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Yep, Oasis-mania is still very much alive. Still in the thick of their world tour – one of the most widely anticipated in history – and currently Down Under for a series of dates in Melbourne and Sydney, Liam and Noel Gallagher’s reunion has dominated the mainstream entertainment world for months. But us guitar nerds have been going crazy, too…

When Noel Gallagher debuted his new P-90-equipped Gibson Les Paul at their first comeback show, we knew it was only a matter of time before there’d be an official Gibson production run, and that came with a limited-run Custom Shop release in August.

While we’re all acutely aware of the concept of supply and demand – brands will want to keep the level of supply under demand to foster the feel of exclusivity around a guitar launch – it would have been frankly cruel not to let the wider cross-section of the Oasis x guitar lover Venn diagram get in on the action. So Gibson has come through with a wider, less limited – and more affordable – release of the Noel Gallagher Les Paul Standard.

“This guitar is simply too iconic and cool not to be released more widely and made available for more fans to get their hands on,” says Lee Bartram, Head of Commercial and Marketing EMEA at Gibson. Amen, we say.

“Noel’s original Gibson Custom version of this Les Paul was the first guitar he played during the biggest rock ’n’ roll reunion of the 21st century. This Gibson USA version embraces that legacy, capturing a historic moment in British and global live music.”

And not only that, but Epiphone – also owned by Gibson – has also launched new signature models for guitarists Bonehead and Gem Archer, a Riviera and Sheraton, respectively. Yes, what a day to be an Oasis fan and guitar lover.

Let’s take a quick look at specs for each of the new Oasis guitars, and we’ll include links throughout this page, should you wish to dive deeper.

Gibson Noel Gallagher Les Paul Standard

Credit: Gibson

Featuring a non-weight-relieved mahogany body – for that authentic heavy Les Paul feel – with a bound maple cap, the Noel Gallagher Les Paul Standard also sports a mahogany neck with Gallagher’s preferred SlimTaper profile, with a bound 22-fret rosewood fingerboard with acrylic trapezoid inlays.

Hardware includes an ABR-1 Tune-O-Matic bridge and aluminium Stop Bar tailpiece for precise intonation and sustain, as well as Grover Rotomatic tuners with kidney buttons, as well as a chrome switch washer and output jack plate. There’s also a five-ply black pickguard, similar to those typically found on Les Paul Customs.

Credit: Gibson

Electronics come by way of chrome-covered Gibson P-90 Soapbar pickups, handwired to individual volume and tone pots – black Top hats with silver reflectors and dial pointers – and a three-way pickup selector switch. Visual touches include an artist signature reproduction decal on the back of the headstock, while the guitar also comes with a hardshell case.

The Noel Gallagher Les Paul Standard is priced at £2,699, and even comes with five free Maestro pedals.

Learn more at Gibson.

Epiphone Bonehead Riviera

Credit: Jill Furmanovsky

Inspired by the Epiphone Riviera Bonehead used throughout the 1990s – including on sessions for Definitely Maybe and (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?, and at Oasis’s legendary Knebworth shows in 1996 – the new Epiphone Bonehead Riviera features a five-ply maple body with a solid maple centreblock for “improved sustain and feedback resistance”. This is accented by a single-ply cream-binding on the top and back, while it also features a three-piece maple neck with a SlimTaper C profile, and a 22-fret bound rosewood fretboard with pearloid parallelogram inlays.

The guitar’s Epiphone Sloped Dovewing headstock is fitted with premium die-cast tuners with the Epiphone “E” logo and oval metal buttons, while the guitar also features a two-ply crescent bullet truss rod cover with the “E” logo, and an Epiphone logo alongside the Gibson Crown inlaid in mother-of-pearl. There’s also a recreation of Bonehead’s signature in gold on the rear of the headstock.

In terms of electronics, there’s a pair of Epiphone Alnico Classic PRO pickups – wired to individual volume and tone pots with black with-hat knobs, silver inserts and dial pointers. The guitar also comes with a hardshell case.

“Epiphone Rivieras have been with me from the early rehearsals at the Boardwalk in Manchester all the way up to those historic shows at Knebworth and on into Liam’s solo career,” says Paul “Bonehead” Arthurs.

“I’m still playing my original 1984 guitar on the Oasis 2025 tour, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’m excited to bring this new guitar to audiences who experienced it back in the day, as well as those coming out to see us on this tour. It plays great and sounds massive; you’re gonna love it.”

The Epiphone Bonehead Riviera is priced at $899.

Learn more at Gibson.

Epiphone Gem Archer Sheraton

Credit: Epiphone

Based on the Sheraton originally lent by Noel Gallagher on a long-term loan, the semi-hollow Masterbilt Gem Archer Sheraton features a five-ply layered maple/poplar construction with a maple centreblock for “enhanced sustain and improved feedback resistance”, as well as a one-piece mahogany neck with a ’60s C profile, topped with a rosewood fingerboard with 22 medium jumbo frets and mother-of-pearl block and abalone triangle inlays.

The guitar also features a large 60s-style Sloped Dovewing headstock, with the historic Epiphone logo and Tree of Life inlay in mother-of-pearl. It also has gold hardware, with Grover Rotomatic tuning machines with Milk Bottle buttons, and a low-friction Graph Tech nut. There’s also an ABR-1 bridge and Casino-style raised diamond trapeze tailpiece.

Electronics include a pair of USA-made Gibson Mini humbuckers, each with individual volume and tone controls with CTS potentiometers and Mallory capacitors. These are routed through a Switchcraft three-way toggle switch.

“The Epiphone Sheraton first came into my world when I borrowed Noel’s for Oasis tours and recording,” says Gem Archer.

“When I started playing with him again in the High Flying Birds in 2017, this was the guitar I asked if he still had. I’m playing it again together with my signature model based on his ’66 original, on the Oasis Live ’25 tour. It’s got a ring and a clang to it, with loads of definition and clarity that I haven’t found in any other model.”

Available in both right-and left-handed versions, the Masterbilt Gem Archer Sheraton comes with a hardshell case, and is priced at $1,299.

Learn more at Gibson.

What does Gibson say about the new slew of Oasis signature guitars?

“2025 is turning out to be quite the year for live music, and we’re thrilled to play a small part in paying tribute to one of the greatest reunions of the 21st century!” says Lee Bartram at Gibson.

“The first time I remember seeing Gem playing that Cherry Red Epiphone Sheraton was on July 2, 2005, in Manchester—what a show! Gem was such an important part of the Oasis sound in the 2000s, and to see him carry that on with Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds makes it a privilege to be part of this project.

“Spotting that Epiphone Riviera on stage during the Be Here Now tour in 1996 is something that stuck with me and inspired me to get my first Epiphone guitar. Nearly 30 years later, I’m honored to have played a tiny part in bringing the Epiphone Paul ‘Bonehead’ Arthurs Riviera to life.”

Check out a list of Oasis’s upcoming tour dates at the band’s official website.

The post What a day to be an Oasis fan, as Gibson launches wider-release Noel Gallagher Les Paul Standard – and Epiphone Bonehead and Gem Archer signature guitars appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Very nearly four years ago, a feature appeared on the cover of Guitar Magazine heralding “The Greatest Guitar Collection On Earth”. Given that over the years we’ve brought you an up-close look at some of the most interesting and drool-worthy guitar collections on the planet, including the personal treasures of some of the biggest artists of all time, that was quite a claim.

But the collection of Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay was different. This wasn’t just a bunch of Golden Era instruments with six-figure price tags – this was a remarkable archive of not just classic desirable musical instruments, but the very fabric of rock ‘n’ roll history.

Reeling off just a smattering of the artist instruments in the collection is enough to take your breath away. There’s John Lennon’s 1963 Gretsch 6120 Country Gent that he played on Paperback Writer, there’s George Harrison’s SG that he used on The White Album, Ringo’s Ed Sullivan Show drum kit, Bob Dylan’s Newport Folk Festival Strat, Jerry Garcia’s Tiger, Clapton’s ‘Fool’ SG, David Gilmour’s Black Strat, Kurt Cobain’s Teen Spirit Mustang…

On and on it goes, to the point where we didn’t even have space to include the guitars he owned that were played by Hendrix, Van Halen, The Edge, Cash and so many more in our feature. Imagine that? It is almost certainly the most comprehensive and historic private collection of genuine guitar history that exists in the world.

And now, following his death earlier this year at the age of just 65, every bit of this painstakingly assembled collection is going to go under the hammer – with Christie’s New York conducting a series of sales in March 2026.

David Gilmour’s iconic Black Strat, which was one of the crown jewels of the collection (Image: Eleanor Jane)

When I read that news yesterday, my first reaction was one of disappointment and no small amount of sadness. A weird thing to experience when talking about what was effectively a billionaire’s hobby, assembled at the sort of expense that can best be described as gauche given the wealth imbalance that exists in the world today.

But the thing is, on some level, Irsay understood this. He understood how privileged he was to be able to spend tens of millions of dollars buying the instruments that literally shaped the music that he loved, and he invested a significant amount of his own time and money into ensuring that these treasures did not spend their lives trapped behind glass and locked away from the general public.

