What is it?

The Gretsch 6134 Penguin is among the rarest and most elusive of all vintage guitars, with collectors paying six figures to pick up one of the few (rumoured to be less than 50) originals that left the Brooklyn factory between 1955 and 1962.

On its 1955 release (no doubt in response to Gibson’s brand-new Les Paul model of 1952) the Penguin was effectively a fancier Duo Jet with top-of-the-line White Falcon appointments, a striking white finish, gold hardware, fancy inlays and DeArmond Dynasonic single-coil pickups, along with a smart gold ‘Cadillac’ ‘G’ tailpiece. A new one in 1959 would cost roughly $490.

To put that in context, a Gibson Les Paul Standard, now known as a ’Burst, would have only set you back roughly $265. In today’s vintage market, purchasing either would raise that figure to the hundreds of thousands…

The first major revision to the Penguin’s spec came in 1958 with thumbnail fingerboard inlays. Crucially, there was also the addition of the new Chet Atkins approved ‘Patent Applied For’ Filter’Tron Pickups (designed by engineer Ray Butts) to remove the hum associated with the single-coil Dynasonic pickups.

Debate still rages in quiet corners of the internet as to whether Ray Butts or Gibson’s Seth Lover (or indeed others) invented and first patented the guitar humbucking pickup.

The pickups Gretsch has chosen to fit to this Limited Edition Penguin are the TV Jones Ray Butts Ful-Fidelity units – accurate recreations of his original 1950s design that are not wax-potted, promising more high-end sparkle and a tighter bass response than regular TV Jones Classics.

Although listed as part of Gretsch’s solidbody line, the Penguin actually features a chambered mahogany body with an arched maple laminated top, and – if you haven’t noticed it already – a particularly eye-catching top finish that Gretsch refers to as ‘Light Blue Pearl’. It’s not vintage-accurate for a 1950s White Penguin, but it totally nails the finish found on some vintage Gretsch drum kits of the 1960s.

While the body outline nods to a slightly bigger Les Paul, a Gretsch Penguin’s 337mm (13.25-inch) wide and 51mm (two-inch) deep body – also used for the Duo Jet models – is easily differentiated on a dark stage by the huge, magnificent headstock borrowed from the White Falcon with its ever-so-subtle Gretsch logo and regal Grover Imperial tuners.

The set U-shaped mahogany neck features a beautiful dark 305mm (12-inch) radius ebony fingerboard featuring 22 medium jumbo frets, ‘Luminlay’ glow-in-the-dark side dots, and surprisingly restrained Neo-Classical thumbnail inlays.

Adding more bling for the buck, silver sparkle with w/b/w purfling features just about everywhere and joins a hefty chrome-plated arm guard (typically idiosyncratic Gretsch and a feature borrowed from banjos), chrome ‘Jeweled G-Arrow’ (in Gretsch parlance) control knobs for the individual volume controls for each pickup, and the treble bleed cap-loaded master volume control.

The dual switches are a standard three-way pickup selector accompanied by a three-way tone switch that uses different value capacitors to give preset tone control sounds.

The strings rest on a vintage-looking partially pinned Space Control bridge, which has significant movement back and forth for intonation control but can move under aggressive string bends and string changes.

The modern string-through Bigsby B3CP vibrato tailpiece is a marvel of engineering for anyone who has ever struggled with changing strings on a traditional Bigsby unit. Special mention also to the screw-on strap locks that have been a welcome addition to Gretsch guitars since the 1950s.

Specs

• PRICE: $3,799 | £3,699 | €3,999
• ORIGIN: Japan
• TYPE: Single-cutaway, chambered body electric
• BODY: Mahogany body with arched maple top and vintage chambering
• NECK: Gloss-finished U profile mahogany set-neck
• SCALE LENGTH: 625mm (24.6”)
• NUT/WIDTH: Bone/42.86mm (1.6875”)
• FINGERBOARD: Ebony with mother-of-pearl Neo Classical Thumbnail inlays
• FRETS: 22, medium jumbo
• HARDWARE: Bigsby B3CP String-Thru vibrato, Grover Imperial Tuners, Space Control bridge, Jeweled G-Arrow Control Knobs, chrome banjo-style arm rest and hardware
• STRING SPACING, BRIDGE: 52.4mm
• ELECTRICS: Twin TV Jones Ray Butts Ful-Fidelity Filter’Tron pickups, 3-way pickup selector switch, individual pickup volumes, master volume, classic Gretsch tone switch
• WEIGHT (kg/lb): 4.0/8.8
• RANGE OPTIONS: G6134TG-58 Limited Edition 1958 Custom Penguin with Bigsby in Nightbird Emerald finish (£3,739)
• LEFT-HANDERS: No
• FINISH: Light Blue Pearl (as reviewed)
• CONTACT: Gretsch

Build quality, usability and sounds

Taking the Penguin from its plush hard case, at 4kg (8.8lb) we are immediately stuck by both its heft and sheer presence. Unmistakably Gretsch in its opulence, the striking Light Blue Pearl finish and all that chrome and silver sparkle is a colour scheme that reminds you that you’re playing something special.

The Penguin’s chambered mahogany body contributes a wonderful sense of smooth, airy warmth and depth to our first few unplugged strums. Single notes and chords have a rounded attack and a smooth and surprisingly long sustain, not something we’d usually associate with smaller-bodied Gretsch models especially, but it bodes well for plugged-in adventures.

While the Penguin’s single-cut body shape might suggest a typically Les Paul midrange heft, plugging the Penguin into our Princeton Reverb puts us more in mind of a good ES-335. There’s less midrange and immediacy to the attack; instead the Penguin has a smoother, more open and sparkly voice.

Perhaps it’s all that air in the chambered mahogany body with the laminate maple top, or the combination of floating bridge and the most musical of vibrato units adding sonic sparkle.

If you haven’t spent much time playing Filter’Trons then we urge you to do so, particularly these TV Jones Ray Butts units. Warm yet gritty, these pickups have plenty of sparkle and bite with a tight low‑end, sitting somewhere between a classic Fender single coil and a Gibson humbucker – a versatile yet instantly familiar sound.

Carefully balancing the individual pickup volume controls with the master volume with its treble bleed capacitor allows a huge range of tones, from clean snappy Beatle-y chime to gritty snarl perfect for Neil Young Americana and country runs when plugged into a Tweed amp.

The surprisingly useful tone switch is bypassed in the middle setting, rolls off some treble in the down position, and is most useful in the upper position by virtue of engaging a different value tone capacitor. It gives a superb almost cocked-wah midrange boost for additional textures and is great for punching lead lines out of a mix.

Up the amp or pedal gain, and you’re greeted by harmonically rich tones with superb note definition and a beautiful compression that gels notes perfectly even under serious volume and gain. As AC/DC found, along with many alt-rock artists in the late ’90s, it’s just about the perfect rock rhythm tone.

Verdict

Verdict: ★★★★½

Modern Gretsches are built to more exacting standards than so many of the vintage originals, and this Limited Edition Penguin is no exception – it is a visually striking and beautifully voiced bird.

Guitar World verdict: The addition of the TV Jones Ray Butts pickups is a masterstroke, offering a wide range of authentic Filter’Tron tones and – once you become accustomed to the idiosyncratic controls – hours of inspiration. The colour scheme may not be for everyone, but who wants ‘standard’ anyway? It’s a Gretsch Penguin, after all!

Hands-on videos

Gretsch

Empire Music

三木楽器 / MIKIGAKKI 公式チャンネル

• “A big part of the appeal is the build quality, which truly stands out at this price point”: Gretsch Electromatic Premier Jet review

What is there to say about Gibson? In the sphere of guitar manufacturing it’s matched only by Fender in ubiquity, innovation, and sheer impact.

The Les Paul, the SG, the Flying V, the Explorer, the ES-335... if you were to look up a generic image of a guitar, chances are pretty damn high it’d be one of those – the Stratocaster is all that can compete with them for that title, really.

Gibsons have been played by anybody and everybody. If you’re here, you know plenty of the names, plenty of the records and songs each model is synonymous with, and some of the more legendary examples of each model...

The company’s history, however, is full of twists and turns – iconic now, some of the above models were flops upon their release, while others fell out of favor (and production) for periods. Some of the maker’s biggest inventions, meanwhile, came from unlikely places and people.

So, how well do you know this most storied of guitar brands? The legendary guitarists who played those models, the forward-thinking engineers who designed them, and the features that helped make them synonymous with the instrument itself?

Test your knowledge in our quiz below.

When I think of pioneers in guitar design – true heavyweights like Leo Fender, Ned Steinberger and others – it’s no stretch to say that Andy Powers will likely be regarded in much the same way as those legends.

Not only has he made great strides for Taylor Guitars in building musically appealing acoustics, but his forward-thinking innovations like V-Class bracing, Action Control Necks and the use of urban-harvested tonewoods, among other imaginative details, only reinforce the fact that he’s relentlessly tenacious in his passion for improving the instrument.

Now, Powers has turned his sights on building his very own electric guitar model, something he’s been mulling over for some time. “It’s kind of like writing songs,” he says.

“You put all those things on your mental bookshelf. Once in a while, you take those thoughts down, blow the dust off and examine them a little bit. I have all the pieces I need mechanically, and I’m feeling the right kind of aesthetic inspiration right now. I’m going to put all these pieces together.”

But don’t call it a side hustle; Powers is still manning the helm at Taylor. By forming his own company – Powers Electric – a brand completely separate from Taylor, Powers has made his passion project a reality. And by doing so, he has poured all his childhood inspirations into a completely original electric guitar design that embodies Southern California nostalgia and culture. In essence, Powers’ A-Type guitar offers a fresh perspective, one that hits closer to home.

“The world of acoustic guitars is a fairly traditional mindset,” he says. “Most of the time, you’re celebrating beautiful wood and subtle finishes. I love that world – I spend most of my life in it – but I wanted this guitar to live somewhere different.”

At what point did you decide to design your own electric guitar?

I’ve built a lot of electric guitars for different players over the years, and having worked on a lot of them, you kind of absorb what these guitars do and their quirks. You can exaggerate and learn how to tweak them, modify them, refine them, all that. So I thought, wouldn’t it be kind of fun to build a guitar that I wish I had had?

One day I was talking about that with Kurt Listug [co-founder of Taylor], and he said, “Why don’t you just build a guitar you want?” All right, that sounds like fun. I went home and started drawing and putting all these different kinds of things that I had thought about for the last 30 years into this guitar that I wanted.

Most people would say guys like Leo Fender got it right the first time. But here you are building a new guitar from the ground up. When I play it, it seems you’ve got it right the first time.

I appreciate that. It is a challenge because in some ways, you’re right; the forefathers of the electric guitar got it right the first time.

And that’s very hard to do. Did you begin by studying those classic guitar designs and factor in what had already been done?

Let’s imagine if I had been alive back then, living in Southern California. If I’d been around at the dawn of electric-guitar development, what would I have made? So you go through this kind of mental exercise and go, “What would that be like?”

There are no parts catalogs to buy stuff from. And you don’t know about what has already been done, right? So, you’re going to have to make it entirely new. You’ll have to make every part. That could be an intimidating thing, or – for someone like me – I find that idea incredibly attractive, and I get to make every part exactly the way I want it.

I love woodworking, metalworking, engineering and understanding exactly how every piece functions. How to make it, how to shape it, how to hold it, what I should make it from. I came at the design from that angle.

Once you decided to build everything yourself, where did the design actually begin?

I made the first one in my home shop. A friend of mine saw it and liked it. Another friend said, “Can I have one?” Before I knew it, I realized I was going to need some help. Every line was considered.

You’ve got to have curves that look good, feel good, sit right on you and look good under different paint colors. People would discover that it sits perfectly on your lap, and it balances when you hang it by a strap. It’s easy to get around on. That’s what I wanted. Something that felt intuitive.

The guitar is a hollowbody. Why did you decide to design it like that?

I’ve always loved hollowbody guitars. I love the way resonant chambers behave, the light weight and the way the instrument feels alive in your hands. What I don’t love is uncontrollable feedback; rather than accepting that as the tradeoff, I wanted to figure out how to keep the responsiveness of a hollow guitar while eliminating the feedback that causes it to take off onstage.

The body became an engineering exercise. Instead of treating the top and back as two separate vibrating surfaces, I designed them to work together. The sound posts couple the top and back so they move as one structure instead of pumping against each other.

That lets the guitar retain the liveliness of a hollow body while dramatically reducing feedback. Everything comes back to how the guitar manages vibration. Every piece affects the next, and every decision is about directing energy where you want it to go instead of letting it get away from you.

The neck joint is unlike anything we’ve seen before. How did you come up with it?

Every neck joint has strengths and compromises. I’ve built bolt-on, set-neck and neck-through guitars, and each transfers energy differently. I wasn’t interested in repeating any of those designs. I wanted the neck and body to become one mechanical structure.

The joint is essentially a horizontally oriented dovetail that locks itself together as it’s assembled. The geometry pulls the joint tighter as it seats, automatically aligning the neck while creating an incredibly rigid connection.

The glue isn’t doing the work – the geometry is. That idea of coupling became one of the guiding principles throughout the guitar. The better the two parts work together mechanically, the more efficiently they transfer string energy, and the more musical the instrument becomes.

Some companies focus on the shape of the headstock. You’re more concerned with its function.

Most people think about the scale length between the nut and bridge, but the string continues vibrating beyond both of those points. The short section behind the nut has a tremendous influence on how the neck resonates and how the guitar feels. I positioned each tuner according to the string length I wanted behind the nut.

Once the tuner locations were correct, the headstock shape simply grew around them. The headstock and fingerboard function as one continuous structure. Even before the strings go on, you can tap the neck, and it rings like a marimba bar.

You landed between the traditional Fender and Gibson scale lengths, settling on a 24⅞-inch scale length. Why?

I wasn’t trying to land on one or the other. I wanted a scale length that felt natural, where the strings stayed articulate without becoming stiff and where bending notes still felt easy and expressive.

Twenty-four and seven-eighths inches turned out to be that sweet spot. It’s familiar enough that players immediately feel comfortable, but it’s different enough to give the guitar its own personality.

Tell me about the pickups.

I spent a lot of time designing the guitar as an acoustic instrument first – as a string-holder. The first question was, “How do you make a string vibrate predictably, dynamically and musically? Well, don’t ruin it with a pickup.” That led me to experiment with neodymium magnets.

They’re normally considered too strong and bright for guitar pickups, but by combining neodymium with aluminum, I could diffuse the magnetic field instead of concentrating it. You hear more of the string’s natural harmonic content without damping it, and the design creates an almost perfect Faraday cage that dramatically reduces noise.

From there, I could shape the pickup’s voice rather than simply increasing output. One of my favorite things is that people describe these pickups with words that don’t usually belong together. They’ll say they’re “warm and clear.” The low notes stay articulate, but they’re cushioned by warmth instead of becoming harsh.

What about the tremolo design?

I’ve always admired how pedal steel guitars keep chords in tune with themselves as they’re bent. Traditional vibrato systems don’t really do that because every string changes pitch by a slightly different amount. There have been some brilliant attempts to solve the problem, but I decided I didn’t need perfection.

If I could make it 90 percent right instead of chasing 100 percent, I could build something much simpler and more musical. After working through the math of string tension and scale length, I designed a cam mechanism that lets each string travel a different distance while keeping the pitches relatively even. I also built in a positive zero point, so every time you release the arm, it returns to concert pitch.

Where did the guitar’s visual identity come from?

Designers have their own vocabulary, just like musicians do. Mine was shaped by growing up in Southern California around hot rods, surfboards, skateboards, custom paint and all the different ways people personalized what they built.

That’s why you’ll find bold, solid colors and finishes inspired more by automotive design than traditional guitar making. Once you start exploring automotive paint, you realize there aren’t just a handful of colors – there are thousands. That world is endlessly inspiring, and I wanted to build a guitar that could wear those ideas naturally.

The knobs come directly from my love of surfing. They’re made from surfboard resin. Originally, I used hardened resin that dripped onto the shop floor while boards were being glassed. You’d machine and polish it, and suddenly something that was basically trash became beautiful. I loved that because it reminded me of an old hot-rod tradition when cars were painted by hand; layers of overspray would build up inside paint booths.

Eventually, people started digging those colorful fordite layers out of the trash and turning them into shift knobs and dashboard pieces. Surfboard resin felt like the equivalent – something discarded becoming something worth keeping. Those little details matter because they connect the guitar to the culture that inspired it.

What do you hope players will discover when they pick up this A-Type?

If I ask someone what a Stratocaster sounds like, you probably don’t describe the guitar – you start naming players. Jimi Hendrix. Buddy Guy. Stevie Ray Vaughan. The instrument becomes part of each player’s voice. That’s exactly what excites me about this guitar. Even with the first dozen instruments, it was amazing to hear how differently musicians interpreted it.

One of the things I’ve appreciated most recently is hearing a player get one of these guitars and then, within hours or a day, they say, “This is what I want to walk on stage with. This is what I want to play.” So, all right, you found something you loved in this. I can think of nothing better than that.

• For more information, see Powers Electric.
• “Could this be one of the most unique and musically inspiring electric guitars we’ve ever encountered?” Powers Electric A-Type review
• This article first appeared in Guitar World. Subscribe and save.

As Mark Knopfler forged his reputation as a guitar hero in the 1970s, he did so with Fender Stratocasters – and the occasional Tele – in his hands. But in the following decade came a surprise switch: Strats were mostly out, Schecters were in.

Today, Schecter is largely seen as a brand that caters to metal and progressive players. It counts Synyster Gates, Mastodon’s new recruit Nick Johnston, and Intervals’ Aaron Marshall amongst its artists. Zakk Wylde's Wylde Audio is housed at Schecter.

But in the 1970s and 1980s, Schecter developed its reputation for high-end custom builds as a parts supplier and custom-assembly shop. Its models were championed by Prince, Pete Townshend and, of course, Knopfler, who flew the Strat nest to test the Schecter waters. He liked what he found.

“I was looking for something with a bit more power than a Strat,” he told Guitarist of the switch back in February 1986. “I had a great one for recording [Dire Strait’s 1980 album] Making Movies.”

Sadly, that particular guitar was swiped from a car in Deptford, London. But it wouldn’t be his last Schecter.

“I’ve got one very similar to it, which is away at the moment being re-fretted,” he expanded. “I mean, they really get used a lot. I miss it on stage.”

So, how did Knopfler have his head turned by Schecter?

"Rudy [Pensa, the owner of Rudy's Music Store] is dealing with the Schecters and we are trying them out,” he explained. “You get into materials and what they'll do. It's good to have a few instruments around because when you are recording or rehearsing you find the best instrument for the song.

“I like to use different guitars for different songs, because they just suit the songs better, you get something that's more precise to the song.” In particular, his Schecter proved a hit for tracking Solid Rock – as well as for live performances.

At the time of the interview, Knopfler's particular favorite was a white model crafted for him by esteemed luthier, John Suhr, who worked at Rudy's. The store doubled as a Schecter Custom Shop, building models from the necks and bodies they supplied back in the day.

Knopfler gave all the guitars he got a baptism of fire – especially his beloved white model.

“It’s already taken a bit of a bashing,” he said. “It’s falling to bits but it’s a great guitar; it has Schecter parts and Seymour Duncan [pickups].”

A score of Schecters were ultimately sold off during Knopfler’s $11.2m auction, with two T-types going for nearly £700,000 combined.

Knopfler’s auction generated some eye-watering sums, as did the recent Jeff Beck and Jim Irsay auctions did. Recently, Guitar World looked into the reason for the guitar auction boom and whether it’s actually sustainable.

Welcome to Guitar World’s weekly gear round-up, your one-stop-shop for keeping up to date with what’s been happening in the big wide world of guitar gear over the past seven days.

From new electric guitars to amp modeler updates, the guitar industry is never short of fresh releases, and it can sometimes be hard to stay in the loop with every new launch.

To make things a little easier, we’ve put together an essential must-read guide that will cover the major releases, the boutique drops, and everything in between.

Below you'll find my personal highlights from the week, along with plenty of honorable mentions for the new gear you might have missed. Agree with my picks? Have a highlight of your own? Let us know in the comments.

PRS Tekton

PRS has always had a stake in the heavy music game, but never like this. The PRS Tekton family – a new range of super-engineered metal guitars – reframes the brand in a completely new light.

It could be the firm’s most significant launch since the Silver Sky arrived back in 2018. The four new Tektons are designed exclusively for the most accomplished modern technicians, and geared for prog and shred players through a spec sheet that drags PRS into a completely new market.

Seemingly building on the precedent set by Herman Li’s Chleo model, the Tektons feature ultra-thin bodies and necks, radical body sculpting and contours, stainless steel frets, uber-flat fretboards, and

But it was the new Stylus humbuckers that intrigued me most about the Tekton drop. They offer flatter output with a more moderate tonal character in order to get the most out of digital gear. Think ‘quasi-FRFR pickups’ that will give your digital rig room to breathe. It’s a novel concept, and not one we’ve ever seen from a mainstream brand before.

Safe to say it’s a big drop. So much so that we at Guitar World HQ put our heads together to discuss what it could mean for the guitar world at large…

• PRS Tekton T review
• PRS Tekton SVN review

Fender x Mark Hoppus Stoned Fruit Jaguar Bass

Mark Hoppus has been a staunch Fender fan since he made the switch from Ernie Ball back in blink-182’s early days. As such, he’s got a fair few bass guitars in his collection worthy of a signature recreation.

This week, he launched his second Fender Jaguar Bass model, this time based on his “Stoned Fruit” model. The custom four-string, which features artwork from Ohio-based artist ‘Burrito Breath’ – as well as an exclusive Guava Green – has been Hoppus’ go-to stage bass for a while now.

It’s been given a limited edition recreation that will only be available for 182 hours. It comes with a sticker set for those wanting to cover up that Guava Green colorway a la Hoppus’ original, as well as the hybrid spec sheet that was found on his first Jag Bass from 2023. That means reverse-mounted split-coil P Bass pickups, a Jazz Bass neck, and a Jag Bass body.

We caught up with Hoppus this week to chat about his latest bass – as well as blink-182’s next album.

Fender x Paul Smith Telecaster

Fender sees the PRS John Mayer Defender Silver Sky and raises it the, er, Paul Smith Telecaster? Honestly, we’d like to think these are all just coincidences but we just don’t know anymore.

Anyway, the Paul Smith Telecaster has been designed in collaboration with the British fashion house – not Paul Reed Smith, the guitar maker – to celebrate the pair’s joint 80th birthdays. We’d be interested to know how long this one has been in the works, but as you can imagine commenters online are having a field day with this.

