
Dave Burrluck
Dave Burrluck is one of the world’s most experienced guitar journalists, who started writing back in the '80s for International Musician and Recording World, co-founded The Guitar Magazine and has been the Gear Reviews Editor of Guitarist magazine for the past two decades. Along the way, Dave has been the sole author of The PRS Guitar Book and The Player's Guide to Guitar Maintenance as well as contributing to numerous other books on the electric guitar. Dave is an active gigging and recording musician and still finds time to make, repair and mod guitars, not least for Guitarist’s The Mod Squad.
Latest articles by Dave Burrluck

Sheeran By Lowden Equals Edition review
By Dave Burrluck last updated
To celebrate Ed Sheeran’s mega-selling Equals album, his guitar company has come up with this wee wonder. And like the star behind it, it is a bona-fide crowd-pleaser

Guthrie Govan shares the story behind his latest signature Charvel
By Dave Burrluck published
If there is such a thing as an all-purposes guitar, then Guthrie Govan's latest signature Charvel San Dimas is it. Here, Govan talks through the design choices behind the high-performance electric

Why don’t more guitars come with different brands’ pickups mixed and matched?
By Dave Burrluck published
Most of the electric guitars we buy have own-brand pickups or a pairing from one brand, but there is another way and it can work well. Here are a few things to consider before reaching for the Seymour Duncan, the DiMarzio, and that soldering iron

Cream T Crossfire review
By Dave Burrluck last updated
The second design from Cream T’s well-received guitar venture shows off a different direction with some offset style, pickup swapping and an aggressive starting price

PRS SE Standard 24-08 review
By Dave Burrluck last updated
PRS guitars are very expensive and loaded with bling, right? Not this one. The start-up PRS gets a 24-08 makeover that should interest any hard-working player

Charvel Guthrie Govan Signature MJ San Dimas SD24 CM review
By Dave Burrluck last updated
One of our favorite signature guitars from one of our favorite guitar players gets a more affordable Japanese makeover. How does it stack up?

Jet Guitars JS-800 review
By Dave Burrluck published
There’s no let-up to the tsunami of Fender-inspired clones out there. Here’s another from Jet Guitars – but this one has an unusual hot-rod and relic'd style

Yamaha Revstar RSE20, RSS20, RSS02T and RSP02T review
By Dave Burrluck published
Seven years after it first appeared, Yamaha’s Revstar range gets a thorough makeover without losing any of the original style. The next level? Let’s examine the evidence

Fender Player Plus Meteora HH review
By Dave Burrluck published
First seen in 2018, the Meteora isn’t just a re-run or mash-up of past Fender designs. It’s a radical new ‘shape’ with maximum offset style. Would you rock one?

Kauffmann Cozy TL and TM review
By Dave Burrluck published
Kauffmann unearths a lost European guitar that was first choice for certain big names of the '60s. Never heard of it? You have now

Vintage V65 Icon Vibrato review
By Dave Burrluck published
A new heavily relic’d and very affordable offset from the cheeky chaps at Vintage

Cort G290 FAT II review
By Dave Burrluck published
Cor-Tek already makes a considerable number of the world’s electric guitars, but can its own brand, Cort, compete with those bigger names? We think so

Gibson Jim James ES-335 review
By Dave Burrluck published
The new signature model from the My Morning Jacket leader presents a working-player spec and '70s vibe

Vox Bobcat S66 and V90 with Bigsby review
By Dave Burrluck published
No sooner had we finished testing Vox’s Bobcats in 2021, there’s now a pair with Bigsby vibratos and a moodier vibe

How the weight of your electric guitar affects its performance and build
By Dave Burrluck published
Many players obsess over the weight of their guitar, but how much difference does it make?

Trinity By Relish 2022 review
By Dave Burrluck published
While the majority of guitar makers plunder the past, Relish continues to look forwards. We take the wraps off its most affordable guitar to date

The making of the PRS SE Silver Sky: how Paul Reed Smith and John Mayer created the best SE model yet
By Dave Burrluck published
The SE Silver Sky was no overnight operation. PRS’s Jack Higginbotham explains all as we discuss the highly anticipated model’s lengthy development

PRS USA Silver Sky vs SE Silver Sky
By Dave Burrluck published
It might use the name and overall design of the USA model, but the new SE Silver Sky has many more differences than it seems at first glance. We investigate...

Cream T Aurora Standard 2PS review
By Dave Burrluck published
Give a rockstar a pencil and what do you get? A Cream T guitar! Co-designed by the legend that is Billy F Gibbons and made in the UK, the Aurora is here. But can it light up the sky?

Robson Renegade and Paradise 73 review
By Dave Burrluck published
Robson’s guitars feature detailed art and craft. But are they different enough to stand out from the crowd? Let’s take a look…

Rapier 33 review
By Dave Burrluck published
A blast from the past in the form of a new version of a British-made guitar that first appeared in the late-'50s. Is it still valid after all these years?

PRS SE Silver Sky review
By Dave Burrluck published
PRS and John Mayer finally unleash the affordable SE version of the Silver Sky. Another cheap Fender copy or one of the best signature guitars we’ve ever played? Let’s find out…

Patrick James Eggle Macon Junior DC review
By Dave Burrluck published
PJE sends us his latest electric vision: a boutique Junior with not an ounce of flame maple or bling. Let’s rock!
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