Jim Irsay was an eccentric character with some well-publicised demons, but he was not shy about sharing his collection with the world.

Between 2021 and his death, highlights from the collection travelled across the country as a living museum. The Jim Irsay Collection would rock up in a city, and go on display to the general public so people could experience these iconic pieces of pop culture history up close.

What’s more, the city would also be treated to a performance from the Jim Irsay Band – a revolving cast of all-star musicians that included the likes of Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Tom Bucovac, Buddy Guy, Stephen Stills and Vince Gill – who would perform using the collection’s instruments so the audience could hear and feel them in the way they were meant to be experienced.

Irsay purchased Jerry Garcia’s Tiger for $957,500 in 2002. Built by luthier Doug Irwin, it was the Grateful Dead star’s main guitar from 1979 onwards and in 1995 was the last guitar he ever played in public (Image: Eleanor Jane)

“History is so important,” Irsay told Guitar.com in 2021. “So much of what we’re about as a world, as humanity, is tied to music. It’s been that way ever since the cavemen were around the fire… To me, it’s really important that the museum is alive. How you experience it when you walk in? I want it to be interactive.”

Irsay spoke to us in that interview about a plan to create a more permanent museum for his collection – something similar to Seattle’s MoPOP, which was created to display the similarly remarkable collection of late Microsoft founder Paul Allen.

That dream sadly seems to have died with Irsay, and the world’s most remarkable and important guitar collection is to be broken up and sold piecemeal to collectors who may be more inclined to keep the guitars safely hidden from the public than their previous steward.

I don’t begrudge Irsay’s family for not wanting to continue his passion project – it was his thing, after all. The sheer size, scope and value of the collection made it a mammoth logistical undertaking.

Jim was happy to pour his time and resources into, but you can’t blame his daughters – who also have the small matter of running an NFL team to worry about – for not sharing that same passion. Still, it was clear that he took his responsibility to his collection very seriously.

This 1977 Les Paul Deluxe was formerly owned by Neal Schon and featured on the band’s smash hit Don’t Stop Believin’ (Image: Eleanor Jane)

“Like any music lover or fan I want to try to have fun with it and share it,” he told us. “But I don’t possess it. I don’t have any ownership over it. I want to make that very fucking clear. With the museum it’s about, ‘How do you create the Willy Wonka factory? How do you sell the golden tickets?’ I can’t be Pete Townshend or Chrissie Hynde or Natalie Merchant or whoever, because that’s just not me. But I can be a steward and a curator.”

No doubt in part because he viewed himself as a custodian of these instruments, Irsay famously turned down an offer of over a billion dollars (yes, a billion) to sell the collection outright and move it to Dubai. In Irsay’s words the plan was “kind of like what’s been going on in golf”.

It showed the strength of Irsay’s conviction that these were not simply collector’s pieces to be traded as status symbols for the fantastically wealthy.

They are vitally important objects in the cultural and social history of America – and they should be preserved and accessible to its people. Not hidden away in private collections or whisked overseas to be used as tools of political soft power.

Whatever happens in next year’s sale, I have no doubt we’ll have to update our list of the most expensive guitars sold at auction. It would be nice if some of the guitars ended up taking a similar path that Rory Gallagher’s guitar did, and end up in museums and public spaces for all to appreciate – but even then they’ll surely be scattered across the world.

The Greatest Guitar Collection On Earth will be no more, and as guitarists and lovers of the history of guitar music, we’ll all be a little poorer for it.

Bob Dylan’s ‘Newport’ Strat. (Image: Eleanor Jane)

The post Why the sale of Jim Irsay’s Greatest Guitar Collection On Earth is a sad moment in guitar history appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

$499.99/£469.99, fender.com

I remember the first time I ever played a Squier guitar. I must have been 14 or 15 years old and the frontman of our band had just spent what at that time seemed an unbelievable amount of money on a classic butterscotch blackguard Squier Tele.

• READ MORE: Gretsch CVT review: a cult classic reborn as a stripped-down rock machine

Up until this point, I’d been the big-spender of the band – having splashed the cash on an £80 Hohner Strat copy and a £30 Carlsbro keyboard amp from the local pawn shop – but to say this first encounter with a Fender-adjacent instrument was formative would be an understatement.

Here was an electric guitar that didn’t weigh so much that my shoulder ached after a few minutes of playing, that played like it actually wanted you to keep making music on it. That sounded, even through that godawful Carlsboro, like a real fucking guitar. Within a month the Hohner was back in a Cash Converters’ window along with my PS2 and I was the owner of a shiny new Squier Stratocaster.

All of which is to not simply fill up my intro with middle-aged reverie, but to remind us of the importance of Squier guitars to all of us. More affordable than Epiphones, their purpose as the first rung on what can be a life-altering ladder of guitar obsession for pretty much every guitar player I’ve ever met means that it remains, arguably, the most important part of Fender’s many-headed hydra of sub-brands and price brackets.

But if you’ve been paying attention to Squier over the last few years, you’ll have noticed something slightly unsettling. Yes, Squier still makes some scandalously affordable guitars – you can buy a Debut Series Strat for barely more than I spent on my Squier in 2004, and the genuinely great Sonic Series still cost under 200 bucks.

But at the other end there’s something of a bloat occurring – Squier guitars like the one we have on test here that scrape so close to the bottom end of the ‘Real Fender’ range you could stop for some lunch on the way home from the guitar shop and end up spending more than you would on something that says Fender on the headstock. But does this matter? Well, let’s find out…

Image: Adam Gasson

Squier Classic Vibe Custom Telecaster SH w/ Bigsby – what is it?

There’s an argument to be made that they must be charging by the letter at the top end of the Squier range – the callous disregard the brand shows for brevity in full display with this ‘Classic Vibe Custom Telecaster SH w/ Bigsby’.

Breaking it down, however, and we can of course learn a lot from this. The Classic Vibe range is one of those things you’ll hear guitarists conspiratorially whisper to one another down the pub – “I’ll tell you what…” they’ll say. “Those Squier Classic Vibes are serious guitars for the money… you could even argue they’re better than the cheapest Fender stuff…”

And broadly speaking, they’re not wrong. With more vintage-inspired aesthetics, better quality hardware and proper alnico pickups (as opposed to the ceramic ones in the cheaper guitars) the Classic Vibe range has become a quiet phenomenon. So good are these guitars that you’ll occasionally even see proper bands with record deals playing their trusty Classic Vibe guitars on stage.

And this Custom Telecaster really does emphasise the appeal of the CV range. If you put a bit of tape over that script logo, you really would have to be a proper nause to guess that this wasn’t a lovely old Fender from a distance – with its artfully tinted gloss neck and double-bound Lake Placid Blue body, it certainly looks the part. Even the laurel fingerboard here is a deep, chocolatey brown that would make you wonder if someone hadn’t put rosewood on here by mistake.

It’s all further enhanced by the added extras that differentiate this from the standard CV Custom Tele in the shape of the addition of a humbucker in the neck (borrowed from the limited edition 60s Custom SH) and now a licensed Bigsby B50 vibrato. It’s all quite a departure from that Squier Tele I played 20-something years ago… but at very nearly $500, it ought to be…

Image: Adam Gasson

Squier Classic Vibe Custom Telecaster SH w/ Bigsby – build quality and playability

The general level of fit and finish on the Classic Vibe series is a reason why the range has proved so popular with modders and upgraders – as a rule they provide an impressively solid base from which to work with, and so it is with this Custom Telecaster.

The finish is immaculately applied all over, with no cracks or overspray anywhere to be seen and clean, precise binding around both the top and back edges. The worry with any gloss neck is that it’s going to be a bit sticky, but in addition to looking handsome, Squier’s craftspeople have done a nice job in keeping it on the right side of ‘smooth without being tacky’ here.

It’s a pleasure to play, frankly – even if the 21-fret C-shaped neck is inevitably a little generic compared to some of the necks being produced by Fender in Mexico, for example. Generic doesn’t mean bad, however – it gets out of the way and does its job with aplomb.

The Bigsby vibrato is a temperamental beast at the best of times. It’s wonderfully musical and expressive tool, but the various points of friction inherent in the design, combined with the unreliability of the spring in terms of returning you to pitch consistently can make even USA-made examples somewhat eccentric when used with the lighter gauge strings most modern players prefer (rather than the telegraph wires the Bigsby was designed to work with in the 1950s).

That all tends to get magnified in the cheaper licensed Bigsbys you see on affordable guitars such as this, so it’s with a certain degree of trepidation that I approach the wobbly stuff here. Mercifully at least, the B50’s string-through design makes restringing much more straightforward than the classic method. Given that it’s likely to be many players’ first encounter with a Bigsby, it’s a smart move on Squier’s part to make this part less painful – it’s the sort of thing that can cause people to swear off a vibrato for life.

