from the heart. “Don’t overcomplicate shit. You don’t need 10 million things to make your guitar sound clean or dirty. Your performance will be better if you simplify”.
While Doyle, the quieter of the trio, is more reflective. “Treat performances with a bad vibe like an actor would. Leave a shit day behind while you’re on stage.” And proving that Gen Z continues to transform the very premise of self-care, Leppänen adds deadpan. “It’s just self-care shit, and I don’t mean doing a face mask!”
The post Meet Man/Woman/Chainsaw, the London art-punks who love jamming with their dads and chasing the perfect BPM appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
“After that came Black Sabbath, and after that came Deep Purple”: Donovan believes his track Hurdy Gurdy Man was the original inspiration for both metal and the formation of Led Zeppelin
Through the “similarities” between Glasgow and Liverpool – as well as his perceived connection to the divine, Scottish singer-songwriter Donovan developed a fraternity with The Beatles in the 1960s.
Donovan – full name Donovan Phillips Leitch – would later join the Fab Four on their visit to India in 1968 to practice transcendental meditation; both Donovan and George Harrison shared a fascination with Eastern spirituality, as the story goes.
Their respective experiences on the trip led to the Beatles landmark White Album, and Donovan’s The Hurdy Gurdy Man, which were released in November and October that year.
His album’s title track is a brooding yet groovy mid-tempo song, with counterplay between electric guitar and sitar. And in a new interview with The Telegraph, Donovan details how the track may have paved the way for heavy metal, and even inspired Led Zeppelin.
“Is it possible that this anticipated heavy metal? After that came Black Sabbath, and after that came Deep Purple,” he says.
As he explains, the track featured a performance by John Paul Jones, who would later go on to form Led Zeppelin with Jimmy Page.
“John Paul Jones and Jimmy Page were very strong session guys for me,” says 79-year-old Donovan. “At that period when Hurdy Gurdy Man was released, that’s when those two guys put the band together.
Donovan explains how he doesn’t “want to say I created Led Zeppelin,” but “Let’s say John Paul Jones saw the possibilities.
Whether Hurdy Gurdy Man was a precursor to heavy metal is debatable; its distorted guitar lines certainly suggest it may have had some influence, and it’s worth noting that it predates The Beatles’ Helter Skelter, often regarded as the track which paved the way for the metal genre.
The post “After that came Black Sabbath, and after that came Deep Purple”: Donovan believes his track Hurdy Gurdy Man was the original inspiration for both metal and the formation of Led Zeppelin appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Judas Priest’s Richie Faulkner works “three times a day” with a physio on the road to manage the damage caused by an aortic aneurysm and stroke in 2021
Judas Priest guitarist Richie Faulkner has issued an update regarding his health and how he deals with it on the road, after suffering both an aortic aneurysm and a stroke in recent years.
In an interview with Albany, New York radio station Q105.7, Faulkner is asked about his routine to prepare for Priest shows these days, in the wake of his recent serious health issues.
“Fortunately, I don’t have to do anything too heavy,” he says [via Blabbermouth]. Luckily, I just have to remember to take my meds, which I’ve forgotten this morning. Thanks for reminding me! That’s sometimes the hardest thing.”
He goes on: “I’ve had a bit of collateral damage on my right side with stuff connected to what happened. So I have to work at that.
“We have a physio on the road, and I work with him three times a day: once in the morning – after these interviews, I’m gonna work with him on coordination – before the show and then after the show as well. We do that three times a day. So that sort of stuff I have to work on.
“But as far as the heart and everything’s concerned, it’s meds. I can’t eat too many leafy greens, which I’m not too bothered about. I got lucky, really. There’s a lot of people around the world with a lot more serious conditions than I have. So I consider myself lucky to be here talking to you.”
Richie Faulkner suffered an aortic aneurysm while performing onstage with Judas Priest at Louder Than Life festival in 2021. He was subsequently rushed to hospital and underwent a 10-hour heart surgery.
“My aorta ruptured and started to spill blood into my chest cavity,” he said at the time. “From what I’ve been told by my surgeon, people with this don’t usually make it to the hospital alive.”
Earlier this year, he revealed how he had also suffered a stroke shortly after the incident. “They found some damage on the left side of the brain, which affects the right side,” he explained. “Now, fortunately I don’t play guitar with my foot, so that’s fine, I can get away with that. But my hand, obviously, that’s our engine room. Everything started clicking into place in regards to what I was feeling on stage. There was something that was wrong.”
For the time being, though, Faulkner is determined not to step back from his duties in Judas Priest.
“I still play, we’re still writing records, we’re still playing as hard as we can – it doesn’t affect that – but there’s just little things I have to do,” he said. “But I go out every night thinking… Sometimes I come off stage and I call home and I say, ‘I can’t fucking do it. I can’t do it. I can’t do it.’”
View a list of Judas Priest’s upcoming tour dates via their official website.
