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The Latest Breaking News from Leo Fender

“We went back to the dressing room. He said, ‘Yeah, it stays in tune great! But if you could make it a little slinkier’”: Gibson’s master luthier Jim DeCola reveals the Leo Fender-inspired mods he made to Randy Rhoads’ guitar just hours before showtime

DeCola was still only a teenager in 1982 but he had already had a reputation for being able to work magic on a tremolo system, which he duly did on Rhoads' iconic polka-dotted Sandoval V

MusicRadar

“Some people think its gloss black top was a response to Gibson’s Les Paul Custom – but that didn’t launch officially until ’54”: The Duo Jet took Gretsch’s ’50s innovation to new heights – and was loved by George Harrison, Jeff Beck and Malcolm Young

As solid-bodied models began taking the guitar world by storm in the early ’50s, Gretsch joined the party with the revolutionary single-cut 6128 Duo Jet and its twangsome DeArmond ‘Dynasonic’ single coils

Guitar World

“It’s a symbol of creativity”: Les Paul’s experimental Klunker helped pave the way for his later innovations – now it’s been revived as a meticulous one-off replica by Les Paul's personal tech

Renowned luthier Tom Doyle hopes it will deepen the public’s understanding of the guitar’s cultural significance

Guitar World

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“The Robert Cray gigs had me shaking so badly that I thought I’d faint… It was one of the pools I had to dive into or drown”: A non-shredder among metal guitarists, Katie Knipp took years to go electric – then scored a hit blues album

Inspired to explore blues by a choir singing Mozart, Knipp avoided asking advice from the big names she opened for – and even though it took 20 years, the G&L player has made it her own way

Guitar World

“The decline of America’s biggest guitar companies during the ’70s was essentially a hangover from the over-ambitious reaction to the Beatlemania-inspired guitar boom of the ’60s”: Why the ’70s was a time of innovation and folly for guitar gear

The ’70s gets a bad rep from some guitarists but it's too easy to say this was a bad time for Gibson and Fender and that's the story. There were some real treasures and technological breakthroughs

Guitar World

Long before shred took hold, instrumental electric guitar was pioneered by players like Link Wray, Les Paul and Hank Marvin – and their groundbreaking contributions shaped the sound of every guitarist who followed

We pay tribute to the kings of twang with this electric masterclass in early rock ’n’ roll instrumental guitar

Guitar World

“It may be the first dedicated guitar effect”: From its journey from amp to stompbox to how it works, this is everything you need to know about tremolo

Whether this timeless effect comes from an amp or a pedal, the sound of this O.G. guitar effect still has us shaking all over

Guitar World

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“Jack is regarded as a true visionary in the music world, and it has been an incredible journey working with him”: Fender unveils the Jack White Collection – featuring a radically customised Tele, a signature Acoustasonic and a very special tube amp

White says the collab blends the old with the new, all together in a package that would have made Leo Fender “very proud”. Meet the Jack White TripleCaster, TripleSonic and Pano Verb...

MusicRadar

“We mixed innovation with history, and did something we think Leo Fender would be very proud of”: Jack White’s new Fender Signature Collection pushes the boundaries of guitar and amp design – and brings his wild custom Telecaster to the masses

The White Stripes tonal trailblazer has unveiled an entire range of signature Fender products, headlined by the madly spec'd TripleCaster Tele

Guitar World

“When I encounter Kurt Cobain’s Sky Stang I, I'm evaluating it like a tech. Then I'll have a beer and go, ‘Did that just happen?!’” From fixing Lennon’s Framus to giving Prince's Cloud III a CAT scan – it's all in the life of an A-list guitar appraiser

In his work for the prestigious LA auction house, Julien’s, Mike Adams has gone from guitar tech to guitar detective

Guitar World

“It’s ideal for players who prioritize comfort and offers a balanced tone”: This study claims to have identified the lightest tonewood of them all – and it’s not one you’d expect

This new research piece compared the weight of 466 solidbody guitars to found out which tonewood makes the lightest instruments

Guitar World

"The reason I never made it big is because I never cared whether I made it big or not": The life and death of the guitarist’s guitarist, Roy Buchanan

Roy Buchanan inspired Jeff Beck, Gary Moore and Joe Bonamassa, but suffered a life of addiction and died a bluesman’s death

Louder

“A ‘best-of-the-best’ in terms of retro features”: Fender Vintera II ’60s Precision Bass review