Not only do you now have a Silver Sky that has ‘Fender’ on it, you also have a Telecaster inscribed with ‘Paul Smith’. Cool me a naive fool, but I simply can’t convince myself that these are all planned trolls. Whatever the case, this is a pretty cool Telecaster...

Also Launched This Week

Ovation Viper

The cult Ovation Viper that was once played by Jeff Buckley is back after nearly 50 years. A very lovely single-cut that deserves more love. Unfortunately it’s only limited-edition…

For more: Ovation

Gibson x Tom Petty Flying V

Gibson has celebrated 50 years of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers with a collection of five Flying Vs, each with its own distinct colorway.

For more: Gibson

Emerald Guitars X20

A new generation of Emerald guitars is here after the Irish carbon fiber guitar giant discontinued its entire range to make way for its latest X20 evolution.

For more: Emerald Guitars

Ernie Ball Music Man Family Reserve John Petrucci Majesty

John Petrucci’s signature Majesty guitar has been given three new colorways – Chocolate Grizzle, Blonde Roast, and Lost in Space – as it unveils the ultra-exclusive Ball Family Reserve 2026 collection.

For more: Ernie Ball Music Man

DiMarzio The Chopper / The Cruiser

New noise-cancelling Telecaster pickups from DiMarzio. They combine neodymium magnets and twin-blade hum-cancelling coils to offer higher output, faster transients, and a lower noise floor than traditional T-style pickups.

For more: DiMarzio

Crazy Tube Circuits Rapture

Crazy Tube Circuits has lifted the drive section of its fan favorite Triptychon for a standalone stompbox at the request of players, promising amp-like gain with natural compression and harmonic richness.

For more: Crazy Tube Circuits

What is it?

Wireless guitar systems were once the prohibitively expensive reserve of bands successful enough to afford a crew. They were stadium-rock fare, used to free up the performances of guitarists prone to wandering and to remove the potential for on-stage technical difficulties caused by yanked, tripped-over, or otherwise broken guitar cables, problems a tech couldn’t feasibly solve from sidestage.

Since the 1990s, wireless guitar systems have grown and become more accessible, but how many of them were truly trustworthy on tour? It takes a lot to trust something you can’t see; for my part, and as someone not often on large festival stages, I’ve traditionally favored the pure simplicity of plugging cable into thingy. But that was before I tried the Shure GLXD16+. I am now a wireless convert, and it is with sole thanks to the unignorable utility of this unassailable system.

The Shure GLXD16+ is a complete pro-grade wireless system for guitars, comprising a transmitter pack and a receiver pedal. It’s a dual-band system, capable of running in 2.4GHz and 5.8GHz; as well as some clever automatic interference-avoiding tech, the system is capable of transmitting up to 60m – far longer than most festival main-stage runways, let alone the width of any stage you’re likely to play.

The pedal portion of the Shure GLXD16+ system contains the brains of the system. From the pedal, you can manage connectivity between transmitter and receiver; it also has a built-in guitar tuner that switches between Needle and Strobe modes and fine-tunes between 432 and 447Hz. The pedal footswitch engages the tuner and mutes the output, but can also be used to switch between the wireless signal and an analog signal coming through the pedal’s ¼” jack input. The pedal is, at once, a receiver, tuner, killswitch, and ABY box.

Under the hood, a plethora of routing, transmission, and tuning options for practically every scenario – controlled by the four buttons that sit on each side of the receiver’s dot matrix display. These functions are especially useful when you have multiple GLXD16+ systems on stage, or two transmitters to switch between (which you can also do, by the way).

Speaking of which, the transmitter bodypack has a battery life of around 12 hours, with more on tap if you use just the 2.4GHz band; in a pinch, 15 minutes of charge will grant around 90 minutes of playtime, so you’re not likely to be caught short before it’s go-time at a show.

Both transmitter and receiver unit seem built to withstand your average thermobaric blast, with sturdy metal enclosures. The transmitter also has a pre-attached metal clip, which gets a solid purchase on your guitar strap, belt, or other such on-person item. This is rugged stuff, decidedly gig-proof in pretty much every way.

Specs

• Launch price: $637 | £559 | €579
• Type: Wireless system
• Range: Up to 100 ft (30 m) indoor/typical; up to 200 ft (60 m) line-of-sight outdoors
• Controls: Receiver: Footswitch (Tuner/Bypass toggling), Link button, Mode button, Channel button, Group button | Transmitter: Power switch
• Features: Dual-Band operation (2.4 GHz & 5.8 GHz), automatic frequency management and channel backup, built-in chromatic tuner with needle/strobe modes and customizable pitch/detune settings, multi-transmitter pairing support
• Connectivity: Receiver: 1/4" Instrument Input, 1/4" Instrument Output, USB-C (for firmware updates), 9V–15V DC Power Input | Transmitter: TA4M 4-pin mini connector input, USB-C (for charging)
• Bypass: True Bypass
• Power: Receiver: 9V–15V DC power supply (400 mA min, center-negative or center-positive | Transmitter: Included SB904 rechargeable Lithium-Ion battery (up to 12 hours runtime; fast-charges via USB-C)
• Dimensions: Receiver: 5.4" x 3.7" x 1.89" / 138 x 95 x 48 mm | Transmitter: 4.5" x 2.6" x 1.1" / 115 x 67 x 29 mm
• Weight: Receiver: 1.23 lbs (560 g) | Transmitter: 0.33 lbs (150 g)
• Options: Available regional frequency configurations (Z2, Z3, Z4, Z5 tuning bandwidths); spare SB904 Lithium-Ion batteries, SBC10 USB-C wall chargers, right-angle guitar cables (WA305 included is straight TS to TA4F)
• Contact: shure.com

Performance

Being a relative newcomer to wireless guitar rigs myself, I was expecting a half-day of ginning up on electronics, high-frequency radio principles, and the user manual of the GLXD16+ – but I couldn’t resist setting it straight up on my pedalboard first. And then I turned it on. And then it just worked.

The GLXD16+ system automatically pairs when turned on, finding the most viable channel from the jump, then continually moving between channels to keep the connection and signal strong. The default setting picks the best channel across both 2.4 and 5.8GHz, keeping interference to a minimum. To my ear, latency was functionally non-existent, and my guitar sounded indistinguishable from when I plugged in with a standard jack lead.

Before I got everything set up, I had a bit of housekeeping to do. The transmitter bodypack’s battery is packaged separately and needs to be installed – a process as simple and familiar as putting a battery in a digital camera – then fully charged before use. I left it charging overnight to be safe, since I intended to gig with it the next day, but I’m fairly sure the first charge took less than a few hours.

The GLXD6+ receiver, of course, is pedal-powered. It’s got a standard barrel jack port, is happy running on anything between 9V and 15V, and is even happy receiving either center-positive or center-negative polarity. The only limiting factor (quite literally) is the unit’s current appetite.

Shure recommends using its own provided power supply, or an isolated pedal power port with a minimum 400mA current rating. No problem if you’re rocking one of the best pedalboard power supplies on the market, but a bit of a problem for me, whose only available slot was a 120mA port; bundling the provided wall wart in with my pedalboard was no problem, though, and, if anything, guaranteed cleaner power for gigging.

Speaking of which, my road testing took the GLXD16+ system to a basement venue in Leeds as part of a two-piece noisyband on a four-band bill. Soundchecks and changeovers were tight, so I didn’t have much room for fenagling. Luckily, and again, with both units powered up, they connected immediately.

I expected some nudging around to find and set a clean connection, but the GLXD16+ system, of course, handles that cleanly, undetectably, and automatically, even while you’re playing. Between soundcheck and the show itself, the GLXD16+ system was the least problematic part of my rig.

Admittedly, on this occasion, that might not be saying much. For this particular band, my guitar amp of choice is a 1960s PA head with more dead spiders than transistors in it, and my pedalboard is a hodgepodge of boutique pitch- and time-based effects, ‘80s distortion pedals and home-made Harmonic Percolator clones held together with cable ties. It’s safe to say the GLXD16+ system was somewhat out of place, both on my board and on that bill. But it was also functionally and fault-wise invisible, and so, so practical. Having one less cable to trip over on stage is a hugely underrated experience.

The common assumption about wireless rigs is that they exist purely to solve the problems created by short guitar cables on long or large stages, and maybe to simplify setup for festival shows too: the haunt of bands that have Tour Bus Money™.

But you don’t need huge stages or stacked gig calendars to justify a wireless rig; knowing you won't accidentally rip a jack lead out of your guitar or pedalboard at any show is worth the price of entry alone. And knowing you don’t have to risk dropouts or poor signal is worth the price of the Shure GLXD16+.

For my part, being hemmed in by my pedalboards, and prone to frequently turning to the drummer for count-ins, emotional support, and ‘the nod’, I’ll often accidentally wrap my guitar cable around one or both feet, increasing the risk of yankage when I get a little animated. With the GLXD16+ system, I was at my least clumsy and my most bouncy. Win-win.

During such bounce-ful performing, I found that, for the most part, the transmitter stayed where I put it, on my guitar strap, about six inches from the jack output. After a very energetic half-hour of jobbing around the stage like a loon, it hung on quite well. I was doing a lot, and it would take a lot more to make this transmitter fly.

I found the tuner highly reliable during both soundcheck and set, too. My only bugbear was somewhat edge-case, relating to the shape of the receiver pedal’s chassis. My board usually has the tuner on the top row, so I can more easily access momentary effects on the bottom; the slanted front and angled footswitch made it difficult to access the tuner/mute switch from behind the bottom pedal. The dozens of you that’ll want to do the same will need some form of riser.

Across all of my testing, I never had to menu-dive for anything. This system is truly plug-and-play, which is a marvel when pro-grade utility equipment like this is so often pointlessly impenetrable. And I think this is exactly what you want from something like the GLXD16+. It just works. Remarkably well. Invisibly so.

Verdict

Truth be told, nothing much like the Shure GLXD16+ system exists on the market. Plenty of other wireless guitar rig options exist, most of which are significantly cheaper, but none offer this level of resilience, convenience, and quality in one pedalboard-friendly format. This is the only wireless guitar system I’ve seen that I would trust on a tour.

Naturally, such quality comes at a price, and it’s not a price many casual guitarists will feel comfortable paying. But if you spend any amount of time on more than one stage, this wireless system should catch your notice. It’s foolproof to use, seamless, and excellent-sounding. Coming from a long-time wireless-rig skeptic, the Shure GLXD16+ is a hard thing not to recommend.

Guitar World verdict: The Shure GLXD16+ is a complete wireless guitar system that integrates seamlessly with your pedalboard. It’s robust in every sense of the word; the hardware is reassuringly durable, and the strength and quality of wireless connectivity is unassailable. As a former wireless-guitar-rig curmudgeon, I am converted.

Also try

Hands-on videos

Shure

Pete Thorn

Fender has been selling a $32 Telecaster-shaped chopping board for a while now, but what would it sound like if you added strings and pickups?

Well, there’s no need to wonder any longer as YouTuber Not a Luthier has had that exact thought, and put his skills to the test.

Crafted from 100% bamboo, Fender says the chopping board is “perfect for any Fender fan to get their chops together,” but Not a Luthier says “the craftsmanship is absolute trash.” He doesn’t start the project with high hopes.

At 20mm deep, the chopping board makes a Thinline Tele look fat, but it does look to be pretty much to scale, size-wise. Still, Not a Luthier notes that it will require a shallower-than-usual neck route, as well as shorter screws.

To bring the idea to life, he prizes the neck from a guitar he made out of a drum cymbal – “it wasn’t a failure, wasn’t a success,” he says – and swaps out a traditional three-way switch for an on/off switch from a Fender Mustang.

Given how thin the body is, a custom-made acrylic base was made to sit beneath the six-saddle bridge. This also helped the bridge pickup set at a nice height. An old black pickguard he found lying around provided the finishing touch.

Despite fears it might “explode” from the string tension, the guitar holds up well, and the bamboo actually makes for a rather fetching aesthetic. Granted, Guitar World has come across better-sounding instruments, but it exceeds expectations all the same.

“It sounds like a Telecaster,” Not a Luthier says. “It’s not exactly cutting-edge, but you probably wouldn’t notice this if it was hanging on a wall.”

For more guitars made out of things that guitars really shouldn’t be made out of, see Burls Art’s aquarium axe, newspaper shredder, and back-breaking copper beast.

What is it?

With a lineage dating back to the ‘70s and hundreds of pedals released, Boss knows a thing or two about guitar effects. The company's catalogue of products covers everything a guitar player will need, whether that is a classy overdrive, an over-the-top modulation, or a space-creating reverb. Naturally, with all that in the locker, Boss has a number of multi-effects pedals in its lineup too, but none quite like its newest multi-effects release - the Boss EX-4 Effects Expander.

The EX-4 takes 120 Boss effects compiled from the likes of the GX series of multi-effects, some classic stompboxes, and discontinued legends like the SG-1 Slow-Gear, and crams it all into a two-footswitch pedalboard-friendly chassis capable of running any four effects at once.

Adding to this is a number of features that could make the Boss Effects EX-4 Effects Expander the perfect pedalboard companion.

Specs

• Launch price: $329 | £289 | €349
• Type: Multi-effects unit
• Controls: 2 x encoders for menu browsing, 3 encoders for parameter editing, Menu, Gear Suite, 4 fx buttons, 2 footswitches
• Features: 4 effects at a time, Boss Multi-effects, Gear Suite effects presets, 128 factory and 128 user presets
• Connectivity: Stereo in and out, effects loop (when in mono), MIDI in and out, EXP/CTRL input, USB-C
• Power: 9v, 300mA, center negative
• Dimensions: 117x138x63mm/4.6"x5.4"x2.4"
• Weight: 1.7lbs/800g
• Contact: Boss

Build quality

Build quality rating: ★★★★★

Boss is known for making pedals that will probably outlive most of its users. The EX-4 is no different, thanks to a metal chassis that feels like it would withstand all but the most unreasonable punishment, and a collection of buttons and controls that give an equally hardy impression.

The centerpiece is the display, which keeps things compact at 2.4”. It is not a touchscreen, nor is it high resolution, but a touchscreen would be difficult to use at this size; the simple images and text are clear, and the screen is more than bright enough for difficult lighting conditions.

Usability and features

Usability and features rating: ★★★★½

Speaking of size, at 117x138x63mm, the EX-4 is impressively small for the amount of I/O featured, and will easily slot onto most pedalboards. At 300mA, the current draw is reasonable for a digital pedal, and something that most pedalboard power supplies will support too.

That I/O consists of stereo 1/4” inputs and outputs, MIDI In and Out, an Expression pedal input, and USB-C connectivity. Cleverly, if you are not using the stereo input and output, the right side can operate as an effects loop.

As the name suggests, the signal chain consists of four effects. This may sound limiting, initially but there are a wealth of options here.

Firstly, the chain can be set to five different preset signal paths, allowing for different configurations of serial and parallel paths in both mono and stereo setups. The effects can then be freely moved around within the blocks of each path, making everything feel pretty versatile.

The effects parameters line up with the three encoders along the bottom of the screen so that I can simply turn the encoder to adjust the aligned parameter. Pressing the outside encoders will scroll the page left and right to further parameters if needed. Easy.

Changing effect types and moving them around means using the two larger encoders at the top of the unit’s front panel. These encoders are also used to browse the menus.

Some of those menus can be a little text-heavy, but those are mostly reserved for things like global settings, footswitch assignment and behaviour, etc. Meaning that, although they are not that much fun to navigate, you probably won't need to be diving into them during a gig, which goes some way towards redeeming them.

At said gig, there are only two footswitches to play with, but this can be expanded (pun intended) via the EXP/CTRL input for another two switches, or via MIDI with a MIDI footswitch. Without this, two of the four effects are assigned to the footswitches, with the other two effects remaining on, unless turned off by one of the four small FX buttons that correspond to each effect block.

Personally, I see this pedal as being utilized by players to cover the odd effects used only once or twice throughout a gig. For example, that one song you need a rotary effect for. In this context, having only two footswitches isn’t that much of a drawback, as you are highly unlikely to need to switch more than two of these effects within a song.

There are 256 presets altogether (128 factory, 128 user). The footswitches can be in Manual mode, which means turning individual effects on or off within a preset, or Preset mode, which means, well, navigating up and down presets.

Which mode you are in is clearly shown by bright LED’s around the footswitches. These LEDs are also color-coded to indicate the effect type assigned to them when in manual mode. Again, all very straightforward and a lot easier to figure out than it may first sound.

Lastly, the Gear Suite button takes the user to a selection of expertly crafted presets for each effect. A great way to get beginners started on effects they may be unfamiliar with, or for experienced users who want a shortcut to good sounds.

Sounds

Sounds rating: ★★★★☆

And that shortcut may be a significant time saver, as there is a lot to play around with, ranging from the staples to the wild. All are usable; some are brilliant, some are not as great.

Starting with a highlight from the sensible column, the Compressor is wonderfully transparent and capable of subtle evening of your dynamics or super-squashy funk strumming. It makes playing those Nile Rodgers riffs on my Stratocaster nothing short of addictive.

Similarly, the Slow Gear is a ton of fun. The original Compact Pedal is sadly discontinued and somewhat legendary among collectors, so it is great to see a version of it in the EX-4. The idea is that it fades in your signal in a violin-like way, with its simple parameters of just Sensitivity, Rise Time, and Level allowing for a surprising amount of control over this function.

I am also surprised by just how good the Acoustic Simulator is. The low end sounds a bit artificial, as there is just too much of it, but it is a relatively convincing acoustic tone that is devoid of the plinky-ness associated with affordable acoustics and cheap piezo’s. In fact, I would choose this simulated tone over a low-end acoustic piezo pickup any day of the week.

The Sitar sim, however, does not live up to this bar. Rather than emulating the iconic Paint It Black lead riff, it just makes my guitar sound anemically thin.

Moving on to more typical electric guitar effects, the modulations are brilliant. The Chorus is a good example, adding lovely wobble that still retains enough brightness and transients to be heard in a mix.

Of all the modulations here, however, the Rotary is my favorite. Its strength is in its versatility, as its controls include Speed Select, Slow Rate, Fast Rate, Level, Rise Time, Fall Time, Mic Distance, Balance, Drive and Direct. With these, I am able to create many iterations of a rotary sound, making for an effect that is a lot of fun to dive into.

There is plenty of space here too, with a wide selection of Reverbs and Delays. The Reverbs are a little mixed, as, to me, most of them sound a bit separated from my dry signal. However, the Spring Reverb does not suffer from this and adds a convincing spring sound that wraps the guitar in some comforting space.

The Drives are where I feel the Effects Expander EX-4 is weakest. My biggest pet peeve is that they don’t clean up particularly well on the volume control, resulting in tones that aren’t the most dynamic.

Some specific models are a bit of a miss too - for example, the T-Screamer feels too thin at lower gain levels, and the ‘60s Fuzz is just thin in general.

The Delays, in contrast, are hard to fault. The options here are varied, delivering everything from subtle slapback to The Edge-like soundscapes. The Space Echo, for example, gives out warm repeats that stay out of the way of your mix, perfect for fattening solos. The Giga Delay is the opposite, recreating the input in a much more pristine way that is well suited to rhythmic delay parts.

But that does not mean there aren’t some great sounds to be had. For example, crank the gain on the T-Scream, and it's a thick, mid-forward, chewy drive that is spot on for lead sounds. On the heavier side, the A-Dist provides some equally thick high-gain sounds, whilst retaining high-end definition.

Lastly, it is worth noting the weird ones. The Guitar Synth does what it says on the tin, whilst leaning on the more bity side of the synth world, and the Humanizer adds vowel sounds to your signal, akin to a cross between an envelope filter and Korg's infamous Miku pedal.

The point is, everything is covered.

Verdict

What this all adds up to is a capable little device that offers a huge amount of versatility.

When this sort of versatility is crammed into a unit so small, it can often mean that things get a little difficult to use. While there are some text-heavy menus, the EX-4 is straightforward where it matters most and manages to avoid annoying hidden functions altogether.

Whether you need a few one-off outlandish effects, or some more sensible options that don’t quite justify separate pedal purchases, the EX-4 has you covered with a range of great sounds, as well as a few that could be better.

Guitar World verdict: The Boss EX-4 Effects Expander does what its name implies - expands the sonic possibilities of your pedalboard. Some well-thought-out features, a large collection of great sounds, and a rugged build make for a carefully considered multi-effects unit that could slot into anyone’s pedalboard.

Also try

Hands-on videos

Boss

Pete Thorn

Thomann

Ritchie Kotzen is teasing an all-new signature Stratocaster. After fans had to wait years for the global rollout of his main guitar, it seems this new model will follow in its wake pretty soon.

It was way back in the mid-’90s when Kotzen, who had stints in Poison and Mr Big, first worked with Fender, releasing a signature Strat and Tele as Japan exclusive models. The Strat was only made available to the rest of the world last summer, so perhaps Fender is now making up for lost time.

And it could be Kotzen’s best signature yet. The stunning blue Strat looks to have a flame maple top, maple fingerboard and gold hardware – it’s a real looker.

“For everyone who’s been asking about my blue Strat, 2027 might bring some exciting news,” he says via an Instagram post. “And while we’re at it, don’t be surprised if you see me back on a few stages next year. Stay tuned…”

It’s a double whammy tease, then. Kotzen has spent a chunk of 2025 and ‘26 touring with Iron Maiden guitarist Adrian Smith, in support of their second collaborative album together.

Speaking about the Strat, which he says is Baby Blue in color, Kotzen told Guitar World that it was a special one-off build, complete with DiMarzio pickups. It doesn’t look like it will be a one-off for much longer.

“They used a really nice piece of maple for the neck,” he says. “It almost looks like birdseye and it’s not quite as chunky as the Telecaster [the other guitar he took on the road for the Smith/Kotzen shows].”

A few commenters on his Instagram post also like the guitar’s colorway to his eyes – maybe that was intentional.

Elsewhere, Kotzen has revealed the one factor that stopped him from joining Nine Inch Nails – a decision Trent Reznor didn’t enjoy making – while Smith has outlined the key differences and similarities between their playing approaches that make their surprise collaboration a success.

Fender is getting on the action as Stage Tour, the spiritual successor to Guitar Hero, readies its release.

The upcoming rhythm based game, widely seen as a follow-up to the game that got a generation of players into the instrument, was announced back in February. A big part of that launch was that it had Gibson’s backing, via a Kramer controller.

Fender is looking to go one better, having teamed up with controller creator Drakong to develop the highly-customizable and tapping-friendly InfinaKore Telecaster.

The “totally modular controller” features custom switches and “super-smooth, fast fret buttons”.

Specifically, Drakong says its Kailh Choc Switches boast a shorter travel distance and a low-profile design that makes it more effortless to play along with Stage Tour’s mega playlist of songs.