The post Judas Priest’s Richie Faulkner works “three times a day” with a physio on the road to manage the damage caused by an aortic aneurysm and stroke in 2021 appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Loog is branching out to larger-sized instruments for adults and teens
After partnering with Fender and Gibson – the two biggest guitar makers in the world – on two lines of kid-friendly three-string guitars, Loog is branching out to fuller-sized instruments for both adults and teens.
The Pro 6 arrives after parents expressed a longing for such kid-friendly guitars when they were younger, according to Loog CEO Rafael Atijas.
- READ MORE: Fender expands its Hammertone pedal line with two new offerings: the Breakup Drive and Boost
Available as a six-string in both acoustic and electric configurations, the Loog Pro 6 sports an ergonomic body with a super-light build, and contours designed for “effortless handling”. There’s also an all-wood construction with a smooth maple neck for an authentic feel and resonant tone.
Credit: Loog
In terms of pricing and availability, the Loog Pro 6 nylon acoustic is priced at $169, and comes in black, natural, white, pink and green, while the electric version costs $249 and comes in red, black and green.
“As parents discovered Loog over the years, we often heard them say, ‘I wish this existed when I was a kid!’” says Rafael Atijas, CEO of Loog.
Credit: Loog
“With the new Pro 6 guitars, we did something about it. They keep the same beginner-friendly spirit Loog is known for, while also feeling perfectly at home in the hands of an adult picking up the instrument for the first time.”
The Loog Pro 6 is available now via Amazon and direct from the Loog website.
The post Loog is branching out to larger-sized instruments for adults and teens appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
“I’ll have Frankenstein and my wife, and we’re good”: Wolfgang Van Halen admits he kept his father’s most iconic guitar in the back of his car for three weeks in case they had to evacuate during the LA wildfires
Earlier this year, Los Angeles experienced one of the most destructive wildfire seasons in recent memory. Entire neighborhoods were threatened, parts of Sunset Boulevard were left in ruins, and musicians like Joe Bonamassa scrambled to protect prized collections of rare instruments.
For Wolfgang Van Halen, the danger hit just as close to home – so much so that he spent three weeks with his late father’s iconic Frankenstein guitar in the backseat, ready to grab at a moment’s notice if evacuation orders came down.
Speaking with Premier Guitar, Wolfgang shares how the natural disaster coincided with the making of The End, Mammoth’s third album set for release later this month. The looming threat of fire wasn’t just a source of anxiety, but a daily reminder of what could be lost – the irreplaceable gear housed at Eddie Van Halen’s famed 5150 studio.
To make sure nothing was left to chance, Wolfgang says Frankenstein never left his side, stashed safely in his car during the height of the fires.
“I thought, I’ll have Frankenstein and my wife, and we’re good,” he recalls. “And then we had a U-Haul filled with whatever else we felt was worth saving, which was very tough. Luckily, it didn’t come to that, but it was a traumatising time we’re still working through.”
That tension, understandably, seeped into The End.
“That’s where most of the anxious, doomsday energy in the lyrics comes from,” says Wolfgang. “I couldn’t focus on my things.”
Even so, the album marks a step forward for Wolfgang as a guitarist stepping further into his own identity.: “In comparison to how I was on the first album, which was very reserved, guitar-wise, I’m starting to worry less about what people think and what people say,” he explains. “[The End] has a rawer vibe, and I was happy to keep the rough edges for people to feel like they’re in the studio with me.”
“There are a lot of expectations around me — so many preconceived ideas that it feels impossible for anyone to have a neutral opinion,” Wolfang continues. “From the beginning, I’ve tried to stand out as my own person, without all of the bullshit that comes with the name and the controversies and everything that’s come before me. It’s just nice to be able to be judged for the music itself, rather than what people think or say about me.”
Arriving on 24 October, The End is now available for pre-order. Check out the latest single below.
The post “I’ll have Frankenstein and my wife, and we’re good”: Wolfgang Van Halen admits he kept his father’s most iconic guitar in the back of his car for three weeks in case they had to evacuate during the LA wildfires appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
“I was in a dark place with Bruce leaving and me going through a divorce”: Steve Harris on why this underrated Iron Maiden album was so “powerful”
Personal upheaval may have been painful for Steve Harris, but it also gave rise to what he believes are Iron Maiden’s most “powerful” unsung albums.
Looking back on the band’ discography, the Maiden leader highlights 1995’s The X Factor and 1998’s Virtual XI – both made during the hiatus of their lead singer, Bruce Dickinson – as two records that fans are only now beginning to ‘realise they’re good’.
“I said it at the time and I still believe it – those two are really strong, powerful albums and people will appreciate them later,” he tells Metal Hammer. “And people are going back and discovering them and realising they’re good.”
“The X Factor in particular is really good,” says Harris, “but it’s a dark album.”
“Probably ‘cos I was in a bit of a dark place with Bruce leaving and me going through a divorce at the time, all this stuff going on. But what came out of that was a powerful album. You take negative stuff and you turn it into a positive and those emotions come out, and that’s what you can do with music. Music’s such a powerful thing.”
