THE NEXT BIG name in acoustic guitar may be a mononym. Marcin, as he is known, is just 23, but he’s already on track to break into the mainstream in the same way as his acoustic predecessors Paco de Lucia, Tommy Emmanuel and Andy McKee. Born Marcin P

IT’S TAKEN BRIAN Ray 50 years to put out his first album, but the 69-year-old has a good excuse. After all, he’s spent that time on the road and in the studio working for and with some of music’s greatest artists. That includes stints as Etta James’

A COMPRESSOR IS one of the main tools in an acoustic player’s box, but how to use one to best effect can seem mysterious. Go without, and the signal can sound weak. Squeeze the signal too hard and you lose dynamics. So what kind is best for a given a

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YOU’D BE FORGIVEN for thinking the quest for the perfect speaker concluded several years, if not decades, ago, but the folks at ToneSpeak beg to differ. Made in St. Paul, Minnesota, by MISCO (Minnesota Speaker Company), ToneSpeak is a new venture hea

ANCOATS GUITARS ARE made by David Roberts in a converted shipping container in Pollard Yard, Manchester, England. “It was an old parking lot,” Roberts says of the location, “but it now has around 130 shipping containers—just a lined empty container w

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Christopher Scapelliti, [email protected] SENIOR EDITOR Art Thompson, [email protected] ART EDITOR Philip Cheesbrough, [email protected] PRODUCTION EDITOR Jem Roberts, [email protected]

“I INVENTED IT because I wanted it,” says Jonathan Spangler, founder and CEO of Ciari Guitars, talking about the creation of his Ascender line of folding-neck electrics. As a musician and an attorney whose job mandated extensive travel, Spangler need

PLAYING MUSIC WAS inevitable for McKinley James, even if it took a minute for guitar to become the 23-year-old’s instrument of choice. James grew up in what he calls “a super musical household” in Rochester, New York. His father (and now bandmate) Ja

SO YOU THINK your bandmates are happy with your contribution as guitarist? That you’re doing a great job and everything is peachy? Well, I conducted an expansive investigation to find out just what they’re whispering to each other when we guitarists

“THIS IS THE future of the guitar!” That’s what many guitarists thought upon first seeing a Dean guitar in the late 1970s. What most of us didn’t know was that the revolutionary instruments from Dean’s earliest years were designed and built by a teen

THE 57TH BIRTHDAY of the first wah-wah might not seem an obvious year for an anniversary, but many guitarists will welcome accurate reissues of Vox’s seminal pedals any time they come. Parent company Korg is celebrating the 1967 introduction of this

In all likelihood, Dave Navarro was never going to find the world an easy place to fit into. Maybe because, as the child of divorced parents, he was living in two worlds, not one. But through it all, there was one constant: Music. “Yeah… the family d

GUITARISTS GUTHRIE TRAPP and Tom Bukovac are different in a lot of ways that become obvious just a few moments into a conversation with the pair. Trapp, from the Alabama Gulf Coast, is intense and fast talking, bursting with opinions and ideas. Bukov

SUE FOLEY IS renowned for her dynamic electric blues playing. Even so, the Texas blues woman took a stylistic detour on her latest album, One Guitar Woman, by covering a range of styles, including flamenco, classical and Tejano—all on a nylon-string

STRYMON’S BIGSKY MULTI-REVERB pedal has been a staple in my setup since it debuted in late 2013, and for two very good reasons. First, it offers 12 studio-class reverb algorithms that run the gamut from classic to futuristic. Second, those reverbs st

RELEASED IN 1980, Ace of Spades features the original Motörhead lineup of Lemmy Kilmister on bass and vocals, “Fast” Eddie Clarke on guitars and Phil “Philthy Animal” Taylor on drums. Many think this is a great record. Me? I think it’s one of the bes

THE MAN KNOWN as the Deacon has released plenty of his own music—a total of eight albums, including this year’s The Deacon Speaks. But Steve Hunter’s greatest fame comes from playing nice with others on a résumé of collaborations. He’s been a member

IF YOU’RE EVER at a sporting event—any sporting event—and they don’t play Journey’s “Don’t’ Stop Believin’,” ask for your money back. The song—the second single from the group’s 1981 album, Escape—is nothing less than a generational anthem. Written b

CUSTOM GUITARS CAN be odd instruments, designed to perform to the unique needs of their original owners. Consider the one shown here, made by Lloyd Johnson of Costa Mesa, California, who died in 2015. Known simply as Swede, he was an avid sailor, mus

A MODERN-DAY MASTER of the Telecaster, Jim Campilongo is often lumped into Americana or roots rock, but his modus operandi is just a bit more twisted and way more nuanced to fit neatly into those categories. Think of Danny Gatton in uninhibited Funho

MARK TREMONTI RECALLS the doubts that surrounded the early success of Creed, the post-grunge act he first made his mark with in the late 1990s. Seemingly overnight, the Tallahassee, Florida, quartet had a number two hit with “My Own Prison,” the titl

YOU CAN LEARN a lot about a person from the roads they’ve traveled. Our stories in Guitar Player often reflect on the personal and professional journeys of the guitarists we speak with, and that’s especially true in this issue. Let’s start with our c

What does your rig look like for this tour? Will you be using the things you used back in the day, or is it like what you’re using with Alter Bridge? I’m strictly using my signature [PRS MT 100] amplifier. I’m an amp fanatic, and I’ve bought, sold an

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YAMAHA HAS ITS sights set on a new acoustic high-water mark with the F9 Series. The first two models were a pair of dreadnoughts in rosewood and mahogany, the FG9 R and FG9 M, respectively, and now there are a pair of concert-style models in the form

THE LATEST COMBOS from San Francisco, California, amp maker RC Davis include the 30-watt Scirocco on review here and the 20-watt Rite Spot ($1,995). Both are 19.5 by 10 by 15 inches, boast foot-switchable tube-driven spring reverb and tremolo, and sh

“AT 50, EVERYONE has the face he deserves,” George Orwell wrote, observing how, by that milestone, our experiences, choices and character reflect our interior self. Under the circumstances, that vantage point may be ideal for the candid retrospection

IF YOU HAVEN’T figured out by now, this Dirty Knobs thing is no mere dalliance for Mike Campbell. True, he’ll always be the lead guitarist from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and the late Petty’s main musical lieutenant, even on his solo albums. And

WHEN ERIC EARLEY recently unearthed a box of demos he’d made on a four-track cassette recorder in the 1990s, he thought it would be amusing to hear his old songs once again. “I borrowed a four-track cassette deck from a friend and started listening t