“Rapid tapping won’t make the keys get stuck, and lighter actuation forces require less strain during long, high-speed playing sessions,” Drakong explains. “They’re also hot-swappable, so pop them in and out at your leisure.”

Additional buttons further down the fingerboard allow players to tap along to tracks, rather than the usual strumming option, better catering to player preferences – and bringing two-hand tapping to the game for the first time.

The headstock, buttons, strum bar, and whammy heads are all swappable, and the buttons themselves can be remapped, too. There’s also nothing stopping people 3D printing different body shapes to swap out the Tele silhouette in favor of an existing or wholly original body shape.

Plus, when it’s not being used, the controller folds in half for smart storage.

It is priced at $129.99 and compatible with a range of consoles: PC, Steam Deck, Legion Go, ROG Ally, iOS, Android, Switch 1, Switch 2, PS5, PS4, PS3, XBOX One, and XBOX Series X/S.

Those who pre-order the controller will get low-profile Kailh Choc switches and a guitar pick strum bar as a bonus. Pre-orders are available now, with the controllers shipping in time for Stage Tour’s launch on December 10.

See Drakong for more.

When Ozzy Osbourne split from Black Sabbath and hired Randy Rhoads to help launch his solo career, the young virtuoso was destined to become a legend. Marty Friedman saw the pair in action, and he knew Rhoads was special from the off.

As Ozzy assembled a solo band, Rhoads came in and blew all the hopefuls away. So much so, in fact, that bass player Bob Daisley had a premonition about his impending greatness after his audition.

Speaking in a soon-to-be-published Guitar World roundtable alongside Scott Ian, David Ellefson, and Randy’s sister, Kathy, Friedman recalled the first time he set his eyes and ears on the guitarist’s talents.

“I love Ozzy,” he says. “I'm the biggest Black Sabbath fan on earth, but that was the Randy Rhoads show. Every single eye was on him at that show. Mine included. There's this legend [Ozzy] standing next to him, but I'm not watching the legend. I'm watching this new guy on guitar.”

The roundtable celebrates Jackson’s new Legends Series, which pays tribute to the firm's defining metal guitar players with reissues of their most fabled instruments. Rhoads, who tragically died aged just 25, was honored in the drop.

His sister, Kathy, remembers her brother as someone whose passions were on the music, and far away from the rockstar trimmings that came with being Ozzy’s virtuosic foil.

“Randy didn't care about being a rock star,” she says. “He wanted to be a musician. Away from the spotlight, he was quiet and unassuming but put a guitar in his hands and everything changed.

“He was such a kind, gentle, humble soul. But when he got on that stage, he was a beast.”

Rhoads' famous Concorde V was reissued in the Legend Series, after his signature MXR Distortion was given a Concorde-inspired colorway in 2024.

Since his death, the original Concorde V has remained locked away. Tom Morello has been one of very few people to have been granted an audience with it since. It’s an honor he doesn’t understate.

Friedman, meanwhile, has been looking at the future of shred guitar, and has named one young player, who reminds him of playing with Jason Becker, as his favorite jam partner.

Rick Nielsen’s life’s work might be the Cheap Trick catalog. But after that, it’s surely his guitar collection.

The Rockford, IL icon has acquired what is widely regarded as one of the world’s finest guitar hauls and dotted along the shelves are some of the rarest and most prized instruments ever produced.

Among them lie a 1958 Korina Flying V and three Gibson Explorers from the same year (a sizeable chunk of the 19 that were ever produced), plus, of course, his iconic custom Hamers, boutique builds and vintage oddities.

It’s huge news that, for the first time, some of this 500-odd collection is being released for public sale via Julien’s Auctions.

There can be few greater moments in the life of a guitar obsessive and Cheap Trick fan than the chance to spend five days browsing the racks of Rick Nielsen’s astonishing guitar collection, and for Julien’s appraiser and guitar tech Mike Adams that dream came true.

Now, ahead of the sale’s conclusion on October 24, Adams gives us a first-hand account of that process, the hidden gems he uncovered, and what it was like spending time with Nielsen, amid a week in his guitar nirvana.

Just a guy

I first heard about this being a possibility almost exactly a year ago. I really love Cheap Trick. That was one of the earliest guitar things I hooked on to as a kid, so it was really exciting.

Walking up to Rick’s house the first time was different than I thought it would be. His home is big and lovely, but it’s not a mansion, like with so many other people that I’ve interfaced with over the years. It’s a home – it feels like a lived-in space.

The guy who takes care of Rick’s instruments, Mike Graham, was such a welcoming presence. We went down in the basement, where Rick keeps his guitars, and got to work. About an hour later I heard a voice calling from upstairs: “Who’s in my basement?” And it was Rick!

He came down, like, “What are you doing here? You robbing me?” I said, “It’s a pleasure to meet you.” And he cracked some joke about how it wasn’t a pleasure for him, and then he scooted away.

Over the five days, he came and checked on me, hung out, told me stories. It was an experience. Rick felt larger than life, a celebrity – he was wearing the checkerboard – but he was just a guy.

Of course, the 500 guitars were a big giveaway that I was in the presence of someone who was impossibly famous. But I’ve been to people’s leopard print-covered mansions and they’ve handed me bottles of water and said, “That bottle costs $20.” Rick’s not like that at all.

Like most auctions, we weren’t sure what Rick wanted to actually let go of, but we needed to take stock of what was actually there. If we could get 100, we’d have been over the moon; 70 would be great. In the end I think I tagged 470 items, and we got 69.

I only had five days to get through everything, but I did open every single case. It was frantic. It was only enough time for me to identify what the thing was, assess its condition and get serial numbers.

Hamer time

I got to see a lot of classic instruments. I’ll try to stick to things we actually have in the auction, but in his basement were some things we didn’t get, like his ’58 Flying V. It’s always exciting to see one of the few in the world. It was beautiful. That was a great guitar.

Of the things we did take, the Hamers were the most exciting out of that whole bunch. When I opened the case of Hamer #0004 – his famous, ambered-over Explorer-shaped Hamer – that was a moment.

At this point, as a tech and working at Julien’s, I’ve seen just about everything, so it’s really difficult to get me to feel reverent, but that is a guitar I one hundred percent associate with Rick. I remember looking at photos of him when I was just starting out on guitar and how powerful that image is: him, cap with the brim flipped up, and he’s got this gigantic pointy guitar. It gave me a lot of hope.

Opening the case and seeing it in person was really incredible for me. I can’t even tell you how excited I was to pick that up and feel the neck. Hamers of that era had skinny nut widths. I think the nut width on that was 1.56”, so perfect for me.

Another favorite was the yellow Hamer [double-cut] that has “You know you like it” on the fretboard and his face on the back of it. There are tons of photos of him using that during his famous stage trick where he puts three or five guitars on at a time, so that thing is riddled with dings and scars.

Give me five

We didn’t get the five-neck Hamer until much later. It took a lot of negotiation to include it, but we really felt that we needed that crown jewel. And a five-neck was the only way to go. It’s something that catches the eye of the regular, non-guitar person.

Indeed, it catches the eyes, captures the imagination, hurts the back and strains the forearms, but it’s one of three that Rick has ever had. I would think it’s the most famous one.

One of the [necks] is a mando-cello, there’s a 12-string. That was an interesting one to get on the bench – just physically getting it up there on the bench. I posted a picture of it on Instagram and people have been joking, “You’re going to need a bigger bench!” and that’s completely accurate.

I had to use two neck rests on it and I wish I’d had more. I think Rick is maybe the only person who can make that thing work the way it’s supposed to, because my arms aren’t long enough. There’s no way I can reach that fifth neck!

When I’m working on single consigner auctions, if you get enough guitars, you get a sense of how they were played. You start recognizing where wear is going to be. Rick, with his stage antics, there’s pick wear of course and there’s dings in the finish from his bracelets that he wears.

Like the 2002 “Lana” Les Paul R8. He didn’t remember playing that one on stage, but I found dings in the finish above the bridge from one of his bracelets. That led me on a search, and it took hours, to find a few concert clips where I could actually see the flame in the top – and then I found it.

Pinball wizard

One of the biggest surprises was his First Act. There was a run in the 2000s where First Act was making custom guitars for everybody and I was surprised to see that Rick had gotten a weird bowtie shape build. It’s the First Act Betty Mega Knob – a black guitar with pink binding and six lipstick pickups!

As soon as I got my hands on it, I said, “Yep, that’s Rick.” It’s got six pairs of knobs on it. It’s crazy. You plug it in and then you try to make music. God help you if you need to turn down.

I’m gonna regret this, but for underrated gems, it’s Lot 86: the 1983 Kurt Hendrick Catalyst in pink. I have long been an admirer of Kurt Hendrick’s work. He built for a relatively short period in the ’80s and he made these beautiful body shapes.

There’s something about that guitar. He’s a part of it and he built guitars that got in the hands of Billy Gibbons and all that. As soon as I opened that case, I basically held up a skull and soliloquized. I was so moved by it. It sounded amazing. Someday I hope to own another, but that one is not coming home with me at this point!

The goofiest guitar in the auction – and I say goofy with pure respect – is the 2020 Biasibetti Flippercaster, Lot 257.

It’s made of actual play surfaces from pinball machines. It does light up. And it has one strap button that is the plunger from a pinball machine. It was really fun to work on that one.

A dream come true

Meeting Rick was a dream come true in a way. I always bring a guitar with me when I travel because I have to play, but at the end of the week, we had this moment at his kitchen table where Rick was like, “Hey, what do you have in that case? Is that one of mine? Are you trying to steal from me?”

And I was like, “No, Rick. I have mine!” I pulled out the Holoflake Jazzmaster that I built in 2023 from Guitar Mill parts, and Rick played my guitar for a while, which was really special for me.

Then he handed it back and asked if I knew how to play any of his songs, and I was like, “I do!” And so I played the solo of I Want You to Want Me. He went, “My God, you remembered! You nailed it note-for-note!” But he had a note for me, which was that I was playing too clean. “You gotta dirty it up!”

Unbeknownst to me, Lou Robinson, the supervisor of my department, snuck some video of it, so I have this lovely keepsake of Rick Nielsen complimenting me, but also reminding me that “rock ’n’ roll is a little sloppy.”

• Head to Julien’s Auctions to view all the lots in The Rick Nielsen Collection. The auction takes place at 10.00am CDT in Nashville on October 24, 2026.

What is it?

As electric guitar players, we all remember our first guitar. As a young metalhead obsessed with Iron Maiden and Pantera, I started my shredding journey at age seven with a full-sized Ibanez GRG170DX. Back then, miniature metal-inspired beginner electric guitars were on the cusp of release but not quite there yet. Enter the Jackson Minion series.

Released in 2015, the Minion series features the menacingly pointy Randy Rhoads V-style JS1X and my review model, the Superstrat-style Dinky Minion JS1X. Both models are based on Jackson’s incredibly popular full-size guitars but shrunk down to a more manageable size, making them perfect for young metalheads who need a comfortable-sized instrument, or for adults looking for a travel companion or a couch fidget to work on their shredding chops.

The Minion series isn't new, and it wasn't the first chug-friendly guitar for kids. Ibanez released the first Mikro in 2006, and it remains one of Jackson’s closest competitors. Squier also offers the versatile Mini range, so the market isn’t short on shrunken-down electrics. So, over a decade after the Minion series debuted, does it still stand shoulder to shoulder with the rest? Let’s find out.

Specs

• Price: $219.99/£169/€199
• Made: Indonesia
• Type: ⅔ Scale six-string electric guitar
• Body: Poplar
• Neck: Satin-finish maple, graphite-reinforced
• Fingerboard material/radius: Amaranth, 12"
• Scale length: 22.5” / 571.5mm
• Nut/width: Black Plastic, 39mm / 1.53”
• Frets: 24, jumbo frets
• Hardware: String-through hardtail bridge, sealed die-cast tuners
• String spacing at bridge: 53mm
• Electrics: 2x Jackson High-Output humbuckers, 3-way selector switch, 1x master volume, 1x master tone
• Weight: 5 lb 8.2 oz / 2.5kg
• Left-handed options: No
• Finishes: Gloss Black, Neon Green, Safety Orange (as reviewed), Metallic Blue Burst, Metallic Red, Pavo Purple
• Case: No
• Contact: Jackson

Build quality

Build quality rating: ★★★★☆

The superstrat-style Dinky Minion JS1X comes in a variety of colors: Gloss Black, Neon Green, Metallic Blue Burst, Metallic Red, Pavo Purple, and Safety Orange… Now, breathe.

I was sent the Safety Orange model to review, and as soon as I took it out of the box, I genuinely exclaimed, “Wow.”

This guitar certainly makes a statement, even with its diminutive stature. I foresee it making a young metalhead feel like the coolest person in the world.

The Jackson hallmarks are apparent straight off the bat. This thing is incredibly angular yet undeniably sleek. The pointed, tilted headstock, sharkfin inlays, and script logo adorn the headstock and humbuckers.

There’s something irresistibly charming about a metal guitar designed for loudness and toughness being so small. It’s like a young child discovering boxing gloves; it suggests danger, but it’s really cute as a button.

Like its larger Dinky siblings, the Minion features a bolt-on maple neck with 24 frets and a 22.5" scale length. A generously angled neck heel contour stays out of the way when you’re ripping out a solo. Jumbo frets sit on the flat 12" radius amaranth fingerboard. To bolster neck stability, Jackson has reinforced the Minion’s neck with graphite rods, protecting it from warping or easy damage from clumsy little ones.

Having sold many Minions while working in a guitar store, I noticed that the neck isn't always seated perfectly in the neck pocket. My review model has a slight gap along the lower edge of the pocket, although it's less pronounced than on some other examples I've encountered. At this price point, it's not an unusual cosmetic imperfection, but it's worth checking the fit if you're buying one in person.

In terms of hardware, the machine heads turn smoothly with decent pitch-change increments. The master volume and tone controls also feel sturdy and have a reassuring weight to their twists. However, the three-way pickup selector feels a little flimsy and doesn’t quite click into place with much reassurance; I have concerns about its long-term durability.

That said, the cosmetic finish is fantastic overall. I found no noticeable blemishes, marks, or discoloration.

Playability

Playability rating: ★★★★☆

Personally, when I think of Jackson guitars, I think fast-playing necks, low action, and great upper-fret access. And this Minion JS1X offers exactly that. Pair the 12" radius with the smooth satin neck, and you get a guitar that offers barely any hurdles when it comes to shredding.

My review model had incredibly low action, around 1.1mm at the low E. Whether you’re a child looking for a comfortable model or want a Minion as a travel guitar, this instrument is sure to suit those purposes perfectly.

24 frets are a real treat on a miniature guitar, and the contoured neck heel and double-cutaway design let you access them with ease. On my review model, the frets were nicely polished and seated, meaning no scratchy bends or snagging on rough fret edges. Things do get a bit cramped after the 12th fret, which can be unforgiving if you have larger fingers like me. So that’s worth mentioning if you’re an adult wanting a couch guitar.

Jackson opted for 9-gauge strings. For a young learner, this is a comfortable first step while you build strength. Heck, on the short scale length, they allow some crazy bends and, at first, are incredibly fun. Plus, it makes playing the intro to Run To The Hills an absolute doddle. However, if you’ve been playing for a few years, I’d recommend changing them to something heavier. It's surprisingly easy to push the strings sharp if you attack them too hard.

Aggressive fretting can have the same effect, so a lighter touch pays off here. Players used to heavier strings on a full-size guitar may need a little time to adjust, particularly when bending or playing rhythm parts with a heavy picking hand.

With a small body and a 22.5" scale length, sitting down with the Minion JS1X can feel a little cramped for me. It’s a much more comfortable experience as a fully grown man standing up with this guitar and resting it on my hip. Although I did find it well balanced when I found a comfortable sitting position, resting it a little further towards my knee instead of holding it tightly against my body.

Sounds

Sounds rating: ★★★★☆

For testing, I wanted to give the Minion JS1X as authentic an experience as possible, so I took it to the practice room and put it through its paces before rehearsal with my band. My setup is a Marshall 1987X head into a 1960A cab, with an EarthQuaker Devices Plumes providing dirty tones.

Running this rig, I expected plenty of sizzle from the Jackson high-output humbuckers. While there was a decent amount of bite and that typical full-bodied ‘bucker sound, they weren’t as high output as I anticipated. Compared to my SG Standard, I wouldn’t say they were any hotter, if at all. I think the High-Output name set my expectations a bit high.

However, I was pleasantly surprised by the pickups’ clarity. Each note was well separated, and even with the Plumes engaged and the gain cranked, the sound stayed defined instead of turning into an amorphous mess.

I found the bridge pickup the most fun to play, and it handled everything from classic rock to pop-punk tones very well. For example, I kept jamming Title Fight’s Stab, and it handled the high-octane angst well.

This clarity also translated well to clean tones. Guitars at this price point and with this pickup configuration can often sound a bit flubby when playing clean, but when I switched off the Plumes, rolled back the volume, and introduced the Walrus Audio Slo, I got some pleasing tones. I quickly realized this guitar is more versatile than it first appears.

Although the volume taper was pretty extreme, the volume fell off a cliff after around 8, so nuanced volume control isn’t a strong point. Unusually, the tone control didn’t taper as sharply, offering a more controlled, predictable response.

Verdict

With the Minion JS1X, Jackson has set out to make a mean-looking, shred-friendly miniature guitar for young metalheads and adults looking for a travel companion or couch fidget. It offers an affordable way to get that classic Jackson look in a more compact package, and overall, it gets the fundamentals right.

With a bunch of fun finishes, typical Jackson accouterments like sharkfin inlays and a pointy, angled headstock, plus player-friendly contours around the neck heel, there is plenty to like for the money. Sure, the volume pot taper is a little extreme, you’ll most likely want a heavier set of strings if you’re an adult, and things can get a bit cramped after the 12th fret, but for a two-thirds-size guitar at this price point, there’s more to like than dislike.

Tonally, the clarity is fantastic. Even with plenty of gain, the Minion stays articulate and holds its own. The pickups aren’t quite as hot as the name suggests, but they have decent bite and handle everything from classic rock and pop-punk to metal with aplomb.

If you want a compact guitar with genuine shred appeal, not just a smaller instrument to learn on, the JS1X makes a compelling case for itself. The Ibanez Mikro range remains its closest rival, but Jackson has delivered a miniature metal guitar that deserves a place alongside it.

Guitar World verdict: The Jackson Dinky Minion JS1X packs classic metal looks, impressive clarity, and shred-friendly playability into an affordable miniature guitar. Its abrupt volume taper, light strings, and cramped upper frets are compromises, particularly for adults, but it remains a fun-sized option for young metalheads and traveling players.

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Beaux Gris Gris & The Apocalypse guitarist and British Blues Hall of Famer Robin Davey has launched a new solo album and took the opportunity to issue an astonishing attack on Joe Bonamassa and today’s cohort of blues players.

Davey, whose credits include the Hoax and Well Hung Heart, writes on Facebook that contemporary blues guitar has been “screwed up” by Bonamassa (as spotted by Louder).

“His influence has permeated through the younger generations and it hurts my ears,” says Davey. “It is devoid of soul, it is all about maximizing profits and maximizing Joe’s ego.”

He and Bonamassa have a different idea of what ‘keeping the blues alive’ looks like in practice. Davey claims his new album, The Blues According To Gutbucket Slim, is his “vision of what the blues can be”. Available via Bandcamp, the album – more an EP, technically – is a mash-up of blues and hip-hop, whose opening track is titled Hey Joe (Daddy’s on the Phone).

Perhaps Davey wants to inject a little Drake-Kendrick energy into the 21st-century blues scene. All scenes could use some spice. But then diss tracks and pop-cultural beefs usually work better when the audience is familiar with both parties to the feud – and especially when both parties in the feud are aware of one another.

Don’t expect to see Davey in Miami next March getting ready to board the Keeping the Blues Alive at Sea XII cruise to Grand Cayman. Bonamassa might make him walk the plank.

“I’m tired of the endless stream of white blues that dominates the blues festival circuit,” says Davey. “These people can’t write songs, they have no creativity and they all sound alike – their playing is so devoid of personality. There I said it.”

Davey’s Gutbucket Slim album was made some time ago but for a number of reasons he chose not to release it. He cites his core influences as Stevie Ray Vaughan, Rage Against the Machine, Beck, Lightnin’ Hopkins and B.B King, and Guy Forsyth, who guests on Migraine Blues. .

B.B. King? It's a small world. Bonamassa played with B.B. King, and the King of the Blues even taught him how to use an iPod.

“This record will not be hugely successful,” says Davey. “I don’t know if anyone will hear it, but I’m putting it out so that it may help people think differently about what the blues can be.”

Is Davey’s broadside going to be the opening salvo in blues guitar’s own version of the Bridge Wars, KRS-One vs Marley Marl? Oasis vs Blur? Gutbucket Slim has the stomach for a fight. But probably not. Still, it’s a good way of drumming up some attention, and it is always worth considering what the future of any art form is going to look or sound like.

You can give The Blues According To Gutbucket Slim a spin above and decide for yourself if Robin Davey has the songwriting chops to back all this future-of-blues talk up.

There’s a misconception that folk music is about preserving the past, but look at any worthwhile artists in the genre and you’ll see it’s about storytelling. Just like the classics, these songs are there to be adapted, and reshaped as each storyteller – or songwriter – sees fit. Folk music is really transformation, and Jake Xerxes Fussell is part guitarist, part alchemist.

He draws on an encyclopedic knowledge of folk and blues, polishes off the useless crud and carefully transforms it. What might start life as a sea shanty or Irish folk ballad somehow appears, through his glistening guitar work, newly minted and fit for purpose in 2026.

“Early on I realized something – and I think this had to do with watching other people play – but I really liked it when songs felt like they were a part of the person,” he tells Guitar World.

“That the person's playing was an extension of themselves. [It was the] transformative moments that really moved me – not a literal application of an idea.”

Fussell grew up in Georgia with folklorist parents and was immersed in the music from day one. His father would frequently take trips around the state to record blues and folk performers. One of those musicians, country blues and gospel musician Precious Bryant, became a family friend and an early mentor.

“She lived 25 minutes down the road in Thomson and she was a great guitar player,” recalls Fussell. “By the time I got to be in high school and I could drive, I drove out to her place a bunch and would sit with her and play and try to learn from her.

“When I was really young, 10 or 11, she said, ‘If you want to learn how to play chords, it might be easier on a ukulele.’ So that's the way that I taught myself chords. I just tuned the ukulele to the top four strings [guitar style].”

