Table of contents for May 2026 in Guitarist

Future Publishing Limited, Quay House, The Ambury, Bath, BA1 1UA Telephone 01225 442244 Email guitarist@futurenet.com Online www.guitarist.co.uk This month we celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Telecaster (see page 58), the ultimate workhorse of the guitar family. Most of us have had conversations that go something like: “If you could only have one electric guitar for the rest of your life…” It’s remarkable how often the Tele wins that ‘desert island’ scenario. On the face of it, it seems unlikely. Firstly, it has only two pickups, and quite a few people aren’t big fans of the traditional Tele neck unit to begin with (though I personally love it) – and while the remaining bridge pickup has bags of raw character, it’s sharp enough to scrape wallpaper with in some cases.…

Since Blackstar’s inception in 2007, its amplifiers have become synonymous not only with relative affordability but also the wide range of progressive features to be found onboard, such as impulse response outputs and USB computer control. But back in the summer of 2024 Blackstar launched the simplistic 1x12 TV-10 A combo that “with its 6L6 power valve and boutique aesthetics, promise[d] authentic American tones and vintage styling”. Following later that year, the EL34 TV-10 B did the same trick but with a British flavour. Now, for 2026, Blackstar has added a head version in both flavours, with matching cabinets. This pair of amp heads is so basic in its controls, it’s impossible to imagine greater simplicity. In full disclosure, your humble reviewer was not entirely convinced, merely from the specifications,…

Fender John Osborne Telecaster £1,849 CONTACT Fender PHONE 01342 331700 WEB www.fender.com JARGON CRUNCHING B-Bender The B-Bender was first known as the Parsons/ White Pull-String after guitarist Clarence White tasked Gene Parsons with building him a device to aid in executing a bend that allegedly required a third hand to realise. It’s the secret weapon of country-guitar playing, and this is the only guitar in Fender’s current line-up to include one. Wait, John Osborne? Isn’t that… No, this is not an Ozzy signature model. Besides, you should know the surname is spelled differently. This fine guitar here is a signature model for John Osborne of Brothers Osborne fame. In case you somehow missed it, as this issue is celebrating, 2026 marks the 75th anniversary of the Telecaster, what is for…

Artist: Bill Frisell Album: In My Dreams (Blue Note) No wonder Bill Frisell had to pinch himself when he assembled the line-up for In My Dreams. After half-a-century pushing the envelope of modern jazz, the Baltimore-born band leader had played in practically every format, from airtight duo to opulent chamber orchestra. But the 75 year old is still buzzing from taking the stage last year with a wishlist sextet of his all-time-favourite collaborators – Jenny Scheinman (violin), Eyvind Kang (viola), Hank Roberts (cello), Thomas Morgan (bass) and Rudy Royston (drums) – to record this live album for the esteemed Blue Note label. “[We’re] improvising the arrangement, so the lines between ‘solo’, ‘accompaniment’ and ‘orchestration’ start to blur and the music takes on a life of its own” Tell us how…

If there was such a job as ‘tone archaeologist’, Stuart Robson of Sunbear Pickups would qualify. His forensic examinations of vintage pickups have led him down many an interesting path in the design and development of his own pickups. His latest prototype, however, tells a particularly interesting story. While Gibson’s fabled Patent Applied For humbuckers of the late 50s are endlessly discussed and copied, less light is shed on the earliest examples of the breed – the 1957 examples that, as Stuart explains, were built just a little differently from the ones that followed and had a sound all of their own – quirks that he has sought to faithfully emulate in his latest vintage-inspired humbucker. What’s the story? “Well, they’re called the KZ 57 SB PAFs and they’re designed…

By his own admission, Mike Vernon was no more than a competent guitarist (“I didn’t play anything particularly well”). And while his eponymous Mighty Combo of later years certainly lived up to the billing, it could only ever be an addendum to Vernon’s wider contribution to the British blues scene and, in particular, his showcasing of the great players during the 60s boom. As producer of Blues Breakers With Eric Clapton, and such Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac masterpieces as Albatross and Black Magic Woman – among countless others – there’s an argument that nobody ever caught better electric-guitar tone in the bottle. Born in November 1944, Vernon’s youth echoes many of that era’s rock galacticos: a childhood in Surrey, an early shift in the school choir, the epiphany of imported…

