Category Archives: News

The Fender Telecaster is country music guitar tone. And country music guitar tone is the Telecaster, plain and simple. Yes, you’ll find every style of guitar used to great effect throughout the genre. But no guitar has put its sonic stamp on it quite like Fender’s first. Whether it’s James Burton’s genre-defining bends or the…

Everything you need to know to ensure you get the perfect pickups for your favorite 5-string. Not all 5-string Jazz Bass pickups are created equal. And we’re not talking about tone here. We’re talking about if they’ll even line up with the strings on your bass. And if you’ve ever bought replacement pickups for a…

The debate among players as far as what kind of pickups, passive or active, are best for metal rages on. And it will continue to do so for a long time. But one thing’s for sure. When it comes to the best pickups for metal, active humbucking pickups are regularly at the top of the…

The Telecaster has almost been synonymous with Nashville, Tennessee for decades. And there’s a reason a Tele can still found in every A-list session guitarist’s arsenal. But many of the town’s pros need a guitar with a broader range of voices. They need the tone of their Teles with the flexibility of a Strat. So,…

We know that picking the best guitar pickups for metal is impossible. It’s even hard to narrow them down for classic metal. Every player has different preferences, everyone is after a different tone, and there are just too many options available. Not to mention, classic metal means something different to everyone. Here’s how we define…

January is a great month for new beginnings. You know, a new year, new me kind of thing. But, it’s also a great month for reflection and thinking about the best moments from the year prior. So, in this last week of January 2021, we’re going to do just that. Here are the Top 3…

We’ve all heard guitar vets pine for the days of plugging straight into an amp and getting all the tones they ever needed. No need for pedals, switchers, multi-fx boards, or tap dancing. So what stops today’s players from embracing the rigs of old? Having to push old tube amps to volume-war levels is one….

Joe Bonamassa’s ear for tone is legendary. So when he says that Bonnie, his 1955, hardtail Fender Stratocaster, is his “best Strat,” we trust him. And when he wanted to offer the guitar’s magical-sounding pickups to the public, we went to work re-creating them with pin-point accuracy and attention to detail.   Introducing the limited-run Joe…

Pop quiz. What is the most critical part of your guitar’s electronics – other than pickups?  Answer: Your potentiometers. Potentiometers – or simply, pots – determine how much of what frequencies make it from your pickup to your output jack. And while some players may be content leaving them full up, getting to know these…

They say history is cyclical. Nowhere is that more apparent than in guitar tone. From the roar of high-gain stacks to the cleans of pedal-friendly combos, the prominence of Big Muffs to the classic Tube Screamer, tonal trends come and go, then come and go again. But no effect’s on again-off again popularity is as…