The move from four strings to six became a natural progression. “Nobody in my family played guitar,” says Fussell. “But my dad would keep one around in case he was going to visit somebody. A lot of these older blues guys, they would pawn their guitar, and so he would always have a cheap guitar hanging on a nail in the hallway.”

Fussell graduated to his own instrument, and soon the adventures with his father turned into solo excursions. Along the way, he met and learned – mostly, he says, through observation – from a huge variety of blues and folk performers, among them the likes of JW Warren, John Lee Ziegler, Robert Thomas and George Daniel.

He admits his recollections of the period are somewhat hazy, but there’s a “sense memory” tied to that time.

“It's hard to disentangle your feelings about the environment, or where you are, from the songs themselves,” he reflects.

“I remember the way that the interiors of people's homes felt, or I remember, a lot of these older guys smoked cheap cigarettes – that smell was always around – and there was whiskey and things like that. But also those environmental things, being in a rural area that's very different from where I live now.”

After leaving home, Fussell moved all over, with stints in Mississippi, and the West Coast and more encounters along the way. “I feel so fortunate,” he says, of his meandering guitar spirit quest.

“I learned some unusual things, different tunings, and it gave me a different respect for gear. A lot of those guys, growing up, none of them had money, so they would play whatever guitar they could get a hold of. But they would develop real closeness or fondness for certain instruments that worked for them, even though they weren't high-end gear.

“People would gift Precious Bryant really old parlor guitars that were valuable – and she had no interest in those. She liked really big cheap Japanese guitars from the ’80s. George Daniel actually played a Goldtop Les Paul that he had bought in the ’50s, which is amazing, but then a lot of those guys would play Silvertones.”

Like the players he learned from, Fussell has an agnostic approach, flowing easily between electric and acoustic – but mostly playing fingerstyle through his go-to Telecaster and a vintage Fender combo. Playing quietly through a loud amp means he can knock you down with a feather, with a clean sound that captures all the intricacies of his rhythm hand.

It’s a move he says was born out of practicality, during his time gigging in Oxford, MS. “Mississippi is a very talkative place,” he laughs. “You need to be loud or you're gonna be ignored!” However, he notes the connection was really cemented when he inherited his Telecaster from his friend J.D. Mark, who passed away suddenly in 2013.

“When he died, his family gave his guitars to his music friends, which is a very sweet gesture,” says Fussell. “So I had this Telecaster. I kept it around just to think of him, but the more I was playing around town, [the more] I realized it was the perfect guitar for what I was trying to do. Now it's actually the only electric guitar I own – so I can thank Jim Mark for that.”

• Jake Xerxes Fussell’s new album, The Old Beloved Path, is out now on Fat Possum Records. He tours the US and Europe in November and December.

Country music legend John Anderson has died at the age of 71. Anderson was the voice behind modern country classics such as Seminole Wind and Swingin’ – and was a member of both the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Country Music Hall of Fame.

In a statement, his family said, “To the world, he was a gifted country music singer whose voice and songs touched countless lives. To us, he was so much more. He was the heart of our family, the one who made us laugh, loved us fiercely, and made every ordinary moment feel special.”

Anderson had the gift that all country greats share; all he needed was three minutes to tell a great story in song, to take you into the history of his native Florida, or into interpersonal dramas in a honky-tonk dive bar. But he was no cookie-cutter performer from out of central casting. Anderson approached country music from an angle. He saw things differently.

Born in Apopka, Florida, Anderson’s first love was rock ’n’ roll guitar. The Rolling Stones and Jimi Hendrix were often cited as primary influences. Country came a little later. Anderson was never one to be tied down by genre conventions. In a 1997 interview with CMT.com, he said, “The most essential thing is having the creative freedom to do what you need to do.”

To do what he needed to do, Anderson skedaddled over to Nashville, Tennessee upon graduating from high school and found himself fixing the roof on the Grand Ole Opry before playing under it. But success soon came. Anderson was picked up by Warner Bros and scored his first hit with I’ve Got a Feelin’ (Somebody's Been Stealin’) in 1977. Country had a new voice.

After a successful support slot for Merle Haggard, his self-titled debut album arrived in 1980, and with it a string of country hits, most notably 1959, which scored him his first Top 10 (it charted at No 7) and was later covered by the late John Prine on the 2022 John Anderson tribute album Something Borrowed, Something New.

Anderson was nominated for a Grammy for I’m Just an Old Chunk of Coal (But I’m Gonna Be a Diamond Someday) The release of 1982’s Wild & Blue really helped establish him. He was one of the leading voices of country’s New Traditionalists.

Blake Shelton was among the first to pay tribute to Anderson.

“I am sick and stunned,” wrote Shelton on Instagram. “But I am a very lucky man. I got the opportunity to find out that my hero wasn’t just the guy I hoped he’d be. He was so much more than that.

“John was my friend. I got to see him last Sunday and I don’t even know why but I told him I loved him. That is what fills my heart in this moment. My love and prayers go out to John’s family. This one really hurts.”

Anderson was a battler. He all but lost his hearing during a period of ill health in 2017, but made a triumphant recovery to record Years in 2020 with Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys and the legendary David R. Ferguson.

Arguably, he had never sounded better. Most would agree the title track is a modern country classic.

Octopuses. Legendary Pokémon. blink-182 smileys. Mark Hoppus has never been one to shy away from a custom bass guitar, but now he’s made one of his favorites available to the wider world.

His latest signature model with Fender, the Stoned Fruit Jaguar Bass, replicates the bass he played on blink-182’s blockbuster 2023 reunion tour. But there’s a key difference: the wacky artwork by Burrito Breath – aka Ohio artist Phil Guy – is included as a set of stickers, rather than the finish itself.

The idea of a custom bass that’s different for every player just hit different for Hoppus, who himself had slapped stickers all over his early instruments.

“I just thought it was a genius idea that people could customize it themselves,” he tells Bass Player. “It could be something similar to the one that I have, they could just leave it off or put one or two stickers on. It seemed like a whole project rather than just a single bass in a certain color.”

Even if it was just a one-off color, it’s a looker. Guava Green is exclusive to this model, and comes with a matching headstock. It’s highly limited, and only available for – yes – 182 hours. And, along with Hoppus’ previous signature Jag, it has the privilege of being one of the only – if not the only – guitars to simply say ‘Fender Jag’, not ‘Jaguar’ on the headstock.

“I always called it a Jag, and Fender just put it on the headstock like that,” he says. “I think it's cool because the shorthand made it from our parlance onto the headstock itself.”

Like his previous basses, the new Jag comes with Seymour Duncan SPB-3 Quarter Pound split-coil P-Bass pickups mounted in reverse formation – the key to Hoppus’ distinctive tone.

As he explained to us previously, that gives the E and A strings more bite and punch, while the D and G get a deeper, fuller tone.

That’s important to Hoppus, because, as he tells us in this candid interview, he views his role in blink-182 as not just a bassist but also a rhythm guitarist – and that has shaped the way he collaborates with Tom DeLonge and Travis Barker in one of pop-punk’s most iconic bands.

The new model is a Jaguar bass. What are the biggest differences between that and your P-Bass?

I love the P-Bass. When I first started playing, the P-Bass was the bass that I always wanted. That was my dream bass guitar. Then [producer] Jerry Finn and I started tinkering with that, and we moved to a Jazz Bass body with a P-Bass neck, and then I moved to a Jag body with a Jazz neck and Jaguar neck.

First of all, the Jag looks a little more punk rock than either the P-Bass or Jazz Bass body. I just like the angle on it. And when I started playing Jag basses, it just seemed like they had a little more midrange cut-through, which is what I'm always striving for in blink.

I play bass kind of as a bass guitar and kind of as a rhythm guitar, so I want that midrange to cut through and support what Tom is doing on the guitar, but also separate from the sub frequencies and sub bass in modern recording. I am always searching for that midrange punch, and I think this body does that.

The Stoned Fruit Jaguar Bass made its first appearance on the 2023 reunion tour, which kicked off with a surprise set at Coachella. What was your mindset when you first walked back out onstage with Tom and Travis again after all that time?

It was so weird because we had just come out of Covid, and then I got cancer and was down for another six months. I got the all-clear at the end of 2021. January of 2022, we started getting in the studio and putting songs together. And then my first show back at all, and the first show back with Tom, was Coachella.

The first weekend was a surprise gig. I think we played in front of like 60 or 70,000 people, and then Frank Ocean cancelled for the second week, and they're like, “Hey, will you just headline the entire festival?” And so my second show back was headlining Coachella.

It was really like being thrown right back into the deep end of the pool, which was great, but very intimidating to step back on stage. I hadn't played on stage in a number of years, and after being sick, and then with Tom in the band, nearly a decade without Tom in the band, and coming back out, it was a dream come true. It was awesome.

It was so overwhelming in terms of the size of the crowd, but I didn't think that anybody would stick around for blink-182. It was weekend two of Coachella, almost the end of the whole festival.

I was just like, “Oh, there's really no pressure because it’s just blink going up there.” I thought that people would be like, “Oh, we're gonna go home. We're gonna beat the traffic. Frank Ocean canceled. We're gonna get back to L.A., get a good night's sleep, and go back to work.” But the whole place stayed. It was really an amazing experience.

You mentioned your cancer treatment. How did playing bass help you through that time?

Yeah, totally. Playing my bass through COVID and through cancer and having instruments around and being able as a musician – not being able to tour sucked – but being able to play my bass in my home studio and work on singing stuff and people would send files around.

We were lucky in that we could still continue to throw ideas back and forth, but obviously it's not the same as when you're in the room with people. Nothing will ever replace being in the room with other people making music. But it was great to just be able to play my bass like I always have.

How has your guitar and bass partnership with Tom evolved over the years?

Tom is such a great songwriter. I think that as far as songwriting goes, the three of us really challenge one another and really back each other up. What Tom does, I don't have the ability to do, and a little bit vice-versa. And then Travis is this X-factor that comes in and changes both of our ideas.

The way that Tom approaches guitar and songwriting is very different. Tom is always pushing things off to the extremes. Whatever it is that Tom is into at the time, be it U2 or The Police or a band like [Massachusetts post-metallers] Astronoid, he pulls from. And then I'm always trying to pull things back towards a pop, clean sensibility. And then Travis just comes in and hits everything with a sledgehammer and makes it really cool.

I'm always trying to write basslines that back up what Tom does on guitar and back up what Travis is doing on the drums. I really spend a lot of time with Tom's melodies and Travis' kick patterns.

You’ve also played guitar on blink albums over the years. Are there any parts you’ve recorded that would surprise fans?

On Neighborhoods, on the songs that I sing on, I pretty much played guitar on all of them. Generally speaking, the songs that Tom sings, he writes, and the songs that I sing, I write, and that's probably correct about 80 percent of the time.

There's times when Tom will write something, and he'll say, “I think this is perfect for your voice,” and vice versa. But on Neighborhoods, I was writing stuff on guitar and performing it, and then sending it to Tom, and he'd be like, “Well, why do I need to replay those guitars? They sound great.” And then Tom would come in and do stuff, as well.

I wrote the guitar riffs for Dammit and What's My Age Again?, and a lot of the guitar stuff that I write, Tom will replay or he'll do it better. I write songs on guitar rather than bass because I think that the guitar is another human voice, almost.

When Travis joined blink-182, it marked a turning point for the band. How did he up your game as a bass player?

When he first joined the band, he was more bringing in this totally different style of drumming than we had been used to before. I was playing eighth-note downstrokes on all the songs. Then Travis came in and would do these Latin beats in a punk rock song, or heavy metal beats, or turn the beat around, and I was trying to match that.

Travis joining the band definitely made Tom and I level up our playing and live performances. And then as we started to take it more seriously, we did Enema of the State with Travis, which was straightforward blink-182 with Travis coming in, making things a bunch better. Then we did Take Off Your Pants and Jacket, where we explored a bunch of post-punk influences.

And then on the untitled record, I feel like that's where we were really all together throwing ideas back and forth and changing things around, and that's when my bass playing really locked in with what Travis was doing, and it was way more than just playing punk rock songs.

We were trying to make our version of Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds or Dark Side of the Moon. We were really trying to reference these amazing albums that influenced us so much, and we were trying to make something that we thought was important.

That's when I really started changing my bass more to like, “OK, what's Travis actually doing here? What can I learn from him as far as the rhythms that he's bringing?”

You’ve previously talked about using the Quad Cortex in your live setup. Is that still your go-to?

We played a show a few months ago, and I was like, “You know what? I really miss having a working speaker cabinet on stage.” The modelers – the Quad Cortex, the Kempers – are so good right now. They sound literally like having an actual Ampeg 8x10 cabinet mic'd up in the studio. With my Quad Cortex next to it, nobody can tell the difference, so it has made that part of it a lot easier. And it has all my tones: my Silvertone, my AC30. It has all these great tones in it. But I just miss actually making noise.

So what I have now is my Quad Cortex going into a power amp that's actually powering an 8x10 cabinet on stage. Just because I want to push air. I want to make actual noise, not simulated noise. And even though it's convenient and it's tidy and it's perfect to have the Quad Cortex running everything, I can have all my stuff in there. I still want to make actual noise.

Doing the next record, I want to actually set up amps and get the tones and and commit to sounds and and put them down. And not have a DI channel that a mixer can do what he wants or put a plugin on or whatever. Like, “No, this is the bass tone that I want on this song that we've all agreed to, and now you have to mix that.”

That leads us neatly onto the next blink album. How is that shaping up?

We have a new record deal, and we are starting to talk about dates for future tours and things like that. And we're all starting to itch to get back into the studio. I have stuff that I want to show Tom and Travis. I know Travis has ideas. I know Tom's getting his studio back up and running again, and starting to dive in. So we can't wait to get in and see where it takes us.

Because I always want to keep writing new music and touring, and introducing new songs into the set. I don't ever want to rest on our laurels and be like, “Yeah, you know, we wrote Enema of the State back in ’99, so I think we're cool.” If we’re touring, I want to be touring new music and be excited about new projects.

Is there any specific direction the material you’re writing is taking at the moment?

This past couple years, I've listened to a lot of Sonic Youth and Devo and Bad Religion, and really going back to music that excited me back in the day. So my stuff is a lot more stripped down, punk rock-sounding.

I don't know what happens when Tom and Travis get their hands on that, but for me, it's really back to basics: “What do I love about music? What do I want to say?”

I feel really inspired. There's been times where I'm like, “I don't even know what I want to write about,” or I’m searching for what I’m trying to say. But this year, I feel a lot more focused and a lot more excited to just cut to the chase and write some kick-ass, thrashy songs.

• The Mark Hoppus Stoned Fruit Jaguar Bass is available for 182 hours from Fender.com.

Ola Strandberg helped lead the charge of the headless guitar revolution, but now he’s got another fight on his hands: to change the public’s perception of these guitars.

Owing to their ergonomics, Strandbergs – and all other headless builds – cater to a distinct corner of the guitar world. They are a favorite among progressive metal players, shunned by those of a less-heavy persuasion.

Strandberg wants players of all genres to reap the benefits of headless guitars, but their image doesn’t always gel with, say, blues or indie rock. And for players brave enough to go headless in more traditional settings, there’s a hesitance to play them in public.

The tide is changing – Jacob Collier has a signature headless, for instance – but Strandberg is under no illusion that the odds are stacked against him

At Guitar Summit 2025, Strandberg told Guitar World that this was “the last barrier we have to tear down”. So, at this year’s event, we asked him how things are going, one year on – and how a new headstock-equipped Strandberg could help his case.

“Honestly, this concept will probably be more metal,” Strandberg reflects of the headless DNA. “But I am consciously working on how to bridge that gap. Just bringing a headstock to the instrument, the aesthetics of it changes so it’s more acceptable.

“We hear too often from players that say, ‘I always play my Strandberg at home, but for this particular gig, I can’t do headless on stage.’ We hear that too much.”

Those comments don’t just come from punters. They also come from pro players – sometimes even those working with other guitar companies.

Strandberg continues, “Even professional guitarists with signature models with other brands, they’ll play at home on their Strandberg, then get on stage with their signature guitar.

“To an extent I get it. The guitar is like your identity. You’ve got to be able to look at yourself in the mirror and go, ‘That’s cool.’ Until these become that thing, then people will still say, ‘I’m in this tribute band, I need a conventional guitar.’”

Ola will be hoping his headstock guitar, which is being designed with a mystery pro player, can tempt players over to Strandberg’s side and expand the brand’s appeal. Whether the public perception of headless guitars will soften remains to be seen.

Head over to the Guitar World YouTube channel to watch the full interview with Ola Strandberg.

What is it?

It might be Squier whose name is on the headstock of Troy Van Leeuwen’s Telecaster XII but there is some legit Fender Custom Shop DNA in this super-cool 12-string addition to the Paranormal Series.

You might have seen Van Leeuwen playing one of these Tele XIIs with Queens of the Stone Age. In June, he road-tested this Squier version on Jimmy Kimmel Live when he jammed onstage with Andrew Watt and Michael Stipe.

If you’ve caught one of QOTSA’s stadium dates over the summer, you will have seen the guitar that inspired it – and if you have seen it, then you surely would have remembered it, because who could forget seeing a 12-string Telecaster in Copper Age paint job with a four-ply tortoiseshell pickguard?

And that headstock is something else.

Van Leeuwen’s Custom Shop Telecaster XII was designed by Fender Master Builder Paul Waller, and has been in rotation for quite some time. It featured on the last four QOTSA records – including on a cover of Iggy Pop’s Sunday from their forthcoming studio album, Perfecth – and is the kind of electric guitar that Van Leeuwen reaches for when he needs something extra. His bandmate Dean Fertita has been known to borrow it, too.

“It does the twang sound I’ve always loved,” Van Leeuwen told Guitar World. “But adding 12 strings creates this extra lushness within that direct Tele-ness. It’s a cool but simple idea.

“I’ll break the 12-string out whenever I can because when you have three guitarists in one band, you have to find your spot. That guitar has a point that can always be heard in the mix.”

No kidding. It’s not like the first mass-produced electric guitar was ever lacking presence and trebly cut, but with an extra six strings – tuned an octave up on Low E to G, in unison on B and High E – this is something else entirely, quite possibly something Paranormal.

That word carries a little weight. No word of a lie, and by complete coincidence, the TV auto-played The X-Files pilot while I was tuning this Telecaster XII up. That’s a little spooky, right? T’is the season. Anyway, time to plug in. This guitar is one big vibe; it looks incredible, and I want to believe it sounds just as good. We all want to. It sure is a fox…

Specs

• Launch price: $599 | £509 | €599
• Made: China
• Type: 12-string electric guitar
• Body: Nyatoh
• Neck: Maple / C profile, bolt-on
• Fingerboard: Indian laurel
• Scale length: 25.5” / 648mm
• Nut/width: Micarta / 42.86mm
• Frets: 21, narrow tall
• Hardware: Vintage-style tuners with metal buttons, Telecaster 12-String Top-Load/String-Through bridge
• String spacing at bridge: 10mm
• Electrics: 2x Fender-designed Telecaster Alnico single-coil pickups, volume, tone, 3-way switching
• Weight: 8.2lb/3.74kg
• Options: Squier Paranormal Series includes the Troublemaker Telecaster Deluxe with Bigsby ($509), Baritone Jazzmaster HH ($479), Electric XI ($509), Jazzmaster XII ($429), Precision Bass Thinline SJ ($479), Stratocaster Deluxe ($479), Esquire Deluxe ($379). See Fender for web exclusives.
• Left-handed options: No
• Finishes: Copper Age
• Case: No
• Contact: Fender

Build quality

Build quality rating: ★★★★★

In a world were caramelized maple is all the rage, it is reassuringly old-school to find a one-piece neck of almost bone-white maple on this test example, pristine but for a few tiny black knots. It’s fashioned into a fashionable C, affixed to the body via the usual four-bolt joint, to which a neck plate engraved with TVL’s signature is attached.

There’s no heel carve. There is no belly carve on the body. It very much feels like this could have been a blank that came off the Fender assembly line in the early ‘50s. Underneath that exquisite Copper Age finish you’ll find a slab of nyatoh.

Van Leeuwen was looking for affordability – this is, after all, Squier’s métier – so don’t expect this to be a 1:1 match of his Custom Shop model. We’ve got an Indian laurel fingerboard here. And yet, as rosewood stand-ins go, this is a pleasingly dark piece of wood. We’ve seen drier, less inspiring pieces of rosewood.

The 21 narrow-tall frets, again, speak to the vintage Telecaster vibe. There are the knurled metal knobs, the three-way slider switch, all controls mounted on a chrome plate as per the house style. This all looks and feels like some lost early ‘50s Fender rather than an explicitly 21st-century design.

Fender, or Squier, has never offered a Telecaster VII as a regular production line model before. Bruce Springsteen and Robin Zander of Cheap Trick have played custom Tele XIIs over the years, and there was a Fender Custom Shop run of them in the ‘90s. Now we have this, and it doesn’t even say Fender on the headstock.

What is worthy of note is the tidy little hybrid 12-string bridge. It’s fully adjustable, chrome to match the vintage-style tuners and buttons, and the fact it has the “hybrid” in its designation speaks to how you string it up. Six strings go through the ferrules on the back of the body, the other six strings are top-loaded, and there’s a heavy-duty string tree on the headstock to run them up to the tuners. The bridge and bridge single-coil sit in the metal plate in the time-honored Telecaster fashion.

Okay, a tuning update: Episode Three of The X-Files is now playing and the guitar is officially in tune [Guitar World would like to thank Boss pedals and the designer of the TU-3 for making this happen]. Seriously, though, this is par for the course with 12 strings, and out of the cardboard box, the Tele XII had a very tidy setup. With just a little relief in the neck, there was no need to tweak the truss rod, and on a 12-string, on which you’d have to slacken off four strings and tune up again, that’s a relief in the conventional sense of the word. Frets are neatly installed, too.

What else is there to note? Well, you get one finish option and that’s it. But given that we always associate Van Leeuwen with Oxblood, is it too far-fetched to imagine a second edition of this finished in Oxblood? Don’t rule it out when Fender currently stocks Van Leeuwen’s Jazzmaster in Copper Age and Oxblood finishes.

This is possibly inadmissible as evidence for review, but Van Leeuwen told me that when they delivered his Squier Tele XII, the courier accidentally ran it over in the driveway and it didn’t break. Make of that what you will, but Van Leeuwen is a straight arrow, and that story checks out. Whether six strings or 12, there is something about the Telecaster that makes it hard to kill.

Anyway, on with the show...

Playability

Playability rating: ★★★★☆

The guitar is surely hard enough to play with six strings, let alone 12. There is a certain amount of masochism involved with playing a 12-string, particularly for those who harbor designs of playing fast single-note runs (or rather dual-note runs given that it is strung up in courses, or pairs).