It seems strange to say, but a literal lifetime has passed since the Telecaster (initially named the Broadcaster) debuted at the NAMM Show of 1950. Remarkably, its relevance has only grown during the seven decades that have passed since then. Perhaps that’s because the Telecaster’s simplicity has always meant that it becomes what you bring to it, meaning it could never truly go out of style. What began as a niche guitar developed for Californian country musicians has become the musical equivalent of a universal wrench: from metal to jazz, from bubblegum pop to grindcore, the Telecaster is all over the map of modern music. Gadgets and gimmicks arrive in a fanfare and leave in a commercial hearse – but raw utility never dates. In the following pages, we examine…

So long as you can overlook his reluctance to install truss rods, a stubborn attachment to two self-sabotaging wiring schemes, plectrum obstructing bridges, spiky saddle screws and a superfluous bridge cover, Leo Fender famously got everything right the first time round. With our tongues firmly pressed against our cheeks, however, we readily acknowledge that Leo nailed all the important bits. Refinements followed over the years and, in addition to being the quintessential country guitar, the Telecaster has been the instrument of choice for blue-collar stadium rockers, punks, contemporary jazzers, bluesmen and even metal shredders. The Telecaster is all things to all guitarists, and of all the classic guitar models, it’s arguably the best platform for modifications. 1 SWITCH SOLUTIONS There are a few different ways to combine two pickups, and installing…

Bruce Watson is standing in what used to be Kenny’s Music in Dunfermline, one of a chain of music shops across Scotland until it closed in October last year. Today, the shop floor is a hive of industry again. There are guitars everywhere – too many for one guitar shop – and we’re adding to the chaos, with the guitars of Big Country founding member Watson being set up in the corner for Guitarist’s photoshoot. “I’ve been coming here practically every month since, fuckin’ hell, 1973, I think,” says Bruce. “Apart from when I’ve been on the road.” Watson has a studio downstairs in the same building. “It’s part of my life,” he says. “And we thought we were going to lose it.” The current activity is down to new…

NEURAL DSP QUAD CORTEX MINI £1,129 CONTACT Neural DSP WEB www.neuraldsp.com What You Need To Know 1 That looks stylish. Doesn’t it just? The Quad Cortex mini is the latest from Neural DSP and it has all the power of the Quad Cortex in a much smaller footprint. 2 It looks like there’s a footswitch on each corner? Yes, it’s unusual, but it makes sense. That way the designers were able to retain the exact same seven-inch touchscreen while keeping the overall unit small. 3 There are fewer footswitches than the bigger QC. Are there any other compromises here? Besides the footswitching, which now requires holds-and-pushes on two footswitches simultaneously, the connectivity has been rationalised for a smaller unit. But all the essential stuff is still here. Among the all-in-one…

What was the first serious guitar that you bought with your own money? “Let’s see. What would that be? I would say it probably would be a ’63 ES-335 like the one Clapton used at the Albert Hall [for Cream’s Farewell gig in November 1968]. I found it in a music store for, like, $300 many, many years ago. I had a ’66 335 that my father helped me get when I was 12, but I found this other one when I guess I was about 18 or 19. At the time, I didn’t know that Clapton had played a 335. I remember always thinking he played that painted-up SG [’64 ‘The Fool’] or a Les Paul. “Just because it’s old, cool, original and worth money, [it doesn’t mean] you’re…

Imagine a guitar where you can change pickups in seconds without soldering and move from an old Patent Applied For pickup to a mega shred-tastic hot ’bucker, for example. One guitar, limitless possibilities for the tonal investigator or any player that simply has to cover a lot of sounds. Well, the technology to do exactly that has been with us for some time. Developed by the now-defunct Relish Guitars in Switzerland, it was subsequently purchased by Cream T and rebranded as Guitar-X. But we’re not exactly discussing household names here, are we? While Cream T offers Standard pickup-swapping models at £1,499 and Custom models from £1,999 upwards, these well-made UK guitars are only available in limited numbers and it’s fair to say that, despite the potential, the pickup-swapping concept hasn’t…