Even with multiple multimillion-selling records, Harris admits the band has never produced a “perfect album.”
“I don’t think we’ve ever made the perfect album. Number Of The Beast, people think that’s the perfect album, but there are two songs on there that are not as good as the others,” he says, referring to Invaders and Gangland. “Not everything’s going to be good, is it?”
Asked if he’d ever considered calling it quits, Harris laughs, “Only for a couple of hours. It’s like when West Ham lose – I sulk for two hours, but you have to pick yourself up, brush yourself down and get on with it. It’s the only way it’s going to work.”
The post “I was in a dark place with Bruce leaving and me going through a divorce”: Steve Harris on why this underrated Iron Maiden album was so “powerful” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Fender expands its Hammertone pedal line with two new offerings: the Breakup Drive and Boost
Fender has expanded its Hammertone line of effects pedals with two new units: the Hammertone Breakup Drive and Hammertone Boost.
The Big F’s Hammertone line is positioned to offer guitarists “the essential building blocks of any pedalboard”, comprising – including the new Hammertone Breakup Drive and Hammertone Boost – 11 pedals in total.
Other pedals in the Hammertone range include the Delay, Metal (distortion), Space Delay, Flanger, Reverb, Fuzz, Overdrive, Distortion and Chorus.
But let’s take a look at what the new installments have to offer…
Hammertone Breakup Drive ($99.99 / £75.99 / €89.99)
Credit: Fender
Providing guitarists responsive, tube-like tones in a compact pedal format, the Hammertone Breakup Drive is built around a JFET-based circuit, and replicates the dynamic feel of hot tubes pushed to the edge of saturation.
There are two selectable clipping modes – which range from light breakup to low-gain overdrive – as well as an “expansive” tone control and switchable pre-gain mid boost for flexible frequency shaping.
“Whether adding character to a clean tone or delivering touch-sensitive overdrive, the Hammertone Breakup Drive offers versatile performance for players who crave feel and nuance,” says Fender.
Hammertone Boost ($99.99 / £75.99 / €89.99)
Credit: Fender
Meanwhile, the new Hammertone Boost offers two distinct boost circuits in a single enclosure, with a Type switch selecting between a clean, op amp-based boost, or a JFET-based boost that adds “warmth and harmonic richness, reminiscent of vintage tape unit preamps”.
There’s also an onboard EQ section, with Treble and Bass controls allowing easy tone shaping.
“Whether used to cleanly boost solos, push an amp into breakup, or add subtle sweetness to a core tone, the Hammertone Boost delivers exceptional flexibility and performance,” Fender says.
Learn more about the latest Hammertone additions at Fender.
The post Fender expands its Hammertone pedal line with two new offerings: the Breakup Drive and Boost appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
John Fogerty thought effects pedals were a “communist idea” and didn’t want to use them
John Fogerty has admitted to being skeptical about effects pedals during his Creedence Clearwater Revival days, even going so far as to call them a “communist idea.”
In a recent interview with Rick Beato, the CCR guitar legend says that back in the ’60s, he “didn’t know anything about pedals”, nor did he have any desire to use them.
“It’s one of those weird things in life,” says Fogerty. “You notice – especially culturally or politically – people will change their mind about some subject. At first they are one way and then with some education or whatever they are like ‘oh’. I was kind of that way about pedals. ‘Why do I need a pedal?’ It seemed like some communist idea or something.”
Instead, Fogerty gravitated to Kustom amps, which he describes as having “some hair on the notes”.
“The amp I used a lot almost exclusively in those days was the brand Kustom. Basically it was solid state but they had created this amp in such a way that it [has a] natural sound,” he explains. “If you turned it up pretty loud – it was a 100 Watter amp – it didn’t have that horrible, tight, too clean sound that so many of the solid state amps were into.”
Paired with his Rickenbacker, the Kustom amps gave Fogerty the exact tone he wanted.
“I always felt that a Blackface or the Silverface Fender – the Twin Reverb, the big amp, I thought was too harsh for me. I still do,” says the guitarist. “The Kustom amp kind of had some hair on the notes – and it was perfect for strumming an electric guitar, especially a Rickenbacker. The toaster pickups on that guitar weren’t real, real loud, so that the amp had some finesse to it.”
“That combination was perfect, the Rick with the Kustom amp,” he concludes.
The post John Fogerty thought effects pedals were a “communist idea” and didn’t want to use them appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Nuno Bettencourt launches guitar brand, Nuno Guitars, ending 35-year run with Washburn
Extreme’s Nuno Bettencourt has launched his own guitar company, Nuno Guitars, bringing an end to over three decades of partnership with Washburn.
Announcing the launch in a new Instagram video, Bettencourt says: “I’m super excited to announce that today, this second, right now as we speak in real-time, I’m launching my own guitar company.”