The vintage-style sealed gear tuners are solid and smooth, and that’s good because you’re definitely going to need them. That said, this is by far not the worst performance I’ve ever experienced from a Bigsby on a more budget guitar. I don’t doubt that the presence of the floating Mustang-style bridge is helping here – you can see it moving in concert with the bar and that certainly helps keep things more stable than it might be otherwise.

That said, it’s still not great – I wonder if the nut slots need to be lubricated or widened a little as they certainly look a little snug in places on my example. Such concerns are par for the course when it comes to owning a guitar with a Bigsby – just don’t expect Floyd Rose-level returning to pitch here and you probably won’t be disappointed.

One other thing to note on the build and playability stakes is the weight – this guitar tips the scales at a not-unreasonable 8lbs and 1oz. Now, the Bigsby is a big ol’ chunk of metal and adds a fair amount of mass to the guitar, so the poplar body has been routed internally to remove some of that weight – how that works out in terms of sound we’ll find out in a minute…

Image: Adam Gasson

Squier Classic Vibe Custom Telecaster SH w/ Bigsby – sounds

The danger when you start hacking chunks out of a solidbody guitar to make it weigh less is, of course, that it starts to behave not at all like a solidbody guitar when it’s plugged in. While this Telecaster is nowhere near as feisty and temperamental as a proper semi-hollow, running it into a cranked Princeton with a Chase Bliss Brothers in front of it does showcase a bit of unruliness that you wouldn’t expect from a Telecaster. Every knock on the body or clunk of the selector switch is audible through the amp and not exactly pleasant if you’re trying to record the damn thing.

There’s definitely a bit of that liveliness on the bridge pickup with this configuration too. It’s brash, and a little on the cutting side – I was instantly reaching for the tone control to tame some of this bratty excess, but if you like your Tele bridge pickup to cut through, you’ll have no real complaints here.

Conversely, the neck pickup is a much darker and more woolly affair – if you want some classic sustain-heavy leads it’s great, but things get quite messy when you add chords to the mix.

The middle position is often the poor relation of many a guitar configuration, but here it actually splits the difference between the two – taking the depth and warmth of the neck and blending it with the clarity and punch of the bridge to create something that’s balanced and rather lovely.

Step off the gain, however and all three selections make a lot more sense – you can get fiery with the chicken picking with the bridge, while adding some delay and reverb to the neck pickup is a warm, comforting bath of a sound. It’s very nice indeed – especially when you introduce the hazy wobble of that Bigsby.

Image: Adam Gasson

Squier Classic Vibe Custom Telecaster SH w/ Bigsby – should I buy one?

There’s no escaping that Fender is really pushing the boundaries of Squier’s credibility with the pricetag of these top-end Classic Vibe instruments. For another hundred bucks you can get yourself a Standard Series Telecaster with Fender on the headstock, after all.

But the thing is, this is a demonstrably superior guitar to the Standard series in every meaningful way, bar that headstock decal – it certainly looks better in every meaningful way, and I’d say the sounds are better too, thanks to the presence of proper alnico magnets in the pickups here.

However, $500 is still a lot of money for a Squier guitar, and it’s complicated by the fact that it’s not as well sorted as it perhaps could be – the Bigsby is still a temperamental beast and the pickups are definitely in the ‘good but not great’ category – something that’s probably been accentuated by the weight-relieving body routing making it feel a bit like a rollercoaster straining to keep on the rails at times.

But here in 2025, where $500 is roughly half the cost of a flagship mobile phone and a trip to the cinema will leave you needing to take out a personal loan, this is an awful lot of guitar for the money. It’s a guitar that could take you places, and it won’t let you down on the way.

Squier Classic Vibe Custom Telecaster SH w/ Bigsby – alternatives

Would you believe that there are no other Telecasters in Fender’s current line-up that offer both a Bigsby and a HS configuration? If you can live without the Bigsby, however, there are some interesting options – the regular Squier Classic Vibe Telecaster Custom 70s ($449.99/£385) takes things in a more 70s direction visually, while the Fender Player II Modified SH ($1,079.99/£999) offers an upgraded take on the format with Noiseless pickups and other player-friendly additions. If you want something outside of the Fender stable that keeps a lot of the vibe, the Schecter PT Fastback II B ($849) offers a pair of humbuckers to go with the Bigsby B50.

The post Squier Classic Vibe Custom Telecaster SH w/ Bigsby review – “this is a guitar that could take you places” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

By most accounts, the guitar collection of late Indianapolis Colts CEO and billionaire businessman is the greatest on Earth. No other collection features as many important instruments from the pages of guitar history.

Now, following Irsay’s death earlier this year at the age of 65, the entire monumental collection is headed to the auction block, with a series of auctions set to be hosted by Christie’s New York beginning March 2026.

• READ MORE: Gibson’s $20k Back to the Future ES-345 is being listed on Reverb for over $100k – as scalpers look to flip the highly sought-after guitars for mega profit

The billion-dollar guitar collection – valued as such when Irsay was once offered the insane 10-figure sum by a “Middle East element”, an offer he ultimately turned down – includes some of the most important instruments in guitar history, including items owned and played by John Lennon, Sir Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Jimi Hendrix, Prince, Jerry Garcia, Bob Dylan, Kurt Cobain, Eddie Van Halen, Eric Clapton, Bo Diddley, Janis Joplin, David Gilmour, and dozens of others.

Highlights, in particular, include Kurt Cobain’s Smells Like Teen Spirit Mustang and David Gilmour’s Black Fender Stratocaster – two guitars which hold the #2 and #3 spots on the list of the most expensive guitars ever sold at auction – as well as Eric Clapton’s legendary Fool SG, which sold for $1.27 million in 2023, and John Lennon’s Gretsch 6120 Country Gentleman. And this is just a tiny handful in the massive collection.

Credit: Press

Free public exhibitions will accompany the auctions at Christie’s New York – located at 20 Rockefeller Plaza – and a portion of the proceeds will be donated to philanthropic causes championed by Irsay throughout his life.

“Christie’s is honoured to offer this magnificent collection, so lovingly compiled, maintained, and shared by legendary collector Jim Irsay over decades,” says Julien Pradels, president of the Christie’s Americans region. 

“These extraordinary objects will be made available to passionate collectors around the globe, who have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to own a piece of history, and provide this exquisite collection its next chapter.”

More information on the forthcoming auctions will be available in the coming months. 

We’ll endeavour to keep you updated here at Guitar.com, but you can also stay tuned via christies.com/irsay.

Credit: Press

The post Jim Irsay’s entire $1 billion guitar collection – featuring Kurt Cobain, Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix guitars – is headed to auction appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Last year, Tetrarch guitarist Diamond Rowe became Jackson’s first ever female signature artist, and the monster single-cut Monarkh guitar that came of that partnership quickly established itself as an unrelenting weapon of EMG-loaded brutality.

• READ MORE: Creeper on the best horror-themed albums

One thing that didn’t make it into her DR12 guitar however, was a tone knob. And in the latest episode of Guitar.com Originals Series My Guitars & Me, the queen of ‘freak tone’ explained why she has absolutely no need for such things – and never has.

“Honestly, the first adjustment I made when we were putting the specs together for this guitar was to get rid of the tone knobs,” she reveals. “It was like the very first thing I told them, because in all the years I’ve been playing since I was a child, I don’t remember ever adjusting a tone knob for literally anything. So, I’m like, you know what? Clearly, I’m not going to miss it. So, I just did two volume knobs.”

Diamond also had a word for the often-maligned EMG pickups, and poured cold water on those who think that active pickups can suck your tone.

“I gravitated towards playing what my favourite bands played because when I was 11, I didn’t know anything about, you know, different pickups, active, passive, string gauges, nothing like that,” she explains. “It was just like, oh, Kirk Hammet plays EMGs, you know, so that’s what I want to play. So my first guitars had them in there. And I feel like it just became a part of my sound.”

“Whenever I play EMGs, it just it’s that metal sound that everyone knows. And some people like that about them and some people don’t. They feel like it might take away some of like the, you know, uniqueness of their playing or like the, you know, whatever. I don’t. I love them. I plug and play EMGs and I’m like, ‘Yeah, that’s what I need.'”

Check out the full episode of My Guitars & Me with Diamond below, and check out the band’s latest album, The Ugly Side Of Me here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXgZG_vfci0

The post Tetrarch’s Diamond Rowe explains why you don’t need tone knobs on your guitars appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

In addition to his strong business track record – with numerous C-suite roles, including his current position as CEO of Guitar Center – Gabe Dalporto is driven by his genuine love of guitars.

But of all the guitars in his collection, which are his favourite? In a new conversation with Guitar World, he reveals he has two…

While attending Guitar Center’s recent VIP event in New York City to mark its Guitar-A-Thon, Dalporto explained his deep, personal connection with his favourite guitars. “I’ve got two favourite guitars, and both of [which] I inherited from my father,” he explains.

• READ MORE: Gibson’s $20k Back to the Future ES-345 is being listed on Reverb for over $100k – as scalpers look to flip the highly sought-after guitars for mega profit
  

One of his two favourites is his beloved and reliable 1964 Fender Stratocaster – a common staple in many guitarists’ arsenals. “It’s white, and it’s got a rosewood fretboard,” he says. “I’ve played that my entire life and that’s been my go-to.”

