Latest articles by Jamie Dickson
![IDLES's Mark Bowen and Lee Kiernan [right]](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/7NmfKqjZr8S39kVfaGSgbn-840-80.jpg.webp)
“We’re trying to avoid sounding like a conventional guitar band… Our goal has always been to expand what guitars can do”: Idles’ radical guitar duo dissect their “violent, dark tones” and explain why modeling is “wack”
Savage, socially charged and allergic to cliché, Idles are less categorisable than ever on fifth album, Tangk, and its dynamic guitar partnership Mark Bowen and Lee Kiernan are holding nothing back
“Richard Fortus messaged me and said, ‘I’ve shown Slash your guitar and he likes it, too…’ After that, the phones didn’t stop”: How a small UK boutique builder became a Guns N’ Roses favorite and the next big name in retro-inspired electric guitars
Ivison Guitars has only been in business for six years, but its Dakota model has already headlined Glastonbury with Guns N’ Roses star Richard Fortus. Founder Neil Ivison shares its story
“It’s the higher-profile artist associations that tend to attract the big money – things like your Pearly Gates and your Jimmy Pages”: Why Gibson’s replicas of famous Les Pauls are commanding almost as much as vintage guitars
Gibson’s highest-tier replicas are seriously sought after on the collector's market. We find out what all the fuss is about and examine a rare recreation of Jimmy Page’s fiendishly complex #2 Les Paul Standard
“I hate modeling, I think it’s wack. You can hear it right away”: IDLES explain why recording with an amp modeler risks messing with your tone, your head – and probably your dog
UK post-punk heroes Mark Bowen and Lee Kiernan reckon modelers are best consigned to the role of live backups – and you shouldn’t let them near your recordings
“You feel the whole guitar shaking as you’re playing it, especially when you run it through an amp”: How Mule Resophonic Guitars is reinventing the resonator
When Ida Mae guitarist Chris Turpin found his traditional 12-string resonator was getting too cumbersome to tour with, Matt Eich of Michigan’s Mule Resophonic Guitars came up with an innovative yet charismatically retro alternative
“These guitars illustrate the musical journey of one of popular music’s greatest artists”: Inside Christie’s’ epic $11.2 million Mark Knopfler guitar auction
We got an up-close look at some of the most storied, rare and collectible of Mark Knopfler's guitars, just before they went under the hammer
“The message for tube nostalgists is clear: enjoy today what may not be here tomorrow”: Can the tube amp survive in the digital era?
As digital guitar amplification continues to wow the market and guitar players alike, is it realistic to assume that it will be business as usual for the tube amp?
“As a kid, I became fascinated: blues, banjo playing, English traditional music, Scots music”: How Martin Simpson is reworking trad Appalachian standards and turning them into folk guitar masterworks
The folk maestro’s latest record, Nothing But Green Willow, is a beautiful collection of songs from the Appalachian Mountains. Here he tells us how he breathed new life into them
The most valuable BOSS pedals ever made
The BOSS compact pedals may be colorful little objects of desire to many, but some of them are more desirable than others...