“Had a great run with Washburn, a good 35 years, I believe, which is pretty insane.”
The guitarist explains that the decision has been years in the works, motivated by a wish to engage more closely with the guitar-playing community.
“One of the main reasons is I wanted to be able to kind of deal directly with y’all, with guitar players and fans that purchase any of my guitars,” he says. “I wanted to kind of build this community now and be able to engage with you on a deeper and a closer level.”
Bettencourt’s first flagship models under the new brand, the Dark Horse and White Stallion, spearhead the launch. They are joined by the N4, his long-standing signature model with Washburn.
Credit: Nuno Guitars
The new venture lets players get their hands on the same instruments the guitarist himself uses, from stage performances at Black Sabbath’s Back to the Beginning benefit at Villa Park in Birmingham to his 2025 MTV VMA appearances.
“These are true workhorses built with the same passion I’ve put into every note I’ve ever played,” says Bettencourt. “What I’m most excited about as the founder and CEO of my new company is communicating directly with players and fans who will get to play the exact guitars that I play on stage and in the studio.”
He adds, “Together we’re forming a new community where I can personally engage with you about a mutual passion… our guitars. Once you own a Nuno guitar, you are forever a part of my family. Let’s Ride!”
Learn more at Nuno Guitars.
The post Nuno Bettencourt launches guitar brand, Nuno Guitars, ending 35-year run with Washburn appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Boss RT-2 Rotary Ensemble review – a compact Leslie sim that doesn’t compromise on features
$239/£229, boss.info
Different modulation effects seem to come in and out of fashion – it’s flanging this week, hadn’t you heard? – but the rotary speaker sound is different. The ‘Leslie effect’ is older than rock music itself, and it’s just too beautiful to worry about its position in the guitar stompbox pantheon.
- READ MORE: EarthQuaker Devices Easy Listening review – can an amp simulator this simple actually sound good?
Two things have changed in recent years, though: the power of digital processing has made it much easier to simulate the sound of a Leslie cabinet, and guitarists are demanding smaller pedals so they can fit more of them on their ‘boards. Toss all of that information into a cauldron, add the biggest brand name in pedaldom, and what comes out is the Boss RT-2 Rotary Ensemble.
Image: Adam Gasson
Boss RT-2 Rotary Ensemble – what is it?
If I say it’s a compact Leslie sim, you might be ready to move on to the next section already. But please don’t – it took me ages to write this bit. It’s a story that takes us all the way back to the 1930s: designed for organs rather than guitars, the original Leslie cab used spinning drivers (well, strictly speaking one spinning driver and one spinning baffle) to create an intense and distinctive kind of modulation based on the Doppler effect. It soon became a key component of the Hammond sound.
A number of guitarists started using Leslies in the 60s; but while compact phaser, flanger and chorus pedals were all over the stages of the 80s, it seems the rotary effect’s multi-dimensional wobble was just too complex to be miniaturised in the same way using analogue tech. The H&K Tube Rotosphere had a good go in the late 90s – and remains a hugely respected pedal to this day – but it was a whopper, as were early digital efforts like the Korg G4.
Then came Neo Instruments. This German company has been making Leslie sims since 2010, most notably the not-quite-compact Mini Vent (launched in 2013) and a pair of very-much-compact Micro Vent models (2019). All the Vents share one important design feature: they sound frickin’ fantastic. And that’s the bar that the RT-2 is aiming to clear.
This is not Boss’s first rotary pedal – there was a much bigger version, the RT-20, in the now-discontinued 20 series. But that unit had two footswitches, seven knobs and a four-way mode switch. How much of that has survived the transition to the classic single-stomp format? Well, as it turns out, pretty much all the important bits.
Ramping between fast and slow speeds is a major part of the Leslie recipe; in the absence of a second footswitch, it’s done here by holding the bypass switch down for a second. Those two speeds are set via concentric knobs on the right, while another pair on the left handle output level and overdrive. A couple of switches round the back let you choose your ramping time (fast or slow) and repurpose the drive knob to alter the balance between the two virtual drivers (a low-frequency drum and a high-frequency horn).
There’s just a three-way mode switch this time, and stereo ins and outs plus an expression pedal input for controlling the speed manually… oh, and a simplified version of the RT-20’s kerrr-azy light show for giving a visual representation of the two spinning speakers.
Image: Adam Gasson
Boss RT-2 Rotary Ensemble – is it easy to use?
As long as you’ve got at least one working ankle, getting started with the RT-2 is stupendously simple. Tap once to turn it on, tap once to turn it off, hold until the status LED changes colour to set it off a-ramping; as a system, it’s impossible to forget and (nearly) impossible to get wrong. The pedal even comes with a battery fitted, although – as ever with digital pedals – you’re better off with an external power supply.
The controls are self-explanatory, with no quirks or surprises. And while the red and blue lights don’t really do anything vitally important, they do provide a visual representation of the imaginary drivers’ rotation (blue for the drum, red for the horn) that’s weirdly compelling. You’d definitely miss them if they stopped working.
