USA Today recently featured a story about Nashville-based guitar manufacturer Novo Guitars and how they are surviving amid the pandemic: I'm a fan of what Novo is doing, and I'm glad to hear that they've been able to figure out how to navigate COVID-19 without having to furlough anyone. An interesting tidbit from the interview is that founder Dennis Fano isn't really … [Read more...]
Vinyl Sales Outpace CDs in 2020
Dalvin Brown, reporting for USA Today: Americans seem to be listening to more vinyl records amid the pandemic. In fact, vinyl outsold CDs for the first time since the 1980s, according to a recently released mid-year report from the Recording Industry Association of America. The report underscoring the state of the U.S. music industry captured how people's music listening … [Read more...]
Fender Kenny Wayne Shepherd Signature Stratocaster
Fender and Kenny Wayne Shepherd have once again collaborated on the new Kenny Wayne Shepherd Signature Stratocaster: Kenny Wayne Shepherd’s fiery leads, meaty rhythms, and hard-driving songs have propelled his robust career through nine solo records – three certified platinum, major tours with Buddy Guy, Van Halen, and The Rolling Stones, and an ongoing collaboration with … [Read more...]
George Gruhn’s Dream Guitar
It's hard to imagine how many guitars have passed through George Gruhn's hands. He estimates that he's owned several hundred thousand instruments over his 55 year collecting history. That's why it's fairly remarkable that he only recently found the one he considers the best guitar he's ever played -- a 1924 Loyd Loar-signed Gibson L-5: … [Read more...]
Wampler Claymore Overdrive
If over the past few years you interacted with Wampler Pedals via their Facebook page, you likely saw posts from Alex Clay. Alex was a much beloved Wampler employee who recently passed away. To commemorate Alex, Brian Wampler has created a new pedal called the Claymore Overdrive: Based on a classic low gain overdrive circuit which Brian has tweaked to perfection, The … [Read more...]