[Update 24.07: D'Addario has posted a response video on Instagram confirming the demo was not created using AI. In the post, D'Addario shows the layered guitar tracks that were recorded for the demo.

"Setting the record straight, this string demo was certainly over-produced. However, it was not created by AI. All guitars were tracked in real-life, drums and synths were MIDI programmed, plus a whole lot of plug-ins and production."]

D’Addario has denied allegations that it used AI to create music in a promo video for its new NYXL HD electric guitar strings. It has also defended deleting comments and blocking accounts on its social media channels, saying it was protecting its employees from harassment.

In a statement to Guitar World, D’Addario confirms it never uses AI when making music for its video marketing content. “Our brand is grounded in authenticity, and doing so would be against our ethos,” says the strings and accessories giant.

The video in question is a slick production featuring some high-gain progressive metal. The launch offered the NYXL HD range as single high-density strings for seven-, eight- and nine-string guitars, while the XT Dynacore HD Classical Singles offered individual strings for seven- and eight-string nylon-string guitars.

The promo clip is undeniably super polished, super processed. That was the problem. It didn’t sound quote/unquote real.

There was a pile-on in the comments section. D’Addario got involved in the comments, denying the allegations, and then began deleting the comments relating to AI and blocking some accounts.

YouTubers soon picked up on the story, with Danny Sapko running a video titled, ‘Did the world’s biggest guitar string company just get caught?!’

D’Addario stresses that the video was created by real musicians. But perhaps this controversy tells us that these über-finessed productions, electric guitar tones that have been processed so far that they take on this sheen of artifice, don’t work for audiences anymore.

In replying to Guitar World, D’Addario acknowledges that it was a mistake to present the demo with full production.

“We have an organization filled with extremely talented musicians whom we rely on to compose, produce, and demonstrate our products,” said D’Addario.

“We made a choice to demo these products in a fully produced mix, it backfired. We have learned from this and will shoot and demonstrate the products again without that fidelity of production, so consumers will be able to hear a comparison of these strings both in a mixed and raw format.”

The company says it had to turn comments off after one of its employees’ personal accounts was identified and he was “being targeted with malicious comments and messages”. That crossed the line.

“We have a responsibility to protect our employees from harassment. As always, we are open to accepting criticism as a brand,” said D’Addario. “But there is no place for harassment of our employees on their personal social media accounts. It’s so important that we all behave in a responsible and respectful way given the volatile nature of social media.”

You’ve probably asked yourself, “How often should I change my guitar strings?” After every gig? Every month? Once a year? Or should you stick with the same strings until they snap? Until they’re so riddled with corrosion that they physically can’t hold tune?

No two players will provide the same answer. But what’s the correct answer – if there even is such a thing? We reached out to some of the biggest brands in the world of acoustic and electric guitar strings to find out, including Ernie Ball, D'Addario, Rotosound, Martin and Stringjoy.

The straightforward answer

Every brand broadly agreed on the same timeline: changing your strings at least every three months seems to be the sweet spot.

“For most players using high-quality strings and taking decent care of them, changing strings every three to six months is a pretty healthy window,” says Scott Marquart, founder and president of Stringjoy.

Martin’s manufacturing manager Dave Doll agrees with the lower end of that estimate. “I’d say best practice is to change every two to three months if it’s a guitar you play fairly often.”

Meanwhile, Brian Vance, D’Addario’s VP of fretted strings and accessories, suggests more frequent changes could be useful for acoustics.

“I would suggest changing electric strings every two to three months – four times a year – and acoustic strings every one to two months – six times a year,” he says. “However, these time ranges can vary, and many factors impact string life.”

The bigger picture

Every brand we spoke to agreed that changes are sometimes required at more irregular intervals. It’s important to know the telltale signs. Rotosound and Ernie Ball try not to deal in timeframes, and instead encourage a more pragmatic approach depending on your own playing habits.

“Rather than asking, ‘how often,’ we prefer to frame the question as, ‘What are the signs that you need to?’” says Jack Dunwoody, Rotosound marketing manager.

“Look and feel for signs of corrosion as humidity and sweat tarnish the metal. Listen for an unpleasing change in tone and sustain; pay attention to tuning stability and intonation issues. When you notice one of these signs, it’s probably time to open a fresh set of strings.”

Ernie Ball’s Chris Harrington echoes, “I suggest asking what matters most to you as a player: confidence or tone? As strings age they become susceptible to breaking, loss of tone or sustain, and even intonation issues. You may need different timing for string changes, depending on the instrument.”

