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“It may be a cliché, but let’s say it anyway: Jimi Hendrix didn’t do too badly with CBS Fenders”: Fender’s CBS era is often associated with the company losing its reputation for quality – but is that view still justified?

Fender’s CBS era is often boiled down to an equation of ‘corporate drive for profit and quantity = lowering of build standards,’ but like many things in life, it's not so simple

Guitar World · Oct 22, 2025

“Some might say a guitar at this kind of price point has no business resonating so well”: Harley Benton ST-80FR MN review

Harley Benton pays homage to the golden age of shred with this single-pickup and Floyd Rose-equipped firecracker

MusicRadar · Oct 20, 2025

"A Bluesbreaker and a King of Tone walk into a bar… and I went home with both of them": Warm Audio Throne of Tone pedal review

Could this be the finest drive and boost pedal of the year?

Guitar World · Oct 17, 2025

"It becomes very hard to put this guitar down": Strandberg Boden N2 Standard review

The next generation of the Swedish firm's headless guitar design has arrived; is this the guitar to finally convince the cynics to try one out?

MusicRadar · Oct 3, 2025

“John Lennon’s 12-string has a similar trebly edge to it… this guitar passes the ‘Fab Four’ test”: Framus Hootenanny 12-string and 6-string review

John Lennon famously used a Framus 12-string acoustic with the Beatles, and 60 years later the company has reissued the model in all its fab finery – and it comes with a little help from a friend!

Guitar World · Oct 3, 2025

“The guy in the support band was playing a Jazz Bass. We agreed to swap instruments… That guy was Ian Hunter who went on to form Mott the Hoople”: Leo Lyons on the bass that appeared at Woodstock, has been played by Hendrix, and is on three UFO classics

The Ten Years After bassist’s 1962 Fender Jazz Bass is one of the coolest four-strings you will ever see, with buckle rash on the back that any Fender Master Builder would kill to recreate

Guitar World · Sep 27, 2025

“The pickups on that old Univox were amazing. It really makes you wonder about the Japanese guitars produced backthen. They weren’t so bad at all”: How Vintage’s REVO range breathed new life into the oddball electric

Just back from a long stint in China where he oversees the design and production of Vintage guitars, Alan Entwistle delves into what makes REVO that little bit different

Guitar World · Sep 26, 2025

“Considerably less money than going down even the light-relic route in the Fender Custom Shop”: Fender American Ultra Luxe Vintage ’50s Telecaster and ’60s Strat HSS review

This latest wave of Fender’s American Ultra models continues to cater for the modern player but with an old-looking vintagevibe. We just can’t escape the past!

Guitar World · Sep 22, 2025

“The scrutiny we were under lent itself to the atmosphere of the record. We really had to come out swinging”: Jake Kiszka and Chris Turpin on conjuring old-school guitar magic for Mirador’s debut – and the difference between US and UK guitar players

The Greta Van Fleet x Ida Mae collab is a 21st-century exercise in rock classicism, bringing the ancient and the modern together, using high volume to bind, and to relieve some of the pressure, too

Guitar World · Sep 19, 2025

“You get emails saying they’d like to try a guitar and you think, ‘It’s not going to be THAT Audley Freed, is it?… Then the penny drops”: How Ivison Guitars became Britain’s hottest high-end brand

With new staff, in-house pickups and the continuing success of the Dakota, there’s plenty to discuss. We grab Neil Ivison for a quick chat

Guitar World · Sep 10, 2025