Image: Adam Gasson
Boss RT-2 Rotary Ensemble – what does it sound like?
If you stand in front of a speaker cabinet containing two drivers with their output spinning in opposite directions, you’re going to hear a lot of modulation – a combination of chorus, phasing and tremolo that’s somehow richer than any of them but in a way that isn’t overwhelming. That’s the unique sorcery of the Leslie sound, and the RT-2 does it… reasonably well.
There’s no mistaking that this is a rotary sim, and Boss has captured every element of the sound – including the way the two rotors accelerate and decelerate at different speeds in the transitions. It swirls around sinuously in slow mode, and wibbles delicately in fast mode. Run it through two amps and you get a decent stereo spread that adds a whole load of immersive realism. In short, it does the job.
What it doesn’t do is sound unconditionally gorgeous. It’s nice enough, but sometimes the voicing of the RT-2 seems a little overbearing in the midrange – maybe a blend control would have helped? – while the effect can get woozy at slower speeds, perhaps because of a tad too much emphasis on the tremolo element. Just to be clear, it’s good… but the competition is better.
The first two modes are strangely similar, but the third shakes things up tonally and also adds a big dollop of gain. This is really noticeable when you crank the drive control, which should in theory produce a wonderfully chewy grinding effect but, in the RT-2’s case, somehow doesn’t. It sounds ever so slightly fizzy and detached. Again, it’s not bad, it’s just not very likeable.
Image: Adam Gasson
Boss RT-2 Rotary Ensemble – should I buy it?
If you want a proper speed-ramping Leslie sim and it has to be compact, your choice is between this and one of the Neo Micro Vents – which sound better, but lose out on flexibility (mono outputs, no overdrive) and pricing. Prepared to give up a couple more square inches of pedalboard space for something with two footswitches? Now the Boss is going up against a much bigger field that includes the Mini Vent, the Strymon Lex and more… and it suddenly becomes a lot harder to recommend.
Boss RT-2 Rotary Ensemble alternatives
Those Neo Micro Vents (€359/£299) come in black and white flavours, representing the Leslie 122 and 16 respectively. The Strymon Lex ($349/£329) is great for overdriven sounds, but see also the Keeley Rotary ($229/£289) and Electro-Harmonix Lester K ($218/£163).
The post Boss RT-2 Rotary Ensemble review – a compact Leslie sim that doesn’t compromise on features appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Lowden’s AI-equipped guitars can now tell you how they’re feeling – or where they are
In an age where AI in music often sparks debate about creativity, Northern Irish maker Lowden Guitars is taking the technology in a more practical direction. Its latest instruments come fitted with built-in smart sensors designed not to write songs, but to help players better care for their guitars – and maybe even fend off thieves.
Lowden, whose roster of players includes Ed Sheeran, Eric Clapton, and Mark Knopfler, is the first major acoustic builder to embrace AI in this way. The smart sensor tracks a guitar’s “health information” in real time, monitoring temperature, humidity, vibration, and even location.
Owners can then keep tabs on their instrument via the companion app Mylowden. Built in collaboration with Storm Reply, ubloquity, and Amazon Web Services, the app doubles as a digital logbook. It stores data in the cloud, provides access to warranty and insurance services, and offers tips for keeping guitars in peak playing condition.
“I’m very excited to know that this program has been developed in conjunction with AWS in the hope that guitar players will always have the assurance of knowing where their guitar is, and what sort of condition it has been kept in,” says founder George Lowden.
The app also records GPS location, ownership history, and the materials used in each build. Players can even document key events in the life of their guitar – from songwriting sessions to gigs.
“Lowden is the first guitar maker to embrace this type of technology in a way that enables musicians to grow their understanding and connection with their instruments,” says Managing Director Aaron Lowden.
“From practical information about their instrument, including climate, any knocks it could potentially take during travel, and documenting key services or repairs, key moments in playing, songwriting, collaborating, and performing, this technology will enhance the Lowden ownership experience.”
He adds that the technology “is really limitless, and new features will be rolled out over time”.
Learn more at Lowden.
The post Lowden’s AI-equipped guitars can now tell you how they’re feeling – or where they are appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Guitar.com Magazine: here’s how to get your copy of the September/October 2025 issue
A new issue of Guitar.com Magazine is out this week – and comes in a bundle with NME Magazine! Here’s how you can get a copy of the September/October 2025 issue.
In April, we announced the relaunch of the Guitar.com print edition after a four-year hiatus, and in May launched the first new issue with Mateus Asato on the cover. This Thursday, you’ll be able to get your hands on the second issue of Guitar.com Magazine, featuring unmissable features and reviews, which comes with a copy of the September/October 2025 issue of NME Magazine.
Mark your calendars for Thursday October 2 at 2pm BST – that’s when the cover stars of both magazines will be revealed and the mags go on sale exclusively via retailer Dawsons. The waiting room is open, so check it out now.