DigiTech/DOD discontinued its always affordably priced Bad Monkey drive pedal back in 2015, but renewed interest in it grew after Josh Scott of JHS Pedals posted a video in 2023 suggesting that the Bad Monkey could ape the sounds of both the Ibanez TS-10 Tube Screamer and the Klon Centaur. Now, there’s a revamped version, the Badder Monkey, that may just take the edge off that increased demand for vintage units. While the pedal has the sound of the original Bad Monkey at its heart – with the same overdrive circuit, gain range and EQ frequencies – it also adds two new overdrive signal paths: one more extreme (Badder) and one more subtle (Behaved). The really clever thing about the pedal, though, is how these three can be used singly…

Artist: Spencer Mackenzie Album: Empty Chairs (Gypsy Soul Records) On album number four, Empty Chairs, Canadian singer and guitarist Spencer Mackenzie is dialling up the intensity and embracing more of an up-tempo, darker shade of blue. But there’s still plenty of soul encased within the new music, which sees him experimenting with dynamic nuances and sounding more sonically versatile than ever. And then there’s his rousing cover of Rory Gallagher’s Don’t Know Where I’m Going, transforming a lesser-known 1971 acoustic cut by the Irish great into a big-band extravaganza. That’s Progress Now in his mid-20s, Spencer is starting to branch out from the classic blues that made him fall in love with music in the first place. “The thing that’s cool about this album is that there are chord progressions…

I’ll tell you that story in a moment, but let me say in this issue’s celebration of that wonderful thing that is the Fender Telecaster, that this very model was my own first ‘proper’ electric guitar. When I trekked to London from Witham in Essex that day in 1970, my mind was wholly focused on buying a white Gibson SG Custom. I and my brothers and friends were enraptured by Alice Cooper’s fabulous album, Killer, featuring rhythm guitarist Michael Bruce on cherry red SG Standard, and brilliant lead man Glen Buxton on the aforesaid ghostly, bison-horned beauty. Catching the early train (I had to get back to Chelmsford for my 2pm-to-10pm shift at the cardboard factory where I worked alongside no less than Guthrie Govan’s dad, Jock), so time was…

AUDIO ▶ http://bit.ly/guitaristextra An alternative title for this feature could have been: ‘a selection of chords that sound like they’re in an open tuning (but aren’t)…’ In the search for fresh and unusual sounds while preserving the much loved timbre of the acoustic guitar, many resort to alternative or open tunings. Think Jimmy Page, Joni Mitchell, Nick Drake and so on. There’s no doubt that this is a proven way to expand one’s chord vocabulary and make hitherto physically impossible chord voicings available. But before you reach for your tuners (and brace for the expense of more frequent string changes), why not have a look at these unusual open-sounding chords, which avail you of some similar textures without the inconvenience of having to retune. There’s no getting away from the fact…

The great black post-war bluesmen are almost gone now, and the passing of John P Hammond – from a cardiac arrest in February at the age of 83 – is a stark reminder that time is also running out for the hip white kids who followed their lead. “I’ve lost my best friend,” wrote the Grammy-winning guitarist’s frequent collaborator, Paul James, in the first of many tributes. “The blues world has lost a giant.” From his birth in New York on 13 November 1942 – the eldest son of the noted Columbia Records producer John Henry Hammond, and a drop in the blue bloodline of the unfeasibly wealthy Vanderbilt dynasty – Hammond seemed destined to leave his mark on the world. His middle name was a hint at the family’s…

THE PROTOTYPES In 1943, Leo Fender and his future business partner Doc Kauffman built their first lap steel, and applied to patent a pickup design the following year. This instrument is now known as the ‘Radio Shop guitar’ and more refined lap steels followed. Leo assembled his first six-string guitar prototype during the summer of 1949. The laminated two-piece pine body shape was almost identical to the production models, with a bolt-on neck and top mounted metal control plate. However, it featured a three-per-side ‘snake head’ headstock that was similar to those of Fender’s lap steels. Leo completed the second prototype around the autumn/winter of that year, complete with the now iconic headstock shape and cut-down bass-side-only Kluson tuners. Both 1949 Fender prototypes were single-pickup guitars, but Leo gifted a…