Yes, the structural integrity of your finger calluses will be tested. Bending the strings is a Herculean labor. But as with everything on the guitar, the more you practice the easier it gets, and a 12-string rewards you in kind. These generic caveats apply to all 12-string guitars; it is the nature of the beast, and yet this remains an approachable instrument – an ideal first 12-string.

Squier has wisely given this a beginner-friendly C profile neck. You would surely not find a neck this svelte on a ‘50s Fender. The neck is satin smooth, too. This has a slightly wider nut than my ‘50s Style Baja Player Telecaster, which was one of the details Van Leeuwen discussed with Fender when designing the original Tele XII. The extra room is welcome.

Playing open chords on the Tele XII feels fine, and dare I say it, normal. The most Paranormal thing about all this is just how normal it feels after a while. The familiar 9.5” fingerboard radius feels of a piece with contemporary Squier/Fender’s most mainstream builds.

At a hair over 8lbs, the weight is bang average considering the extra hardware, and all that extra metal on the headstock doesn’t throw it off balance.

Players intending to bend the strings might wish to drop it down a whole step to D, when it comes a lot more pliable, but the move to 12 strings from a regular six is probably most alien to fingerstyle players. The fretting hand issues are a simple matter of dexterity, but the picking hand takes more getting used to, and might even necessitate the need for some fingerpicks – especially if you keep your nails shorter.

Sounds

Sounds rating: ★★★★★

There is something about our perception of the 12-string format that tends to flatten all guitars into one, as though their identity is subsumed by this extra run of strings.

We tend to look at them all as doing the same job – chime, jangle and all that jazz. It is as though you could pick up any 12-string off the wall and it can realize all your aspirations of sounding like Roger McGuinn, Tom Petty, Johnny Marr, and Peter Buck – that it’s the guitar you need to make Stairway to Heaven sound a bit more authentically 'Headley Grange'.

Well, of course this is all kinds of preposterous and yet it nonetheless begs the question; is a 12-string Telecaster still recognizable as a Fender Telecaster?

Yes and no. Yes, you will certainly find some of that signature Tele twang on the bridge pickup, and its more elastic twang at the neck. But no, with 12-strings, there’s something almost eerie about how this twang is rendered. There is something immediately psychedelic about the Tele XII, in how your playing brings out these micro-dissonances as the string bends unevenly under your finger.

This is the Telecaster doubled, an act of Telemaxxing, and the natural chorusing from this second set of complementary strings allows it to occupy more space in the mix. It’s not that the range of frequencies is greater; we’re still operating within the same Low-E-to-high-E framework.

There are simply more frequencies going on at any given time. Through a small tube combo and a little compression from the JHS Pulp N’ Peel, I could swear that open chords sound louder. Single notes sound fuller doubled. There is a harpsichord quality to single notes. Apply some fuzz and you might feel like someone has sneaked a Roger Mayer device on your pedalboard without you noticing.

Oftentimes, budget brands can be tempted to go for ceramic pickups. They typically run hot, are great fun for beginner players dialing in rock sounds, but they can be overly shrill. These Fender-designed Alnico single-coil pickups are a more grown-up proposition. There’s no lack of treble but there’s warmth there, too, and they clean up nicely.

For a circa 600-dollar electric guitar, the pots have a lovely action and taper. Rolling back the tone control makes that bridge pickup a superlative rhythm tone, especially when playing high-volume cleans. Kudos to Squier and Fender for this bridge design – and for the guitar-making bona fides on show here. Once brought up to pitch, the Tele XII held its tuning, even after digging in on those chords.

This being a Paranormal Series model, and the signature guitar of one of rock’s great tone seekers, there is an invitation to get creative. Once you’ve had your fun running through some 12-string standards (yes, Stairway to Heaven is a lot more convincing on this), you might well find that the 12-string is still a relatively unexplored instrument – and it’s one that takes pedals well.

Okay, so some chorus/vibrato from the trusty Boss CE-2 gave me vertigo but others might want to open up that can of swirl. With spring reverb and tape echo emulation, you can get a very different take on formative rock ’n’ roll electric guitar sounds, and what you lose in percussive definition you gain in resonance, as though the guitar comes with its own accompaniment.

And there’s something undeniably feral about high-gain sounds with a single-coil 12-string. With both pickups engaged, that’s a serious rock tone, but at the bridge pickup, its skronky duality plays really well for punk sounds. It’s like Van Leeuwen says, this does something that other guitars just can’t do, and every player could use an instrument like that. And if you want chime, play it clean on the neck pickup, but remember, that stuff’s for the Byrds.

Verdict

The Telecaster XII isn’t the only 12-string in the current Squier Paranormal lineup. There is a Jazzmaster, and it too has the hybrid top-loader/string-through-body bridge plus the option of Lake Placid Blue or Olympic White finishes. These offset guitars are also a little cheaper, and so if you are for a 12-string electric under $500, you have options.

But this is most certainly the only 12-string Tele in town. It’s the only Tele you’ll find in Copper Age. And it might also be the skeleton key you’ve been looking for to unlock the tones heard on Queens of the Stone Age jams like I Appear Missing and My God Is the Sun. Better still, it might be just what you need to create some tone mysteries of your own.

As with the best Squier designs, this is also a credible candidate for modding. You could swap out the bridge single-coil for a stacked humbucker. It would also be intriguing to take the octave-up strings off the bottom three strings and play this as a nine-string, using the double strings as a means of adding texture to your leads. Radical? Absolutely. But this is the Paranormal series. Forget business as usual, this was made to get weird.

Guitar World verdict: What’s really weird is that a 12-string Tele is considered weird at all. Double the twang at half the price, Troy Van Leeuwen’s Telecaster XII is an unusually exceptional budget electric that dares adventurous players to rewrite the 12-string rulebook. Don’t just let it chime. This could be a powerful tool for sonic reinvention.

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Fender and Mark Hoppus have rekindled their partnership to recreate the blink-182 hero’s Stoned Fruit Jaguar Bass – but it will only be available for a very short period of time.

Hoppus has been a Fender loyalist since making the switch from Ernie Ball back in blink’s early days. Their latest signature guitar back in 2023 was an amalgamation of Fender’s Jaguar, Precision and Jazz Bass designs.

Now, that same bass has returned in the model-exclusive Guava Green colorway that can be seen on Hoppus’ current main stage bass. It also comes with Hoppus’ distinct Stoned Fruit artwork by way of a decal sticker collection.

The artwork, designed by Ohio-based artist ‘Burrito Breath’ – real name Phil Guy – is a distinctive feature of Hoppus’ OG model. These stickers let players “put their own spin on the instrument”.

Along with that colorway and matching headstock, the Stoned Fruit Jaguar Bass follows the precedent set by the earlier 3-Color Sunburst and Sea Foam Green models.

It has those reverse-mounted Seymour Duncan SPB-3 Quarter Pounder split-coil Precision Bass pickups, and the Jazz Bass-inspired Custom C maple neck. There’s also a HiMass Vintage bridge, and a custom Mark Hoppus neck plate with his Octopus logo.

Another curio can be found on the headstock: the model is simply labelled “Fender Jag”, rather than “Fender Jaguar”.

“I always called it a Jag, and Fender just put it on the headstock like that,” Hoppus tells Guitar World in a new interview about his latest signature. “I think it's cool because the shorthand made it from our parlance onto the headstock itself.”

Hoppus has been loyal to the Jag for some time. As he explains in his Guitar World interview, he landed on the offset after much experimentation.

“When I first started playing, the P-Bass was the bass that I always wanted,” he remembers. “That was my dream bass guitar. Then [producer] Jerry Finn and I started tinkering with that, and we moved to a Jazz Bass body with a P-Bass neck, and then I moved to a Jag body with a Jazz neck and Jaguar neck.

“I just like the angle on it. And when I started playing Jag basses, it just seemed like they had a little more midrange cut-through, which is what I'm always striving for in blink.”

Speaking about his affinity for hybrid Fenders, Hoppus told Guitar World back in 2023 that he landed on the Jazz Bass neck by accident.

“One of my basses got built with a thinner neck, and I liked the way it felt and played,” he noted. “Playing a standard P-Bass neck is like playing a baseball bat to me now. Still love them, but the Jazz neck is where I am today.”

Hoppus has a number of customized basses in his collection that’d be ripe for a reissue. But the Stoned Fruit model seemed perfect for this project.

He says, “When the idea to put the stickers on came around, I just thought it was a genius idea that people could customize it themselves.

“It could be something similar to the one that I have, they could just leave it off or put one or two stickers on. It seemed like a whole project rather than just a single bass in a certain color.”

“Mark has always had a very clear point of view about what he wants from an instrument,” Fender’s Chief Product Officer, Justin Norvell, says. “We wanted to recreate the instrument he actually plays while giving fans the opportunity to put their own stamp on it.”

The Mark Hoppus Stoned Fruit Jaguar Bass will only be available to order for 182 hours (geddit?) starting from today for $1,499, exclusively from Fender.com.

Guitar World’s full interview with Mark Hoppus will be published this week.

“When I heard those two guys, I was going, ‘This is it for me. I have no career. I should consider something else.’”

Steve Lukather may have lent his chops to a thousand albums. However, before he ever got to accept one of his many Grammys or cash his first royalty check, he knew he had a lot of learning to do to become the guitar powerhouse he is today.

“I love to put on Allan Holdsworth's records and listen to him rip,” he told Guitar World in 1988, “because as far as that style goes, he's the guy for me.”

As he puts it, the British fusion ace was “Yngwie before there was an Yngwie, but he played with such taste that people thought, 'God, how does he do that?' I remember hearing the Tony Williams Lifetime album [Believe It] 10 years ago, and going [yells], ‘How the fuck is this guy playing?! What the hell is this?!’”

This was around the time a certain Eddie Van Halen was emerging. “Allan's was a completely different style from Ed's, but when I heard those two guys, I was going, ‘This is it for me. It's over. I have no career here, and I should consider something else.’”

Lukather admits that the comparison “was really depressing.” At the same time, it made him work even harder.

“I'd started getting a little overconfident before I'd heard these guys, and then I realized, ‘Fuck, man, I suck. I'd better go take a really good look at myself and get back into the woodshed.’”

The guitarist ended up channeling the results of his woodshedding into Toto’s 1988 album, The Seventh One. Back then, Guitar World described his playing on the record as “tempering Holdsworthian energy with Carltonian emotion and Claptonian simplicity,” which, even by 2026 standards, is a job well done.

Larry Mitchell is a born-and-bred New Yorker. He’s brash, he’s bold, and he acts swiftly – attributes that probably didn’t hurt as he emerged from Queens to become a go-to session player.

And while you might not recognize his name, you’ve probably heard his playing – especially if you’ve dug on Ric Ocasek, Tracy Chapman, and Billy Squier records.

If strumming a broom to Elvis Presley songs didn’t ignite Mitchell’s musical fire when he was a kid, maybe you can chalk it up to his childhood friendships with – get this – fellow New Yorkers Steve Stevens (Billy Idol), Jon Levin (Dokken), and Jeff Thall (Bryan Ferry), a gaggle of guitarists who fueled each other’s musical dreams.

Soon enough, a young Mitchell was picking up what he calls “ghost work” as a session player in Manhattan, before a chance meeting with Nile Rodgers led him to hook up with Ocasek for his 1991 album, Fireball Zone.

“I ran into Nile one night at the China Club,” Mitchell says. “He said, ‘What are you doing tomorrow?’ I said, ‘Whatever you want me to do.’” That put Mitchell on the map.

“Ric and Tracy Chapman had the same management. My name came up when Tracy was looking for a guitar player. Vernon Reid had played guitar on Tracy’s 1992 single, Bang Bang Bang, so they had a bit of a rock player in mind.”

Fast forward to 2008. Mitchell was now a Grammy-winning producer – for Johnny Whitehorse’s 2007 album, Totemic Flute Chants – and an Ibanez endorsee. The timing was perfect to befriend another big-time Ibanez guy, Steve Vai.

“Steve and I spoke about warming up before a show, and then [we got] on to life things,” Mitchell says of meeting Vai at Ibanez’s 100th-anniversary celebration in Nagoya, Japan, in May 2008.

“We stayed in touch, and when Steve was touring through Alabama, I texted him and said I was coming. He invited me to sit in. When we jam, he just looks at me and says, ‘Start something groovy’ – and we get funky.”

Mitchell went on to open for Vai in 2023 and 2024. “Playing with Steve has taught me to embrace the freedom and the spiritual side of guitar playing,” he says. “Embrace the flow from one note to the next, and, of course, have fun on stage and in the music.”

Mitchell is planning his next move with nothing but gratitude. “I produce a lot of music, and I’m touring around the world,” he says. “Regrets are a hard thing. Everything in the past has led to this moment, so changing anything would lead to a different outcome. But maybe I wish I had bought a vintage ’burst back in the late Eighties.” [Laughs]

• This article first appeared in Guitar World. Subscribe and save.

The Offspring guitarist Noodles has announced he’s stepping back from band duties due to health issues.

Noodles, real name Kevin Wasserman, posted a statement to social media, telling fans he hopes to be back on stage as soon as possible.

“It is with deep sadness that I have to announce that I need to step away from live performances for a while to deal with a sudden and fairly serious health issue,” he wrote.

“The rest of the band has my back, is super supportive, and will keep rocking you all in my absence. I hope to be back on stage sooner rather than later.

“Until then, I will miss all of you with all of my heart. Thanks for keeping me in your thoughts. I really appreciate it.”

Joe Satriani offered his support, commenting, “Get well soon brother.”

The Offspring currently have four gigs pencilled in, kicking off at The Wiltern in Los Angeles this Saturday (October 24). A temporary replacement for Noodles is yet to be announced.

The band will then play at the Las Vegas SEMA Fest on November 6, Mexico City’s Corona Capital 2026 festival on November 21, and the iHeartRadioALTerEgo 2027 Festival at the Kia Forum on January 16.

As the band’s long-serving lead guitarist, Noodles helped The Offspring spearhead the 1990s punk-punk movement.

Speaking to Guitar World in 2023, he looked back on the gear picks that have defined his sound – and why he opted for Ibanez Talmans over Gibson Les Pauls.

“I loved how light the Talmans were,” he said. “It was light like a Fender but gave me the sound of a Les Paul. So, that's what led me to develop my signature Ibanez.”

Keith Urban reached modern country’s upper echelon via hits like Long Hot Summer, Somebody Like You, and Once in a Lifetime, and a commitment to his mission.

“There’s lead guitar players, then lead singers who are great players, then the Claptons, Gilmours, Knopflers, and Mayers, who are both,” he says. “That’s my lane. I’m not just a guitarist – I have to front the whole thing, lead the night, and entertain.”

He knows there are trade-offs between providing entertainment and guitar playing: “There’s a million different speeds happening simultaneously. I’m still learning how to balance that – but I’m much better now.”

Everything in moderation, then – except perhaps volume – as Keith Urban goes to 11…

1. What was your first guitar, and how did you get it?

It was a Suzuki three-quarter-size nylon-string acoustic. My parents bought it for me when I was 6, and that’s when I started taking lessons. The next guitar I bought was an electric guitar when I was 9 – an Ibanez Telecaster copy. I’ve still got the body; I don’t know where the neck went!

It’s a real bummer because I would love to have had the guitar intact for its sentimental value. But at least I have the body sitting in my warehouse.

2. What are some quirks or habits that, like it or not, have become part of your style?

Probably using the raised, ridged part of a pick. I’ve done that for 25 years or something. It’s part of my sound, but it frustrates me sometimes – I’d rather have a different material. I’d probably rather use more like a tortoiseshell.

So I’m in a bit of a bind: I prefer the sound of a different compositional pick, but I’m missing the raised ridges of, for example, a Blue Chip. If I could get something of that quality but with the raised ridges, I’d blend those two together.

3. What’s been your greatest gear find?

It’s hard to narrow down, but maybe finding a really great 1954 Strat. That was exciting – having a first-year Strat is amazing.

4. How many guitars do you own, and what gear do you own that might surprise people?

I have maybe 50-odd guitars. But I don’t know what would surprise anybody! I do have a Wandre guitar that’s super quirky. It’s definitely not a common guitar. I find them aesthetically gorgeous, so I always wanted one.

5. What’s your number-one tone tip?

Inspiration beats everything. Inspiration creates the tone, but they inform each other. A great tone can inspire another tone, but then, inspiration can trump whatever the hell the tone is. But it doesn’t really matter. Listen to The Stones’ Satisfaction. Is that a great tone? It’s the right tone, and it’s a hell of an inspired riff.

There’s no wrong tone. I have my own quasi-facetious explanation: it’s like going to a restaurant, ordering a meal, and loving it. Then you see what the waiter is bringing someone else, and you go, “Oh, I should have gotten that – that looks way better!” That’s guitar tone!

6. What’s been your most memorable encounter with a guitarist?

Countless! Playing with Tommy Emmanuel live, to John Mayer, to Vince Gill. Joe Walsh… I feel really lucky. I’ve gotten to play alongside James Burton, who sat in with me. To play alongside some of my all-time heroes is an extraordinary thing.

I’m a constant student of guitar and of the approaches my heroes take. I just went to see AC/DC again, and I’m constantly astounded by Angus Young’s tone. His technique is incredibly light. I actually took binoculars because I wanted to see that right hand up close! His combination of crazy light strings and deafening volume fascinates me. It’s almost a paradox of freneticism, but he’s a super controlled, gorgeous player.

7. What’s it like being in the room with John Mayer, Tommy Emmanuel, or James Burton?

John’s a super unique guy, and so is Tommy; and James is just so kind, sweet, and soft-spoken. They’re all different. We’re all part of the same brotherhood, but everybody has their own methodology and quirks. It’s the reason why they don’t sound like anybody else – they’re not like anybody else.

8. What’s been the toughest time you’ve had as a musician?

I don’t know if there was a singular moment. It’s been more about holding my ground musically with the direction I wanted to go, and how I wanted to make records. I did that, really, starting with my first record. I just didn’t do what it took to fit in; I stayed true to myself.

A lot of artists make a lot of sacrifices to fit in. I wanted to be accepted – but I didn’t want to lose myself musically. That was a very, very difficult thing to do when I first came to Nashville.

9. Which of your songs do you find the most challenging to play?

Nothing springs to mind. That’s a good sign! But with the long live solo I do in Long Hot Summer, the key is the willingness to fuck it up! It’s a very in-the-moment thing; there’s gonna be bits that are similar from night to night, but the execution’s gonna be unique to the night.

Like all players, I respond to the tone and the sound in the room. Whatever’s happening on stage sonically is gonna inform the playing. So will the mood I’m in, the way the guitar is reacting – it’ll all inform what happens in that solo.

10. What’s the best advice that you ever received?

The gauge of strings is not something I’ve looked at for most of my career. But getting to know Billy Gibbons more, and his obsession with extremely light gauge strings, has been interesting.

I played .11s for a couple of decades, but through COVID, I went down to .9s, and I thought, ‘This is great! I love the tone and everything about it.’ But during my first gig with them I was squashing the shit out of them because of adrenaline!

I ended up hovering with .10s, and I still use .9s occasionally. I’m trying to discipline myself to not hit the shit out of them – you can’t slam .9s, so I’m just turning up ridiculously loud so I can’t play too hard. The volume makes me play lighter.

11. What’s the biggest misconception about you?

I wouldn’t know how I’m perceived. Man, what other people think of me is just none of my business! I’m just trying to express myself – that’s my own journey. Tonally, musically, emotionally, spiritually; all of it.

What other people think of me, I couldn’t give a shit. I don’t read reviews, I don’t read comments. I’m just not interested. It’s got no benefit to me to read about or know any of that stuff.

• Urban’s latest album, Flow State, is on sale now.

The internet is abuzz following the arrival of the PRS Tekton range – a new purpose-built metal guitar line that’s ushered in a new era for the brand.

PRS already has a stake in heavier waters, but the Tekton initiative marks a direction shift. The four flagship models are spec’d for a very particular style of guitar playing, designed exclusively for technical players of the highest caliber.

This new family could therefore make for serious competition against the market’s big guns. It might also represent the arrival of a new type of metal guitar.

Given it’s perhaps the biggest PRS launch since the Silver Sky, we asked the nearest handful of GW staffers for their reactions to the new lineup. Here’s what they had to say…

• PRS Tekton T review
• PRS Tekton SVN review

Stuart Williams – Deputy Reviews Editor

A strange phenomenon occurs with time. While the old clichés of Blues Dentists, Yacht Rock Lawyers and, er…Mixolydian Architects may follow PRS forever, there's another, parallel persona to the brand. Silverchair's Daniel Johns, Incubus' Mike Einziger, Wes Borland, and, of corse, Creed/Alter Bridge gunslinger Mark Tremonti are just a few players who planted a heavier flag in the ground for PRS.

Opeth, Mark Holcomb of Periphery, Karnivool's Drew Goddard and DragonForce shredder/end-of-level Guitar Hero boss Herman Li have continued that precedent.

I got to try the Tekton T briefly during the filming of Guitar World's video, and while I'm far from the technically adept target audience, it left me with an overall feeling of 'evolution'.

The PRS DNA is strong, particularly at first glance. There's the mirror-buffed nitro over a heavily-figured top, and the more subtle familiarities such as the Phase III locking tuners and two-point tremolo. But wait! No birds? No rare-breed shellfish? Nope. Instead, it's a streamlined, dare I say tasteful, design across the 'board.

Picking it up is where that body shape turns from a two-dimensional ‘It’s a PRS’ on paper, to a 3D ‘It's a PRS, but not like any other I’ve held.’ I'd sum it up by saying ‘svelte’.

At the shallowest points the carve feels thin and manoeuvrable, and the merging of the offset Vela and traditional Custom designs makes for something that is unmistakably a PRS, while feeling fresh and new.

Progression aimed at progressive players. Now for the shocker. Fans of those bands I mentioned earlier are themselves of dentist-ing, lawyer-ing and architect-ing age. So no, PRS probably won’t shake the preconceptions, but your dentist might well be a better sweep-picker than you’ve given them credit for.

Matt Owen – News Editor

Well, here’s something quite novel: a humbucker that’s been designed with modelers in mind. Are Full Range, Flat Response pickups now a thing? Perhaps ‘FRFR humbucker’ undersells the new Stylus pups somewhat. They still have their own character, but this is the first time we’ve seen a mainstream builder design a humbucker that’s engineered to get the most out of amp modelers and digital rigs.

PRS has a penchant for going above and beyond with its guitar designs, so it’s no real surprise that the firm has managed to develop something new in the pickup department. But I personally didn’t see this one coming.

They have a flatter output than most humbuckers, voiced for articulation and dynamic response while keeping some character to cater more to digital gear. So, like how an FRFR speaker won’t color your modeler tones, the Stylus pickups will supposedly give your digital rigs more room to shine through.