What to watch out for

For Martin’s Dave Doll, aging strings can also negatively impact the performance of your guitar – and, by extension, your playing.

“There are definitely people who prefer the sound of ‘dead’ strings,” he says. “But the question of when to change isn't just about tonality. As strings tarnish, their mass increases and they become less flexible, making them more difficult to play.”

Stringjoy’s Marquart agrees: “The biggest sign it’s time for a fresh set are when your strings start sounding dull, feel rough or sticky under your fingers, have visible corrosion, don't intonate properly and won’t stay in tune as well.”

Plenty of factors can speed up the need for a restring. Nearly every brand acknowledges that humidity and environmental conditions are big ones. Playing habits inevitably have an impact on string life, too.

“How often do you play? The more you play, the faster your strings can deteriorate,” explains D’Addario’s Vance. “What kind of environment do you live and play in? Areas of high humidity or close to the ocean can accelerate the corrosion process.

“What style of music do you play? Fingerstyle and strumming techniques typically put less stress on the strings, while heavy or flatpicking can break a string down faster.”

Setting up for success

Thankfully, measures can be taken to extend the life of your strings. Rotosound and Stringjoy both recommend a robust care routine. Ernie Ball emphasizes the importance of using quality strings in the first place.

“The best thing you can do to extend their life is to wipe them down with a lint-free microfiber cloth every time you play,” says Marquart. “Sweat, oils and grime are a huge part of what kills strings. We’ve seen that simple habit extend lifespan tremendously.”

Introducing coated strings into your setup can also make a huge difference, as Vance notes: “Uncoated strings are typically changed one to three months, while coated strings can last six to 12 months or longer, depending how often and hard they are played.”

How you put your strings on can make a difference, too. As Harrington notes, “Many people over-stretch their strings when they install them. Target those specific pockets of slack – the tuning posts, the nut, the bridge and the ball end twist. You'll get your strings to settle into pitch faster, and you're less likely to damage them, potentially extending their life.”

Personal touch

Ultimately, though, that three-month mark is a good safety net to have in mind. But your individual style will demand its own routine, so it’s important to find out what that is.

“Fresh strings can make a guitar feel alive again,” says Marquart. “My general advice would be to buy the best strings you can, take care of them, and let your ears and hands tell you when it’s time.”

Harrington agrees: “It really comes down to identifying what matters most to you, and letting that be your guide.”

Relic’d guitars have seen a huge rise in popularity in recent years. So, when Chibson USA joked about relic decal stickers as a budget-friendly hack, Dame Guitars took matters into its own hands.

Everyone from Charvel to Solar has jumped on the trend in recent years, as more and more players crave road worn-looking electric guitars straight off the shelf. Elsewhere, Gibson’s Murphy Lab has been making new guitars look like vintage gems in genius ways, and the Fender Custom Shop has seen a surge in relic’d requests.

And so, in true Chibson USA fashion, the meme machine made a spoof social media post about the relic decal sticker concept. A good chuckle was had by all, except by Korean-based Dame Guitars, which took it upon itself to bring the idea to life.

Under its post announcing the decals, Chibson commented, “When we came up with this idea, it was only supposed to be a joke.”

They look surprisingly effective. The stickers – which make it look like the wood beneath a guitar’s finish has been exposed – are certainly giving the S-type seen in the video a little more character.

Applied around the edges of the body, they look effective on screen, and their imperfect shapes mean that application should be a doddle; you don’t need precision.

Speaking to Guitar World about the the rising popularity of relic'g guitars last year, Fender Masterbuilders Andy Hicks and Austin MacNutt dismissed the naysayers who believe players must earn their relics, detailing that a growing number of players simply want brand-new, old-looking axes.

Originally, though, relic’ing work was a little less scientific and a little more... well, brutal. Adrian Belew famously went to savage lengths to relic his Strat in the late 1970s – making it one of the first purposefully relic’d guitars ever.

These stickers might not be for everyone, and they're sure to attract some doubters, but there's no denying they look like a harmless relicing ‘mod’ for those who don’t want to beat up their beloved guitars, or spend a few grand on a pre-worn instrument. Better still, they're completely reversible.

The decals are priced at 9,500 won, which is approximately $6.20.

Keep your eyes on Dame Gutiars for more.

The Prime Day sale is the best place for guitarists to stock up on accessories, but it's the final day of Amazon's biggest sale, so you've not got much longer to take advantage. While your feed is no doubt drowning in Prime Day guitar deals, I’ve been covering these sales for years now, so I know what’s genuinely a great deal and what looks good because the RRP has been inflated. So I’m here to help you get the best value for your money when it comes to Prime Day 2026.