Vintage looks? Timeless P-Bass tones? We size up the latest incarnation of Fender’s flagship 4-string

Guitar World

“I love the romance of a guitar with a story. But if you can find a good setup guy, you can take a piece of junk, and it’ll play as good as anything you’ve ever touched”: Larkin Poe’s Rebecca Lovell on why she’s loyal to Fender Stratocasters of all levels

The Larkin Poe guitar wrangler and vocalist switched from Jazzmasters to Strats and never looked back, but admits she still can't tear herself away from the bridge pickup

Guitar World

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Guitar World

“Leo Fender got it wrong and Hendrix corrected it”: Richard Fortus explains the simple tweaks used by Jimi Hendrix and Joe Perry that improved the Stratocaster beyond its original design

Fortus has made the two relatively straightforward adjustments to his own signature Strat-style guitar, as he believes they both vastly improve a Stratocaster's tone

Guitar World

“It’s such a beautiful instrument. I think when people started hacking them up and putting humbuckers in them, it ruined the look”: Yngwie Malmsteen explains what makes the Stratocaster the perfect electric guitar (and why he scalloped the frets anyway)

While everyone else was ripping on Charvels, Malmsteen was going far beyond the sun with a traditional three single-coil Strat. Why? Because it is “the pinnacle” of the electric guitar

MusicRadar

“I think Leo Fender sort of got it wrong, and Jimi Hendrix corrected it”: Richard Fortus explains how Hendrix and Joe Perry improved the Stratocaster’s tone by flipping it upside down

Back to front or upside down, whichever way you look at it, Fortus says Hendrix's reverse approach is the secret to “piano-like low-end” and Aerosmith's Perry was paying close attention

Guitar World

The guitar riff changed the course of popular music in the 1950s and remains a powerful force today – we chart its development over the decades, and what you can learn from its evolution

From Chuck Berry to Dave Grohl via Johnny Marr, Jimmy Page and more, this rhythm guitar masterclass offers a decade-by-decade study in the evolution of the riff

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Guitar World

“You can hear the influence of those riffs on Guns N’ Roses, but I’m sure it’s not a conscious thing. It’s in our subconscious, ingrained in our DNA”: Richard Fortus on how Aerosmith changed his life, and what he and Slash learned from Joe Perry

The GNR guitarist and Aerosmith super-fan explains what makes Joe Perry one of rock guitar's GOATs and the influence he and Brad Whitford had on him, sonically and sartorially

MusicRadar

"I'm genuinely shocked it's this apparent": How much difference does a guitar's fretboard wood actually make to its sound? Well, this video surprised us and its host

The rosewood Vs maple debate

Guitar World

“I had to step away from the pointy era. I chose the Strat because I like the way they look and the way they sound… everything about them is me”: Mick Mars on how he found his thrill with the Fender Stratocaster – and the 1954 unicorn that broke his heart

The former Mötley Crüe guitarist pays tribute to the most important Strats in his life, the mods they have had, and why he had to step away from the pointy guitars crazy of the '80s

MusicRadar

“The new benchmark for quality and performance at this price point”: Fender launches the Player II Series, featuring rosewood fingerboards with rolled edges, upgraded specs and archive finishes

Fender ups the ante for its mid-priced electric guitars and basses, with player-friendly appointments, the triumphant return of rosewood fingerboards, and some stunning finishes

Guitar World

“It’s used for fence posts in Guatemala, and somehow that has given it a low-class reputation on the internet”: Paul Reed Smith says the materials used to make a guitar absolutely do make a difference – but not for the reason you might think

The six-string scientist has once again stressed that certain woods do in fact change the tone of your guitar, and he's drawn attention to an oddly spec'd custom build to prove it

Guitar World

“The entire audience in the room could hear the tonal difference”: Guthrie Govan has held tonewood tone tests in guitar clinics – and the results were unanimous

To prove his point, The Aristocrats' Guthrie Govan has two different models of his signature Charvel, identical in every way except for the tonewood

Guitar World

“When Fender and Gibson embrace new tech, it’s usually not well received. It’s better to work with a young, disruptive company who wants to break the rules”: Inside Cream Guitars, the no-copy Mexican brand shaking up guitar with color-changing finishes

How a doctor (who also sidelined in designing suits for firefighters) ended up creating Cream Guitars, one of the most groundbreaking new brands in the industry

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