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Of all the electric guitars in Billie Joe Armstrong‘s collection, his Fernandes S-type – affectionately named “Blue”, and which he’s owned since just 12 years old – is far and away his favourite.

The guitar has been with him for decades, accompanying him during countless live shows, and appearing on many of the band’s now-immortal studio albums, including their breakout album, Dookie (1994), and 1995’s Insomniac.

Blue remains a staple of the Green Day frontman’s live rig to this day, and can be clearly identified during shows thanks to its liberal covering of stickers and other marks of personalisation.

• READ MORE: Green Day serve up Basket Case and a few ice cream cones from the top of a Mister Freezie van
  

And now, the guitarist has spoken to US music retailer Sweetwater about his beloved Fernandes, diving into detail about some of the stickers that make it uniquely his.

“My mom bought it for me from my guitar teacher back in 1985 or something like that,” Armstrong says. “I just loved it so much. I really wanted a Stratocaster. It’s been part of my life ever since. Through the years I’ve kept it. I felt like it was a sound that I needed to hold onto.”

Explaining some of the stickers, BJA points to a photo on the back of the guitar, which shows himself in the 7th grade doing his “best Mick Mars impression”.

“I just started plastering stickers all over it, putting the “BJ” on it I think there’s a couple of ex-girlfriend’s pictures inside of here, stuff like that,” he says, pointing to the guitar’s lower bout where fresh stickers cover layers that came before.

Armstrong calls it the “ultimate punk rock guitar”…

The way the guitar looks is clearly a big talking point, but Billie Joe Armstrong regards Blue as indispensable to his sound. He goes on to explain its significant role in the recording of Dookie.

“When we went in to record Dookie, I was really adamant about playing Blue because I just felt like it was such a part of my sound for my whole life,” he says. “There was something that was really important to me. I played a lot of Insomniac [with Blue] also. It’s on the first four and a half albums.

“I could have played a different guitar, but there was something about this that just had, at that time, a deep distortion that created something unique.

“A lot of people have a distortion sound, but nothing that comes across as instantly identifiable. I think that’s what my Blue guitar and the Plexi has.”

The Green Day frontman has become somewhat synonymous with that pale shade of blue, and recently launched his signature 1959BJA Marshall stack – road tested at this year’s Super Bowl – which is wrapped in a similar colour.

You can watch the full video below:

The post “There’s a couple of ex-girlfriends’ pictures inside”: Billie Joe Armstrong reveals the secrets of his most iconic guitar appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Angine de Poitrine suffered a string break that nearly derailed their whole show as a jam session pushed their instruments to the limit.

Guitarist Khn de Poitrine and drummer Klek de Poitrine were performing at Le Poisson Rouge (LPR) in New York on 9 September when they hit an instrumental snag…

• READ MORE: “It was the perfect choice to make fun of guitar heroes”: The story behind Angine de Poitrine’s ridiculous double-neck guitar

While the custom-built guitar and bass rig had not suffered too many major malfunctions at previous shows, the string break on the six-string half of the instrument very nearly saw the show end early.

During a performance of Ababa Hotel, Khn’s guitar needed to be restrung, a complex affair given the custom-built rig has a bass attached underneath.

Despite the near-disaster, the band managed to keep their jam going all while a guitar tech was on hand to fix the broken string. A viral video of the restringing has since been shared to YouTube, where fans of the band hailed the guitar tech for fixing the instrument mid-jam. The crowd in attendance were heard cheering once the restring had been completed.

To this day nobody knows the identity of Khn or Klek, and it’s a choice the duo have spoken about in interviews.

When explaining their decision not to reveal their identities to Cult MTL, the duo confirmed it was nice to live a life off stage without fame impacting them.

“There’s a comfort to feeling, ‘Oh, I’m this on stage,’ but after that, I’m a normal person,” they said. “We can avoid the, ‘Oh, this is the drummer’ talks, where everyone swarms you after a show when I just want to drink my water.”

Angine de Poitrine has enjoyed viral acclaim over the last year, with a performance at Montreal International Jazz Festival drawing a 70,000 strong crowd.

You can watch Angine de Poitrine jam around their instrumental restring below.

The post Watch guitar tech mastery in real time as Angine de Poitrine break a string during a live show appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

A Nazareth, Pennsylvania-made Martin is about as prestigious an acoustic guitar as one can get, which has kept players demanding the very best returning to the brand’s 16 Series time and again.

And now, Martin has announced the latest overhaul of the 16 Series, introducing a raft of exciting new specifications and finish options. Handcrafted in Nazareth, these US-made acoustic electrics boast all-solid-wood construction, along with gloss-top finishes and a range of distinctive body shapes to choose from.

• READ MORE: Martin Road Series DC-13E Modern review: a stunning cutaway Dreadnought aimed at contemporary players

These body shapes run the gamut and cater to just about every acoustic player, from “intimate, responsive” 00L models to “warm, punchy” Dreadnoughts, to larger Jumbos. There’s also a Grand Performance cutaway model, and even a “room-filling” Grand Jumbo 12-string.

Each 16 Series model comes fitted with L.R. Baggs Element electronics, with spruce tops complemented by a back and sides of either satin solid mahogany or East Indian rosewood.

A highlight of the series, Martin says, comes with the DSS-16E, which with its 24.9” scale length, marks the first time Martin has built a short-scale sloped-shoulder Dreadnought model.

Credit: Martin

“The compact 00L models bring surprising projection and a focused, intimate tone, while the Jumbo models deliver bold volume, deep bass, and commanding stage presence,” says Martin.

“The GPC offers balanced tone and comfort with a Grand Performance body and 000 depth, while the Grand J 12-string delivers lush shimmer, rich overtones, and room-filling sound to the lineup.”

Colour options in the refreshed 16 Series lineup include Blue Denim, Cherry Cola, Cream, Black Smoke and 1935 Burst, as well as more traditional natural tops, too.

Coinciding with the launch, Martin is offering a small run of accessories and lifestyle merch inspired by the series, including Blue Denim and Cherry Cola steins, a Cherry Cola ringer T-shirt, Blue Denim corduroy hat, and Blue Fade leather strap.

The refreshed 16 Series and accompanying merch are available now. Learn more at Martin.

The post Martin overhauls its Nazareth-made 16 Series – here’s what’s new appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Fancy winning your very own Fender 75th Anniversary Player II Sparkle Precision Bass? Right now, there’s a way, and we’re about to tell you how…

Fender has just partnered with Music Venue Trust (MVT), which works to support and improve grassroots music venues across the UK. As part of the new partnership, the guitar giant is inviting players and music fans to nominate their favourite local venue, and everyone who makes a nomination is being entered into a prize draw to win a 75th Anniversary Player II bass. Easy, right?

• READ MORE: “It’s about having a space that’s big enough to tell 132 years of stories” Gibson’s Mark Agnesi on why Miami’s new Gibson Garage is its biggest yet

Your nomination could massively help your favourite venue, too, as the three venues which receive the most nominations – one from each of England, Scotland and Wales – will receive a gear bundle packed with equipment from Fender’s portfolio of brands.

This bundle includes a Hot Rod Deluxe IV amplifier (worth £1,119), 5150 Iconic Series 40W EL34 1×12 combo (~£719), Rumble 200 bass amp (£699), Acoustic SFX II amplifier (£739), and a StudioLive SE Digital Console Mixer (£2,839). All in all, this is a bundle worth over £6,000.

“Grassroots music venues are where it all begins, the stages where artists cut their teeth, develop their careers, and the places music fans discover their new favourite acts. Fender has always believed in the power of that connection, and this partnership with Music Venue Trust is our way of putting that belief into action,” said Liam Cunnah, Executive Vice President, EMEA, Fender. 

“We’re asking fans across the UK to tell us which venues matter most to them, because nobody knows these spaces better than the communities they serve, and we look forward to getting some fantastic new gear into the rooms where the next generation of artists will make their mark.”

“Grassroots music venues are where artists develop their craft, build audiences and create the foundations of sustainable careers. They are also vital cultural spaces at the heart of their communities,” adds Denzil Thomas, Partnerships Lead at Music Venue Trust.

“This partnership with Fender gives music fans an opportunity to celebrate the venues that matter to them, while helping us highlight the extraordinary work these venues do every day to support live music.”

To vote for your favourite local venue and be in with a chance to win a Fender 75th Anniversary Player II Sparkle Precision Bass, head to Fender.

