This year’s beautiful crop of award-winning instruments in our Gear Of The Year feature (page 60) highlights that, for all the right reasons, it’s harder than ever to decide how to spend your budget when it comes to upgrading your rig. Not only is the range of quality guitar brands wider than ever, but the quality of entry-level gear is frankly astonishing. Guitars such as those in Gretsch’s Streamliner range or Epiphone’s Crestwood Custom really do make you wonder if you need much more to get the job done. And yet, at the top end of the market, there are guitars that offer possibly the best performance and tone from a new guitar there’s ever been, including during the 50s golden era of the big USA makers.