Guitar

IK Multimedia has drawn key tone-shaping features from its mighty Axe I/O instrument interface and put them into the Z-Tone Buffer Boost preamp pedal for gigging and Z-Tone DI active box for studio work.

Band Industries first came to our attention in 2013 when the first Roadie automatic tuner launched on Kickstarter. Now the company has returned to the crowdfunding platform with its latest iteration, the Roadie 3.

If you like the look of a Les Paul but would rather have the tone of a Strat, guitars that come with modularity built into the design could help. The latest comes from Fern Guitars and sports a wood core module that's home to pickups and electronics.

Rather than use magnets and coils to convert string motion into an analog voltage for amplified output, the ōPik uses infrared light to capture the vibrations of the strings above it. This versatile optical pickup has now launched on Kickstarter.

More than a year after it was first announced, Germany's Kemper has treated its Profiler Amp to the "ultimate cabinet solution" in the shape of the Kabinet, which rocks a full-range speaker that comes with profiled tones of its own.

Back in January, Fender hit California's National Association of Music Merchants show with a bunch of stunning Custom Shop guitars, and new models dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the Broadcaster. Now these birthday boys have gone on sale.

He's transformed an old bike into a rolling synth, and turned a games console into a music machine. Now Sam Battle of Look Mum No Computer goes back in time to revisit one of his earliest builds – a Gibson Les Paul with built-in MIDI keyboard.

Back in 2014, guitarist Andy Alt launched a Kickstarter for an electric guitar pickup that added a separate drop-octave signal to the instrument's lowest strings, A Little Thunder started shipping mid-2015, and now version two has been released.

Back in 2008, Tolgahan Çoğulu developed a guitar that allowed the player to make microtonal adjustments across the whole of the neck. And now he's done it again, this time using Lego and a 3D printer.

Last year, Fender broke into new territory with the launch of the American Acoustasonic Telecaster, which came with the tagline – "acoustic, electric and everything inbetween." The iconic brand has now added a Stratocaster to the lineup.

There can be a huge difference in the tone of an acoustic guitar when played through an amp via a pickup. LR Baggs is looking to narrow the gap with the help of a floor stomp and a smartphone app.

With Winter NAMM looming – the world's largest music industry show – Harmony has announced the Juno, a "perfect grab and go guitar" inspired by the brand's classic compact monster: the mid-1950s H44 Stratotone.