What does this say about PRS and the gear world at large? Well, it proves there are still areas to explore at a time when the playing field in the digital world has never been more level. Will other big brands and pickup makers take note and start dabbling in modeler-minded humbuckers? Time will tell.

Matt Parker – Deputy Editor

Am I the only one that was a little underwhelmed when I first saw these? I heard rumors of PRS making a big pitch for the modern metal market and I was excited to see what would happen when PRS’ talented luthiers were let off the leash with this kind of brief. After all, the prog and metal landscape is one where people won’t blink at a headless design, or one of Abasi Concepts’ UFOs.

Perhaps I should have known better, but to me, the Tektons seem to me less like a tectonic shift, and more like another honed and scraped, detail-orientated evolution of an already successful formula. That approach has obviously proven very effective for PRS, and there’s a significant risk with big swings, but a guy can dream.

I haven’t tried them yet (my colleagues who have got hands-on say they are stellar players) but aesthetics do count. So, if you’ve always wanted a sportier PRS that flips the birds, well, you’re in luck. But if you want to see what PRS can do when it takes off the tie at the office party – well, you might be waiting a moment longer.

Michael Astley-Brown – Editor-in-Chief

I always thought PRS was relatively well-positioned as a brand for heavier players, but the Tekton lineup takes its ergonomic cues from guitars that are far removed from the Ted McCarty lineage. Those back carves are closer to Ibanez and Ernie Ball Music Man than they are Gibson Les Paul. And ultimately, those are the players PRS will be targeting here.

Whether the price point will be too much to stomach is another question. I wonder if, like the Silver Sky, a more affordable model could be what pushes these into mainstream popularity. An S2 model at half the price could seriously shake up the market. Just sayin’…

Fender Japan has unveiled a fashion-forward collab as both Fender and Paul Smith (no, not Paul Reed Smith, the guitar maker) celebrate 80 years of business in 2026.

16 pieces make up this new collection, which has been designed in partnership with British fashion house Paul Smith. It's headlined by a Made in Japan Paul Smith Telecaster (¥440,000, approx. $2,783), which is joined by accessories and fashion pieces.

The collaboration “connects the spirit of rock ’n’ roll with the heritage of London’s historic Wardour Street record shops”. Notably, the Tele gets a specially modified neck and bridge pickups to mark the occasion.

What makes them unique here isn’t exactly clear, but what is obvious is that this isn’t a tie-in focused solely on aesthetics.

Its wider make-up will be familiar to Fender fans, pairing an alder body with a maple neck – this time with a modern C-profile – and rosewood fingerboard.

There's also a vintage-style three-saddle Telecaster bridge, locking tuners and a custom neck plate. A vibrant Paul Smith-designed striped colorway really makes it pop.

As Fender notes, “Music and fashion have always moved together, with artists and musical movements shaping how generations dress and express themselves and shape culture.”

Elsewhere in the collection, there’s a striped strap, a guitar pick tin featuring 12 heavy-gauge string whackers, and tie-die T-shirts inspired by historic music festivals.

The “Meet at the Tree”, meanwhile, incorporates Paul Smith’s favorite tree – found in his hometown of Nottingham, England – injects a personal touch to the collab, and symbolizes the community aspect of festivals.

“Fender and Paul Smith have both built their legacies around originality and giving people the tools to express themselves,” says Fender CEO Bud Cole.

“Music has always been central to Paul’s creative life, and his relationships with artists and musicians have influenced his work for decades. At its heart, it’s a celebration of individuality, creativity and craftsmanship – and giving people something they can make their own.”

See Fender Japan for more.

It follows other curious collabs with Game of Thrones, Hello Kitty, everyone’s favorite city-crushing beast, Godzilla, and more recently, George Harrison’s Dark Horse Records.

Malina Moye has always done things her own way. She plays left-handed with the strings in right-handed order and blends rock, blues, funk, soul and pop into her own language. So when the time came to create the Kramer Malina Moye Pacer Deluxe, an existing guitar with her name on it was never enough.

The process unfolded over four years and as many prototypes, with Moye fully involved at every turn. She stayed closely engaged throughout the process and was not prepared to settle for anything less: the finished guitar had to carry her personality as clearly as her name.

But there was more behind that determination than simply getting the guitar right. Moye had watched male players receive signature guitars and questioned when her own work would receive that recognition.

Becoming the first woman of colour to receive a Kramer signature model gives the moment genuine historic weight. But above all, this is a guitar that reflects her personal vision, her standards and her refusal to compromise. We sit down with Moye to discuss how it all came about.

You described this guitar as being bigger than you. What does this moment mean?

Man, this is everything. There are so many layers, as a woman, as a Black woman and as a guitar player. I’ve said for years that manufacturers need to look at who’s actually picking up instruments.

A lot of those people are women, and they deserve the opportunity to have signature guitars. So when this came along, I wanted it, but not only for me. I wanted other people to see what’s possible.

This was never, “Here is a guitar, let us put your name on it.” Kramer listened when I said, “This is how I see the guitar, this is what I need as a player, and this is how we can include more people.” I wanted to make us proud.

How did you and Kramer first find each other?

It started during the pandemic. Janie Hendrix recommended me for a voiceover connected for a Jimi Hendrix project, and that introduced me to the Gibson family. I met so many great people there, and what really struck me was how many women were in the room.

Everybody was forward-thinking and sharp. I said I would love to do something together, and the conversation opened from there. Kramer respected my vision and understood that I play differently. That made it feel like the right home.

Why did the Pacer feel like the right place to begin?

To me, the Pacer is already a ‘SuperStrat’, so it was in the right ballpark. During the pandemic, Kramer sent me several guitars, including a Baretta and a NightSwan. I spent time playing them and thinking about what I would change.

I wanted to pull together elements from guitars I had used throughout my career but make them more comfortable and more ‘Malina’. The goal was to have the kind of guitar you pick up in front of the TV and then suddenly realise four hours have gone by because it feels so comfortable.

What did the development process actually look like from your side?

I was ready because I had spent decades performing and making mental notes. Every player has those thoughts: ‘If I could change this, or move that, the guitar would work better for me’. Kramer gave me guitars to try and I would send very specific feedback.

Sometimes I could feel something that I couldn’t give them measurements on, so I sent reference guitars and said, ‘This is where we need to be. Please look at this neck and see how we can move in this direction.’ We went through four main prototypes over roughly four years. I was never in a rush. My name was going on it, and I wanted to be proud of every decision.

What was most important to you when you played the prototypes?

Comfort, first of all. I have small hands, and the traditional heel felt so bulky that after 20 minutes I wanted to put the guitar down. I told them we had to look toward the future and make it easier to reach the upper frets. They would reshape it and I would say, ‘More. Take off more.’ When we finally got there, I knew immediately. It felt beautiful.

How detailed did you get when it came to the neck specs?

Very detailed, right down to the 10-inch fingerboard radius. I knew how I wanted the neck and I could feel when it wasn’t right. I was thinking about whether I could play a 90-minute or two-hour show without my hand getting tired.

That was the level of detail I wanted in a real signature guitar. I also use 0.008-gauge strings, which surprises a lot of people because they’re very light. I like the freedom they give me. Everything had to work together so that the guitar felt easy but still responded when I really dug in.

A Floyd Rose might seem like the obvious Kramer choice. Why did you go with a non-locking tremolo?

I love a Floyd Rose, and I own guitars with them, but I’m looking at this guitar as a working player. With a Floyd Rose, if you break a string on stage, that can be the end of that guitar for the moment. You hand it off and grab another one. I wanted the standard two-point tremolo because you can put on another string and keep moving. I don’t switch guitars much during a show.

The pickups cover a lot of ground. How did you arrive at that HSS set?

The Virtual Vintage Blues in the neck and the Area 67 in the middle have been part of my sound for years. The neck pickup is thick, beautiful, clean and clear. That’s where I often go for solos. For rhythm I move to the middle because I wanted that really clean funk sound. Lead playing is great, but you can’t lead without rhythm. The Super Distortion was the new ingredient.

I asked Larry DiMarzio for something with more punch, and he suggested it after listening to what I was describing. I tried it and loved it. It brings the hard-rocking Kramer side, while the two single coils keep all the other colours available. That combination lets one guitar speak several musical languages.

How much did your own upside-down stringing shape the design?

People sometimes assume the way I play is just a visual thing, but it’s real. I play left-handed and string the guitar in the opposite order from a conventional left-handed player. For my own guitar, that’s how it has to work. But I also wanted a proper left-handed production version for players who string normally. So it’s available left-handed and right-handed; I fought hard for that.

Left-handed players are usually ignored, or they have to wait months for something that doesn’t look exciting. I told Kramer, “You can’t release only a right-handed version when your signature artist is left-handed.” The first left-handed guitars went quickly, and people started sending me order screenshots from Japan and Australia. That showed there was a real audience waiting to be served.

What inspired the blue finish?

The Splash Blue finish started with a pair of blue Christian Louboutin shoes that I got for my birthday. You can see me wearing them in my little promo videos. The colour also made me think about the blue outfit that Prince wore at the 2007 Super Bowl. I grew up in Minnesota, and I like to pay tribute to Prince and Michael Jackson in subtle ways. The tortoiseshell [coloured] pickguard became another little nod to Prince, while the gold hardware is very much me.

I wanted the guitar to make a statement before you play a note. The reverse headstock, my logo at the 12th fret and my red signature on the back of the headstock all help it feel custom, but I kept my name off the front because the guitar is not only about me. The player should be able to make it their own.

Did you ever worry that making it so personal might narrow its appeal?

No, because I believe this guitar does appeal to everybody. The familiar choices are already out there. You can buy a traditional Kramer or a traditional Strat. I wanted to bring something new into the space without losing what makes a Kramer rock hard.

The guitar still has the punch people expect, but you can create more colours. That’s where players are going. People want to keep discovering, writing and crossing between styles. I’m a woman, a left-handed player and a musician with my feet on the ground. I listen to what people tell me is missing – and I wanted to answer that.

How important was the price of the guitar to you?

Very important. You want people to pick the guitar up. I wanted it to feel like a custom piece and give you a lot of guitar, but what’s the point if somebody has to give an arm and a leg to own it?

When I saw the price at $1,299, I thought it was perfect. I believe everybody deserves a shot at choosing what they want to do. This instrument carries all the energy and lessons I grew up with, but it is there for somebody else to pick up and create with.

Have you had a chance to hear what other players are doing with the guitar yet?

Yeah, I heard Gretchen Menn play a Jeff Beck piece and I loved it. Then she started playing slide. It was beautiful hearing her bring out all these different colours.

What do you hope this instrument will say to women and young players of colour who might not always see themselves represented?

My family always told me, ‘When you don’t see yourself represented, show up. When you think you can’t, show up anyway, and know that you matter when you arrive.’ I kept showing up because other people showed up for me. I hope I made people proud. I think about all the incredible players who laid the foundation but never received this kind of opportunity.

Some of them may have wondered whether anyone saw their work. I saw it. This guitar is for them, too. Now somebody else will come after me and push the door even further. That’s what makes this so powerful. I don’t want to tell somebody how to use it. I want to hand them the guitar and say, ‘Okay, play me your story.’ That’s what it is all about.

• This article first appeared in Guitarist. Subscribe and save.

What is it?

Of all the effects manufacturers to achieve stardom over the last decade or two, EarthQuaker Devices must be one of the most avowedly left-field.

Sure, there's traditional overdrive and modulation to be had from the Akron, Ohio shop, but remember – EarthQuaker is the company that gave us that barking-mad oscillating pitch generator, the Rainbow Machine. Or the utterly preposterous Data Corrupter, a three-voice, harmonizing analog fuzz/guitar synth.

It's to be applauded that these complex circuits, with all their hand-built insanity and inarguably niche appeal, are made widely available so that more people can experiment with the outer fringes of viable guitar and bass tone.

So when EarthQuaker announced an addition to the fashionable compact bass preamp/overdrive pedal landscape, it's fair to say none of us were ever expecting a straightforward Sansamp or Darkglass me-too. But then, EarthQuaker often does unexpected things - maybe it could be just that. Is this a classic comedy double bluff? (You never know.)

Today I'm investigating the Scrolls Bass Odyssey, EarthQuaker's take on a bass preamp pedal, co-designed with Japanese alt-rock bass hero Kentaro Nakao. Let's see what's what.

Specs

• Launch price: $349 | £399 | €399
• Type: Bass preamp and overdrive/fuzz pedal
• Controls: Level, Bass, Middle, Treble, Vari (boost/cut), Vari-Freq, push-buttons for Deep, Process, Bright, Drive Level, Blend, Drive, Bandwidth, Tone, footswitches for EQ and Drive
• Connectivity: ¼” instrument input, ¼” amp output, ¼” parallel output, XLR direct out (with Ground/Lift), ¼” effects loop Send, ¼’ effects loop Return
• Bypass: Relay-based true bypass
• Power: 9v DC, 70mA
• Dimensions: 121 x 114 x 57 mm
• Weight: 340g
• Contact: EarthQuaker Devices

Build quality

Build quality rating: ★★★★½

EarthQuaker never disappoints on the quality front, and the Scrolls is a typically sturdy build. Its muted black-and-orange aesthetic is topped off by EQD's signature swirling script for the pedal's name, but the dense black-and-white forest of controls are all very clearly labelled.

The buttons and footswitches click satisfyingly and all the knobs turn with a nicely-damped weight - with centre detents on many of the pots for ease of dialing in.

Despite the surfeit of controls, the enclosure design is such that you shouldn’t have to worry too much about accidentally knocking anything with your feet - yet it’s not excessive in size. In fact, it’s a very reasonable alternative to other bass preamp pedals in terms of footprint.

Usability and features

Usability and features rating: ★★★★½

That footprint has a hell of a lot packed into it though – more than many rivals. The two footswitches control an EQ section and a Drive channel; these can be used separately or together.

These sections have individual controls too – to start with, the EQ side offers a Level control, the standard Bass-Middle-Treble setup, plus a two-knob ‘Vari-Freq’ circuit – essentially, allowing you to sweep the EQ range and cut or boost any frequency desired.

Then, push-buttons for ‘Deep’ and ‘Bright’ boost 80Hz and 5kHz respectively, while ‘Process’ drastically scoops out low mids for a more guttural, aggressive bark – although you’ll need a lot more Level to counteract the resultant drop in perceived volume.

The Drive section, meanwhile, gives you a further five knobs to play with. Of course, Level, Drive and Tone are all present and correct, as is a clean blend – vital on a bass overdrive. The fifth control is ‘Bandwidth’, determining the frequency range in which the clipping is most active; from a softer, warmer low-focused overdrive to a tighter, brighter, treble-focused grit. Or “from Motown to metal”, as EarthQuaker puts it.

Whew – it’s a lot of controls, for sure. But it’s intuitive to use; it’s to EarthQuaker’s credit that it isn’t really necessary to resort to the manual in order to dial-in a great tone. I’m a big fan of this ‘what-you-see-is-what-you-get’ style of user interface on pedals and amps.

It can send you down a rabbit-hole of tweaking – but then, Nakao wanted this pedal to function effectively as an all-in-one portable rig solution, and it's certainly not short of features to that end.

Sounds

Sounds rating: ★★★★½

I plugged the Scrolls directly into my Laney 2x12 powered cab, to sample the ‘analog speaker simulation’ on the DI output – EarthQuaker elected to add some filtering here, to combat the harsh top-end that can blight direct XLR outputs. I began with a passive Jazz Bass, and was instantly taken with the way the EQ made the flat speaker signal full-bodied and characterful.

The Drive section is full of great tones too - especially when combined with the EQ. I found a swathe of chunky, powerful blended overdrive sounds, but with the Gain turned up and less clean signal in the mix, it’ll go far beyond a traditional grit and tip decisively into fuzz territory. This definitely isn't your grandad's bass preamp.

I tend to keep the Bright setting engaged, for the amount of high-frequency definition that I like. Deep, by contrast, needed to be used with care for my setup. It’s a monstrous bass boost; low-end isn’t lacking from the pedal to start with.

It comes into its own when I switch to my StingRay, and am able to augment its aggressive upper-mid with a gut-punch of deep low end.

These two buttons by themselves can work wonders for quick EQ adjustment when switching between different types of bass.

Verdict

The Scrolls can be seriously good fun as a highly tweakable, high-gain overdrive or fuzz, with far more nuanced control of EQ and gain structure than a typical example of those breeds.

But if you want to treat it as a Sansamp alternative, or even a clean preamp with a powerful EQ, it’s no less impressive. It's similarly punchy money to a similarly-featured Darkglass, but a completely different vibe – it's an EarthQuaker, after all.

Nakao's input gives the Scrolls serious credence – on the one hand, he's a bass hero with a unique playing style that calls for an equally characterful-sounding rig. But he's also a session-man; he needs something accomplished, versatile and rugged, which lets him plug straight in and crack on. Objective achieved, I'd say.

Guitar World verdict: The Scrolls really is a fantastic contender in the crowded bass preamp market. It’s got everything that you need in a compact box, with all the useful tones you’d expect from this kind of pedal – plus a healthy slug of EarthQuaker’s characteristic fuzz madness.

Also try

Hands-on videos

EarthQuaker Devices

Empire Music

• “It’s like a Christopher Nolan movie in a pedal. Don’t think – feel”: EarthQuaker Devices Towers review

As Ann Wilson reflects on Heart’s immense legacy, her story unavoidably includes a fair few notable music peers that Wilson and co hung out with during the heady days of the ’80s and ’90s.

“I still remember meeting Jerry in the early-’90s,” Wilson tells Guitar World of her first encounter with Alice in Chains’ Jerry Cantrell.

“There’d been a concert with a bunch of northwest bands playing, and we all ended up out at Nancy’s farm out in Woodinville [Washington]. We were laughing and jamming, and it went on ‘til everybody had drank too much to drive – so everyone just slept there.”

Wilson recalls how she and Jerry were the last ones awake and thought it would be a good idea to clean the house, aided by a bottle of leftover champagne.

“We went down to the stables and fed the horses a bunch of apples – and gave them some champagne. By the time the sun came up, we were friends. There was no weirdness at all. There wasn’t even an age differential that anyone cared about. It was just two musicians together.”

The Heart vocalist goes on to recall a piece of advice that Cantrell imparted back then that she can still remember to this day.

“Jerry’s guitar style is truly original. He once told me, ‘All the bands that are really huge, they figure out what their thing is, then they lean into it hard until people want to puke.’”

She continues, “It was rough language, but I knew what he meant. You just figure out what you’re saying, and you don’t do anything else. That’s what Jerry does. He doesn’t care about notes lined up like a scale. He loves the songs to move around, y’know, kinda fluid. I think he hears way more than seven tones.”

Her bond with Cantrell extended well beyond those encounters. She lent her vocals to the Alice in Chains tracks Brother and Am I Inside from their 1992 Sap EP. Later, she recorded a cover of Rooster, honoring her Seattle roots and the enduring legacy of Alice in Chains.

Wilson’s authorized 2026 documentary film, In My Voice, premiered earlier this year, alongside a North American special screening, and is set for wider release in November.

Guitar World’s upcoming interview with Ann Wilson will be published in the coming weeks.

The Eagles are prolonging their retirement party by extending their stay at the Las Vegas Sphere.

The all-American rock legends are tagging two more dates onto their already record-breaking stint at the venue.

The extra shows, on January 8 and 9 next year, means they’re pulling even further away from the 48-show residency record set by Dead & Company during a thrill-a-minute stay that ended last year.

In total, the band will play 74 shows at the 20,000-capacity venue, spanning 37 weekends.

They’re currently sharing the space with thrash giants Metallica, who kicked off their residency earlier this month and notably, this is one of four extensions to their stay since their first Sphere show.

Don Henley has previously said their Sphere shows, which began on back in 2024, were “a later career blessing” and so they’ll play close to a centenary of shows there. They’ve already played to over a million fans at the venue.

Chris Holt has been part of those performances since January 17, 2025, following Steuart Smith’s retirement, and he didn’t even have to audition for the gig.

Aside from that notable changing of the guard, the shows have been full of highlights so far, not least for giving Joe Walsh an excuse to bring different instruments to the stage, including using a Squier Telecaster to play his solo classic, Rocky Mountain Way (via Reddit). He may even break out his Yamaha Revstar again.

The band has been tweaking their immersive visuals since opening night with one key highlight – spoiler ahead – being Vince Gill’s ‘rooftop’ guitar solo during In the City.

Elsewhere, Roger Waters has come out firing at James Hetfield after his controversial statements made early into the band’s sphere residency which seem to poke fun at the recent fallout surrounding Ed Sheeran’s Loop tour.

And John Mayer – fresh from developing his creative solution to the venue’s noise restrictions with Dead & Company – will reunite his blues trio to return to the venue as a solo artist next year.

Tickets for the Eagles’ record-smashing shows at the Sphere start at $175, and will be the band’s last.

Visit The Sphere for more info.

Ovation is marking its 60th anniversary by reviving one of its most unique electric guitar designs, the Viper.

It was a concept that found a fan in Jeff Buckley. Now it’s been brought into the present day.

Over the years, while guitar recipes have remained broadly conservative, there have been those who have vied to reinvent the wheel.

Ovation, spearheaded by aerospace engineer Charles Kaman, was one of them, first producing an acoustic with a roundback body, before creating a battle axe-shaped guitar that Ace Frehley used across Kiss’ debut album in 1974.

The Viper was first released in the mid-’70s and now returns in two distinct versions, both of which are limited to 60 pieces, for obvious birthday-related reasons.

The new design “captures the spirit of the original”, and has a lightweight, ergonomically-minded body at its core, with plenty of modern specs to boot.

Tonewoods and hardware specs differ between the models. The Viper IV-DTD-G features a basswood body with a maple veneer and a Babicz Fixed Six hardtail bridge. The Viper IV-1-G, on the other hand, features an alder body and a Babicz FCH-2 Point tremolo.

US-made Lace Sensor Hot Gold Dually humbuckers are bolstered with push-pull coil splits.

They’re both 25.5” scale, and have bolt-on maple becks with Java rosewood fingerboards. Those, in turn, are capped with 24 frets and have Black Tusq nuts, with oil-sealed Ovation tuners on their headstocks.

“Ovation has always been at its strongest when we dared to be different,” says Ovation’s Product Manager, Thomas Neuhierl. “For our 60th birthday, we are bringing that courage back to the stage.”

Colorway options are locked. The IV-DTD-G features a Blue Burst, while its snakey sibling is finished in a more natural-looking Honey Burst.

The two new Ovation Viper models – the Viper IV-DTD-G and Viper IV-1-G – come with a gig bag and cost €1,194 apiece (approx. $1,122).

