Taking Stock

Essential Connection

This year’s beautiful crop of award-winning instruments in

Solar Powered

ESP’s E-II Eclipse takes a turn for tradition with a thick-sliced body, Fishman Fluence Classics and, gulp, a sunburst finish. Is the single-cut brat reaching for its pipe and slippers ?

Delta Muse

Supro’s single-ended combo blends modern high-gain tones with vintage style

Second Charge

A blast from the past in the form of a new version of a British-made guitar that first appeared in the late 50s. Is it still valid after all these years?

IN DESIGN

Just how did a cult British-made guitar end up being reproduced in China? Let’s find out

theWishlist

Dream gear to beg, borrow and steal for

Sharp Dressed Man

Give a rockstar a pencil and what do you get? A Cream T guitar! Co-designed by the legend that is Billy F Gibbons and made in the UK, the Aurora is here. But can it light up the sky? Let’s find out…

The Windmiller Preamp

Pete Townshend’s secret 60s sound-shaper revisited

Blackstar Dept. 10 pedals

The amp maker’s new effects range combines valves with versatility

The Accomplished Badger MKII

A compact pedal for boost, drive and distortion of many stripes

PT2399 & FV-1 Chips

Stefan Fast of YouTube channel ThePedalZone cracks open his pedal collection to discuss the influence of the chips behind our tone

Gas Supply

Our pick of the month’s most delectable and wallet-bothering new gear

ALSO OUT NOW...

FENDER 30TH ANNIVERSARY SCREAMADELICA STRATOCASTER £1,229 It’s been

Pat Martino

1944-2021

Albums

The month’s best guitar music –a hand-picked selection of the finest fretwork on wax

Tones Behind The Tracks

UK jazz guitarist Nigel Price’s new album looks at the legacy of Wes Montgomery and imagines what could have been

Double Date

Neville Marten admits to slightly quaking in the boots over a gig – a kind of ‘Blues Headlines live’, with some fine players on show

Comfort Zone

This issue Alex Bishop considers the advantages – and challenges – of adding comfort bevels to the body of an acoustic guitar

Music To Your Ears

Jamie Dickson joins Tom Trones of Minuendo to learn how to avoid the tone-conscious guitarist’s worst enemy: hearing loss

THREE TO GET READY

Gadgets to help protect your hearing

Consolidated 9ths

Richard Barrett continues his look at extended chords by focusing in on the different musical varieties of 7ths and 9ths and their usage

Feedback

Your letters to the Guitarist editor. Drop us a line at guitarist@futurenet.com

WIN! A Gibson G-45 Acoustic Worth £1, 099

Take home this next-generation acoustic built in Bozeman, Montana

JERRY CANTRELL

Guitarist catches up with the Alice In Chains founder who is currently riding high with a brand-new solo album, Brighten, in the can, along with his very own Gibson signature model, the Jerry Cantrell ‘Wino’ Les Paul Custom

Longtermers

A few months’ gigging, recording and everything that goes with it – welcome to Guitarist ’s longter m test report

STEVE GUNN

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

RESTORATION CHOICE

In the second part of our restoration of a Sid Poole-designed UK-made Westone guitar, Dave Burrluck moves further on in polishing a forgotten gem

TOOLS FOR THE JOB

Are you a hobbyist modder or a wannabe guitar maker and repairer? Either way, you might need to invest in some job-specific tools

Gibson Byrdland

The year 1954 was a watershed one for

1958 Fender Precision Bass

This is a 1958 Fender Precision Bass. It

Richard Barrett is on a mission to make you a better blues player – with full audio examples and backing tracks

IN CASE THE TITLE had you wondering, CAGED

GEAR OF THE YEAR

H owever you play, there’s going to be

SOLIDBODY ELECTRICS

From versatile workhorses to retro rockers, this sub-£1k collection delivers with style

SOLIDBODY ELECTRICS

British craft and forward-looking design won our votes among the mid-priced players

PRESTIGE ELECTRICS

A glimpse into the ultimate in guitar craft with stunning takes on classic outlines

SEMI-SOLID ELECTRICS

Our top-rated semis ooze class while refining the semi-hollow template for today’s player

ACOUSTIC GUITARS

Which fine examples of the luthier’s art were first to pass this year’s chequered flag?

STAR BUYS

2021 saw a return to the live stage for many artists and so we were curious to find out what gear they had been buying to power their performances

AMPS

Potent tone and feature-rich design in small boxes was this year’s winning combo

FLOOR AMPS & MODELLERS

Unrivalled tone-sculpting power in boxes small enough for your ’board

DRIVE EFFECTS

When it comes to the crunch, these boxes deliver like few others

DELAY & MODULATION EFFECTS

Vintage phasers, tape and echo, transformed by tech

INNOVATION

Tone at the cutting edge of technical ingenuity in 2021

MOD SQUAD HEROES

What impressed us in the backroom workshop at Guitarist this year? The Mod Squad boss looks back over the past 12 months, which held a few surprises…

WHEN THE LEVEE BREAKS

When Rivers Meet are one of the most soulful, galvanic roots-rock duos you’ll hear anywhere. We flagged down their road-worn tour van for an hour to talk cigar-box electrics, playing blues on mandolin, and learn why ditching Americana for gloves-off rock ’n’ roll set them free

MORNING GLORY

Jim James of My Morning Jacket has a new signature model ES-335 that harks back to an under-celebrated era in the model’s history. We join him to discover why this semi is truly a guitar for all seasons