The other guitar is a bit more unique; the guitar was a personal Gibson mod project carried out by his father. “When my dad passed away, I inherited his 1956 Les Paul,” he reveals. “He modded [it], took the P-90s out and put humbuckers in. It’s a Goldtop and it’s just beautiful. I love that thing.”

While he is able to narrow down these two guitars as his favourites, he struggles to choose an outright winner. “It’s like [asking] ‘Which kid do you love [more]?’” he jokes. “It’s really hard to say!”

Ever since taking over as Guitar Center’s CEO, Dalporto’s mission has been simple: he wants to improving the guitar landscape, chiefly by looking to create more “long-term” musicians. Back in May, he said he was set on encouraging the next generation of “serious musicians” to emerge.

“One of the biggest challenges we have as an industry is, if someone picks up a guitar for the first time, for every 10 people who start playing guitar, a year later, one person is playing, and nine are not,” he said at the time. “What can we do to change that ratio?”

“We [want to] connect with people early in their music career and really get them deeply embedded, so they’re going to be in it for the long term,” he concluded.

Guitar Center is currently hosting its pre-Black Friday sale, with up to 30% off some items. Browse the full range at Guitar Center.

The post Guitar Center CEO has two favourite guitars, but can’t choose an outright winner: “It’s like asking, ‘Which kid do you love more?’” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Dave Mustaine has hinted that a track on Megadeth’s final album is technically a cover song, but one he actually wrote.

Fans suspect the ‘cover’ in question is likely a Metallica song, and could potentially be Ride The Lightning from the band’s 1984 sophomore album of the same name. Megadeth’s final album before their retirement, which is self-titled, is due for release in 2026 and features 13 tracks.

• READ MORE: “Don’t be mad, don’t be sad – we changed the world”: Dave Mustaine makes emotional statement as Megadeth announce final album

Mustaine was famously fired from Metallica in 1983 before the release of their debut record, Kill ‘Em All. His parts were re-recorded by Kirk Hammett, but Mustaine still has writing credits on a number of tracks, including Ride The Lightning.

So far, 10 tracks have already been named and one has been released as a single – Tipping Point. However, in a new interview with Norwegian radio station Stjernepose, Mustaine says [via Loudwire], “We have 13 new songs for the new album… One of the songs is a cover song but I actually wrote it, so it’s kind of like a cover, of my song.”

The band also recently shared a track list graphic to their social media, and some fans spotted that just below number 10, there’s a faint hint of some writing which could potentially spell out Ride The Lightning.

There’s no return you’ve crossed the line. Two more tracks revealed tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/7yQ9GkuGSJ

— Megadeth (@Megadeth) October 28, 2025

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A post shared by Loudwire (@loudwire)

The relationship between Mustaine and Metallica has been somewhat rocky over the decades, and earlier this year, Mustaine reflected on his exit. During an appearance on The Shawn Ryan Show, he argued that the band went on to use his music, despite him telling them not to.

Of his firing, he explained: “I said, ‘No warning? No second chance? You’re not gonna give me a warning? You’re just gonna kick me out?’ And I thought that was unfair. And it showed a grotesque lack of character. So that pissed me off and was a huge part of the fuel.”

“At the time, I was really mad and I didn’t wanna forgive them for what they did. I told them when I left, ‘Do not use my music. And of course they used it,” he said.

Mustaine highlighted Ride The Lightning as well as The Call Of Ktulu, Phantom Lord, Metal Militia, Jump In The Fire, and The Four Horsemen as tracks featuring his work.

“And I wrote a bunch of Leper Messiah [on Metallica’s third album, Master Of Puppets] too. They didn’t give me credit on that,” he said. “You listen to the riffs, you know they’re my riffs… I wrote a lot of their music that made them, and all the solos on that first record were mine – the best Kirk could try and copy them.”

To find out more about the final Megadeth album or view their current list of scheduled live dates, head over to the band’s official website.

The post Megadeth – Ride the Lightning? Here are the clues we’ve got that point to a Metallica cover on Megadeth’s final album appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Limited guitars with sky-high demand – perhaps it was predictable all along that Gibson’s Custom Back to the Future ES-345 and its cheaper Epiphone version would find themselves in the scopes of price scalpers.

The launch last week was hugely successful, with both guitars rapidly selling out. However, it now seems not all of those guitars went to hardcore Back to the Future fans, as some are already being listed on Reverb at vastly inflated prices.

The Epiphone model in particular is highly sought after, and is currently the top selling semi-hollow body guitar on the gear marketplace. The term ‘Back To The Future’ is also the site’s number one trending search.

• READ MORE: Online games have been doing it for years – are guitar brands cottoning on to the lucrative nature of crossover collaborations?

The Gibson Custom Back to the Future 1955 ES-345 Collector’s Edition was originally limited to just 88 models worldwide – a nod to the speed needed for time travel in the film – while the Epiphone model was also limited at 1,985 guitars globally, a nod to the year of Back to the Future‘s release.

The Gibson Custom version was priced at $19,999 and is now being listed in one case for over $100,000. The more affordable $999 Epiphone, on the other hand, is now selling for between $3,000 to $7,000.

Cyril Nigg, Reverb’s Senior Director of Analytics, tells Guitar World, “As a big fan of Back to the Future, there have been two items I’ve always wanted to own: a hoverboard and Marty McFly’s red ES-345 from the Enchantment Under the Sea performance.

“The original batch of guitars immediately sold out on Gibson’s site, leaving many unable to get the coveted guitar. Naturally, a lot of folks turned to Reverb to see if they could snag one on the secondary market,” he says.

“Less than an hour after the first Back to the Future guitars went up on Reverb, 10 had sold – and it hasn’t stopped there. Over the past week, ‘Back to the Future’ has been the number one trending search on Reverb.

“What we’re seeing is part of a larger, nostalgia-fuelled trend, as moments from the past continue to drive demand. In fact, the Epiphone edition is the top selling semi-hollow body guitar on all of Reverb at the moment, as buyer demand continues to outpace supply.”

Earlier this year, Gibson launched a worldwide search for the original Gibson Cherry Red ES-345 famously played by Michael J. Fox within the film’s famous ‘Enchantment Under the Sea’ dance scene. When filmmakers began work on the movie’s sequel, the original ES-345 had vanished. Gibson is currently pursuing a number of leads, but the guitar remains yet to be found.

To view the full Back to the Future collection, including accessories and apparel, head over to Gibson.

The post Gibson’s $20k Back to the Future ES-345 is being listed on Reverb for over $100k – as scalpers look to flip the highly sought-after guitars for mega profit appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

[Editor’s Note: Meng Ru Kuok, Founder & CEO of Caldecott Music Group is a part owner of Manson Guitar Works. Guitar.com is part of Caldecott Music Group]

Manson Guitar Works and its majority shareholder Matt Bellamy have dived into the Muse nomenclature to celebrate the launch of the brand’s first-ever compact effects pedal, the Supermassive Black Fuzz.

Named, of course, after Muse’s megahit Supermassive Black Hole, the pedal offers guitarists the same “lush, thick tones” heard on the 2006 track, and comes as the result of “several years” of fine-tuning by Bellamy and Manson. It was also conceived with help from legendary pedal maker Adrian Thorpe, the mastermind behind ThorpyFX.

“Adrian’s skills have meshed perfectly with our first pedal design, resulting in the sonic nirvana that fans of innovative music will be looking for,” Manson says.

• READ MORE: Manson Guitar Works launches the Verona MB, an exact recreation of Matt Bellamy’s stage-used Will Of The People guitar
  

Promising “astonishing results”, the UK-built Supermassive Black Fuzz is housed in a durable black anodised ergonomic chassis with striking cosmology-inspired visual appointments, with a layout comprising four rotary controls – Magnitude, Warp, Dimension and Gravity – as well as an EQ selector switch and two footswitches.

“Adhering to a long-standing Manson Guitar Works tradition, the control knobs themselves are as impressive as the tonal dimensions beneath them,” says Manson. “There are no loose-fitting, plastic push-on knobs to be found here.”

The Supermassive Black Fuzz sports UK-produced controls crafted from 6082T6 aluminium – “a substance so strong bridges are made with it” – and securely held via stainless steel grub screws. Elsewhere, LEDs identify the pedal’s power and Peak filter status.

But the Supermassive Black Fuzz hasn’t just been tested with traditional guitar setups; during development, Matt Bellamy noted that the pedal should be usable directly through a recording console, and so fine-tuned every parameter during sessions at various studios around the world, including the world famous Abbey Road.

There’s two versions of the Supermassive Black Fuzz up for grabs: the Standard Edition (£259), and Gold Edition (£359). 

The latter is limited to just 100 units, with each hand-signed by Matt Bellamy, and coming with an exclusive pick tin with the Supermassive Black Fuzz artwork engraved on the lid, a gold logo limited edition box, six signature plectrums and a Manson polishing cloth.

