Jamie Dickson

“It's the one he took around with him – the one he went back to the hotel with after gigs”: Up close with the 1974 Martin that Eric Clapton used to write Wonderful Tonight

By Jamie Dickson published 4 June 24

Eric Clapton’s Wonderful Tonight is one of the great love songs of our time. So when the guitar he wrote it on, a 1974 Martin 000-28, came up for auction in London, we didn’t need a second invitation to go and take a closer look

“Some people really object to the sound of finger noise when they’re playing acoustic, and coated strings definitely mitigate that”: How different strings affect your acoustic guitar tone

By Jamie Dickson published 3 June 24

Strings have a major influence on your acoustic sound – here’s how to choose the right ones for your guitar

“I couldn’t believe it… the list of players could have gone from here to Leeds!” Mark Knopfler on how he enlisted Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton and dozens more for the all-star Guitar Heroes version of his Local Hero theme

By Jamie Dickson published 14 May 24

Corralling dozens of A-list guitar talent onto one epic track, Mark Knopfler's Guitar Heroes pulled out the impossible to raise money for teen cancer charities – here's how it all went down

“You couldn’t sell them and you wouldn’t want to sell them because they’d be just too hard to say goodbye to”: Mark Knopfler on the guitars he couldn't bear to part with, and the six-strings that surprised him on One Deep River

By Jamie Dickson published 7 May 24

On the back of his stirring new album, the guitar icon discusses the primacy of songwriting, and how his relationship with the instrument has changed

“The Ford Motor Company had created a color called ‘Daisy Pink’ especially for his aunt. She was famous in her own right and had the paint sent to Fender”: Meet 9 of Fender’s most elusive offset guitars

By Jamie Dickson published 7 May 24

From Fender Japan exclusives to mid-’60s unicorns, and a 1958 Sparkle Sunburst Jazzmaster that’s a holy grail in anyone’s book…

“People have always gravitated to guitars by Fender Japan because you get so much more choice… The build quality is the best Fender makes outside the Custom Shop”: How the Japanese Fender offset conquered the world

By Jamie Dickson published 24 April 24

Fender Japan showed the world how radically offsets could be modified. We visited specialist Japanese guitar retailer Gas Station Guitars to chart the evolution of the MIJ offset

“It’s kind of sad that sax or trumpet players can get up there and play like Miles and people appreciate it. But if a guitar player does that, some people think, ‘Oh, that guy has no chops’”: Scott Henderson on virtuosity and musical journeys

By Jamie Dickson published 22 April 24

Returning with a new instrumental album seamlessly fusing rock, blues and jazz, Scott Henderson checks in to talk gear, style and what we can learn from vocals and horn

“When companies have success, or they have iconic models, we can tend to get lazy... Consumers and artists deserve better – they need to feel like we’re working hard”: How Martin made its groundbreaking Inception acoustic

By Jamie Dickson published 16 April 24

Martin's vice president of product management Fred Greene gives us the skinny on how the brand's latest acoustic presents players with some seriously innovative features

“Like so many of Leo Fender’s products, these instruments ended up being wildly successful at producing sounds that ran contrary to his intentions”: The history of Fender offset guitars

By Huw Price published 12 April 24

Only now, over 60 years on from their launch, are the Jazzmaster and Jaguar becoming recognised as guitars for all players. We trace the innovations that mapped the offset’s long journey from misunderstood outsider to contemporary king

“We’re trying to avoid sounding like a conventional guitar band… Our goal has always been to expand what guitars can do”: Idles’ radical guitar duo dissect their “violent, dark tones” and explain why modeling is “wack”

By Henry Yates published 2 April 24

Savage, socially charged and allergic to cliché, Idles are less categorisable than ever on fifth album, Tangk, and its dynamic guitar partnership Mark Bowen and Lee Kiernan are holding nothing back

“Richard Fortus messaged me and said, ‘I’ve shown Slash your guitar and he likes it, too…’ After that, the phones didn’t stop”: How a small UK boutique builder became a Guns N’ Roses favorite and the next big name in retro-inspired electric guitars

By Jamie Dickson published 26 March 24

Ivison Guitars has only been in business for six years, but its Dakota model has already headlined Glastonbury with Guns N’ Roses star Richard Fortus. Founder Neil Ivison shares its story

