Guitar

Styled similarly to the older Jazzmaster model, the favored underdog of artists like Kurt Cobain, Tom Verlaine, J Mascis and John Frusciante has now reached its 60th birthday and Fender is celebrating with two new Jaguar guitars.

Following in the creative footsteps of the Old Growth Strat, the Front Row Legend Esquire and the 80 Proof Blues Jr, Fender has now used wood reclaimed from a famed Toronto nightclub for a pair of limited edition guitars by Master Builder Ron Thorn.

Hauling heavy gear to entertain passers-by can be a pain for street or subway musicians... literally. The Caseic from Florida's Zachary DeJarnette could make such things less of a chore, by combining a guitar case with an amplifier and speaker combo.

Gibson is delving into its storied past to build a new series of limited-edition guitars called the Archive Collection, and the first model has been crafted from a drawing penned in 1957 by the company's former president, Theodore "Ted" McCarty.

Fender has released an ultra-versatile new guitar and bass into its Player Plus series. The Meteora HH will split opinions with its out-there, asymmetrical looks, but its all-new "Fireball" pickup system feels like an absolute classic in the making.

Travel guitars are a great way to maintain your calluses while on the road, but some designs can lack modern features. That's certainly not true of the Nexg, which packs a bunch of useful tech into a carbon fiber smart guitar that weighs under 7 lb.

Back in 2019, Positive Grid launched the extraordinary Spark practice amp for guitarists. We got to take one for review last year and were mighty impressed. Now a Mini version has launched with a built-in battery for play anywhere portability.

Guitarists who want to take a six-string buddy along for a trip have plenty of options, but compromises usually need to be made. The Mogabi smart guitar travels a different path by cramming all manner of useful functionality into a portable package.

Learning to play an instrument is hard, but technology can help. We've seen a number of inventive solutions over the years, and the latest is the Roadie Coach, an audio recorder, music learning system and MIDI controller rolled into one.

Multi-necked guitars are nothing new of course, examples include Luca Stricagnoli's Reversed Slide Neck, Rick Nielsen's five-neck Hamer, and the beautifully bizarre Manzer Pikasso. The Hydra follows a similar path, but does so with monstrous style.

Three years ago, creator Burls Art released a video documenting the building of his first guitar, which rocked a body made from 1,200 colored pencils. Now the artist has partnered with 4ocean to make a double-cut from recycled marine plastic.

Samsung's innovation hub demonstrated a nifty learning and jamming system at CES 2022 called the ZamStar. The app-based setup allows for remote collaborations, while a smart guitar with LEDs embedded in the neck caters for quick-study learning.