Credit: Manson Guitar Works

The Supermassive Black Fuzz will be available from official Manson Guitar Works dealers from 2pm GMT 30 October, and directly via Manson Guitar Works online from 2:30pm GMT.

You can learn more at Manson Guitar Works.

The post Harness Matt Bellamy’s legendary Supermassive Black Hole guitar tone with Manson’s first-ever effects pedal, the Supermassive Black Fuzz appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

When you’re the son of Eddie Van Halen, you’ve got a lot to live up to. Wolfgang Van Halen has certainly risen to the challenge; while he has admitted that living under the ‘shadow’ of his father feels like walking ‘a tightrope’, his solo project Mammoth has asserted him as a musical force in his own right.

In a new interview with Metal Hammer, though, Wolfgang notes how “unfair” it is to be considered by some to be a Van Halen “nepo baby”, as that attitude implies he hasn’t grafted to fine-tune his craft. “I’m one to talk, but I think the term ‘nepo baby’ is a bit unfair,” he explains. “I think it takes the individuality of the person away.”

• READ MORE: “We’ve gone from a jack-o’-lantern to a plastic pumpkin:” Creeper on the best horror-themed albums

He points to actor Jack Quaid, who has stars in the darkly satirical superhero TV series The Boys. While Quaid is the son of actors Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan, Wolfgang notes that he is often referred to as “one of the ‘good ones’” when discussion of ‘nepo babies’ arises. “Who decides that?” Wolfgang asks.

Of course, Wolfgang is aware that nepotism has allowed certain acts to rise up through the industry without ‘merit’. However, he believes that labelling absolutely anyone with prior connections to the industry as a ‘nepo baby’ discredits the individual’s talent.

“I’m not going to name names, but in some cases, it does apply: the idea of people getting a leg up when they have no artistic merit or talent,” he admits. “All I’m trying to do is be myself and have my own artistic integrity and my own voice. I hope that people can see that.”

While Wolfgang’s days of performing with Van Halen certainly gave him a ‘leg up’, it’s not been the easiest of rides. Touring with his father at 16 lead to an influx of outside opinions, whether than be from Van Halen fans or his own peers. “When it comes to high school, I was almost a loser,” the rocker says. “I had a tutor when I took off for the first Van Halen tour in 11th grade, and when I came back for senior year, it was almost a dig.”

“People would be like [mockingly], ‘Oh, look! It’s the bass player for Van Halen!’” he recalls.

Since his Van Halen days, Wolfgang has made a point of carving out his own artistic identity. “I’m certainly trying to forge my own legacy,” he explains. “That’s my goal every day.”

He reveals that his ultimate goal is to live up to his father’s legacy, in his own right. “I’d be like, ‘You know what? We made it’ if we’re able to sell out a show at the Hollywood Bowl, because that was the last place I ever played with my dad,” he says. “If Mammoth are ever able to sell out a show at the Hollywood Bowl, I could die the next day and be like, ‘Job well done!’”

And he’s making sure it’s all earned through his own skill – that’s why he very rarely plays Van Halen songs anymore. To date, he’s performed Van Halen songs twice without his father, with the last time being in 2022 for the Foo Fighters’ Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concert. Even then, he only agreed because wanted to honour Hawkins’ legacy.

He tells Metal Hammer that he would never have “been able to live if down” if he publicly messed up any of his father’s songs. “Many people who hate me say, ‘You’ll never be good enough and you have to play Van Halen to be relevant,’” he says. “If the one time I played Van Halen on my own, I ruined it and messed up… In my mind, it would have ruined my life. I took it very seriously.”

In an interview with Drumeo back in June, he also emphasised his aversion to playing Van Halen music since his father’s death. “I’m really just not interested in playing it any more without Dad.,” he said. “And I know [Alex Van Halen] feels the exact same way…. it’s really a tough thing for me.”

Mammoth’s third studio album, The End, dropped just last week.

The post Wolfgang Van Halen thinks it would be “unfair” to call him a “nepo baby” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Sure, you can try to describe a guitar solo technically using music theory, pointing to its note selection, phrasing and so on. But the best guitar solos hold a magic within that can’t be explained. But these magic takes aren’t always kept…

As David Gilmour recalls in a new conversation on the Broken Record Podcast, there’s one particular Pink Floyd solo which he tried to recreate after the perfect take was erased. But despite re-recording the solo note-for-note, it never landed in quite the same way as the original take.

• READ MORE: Scotland’s Kenny’s Music becomes the latest musical instrument retailer to close its doors, “despite our strongest sales ever in recent years”

The solo he’s referring to was on Dogs, from Pink Floyd’s 1977 album, Animals.

“If it’s perfect, don’t mess with it,” Gilmour advises recording guitarists. “You’ve got to stick with when something is right. And if there’s something not perfect about the sound, that’s kind of secondary… You’d always think, something about the phrasing or the way the tremolo was working and the way this and that, was not quite perfect.”

He continues: “I did it once on the Animals albums years and years ago on Dogs, where I did a solo, and for some reason it got erased.

“But I had a stereo mix that I’d taken home because I thought that was nice. So I could learn it off that and then [redo it]. But I never thought that I got it quite as good again. Even though it’s sort of note-for-note perfect, how can you describe that difference between note-for-note perfect and original note-for-note perfect?”

Should guitarists be trying to recreate solos note-for-note anyway – especially when they’re ultimately performed in a live setting?

Gilmour recently explained why he “never learned” the legendary solo of Comfortably Numb. “To me it’s just different every time,” he told Rick Beato. 

“Why would I want to do it the same? Would it be more popular with the people listening if I did it exactly like the record? Or do they prefer that I just wander off into whatever feels like the right thing at the time? I don’t know. I suspect they prefer it to be real, and to be happening, you know?”

The post “I never thought I got it quite as good again”: David Gilmour reveals a lost solo on this classic Pink Floyd song was better than what ended up on the record appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Scottish musical instrument retailer Kenny’s Music has ceased trading, the firm confirms in a new communication with its supplier partners, seen by Guitar.com.

The company – which ran an online store, as well as brick-and-mortar stores in Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dunfermline and formerly Dundee – reveals its intention to move into Creditors’ Voluntary Liquidation (CVL), “despite our strongest sales ever in recent years”.

“The rapidly rising cost base across both stores and e-commerce, combined with continued pressure on margins, has made it impossible for us to operate sustainably within the traditional music retail model,” writes Alex Marten, Managing Director at Kenny’s Music. “Continuing to trade would not have been responsible.

“Although this chapter is ending, I remain committed to the MI industry and hope to contribute again in future in a way that better reflects the changing needs of musicians and suppliers alike. In the meantime, I will do everything I reasonably can to assist you and the proposed liquidator through this process.”

At the time of writing, the Kenny’s Music online store is offline, with a short message which reads: “Our online store is currently unavailable.”

Kenny’s Music is just the latest in a string of musical instrument retailer closures in recent years.

In the last five years alone, we’ve witnessed Guitar Center enter and exit Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection – which allows a struggling business a chance to reorganise their finances while continuing to operate – and legendary US music chain Sam Ash file for bankruptcy and close all its stores.

The picture in the UK hasn’t been pretty either: now Kenny’s Music, but this year also saw the closure of iconic Brighton-based retailer GAK, and the collapse of large UK chain PMT in summer.

Elsewhere, Bax Music – one of Europe’s largest online music retailers, with six physical stores across the Netherlands and Belgium – was declared bankrupt earlier this year after struggling with financial woes exacerbated by the Covid pandemic, and subsequently by a fire in 2023 which damaged a number of instruments at a facility in Goes in the southwestern Netherlands.

The industry doesn’t look healthy right now, especially looking only at these high-profile closures. But it’s not been all bad news.

Following the rapid spate of closures and the understandable crisis of confidence in customers, Andertons Music Co main man Lee Anderton reached out to us in June to offer his thoughts on the changing nature of the industry and how retailers can continue to thrive in a rapidly changing economic environment.

“We’ve been getting all sorts of comments coming through with orders saying, ‘Please confirm that you’ve definitely sent this today, because I’m a bit nervous that you’re gonna go bust tomorrow as well’,” Anderton revealed.

“So it’s really important, I think, that we put some balance back into the debate. Because the underlying guitar business is actually pretty resilient… you don’t have to worry about the good retailers.”

Anderton also touched on the devastating impact of the Covid pandemic on music retailers: “You just couldn’t have thrown a worse curveball, to a business with a large number of retail stores.

“And then I think, honestly, it’s never recovered. I think Covid accelerated customers’ propensity to shop online, and probably accelerated what was going to happen anyway over a 10- or 15-year period, into a two-year period.”

Anderton did acknowledge the difficulty brick-and-mortar stores have in competing with online retail: “If I add up the number of guitar amp and pedal products that you could order today on the Andertons website – I’m not even counting strings and cables, just guitars, amps and pedals – there are 14,000 different products. And 10,000 of them are in stock! How on earth is your average bricks and mortar store gonna get close to that? It’s financially not possible to have that kind of operation in every major city.”