Contact Fender Musical Instruments EMEA Phone 01342 331700 Web www.fender.com You have to sympathise with the folk at Fender in their attempts to add whistles and bells to a guitar design that many regard as having been practically perfect when it leapt off the drawing board in Fullerton, California, 75 years ago. But it has to be said that with this 75th Anniversary American Ultra II Telecaster, virtually everything has been tweaked or upgraded in the name of versatility and enhanced tonal capacity. Even the well-established body shape has now been graced with comfort contours and a chamfered heel. The spec is as impressive as the eye-catching urethane Liquid Gold metallic finish, as you’ll see from a tip-to-toe rundown of this vibrant new model. Beginning at the headstock end, we…

Of the many iconic guitars that became popular during the 1950s, Gibson’s ES-175 is one of the most enduring. Launched in 1949, it holds the record as Gibson’s longest electric model in continuous production – for 70 years until 2019. (The equally revered ES-335, which debuted in 1958, is showing no signs of obsolescence and so is likely to overtake it in 2028.) Also in 1949, Gibson introduced the 175’s acoustic equivalent in the L-4C model, which had a premium carved spruce top more typical of the jazz guitars of the day. By contrast, the ES-175 has a laminated top reinforced with two parallel braces whose resistance to feedback proved popular with players as concerts got bigger and performances got louder. Accordingly, the list of famous ES-175 players is long,…

Fender’s Custom Shop is the home of the company’s dream machines, which are built to the highest quality the California-based company can offer. But there are tiers within tiers even at this level, and the Custom Shop’s Masterbuilt instruments offer the closest any large guitar maker can get to the hand-craft of master luthiers, with a small cadre of highly experienced Fender guitar makers personally crafting dream guitars from headstock to end-pin. Recently, we were lucky enough to sit down for a chat with two of Fender’s most in-demand Master Builders, Austin MacNutt and Andy Hicks. Who better to ask about the sonic soul of Leo Fender’s classic designs and the best ways to mod and maintain them for maximum performance – and also give their views on the way…

My former editor, fellow guitar journalist and long-time friend Dave Hunter recently acquired a broken 1950s P-90. Dave wasn’t concerned that the coil had no resistance reading because it was inexpensive and he only bought it to harvest the parts for humbucker modification experiments. Having removed the magnets, pole screws and keeper bar, Dave was left with a useless bobbin, two bobbin screws and a baseplate he didn’t need. Knowing that I enjoy working on pickups, he very kindly gifted the leftovers to me. The baseplate looks very old and all the indentations are consistent with the look of 1950s baseplates. Similarly, it has flathead bobbin screws, which suggest a pre-1957 manufacturing date, along with an evenly wound coil, old-looking tape and black ‘pigtail’ wires. You can never say for…

That old quote ‘standing still is the fastest way of moving backwards in a rapidly changing world’ couldn’t apply more in today’s ultra-competitive guitarscape. This is why we see companies such as PRS and Taylor – to name but two – continually tweaking, upgrading and refining their instruments in order to stay ahead of the game. Taylor in particular has been relentless in its pursuit of tonal enhancements and improved playability, driven by its tireless CEO and chief designer, Andy Powers. “As guitar makers, we see the ever-wider variety of players and styles,” he tells us. “This means different types of sounds, feels and aesthetic presentations, all in step with the creative world of today’s players.” With this in mind, Taylor has turned its attention to its popular Grand Auditorium…

New from Electro-Harmonix is the Pico Intelligent Harmony Machine, a pedal that puts some of the functionality of its larger namesake into a diminutive Pico chassis, which could easily slip into any vacant pedalboard gap. The pedal’s function is to create two- or three-part harmony in any key over a range of different intervals. Volume and wet/dry Mix knobs complement two more rotary knobs that set the Key and Interval. These two are not detented, but each different pitch or interval resides in a particular segment of their arc of travel and the LED will flash briefly as you move from one segment to the next. The Key knob has the keys clearly marked, but there is no legending around the interval knob for the eight single intervals between the…