“It’s the higher-profile artist associations that tend to attract the big money – things like your Pearly Gates and your Jimmy Pages”: Why Gibson’s replicas of famous Les Pauls are commanding almost as much as vintage guitars

By Jamie Dickson published 6 March 24

Gibson’s highest-tier replicas are seriously sought after on the collector's market. We find out what all the fuss is about and examine a rare recreation of Jimmy Page’s fiendishly complex #2 Les Paul Standard

“You feel the whole guitar shaking as you’re playing it, especially when you run it through an amp”: How Mule Resophonic Guitars is reinventing the resonator

By Jamie Dickson published 21 February 24

When Ida Mae guitarist Chris Turpin found his traditional 12-string resonator was getting too cumbersome to tour with, Matt Eich of Michigan’s Mule Resophonic Guitars came up with an innovative yet charismatically retro alternative

“These guitars illustrate the musical journey of one of popular music’s greatest artists”: Inside Christie’s’ epic $11.2 million Mark Knopfler guitar auction

By Jamie Dickson published 5 February 24

We got an up-close look at some of the most storied, rare and collectible of Mark Knopfler's guitars, just before they went under the hammer

“The message for tube nostalgists is clear: enjoy today what may not be here tomorrow”: Can the tube amp survive in the digital era?

By Jamie Dickson published 22 January 24

As digital guitar amplification continues to wow the market and guitar players alike, is it realistic to assume that it will be business as usual for the tube amp?

“As a kid, I became fascinated: blues, banjo playing, English traditional music, Scots music”: How Martin Simpson is reworking trad Appalachian standards and turning them into folk guitar masterworks

By Jamie Dickson published 10 January 24

The folk maestro’s latest record, Nothing But Green Willow, is a beautiful collection of songs from the Appalachian Mountains. Here he tells us how he breathed new life into them

The most valuable BOSS pedals ever made

By Trevor Curwen, Jamie Dickson published 30 December 23

The BOSS compact pedals may be colorful little objects of desire to many, but some of them are more desirable than others...

“We see it as a commitment to serving musicians, music lovers, artists and fans. That’s the Gretsch religion”: Fred W. Gretsch tells the remarkable inside story of the family behind one of electric guitar’s oldest names

By Jamie Dickson published 26 December 23

Before the guitars, there was a family: as the firm celebrates 140 years of music-making, Gretsch tells us about the people behind the instruments

“We can create sound with more freedom, while maintaining the original quality”: What is BOSS Waza Craft? The Japanese effects giant’s boutique range explained

By Jamie Dickson published 17 December 23

If classic tones with custom voicings and enhanced functionality is what you’re after, in a package that’s built to the highest possible quality, Waza Craft is for you

“I was expecting to toss it into the pile of unsuccessful builds from the 1960s guitar boom. Boy howdy, was I wrong!” Meet the Martin GT‑75 Moth – the iconic acoustic company’s 1967 semi-hollow electric experiment

By Jamie Dickson published 9 November 23

An electric guitar from the venerable acoustic brand is a rare thing indeed, but then this was the ‘60s, Bob Dylan had just taken up a Stratocaster, and the times they were a-changing

“I listened to a lot of T-Bone Walker when I was a kid, and to suddenly have one of those guitars in your arms was really special”: In his final interview, Bernie Marsden opens up on selling his guitar collection – with one notable exception

By Jamie Dickson published 1 November 23

Just days before his unexpected death, we spoke with Bernie Marsden for what was sadly to be the final time. He shared the story behind the guitars he was selling, and the one he finally chose to keep

“Bernie had completely forgotten he had this. He said, ‘Oh, I looked in one of my old storage spaces today and I found another four guitars’”: Up close and personal with some of late guitar hero Bernie Marsden’s rarest vintage instruments

By Jamie Dickson published 26 October 23

Before he passed away, Whitesnake hero Bernie Marsden put some of his lifelong collection of guitars up for sale. In this feature, written just days before Bernie tragically left us, we joined Mike Long of ATB Guitars to take a closer look

“My Foo Fighters setup is the kind of beast you have when somebody carries your s**t around for you!” Chris Shiflett on his double-life as a jobbing solo artist and lead guitarist in the world’s biggest rock band

By Henry Yates published 26 October 23

The Foo Fighters stalwart tells us about the “blasphemy” of his new backline, holding his breath when he solos and why the kind of guitar playing he loved “became pretty much illegal”