The post Win a 75th Anniversary Fender Player II Precision Bass – here’s how to enter appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

To this day, Michael Jackson’s Thriller is still the best selling record of all time. Released in 1982, it featured some of Jackson’s most pivotal hits – including Beat It, a timeless, funky rock tune topped off with a grandiose Eddie Van Halen solo. However, if Steve Lukather hadn’t been reigned in, it could have been a distorted metal banger.

In a new interview with Guitar Player, the Toto guitarist recalls having to tone it down a notch while recording riffs for Beat It. The late Quincy Jones was in charge of production, and he thought that Lukather was going a little too hard. “I initially cranked the riff out on a bunch of quadrupled Marshalls,” Lukather admits. “But then Quincy called and said, ‘It’s great… but it’s too much.’”

• READ MORE: Noel Gallagher reveals the “best bit of advice I’ve ever been given” from Johnny Marr about buying guitars

After all, Jackson experimenting with hard rock and metal, but he was still the King of Pop. “I gotta get this on R&B radio,” Jones apparently told Lukather. “Use a little Fender amp and turn down the distortion.”

Lukather also reflected on Jones’ request to “calm down” his performance in an interview with The Guardian in 2024. “‘It’s too metal, you gotta calm down… I gotta get it on pop radio!’” Lukather recalled Jones saying. “I had played a bunch of really wild guitar parts, because I knew Eddie’s solo was on it.”

Despite getting a small slap on the wrist for his heaviness, it didn’t dampen Lukather’s experience. Elsewhere in his Guitar Player interview, he reveals that working with Jackson was fun – albeit a tad chaotic. “[Jackson] was a real pro, though what did make me laugh was his monkey, Bubbles,” Lukather remembers. “[One time he] ripped apart the vocal booth. That was the weirdest thing I saw. It made me laugh on the floor, of course.”

“[Jackson] was very collaborative – he wanted my input,” he adds. Jones was similar, but always aware of what the mainstream radio stations would want. “With songs like Human Nature, Quincy would go, ‘Make it funky for me, man. I gotta get this on R&B radio!’ I came up with that part on the spot, and that’s what ended up on the radio.”

As for Lukather’s more recent work, he has been co-producing an upcoming Van Halen release with Alex Van Halen. While there were rumours of him stepping into Eddie’s role, he has since put the record straight. “That’s the most ridiculous and humorous thing I’ve ever heard,” he told Guitar Player. “I am no more qualified to try and play like Ed Van Halen than I am to be the first man to tug my dick on the planet. I don’t know how anybody could think that would even be a reality. Honestly, it’s laughable… I don’t play like Ed.”

“I am there 100% to be his co-producer and help him through the technical aspects – I’m not gonna play,” he said. “There’s not gonna be any Lukather or Toto fingerprints on a Van Halen thing. I can fucking promise you that!”

The post “It’s great… but it’s too much. I gotta get this on R&B radio”: What Quincy Jones told Steve Lukather when he first played on Michael Jackson’s Beat It appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

At 78 years old, Black Sabbath legend and heavy metal pioneer Tony Iommi is showing no signs of slowing down. A year on from the death of his Sabbath bandmate and longtime friend Ozzy Osbourne, the guitarist is gearing up to release his first solo album in 21 years, From the Dark, next month.

He’s the man behind some of the most influential and enduring riffs in the history of heavy metal – think Paranoid, Iron Man and War Pigs – so it stands to reason that Tony Iommi is sitting on a treasure trove of never-before-heard guitar parts just waiting for the right song or context.

• READ MORE: “I chop the fingers off and throw the arms in the bin”: Tony Iommi reveals the bizarre thing he has to do to get his prosthetic fingertips

As he explains in a new interview with Classic Rock, he is indeed sitting on a pile of currently unused riffs and guitar ideas, and explains how creating music is just part of his DNA.

“I’ve got CDs and cassettes full of them, thinking that if I ever get stuck I can go back and get one. But I rarely do,” he explains. “Though saying that, I’ll probably never come up with another riff.”

Iommi continues: “The thing is, I don’t have to do this. It’s not about the money, because we don’t need the money. But this [gestures towards the studio], this is what I do. I just can’t get away from it. I have things I want to say.”

Quite how many riff ideas he’s sitting on is anyone’s guess, but we’re sure to hear a bunch of them when his new album From the Dark drops on 23 October. In fact, we’re even set to be treated to a little Iommi acoustic playing…

In July, the guitarist detailed his decision to incorporate some acoustic guitar playing on the new album, and how it ultimately boiled down to wanting to push himself outside of his comfort zone.

“I like to do something you don’t really expect. And to be honest, I hate playing acoustic. I’m not very good at playing acoustic,” he confessed, before speaking directly on the track which features acoustic guitar, Legacy: “On that bit, I just thought it would be nice and different.”

The album will also feature a guest appearance from Brian May, although Iommi wanted the Queen legend to feature even more.

“I said to him, ‘Play on some other tracks,’ but he went, ‘Oh no, it’s your album,’” Iommi recalled recently. “That’s the relationship we’ve had with each other for all these years. We’ve played a lot together. He is a great friend.”

From the Dark arrives 23 October via BMG. Listen to its lead single World Alone below:

The post “I’ve got CDs and cassettes full of them – I just can’t get away from it”: Tony Iommi has a massive stockpile of unheard riffs appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

According to Noel Gallagher, Johnny Marr is somewhat of a Guitar Guru. Simply touching a guitar owned by the ex-Smiths guitarist is enough to inspire Gallagher – which is pretty helpful, considering Marr has gifted Gallagher a few guitars over the years (including a Gibson Les Paul that was also owned by The Who’s Pete Townshend). However, after over 30 years of soaking up Marr’s guidance, the Oasis axeman is finally sharing the ultimate advice Marr has ever given him.

Ahead of Marr auctioning off some of vast collection of gear, the guitarist is hosting a public exhibition in collaboration with Christie’s London. To celebrate the opening of Marr’s Guitars: The Johnny Marr Collection, Marr and Gallagher had a walk around reflecting on their history. In Gallagher’s eyes, the second time they hung out was when he realised Marr was somewhat of a genius.

• READ MORE: Unexpected gear used by Frank Zappa

The revelation came after the pair had perused the selection in a Doncaster guitar shop. On the day, Marr had experimented with a guitar with nine pickups, before handing it back to an employee and telling Gallagher “let’s go”. The two friends then went to a sandwich shop, and that’s when Marr shared some life-changing guitar advice. “This is the best bit of advice I’ve ever been given,” Gallagher says. “He buys a sandwich, and he says, ‘I’ve got to go and eat before I think about buying this guitar.’”

Marr’s logic? “You should never buy a guitar with an empty stomach,” Gallagher recalls.

Alongside his belief that a full stomach is the key to guitar clarity, Marr also believes that the Les Paul is the “ultimate guitar”. Back in the 90s, Gallagher wasn’t so sold on a Les Paul – but Marr’s firm stance was enough to sway him to give a Les Paul another shot. “After about a week, I was like, I fucking love these guitars,” he recalls.

“He texted me and said, ‘I’m even standing different, because [a Les Paul] changes your gait, your attitude, and everything,’” Marr adds.

Marr is so committed to the Les Paul that he has famously gifted at least two Les Pauls to Gallagher over the years, including a 1960 Gibson Les Paul and a black 1978 Gibson Les Paul Custom. One of his Les Paul gifts even made its way onto the cover of Oasis’ 1994 debut single, Supersonic. In fact, a number of Marr’s gifted guitars feature on the cover, including a Rickenbacker 330 Jetglo.

“I remember that you’ve always been a bit gung-ho with your guitars,” Gallagher tells Marr. “I remember the day that when Oasis was recording Definitely Maybe for the first time, and you sent down some guitars… because [the band only had] one guitar each…”

At the time, it left the Oasis brother feeling starstruck. “I remember looking at it on the floor, thinking, ‘That cannot be the fucking the Smiths guitar…’” Gallagher laughs. “I was thinking ‘what if somebody stands on it… [because we were all] rat ass at four in the morning.’”

Christie’s London Marr’s Guitars: The Johnny Marr Collection is running until 17 September. Marr’s new album The Age Of Everything is also out 2 October.

The post Noel Gallagher reveals the “best bit of advice I’ve ever been given” from Johnny Marr about buying guitars appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Last week, news broke that the estate of late Mastodon guitarist Brent Hinds was suing his former bandmates, over the unauthorised use of his likeness on the cover of their latest album, as well as other alleged infractions.

