Latest articles by Jamie Dickson
How the Les Paul transformed from elegant jazz guitar to rock ’n’ roll's weapon of choice
Gibson’s Mat Koehler has spent countless hours tracing the history of the company’s iconic electrics. We join him to learn more about the first 10 years of the Les Paul's history
Suzanne Vega: “I love the acoustic guitar – I always have. I love the sound of it. I love playing it. I love the look of it. I love everything about it”
As Vega prepares to return to the UK with an album of songs from the Big Apple, we join the legendary New York singer-songwriter to talk guitars and songcraft
How Fender shook up the ‘new vintage’ market with the American Vintage II series
As Fender returns to year-specific reissues once again, we ask Justin Norvell what’s new when it comes to recreating the past
The Proclaimers’ Charlie Reid talks acoustic guitars, songwriting and working with James Dean Bradfield on the Scottish rock institution's life-affirming new album
The Proclaimers are back with their own signature brand of earworm choruses tempered with that familiar Scottish lilt, and it's a sound that takes many Taylor acoustics to put together
That Pedal Show rate the most legendary pedals of all time: the deserving, the overrated and the total sleepers
Do these stompboxes deserve their notoriety or did they just get lucky? And how do you get the best from them? Dan Steinhardt and Mick Taylor share their thoughts – and tell us which pedals have gone under the radar over the years
The rarest Gibson Firebird of all time might just be this 1964 Kerry Green example
David Davidson of Well Strung Guitars reveals the story behind a bona-fide unicorn for Gibson collectors
The story of the Fender Rosewood Stratocaster that never made it to Jimi Hendrix
The fabled Stratocaster was the rosewood counterpart to the Telecaster popularized by George Harrison – and only two were ever made
This unearthed 1960 prototype reveals what the Gibson SG Special nearly looked like
Meet the SG Special's rarely seen slab body forebear
The story of the ‘Ghost Finish’ Telecaster – one of the rarest Fender guitars ever made
Under normal lights, this Telecaster appears to be an unremarkable, late-’60s blonde color. But stick it under UV light and things get trippy...
John Petrucci talks buying and selling guitars: “I’m completely illiterate in the world of vintage guitars and Les Pauls and Strats and all that stuff”
Dream Theater’s magus of the fretboard on the Les Paul copy that sparked his love of humbuckers and why he might give Django a run for his money…
Al Di Meola on how a legendary live session with Paco de Lucía and John McLaughlin came to light after 40 years
The sequel to a jazz-fusion guitar classic finally arrives as Saturday Night in San Francisco gets restored for an official release
John Scofield: “When you’re playing without a band, all kinds of subtleties in your playing come out, maybe good and bad… You really hear what you’re doing”
On his latest album, Solo, the jazz guitar luminary plays alone with just a looper for company, and it turned out to be a learning experience that was a lot of fun too
How Blackstar’s St. James series made tube amps lightweight without sacrificing tone
Tube amps are old hat, right? If so, Blackstar didn’t get the memo – the St. James series transforms 50 watts of classic tone into a tech-enabled tour de force
Andrew Gabbard: “My love for Firebirds comes from Neil Young because he had a Firebird pickup in his Goldtop and they just cut through”
The Black Keys sideman and songwriter says good things come in small packages: namely, mini-humbuckers and Fender amps
The magic of Fender Japan: how MIJ custom finishes and unorthodox builds dug a rabbit hole for collectors
Keith Anderson makes his livelihood bringing rare Fender Japan electrics into the UK and he’s seen thousands over the years. Here he explains the appeal
When should you change your guitar pickups?
The simple answer is whenever you want, but first you've got to know what sound you are after. Here, Tim Mills from Bare Knuckle offers some advice for undertaking this most popular mod
How ThorpyFX harnessed Syd Barrett’s signature Selmer tones for the Scarlet Tunic
British pedal maker ThorpyFX has teamed up with Lee Harris of Saucerful of Secrets to capture the sound of Syd’s Selmer, but as we find out, there is a lot more to the Scarlet Tunic besides nailing those early Pink Floyd guitar tones
Bill Frisell: “The limitations of the guitar invite their own solutions… so there are a lot of different ways people end up playing it”
Guitarist, composer and esotericist Bill Frisell is difficult to pin down to any one musical style. Even he learned something about himself in his new biography Beautiful Dreamer
Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder on reuniting after nearly 60 years to pay tribute to blues legends Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry
Get On Board finds two old friends and collaborators back in the studio for an album of Piedmont blues covers that might just happen to be their finest hour on record
Billy Bragg: “Most of my chord shapes are fists. It’s just the way I play – I’m hanging on for dear life”
Billy Bragg is a punk-powered agitator turned historian of early rock ’n’ roll. We joined him to talk about his new album and discuss why Lonnie Donegan ain’t no joke…
How to reduce guitar string noise
Banish the rattle and squeak with a little help from acoustic guitar master Martin Simpson
Steve Gunn: “I’ve played Fenders from the '50s, pre-CBS, and there’s an energy in the wood. There’s a lot of magic in older guitars”
Bought & Sold: The Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter spins the tale of a voyage into the world of classical guitars and how he let a Silvertone slip through his fingers
When Rivers Meet talk cigar-box electrics, playing blues on mandolin, and ditching Americana for gloves-off rock ’n’ roll
Aaron and Grace Bond's debut, We Fly Free, is one of the most soulful roots-rock albums you'll hear anywhere. They tell us how they put their galvanic sound together
Jim James: “I wanted to create a guitar where people could be like, ‘Who the f**k is Jim James? I don’t really care, I just love this guitar!’”
The My Morning Jacket frontman has a new signature Gibson ES-335 that harks back to an under-celebrated era in the model’s history. We join him to discover why it’s a guitar for all seasons
Bernard Butler: “The best thing about a Tele is that when you bash them, they look even better. You don’t say that about the 355!”
As the Brit-rock guitarist releases a reimagined take on his 1998 solo debut, People Move On, he revisits the no-expenses-spared sessions, the vintage guitars and the ambition in the air