See Ovation for more.

In the influencer age, it’s not uncommon for guitarists to run their own companies. More unusual, however, is for a superstar guitarist to buy the company that has been building his instruments for decades.

In 2019, Muse frontman Matt Bellamy became owner of Manson Guitar Works after 20 years of collaboration with the firm, which operated out of his local guitar shop in Devon, UK.

“I first went into the shop in 1999,” he reflects now. “The first thing I bought was the seven-string that I used for the song Citizen Erased. Then I started designing with them. It feels like forever.”

The British guitar hero is speaking to Guitar World 15 minutes before Manson opens the doors to its new showroom for the first time. The walls are lined with the firm’s modernistic guitars, interspersed with Muse memorabilia and Bellamy’s own stage-ravaged instruments. Industry veterans, influencers and Manson’s most loyal customers are arriving, and shortly, the frontman will join them to sign pictures and pose for photos.

Bellamy, who splits his time between the US and Devon, remains the brand’s most high-profile ambassador. In his hands, Manson guitars are played on the biggest stages in the world. Yet the firm remains a relatively small operation by design.

“I love the guys and girls who work here. It’s an amazing team,” Bellamy says. “As a small business, you have to grow it very carefully. You could easily overblow it, but we’re staying in this wonderful niche that we’re in.”

Manson’s hottest sellers are replicas of Bellamy’s tech-loaded stage guitars, all with outlandish names like 007 and the Delorean, which sell for thousands of pounds. But its larger-scale ambitions are slowly revealing themselves.

Cort manufactures the Meta series in Indonesia, bringing Bellamy’s signature look down to a sub-$900 price point. Tech metal production mainstay Adam ‘Nolly’ Getgood lent his tonal knowhow to the Oryx line: his vision of the ultimate high-gain guitar. Masked metallers President have their own customized Mansons.

Bellamy’s vision for the brand right now is straightforward: keep making high-quality guitars, get them in the right artists’ hands and stay ahead of the curve. Crucially, his passion for guitars shines through.

At 48, Bellamy still has a teenage giddiness when he talks about guitar playing. He lights up when gear or playing philosophies are on the table. And that’s reflected in Muse’s latest album, The Wow! Signal, whose back-to-basics approach has been hailed by fans as their best effort since 2006’s Black Holes and Revelations.

In a rapid-fire conversation, Bellamy let us in on Manson’s plans for a Graham Coxon signature model, the pressure he feels to update his guitar playing with each album, and why Muse can’t stop sneaking Rage Against the Machine riffs into their sets.

Congratulations on seven years at the helm of Manson. What are the trends you’ve observed over that time?

We’ve been lucky that we’ve had an association with the metal scene thanks to people like Nolly. There’s something about that audience that is really solid and stays with you longterm. If we were leaning more on the pop side, it’d be a bit more up and down.

Metal is the real solid audience customer base, but then we started mixing it up with people like Graham Coxon. That was a really nice surprise. That was totally organic. I was in a ’60s covers band with him just for fun [The Jaded Hearts Club Band]. And he saw me playing this thing that looked a little bit like a Telecaster, but he knew it wasn’t. He was like, “What is that? Can I try it out?… This is fucking amazing.” So I got him one as a gift. Then he came down here, and the next thing he’s going to do a signature, which is great.

And then also up-and-coming guitarists like Emi Grace. I reached out to her on Instagram because she kept coming up on my feed, and I thought she was amazing. And I just said, “Do you have a deal with anyone? Would you like to try one of our guitars out?”

I see that as being an expansion for us, getting into some of these Instagram-type influencer guitarists and bass players eventually. Instrumentalists now can create an entire career for themselves without having to be in a band, which is exciting.

Who else have you been checking out on socials?

Ariel Posen. I saw him on Instagram. It’s like slow, deep, dark blues pitched way down with a slide – really, really fucking cool. He’s impressed me.

What gear have you got in the works at the moment?

I’m trying to come up with some new tech to put in the guitars. I’m looking at these AI prompt pedals. I know AI is a bit risky, but we always like to try and be a couple steps ahead. I like the idea of a guitar that you can AI-prompt to sound any way you want, whether it be effects or tone. I don’t know how we’re going to do that yet, but that’s what I’m trying to think about next.

In terms of what we’re working on now, we have the Origin of Symmetry guitar. And then we’ve got the new eight-string Oryx that’s being launched at the moment, and the eight-string I’m using on stage. And then my Wow! Signal guitar, the new red one. It’s got a really nice design and a really nice fretboard. We’re going to launch a [production] version at some point.

How did you find the jump to eight-strings?

I realized how small my hands are! But I really enjoyed it. As soon as you pick it up, you just start playing these riffs that you just never would have thought of before. On the new Muse album, I used it mainly on Unravelling and Shimmering Scars. Those unison riffs with a regular-tuned bass, they just sound massive. It just unlocked a little extra something for Muse.

Let’s talk about The Wow! Signal. One thing that struck me was how it touches on influences from the wider rock world. It references Turnstile, Ghost, even Sleep Token – do you feel pressure to update Muse’s sound with each album?

Yeah, I think you have to. You have to work out what’s going on now and combine that with your sound. You don’t want to just do the new. You want to incorporate that to make it sound like you. Otherwise you’re just going to say the same thing over and over again.

This album was more in tune with earlier Muse than anything else. But it sounds like what we would sound like if we came out today – like, if Muse’s debut album was right now, but we had the emotions and the vibes and everything we were going for in the early three or four albums.

Guitar-wise, when you’ve done 10 albums, it can be tricky to find, “OK, what’s new; what do I do now?” You look at tech, you look at pedals, you look at different guitar tunings or baritone guitars, and sometimes those things can unlock different ideas.

You emerged pretty much fully formed as a guitar player, right from the very first Muse EP. Who was inspiring you?

At the very beginning, it was Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton in Cream. Obviously, Kurt Cobain. But really where I was heading, I think, is Tom Morello and the Edge from U2: I was going for somewhere between those two. I wanted to do weird sounds like Tom Morello but I also liked the Edge’s shimmering atmospherics. And both were Whammy users, and I did a lot of Whammy work in the early years.

Manson has issued a run of Origin of Symmetry guitars and Fuzz Factory pedals with Z.Vex. How did you first discover that pedal?

I was in a shop in Tokyo. It must have been in ’99/2000. I can’t remember the name of it, but it had racks of pedals. I was looking at all the weird ones, and that one sounded amazing. I had to have it.

I literally used it that night in the show. At the end of every song, I would just get down there [on my pedalboard] and make noises, and I was like, “I need this on the guitar.” [Bellamy has since incorporated the circuit into many of his onstage guitars – Ed.]

The last time we spoke, you’d just bought Jeff Buckley’s Telecaster. How has your relationship with that guitar evolved since then?

It might be a crime against humanity, but I have used it a fair bit on these albums. I have secretly slipped it in in a few unusual places: a couple of heavy riffs, a couple of pokey parts. It was on Shimmering Scars, and I used it on Reach Out [I’ll Be There], which is the main song that streams for Jaded Hearts Club.

It’s a frightening guitar. It’s got such a history to it. But the tone is genuinely unique. The pickups, for some reason, were slightly out of phase, and it makes it sound super-glassy, like a piano. It’s got such clarity of definition between the notes, which you can hear on the [Buckley] album Grace.

I had these guys [at Manson] doing an analysis, and they did a whole report on it. I think it would be a nice idea to do something based on that at some point. We obviously couldn’t do the shape, but we could do something that’s inspired by the tone of it. Trying to work out the exact science of how to recreate that would be interesting.

Muse are well-known for sneaking riffs by other bands into your set – from Deftones to Rage Against the Machine. How did that first come about?

It started because we love those riffs. And I wished I could have been a metal singer – a harder singer. My voice is just a bit soft, so it was always going to push us towards alt-rock rather than hard rock. If I could have done Zack de la Rocha, I would. If I could have done Nirvana, I would. But I didn’t have that voice.

You have to have a certain voice for certain types of riffs and certain types of songs, I think. And so sometimes, just out of sheer frustration with my own ability to sing over that music, I’d finish a song and go, “I wish I was in Rage Against the Machine!” It really was just an homage to our influences, but also a chance for me to just pretend I was in that band for a minute while I was on stage when actually I’m in Muse.

There are some blistering runs and two-hand tapping moments on the new album – do you still sit down and practice?

When I’m making a record, I do. I’m always trying to find something to do that’s pushing me a little bit. But having said that, I’m not the most technical player. I never spent years doing scales and runs, and I never studied the intricacies of sweep picking like Yngwie Malmsteen. I saw Yngwie, and I was like, “I’m never gonna get there.”

I have huge admiration for technical players, but I don’t personally have the patience to get to that level. I like having a bit of it, but not quite enough of it. I like some of the struggle that comes out in my playing. I think there’s some humanity in it, and I also like the fuck-offness of making mistakes and running out of steam sometimes. That doesn’t bother me.

I like the rawness, like Kurt Cobain: the struggle, the pain, but also the imperfection of it. Jimi Hendrix had elements of that – the chaos was allowed to happen. If you embrace that, you’re deliberately letting go of the technical precision. I try and balance both.

Who is your dream Manson endorsee?

I would have loved to get Turnstile, but that might be too late. Tom Morello would have been number one, but that was before our time. But someone like him.

For bass players, Charles Berthoud and Danny Sapko. I’m sure Charles has deals coming out of his ears coming from every bass company in the world. But if I could convince him to come here and just do whatever it takes to make him the best bass ever, I know it would be the best bass ever because I think he’s the best bass player ever.

Don’t let Chris Wolstenholme hear you say that.

Apart from Chris, obviously. Chris is the best bass player – for Muse!

• For more information, head to Manson Guitar Works.

This Jazz Bass was made in February 1964 and it features a Tangerine Sparkle metal flake finish sunburst with a matching headstock. Besides that, it has a maple neck, an alder body, a green nitrate pickguard and a nicely figured rosewood fretboard with clay knots. In other words, all the earlier desirable pre-CBS features are included, plus a one-of-a-kind finish.

It has a very thin ‘A’ neck, and everything on the inside is perfect. We had to do a refret when we got it because it did not play particularly well with the frets that were on there. They were not the originals, so we redid it properly and it plays wonderfully now. In fact, I would say it’s one of the best basses of any kind we’ve ever had in the shop – and whenever a really good bassist comes in, it’s the one we give [customers] for testing bass amplifiers.

The neck plays really evenly all the way down, and there are some particularly good pickups on this one. They’re very well balanced and they have a true ring to them. The neck pickup cover is a vintage-style replacement, but when I find an original, I’ll put it on.

I don’t really have much history on this bass. I didn’t get it from anybody famous and I acquired it when stuff like this was very inexpensive. I bought it out on the West Coast from a friend of mine maybe 15 years ago and it came in its original white case.

The playability is amazing. I mean, sometimes you just know when an instrument is ‘The One’ the second you pick it up. You can often tell from the weight or the balance, and every aspect of this bass has that quality. Judging by the condition of the paintwork, whoever owned it obviously felt the same way because it has been played and played and played. The finish is especially worn on the back and a lot of wood has been exposed.

Popular folklore says that Fender used hot-rod and car body shops for sparkle finishes, and I’m sure they did. I think Fender just asked sprayers for a rate for painting bodies and if one said they’d be able to do it for $20 and somebody else was $18, they would give the job to the cheaper guy.

Fender was using a Binks Model 7 spray gun with a suction cup, but the pressure was insufficient to pull up larger metal flakes. The hot-rod shops used gravity-fed paint guns and Fender didn’t get those until 1966.

If forced to guess, I would say Dennis Swiden sprayed this finish because he had access to paint with very heavy and large metal flakes and he also owned the specialist equipment needed to spray it. Dennis did spray cars, but he was more of a furniture painter who worked out of his parents’ shop.

He was friends with some people at Fender and he used to come to the factory – often parking in George Fullerton’s spot – and load up the trunk of his car with bodies.

After he had sprayed them with sparkle finishes, Dennis would then bring the bodies back to Fender for assembly. Dennis’s style was different and he had a very definite way of doing things that became very popular among surf-rockers and Bakersfield country players.

The sunburst on the headstock is particularly unusual, and that provides another clue that this is a Dennis paint job. I had an Aqua Mist Jazzmaster from ’59 that had a matching headstock just like it but in aqua and green. Back then, Dennis was the only one who was doing anything like that because matching headstocks weren’t even a thing on Fenders until early 1962. The headstocks on this bass and the Jazzmaster were painted in exactly the same way.

In pictures it looks like there’s a grey primer coat, but it’s actually silver metallic. The middle is gold, but I have a feeling it could have been silver and turned gold as the clear lacquer aged. And the sunburst was created with red sprayed around the edges.

The red could have been transparent or metallic and it looks amazing. Either way, I’ve never seen anything quite like that. I’ve kept this bass for a long time and I’m probably asking too much for it. Maybe I’ll come down eventually, but it’s the only one there is, so I’m not rushing to sell it.

• Vintage guitar veteran David Davidson owns Well Strung Guitars in Farmingdale, New York / 001 (516) 221-0563
• This article first appeared in Guitarist. Subscribe and save.

PRS has made a major play in the metal guitar market by introducing the Tekton lineup.

Dubbed “a whole new family of guitars”, the Tektons fill a gap in the PRS catalog and look to go toe to toe with the heavyweights of the metal guitar world.

The Maryland brand is no stranger to heavy music. Mark Tremonti, Mark Holcomb, and Herman Li are all PRS artists who have signature guitars designed for hard rock, metal and shred.

Some of the specs rolled out here will be familiar, too. Floyd Rose tremolos and seven-string configurations are available in the PRS lineup.

But PRS says the Tekton family has been purpose-built from the ground-up to meet a very specific design brief: to be the most modern spec’d electric guitars they can be, “designed for the most technical of modern players”.

The company has therefore pulled no punches: radical body carves, ultra-thin neck profiles, longer scale lengths, and all-new Stylus pickups engineered to get the most out of digital rigs.

Four Tektons are available: the OG hardtail, ‘T’ two-point tremolo, “Floyd” Floyd Rose trem, and “SVN” seven-string. Each features a new Tekton body silhouette that is a halfway house between the Custom 24 and Vela designs.

But while the shape itself might not be too radical, PRS has compensated for that with the contouring. The belly carve is huge, and the neck heel is heavily sculpted. It is the thinnest body PRS has ever designed.

Elsewhere, the bolt-on maple necks – also the thinnest that PRS has ever made in standard production – feature a 16” radius ebony fingerboard with stainless steel frets. 16” is a new one for PRS, and this is the first time the company has used stainless steel frets, too.

Notably, the Tektons feature the same string spacing found on John Mayer’s Silver Sky and Mark Lettieri’s Fiore. Slightly wider than usual PRS guitars, it’s said to be better for sweeps, arpeggios and precise pick attack.

The Bird inlays have also been ditched for offset dots and Luminlay side dots. The necks feature hormigo strength rods for stability and resonance, taking cues from the carbon fiber rods found in Li’s Chleo signature.

As for tonewoods, the Tekton “Floyd” has an all-alder body, while the others have mahogany backs with highly flamed mango tops.

PRS has also debuted its new Stylus humbuckers. Complete with coil-splitting, they feature alnico 5 magnets and are voiced for “clarity, articulation and character”.

They promise to deliver “aggressive tones without sacrificing note definition”, and that improved definition is said to be present whether playing through an amp or a modern modeling rig.

Interestingly, they offer a flatter output than most humbuckers in a bid to cater to digital gear. Given that much of modern metal music is recorded using digital modelers, it makes sense, but this might be the first time we’ve seen a mainstream brand build a pickup with modelers in mind.

The flatter output offers some of its own character, but the aim of the game here is to keep your amp and modeler tones fully intact.

“These pickups are exceedingly well-judged – crisp, clear delivery that lets your carefully dialed tones shine through,” Guitar World's review of the Tekton T notes.

“The output doesn’t overpower a clean signal, and helps to keep higher gain tight and defined, with great string separation.”

It’s a big move from PRS. For a firm largely associated with classic builds, the Tektons represent a radical lane change.

“This is not just introducing a new model. We are planting a flag for a whole new family of guitars,” PRS Director of Sales Jim Cullen says. “Since day one, PRS has been built around a combination of player feedback and our experience as guitar makers.

“Listening to musicians while continually refining our craft has helped us create instruments that serve as tools for a wide range of players. Over the years, we have heard a growing call for more modern spec’d PRS guitars. The Tekton is our answer to that call.”

Price-wise, the Tekton and Tekton T will list for $2,899, while the Floyd and SVN variants will be priced at $2,999.

Read our full review of the Tekton T and Tekton SVN models, and head over to PRS Guitars to find out more.

What is it?

You might already have seen our review of the brand new PRS Tekton T – part of the launch of “a whole new family of guitars”, to quote its maker.

The Tekton range is a serious new proposition, the most overtly modern, possibly even metal guitar range of that we’ve seen from PRS yet, aimed at the contemporary guitarist and built to integrate perfectly with contemporary gear including digital amp modelers.

Being designed for high-performance modern rock and metal guitar at the outset, the specter of extended range must have loomed large over the development process.

A seven-string Tekton will surely have been planned from the start, given how prominent sevens are in those styles. And we've seen seven-strings from PRS before, of course – most notably with the name of Periphery's Mark Holcomb attached – but it’s fair to say that we've not seen anything quite like this from the brand yet.

For a start, as well as being the first USA-built production seven-string, this is PRS's first seven at any price point with a bolt-on neck, bringing it further into the space occupied by various shred-esque models from seven-string pioneer Ibanez.

Then there's the shape – the basis of the new Tekton silhouette is actually the vintage-inspired PRS Vela, but with lots of tweaks. The end result is the thinnest body and neck design that the company has ever put into series production.

Specs

• Launch price: $2,999 | £2,999
• Made: USA
• Type: Seven-string electric guitar
• Body: Mahogany with figured mango top
• Neck: Maple, satin nitrocellulose finish, Modern D profile
• Fingerboard material/radius: Ebony, 16” radius
• Scale length: 26.5”/673mm
• Nut/width: PRS composite, 48.4mm
• Frets: 24, jumbo, stainless steel
• Hardware: PRS Phase III locking tuners, PRS 7-string Hardtail bridge
• String spacing at bridge: 64mm
• Electrics: PRS Stylus bridge and neck humbuckers, 3-way pickup selector, Volume and push-pull Tone control (for coil split)
• Weight: 6.6lb/3kg
• Options: Fixed-bridge Tekton six-string, Tekton T six-string with PRS two-point vibrato, Tekton Floyd six-string with Floyd Rose vibrato
• Left-handed options: N/A
• Finishes: Black Tourmaline (as reviewed), Slate Blue, Imperial Topaz, Violet Tourmaline, Bloodstone Red, Fuchsia Aura
• Case: PRS Premium gig bag (included)
• Contact: PRS Guitars

Build quality

Build quality rating: ★★★★★

And doesn’t that shape look great? Just as with the Tekton T, the aesthetic – and build quality – really impresses. The carved mango top is just as beautifully flamed, and the elegant slimmed-down shape is purposeful without looking over-cooked.

I hinted at scale length above - in today’s world of down-tuning, the industry-standard 25.5” scale adopted for the six-string Tekton models wasn’t really going to cut it for the seventh string. In common with several modern-day rivals (and, indeed, its cheaper stablemate, the SE Mark Holcomb SVN), the scale length here is 26.5”.

This is useful for seven-string as it allows that low B to stay clearer and tighter, especially if you plan on dropping it down to A – or beyond. For a seven-string guitar intended for technical rhythm and lead guitar alike, this scale length is probably the ideal compromise.

The Tekton’s new Stylus pickups make their way over to seven-string, promising the same detail and transparency as the six-strings. The SVN also boasts a substantial-feeling string-through hardtail bridge and, again, a set of PRS ‘Phase III’ lightweight locking tuners.

Playability

Playability rating: ★★★★½

The contoured back and subtly offset shape allows the SVN to sit very comfortably against the player’s body. There’s the same gripe as with the T – a slightly uncomfortable hard edge to the mango top where it meets the forearm but, other than that, there’s little to complain about ergonomically. And even despite the extra wood involved in making it a longer-scale seven-string, the SVN is similarly lightweight to the Tekton T.

The Tekton SVN’s neck handles its extra string and extra inch of scale length with aplomb. The maple is left unpainted and, as seven-string necks go, it’s up there with the most comfortable we’ve tried.

The shoulders feel just slightly less pronounced; the resultant perception is of a shallower profile, despite the quoted depth measurements being identical.

It’s a wonderfully accommodating seven-string, which otherwise feels very similar to its sibling – the neck feels barely any bigger, and you’ll fly up and down the fretboard with all the same abandon.

As expected, the extra length makes the high strings marginally less forgiving for bends and vibrato, but for many seven-string players, that’s a trade-off worth making.

Sounds

Sounds rating: ★★★★★

The Stylus humbuckers impressed first time round with their clarity and punch – important attributes for seven-strings. For low tunings especially, you need less gain than you think, so a cooler-output humbucker (with coil-splitting available) is often the best way. And so it proves to be – the pickups are brilliant here too.

True to the Tekton series’s modern ethos, I focused primarily on my Line 6 HX Stomp, running through compressed cleans and crunchy overdrive, to contemporary extreme metal tones based on Mesa/Boogie, Soldano and Peavey amp models. This proved to be a lot of fun, prompting an instant flurry of riff-writing. There’s something to be said for that.

The full humbucker is, again, very clear and defined, with plenty of top end detail and great string separation, thanks in part to the medium output. It keeps clean sounds clean, and keeps even heavy distortion sounding tight and full. And the split-coil sounds are especially good, with low notes taking on a formidable, wiry snarl.

Whether split or full, though, the 7-string Stylus humbuckers combine with the longer scale to create a tight, percussive and balanced sound – fabulous for technical drop-tuned metal riffs, of course, but far from a one-trick pony. You could easily slot this guitar into a diverse range of settings and not feel limited.

Verdict

I said of the Tekton T that it was easily the best PRS yet, ergonomically, and the same rings true of its seven-string sibling - even with the longer scale and the wider neck, which could easily have made it feel unwieldy and difficult, it’s a fantastically playable guitar.

Then there’s the tone – the Stylus humbuckers repeat their trick, providing a supremely balanced and versatile suite of sounds that needn’t pigeonhole the SVN as a metal guitar at all, if your tastes lie elsewhere.

At its price, it’s likely to appeal mainly to serious seven-stringers who know exactly what they want, but even those less familiar with sevens may find a lot to like here.

