Latest articles by Jamie Dickson
D’Addario recruits players to help test its strings – and there's one jazz veteran who is more reliable than most
This particular player, who has been a D'Addario artist since 1982, is instrumental in analyzing the nitty gritty of in-progress guitar strings
What the auction of Jeff Beck’s best-loved electrics tells us about the late guitar icon
We join the experts from Christie’s auction house to take a closer look at the ‘Oxblood’ Les Paul, ‘Tele-Gib’ and other historic instruments from Jeff’s career – and discuss the portrait they paint of a pragmatic, restless yet peerlessly gifted talent and his musical legacy
How close are Gibson's ’59 Burst replicas and their boutique rivals?
We put a Gibson Custom Shop Collector’s Edition ’59 Les Paul up against a Nik Huber Orca ’59 for the ultimate single-cut shootout
Roxy Music’s Phil Manzanera on how he found his bargain Firebird and why he has no regrets about rendering a ’51 Tele “valueless”
The Roxy Music guitarist invites us into his London studio to take a look at the guitars that he cut five decades of hits with, and tells us how a globe-trotting childhood led him to art-rock Shangri-La in ’70s London
Why today’s guitars are performing better than ever – not that you’d notice from looking at them
From Furch’s innovative bolt-on neck joints to Bare Knuckle’s revelatory pickups, we could be living through a new golden age for guitar innovation
Inside the remarkable story of the Les Paul Junior – the single-cut that changed the world
Stripped down, primal, with P-90 snarl and an unfussy aesthetic, there is something so ineffably cool about the Junior... 70 years young, it's one of guitar's hardest-working six-strings
Why Rory Gallagher’s “Kid Gloves and Walkin’ Wounded” Gibson Les Paul Juniors were two of his best-sounding guitars
They may be among Rory Gallagher’s lesser-known electrics, but these Les Paul Juniors are unquestionably among the finest-sounding he owned
How Adam “Nolly” Getgood and Bare Knuckle reinvented the P.A.F. for a new era
Gibson’s P.A.F. has to be the most-cloned pickup of all time, but what if it was used as a launching pad for a humbucker with more oomph? Getgood and Tim Mills of Bare Knuckle might just have the answer with the PolyPaf
How Phil Manzanera got his trademark Roxy Music Gibson Firebird
Manzanera’s iconic Firebird has been by his side for much of his career and began life as a custom build from Kalamazoo
Crazy Tube Circuits' Christos Ntaifotis on how his passion for collecting tube amps has inspired one of the most exciting stompbox brands in the world
One of the most creative yet reliably great-sounding effects makers out there, Crazy Tube Circuits is the brainchild of Christos Ntaifotis, an amp super-geek who is putting a modern twist on classic sounds
Leslie West on giving his Gibson Les Paul Junior to Pete Townshend after tracking three songs with The Who
West met Townshend when The Who recruited him to play lead guitar on several tracks for their 1971 album Who’s Next
Martin Barre on Jethro Tull’s pioneering ’70s era, the Aqualung sessions – and supporting Jimi Hendrix
A signature-shifting collision of bucolic folk and frayed-edge rock, Jethro Tull’s Aqualung is one of the ’70s’ most daring records. Barre takes us on a deep dive back to those fabled sessions, from winging his parts to snubbing Jimmy Page
Adrian Thorpe on how he made Chris Buck’s awesome, tube-equipped signature pedal, Electric Lightning
Adrian Thorpe of ThorpyFX remembers the flight path – and turbulence – behind Chris Buck’s Electric Lightning overdrive/boost, named after a fighter jet and packing a bona fide valve
How Eric Clapton got his tone on John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers’ ‘Beano’ album
The ‘Beano’ album has become a benchmark for how a Les Paul ’Burst and a Marshall could sound together. But how Clapton got that tone is a little more complex than that...
Martin Barre explains why his early days with Jethro Tull were a trial by fire
Jethro Tull went on tour with Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin and Vanilla Fudge right after Barre joined the band
“I just turned my back”: Martin Barre on the time Jimmy Page nearly cut him off mid-Aqualung solo
“I think it was take two,” the Jethro Tull guitarist recalled, “and if I hadn’t got it in two then it would have been a flute solo”
The night Rory Gallagher was spooked by his childhood hero – as the Royal Albert Hall waited in anticipation
Gallagher’s iconic Strat is one of the most storied guitars in the world. But the day Rory, with untold thousands of gigs under his belt, became stage struck in the presence of his hero is one of his brother Donal Gallagher’s favorite tales
How Rory Gallagher’s sweet talk – and a little help from Clapton – secured his $50 Kay Value Leader
This vibey early ’60s electric looked too pricey to buy, even with the help of blues musician John Hammond Jr – but Rory’s charm secured it in a New York minute, as his brother Donal explains
The night Rory Gallagher gave the Slash a taste of affordable GIbson via his modded Melody Maker
Modded with a Gibson humbucker, this 1969 student guitar has lived a life, and was the star of the show when Gallagher jammed with Slash in 1991
A trip on Concorde? Cliff Richard? The story behind Rory Gallagher’s Coral Electric Sitar
Famously used on Philby, the electric sitar is one of the most unique instruments in the Rory Gallagher Collection. Donal Gallagher tells us how he found it and its glam Transatlantic journey home
Ani DiFranco on the dark arts of acoustic – and why she’s over online ‘performers’
Percussive and heavily processed, the US troubadour’s new album, Unprecedented Sh!t, burns the playbook of acoustic folk
How Rory Gallagher grabbed his iconic 1963 Gretsch Corvette for the princely sum of $150
Can you judge a guitar by its case? Not usually, but when Donal Gallagher was shopping for cases for brother Rory, he found one with a very special guitar inside, and there was a deal to be made
Meet Rory Gallagher’s ’32 National Triolian Resonator, a guitar with mojo, scars and stories to tell
Rory’s battered National Triolian could be seen as the acoustic sibling of his infamously weathered 1961 Strat – though this metal workhorse could howl, too