Image: Press

But he said where physical stores will always have the edge over online retail is in providing a top-tier experience for in-person customers.

“I do still think that the greatest experience that you can have in retail is in an amazing bricks and mortar store,” he said. “Doesn’t matter what you want to buy, a really amazing store with amazing demonstration facilities, and a vibe, and a great sales person and great after-sales service… if that can happen, it’s amazing.

“But when in reality did you last experience that? It’s so hard to consistently achieve that experience. I certainly think that part of the reason Andertons has never opened a second store is that it’s hard enough trying to do it most of the time in one store, yeah, trying to do it most of the time let you know, let alone all the time in 15 stores.”

Andertons isn’t the only European music retailer continuing to thrive. Last year, we took a trip to Treppendorf, Germany to get an inside look at Thomann’s monumental operation.

The brand’s headquarters sits in a town populated by only a couple hundred people, but serves hundreds of thousands of customers daily; it operates out of Europe’s largest warehouse, with 120,000 square metres of floor space, and shipping over 100,000 items every single day.

So it’s safe to say there’s still a strong demand for musical instruments and gear. Perhaps what we’re seeing amid shifting customer habits and changes in economic conditions is a metaphorical shifting of MI retail’s tectonic plates, and far from an end of the MI retail world that some have feared.

The post Scotland’s Kenny’s Music becomes the latest musical instrument retailer to close its doors, “despite our strongest sales ever in recent years” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Seven-string guitars belong in the pantheon of ‘extended range’ instruments. You’ll have read the same phrase in our recent guide to scale length. If we treat a six-string guitar as the norm, a guitar that opens up more sonic possibilities through longer scale length and/or additional strings is ‘extending the range’ of what we can work with.

While metal and its many sub-genres is dominated by seven-string guitars (not forgetting eight and nine-string guitars!), the creative applications for a seven-string guitar extend far beyond chugging ones and zeroes in Drop F#.

You don’t have to play metal, but it helps

While the origin of seven-string guitars can be traced back over two hundred years, in modern music the earliest incarnation can be traced to the 1930s. George Van Eps – one of the most celebrated jazz and swing guitarists to have lived – commissioned Epiphone to produce a seven-string guitar for him. Three decades later, an Eps signature electric seven-string was produced by Gretsch. His ‘lap piano’ style of playing set him apart from his counterparts and he would inspire many other jazz musicians such as Howard Alden and John Pizzarelli to adopt a seven-string in their work.

Jazz and classical held somewhat of a monopoly on the seven-string guitar. That was until the 1990s and the arrival of the Ibanez UV7 – Steve Vai’s signature guitar. It was something of a watershed moment for seven-string guitars in metal as more and more artists adopted the instrument. It was around this time that the fathers of djent, Meshuggah, would begin bludgeoning ears with their downtuned seven-strings.

In the 2000s and 2010s, the seven-string would find itself across multiple tracks by Muse, including ‘Supremacy’ and the live performance of ‘Citizen Erased’.

Finally, and this is slightly cheating, we have guitarists like Josh Martin, the innovative virtuoso of Little Tybee. While his seven-string days technically ended when he began college, his style and approach to extended range guitar is worth mentioning. Favouring an Ibanez S8, he plays using clean tones and effects, often blending ethereal arpeggio licks, glitch tapping and six-string capo placement so that the lowest strings remain open to add bassier frequencies when needed.

It’s a heavily truncated history, but hopefully these examples showcase the versatility of seven-string guitars and dispel the myth that they’re only used for metal. With all that being said, we anticipate the majority of people who have found this article are predisposed to heavier genres of music, and as such, many of the guitars in this essential guide will be made with metalheads in mind.

Is a seven-string guitar right for you?

You may still be on the fence on extended range guitars. It took four years writing and playing heavy music with my Bass VI – side note, I adore that guitar – before I decided I’d also like to experiment with a seven-string. The difference between the two cannot be overstated and there are riffs and songs I’ve written on one, that I’d never have thought to play on the other.

Playability is completely different with the different scale lengths and string gauges that you’ll find with a baritone or Bass VI, especially when coming from a six-string guitar. If you haven’t already, I highly recommend reading our complete guide to scale length – it will be massively helpful in understanding scale length and how it aligns with your playstyle and needs from a guitar.

But enough prep, let’s get into our recommendations for some of our favourite seven-string guitars across budget, midrange and premium price points.

Our favourite budget seven-string guitars

Price range: £150-£300

It’s good sense to diligently research any new guitar purchase, but that’s so much more true when making the switch to an extended range guitar. That extra string is going to take a little getting used to, not to mention that mutli-scale neck if you’re so inclined.

Whether driven by necessity or a concern that a seven-string might not be for you, there’s some great budget seven-string guitars on the market and we’re going to start with the one that I bought myself.

Jackson’s JS22-7 Dinky comes up a lot in threads around the best entry-level seven-string guitar and it’s easy to see why. Costing under £250 and sporting a wonderfully effective matte black finish, it’s immediately tempting. The 26.5” scale length and slim neck mean it can handle some chunky tunings while still being easy to play. The stock humbuckers are capable of producing some great high gain and clean tones and I found the tuners to be super stable. A lot of people buy the JS22-7 for a base and then swap out parts as needed, but out of the box this guitar is great value for money.

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Similar in price to the JS22-7 is ESP’s LTD MH-17 and the Ibanez GIO. Both ESP and Ibanez carry a lot of weight in the metal community and both guitars offer a solid entry point into the world of seven-strings. Unlike the Jackson, the scale length on the MH-17 and GIO is 25.5”, so anything beyond standard or Drop A may not yield the results you’re after. Aesthetically, the body finish and hardware on both these guitars offers a bit of variety if you’re not a fan of the Jackson’s all-black look.

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If the £250 mark is still a little more than you’d like to pay, the Harley Benton R-457MN WH comes in below £150 and is surely a familiar name even if you’ve done only the smallest amount of research into budget seven-strings. The price does come with some caveats. The tuners and pickups aren’t going to be the greatest and the 25.5” scale length might be off-putting if you’re looking to tune super low. All that being said, as your first foray into seven-strings it’s an unbeatable price.

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Our favourite midrange seven-string guitars

Price range = £500-£850

We’re moving away from entry-level into the territory of guitars for players with experience that are looking for a higher degree of quality. There are some great options in the £300-£500 bracket like the Cort KX307MS (£375), Schecter C-7 Deluxe (£439) or Ibanez’s RGA/RG7 series (£450). However, if you’re working with a budget of £300, I’d personally recommend looking at the £250 seven-strings we just highlighted. Similarly, at £500, you don’t have to add a huge amount on top of that budget to get a substantial upgrade. It’s why I’ve chosen to gloss over that price range.

Leading the charge on low price once again is Harley Benton, this time with their Amarok-7. Apart from looking considerably slicker than the budget R-457MN WH, the Amarok-7 sports a slim modern C profile neck, macassar fretboard (25.5” scale length) and EMG Retro Active Hot 70 pickups, among other things. It may still be lacking compared to others around this price range, but the affordability speaks volumes.

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Up your budget by almost £100 and you’ll find Schecter’s Omen Elite-7 – and there’s a lot to like about it. With a 26.5” scale length, five-way switch and Schecter’s Diamond Heretic humbuckers, the cleans are varied and the distorted tones pack a punch. The poplar burl top and colour range of the Omen Elite-7 really helps it stand apart, too.

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At £799, the Cort KX507 Multi Scale is reaching towards the top end of our budget, but it’s worth every penny. In our review, Darran Charles gave it a 9/10 saying, “…any guitarist wishing to explore the low-end while retaining sonic clarity for expansive rhythm playing will be served very well indeed by the KX507”. It’s the first multi-scale guitar we’ve covered in this guide, these can be a little intimidating at first but you’d be surprised at how quickly you adapt – especially when you’ve got those Fishman Fluence pickups delivering great tones out of the box.

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Our favourite premium seven-string guitars

Price range = £850 – £1,400

We’re actually going to start with a very affordable signature model from prog djenters, Periphery. Coming in at £879, the PRS SE Mark Holcomb SVN is a no-brainer for players looking for a versatile seven-string. Equipped with Holcomb’s excellent signature Seymour Duncan Scarlet and Scourge pickups, this guitar can croon and crush in equal measure.

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As we cross the £1K price point we have the Sterling by Music Man Kaizen 7. At £1,099, this is a much more affordable version of the Music Man x Tosin Abasi collaboration, which will set you back £2,999. While some of the premium features like the multi-scale neck or Music Man’s HT humbuckers aren’t present, the unique body and innovative Steinberger Gearless Tuners are present, as is the solid build quality. It’s a great intro to a more modern seven-string with Abasi’s flair to it.

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If a purpose-built shred machine is the order of the day, then the (deep breath) Jackson Pro Series Signature Jeff Loomis Soloist SL7 (£1,355) might be the pick for you. In our review, Darran Charles really rated how focused a creation it was, saying, “If the brief set by Jeff was to build a no-frills, no-nonsense metal guitar, then Jackson has fulfilled it with aplomb. Versatile it is not, but everything from the sparse control layout to the neck dimensions has been designed to give an eminently comfortable platform for technical gymnastics of the prog-metal persuasion.”