Besides Guitar.com, MusicTech has also returned to print. Guitar.com, MusicTech and NME are sister publications under NME Networks. The new Guitar.com and MusicTech print editions will alternate with every bi-monthly edition of NME Magazine – which itself was relaunched in 2023 – meaning three print editions per calendar year for each brand.
Subscribe here for more information about the Guitar.com Magazine and for the chance to receive an exclusive queue jump opportunity, where readers can get their hands on a copy before anyone else. Guitar.com will be sending out queue jump tickets shortly before the magazine goes on sale to randomly chosen subscribers.
The post Guitar.com Magazine: here’s how to get your copy of the September/October 2025 issue appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
“We’re very sad… more than we can express”: The Beths appeal for help after guitars and gear stolen on tour
New Zealand indie rock band The Beths have appealed to fans for help after having their instruments and touring gear stolen while on tour in Europe.
In a post to Instagram, the group say their guitars, bass, cymbals, snare, pedalboard, and “entire rented backline” were taken overnight from their van in Tourcoing, France, near Lille.
“If you see any of these instruments turn up on resale, or if you have any tips please get in touch – info@lookoutkid.com,” the band writes. “We’re pretty sad, these instruments have a lot of time and love in them. More than we can express really.”
Among the missing items are frontwoman Elizabeth Stokes’ Martin 00-15M and Trent M2 model, guitarist Jonathan Pearce’s Burns Double Six 12-string, and a 1978 Goldtop Les Paul Deluxe. The band also shared photos of the stolen gear on Instagram in hopes of tracking it down.
Fortunately, thanks to “the generosity of friends”, The Beths were able to play their scheduled show in Tourcoing.
“Show tonight is going ahead thanks to the generosity of friends,” the post reads. “Thanks so much Florianosaure and Admlg for helping with backline, Dateline for lending instruments and Gabriel Delicious for lending a pedal board.”
Currently touring Europe in support of their new album Straight Line Was a Lie, The Beths still have 14 shows scheduled for October. Check out the full list of dates at the band’s website.
Meanwhile, gear theft remains an ongoing problem for touring musicians. Earlier this year, Australian jazz/funk outfit Hiatus Kaiyote had equipment worth “tens of thousands of dollars” stolen from their studio in Melbourne, while Heart reported the theft of two “irreplaceable instruments” just before a show in Atlantic City, New Jersey, in June.
The post “We’re very sad… more than we can express”: The Beths appeal for help after guitars and gear stolen on tour appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
“You have to love creating music to do this – everything else is the bad part”: Wolfgang Van Halen on being a musician in 2025
Having joined one of the biggest rock bands in the world when he was just 16 years old, Wolfgang Van Halen is no stranger to the ups and downs of the music business.
In a new interview with Baltimore radio station, 98 Rock, the musician reflects on what it’s like navigating the industry in 2025 as the leader and frontman of his own band, Mammoth.
“You certainly learn more and more. It’s not the greatest business, but what is nowadays? I think especially in the day of streaming, you’re the product,” says Wolfgang [via Blabbermouth]. “You don’t really have much choice in how you get used.”
He argues that the rise of AI has only made things worse: “And then you’ve got all this AI stuff that’s kind of ruined stuff even more. So you have to really love playing and creating music to do this, because that’s the good part. Everything else is the bad part.”
According to Wolfgang, staying grounded in the chaos comes down to persistence, luck, and surrounding yourself with the right people.
“I believe there’s that one Hunter S. Thompson quote that’s really… I don’t think I can say it right now, but, yeah, I think you just keep moving. You learn and you surround yourself with people you trust, and hopefully, you throw a little dash of luck in there and you can somehow find your own niche, so to speak.”
Asked if he’d ever used AI as a “tool” himself, Wolfgang says that while he’s dabbled in it, he sees it as little more than a utility.
“I’ve messed with it just randomly, but to me, it’s like a ruler,” he explains. “Use it if you wanna do a slightly more in-depth Google search. But I’m not gonna sit here and be, like, ‘write a song’ or ‘draw a picture.’ AI should be putting mufflers on cars, not making music and doing our creative jobs. It should be doing the menial stuff we don’t wanna do.”
The musician also doubled down on the issue in a recent interview with Springfield, Missouri’s Q102 radio station, calling generative AI “really stupid”.
“I just think it’s dumb. I think it’s a waste of time,” said Wolfgang. The 34-year-old was equally blunt about the role labels play in pushing AI into music, arguing that it all comes down to cost-cutting, not creativity.
“Yeah, it’s lame. Well, you know why? ‘Cause it allows you to pay less people,” he said, adding that “it’s never really about what’s being made” but rather “how quickly you can make it and shovel it out to people”.