There are loads of great accessory deals floating around at the moment, and many of them are so cheap that it’s an absolute no-brainer to pick them up. Whether you want playing tools like guitar slides and capos, essentials like strings, or extras like straps and guitar tools, the Prime Day sale is the place to pick them up.

Here are 11 of my favorite deals on guitar accessories you can still grab right now, all with some tasty discounts:

Shop all the Prime Day guitar deals

• Amazon: All Prime Day guitar deals
• Guitars: Save on beginner guitars
• Amps & pedals: Save big on fresh tones
• Accessories: Strings, slides, straps, and more

More retailer sales

• 🇺🇸 Best US sales
• B&H Photo: Money off pro audio
• Guitar Center: Early 4th of July sale
• Guitar Tricks: 1 month for $1
• IK Multimedia: 50% off software coupon
• Musician's Friend: Up to 60% off gear
• Native Instruments: Up to 30% software savings
• Positive Grid: Spark Summer Sale
• Plugin Boutique: 100s of plugin discounts
• Reverb: B-stock deals
• Sweetwater: Big savings on guitar gear
• Universal Audio: Paradise Guitar studio $99
• Waves: Plugins for just $34.99

• 🇬🇧 Best UK sales
• Thomann: Shop the huge Thomann Music Days sale
• Gear 4 Music: Big clearance savings
• GuitarTricks: Half-price annual plan
• Plugin Boutique: Huge software savings
• Waves: Sale on studio staples

You can never have enough guitar cables, right? That’s both an excellent piece of received wisdom, regarding preparation for future pedalboards and amp rigs, and also a prophetically-true statement about the inevitable existence of faulty leads in your current crop.

Keeping on top of your guitar cables and patch leads is never fun, but needs must – and what better time to meet those needs than “deals o’clock”? Amongst a plethora of Prime Day guitar deals, I’ve pulled out five of the best lead and patch cable kits, from Fender to MXR and beyond, and all with massive savings.

But with Prime Day ending tonight, you only have a matter of hours to save before the prices shoot back up.

More options on sale

• Cheapest cable: New Bee braided 10ft, was $8.99, now $7.64
• Best value: Amazon Basics patch cables (6-pack), was $15.74, now $12.55
• Longest cable: GLS Tweed 20ft, was $21.99, now $17.99

More places to shop

Shop all the Prime Day guitar deals at Amazon

• Amazon: All Prime Day guitar deals
• Guitars: Save on beginner guitars
• Amps & pedals: Save big on fresh tones
• Accessories: Strings, slides, straps, and more

• 🇺🇸 Best non-Amazon sales (US)
• B&H Photo: Money off pro audio
• Guitar Center: Early 4th of July sale
• Guitar Tricks: 1 month for $1
• IK Multimedia: 50% off software coupon
• Musician's Friend: Up to 60% off gear
• Native Instruments: Up to 30% software savings
• Positive Grid: Spark Summer Sale
• Plugin Boutique: 100s of plugin discounts
• Reverb: B-stock deals
• Sweetwater: Big savings on guitar gear
• Universal Audio: Paradise Guitar studio $99
• Waves: Plugins for just $34.99

• 🇬🇧 Best non-Amazon sales (UK)
• Thomann: Shop the huge Thomann Music Days sale
• Gear 4 Music: Big clearance savings
• GuitarTricks: Half-price annual plan
• Plugin Boutique: Huge software savings
• Waves: Sale on studio staples

I wouldn’t usually follow up one pickup feature with another, but the article I wrote detailing changes to the pickups in our Telecaster 75th Anniversary edition got me thinking. I’ve been privileged to play a few ’50s Telecasters, and even a Broadcaster, but it occurred to me that I’ve never had the opportunity to directly compare each type of Blackguard-era pickup.

Just to recap, T-style bridge pickups were wound with 43 AWG magnet wire before Fender changed to thicker 42 AWG wire in 1951. The next big change occurred in 1955, when Alnico V magnetic slugs replaced the weaker Alnico III. By my reckoning, that equates to three distinct versions in the early 1950s alone.

I’m just a newcomer to the pickup-making hobby, but I thought it might be educational to make one of each. My idea was to order flatwork, slugs, and baseplates from the same supplier, along with two gauges of magnet wire from a single manufacturer.

So long as I could wind all the coils consistently, with the same number of turns, and wax-pot them for an identical period of time, it should be possible to form some clear conclusions on how each change influences the overall tone.