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Our last pick is a Superstrat, specifically the new Angel Vivaldi signature Pro-Mod Nova-7 NAT from Charvel, which was released earlier this year. At £1,366 it’s basically the same price as the Loomis signature, but this is a very different seven-string. Visually striking thanks to its natural finish and gold hardware, the Nova-7 NAT draws on Vivaldi’s explorations in Latin, funk, fusion and acoustic genres. DiMarzio Tone Zero and Air Norton pickups give this guitar a rich and versatile array of sounds, and the double-locked tremolo bridge opens up the world of dive-bombs and modulation. It’s a premium instrument, but one tailor-made to suit a player that pulls from a diverse mix of inspirations.

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The post Extending the range – the essential guide to seven-string guitars appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

£218.99, cogginsaudio.co.uk

If you tend to judge guitar pedals by how they look, you might have a surprise coming here. The Dinosaural Hypoid Drive gives off a distinctly wild and scuzzy vibe – it actually reminds me of the cover of the first Pavement album – but this thing is about as lo-fi as the London Symphony Orchestra.

• READ MORE: EarthQuaker Devices Easy Listening review – can an amp simulator this simple actually sound good?

Could this be a deliberate attempt by Dinosaural supremo Dan Coggins, one of the most exalted figures in stompbox history, to broaden the brand’s appeal beyond the somewhat saturated market of high-class overdrives? Or to look at it another way, is he trying to throw a few blues dentists off the scent?

Image: Richard Purvis

Dinosaural Hypoid Drive – what is it?

Coggins was the circuit designer behind the near-mythical Lovetone pedals of the 90s, but the direct origins of the Hypoid Drive don’t go back quite that far: this is the latest evolution of his first offering under the Dinosaural name, the Tube Bender of 2003. That later turned into the OPA-101, and more recently found itself repurposed as the central section of the Cogmeister boost/drive/boost leviathan. And now it’s gone solo again.

So, we’re looking at a transparent-ish overdrive pedal with a much wider gain range than most, from light crunch to something like full-on fuzz. It has controls for volume, sustain (drive) and tone, plus a three-way toggle switch for reshaping the mids. That’s one up on the two-way switch of the old Tube Bender – which is great news, because it means now I don’t have to cry every time I think of the one I used to own and idiotically sold. That is, as long as the Hypoid Drive sounds as good…

Image: Richard Purvis

Dinosaural Hypoid Drive – what does it sound like?

It sounds as good! Not that I have the old pedal to compare it with (see above), but through a clean amp the Hypoid Drive is so instantly magical that my ears refuse to believe it could possibly be better. Tonally it’s not completely uncoloured – there’s a distinct softening of the midrange – but, combined with rounded bass and clear treble, that just serves to make everything that little bit sweeter.

The gain range is just as wide as advertised: as you crank the sustain knob you feel it morph from low-gain fluffy drive into something close to a Fuzz Face or Big Muff – and that word ‘feel’ is key here, because what this pedal does best of all is disappear under your fingers. That is, it doesn’t sound like a pedal and it doesn’t respond like one either: the dynamics are so pure, you’d swear your amp had just grown an extra gain stage (or two).

The toggle switch also exceeds expectations: the middle position is fully open, and what the left and right settings offer is effectively a choice of two kinds of dip to the lower mids. They sound very different and the thinning effect can be quite extreme, but as long as you’re judicious with the tone control it never gets trashy. I could certainly find uses for all three positions without upsetting those blues dentists.

Image: Richard Purvis

Dinosaural Hypoid Drive – should I buy it?

You shouldn’t buy it if you don’t like overdrive pedals that sound and feel like the gods of Mount Olympus pouring nectar directly into your brain. You shouldn’t buy it if it’s out of your budget. And you probably shouldn’t buy it if you already have a Tube Bender, an OPA-101 or a Cogmeister. Beyond that, sorry – I’m all out of excuses.

Dinosaural Hypoid Drive alternatives

To be fair, there are plenty of other pedals that take transparent overdrive in a smooth and silky direction. You might also look at the Great Eastern FX Co Design-A-Drive (£229), the Silktone Overdrive+ ($269/£279) or the J.Rockett HRM V2 ($229/£239)… and let’s not forget Dan Coggins’ current day job at ThorpyFX, whose Peacekeeper (£224.99) specialises in sweet low-gain crunch.

The post Coggins Audio Dinosaural Hypoid Drive review – a high-class overdrive with a difference appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett has teamed up with the master luthiers at Gibson Custom in Bozeman, Montana, to introduce the Kirk Hammett Raven, a “majestic counterpart” to the firm’s legendary Hummingbird model. 

Limited to 100 guitars worldwide – and consequently priced at a handsome £4,399 – the guitar shares the Hummingbird’s square-shoulder shape, but sets itself apart with a “dark, artistic twist on the Hummingbird aesthetic”.

• READ MORE: “Do you want heavy?!” Remind yourself why Metallica’s Sad But True is one of the hardest-hitting classic metal riffs in this new pro-shot live video

Supported by a traditional scalloped Advanced X-bracing, the Kirk Hammett Raven sports a Sitka spruce top with mahogany back and sides, with a round-profile mahogany neck topped with a 20-fret bound ebony fingerboard with mother-of-pearl star inlays.

Grover Rotomatic tuners complete the spec sheet, alongside TUSQ components – including the nut, saddle and bridge pins – ensure tonal consistency and tuning stability.

Where this instrument really stands out, though, is in its visual appointments. The Kirk Hammett Raven pays homage to Gibson’s tradition of wildlife-inspired designs, with an intricately ornate double pickguard, raven-themed tailpiece accent and a striking mother-of-pearl raven skull inlay in the headstock.

Credit: Gibson

The guitar is also bolstered by an L.R. Baggs Element VTC +4 electronics system, with discreet volume and tone controls located inside the soundhole. They offer “easy access without disrupting the guitar’s aesthetics”, plus an additional 4dB of output for extra headroom when needed.

Each Kirk Hammett Raven ships with a black Gibson Custom hardshell guitar case decorated with a matching raven skull graphic, as well as a certificate of authenticity and custom raven-themed strap. In a very cool touch, too, each guitar is hand-signed by Kirk Hammett himself on the soundhole label.

Credit: Gibson

“This Ebony-finished acoustic is destined to become a collector’s treasure,” says Gibson. “Availability is extremely limited – secure yours before they vanish into the night.”

While these days much talk of Kirk Hammett’s guitar collection centres around Greeny, the 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard formerly owned by Fleetwood Mac’s Peter Green and Gary Moore, he certainly has a penchant for gothic six-strings, including his White Zombie and Ouija ESP signature models, which are staples in his Metallica live arsenal.

Learn more about the Kirk Hammett Raven at Gibson.

Credit: Gibson Credit: Gibson

The post “Secure yours before they vanish into the night”: Gibson reveals the Kirk Hammett Raven acoustic, a super-limited “audacious counterpart” to the Hummingbird appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Fender has endowed blues maestro Christone “Kingfish” Ingram with a newly finished version of his signature Telecaster Deluxe.

Dubbed the Kingfish Delta Day Telecaster Deluxe – for his Mississippi Delta origins and strong delta blues roots – the new guitar is, specs-wise – the same as his previous Mississippi Night-finished Telecaster Deluxe which arrived in 2022, but now sports a Daphne Blue finish plus a three-ply white Parchment pickguard.

• READ MORE: Do all the coolest guitars come out of Japan? Meet the HZK1, a souped-up 7-string signature model for Nemophila shredder Hazuki

Otherwise, the guitar’s spec sheet features an alder body with a gloss urethane finish, dual Custom Kingfish humbucking pickups – controlled via two volume pots, two tones and a three-way toggle switch – and an Adjusto-Matic with an anchored tailpiece.

Credit: Fender

The Delta Day Telecaster Deluxe, like its predecessor, also rocks a V-shape roasted maple neck with a 21-fret slab rosewood fingerboard with pearloid dot inlays, satin urethane neck finish and ’70s Style headstock.

There’s also a custom serialised neck plate with Kingfish’s logo, for a little bit of extra visual eye candy.

Credit: Fender

“Recognised at a young age for his exceptional musical talent, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram’s path has taken him from hometown hero to global star,” says Fender.

“Christone’s raw and inspired guitar playing, soulful vocals and mature songwriting have captured the imagination of legions of new fans and fellow musicians alike, propelling him to become the face of a new generation of blues artists.”

You can watch Kingfish take his new Delta Day Telecaster Deluxe for a spin in a new episode of From the Factory Floor with Fender below. Watch him perform Voodoo Charm, Bad Like Me and Nothin’ But Your Love:

Last month, we caught up with Kingfish to ask him to name his six most influential blues guitar albums of all time. BB King, Jimi Hendrix and Johnny “Guitar” Watson all got mentioned, as well as the unexpected guitarist he calls a “prophet”.