The post “You have to love creating music to do this – everything else is the bad part”: Wolfgang Van Halen on being a musician in 2025 appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Here’s what Ozzy Osbourne taught Andrew Watt about mixing rock songs: “He would always say to me, ‘Listen to Led Zeppelin and tell me what the loudest thing is’”
At 34, Andrew Watt has seen just about everything the music world has to offer. The Grammy-winning producer has worked with the Stones, Elton John, Post Malone – and, perhaps most famously, Ozzy Osbourne, producing the Prince of Darkness’ final two albums, Ordinary Man (2020) and Patient Number 9 (2022).
In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Watt opens up about what it was like to be mentored by Osbourne, as well as some of the key lessons he picked up from the Black Sabbath legend in the studio.
“You have to understand. This man was making Paranoid when he was 21 years old. So he had a 55-year career where everything was grandiose and at the highest level,” says Watt. “And he’s one of the smartest people I have ever met, and a history buff, and a genius, a literal genius. His persona was [just] persona. He was incredibly brilliant, incredibly sharp.”
According to Watt, Osbourne’s ears were second to none.
“His ears were reactive. You could think he wasn’t listening and he heard every single thing. There’d be times we’d be in the studio listening to something and he’s just drawing and I’m like, “Oh, he is not listening.” And then he’d just give me this one line that cuts so deep, in a positive way.”
One lesson, in particular, has stayed with him: “He would always say to me, ‘Listen to Led Zeppelin and tell me what the loudest thing is.’ And me, having my confidence, I’d be like, ‘It’s the drums. John Bonham.’ He said, ‘Nope, not the drums.’ He said, ‘It’s the bass.’”
“He pointed out the bass is the most important thing in a rock song. You have to make sure the bass is there and pumping and cutting through and providing that sense of rhythm, because it’s the bridge between the drums and the guitars.”
“It makes the song heavy,” Watt continues, “because the guitars can poke through if you have them mixed in the right way. The bass is a hard thing to really get cutting, but also representing the bottom.”
That philosophy shaped the records they made together: “He was very bass-focused, mix-wise, and making sure the bass came through,” says the producer. “And if you listen to the records that we made together, there’s a lot of bass on those records. Under the Graveyard has so much low end, if you check that out. He was involved in every detail of every single mix-down, too. That’s how much he cared.”
In other news, Watt has confirmed that new music with the Stones is on the way, following the success of 2023’s hit record Hackney Diamonds.
“I’ve said it before, but it’s like working for Batman,” he told Rolling Stone. “When the tongue [logo] is up in the air, you just go… I can say we did some recording together, but that’s all I can say.”
The post Here’s what Ozzy Osbourne taught Andrew Watt about mixing rock songs: “He would always say to me, ‘Listen to Led Zeppelin and tell me what the loudest thing is’” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Is this the future of guitar tone? Groundhog Audio’s new AI-powered pedal promises the end of tone-chasing by matching your tone to any song instantly
You can ask ChatGPT to write a verse or Midjourney to conjure up an image – so why shouldn’t guitarists get their own AI shortcut? That’s the idea behind the OnePedal, the “world’s first AI-powered guitar pedal” from Chicago-based startup Groundhog Audio.
Designed for both bedroom players and gigging musicians, OnePedal uses artificial intelligence to instantly match your guitar tone to any reference track.
Simply search or upload your favourite song through the companion app, and the pedal – after analysing the guitar track from “millions of songs” – will recreate the sound using virtual amps, cabinets, and effects.
It even recommends pickup selections, knob positions, and playing styles tailored to your guitar. Those settings can then be saved directly to the pedal for offline use, making it equally at home onstage, in the studio, or in practice sessions.
Navigating and switching between tones is just as effortless: A giant middle knob lets you scroll through songs quickly, while a tone switch allows players to toggle between different sounds mid-song. The unit also features a 4-inch screen for easy navigation.
With studio-quality audio and ultra-low latency, the OnePedal aims to end the hours of knob-twisting and preset-scrolling that have long defined the quest for perfect tone.
“Guitarists shouldn’t have to spend hours dialing in knobs or scrolling forums to get the right sound,” says Groundhog Audio founder Max Engle. “We want to give musicians time back to focus on what they really love – playing.”
The OnePedal will launch on Kickstarter on 30 September, priced at $399 for early backers (retail price $549). Backers can also snag limited-edition “Founding User” perks and lifetime software updates as part of the campaign.
Learn more at Groundhog Audio.
The post Is this the future of guitar tone? Groundhog Audio’s new AI-powered pedal promises the end of tone-chasing by matching your tone to any song instantly appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
More Unusual First Guitars That Rock Stars Started Their Careers On
Most of us in the guitar-playing community started out our musical journey on some sort of cheap brand of guitar or perhaps a hand-me-down guitar with action that is way too high, rusty strings, and worn-out frets. In this article, we’ll take a look at some of the guitars that many of our rock idols started out on. I took a look at some of them a while back, and as with this time they were generally not top-of-the-line professional instruments…
Jimmy Page
Long before Jimmy Page became the legend we know him as, he started his career like any of us do, with a cheap guitar. His first-ever guitar was an acoustic that was found in a home that Page’s family moved into — presumably left behind by the previous family. It wasn’t long before Page’s family realized that he was invested in learning to play guitar, so they bought him a Hofner acoustic before upgrading once again to his first electric guitar – a 1958 Resonet Grazioso Futurama.