Picking Up Parts

Pickup parts are widely available, but for this project I ordered kits from UK retailer Axesrus because it’s a one-stop place for everything you need. However, the plain enamel magnet wire actually came from Allparts UK because it’s slightly cheaper there. When ordering, keep your wits about you because it’s easy to end up with slugs and flatwork holes that don’t match.

Complicating things further, some suppliers provide measurements in millimetres while others use inches, while both decimal and fractions feature. The narrower diameter, post-1955 slugs were 0.1875-inch, which equates to 3/16-inch and 4.75mm. Axesrus doesn’t sell the early style 0.195-inch (4.953mm) slugs, but it sells 5mm slugs and that’s close enough.

Most guitar-parts suppliers stock cloth-covered hook-up wires, and you can choose which colors you prefer. Yellow and black would be traditional for vintage style T-type pickups, but if you can’t find yellow then it’s possible to stain white cloth. You’ll also need some old-fashioned white parcel-string, which can generally be found in hardware stores or post offices.

Slug Fest

I started by pressing the non-bevelled ends into the flats using my arbour press. This makes the job easy, but you could tap them in using a rubber mallet. Axesrus’s kits come with tiny eyelets for soldering and they are inserted from the underside of the bottom flat.

As long as you’ve ordered the correct flatwork for your chosen slug diameter, there should be a tight friction fit. Even so, I like to wick some water-thin superglue around the holes from the inside and then wipe off any excess if I need to.

With all the bobbins assembled, Fender would mask off the eyelets, dip the bobbins in lacquer, and let them drip dry. They probably did this to lower the chances of corroded magnet wire shorting out against the slugs, and you can wrap tape around the slugs before winding if you don’t want to bother with lacquer. I did both to play it safe and also because the lacquer gives the flatwork a distinctive vintage sheen.

Winding Up

I’m not going to go into great detail about setting up machines and winding coils because there are many online video tutorials that can show you exactly how it’s done. You can even find one with Fender’s legendary Abigail Ybarra – watch her wire-guiding hand closely.

With 42 AWG wire I find that 10,000 turns equates to a coil resistance reading of around 7.5k. That’s pretty strong for a mid-‘50s T-type bridge pickup, and the same number of turns resulted in a 9.5k coil with 43 AWG wire. Be sure to re-check your resistance reading after soldering the leadout wires and try to avoid getting hot solder resin on the coil.

Strings Attached

Fender wrapped string around T-type bridge pickup coils, which protected them and allowed molten potting wax to soak through to the wire. The company’s winders used black-tinted wax, which turned the white string black and held it in place.

To apply the string, I unravelled about 10mm at the end to flatten it out and then positioned it up the side of the coil at one end, running from top to bottom.

Pinching the flattened end against the coil, I began wrapping the string around the coil in layers going from the bottom flat to the top. Once I had applied as many turns as possible, I cut the string and tucked the end between the final turn and the underside of the top flat.

Pot Luck

I use a beauty salon-style wax heater to melt potting wax at about 60 degrees Celsius. You could also get by with a glass bowl and a bain-marie type of arrangement instead, (but don’t use your partner’s favorite kitchenware. You’ll have to trust me on this…)

More learned pickup makers than me may have special wax formulations, but I use paraffin wax mixed with lamp-black powder and some boot polish to turn it black. The amount of time pickups should spend in the wax is open to debate.

Some advocate leaving them for 10 to 15 minutes, or until air bubbles stop coming up to the surface. This pretty much guarantees that a pickup won’t squeal microphonically, but lighter potting retains some microphony for airy high harmonics and vintage chime.

Having examined numerous vintage Fender pickup coils, I’ve noticed that the potting wax only penetrated the outer layers and there’s often no wax on the inside of the coil. They were semi-potted at most, and for vintage tonal characteristics I find that three to five minutes works well. If a pickup is too microphonic, you can always re-pot it, but you can never un-pot it.

Tone Tests

With four coils wound, bound and waxed, it was finally time for testing. Rather than evaluate my own work, I invited my mate Ed Oleszko over to lend an ear and he kindly brought his 1955 tweed Super.

Using my Dearnaley Taff Delta loaded with a genuine 1954 lap steel pickup for reference, Ed tested the pickups in a US-made Fender Anniversary Esquire, and both guitars were fitted with brass saddles.

Ed says of the Alnico III with 43 AWG: “This pickup doesn’t sound overwound in a dull and midrange heavy sort of way. I’d describe the output as gutsy, rather than hot. It has mellow treble, hi-fi clarity, and excellent balance that is very forgiving and easy to play, but it’s not a quintessentially Tele-like tone. It sounds older and mellower, with loads of bass heft, although the lows do sound a bit soft, and it’s more woody than twangy.