The Kingfish Delta Day Telecaster Deluxe is available now, priced at $2,249.99 / £2,599.

For more info, head to Fender.

Credit: Fender

The post Christone “Kingfish” Ingram is one of today’s top blues guitarists – do yourself a favour and watch him rip some tasty licks on his new Fender Delta Day Telecaster Deluxe appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Few heavy metal riffs hit quite like Metallica’s Sad But True. Sure, there have been many metal subgenres since its release with the Black Album in 1991 which arguably blow its ‘heavy factor’ out the water, but those stomping D standard chugs that follow the intro’s precipitous chord hang just smack differently.

So every time we see Metallica have uploaded a new pro-shot live performance of the track, you can bet we’re watching it on repeat (even if just to relive the time I saw the song live at Twickenham Stadium in June 2019…)

• READ MORE: Predictable: Korn just released a pedal which channels the guitar tone of their landmark album – but it’s already sold out

The latest pro-shot performance comes after the band’s recent set at San Francisco’s Chase Center, during Salesforce’s annual Dreamfest fundraising event, which raises money for UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital.

Available in glorious 60fps, the video sees frontman James Hetfield asking fans (for the thousandth time, probably): “Do you want heavy?!” to which the crowd responds with stadium-filling rapturous noise. We can’t quite make it out, but we reckon there were a few yes’s in there…

Following Lars Ulrich’s four-count, Hetfield and Kirk Hammett enter with the track’s suspenseful opening power chords – armed with a black ESP Snakebyte and Jackson Rhoads model, respectively.

And when that mega riff finally lands, you’re taken back for the thousandth time to the first time you heard it. Sort of like a comfort blanket that punches you in the face.

Anyway, that’s enough rambling from us, let the performance speak for itself…

Metallica performed a 12-song set during the event, which also saw a performance from pop megastar Benson Boone.

The set was entirely populated by the classics, with Creeping Death as the opener, followed by For Whom The Bell Tolls, Fuel and The Memory Remains, and closed out with Master of Puppets and Enter Sandman. Take a look at the full setlist below.

1. Creeping Death
2. For Whom The Bell Tolls
3. Fuel
4. The Memory Remains
5. The Unforgiven
6. Sad But True
7. Wherever I May Roam
8. Nothing Else Matters
9. Seek & Destroy
10. One
11. Master Of Puppets
12. Enter Sandman

The annual Dreamfest benefit concert has previously seen performances from Fleetwood Mac, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Green Day and many more. Since its inaugural event in 2010, the shows have raised $120 million for UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals.

Metallica’s M72 World Tour continues, with an Australia/New Zealand leg set to kick off on 1 November in Perth, and a string of Europe shows planned for summer 2026.

View a full list of the band’s upcoming tour dates at Metallica.com.

The post “Do you want heavy?!” Remind yourself why Metallica’s Sad But True is one of the hardest-hitting classic metal riffs in this new pro-shot live video appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Japan gets all the cool guitar toys once again. Ibanez has just unveiled the HZK1, a seven-string RG signature for Nemophila and Koiai metal guitarist Hazuki – and yes, it’s a Japan-only release.

Visually, the HZK1 is an absolute stunner. The HZK1 pairs a turquoise stone-inspired spalted maple top with an alder body, creating a guitar that’s equally striking on stage as it is on display.

• READ MORE: Eddie Van Halen’s Kramer Ad guitar becomes the sixth most expensive ever sold at nearly $3 million – here are the five that sold for even more

Under the hood, the HZK1 is all about shredding comfort. The ultra-thin Wizard-7 neck is made from a five-piece maple/wenge laminate, while the bound rosewood fingerboard boasts Luminlay side dots, stainless steel frets, and Ibanez’s signature fret edge treatment. Offset mother-of-pearl inlays add a subtle touch of elegance amid the metal mayhem.

Tonally, the HZK1 is just as formidable. Two Fishman Fluence Modern active humbuckers in chrome cover everything from searing leads to chunky riffs, while the Lo-Pro Edge 7 bridge delivers Floyd Rose-style dive-bombs without compromising your tuning.

Notably, the HZK1 also comes without a tone knob, a tweak Hazuki requested after repeatedly hitting it with her strumming hand. Coupled with its lightweight design, this change lets her tackle hours-long sets with far less fatigue.

“The RG was my sidekick when I was a music student; I have a lot of memories with it,” says Hazuki. “I have played many guitars, but the RG sounds exactly the way I want a guitar to sound… This guitar has changed my playing on stage so much.”

At ￥440,000, the HZK1 is priced for serious collectors – and heartbreakingly, only available in Japan. For everyone else, it’s a bittersweet reminder that some of the coolest Ibanez signatures seem destined to stay an island affair.

Check out the HZK1 in action below.

Learn more at Ibanez.

The post Do all the coolest guitars come out of Japan? Meet the HZK1, a souped-up 7-string signature model for Nemophila shredder Hazuki appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Slash apparently isn’t sold on the idea of Guns N’ Roses ever taking on a residency at the Las Vegas Sphere, an immersive venue in the heart of the world’s entertainment capital.

Since opening in 2023, the $2.3 billion, state-of-the-art venue has hosted residencies from U2, Phish, the Eagles, and even the Backstreet Boys. A second Sphere venue has also been confirmed for Abu Dhabi.

• READ MORE: Slash confirms that he didn’t like this iconic Guns N’ Roses song: “I have to admit I did have a thing with it”

Speaking on a recent episode of SiriusXM’s Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk, Slash says that while the Sphere “looks amazing”, he’s skeptical about whether the experience fits the raw spirit of a rock gig. Asked if Guns N’ Roses could ever take on a residency at the venue, the guitarist’s answer was less than enthusiastic.

“Everything that I’ve seen, or most everything that I’ve seen of it, looks amazing,” he says [via NME]. “I’m real trepidatious about playing there, because…it’s a great visual show. I think that in almost every case for a band, it becomes a visual show as opposed to seeing a rock and roll show. So there’s that.”

He adds that after speaking with Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh – whose band performed at the Sphere – his doubts only grew stronger.

“[My concern] is that it’s not really sort of rock and roll friendly, the way that it’s set up. So it’s just one of those things where it seems like a really cool thing and conceptually there’s probably a lot of cool things that you could do, but I don’t think it would be the right environment for a proper rock and roll show.”

Still, the guitarist admits there’s at least one band that could make it work: Metallica.

“I could see them doing it because I can imagine them… because you have to prepare your mind to put on not just a band performance, but 50 per cent of what you’re doing is going to be the projection, or whatever you call that – the outer wall…what you’re putting on as content,” Slash says.

“And so that is something that’s gonna be the main focus of your show and the main focus of what everybody’s gonna be looking at. And so you have to sort of get into that mindset, and I think that’s hard for us to go that far into it. But we’ll see. Maybe down the road.”

The post “It’s not really rock and roll friendly”: Slash doubts Guns N’ Roses will ever play the Las Vegas Sphere, but names the metal band he reckons would pull it off appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Been a Korn fan since the early days? Guitarist James “Munky” Shaffer has unveiled the Indigo Sludge Preamp + Fuzz, a limited-edition pedal that captures the heavy, fuzzed-out tones of the band’s first records.

Designed to channel the same high-gain aggression and woolly fuzz that powered Korn’s landmark debut album and 1996’s Life Is Peachy, the pedal brings the rawness of the band’s Indigo Ranch sessions straight to your pedalboard.

• READ MORE: “We’re going on a pedal quest!”: This YouTuber has created a Dungeons & Dragons inspired pedalboard game – and we wanna play…

Limited to just 500 units, the Indigo Sludge combines a searing high-gain preamp section with a fuzz circuit based on the same modded pedals used during Korn’s mid-’90s recording sessions with producer Ross Robinson.

The result is that unmistakable down-tuned aggression, sustain-heavy distortion, and the same “preamp roar and fuzzed chaos” that fuelled classics like Blind and Shoots and Ladder – all housed in a compact, road-ready enclosure.

Credit: Korn

Visually, the pedal mirrors the intensity of Korn’s early era with a striking red-and-black design. It offers a full EQ section with Bass, Mid, Treble, Gain, Volume, and Presence controls, plus independent fuzz parameters that let players shape the balance between tight crunch and full-blown sonic sludge. There’s also an octave switch for extra low-end depth – perfect for down-tuned chugs and subterranean riffs.

True bypass switching and standard 9V power ensure easy pedalboard integration, while a rugged chassis makes the Indigo Sludge ready for the stage or studio alike.

The Indigo Sludge isn’t just “‘inspired by’ Korn’s tone. It’s built on the same ingredients that forged it,” says the band.

“It really takes me back to the days of the Indigo Ranch,” Munky adds.

Priced at $250, each pedal comes with a Certificate of Authenticity signed by Munky himself and is available exclusively through Korn’s official website.

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Learn more at Korn’s website.

The post Predictable: Korn just released a pedal which channels the guitar tone of their landmark album – but it’s already sold out appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.