Latest articles by Jonathan Horsley
Taylor refreshes flagship acoustic with a trio of game-changing features – meet the Next Generation Grand Auditorium
NAMM 2026: Taylor’s Next Generation Grand Auditorium cutaways are updated with scalloped V-Class bracing, Action Control Necks and the all-new Claria pickup and preamp system
“The SG that I had at the Ozzy gig, that guitar needed a louder pickup but I still wanted that true-to-life guitar sound that I like”: Slash and Seymour Duncan dial up the raunch with the Guns N’ Roses legend’s signature 3.0 humbuckers
NAMM 2026: Hand-wired in Santa Barbara, they're not just for Les Pauls or SGs. Slash has one in his BC Rich Mockingbird – and they'd work a treat in a hotrodded S-style
Gibson surprise launches $19,999 Keith Richards Collector’s Edition 1960 ES-355, signed by the man himself
NAMM 2026: A meticulous replica of one of the most famous (and coolest) ES-355s of all time
“I had no idea that he was that good”: Mark Tremonti on Alter Bridge’s “secret weapon” and his soloing strategies
The self-confessed Dumble “addict” talks all things guitar
Stylistically radical, Ibanez’s multi-scale Alpha series might just be the 21st-century prog-metal player’s favourite new guitar – but do you get the 7-string or the 8?
The Alpha series has everything you'd need form a high-performance guitar, with stainless steel frets, Fishman Fluence Modern humbuckers, locking tuners and more
![Buddy Guy [left] smiles as he takes a solo on his Fender Stratocaster. He wears a red jacket and black hat. Billy Gibbons [right] wears shades, a wide-brimmed hat and a red blazer as he plays his custom SG-style electric with the V-style headstock.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/76UyXk5sHdLGiSWvdTexbA-840-80.jpg.webp)
Billy Gibbons on the tip Buddy Guy gave him after they jammed a T-Bone Walker classic
Blues guitar's greatest showman shared a little stagecraft after the ZZ Top man's cameo during a live show
EarthQuaker Devices and Dr Z team up for a tube-driven preamp that might just be the cure for whatever ails your tone
The ZEQD-Pre has an EF86 pentode just like Dr Z's sweet high-end amps, and it might just give your rig the analogue warmth, colour, and hifi sheen you've been waiting for
![Brian May [left] leans back and feels a chord as he performs live with his Red Special. Steve Vai [right] wears a ballcap and looks pleased as punch as he shows off his custom 'Green' Red Special that May had built for him.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/iDnBpLna8mmLjc7LM4CpmU-840-80.jpg.webp)
Steve Vai once played Brian May’s guitar “like a baby giraffe on roller skates” – now the Queen icon has gifted him his own ‘Green’ Red Special
“I will treasure it for the rest of my life, and yes, I’m taking this one to the grave with me,” says Vai
“To lead Fender is the honour of a lifetime”: Fender announces Edward “Bud” Cole as its new CEO
Cole will replace Andy Mooney, who is stepping down after a successful decade at the company
![John Mayer [left] plays his signature PRS Silver Sky live onstage in 2025. George Harrison plays a Les Paul during a 1975 live performance.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/4njaLNzrwJVuLTKZcxrnka-840-80.jpg.webp)
Don Was on how John Mayer “might” be even better than George Harrison – but they definitely have one thing in common
The producer of Sob Rock says Mayer is the best arranger he has ever worked with – and he has the late Beatle’s gift for creating guitar sounds that transform a song
Victory Amps reimagines the $5k+ MK Overdrive as a 50W lunchbox head – and it's a fraction of the price
It's smaller, lighter and a heck of a lot cheaper but the MKX still has three channels, two reverbs, dual master volumes, effects loop, power scaling and more
Myles Kennedy on why karaoke “terrifies” him, the secret to a perfect take – and the hardest Guns N’ Roses song to sing
The man with the best pipes in rock and metal checks in to talk monastic vocal preservation, the challenges of Axl’s range, and that "magic mic" Paul Reed Smith gave Mark Tremonti
“I turn this thing on, I don’t want to stop playing”: Keeley Electronics has made Andy Timmons fall in love with reverb with his new signature Nocturne pedal
Robert Keeley gives reverb the Halo treatment for an all-new signature reverb that has officially made a convert of Timmons
It’s official! Neural DSP’s John Mayer Archetype plugin suite is here – and with Dumble, Klon and Reverberator captures, it is the motherlode for boutique electric guitar tone
Neural DSP bags its most high-profile artist yet and present players with a cornucopia of gourmet tone options
Paul McCartney's favourite bass company is in trouble – Höfner's future uncertain as it files provisional insolvency proceedings
The German brand behind McCartney's iconic 500/1 Violin Bass has been in existence since its founding by Karl Höfner in 1887
Burned out recording vocals? Myles Kennedy shares his top for getting the perfect take
Kennedy says Alter Bridge producer Michael 'Elvis' Baskette knows his voice better than anyone and has worked out how to get it sounding 100 per cent on record
Joe Walsh on the best guitar solo he ever recorded (and how it officially made the talk box a thing)
How a fateful night at a Nashville party gave Walsh the sound he was looking for, and an all-new sound for rock guitar
Harley Benton just put a Vega-Trem on YouTuber Carlos Asensio's $700 signature guitar: is this the best-value S-style on the market?
HSS Tesla pickups with coil-split, roasted maple neck, rolled fingerboard edges, Luminlay side markers... this is on tricked-out S-style – and then you have the Vega-Trem
"It’s just the most emotive piece of music": Alter Bridge's Mark Tremonti on the greatest guitar solo of all time
Like what, 99.99 per cent of players, the Alter Bridge and Creed guitarist looks for patterns on the fretboard, but alternate tunings set him free from reaching for the same old notes when soloing
Electro-Harmonix and JHS Pedals team up for a Big Muff based on schematic that had been lying forgotten for 50 years
While researching a book on the history of EHX, Josh Scott found a 50-year-old schematic from Big Muff inventor Bob Myer. He took it to the breadboard and now it's here... The Big Muff 2
Seymour Duncan teams up with Dino Cazares for signature Machete humbuckers – and their versatility might surprise you
Available for six or seven-string guitars, the Machete is the same high-powered heavy-hitter Cazares uses in his signature Ormsby guitar, and is all about power and clarity
Crazy Tube Circuits squeezes out another sweet twofer with the Orama preamp/fuzz pedal
One classic British amp-in-a-box circuit, one '90s boutique fuzz, two footswitches and countless tones to explore, the Orama is CTC's "vision in gain" and it looks (and sounds) mighty fresh
Brian May just got Tony Iommi the best Christmas present ever
Talk about doing Christmas shopping early? May's gift was two years in the making, and it's a big one – Queen meets Black Sabbath on a Red Special replica with a signature Iommi twist
Strymon debuts Series A analogue pedals range with the Fairfax – a “chameleon” drive that can “breathe fire”
The Fairfax Class A Output Stage Drive replicates the old-school mojo of the vintage Garnet Amplifiers' Herzog tube drive, and is the first release in Strymon's new Series A range of analogue pedals