The filing – made at the Fulton County Court in Atlanta, Georgia and reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution – claims Hinds’ likeness was used on the cover for Marrow Deep – released 28 August – without permission, and that the buyout of Hinds’ interests in the band was never finalised prior to his tragic death in August 2025.

The lawsuit alleges that the band “selected and placed a recognisable image of Brent on the album cover of Marrow Deep and disseminated that cover to advertise, market, distribute and sell physical albums, digital downloads and streams, merchandise and related goods or services.”

Now, Hinds’ former Mastodon bandmates – guitarist Bill Kelliher, bassist Troy Sanders and drummer Brann Dailor – have responded in a brief post on Instagram.

They write: “Sadly, a private business dispute with the estate of our dear departed friend Bren Hinds was made public. We strongly deny allegations of ill intent on our part and intend to vigorously defend what we believe is a meritless lawsuit.

“We don’t intend to speak publicly on this going forward, as we feel this wouldn’t honour Brent’s memory or the legacy of his musical gifts.”

View this post on Instagram

It was announced that Brent Hinds had left Mastodon in March last year. He was a founding member of the band in 2000.

The split appeared to be mutual at the time, but in the months following, the guitarist made some thorny comments about his former bandmates, calling them a “shit band with horrible humans”.

Despite the seemingly fractured relationship in the months prior to his death, Hinds’ former bandmates have been remembering their time with him lately fondly.

“He was a man scorned. He said some hurtful things, but I know he didn’t mean it,” said drummer Brann Dailor in a recent interview.

“I was always hopeful that he was going to call me at some point and be like: ‘Dude, I’m done being a ding-dong. Can I come back? I have a riff…’ We were 100% sure he would’ve done that.”

Just a year on, the death of Brent Hinds still affects the members of Mastodon profoundly.

“It isn’t easy to talk about Brent, he was our family, someone we all loved wholeheartedly. He was a wild man, our wild man and that came with some challenges,” the band wrote in July. 

“Both things are true and we aren’t interested in chasing one truth over the other. Losing him has meant sitting with a type of grief we never expected. No more hugs, no more high fives, no more disagreements, no more making up. That part has been hard, it’s real.” 

The post “We will vigorously defend what we believe is a meritless lawsuit”: Mastodon respond to legal action from Brent Hinds’ estate appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Mark Agnesi has got used to answering the same question about Gibson’s latest Garage location: why Miami? The first of Gibson’s popular and innovative “retail experience” locations was in the brand’s home town of Nashville, the second jumped across the pond to London, reimagining the existing Gibson artist space in the centre of one of Europe’s biggest cities.

Most people might have expected the next Garage then, to build on that theme – a New York, Paris, Tokyo… Instead, they opted for a prime spot in the most bohemian part of one of America’s most fun towns. So, why Miami?

• READ MORE: Sweetwater CEO Mike Clem on what makes them different: “It’s not about profits. It’s about how we introduce a new generation to the joy of making music”

“Why Miami? I don’t know if people realise that there’s this whole other part of the world that listens to music in Spanish, and Miami is the hub for all of that music, all of those bands, all of those artists,” Gibson’s Director of Brand Experience explains.

“It’s also a huge port of call for everyone coming in from South America. It’s one of those cities that a lot of people come to. And because of that we’ve had strong relations in Miami forever, so it made a lot of sense for us to put some roots down there as well.”

Inside the Gibson Garage Miami, including the custom-finished guitars created for launch (Image: Gibson)

Go Big

The Miami Garage is also a different proposition to the previous two spaces that Gibson has inhabited – both in vibe and scale. The location, which is smack bang in the middle of Miami’s artsy Wynwood neighborhood, is double the size of the other Garages, and is a much more bespoke offering than the other two.

“It’s the first time that I wasn’t handed a space to design it,” Agnesi explains. “This time we purposefully went out and started looking at spaces, and I got to take the learnings from the first two and really build out what I think the experience should be for Garages moving forward.”

For example, the Miami Garage’s ironic previous life as a parking garage helped create a focal point for the space that Agnesi feels elevates things above what Gibson has been able to do previously.

The exterior of Gibson Garage Miami is as striking as its interior (Image: Gibson)

“The performance space is really the star of the show in Miami,” Agnesi enthuses. “You know, I’m in the ground floor of a parking garage, so there’s no columns anywhere screwing up the interior. Like in Nashville, we have all these great things, but if you’re not in the right spot, you start getting blocked out by columns. Miami is this big space that we can put 400 people in, and everyone’s got unobstructed views of the stage.

“That was the first thing I fell in love with when I walked in there. And as a result the whole Garage really does revolve around the stage, the other areas just open up like a book around it – just like our open-book headstock, man. And the extra space, because we have several different brands, you can have a shop for each one.

“But then you can bring people together, and do these cool things that you really can’t typically do, like bring major artists through to play on stage in the middle of the afternoon, or have Marty Schwartz giving guitar lessons to people and letting kids jump up on stage with him. It’s about having a space that’s big enough to tell 132 years of stories.”

A mural outside the Gibson Garage Miami by street artist Nate Dee (Image: Gibson)

Art Rock

Wynwood is famous around the world as an epicentre of art – the area is home to dozens of galleries and the legendary Wynwood Walls project made the area a wonderfully realised canvas for street art.

Given the location, it was a natural fit for the Miami Garage to expand on the celebration of visual art that began with the London location – the Gibson Gallery. This photographic celebration of Gibson’s impact on music history is a small part of the London Garage, but it’s a large and permanent exhibit in Miami.

A Kramer mural inside the Gibson Garage Miami by street artist Solano (Image: Gibson)

“Just like to be able to walk in, even as a non-player who doesn’t quite understand the brand, and to look up at the walls and literally see the entire history of the last 100 years of recorded music on the wall,” Agnesi reflects. “It starts to click with people.”

The opportunity to bring some of Wynwood’s famous arts culture into the Miami Garage was also something that Agnesi couldn’t resist.

“You’re like ground zero for street art culture,” he reflects. “So we had an actual Wynwood street artist come in and do this massive mural for us in the Kramers section. So actually in the space, there is legit Miami street art. I believe each Garage has to feel like the city that they’re in, and in Miami it’s spectacular.”

Each of Gibson’s brands gets their own bespoke area at the Miami Garage (Image: Gibson)

Factory Record

The Gibson Garage locations have been celebrated for the way they bring the brand and its various sub-brands into the real world, and allow those who have never been to the Gibson factory in Nashville to experience a little of what it’s like. For Agnesi, it’s an ongoing process, but one where the passion for Gibson and guitars drives the whole endeavour.

“Because we love this stuff, man,” he explains. “No matter what, the one thing we all have in common is that we all love this stuff. And anytime you can be in a room with a tonne of guitars, it’s the best feeling in the world.

“But it’s easy to put a tonne of stuff in the room. What we really want to try and do is curate it correctly and artfully so that when people walk in, I want you to feel like you walked into the chocolate factory. I’m still always trying to get there, to give you the Willy Wonka experience. But we’re getting closer with each Garage, and sooner or later we’ll get it.”

“I think it’s really important that all roads – whether it’s product or marketing, storytelling or ad campaigns, our history – all of this stuff converges inside that space. If you’re really into it and you’re a fan of it, there’s this place that you can walk in and really be in the middle of everything that’s happening with Gibson.”

The performance space is the heart of the Miami Garage, and can hold up to 400 people (Image: Gibson)

Broad Church

Everything is an increasingly broad concept at Gibson. While the brand focused on getting the classic stuff right when it emerged from bankruptcy in 2019, the last few years has seen the family of brands branch out to target a much broader audience than it had for a long time – but for Agnesi that’s part of the Gibson DNA.

“We were talking about the Gibson Gallery. You know there’s a picture of Bill Monroe with his Gibson mandolin in there, practically inventing bluegrass. Then there’s “Mother” Maybelle Carter and the Carter family, they pretty much invented country. But then over here there’s BB King and Albert King, and over there there’s Slash and Jimmy Page, and over here is John Lee Hooker and Jimi Hendrix, and over here is Bob Dylan and Woody Guthrie. Gibson really has been across all stringed instruments, across all genres of music since the dawn of recorded music. It’s all there, we are that diverse.

