Essential Guides

What do Slash, Les Paul, Eric Clapton, Mary Kaye, Dave Grohl and St. Vincent have in common? The clue’s in the name… Here, we take a look at the history of signature guitars

Gibson’s Les Paul signature model eventually came to define the sound of rock music – a role it still delights in to this day. Yet its design was a protracted process, with many twists and turns. Here, we present its story first-hand, both from its creators and its most famous players…

The Fender Telecaster was the first – and many still insist, is the definitive – mass-produced solidbody electric guitar. Here, the people who introduced it to the world and helped turn it into an enduring musical icon tell the remarkable story of its creation…

The Jazzmaster’s rhythm circuit has been maligned and misunderstood over the years – they’re far more than just ‘mud’ switches if you know how to use them.

Leo Fender’s decision to get into the guitar-manufacturing business was perhaps surpising given that he didn’t play the instrument himself… but he knew a man who did. Without Doc Kauffmann, Fender guitars and amps might never have existed.

He worked for Gibson, Rickenbacker and Fender, and along the way, designed some of the most iconic guitars of the 50s and 60s.

It’s one of the most evocative, expressive and downright cool guitar styles around. UK slide maestro Chris Eaton is here to give you the basics you need to get started.

Dartford in Kent can lay claim to making two lasting and profound contributions to guitar music: The Rolling Stones and Vox amplifiers. We profile the man who helped power the pop…

The PAF is one of the all-time great guitar pickups, but the Gibson employee responsible for it also designed legendary amplifiers, the Maestro fuzz pedal and much more. We profile the pickup guru’s pickup guru, Seth Lover.

Much of the iconography of vintage Gretsch guitars came from the company’s greatest ‘travelling ambassador’. Huw Price taps into the Jimmie Webster story…