Earlier this month, in the middle of running my weekly guitar-making evening class, I heard, above the cacophony of power tools and planing, the shrill tinkle of the workshop doorbell. At the door a solemn-looking customer clutching a guitar asked me if I might be able to help with a repair. He explained that the instrument, which had belonged to his father who had recently passed away, was played for many decades until a catastrophic skiing accident crushed the top in dramatic fashion. This was no normal repair ticket, but an object of memory and family connection. The instrument in question – a 1960s Hagstrom guitar – was built in Sweden at a time when the identity of the acoustic guitar was very much in flux thanks to big leaps…

STAR LETTER UNLOVED UNPLUGGED? I’ve been playing for about 55 years and reading Guitarist for the last 25 of them. I look forward to the arrival of a new issue for the new equipment reviews and in-depth interviews with prominent guitarists. However, as a mainly acoustic guitarist, I see little attention paid to the issues that crop up the most in acoustic guitar forums. Top ones are: 1) Pickup systems, both OEM and retrofit, and how to get an amplified tone near to the natural unamplified sound. Different systems for, say, dreadnought, OM size and parlour; 2) How to cut through when playing acoustic in a band, while avoiding feedback; 3) How to reduce pick and finger noise from amplified guitars. Apart from technique, what about lubricants, EQ, different strings,…

When does a side-project become the main event? As we set up the photoshoot for Adrian Smith and Richie Kotzen at Bristol’s O2 Academy, it seems a pertinent question to contemplate. Back in February 2020 these two star players traded riffs for the first time on the Turks and Caicos Islands – of course, a few days later and the pandemic would have scuppered the project before it even began. However, six years on and Smith/Kotzen have a brace of acclaimed albums under their belt, from 2021’s self-titled debut to last year’s Black Light/White Noise (by comparison, Smith’s mothership, Iron Maiden, haven’t recorded since 2021’s Senjutsu). Having completed soundcheck and now settling on a leather couch, the pair display a complementary chemistry: Kotzen is happy to hold court, while Smith…

“Both of these guitars were 1967 prototypes for a lighter version of the Telecaster that became the Thinline. The spruce-fronted model doesn’t have f-holes, but it is fully hollow, except for a block in the area where the bridge mounts, and it barely weighs 3lb. It has three-ply binding on the front and single ply on the back, so it’s a little fancier than a regular Telecaster Custom. The spruce doesn’t have eight grain lines per inch or anything like that, but it’s not bad. There’s some lacquer checking but no cracks, and the zebra wood back looks fantastic. “The string ferrules are sunk into the body, and by 1967 they weren’t like that on production Telecasters. There’s also a little metal plate at the end of the heel where…

LOWDEN GL-J FROM £3,950 CONTACT Lowden Guitars PHONE 02844 619161 WEB www.lowdenguitars.com What You Need To Know 1 This looks like the GL-J you reviewed last year but with a different finish. Yes, it is. Lowden is now offering a range of satin stain colours over a figured maple top. But our sample also features a new neck join, too. The original and ongoing GL-J (the ‘J’ stands for ‘Jazz’, although it’s certainly not limited to that application) features a 16-fret neck join and an extended heel. This new version cuts back the heel platform and the neck joins the body at the 18th fret. You choose. 2 It’s a lot of money for a downsized ES-335, isn’t it? George Lowden does cite the Gibson classic as an inspiration, but…

VIDEO & AUDIO ▶ http://bit.ly/guitaristextra Getting Funky Tutor Richard Barrett | Gear used Fender Stratocaster & Vox AC15 Hand-Wired Difficulty | 20 mins per example WHEN WE TALK ABOUT PHRASING on blues guitar, this can often translate to rhythm. It’s possible to play a great solo without many notes if the rhythm is interesting. Obviously, the same goes for rhythm parts – so the example piece concentrates on this area but using a hybrid ‘rhythm/lead’ approach favoured by John Mayer, SRV, Nile Rodgers and Jimi Hendrix, among others. Blurring the boundaries between the traditional distinctions of rhythm and lead guitar also serves a trio format well, and, as you’ll hear, the backing track consists of only bass and drums. While we can be minimal at times, there is a responsibility (some…