Guitar World verdict: For its first USA production seven-string, PRS needed to come out swinging in order to justify an inevitably serious price point; the brand has certainly achieved that with the SVN. This is a truly fantastic instrument; real care has gone into making the Tekton work seamlessly with an extra string.

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• “There’s more ‘Fender’ to Fiore and more ‘Gibson’ to the SE DGT… Inspiring guitars from inspiring players”: PRS Fiore HH and SE DGT Standard review

What is it?

One could argue that PRS didn't need to come up with “a guitar aimed at “the most discerning, technical players” (they're not just 'metal guitars'), contemporary musical styles and cutting-edge gear setups, as this has been the company's bread and butter for decades.

Even the very first production PRS, the Custom 24, remains immensely desirable among modern guitarists – decades since it was designed.

So a more explicitly contemporary addition to the range could easily look like overkill; it needs to stand apart usefully from the Custom, rather than just packing in a bunch of gimmicks nobody asked for - or it mightn’t be worth the risk at all.

The company has decided to meet the challenge head-on, though, and here's the result – the Tekton range. There are four models, and this is the Tekton T – a six-string with the classic PRS vibrato.

Specs

• Launch price: $$2,899 | £2,899
• Made: USA
• Type: Six-string electric guitar 
• Body: Mahogany with figured mango top
• Neck: Maple, satin nitrocellulose finish, Modern D profile
• Fingerboard material/radius: Ebony, 16” radius
• Scale length: 25.5”/648mm 
• Nut/width: PRS composite, 42.8mm
• Frets: 24, jumbo, stainless steel
• Hardware: PRS Phase III locking tuners, PRS two-point vibrato
• Electrics: PRS Stylus bridge and neck humbuckers, 3-way pickup selector, Volume and push-pull Tone control (for coil split)
• Options: Fixed-bridge Tekton six-string, Tekton Floyd six-string, Tekton SVN seven-string
• Left-handed options: N/A 
• Finishes: Bloodstone Red (as reviewed), Slate Blue, Imperial Topaz, Black Tourmaline, Violet Tourmaline, Fuchsia Aura
• Case: PRS Premium gig bag (included)
• Contact: PRS Guitars

Build quality

Build quality rating: ★★★★½

The Tekton shape is a slimmed-down, sharpened combination of the tried-and-tested Custom 24 and the offset Vela. It’s a really successful design; it still looks very much like a PRS, but modernised appropriately. Purposeful and elegant, it wouldn’t look out of place on a modern metal stage – but it needn't frighten away those with more classic tastes either.

The back and sides of the mahogany body are painted a glossy metallic grey - a slightly odd-looking choice against the deep red top and satin black neck, but this varies by color choice.

Either way, there’s abundant contouring and a slim, sculpted bolt-on neck joint - worlds away from the oversized heel of a Custom 24, more reminiscent of something like Ibanez’s All-Access Neck Joint. These are claimed to be the slimmest bodies and necks that PRS has ever put into production; the Tekton T is, indeed, wonderfully lightweight.

The ‘Shallow Violin’ carved top is mango wood, which PRS is liking currently; after the trees’ long and productive fruit-bearing lives are behind them, the mature wood is harvested as timber and it’s sustainable and high-quality – often beautifully figured too, as here.

The six-string Tektons move away from the trademark 25” PRS scale length – it’s a Fender-familiar 25.5” instead. All models have 24-fret ebony fingerboards, and they all feature stainless steel fretwire too - de rigueur for many a modern guitar, and you can bet that there'd have been complaints otherwise.

Hardware-wise, the solidity one expects from PRS is here in abundance. The Tekton T utilizes the company’s venerable two-point vibrato, and a set of its latest Phase III locking tuners; there's nothing to worry about whatsoever with any of that.

Playability

Playability rating: ★★★★½

The contoured back and subtly offset shape allows the Tekton T to balance well and sit very comfortably. If there’s anything wrong with the ergonomics, it would be that the carved top creates a hard edge to the body where it meets the picking arm; it’s not as comfortable as a more traditional Strat-style elbow contour.

However, the Tekton T’s neck profile is a shredder's delight. The maple is reinforced with hormigo, a dense hardwood, for extra stability, and PRS describes this neck design as ‘thin but substantial’, which does get the point across – fans of Jackson and Charvel should feel at home.

The D-shaped carve feels nicely supportive, whether your hand is positioned for wide bends and vibrato or for fast scale runs. As you’d hope for this price, the finishing and fretwork are perfect too.

The PRS two-point floating vibrato is a tried-and-tested piece of hardware, and brings its usual functionality here. It’s great for expressive phrasing but, if silly noises are your bag, it can gargle and shriek with the best of ‘em too.

If, like me, you’ve ever struggled to gel with the ergonomics of more traditional PRS models, you’ll likely find the Tekton range to be a dramatic improvement.

Sounds

Sounds rating: ★★★★★

The Tekton range debuts a new pickup for PRS, too. Each model employs two Alnico 5-powered, modern-voiced Stylus humbuckers. It was decreed during development that these pickups should sound just as good with a digital-amp modeling setup as with a valve amp. That means a balanced frequency response, and a little less output - in theory, giving clarity and punch without sacrificing too much character.

I fired up a contemporary digital rig (my small pedalboard designed to run direct, built around a Line 6 HX Stomp), and cycled through some varied settings - majoring on more modern sounds, as that's the idea.

Right away, these pickups are exceedingly well-judged – crisp, clear delivery that lets your carefully-dialed tones shine through. The output doesn’t overpower a clean signal, and helps to keep higher gain tight and defined, with great string separation.

It’s exactly what you’d want from a modern, two-humbucker guitar – sounding highly accomplished for anything from function-band sets to tracking modern metal riffs.

The split-coil sounds are excellent too – with more than enough punch and a useful change in character that opens up even more versatility – from tight, defined single-coil rock tones to glassy cleans.

Verdict

Price-wise, the Tekton range will sit near the other USA-built, bolt-on PRS range, the CE series – and it’s an ideal alternative, for those seeking a more overtly modern guitar.

The new Stylus pickups fit their brief admirably, with superbly balanced, defined tones, while the ergonomics are the best of any PRS model yet, by far. It's versatile, too – a guitar that truly will work for a multitude of styles.

This guitar truly does bring PRS's design philosophy right up to date, and it'll surely become a serious player in the high-end rock guitar market.

Guitar World verdict: Far from a mere phoned-in ‘modern’ rework of an existing model, the Tekton is all-new and feels it; it’s been put together with real care and attention to what today's guitarists need. If you've been waiting for a progressive, contemporary reimagining of the PRS blueprint, here it is.

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• “There’s more ‘Fender’ to Fiore and more ‘Gibson’ to the SE DGT… Inspiring guitars from inspiring players”: PRS Fiore HH and SE DGT Standard review

John Mayer has an exceptional nose for guitar talent. In the past, he’s championed the likes of Madison Cunningham, Justus West and George Collins.

Therefore, when he dishes out praise, you know it’s reserved for the best of the best. And in a recent interview with Guitar World, he heaped acclaim on a British guitar ace who’s racking up quite the list of admirers.

“Chris Buck,” Mayer replies when asked who he’s listening to at the moment. “He’s great. He’s freaking phenomenal. The guy’s bending? He’s curving the bullet.”

The Cardinal Black guitarist is one of the hottest blues-rock stars working the circuit. His ultra-melodic style, which pivots between fingerstyle and pick action, brims with tastefulness and a vocal sensibility.

But his technique, particularly his bending, is top class. Mayer is particularly in awe of the way Buck is able to use the same tools at everyone’s disposal but go beyond the confines of the fretboard. It’s a skill that only the very best can master.

“They bend a little bit, but ultimately, you have six vertical lines and 22 horizontal lines,” Mayer adds. “If you can make your instrument sound like it’s circular, like it’s a ball, I’m done.

“Bill Evans played the piano as if you never saw a piano before. You would not think that that’s the instrument he was playing on. That’s even harder to do. He only had pressure, velocity, and could curve the bullet.

“It’s like, I love baseball pitchers because they can do things with a baseball that you can’t imagine. Those are physics. I love people who just have this other take on the physics of the instrument.”

Mayer isn’t the only one who has singled out Buck for praise. Guns N’ Roses guitar hero Slash is also a big admirer. In fact, he was so impressed by his playing that he helped Cardinal Black solve their visa issues when they were planning their first US tour last year.

Elsewhere in his Guitar World interview, Mayer listed the other contemporary guitar heroes that he’s currently listening to.

“I saw Marcus King playing with MonoNeon,” he reveals. “There’s a band called Improvement Movement that blew me away.

“In terms of guitar players, when Bill Frisell plays, I don’t scroll. When Charlie Hunter plays, I don’t scroll. I don’t scroll when I see Blake Mills play. I don’t scroll when I see Doyle Bramhall play, or when Julian Lage plays.”

Mayer was speaking to Guitar World about his newest Silver Sky collaboration with Land Rover Defender – which, as the timeline confirms, was not a dig at Fender.

Gibson is honoring Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ five-decade legacy with a limited-edition 50th Anniversary Flying V, inspired by the iconic Heartbreakers logo featured on the band’s self-titled 1976 debut album.

Dubbed the “Flying Five,” the collection features a quintet of distinctive finishes. Only 50 guitars will be produced in each color worldwide.

“The Heartbreakers logo has been part of the band’s identity since the first album, so seeing Gibson reinterpret it through the Flying V 50th anniversary edition feels overdue, as they have been part of the story since the beginning,” comments Adria Petty, Tom Petty’s daughter.

“The V was an essential part of the imagery onstage for my dad as well as the band rose to fame in the 1970’s.

“The collection honors Tom and the Heartbreakers’ history while giving musicians and fans a new way to carry that spirit forward.”

Built with a mahogany body and matching neck, the 50th anniversary model pairs the classic V silhouette with the Heartbreakers’ legacy.

It features a SlimTaper neck and rosewood fretboard with a 12" radius, 22 medium jumbo frets, and acrylic dot inlays. The guitar also boasts a mother-of-pearl Gibson headstock logo, Grover Rotomatic tuners, and a Graph Tech nut.

Tribute touches come by way of the Heartbreaker 50th truss rod cover, a reproduction of Tom Petty’s signature on the back of the headstock, and, of course, those five gloss nitrocellulose lacquer finishes: Gainesville Gold, Graphite Metallic, Heartbreaker Red, Pearl White Metallic and Pelham Blue.

Other specs include a pair of ’70s Tribute humbucker pickups, individual volume controls, a master tone control with an Orange Drop capacitor, and a three-way pickup selector.

Finishing touches include the gold-plated hardware, which includes an aluminum Nashville Tune-O-Matic bridge and Stop Bar tailpiece.

The Tom Petty Flying V 50th Anniversary guitars and accompanying apparel are now available at Gibson Garage locations and online.

For more information, head to Gibson.

“Chill the fuck out – stop playing so many fucking notes.” These were the pivotal words Russian Circles guitarist Mike Sullivan recalls hearing from drummer Dave Turncrantz during their first-ever practice in 2004. The pair attended high school together in St. Louis, Missouri, where they played in a punk band. Years later, when their respective projects eventually broke up, they got together again.

There was no grand manifesto for Russian Circles. “Just old friends playing together,” Sullivan recalls. “It was a blast. We didn’t go in with preconceptions of style or sound. We just jammed it out.” That first practice produced their first song, and the experience “informed the whole identity for the band” – hypnotic, cinematic, cataclysmic.

Now, after more than two decades of making loop-based instrumental post-metal with Russian Circles, Sullivan has developed a nuanced relationship with the natural instinct to complicate things. “We always want to get fancier,” he observes.

“Guitar players have an overactive mind. They’re always thinking: ‘The second time, I’ll deviate.’ Some things are fun to play, but they’re not fun to listen to. As guitar players, we tend to write things that are fun to play; we’re not writing music for guitar players.”

Russian Circles are built around repetition, dynamics and breathing room: riffs that sound heavier by simply leaving space around them. Latest studio album Nine prioritizes restraint over embellishment. Sullivan describes the writing process as stripping away the “funny business” and getting down to the “meat and potatoes.”

He often gravitates to “ignorant chugs” because “they’re particularly gratifying to play live” – yet there are moments on Nine that pull satisfyingly hard in the opposite direction. One of the most striking departures is Arlette, a delicate acoustic piece he calls his “first attempt at writing a classical song.”

He explains: “I’ve been drawn to that genre. It’s so expressive – you have multiple voices at once, and you don’t need your bandmates around to have several moving lines at once.”

He traces his fascination back more than 20 year, to classical guitarist John Williams and a piece that left a lasting impression. “His Mikis Theodorakis: Epitafios No. 3 is just a beautifully sad song.” But again, he isn’t interested in classical guitar as a vehicle for technical showmanship: “I just like to lean into the more somber melodies.”

That explains Sullivan’s attraction to dissonance. The song Empath uses uncomfortable intervals as a compositional tool to evoke a visceral response. “Dissonance is such an immediate, effective way of eliciting emotion,” he says. “Then it hits you even harder when the catchy riff comes back in.”

That philosophy is central to understanding Russian Circles: their music is not just something to listen to, but something to feel. They don’t create heaviness by turning everything up to 11; their carefully-crafted loops ensure every element has somewhere to sit and take hold.

While their soundscapes can be overwhelmingly dense, the beating heart behind the layers is clarity of tone. “Clarity is important,” notes Sullivan. “When you’re stacking loops and using a lot of distortion, it may seem like a paradox to have an articulate distorted tone.

“If something is too compressed from the pickups, the loops don’t seem to stack as well. It kind of crumbles – it gets muddy. My whole thing since day one is fighting muddiness. To this day I have not used the same pedalboard on two tours.” He’s days away from a North American tour, but says his current ’board is a mess.

“There’s a Metal Zone on there for the first time,” he enthuses. “I’m using its parametric EQ to find the one frequency that isn’t being hammered, and putting that forward so I can hear the line on top of the loops.” His also has a DigiTech Drop, Strymon TimeLine, T-Rex Image Looper, Whammy Ricochet, Strymon Dig and an Electric Eye Cannibal Unicorn distortion.

He’s always used super-high headroom amps, switching from the Verellen Meat Smoke to the Hiwatt DR103 after the bulk of the band’s gear was stolen on tour in 2021.

Using such a variety of tunings, you’d be forgiven for expecting him to take almost as many guitars as pedals on the road. But he explains: “I just bring one guitar and force it through every tuning possible. It’s easier. I’ll go through almost every song adjusting one string up or down. I use super-floppy strings, 11 to 58. That seems to work for me.”

The guitar in question is a green Dunable Gnarwhal, with a Gibson-like scale comparable to his old Les Paul. It features a mahogany body and neck paired with a maple top, while its two DiMarzio humbuckers – a PAF 26th Anniversary and a Joe Duplantier Fortitude – can be coil-tapped.

It’s quite a departure from his first guitar, a red Squier Stratocaster bought for him and his brother to share, but when his sibling later got an Ibanez with humbuckers, Sullivan immediately noticed the difference.

His fixation with pedals and pickups was born, leading him to his first effects pedal purchase, the celebrated Boss HM-2. “I didn’t know it would become such an iconic pedal in years to come,” he laughs. “It was just good to crank it and drive my parents crazy.”

Today he owns a host of clones rather than his original HM-2 – “You have to find what works for the song, not your ego,” he reflects. But as Russian Circles take their meticulously-crafted soundscapes back on the road, his mission remains exactly what it was in 2004: stripping away the unnecessary, embracing the clarity, and letting the music breathe.

“I love shredding,” he says. “There’s so many great guitar players that do it properly. But that’s not my lane, so I stay out of it.”

• Russian Circles are on tour until November 21.

With Scott Ian and Charlie Benante sitting in with Guitar World to talk about the making of Anthrax's Cursum Perficio, then only to float the idea that it could be their last, we go digging through their back catalog for an album-by-album guide to one of thrash's Big Four.

Fist Full of Metal [Megaforce, 1984]

Anthrax’s debut didn’t reinvent the proverbial (and very new) thrash wheel, but it’s every bit as riffy and heavy as anything else from the era. Soldiers of Metal is memorable, as is the cover of Alice Cooper’s I’m Eighteen. But what makes this record stand out is that it’s the only one to feature Neil Turbin on vocals and Danny Lilker on bass.

What’s more, original guitarist Greg Walls, who doesn’t play on the record, claimed he “wrote the whole album.” All in all, the mighty ‘thrax hadn’t found their footing yet.

Lead Guitarist: Dan Spitz

Key Track: Soldiers of Metal

Spreading the Disease [Island, 1985]

Much like Fist, the cover of Anthrax’s second record featured a random person looking, er, uncomfortable. Also present are tons of massive riffs and chords via Scott Ian and boatloads of shred-heavy solos from Dan Spitz.

That’s all good, as was the fact that this record kicked off the so-called “classic” Anthrax lineup, featuring Frank Bello on bass and Joey Belladonna on vocals. Madhouse, Aftershock and Lone Justice show Anthrax making strides.

Lead Guitarist: Dan Spitz

Key Track: Madhouse

Among the Living [Megaforce, 1987]

Here we have the start of Anthrax’s halcyon era that earned them “Big Four of Thrash Metal” status. A couple of years of the aforementioned classic lineup pounding the pavement and collecting riffs and hard-charging melodies set to mass destruction led to seething cuts like Indians, Caught in a Mosh and I Am the Law.

It also didn’t hurt that guitar-producing legend Eddie Kramer twirled the knobs for this one, leading to further sonic expansion and exploration.

What did hurt was that while Anthrax were on tour with Metallica in 1986, Cliff Burton was killed in a bus crash in Sweden. The record was ultimately dedicated to Burton.

Lead Guitarist: Dan Spitz

Key Track: Caught in a Mosh

State of Euphoria [Megaforce, 1988]

Anthrax’s fourth record might not have been as critically acclaimed as Among the Living. Still, it was their most commercially successful record to date.

It’s not hard to see why, as the commercially viable vibes intersect with Ian and Spitz’s knack for taking punk roots and merging them with traditional metal sensibilities, leading to cuts like Make Me Laugh and Antisocial, which, for many fans’ money, are among the band’s best songs on their greatest album.

Lead Guitarist: Dave Spitz

Key Track: Antisocial

Persistence of Time [Megaforce, 1990]

So, about the “greatest album” statement from a second ago… fans of Anthrax’s 1990 offering might have a word or two to say about that. This record showed maturity and an evolution of musicianship and sound – which was well-timed, as the grunge and alt-rock movement was right around the corner, waiting to pull the rug out from under ’80s rock bands.

Got the Tim”(a Joe Jackson cover), Belly of the Beast and In My World showed growth, leading to a Grammy nomination for Best Metal Performance. But none of this was enough to keep the core lineup together, making this Belladonna’s last record with Anthrax until 2011.

Lead Guitarist: Dan Spitz

Key Track: Got the Time

Sound of White Noise [Elektra, 1993]

Ah yes. The start of the John Bush era. Bush was no Belladonna, but this wasn’t the Anthrax of old in most respects, as Sound saw the band doing what many of their ilk did – make an “alternative metal” album.

This was just a fancy way of saying, “We’re trying to compete with Pearl Jam and Nirvana.” Spitz and Ian still tear it up on Only and Black Lodge. But if pure thrash is your thing, this album probably isn’t for you.

Lead Guitarist: Dan Spitz

Key Track: Only

Stomp 442 [Elektra, 1995]

Yet again, Stomp 442 saw Anthrax venturing away from what made them… Anthrax. This time, New York’s favorite thrash sons dropped the grunge vibes in favor of groove metal, which was in vogue, thanks to Pantera. The record lacks a certain sonic quality because Spitz had left, but Dimebag Darrell was there to lend a hand.

Lead Guitarists: Paul Crook, Dimebag Darrell, Zach Throne, Mike Tempesta

Key Track: King Size

Volume 8: The Threat Is Real [Ignition, 1998]

For Anthrax’s next offering, which marked the end of their major-label days, they tapped into another flavor of the day: nu-metal. Admittedly, it’s kind of weird to see one of the all-time thrash greats trying to compete with Limp Bizkit, but people gotta eat and keep the lights on, right?

Anthrax still hadn’t hired a proper replacement for Spitz, so Dimebag Darrell popped into the studio to help again, as did Paul Crook. The result is a weird album that features some unique moments, including Inside Out and Born Again Idiot.

Lead Guitarists: Dimebag Darrell, Paul Crook

Key Track: Inside Out

We’ve Come for You All [Sanctuary, 2003]

For Bush’s final act with Anthrax, he and his bandmates unfurrowed We’ve Come for You All, which came after a five-year break. And while the ’90s was over, Anthrax’s dabbling with alt-metal, groove metal and nu-metal continued – all in one record!

What also wasn’t over was Dimebag’s involvement, which led to him playing lead on Strap It On and Cadillac Rock Box. This was kind of interesting, as the band had formally hired Rob Caggiano as their full-time lead guitarist.

All in all, this record was one for the diehards, as it’s just too weird. Just ask Roger Daltrey, who provided “additional vocals” on Taking the Music Back.

Lead Guitarists: Dimebag Darrell, Rob Caggiano

Key Track: Strap It On

Worship Music [Megaforce, 2011]

Finally, vocalist Joey Belladonna returned to Anthrax. Along with him came a return to the thrash-oriented sound that made the band famous. This was good news, as the band re-signed with Megaforce/Nuclear Blast Records and experienced some of the best reviews they’d seen in years.

As evidenced by songs like The Devil You Know and I’m Alive, Ian and Caggiano seemed to develop a real groove as a guitar duo. Sadly, it wouldn’t last.

Lead Guitarist: Rob Caggiano

Key Track: I’m Alive

For All Kings [Megaforce, 2016]

While it might not have the chart hits or greatest-hits cachet of Anthrax’s ’80s work, Kings is in league with the band’s classic era. Newcomer Jonathan Donais injected heaping loads of shred and is the band’s most talented shredder since Dave Spitz. His flash and ability leave Ian to do what he does best: bludgeon you with riffs and rhythms.

Lead Guitarist: Jonathan Donais

Key Track: Breathing Lightning

Cursum Perficio [Nuclear Blast, 2026]

This brings us to their hyper-delayed and long-awaited return. Why did it take so long? Maybe it was Covid. Maybe it’s because Charlie Benante was kicking it with Pantera. Maybe it’s because Bello was writing a book.

Regardless, it’s here, and it captures the band’s spirit and edge. Donais and Ian deliver the amp-blowing rage fans have come to love and crave. For us, this album isn’t the band’s absolute best, but it represents some very good Anthrax. Let’s be thankful for that.

Lead Guitarist: Jonathan Donais

Key Track: The Edge of Perfection

• Cursum Pacifico is out now via Nuclear Blast.
• This article first appeared in Guitar World. Subscribe and save.