“So yeah, we had to get the core right first, but then you can start going places. We just released baritones a couple weeks ago. Baritones are back – it’s so cool! We can reach this whole other segment that we weren’t reaching before. We’re doing more stuff with Floyd Roses for people that want that stuff. We’ve got new pickup ranges and higher output pickups and all these different things. And the stuff that Epiphone is doing. I don’t even know if I can talk about some of the crazy new Epiphone stuff that’s coming… but it’s mind blowing how far it’s come in the last five six years.”

The Gibson Garage Miami is the first US Garage to feature a permanent Gibson Gallery display (Image: Gibson)

Hand in hand with the evolution has been the Garages, each one a multi-year project of increasing scope and ambition. And before he’s even finished with the Miami Garage, the brand announced that the next one would arrive sometime in 2027 on the Las Vegas Strip. Agnesi is clearly still focused on the Wynwood project, but the scope of the Vegas Garage is clearly something that has him very excited.

“I feel like Nashville and London are like churches to the brand, right?” Agnesi explains. “Miami is like a cathedral. Las Vegas is the Vatican. Las Vegas is on a totally different level. Las Vegas is a complex on the Vegas Strip, complete with architecture. The Gibson Garages have always just looked like whatever the building that we got the lease in looked like. This is the first time we really identify architecturally what the brand looks like.

“And now we’re going to be out on the Las Vegas Strip, with LED screens playing content out over Las Vegas, 24 hours a day. Las Vegas is a whole other thing. We’ll get into Las Vegas next year. I’m stoked about Miami right now. I’ve got too much to think about!”

Bespoke Gibson merch and custom-finished guitars are exclusive to the Miami Garage (Image Gibson)

The post “It’s about having a space that’s big enough to tell 132 years of stories” Gibson’s Mark Agnesi on why Miami’s new Gibson Garage is its biggest yet appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

[Editor’s note: These are Sweetwater deals, and are US-focused. If you’re outside the US, you’ll be shown similar deals.]

Right now, Sweetwater is celebrating Guitar Month – which means plenty of guitar discounts and offers galore. Amidst all the dazzling deals, Positive Grid, in particular, has slashed prices across a wide range of products. We’re talking amps, wireless guitar systems and headphones… and, because we’re oh-so nice, we’ve even made things a little easier for you and cherry-picked the best deals. You can thank us later.

If you’re after something a little more portable, the Spark Mini – AKA one of the greatest practice amps ever –has also had a price drop of $50. That means you can grab this weenie combo amp for just $199. That’s under $200 for over 30 different amp types, effects tones, and a surprisingly huge sound despite its small two by two inch scale and 10-watts of power.

There’s also savings on the Steve Vai edition of the Spark Mini – which is unsurprisingly named the Spark Mini Vai, of course. We considered this to be a perfect compact amp for shredders in particular, awarding it 9/10 in 2024. It’s got all the perks of the Spark Mini with the added bonus of Vai-approved sounds pre-loaded onto it, meaning its a tad pricier than the standard edition. Though, only $15 more, meaning it’s just $215 than its usual $269 pricepoint. Not too shabby.

If you’re after something a little bigger, the Spark Cab is also on sale. The 140-watt cabinet comes with a 10-inch woofer and two high-frequency dome tweeters, plus full audio spectrum (45-20,000 Hz) frequency response – and it’s currently $53 off, costing just $296.

For the clumsy axemen our there, Positive Grid’s Spark LINK might be your saving grace. Removing cables from the chaos, we gave this wireless guitar system an 8/10 in 2024, deeming it a “remarkably simple and effective solution”. And, if you’re keen to ditch the wires, you can get the Spark LINK for $119 instead of its usual $149 – a $30 saving.

Sweetwater has also thrown some very exciting bundle deals thrown into the mix, too. For example, you can get the Spark LINK wireless guitar system with the Spark NEO Core headphones. While it’s a somewhat ironic pairing, considering the Bluetooth NEO Core headphones pride themselves on also having a wired option to hear your tones directly plugged into your instrument, we can’t complain seeing the deal. Purchased separately both items would cost $218 – but, bundled, you’ll save $19 and only have to pay $199.

There’s also a great saving of $52.99 if you’re after a portable performance bundle. This comprehensive kit boasts a Spark LIVE 150-watt 4-channel Combo Amp and PA System, as well as a Spark Control X footswitch, the Spark LINK, and even rechargable batteries for the Spark LIVE- and it can all be yours for 849, rather than its individual total of 901.99.

To explore further Positive Grid deals and more, head to Sweetwater.

The post It’s Guitar Month at Sweetwater – and a bunch of Positive Grid gear has been discounted appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

$1,249/£1,069, fender.com

It’s been 75 years since Leo Fender came up with what many still believe is his crowning achievement – the Telecaster. In the seven decades and change since, the Tele has proved itself to be a remarkable chameleon of a guitar, finding a sonic home in every genre you can imagine.

• READ MORE: Fender Vintera III Mid ’60s Jazzmaster review: Mexican-made vintage-style offset bliss

Part of what makes it such a consistent success is the genius simplicity of its design. It’s effectively a plank of wood with some pickups on it, and that makes it endlessly adaptable in a way that more involved instruments cannot so easily manage.

The simplicity of a Tele also means that it’s quite easy to dismiss how tricky it can be to get one right. Yes, any idiot with a drill and a guitar kit can put together a functioning and usable T-type guitar, but a good one is its own sort of magic.

Which makes this new Vintera III Late 50s Telecaster such an interesting proposition – is it really $400 better than the impressive Player II Tele? Or more than twice as good as a Squier Classic Vibe? Or is it trying to be something a little different and more specific than both?

Image: Adam Gasson

What is it?

There’s a very strong argument to be made that there was not a whole hell of a lot wrong with the Vintera II guitars that were launched just a few short years ago, and while other guitars in this range may have been redressing historic blindspots with Fender’s vintage-focussed Mexico-made line, you can never accuse the Big F of neglecting or shirking its Strats and Teles.

That being said, the 50s-style Telecaster that was offered in the Vintera II was very much focused on the earliest models – to the extent that it was actually called a Nocaster, in reference to the transition period between the first Broadcaster guitars and their rebrand as Telecasters where the guitar briefly had no model name on the headstock.

That meant blackguards and sunbursts, so it’s interesting that the Vintera III range here takes inspiration more from the guitars that came out towards the end of the decade, as the transition to the more interesting (and colourful) 60s began. In basic terms, that means that in addition to the unavoidable Butterscotch, we also get the much more exciting options of Sherwood Green Metallic and this rather fetching Dakota Red. All three finish options come with a one-piece maple neck and a single-ply white pickguard.

Elsewhere, it’s very much a classic Tele – the Butterscotch option comes with the welcome return of ash to the range, while the other two are both alder. You get a vintage-style ashtray bridge complete with three uncompensated steel barrel saddles, a pair of the new Vintage-Style Late ’50s Pickups and the usual two knobs and a three-way control layout.

It shouldn’t be worth noting that for your $1,249 you do actually get a gig bag here – unlike most of the other guitars in Fender’s Mexico-made ranges – but as usual it’s not one you’re going to be wanting to entrust your guitar’s safety to. Despite Fender calling it a “Deluxe Gig Bag”, it feels about as deluxe as the toilet paper in a dive bar – presumably the non-Deluxe version would just be a piece of string tied to a trash bag?

Image: Adam Gasson

Build quality and playability

Whatever people might think about Fender as a business at the moment, there’s no avoiding the fact that when it comes to making guitars – especially at the more affordable end of the market – it really does know what it’s doing.

You can argue about whether a twelve hundred dollar Mexican Telecaster can even be classed as the “affordable end” of anyone’s market any more, but it doesn’t change the fact that this is a very impressive and well-sorted instrument straight out of the box.

The guitar hits bang in the weight sweet spot at exactly 7lbs, and close inspection reveals a very well put-together instrument. The Dakota Red finish is expertly applied to the body, the single-ply pickguard is expertly cut and attached, while the neck pocket is a snug and reassuring fit without any movement or worrying gaps. Granted, it’s pretty hard to get a Telecaster wrong, such is the simplicity of its construction, but it’s not easy to do it well either – and this ticks all the boxes.

Fender claims this Tele comes with a Late ’50s Soft V-shaped profile, and while you can feel a little bit of the V in the shoulder, you almost have to be looking for it – it’s not really noticeably that different from a generic C-shape. Maybe that’s a good thing in the grand scheme of things, but if you read the description and were expecting something that feels properly old-school, you may want to brace yourself for disappointment.