The Futurama was a unique and simple guitar manufactured for a short time in the late 1950s by the Drevokov company in Czechoslovakia. The body somewhat resembled a Stratocaster shape with a unique vibrato system and individual pickup switches rather than the sliding selector switch on a standard Stratocaster.
It’s possible that Page would have started his electric career on a Stratocaster if not for the trade embargo on American goods, including guitars, that the British government put into place following World War II. That embargo ended in 1959. An example of how world politics can have a hand in shaping the development of musicians.
Kurt Cobain
There are some conflicting stories regarding Kurt Cobain’s first guitar, but it is most commonly believed to have been a left-handed Univox Hi-Flier. Allegedly, he received it as a gift from his uncle, Chuck Fradenburg, on his 14th birthday in 1981, when his uncle gave him the choice of a used guitar or a bicycle – thankfully for an entire generation, he chose the guitar.
Cobain would go on to own and use several Univox Hi-Fliers during his years playing with Nirvana, including in the studio for the recording of the band’s debut album Bleach but by the time they recorded that album in 1988, Univox had gone out of business the previous year. The Hi-Flier, specifically, was loosely based on the Mosrite shape. Univox guitars were produced by Japanese manufacturer Matsumoku, who were responsible for making a lot of guitars on the cheaper end of the spectrum (yet still surprisingly high in quality for the price) for brands like Epiphone and Aria.
Eddie Van Halen
Eddie Van Halen’s first guitar, purchased as a child from a Sears and Roebuck catalog, was a Teisco Del Rey. He played the guitar in his elementary school band, The Broken Combs, developing a lot of his guitar playing basics. Teisco guitars were built in Japan from 1948 until 1967. It remained defunct until 2018 when it was relaunched by BandLab Technologies (the same parent company that publishes Guitar.com). The Teisco Del Rey was only made between 1964 and 1967 for the American Market.
There were several iterations of the Del Ray model, and Eddie Van Halen has said in interviews that he had four pickups (he also said it had three pickups, but we have photographs of him, as a kid, holding a four-pickup model), which means that it was a WG-4L sub-model. Those usually had a vibrato system and switches for each individual pickup. They were fairly cheap but were nonetheless a fine instrument for a beginner. There were many young men and women who began their careers on the very same guitar. You can find them available for relatively cheap on the used market today.
Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix, like so many of us, started out on an acoustic guitar that had a warped neck and high action. But nevertheless, young Jimi persevered and after about three months, he realized that he needed an electric guitar, so in mid-1959, his father bought him a white Supro Ozark 1560 S. Hendrix played that guitar in his first band (name unknown), who allegedly fired him for showing off at his first gig. He played the Ozark in his first proper band, the Rocking Kings, and the guitar was stolen when he left it at the venue overnight.
Supro is a brand owned by Valco that made musical instruments in the Chicago between 1935 and 1968. They were a budget brand of National Dobro and the guitars were affordable. Supro is probably best known for making high-end amplifiers. They were actually the first company to build a combo amplifier with reverb. Supro amps were a favorite of Jimmy Page, who used it for the solo on Stairway To Heaven. But Supro guitars were far less revered by professional musicians. The Supro brand was reintroduced in 2013 and they continue to make guitars, amps and effects.
Stevie Ray Vaughan
Stevie Ray Vaughan is the only player in this article whose first guitar was a Fender or Gibson. It was a 1957 Gibson ES-125T 3/4 Sunburst Archtop that he received from his brother, Jimmie, in 1963, who had been gifted it by their father. The ES-125T was introduced to the Gibson lineup in 1941 as an entry-level guitar that had several iterations over the years, but the ES-125T was a non-cutaway with a single P-90 pickup in the neck position.
The ES-125T was not a cheap, obscure guitar like others on this list. It had been used by BB King in the early 1950s. Many other guitarists after Stevie Ray Vaughn also used the model at some point in their careers such as Tracy Chapman, Marc Ribot, George Thorogood, and Thom Yorke. The model was discontinued in 1970.
Vaughan used this guitar when he joined his first band, the Chantones, in 1965. He used this guitar until his brother gifted him another guitar, a 1951 Fender Broadcaster (Nocaster) that he dubbed “Jimbo”. In 2008 that guitar sold at auction for a quarter of a million dollars. As for the ES-125T, we aren’t sure what became of it. It was sold at auction in 2021 by Heritage Auctions, but it was not made public if the guitar sold, who bought it, or if it remains in the hands of the original seller. Another musical mystery is afoot.
The post More Unusual First Guitars That Rock Stars Started Their Careers On appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.