“We see it as a commitment to serving musicians, music lovers, artists and fans. That’s the Gretsch religion”: Fred W. Gretsch tells the remarkable inside story of the family behind one of electric guitar’s oldest names
Before the guitars, there was a family: as the firm celebrates 140 years of music-making, Gretsch tells us about the people behind the instruments
“We can create sound with more freedom, while maintaining the original quality”: What is BOSS Waza Craft? The Japanese effects giant’s boutique range explained
If classic tones with custom voicings and enhanced functionality is what you’re after, in a package that’s built to the highest possible quality, Waza Craft is for you
“I was expecting to toss it into the pile of unsuccessful builds from the 1960s guitar boom. Boy howdy, was I wrong!” Meet the Martin GT‑75 Moth – the iconic acoustic company’s 1967 semi-hollow electric experiment
An electric guitar from the venerable acoustic brand is a rare thing indeed, but then this was the ‘60s, Bob Dylan had just taken up a Stratocaster, and the times they were a-changing
“I listened to a lot of T-Bone Walker when I was a kid, and to suddenly have one of those guitars in your arms was really special”: In his final interview, Bernie Marsden opens up on selling his guitar collection – with one notable exception
Just days before his unexpected death, we spoke with Bernie Marsden for what was sadly to be the final time. He shared the story behind the guitars he was selling, and the one he finally chose to keep
“Bernie had completely forgotten he had this. He said, ‘Oh, I looked in one of my old storage spaces today and I found another four guitars’”: Up close and personal with some of late guitar hero Bernie Marsden’s rarest vintage instruments
Before he passed away, Whitesnake hero Bernie Marsden put some of his lifelong collection of guitars up for sale. In this feature, written just days before Bernie tragically left us, we joined Mike Long of ATB Guitars to take a closer look
“My Foo Fighters setup is the kind of beast you have when somebody carries your s**t around for you!” Chris Shiflett on his double-life as a jobbing solo artist and lead guitarist in the world’s biggest rock band
The Foo Fighters stalwart tells us about the “blasphemy” of his new backline, holding his breath when he solos and why the kind of guitar playing he loved “became pretty much illegal”
“I sort of flippantly say: ‘All guitars sound the same and go for whatever looks good.’ But that’s not really true”: Kavus Torabi on his greatest gear hits and misses
The frontman of psych prog legends Gong and The Utopia Strong says he’s “pretty monogamous” when it comes to guitars, but nonetheless he’s owned an eclectic mix over the years…
“There was a lot of dissent from the workforce – there was a mindset of Epiphone not being as important or as easy to work on as Gibson”: The history of Epiphone and Gibson’s rollercoaster relationship – and what’s next for the brands
Gibson’s VP of product Mat Koehler on the enduring partnership between two of the biggest brands in guitar, and how the influence has been in both directions through their shared history
“Epiphone will always be Gibson’s older brother, and its history is perhaps the most interesting of any guitar brand”: Celebrating 150 years of Epiphone – from luxury archtop maker to budget builder and rock icon
As Epiphone commemorates a century-and-a-half in business, we enlist the help of vintage guitar experts and Gibson’s own archivists to tell its remarkable history
“Tone is so important to me. Whenever I go to a show and there are good guitar sounds, I soak it in”: For Emily Wolfe, the tone is as important as the hooks – and her Epiphone signature model is key to her explosive sound
Wolfe’s evocative music draws upon both Motown and Zeppelin but has a taut and soulful contemporary edge. We joined the Texan on tour to learn all about it…
“It feels like total blasphemy!” Chris Shiflett on why he joined the modeler movement and switched from tube amps to amp sims
The amp aficionado flipped the script for his recent solo tour, which demanded an entirely new approach to guitar setups from the Foo Fighter
“When I started collecting, the cut-off for desirability was 1965 – anything after that, forget it. That’s all changed completely”: The Fender Stratocaster is the most famous electric guitar of all time – but what was the greatest Strat ever built?
The Stratocaster is the original guitar for all seasons. But which version represents the pinnacle of its evolution? We take a deep dive into Leo’s masterpiece, in the company of experts, to try to find an answer…
“In a funny way, the Super Distortion is the SM57 of the guitar pickup business. It’s got a s***-ton of hits”: Larry DiMarzio on the humbucker that changed the game
In the early ’70s, Larry DiMarzio single-handedly kickstarted the entire aftermarket pickup industry with his hot-output Super Distortion. We met NYC’s king of tone to find out how he did it
“It needs a tune – but we’ll do that free of charge!” Meet the Gibson Firebird that Jimmy Page lost in a drinking game with John Bonham
This heavily modified Non-Reverse Gibson Firebird III is a lost Led Zeppelin guitar with a fascinating history – we get the story behind the Page-owned beauty and the buoyant market for Gibson’s under-appreciated cult hero
Gibson’s Mat Koehler says he rates this guitar among the most “beautiful designs ever to come out of Kalamazoo” – and it’s an Epiphone
“Clearly positioned as the pinnacle flat-top that Gibson made” – the acoustic guitar now has a modern equivalent that Koehler reckons punches well above its weight
“On a quick trip to interview Paul Reed Smith I was told we were going to the White House so I’d better pack a suit”: Celebrating 500 issues of Guitarist, one of the world’s greatest guitar magazines
From playing Eric Clapton’s Strats to narrowly avoiding knocking out Slash, Guitarist editors past and present share their favourite – and sometimes most embarrassing – memories of working for the esteemed UK publication