The neck itself is nicely finished with a tinted gloss poly – it’s not too sticky out of the gate, and adds a nice caramel tint to the maple, though there is a bit of overspray on the bone nut. Speaking of that, my initial inspection led me to wonder if those slots had been cut too narrowly – it’s a very tight fit. In practice, however, the strings move through the slots without any sticking points – though I’m not sure if that would still be the case if you upped the gauge from the supplied .009s.

The neck is straight and true, with no truss rod adjustment needed out of the box, and with intonation rock solid all the way up – that’s good news, because being a vintage-style guitar, we’d have to pop the neck off to adjust the damn thing. The split-post vintage-style tuners are smooth and responsive, and keep things in check without any fuss.

The action is about as low as you can get away with on a guitar like this, and it makes for a very slinky player. The 21 vintage tall frets are shiny and well dressed, and as has become the norm for Mexican Fender guitars, the fingerboard edges are nicely rolled to make for a very comfortable player.

There are people who will tell you that bending a string with a 7.25” radius is some sort of impossible labour of the kind that Hercules would have turned tail and run from. Despite this, and no doubt in part because of the well-done fretwork and low action, two- and three-fret bends can be executed without any hassle, and we don’t really get any hint of choking out until we’re troubling the very top of the fretboard – and there’s no money up there anyway.

Image: Adam Gasson

Sounds

You know what you’re in for with a vintage-style Telecaster, but before we get into the weeds of how this guitar sounds, a note about those saddles. The vintage-style three-barrel steel arrangement here might be vintage-accurate, but there’s a very good reason why so many players opt for brass instead of steel because it does temper the inherent high-end nature of the sound somewhat. Here, however, it’s the full-unvarnished spanky Telecaster experience – for good or for ill.

The bridge pickup is lively, piercing and unapologetically treble-forward, while you get a woollier and jazzy tonality in the neck, with the in-between sound offering a gently massaged take on the bridge pickup’s ferocity.

In practice, that means that you get wonderfully percussive, snappy responsiveness on the bridge pickup when running into a clean Deluxe Reverb, for example, or a wonderfully bratty and unapologetic piercing Pixies snarl when you lay on some gain.

The flipside of that is that the bass response is perhaps a little lacking. It does a lovely job of giving you that slightly woolly Seeker-esque crunch when you run it into a cooking Marshall Plexi, but if you’re looking for a fat-bottomed full-on distortion… this is still a vintage-voiced Telecaster.

And while that might be good for a great many things, the Vintage-Style Late ’50s pickups are designed to sound like, well, late 50s Telecaster pickups. That means they run the gamut from pristine country cleans to throaty 60s rock… and while they have plenty of utility beyond that definition, of course, these are impressively true to vintage Teles I’ve played in both their response and their overall character – limitations and all.

Image: Adam Gasson

Should I buy one?

I’ll end this with something of a confession: I’ve never really got on with traditional Teles. I think they look fantastic, I think they sound incredible in the hands of other people, and I absolutely think the Tele is probably the most important electric guitar ever made.

That being said, the only Teles I’ve ever really bonded with have been Deluxes, Customs or Cabronitas… for whatever reason, the classic configuration never really inspired me.
And yet spending a few weeks with this Vintera III has really surprised me – even outside of my play testing, I’ve found myself being drawn to pick it up more often than not, and have had an absolute blast while doing so.

Maybe that would have happened anyway, but I can’t help but think that the inherent quality of this instrument has managed to pull me in – it’s fantastic to play, accessibly lightweight, and has pickups that sound impressively and authentically like a vintage Tele. If it were mine, I’d probably chuck a set of compensated brass saddles on there to take the edge off some of the ice-pick sonic qualities, but that’s more personal preference than anything. This might not be the cheapest Tele around, but it’s one of the best.

Alternatives

If you want a Tele-style guitar that’s a little less on the vintage end of the spectrum, the Player II Modified Tele ($1,049/£939) brings Noiseless pickups and more modern player-focused appointments, while the regular Player II Telecaster (from $849/£769) is a really great guitar for the money with rolled board edges and some quality (if more generic-sounding) pickups. Some finish options also offer chambered bodies. If for, ahem, some reason, you wanted a T-type guitar that doesn’t say Fender anywhere on the headstock, there are some solid options in this price point. Chief amongst them is the Reverend Pete Anderson Eastsider T ($1,299/£999), though for something a little different, you should definitely check out the PRS SE NF 53 ($1,049).

The post Fender Vintera III Late ’50s Telecaster review: “this guitar has really surprised me” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Guitar string purveyor Stringjoy has entered into the world of capos with its first offering, the Sweetspot.

Boasting a precision dial for variable tension control – perfect for a range of guitars and neck widths – the Sweetspot also features a single-hand-friendly quick-release design, soft silicone contact points to protect strings and finish, and a heavy-duty case metal build for long-terms durability.

Sweetspot by both name and nature, the capo is said to be the “best of both worlds” for guitarists seeking the convenience of a spring-loaded trigger capo and the adjustability of a screw-on, adjustable tension capo.

• READ MORE: This new range of guitar cleaning products has everything you need to keep your instrument in pristine condition
  

“Guitarists have always had to choose between a quick-change capo that’s fast but imprecise, or a screw-adjustable one that’s precise but slow and clumsy,” says Scott Marquart of Stringjoy. “We didn’t think that tradeoff made sense, so we set out to bring something to market that didn’t exist yet.

“The Sweetspot features a tension-adjustment control you won’t find on other trigger capos that allows you to dial in the exact tension you need for your guitar in seconds, then pop it on and off one-handed mid-song without missing a beat.

“No buzz, no tuning issues, no compromise, and at a price point that means you’re not paying a premium for something that, in our opinion, simply works like it should. It’s the capo we always wished existed, and now it’s ours to share.”

The Sweetspot is available in Silver or Black, and is priced at $24.99.

Learn more at Stringjoy.

The post String maker Stringjoy launches its first capo – what’s different? appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Alex Winter has shared how he and co-star Keanu Reeves would kill time on the set of Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure. The 61-year-old film star and documentarian explains in an interview with The Guardian how he and Reeves would jam together.

Fielding questions submitted by members of the public, one fan asks Winter how fun it is to work with Reeves and what they got up to between scenes.

• READ MORE: Unexpected gear used by Frank Zappa

The fan asks: “Which Keanu Reeves was the most fun to work with: in Waiting for Godot on Broadway; as Ted ‘Theodore’ Logan to your Bill S Preston, Esq in Bill & Ted; or as mutant Ortiz the Dog Boy when you directed him in Freaked? And following Waiting for Godot, what wildly inappropriate classic should Bill & Ted tackle next?”

Winter responds: “I just love performing with Keanu. The funny thing is we both play bass, so all through the first Bill & Ted, whenever we weren’t shooting, we’d be jamming.

“Keanu and I both have theatre backgrounds and have studied Shakespeare, so I’d like to do some Shakespeare, maybe something like Measure for Measure. There’s a few that we’ve discussed. I’m not sure if we’ll get there, but who knows? Never say never.”

Winter’s musical background goes a step further than jamming with his co-stars, as the film star also directed a documentary on legendary musician Frank Zappa in 2020.

The documentary took Winter five years to make. Summarising Zappa in an interview with Vanity Fair, Winter said: “Here was this radical, long-haired freak, but also a patriarchal, macho, relatively conservative Italian dad….

“Now that he’s gone, and we live in such a politically fraught world, I see fans try to take ownership of Zappa. The far-left take ownership, the libertarians take ownership, and I think he was all of it and none.

“He was, though, rabidly anti-Bush and anti-Reagan. He maintained a powerful anti-authoritarian, anti-fascist streak, and pro-citizens rights. It carried through his whole life.”

The post “Whenever we weren’t shooting, we’d be jamming”: Alex Winter says he and Keanu Reeves would play bass together while filming Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

After Mastodon recently gave an interview to Classic Rock speaking of their fond memories of late bandmate and guitarist Brent Hinds – who died in a motorcycle accident last year – it’s come to light that Hinds’ estate has filed a lawsuit against the band.

The filing, made at the Fulton County Court in Georgia against Mastodon members Troy Sanders, Bill Kelliher and Brann Dailor, cites a number of complaints, including the unauthorised use of Hinds’ likeness on the cover of their latest album Marrow Deep, that Hinds continued to have owned interest in merchandise, and that the buyout of said interests was never finalised before his death.

• READ MORE: “He said some hurtful things, but I know he didn’t mean it”: Brann Dailor reflects on Mastodon’s public fallout with late guitarist Brent Hinds

Hinds’ estate also alleges that the surviving members of Mastodon made claims about Hinds’ substance abuse. The complaint is made regarding private information allegedly being made public after Hinds’ death.

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Hinds estate alleges that the band “selected and placed a recognisable image of Brent on the album cover of Marrow Deep and disseminated that cover to advertise, market, distribute and sell physical albums, digital downloads and streams, merchandise and related goods or services.”

Brent Hinds was a founding member of Mastodon from the band’s formation in 2000 until his death in August 2025. It was announced that he’d departed the band earlier last year.

While the split appeared mutual at the time, Hinds later made harsh comments about his former bandmates, calling them a “shit band with horrible humans”.

It’s unclear what will happen with the new lawsuit, but Hinds’ former bandmates have been remembering their time with the guitarist fondly as of late.

“He was a man scorned,” said drummer Brann Dailor recently. “He said some hurtful things, but I know he didn’t mean it.

“I was always hopeful that he was going to call me at some point and be like: ‘Dude, I’m done being a ding-dong. Can I come back? I have a riff…’ We were 100% sure he would’ve done that.”

The post The estate of Brent Hinds is reportedly suing Mastodon appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Toyah Willcox has shared an update on the long-awaited documentary on her and husband Robert Fripp’s Sunday Lunch lockdown sessions. Speaking at Rewind South to eonmusic, Toyah confirmed that a documentary crew had been filming the pair’s project.

Toyah and Fripp went viral during the Covid-19 lockdowns with covers of hit songs performed from their kitchen. Now, some years after the lockdowns ended, they’re still going, most recently offering up a rendition of The Rolling Stones’ Jumpin’ Jack Flash and the ZZ Top track, Gimme All Your Lovin’.

• READ MORE: Toyah Willcox says a Sunday Lunch movie is in the works

On the new documentary, Toyah said: “We shot a lot of stuff. We were shooting a documentary for a company in New Zealand.”

But a clear release date is out of the question, with Toyah adding: “I don’t know. They’ve got to make the movie first. They’ve got the footage.”

The film has been in the making since 2023 and that’s not all for the viral sensation. Toyah confirmed her album, Future Dreaming, will be released next April. She said: “My singles start in January. And then I have three singles: January, February, March, and then the album’s out in April.”

King Crimson guitarist Fripp will feature on two of the tracks, with the album produced by Andy Brooke. Toyah said: “He’s [Fripp] on two tracks. It’s been produced by a wonderful producer called Andy Brooke, who’s produced most magnificent arrangements. I’m very excited about it.”

Last year, Robert Fripp suffered a heart attack while travelling to Italy to attend one of his Guitar Craft courses. Ever one to look at the funny side of things, the guitarist later told the story of how hospital staff shaved his balls, for reasons still unknown to him to this day…

“I was in A&E, they hooked me up to a monitor, and the next step was this dear man turned up and shaved my balls,” Fripp recalled. “I thought, ‘Well, if this is something to do with my heart, why is he shaving my balls?’”

The post Robert Fripp and Toyah’s lockdown Sunday Lunch series was such a sensation they’re making a movie about it – here’s an update on its progress appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Queen drummer Roger Taylor has reflected on the infamous tense encounter that occurred with the Sex Pistols when the two bands were recording at the same studio in 1977.

At the time, Queen were working on what became News Of The World, while the Pistols were laying down their debut album, Nevermind The Bollocks…, when the two forces came into contact at Wessex Sound Studios.

• READ MORE: Brian May’s playing on the Masters of the Universe soundtrack has a touching personal element: “He shows up carrying two giant boxes of He-Man toys that he still had in his attic”

Speaking to Classic Rock, Taylor says, “I really loved the Pistols album. It was [made with a] great producer, mate of mine, Chris Thomas. Because we were in the same studio for a while in 1976-77, somewhere around there. They were doing their first album, and it was dreadful at first until Chris came in and made a great record.”

Sid Vicious interrupted Queen’s session to taunt frontman Freddie Mercury over a comment he’d made in an NME interview about his love of ballet. Reports from other Queen insiders also recall the Pistols’ John Lydon crawling into their space on all fours.

“Sid put his head in the studio and said: ‘Hello, Freddie, are we bringing ballet to the masses?’ And Freddie said something like: ‘Oh, Mister Ferocious, we’re doing our best here…’” He goes on to add, “John [Lydon] was alright, actually. He was quite a character. We got on quite well. It’s just that Sid Vicious was such a dick.”

Earlier this year, Taylor and Queen guitarist Brian May spoke to Uncut about their own experience of recording a debut album, and the high-stakes that surrounded the experience: “We were ludicrously compliant on the first album because we were terrified that it was going to be our only chance to record,” said May.

“That’s the big difference between Queen and Queen II, the second album is the sound of us starting to get the sound we wanted,” added Taylor.

The post “John Lydon was alright – we got on quite well. It’s just that Sid Vicious was such a dick”: Roger Taylor recalls the first time Queen met the Sex Pistols appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Last year, the metal world was rocked when it was announced that Mastodon founding guitarist Brent Hinds had died in a motorcycle accident.

The guitarist had departed the longstanding Atlanta metal outfit earlier in 2025, and while the decision was described as mutual at the time, the split later became somewhat acrimonious. Three months after his exit, Brent Hinds described his former bandmates as a “shit band with horrible humans”.

But despite the harsh words uttered during the heat of the split, Hinds’ former bandmates – guitarist Bill Kelliher, bassist Troy Sanders and drummer Brann Dailor – hold nothing but respect and fond memories for the 24 years they shared together as one of the top bands in the metal scene.

• READ MORE: Want to test the prototype from Guitar Center’s new in-house guitar brand? Here’s how you can

In an interview in the latest print issue of Classic Rock, drummer Brann Dailor reflects on the years they spent together, and the circumstances surrounding Brent Hinds’ departure from the band.

“There’s 25 years of living with this guy,” he says. “When you have this otherworldly bond, this really deep emotional place together through music, it’s an elevated relationship. But when we did the Ashes of Leviathan tour, I could finally see that it had run its course with him. We needed some kind of change, because it was dragging everybody down.

“It became really hard to get Brent to commit to anything. He just wanted to go do his own thing, ride his motorcycle and be a free spirit.”

Dailor continues, reflecting on the thorny words said by Hinds about his former bandmates: “He was a man scorned. He said some hurtful things, but I know he didn’t mean it.

“I was always hopeful that he was going to call me at some point and be like: ‘Dude, I’m done being a ding-dong. Can I come back? I have a riff…’ We were 100% sure he would’ve done that.”

Just a year on, the death of Brent Hinds still affects the members of Mastodon profoundly.

“It isn’t easy to talk about Brent, he was our family, someone we all loved wholeheartedly. He was a wild man, our wild man and that came with some challenges,” the band wrote in July. 

“Both things are true and we aren’t interested in chasing one truth over the other. Losing him has meant sitting with a type of grief we never expected. No more hugs, no more high fives, no more disagreements, no more making up. That part has been hard, it’s real.”

“I thought there’d be that turnaround where we’d meet, apologise, hug and say, ‘I love you.’ I didn’t know when, but I knew it would happen. And I was fucking wrong,” added Troy Sanders.

Since Hinds’ death last year, Mastodon have taken on two new members: Nick Jonhston on lead guitar, and keyboardist João Nogueira.

Last month saw the release of the band’s ninth studio album and first without Brent Hinds, Marrow Deep. The band have a string of US tour dates planned for the rest of the year to promote the album, alongside Deafheaven and Alcest.

For a full list of dates, head to MastodonRocks.com.

The post “He said some hurtful things, but I know he didn’t mean it”: Brann Dailor reflects on Mastodon’s public fallout with late guitarist Brent Hinds appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Compression! It’s one of the most misunderstood and underrated guitar effects. If you’re looking for your next dedicated compression pedal, you’re in the right place – let’s explore some great options for squishing your sound.

For electric guitar, some kind of compression somewhere along the chain is quite important – the raw, completely unaltered signal from a guitar’s pickup is quite uneven, with a big transient at the start, and a quick falloff as the note dies. Compression of all kinds, whether it’s from your amp’s front end, a dirt pedal or a dedicated compressor, evens out your volume and makes for a more pleasing playing (and listening!) experience.

Here we’re looking at dedicated compression pedals, which let you add sustain and even out dynamics without introducing extra distortion, unless you want to – overloading a compressor pedal can be its own kind of saturated fun. But the core use-case for compression is to gain some more control over your dynamics without having to sound like you’re suddenly in Slayer. Compression is at the backbone of many of the best guitar tones out there – from the punchy, ‘quacky’ country sound of a compressed Telecaster, to the sparklingly clean and articulate solos of David Gilmour, and a whole lot else besides.

A dedicated compressor pedal can be an excellent addition to your sound, particularly if you want to sculpt a quality clean tone. But there are a lot out there, ranging from the premium studio-grade compressor workstations for your board, to simple two-knob affairs that won’t break the bank. Let’s dive in.

At a glance:

• Keeley Electronics Compressor Plus
• Universal Audio UAFX 1176
• Empress Effects Guitar Compressor MKII
• Warm Audio Pedal76
• Origin Effects Cali76 FET
• JHS Pedals 3 Series Compressor
• Xotic SP Compressor Mini
• Boss CS-3
• MXR Dyna Comp
• TC Electronic Hypergravity
• Why you can trust Guitar.com

Keeley Electronics Compressor Plus

The undisputed standard for modern pedalboard compression. Evolving from Robert Keeley’s legendary two-knob design, the Plus features a blend control for parallel compression and a specialized attack/release switch optimized for either single-coils or humbuckers. It effortlessly retains your core tone while adding sweet, musical sustain and evening out your dynamics. It’s arguably the most versatile “always-on” compressor for everyday players.

Universal Audio UAFX 1176

Universal Audio managed to cram the exact algorithms of their legendary studio hardware into a compact stompbox. This pedal delivers authentic 1176 FET compression with switchable Single, Dual, and Sustain modes—giving you everything from subtle dynamic control to iconic Led Zeppelin-style squish. If you want uncompromising, studio-grade digital emulation of a legendary rackmount unit without dropping thousands of dollars, this is the benchmark.

Empress Effects Guitar Compressor MKII

This all-analog FET compressor brings recording console flexibility to your feet. It boasts independent Attack and Release knobs, a sidechain high-pass filter to keep bass frequencies from triggering the compression, and a handy “tilt” EQ knob. The standout feature is the vibrant LED metering strip, letting you see exactly how much gain reduction you’re applying.

Warm Audio Pedal76

Warm Audio built its reputation on cloning classic studio gear, and the Pedal76 brings an all-analog, true-to-spec 1176 circuit directly to your pedalboard. Featuring custom USA-made CineMag transformers, this pedal delivers rich, vintage FET character and lightning-fast attack times. It is undeniably large and requires serious board space, but it rewards you with authentic analogue warmth and punch that digital emulations struggle to fully replicate.

Origin Effects Cali76 FET

Widely considered the ultimate boutique compressor, the Cali76 is an ultra-premium, studio-grade FET compressor packed into a brushed-steel enclosure. It captures the distinct sound of an 1176 with zero digital processing. The inclusion of a dedicated Dry knob allows for seamless parallel compression, giving you massive sustain without killing your pick attack. It’s premium appointments don’t come cheap, though…

JHS Pedals 3 Series Compressor

Part of JHS’s budget-friendly 3 Series, this no-nonsense compressor offers just three knobs (Volume, Attack, Sustain) and a Bright switch to add top-end sparkle back into your signal. Despite the stark white enclosure and incredibly approachable price point, it’s built in the USA and delivers smooth, transparent dynamic control that rivals pedals double its price.

Xotic SP Compressor Mini

Don’t let the dinky footprint fool you – this tiny pedal houses a premium Ross-style circuit that punches way above its weight class. It features an external blend knob for quick parallel compression and a three-way toggle for High, Mid, or Low compression strength. Internal dip switches offer even deeper tweaking for attack and release.

Boss CS-3

A rugged, reliable workhorse that has graced thousands of professional pedalboards for decades. Unlike transparent modern compressors, the CS-3 is notoriously “squishy,” heavily coloring your tone and providing near-infinite sustain for searing solos or snappy country chicken-picking. It also comes with the added benefit of being housed in the Boss compact enclosure, and therefore will probably outlast several civilisations.

MXR Dyna Comp

The original red box that helped define the sound of modern country, funk, and 80s pop. With just two knobs, it’s easy dial in and hard to make sound band. The Dyna Comp is not transparent; it produces a very distinct, percussive “pop” on the attack and significantly alters your EQ, making it work great as a bit of a of a preamp boost as well as just a pure compressor.

TC Electronic Hypergravity

A highly advanced digital multiband compressor built on the MD3 algorithm from TC’s flagship studio System 6000. Because it compresses high, mid, and low frequencies independently, it yields incredibly transparent, even results without choking your tone. The real magic lies in the TonePrint app, which allows you to beam custom presets from pro artists directly to the pedal or deep-dive into the parameters yourself. It’s also eminently affordable, and sports a pretty compact enclosure given its extensive featureset.

Why You Can Trust Us

Every year, Guitar.com reviews a huge variety of new products – from the biggest launches to cool boutique effects – and our expert guitar reviewers have decades of collective experience, having played everything from Gibson ’59 Les Pauls to the cheapest Squiers.

That means that when you click on a Guitar.com buyer’s guide, you’re getting the benefit of all that experience to help you make the best buying decision for you. What’s more, every guide written on Guitar.com was put together by a guitar obsessive just like you. You can trust that every product recommended in those guides is something that we’d be happy to have in our own rigs.

The post The 10 best pedal compressors for guitarists in 2026 appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Despite Tony Iommi having lost the tops of two fingers in an industrial accident as a teenager, it didn’t stop him from becoming one of the most influential players of all time.

Iommi regularly gets sent prosthetic replacements from his local hospital, but according to the Black Sabbath guitarist, they don’t just send him a replacement for his missing fingertips, but rather ludicrously, a whole arm at a time.

• READ MORE: “I hate playing acoustic”: Why Tony Iommi is pushing himself outside his comfort zone on new solo album

Speaking to Classic Rock, he says with an amused smile, “The thing is, they send me a whole rubber arm. I’ve asked them: ‘Why not just send a hand?’ But apparently they can’t do that.

“They sometimes send me five arms at a time. So I chop the fingers off and throw the arms in the bin,” he admits. “The dustmen must be thinking: ‘What the bloody hell’s going on here? Has he bumped someone off?’”

Although incredibly bizarre, these ‘rubber arms’ of Iommi’s clearly do the job – he’s soon to release his first solo album in in 21 years, From The Dark, on 23 October this year.

Iommi announced the record back in July along with its first single, World Alone. On the record, he is supported by a band consisting of Norwegian vocalist Jørn Lande, Mercyful Fate bassist Becky Baldwin, and former Robbie Williams drummer Karl Brazil.

Listen to World Alone below:

Queen’s Brian May also features on the album for track Death Wake. Speaking to Loudwire last month, Iommi shared how May ended up on the record – and revealed that he’d actually asked his old friend to play on more than one track.

“I said to him, ‘Play on some other tracks,’ but he went, ‘Oh no, it’s your album,’” he said. “That’s the relationship we’ve had with each other for all these years. We’ve played a lot together. He is a great friend.”

You can pre-order From The Dark now via Tony Iommi’s official website.

The post “I chop the fingers off and throw the arms in the bin”: Tony Iommi reveals the bizarre thing he has to do to get his prosthetic fingertips appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

$3,999, lslinstruments.com

What a time to be reviewing an LsL guitar. Yes, for the last few weeks this Baribone has been awkwardly slotted into my guitar rack next to a few Fenders, no doubt feeling like it had wandered into a bar in the wrong part of town, the part where the honky-tonk piano crashes to a stop when the saloon doors swing open, and all the patrons tentatively reach for their lawyers’ email addresses.

• READ MORE: Gretsch Electromatic Jet Baritone review: more long-scale chaos from Gretsch

Thankfully, for guitar reviewers who are running out of ways of describing the elephant in the room without wanting to waste a lot of word count reminding people about current events, the instrument we have here is mercifully separated from the current hurley-burley, though it is extremely on brand for 2026.

Image: Adam Gasson

What is it?

So what’s different about today’s guitar? Well, it’s baritone for starters, with custom appointments that make it pretty far what even the Fender Custom Shop might make you unless you were prepared to remortgage the house and have a nice long chat with a Master Builder.

The custom nature of the Baribone line means LsL is pretty flexible about what your final instrument looks like, but the core model pairs a T-type body paired with a 27.5” scale length.

That baritone scale is a good middle-ground, particularly for faster playing – the tension is still quite hefty at B-B, but the fret span isn’t so wide that it feels like a different instrument.

From here, custom appointments open up a pretty wide world of single-cut downtuned fun – you can keep it traditional with a bridge plate and single-coils, go full modern with dual humbuckers and exotic woods, or combine your own personal mix of modern and vintage specs.

The latter has been done here: its future owner intends it to be used for progressive metal while still looking like something designed in the 1950s. And, indeed, used very hard every day since the 1950s – so it’s a vintage-styled heavy relic from a distance, but take a closer look, and something far more aggressive rears its head, with hefty humbuckers and jumbo frets.

Image: Adam Gasson

Build quality

While it still polarises, artificial ageing has become a pretty commonplace thing in the guitar space. From Novos and Murphy Labs to Mexican Fenders… hell, even super affordable instruments can be found with aged finishes now (Harley Benton’s new range, for instance).

As anyone who has got up close with these cheaper guitars can attest, artificial wear and tear can look a little artless up close when done on a mass-production scale. Conversely, this guitar is a reminder of just how much of an art form ageing an instrument can be.

The finish wear, for instance, very much accentuates the three-dimensional nature of the lacquer, with satisfying, crackly checking and smears of damage that reveal sequential layers of colour, primer and wood.

The hardware ageing is subtle compared to the body’s, which is good to see from a comfort perspective (no one wants an actual rusty bridge), and a thin vintage-style finish will obviously take the brunt of genuine wear-and-tear. The look of the headstock really benefits from the ageing, too, with a really pleasing character added to the substantial bevels by the complex chipping.

Importantly, the effect is cohesive. An easy tell for rubbish relicing is a sort of mish-mash of damage, the obvious result of randomly throwing screwdrivers at the guitar for an afternoon, rather than a wear pattern with a more narrative aspect.

Everything flows together here, and feels verisimilitudinous (there’s one for your next Scrabble game) in where it lies – forearm wear smooths out the area where your forearm rests, the pick wear is where you’d pick, and also sort of clears the way for you with a little scoop in the bevel of the pickguard.

The only gripe I have with the ageing is the slightly inconsistent feel of the neck – some of the process has left that darker patch where my thumb rests below the seventh fret feeling just a tad rough. It’s subtle enough that it’ll likely smooth out after a couple of sweaty gigs, but maybe just one more pass of a micromesh pad might have given the same aesthetic effect without the slightly raw feeling on the pad of my thumb.

As for the rest of the actual build quality, it’s frankly faultless. The guitar presents as an extraordinarily complete instrument, with none of the little compromises of setup and alignment that factory guitars sometimes have to make. For this kind of cash, of course, you’d hope that it would be so – but it’s worth putting across just how neatly everything has been made and assembled here.

Image: Adam Gasson

Playability

Picking up the guitar and giving it an unplugged strum, it’s striking how lively it feels. The factory setup and strings make for quite substantial tension in B standard – and that translates to extra twang and resonance from the lightweight, lightly-finished body. To channel Nigel Tufnel for a moment – even unplugged, it sustains for absolutely bloody ages when you ring out a big chord.

The neck profile is a custom C profile designed by LsL master builder Chris Fleming – and aside from the aforementioned rough patch it’s a very pleasing profile. Longer scale length aside, it still feels like a comfortable vintage Tele-style neck, particularly thanks to the 1.65” nut. Aforementioned rough spot aside, the texture of most of the neck is lovely and smooth – here the phrase “played-in” means that you’re never running up against any sticky gloss that’ll slow you down.

The jumbo frets here are mirror-smooth and, at first, distractingly massive – the vintage look makes me instinctively expect frets that aren’t railway-sleeper chunky, but, that cognitive dissonance quickly melts away upon actually playing the thing. The 12” radius helps things feel extremely glassy – not that I’m doing much bending on it, mind, thanks to that higher tension, but leads are a breeze and wide-open chords have a chewy, satisfying feel thanks to the extra space underneath the string.

At the right hand, the hipshot hardtail bridge is one of the best options for a no-nonsense string-through hardtail, with its little ramp for comfy palm-muting, and solidly made saddles that don’t drift downwards or rattle. Like a more traditional string-through Telecaster bridge, it makes for a pretty snappy feeling – but with a lot more comfort when it comes to heavier playing.

Image: Adam Gasson

Sounds

Plugging in, the first thing I notice is that the Bare Knuckle Impulse that’s in the bridge position sounds absolutely killer. This is a signature design for Josh Smith from Northlane, and it’s voiced specifically for heavy baritone tones. It makes good on that promise, smartly cutting enough low-end to keep things clear and tight rather than flabby, but by no means does it let go of any impact. It’s a little like having an always-on tightening booster, something like an EQD Arrows, which, if you’ve ever used you’ll know just kind of makes most dirt pedals sound better.

The neck pickup is an in-house LsL humbucker. It’s fairly hot, but not to the point of overwhelming the signal, and in tunings like this, you don’t want to have something with too much power in the neck. Tonally it’s a little more of a classic humbucker, although most things are when compared to huge quad-bladed things like the Impulse. Regardless, it provides a nice contrast – a refined Japanese chef’s knife next to the sharp-but-brutal two-handed longsword of the bridge pickup – allowing for a more dynamic experience once you get that pickup switch in play.

Both are, of course, made nice and lively by the generally resonant character of the guitar – and while you can argue about psychosomatic transferral of tonewood characteristics through high-gain gear all you like, what you can’t argue with is the feel of the thing springing back in your hands and against your body as you strum it.

Overall, my time with this Baribone was pretty excellent, and I was (unsurprisingly) extremely sad to pack it up and send it on to its owner.

What I find exciting about baritones, too, comes across very strongly in the Baribone, resonantly and articulately projecting the huge presence of a downtuned instrument.

For heavy music, I can appreciate the ultra-thin shreddy necks and heel access down to the 22nd fret, but for my purposes the ergonomics of a Fender-style construction, replete with a vintage neck profile and nice big square heel, never provided a barrier.

Image: Adam Gasson

Should I buy one?

Thinking about it, that term “Fender-style” is a lot more loaded with potential legal ramifications than it was a few months ago, isn’t it? And it’s fair to say that lots more people will recognise the name LsL Instruments than they might have either.

For transparency’s sake, I should note that this review was arranged before the brand became the focal point of a legal firestorm, but it’s tricky to untangle it from the wider notoriety here in September 2026.

That being said, it’s nice to be able to check out something like the Baribone in the shadow of what else is going on and appraise why people might want a guitar from LsL, beyond social media cheerleading.

Because obviously, there are bits of Fender in this guitar’s DNA, but it melds that with a bunch of stuff that you simply cannot get from a production Fender guitar right now. A USA-made hybrid vintage/modern T-type baritone may not be a mass-market instrument, but it’s still a very cool thing that would not exist without smaller builders like this.

With that out of the way: should you buy an LsL Baribone? Well, if you’re spending this much money on a guitar, I’d hope you’d be certain enough in your intentions that a single paragraph of a single review wouldn’t be the final thing to tip the balance – but, to be just a data point in your decision matrix anyhow: you should.

Image: Adam Gasson

LSL Baribone alternatives

There are a good few other baritone instruments in this price range, but they tend to err on the side of more vintage-y or at least less heavy in their application. Novo makes a baritone version of the Serus J ($4,499), which is a similarly high-end custom with more of an offset vibe if that’s your thing. There’s also the Duesenberg Julietta Baritone ($2,999), a weirder unique thing with an undeniable eye-catching presence.

In the more explicitly metal world, ESP’s high-end offerings include some hefty seven-string baritones with somewhat T-style appointments, although more in the Jim Root tradition than the Roy Nichols one. Gibson has also just announced a ($2,499) bari version of its hard-rockin’ Victory model, too – it’s a cool thing for the 80s-inclined. And at around 1/10th of the price, there’s also something like the Squier Classic Vibe Baritone Telecaster ($549.99) and Gretsch Electromatic Jet Baritone ($549) if you’ve read this review and started to salivate at the idea of a single-cut baritone but are currently not in a position to drop $4,000 on an instrument.

The post LsL Instruments Baribone review: custom baritone T-type finds the balance between vintage and modern appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.