“It has a beautiful midrange, lots of harmonics, and, with no hint of shrillness, it’s the one that works best in the Esquire’s back setting. Once your ears adjust, it makes some regular Tele pickups seem a bit shrill and uncultured in comparison. It has a lovely oboe-esque voicing, and as a Gibson player I feel very comfortable with the plummy midrange and the effortless way it sustains and blooms.”

Over to the Alnico III with 42 AWG, and Ed says: “This one has a huge sound, with a lot of low-end thump and a wide soundstage. It really sustains, but not quite as well as the 43 AWG version, and it doesn’t generate as much of that Patent Applied For-like upper-harmonic bloom. This is very much a Blackguard Telecaster sound with an aggressively confident midrange that never gets brash, and it’s the one that sounds closest to the ’54 lap steel pickup.

“It’s twangier than the 43 AWG version and the low strings have a springy bounce. The resonance peak seems higher, so it has a clucky quack, rather than the plummy voicing that makes the 43 AWG softer and woodier. It’s not as clear sounding as the 43 AWG, maybe because the midrange is congested with harmonics, but there’s a clickier front-end attack to notes, and when overdriven, the overall vibe recalls Springsteen’s Darkness On The Edge Of Town.”

Finally, to the Alnico V and Ed says: “42 AWG with Alnico V slugs appears to generate an upper midrange peak and a bass lift with a slight dip in between. This pickup is clearer and more balanced overall, and it’s like a ‘loudness button’ has been applied across the whole frequency range. Nothing jumps out, and it sounds more modern because it doesn’t have as much of the 42 AWG’s quacky and honky vocal midrange. That said, it’s not as characterful as the others.

“It does provide the best note separation and it has the tightest bass. With the volume right up it sounds punky, and when you turn it down it does that jangly faux-acoustic thing. There’s a lot of sustain, which makes playing easier because it doesn’t require as much physicality as some vintage pickups.

“It’s perhaps the most versatile of the three and I think it would work well in a lot of musical genres. The problem is that now that I’ve heard how different they all sound, I want three Telecasters, rather than just one, because they’re sufficiently different to justify it!”

Wrapping Up

As I mentioned at the beginning, I’m just getting into pickup making and repairing, and these were only the second, third, and fourth T-type pickups I’ve made so far.

If you fancy trying it for yourself, you can set up with a winding machine, a magnetizing rig and any other bits and pieces for less than £200, and the wire and parts for a T-type bridge pickup should total less than £20.

Have a go!

• This article first appeared in Guitarist. Subscribe and save.

The rigors of touring, or even going from one’s home to the practice studio, can have a huge impact on a guitar’s tuning and overall health, so D’addario has devised an interesting antidote: climate-controlled gig bags.

The firm's new Backline cases, designed for electric guitar and bass, are crafted with “superior instrument protection” in mind, and its fancy Humidipak integration steals the headlines.

Each bag in the series has a Humidipak Climate-Control neck cradle, designed to “preserve your instrument’s condition like no other gig bag.” The cradle features two-way humidity control to help keep instruments in tip-top condition in transit.

So, even if you’re packed onto a hot, sweaty bus like a sardine on your way to rehearsal, the Backline promises your prized guitar will come out of the journey unscathed.

The cradle also helps keep the guitar snug in one place, so when the bus goes over a pothole, your instrument won’t feel the brunt of it.

Other key features include a water-resistant exterior, reinforced zippers, and a plush interior with tear-resistant panels that add durability in high-wear areas. Ergonomic straps and a cushioned back panel help keep the guitar and the wearer of the bag comfy.

The front pocket is also a pretty roomy breakaway bag (18” H, 13” L, 2.5” W), meaning it can be detached from the case and neatly organized before being slotted back in place via the Auto Lock system seen on some of its guitar straps.

The bag is big enough to house an overdrive pedal, an iPad, a MIDI controller, and a handful of packs of guitar strings, plus a zippered pocket for guitar picks.

The new Backline cases are priced at $299.99/£232.50, placing them on the premium end of the scale, but it’s certainly an innovative approach to axe protection from the firm behind color-coded strings, a guitar-duster oven mitt, and a nifty pedal-prying tool.

See D’Addario for more.

If there was such a job as ‘tone archaeologist’, Stuart Robson of Sunbear Pickups would qualify. His forensic examinations of vintage pickups have led him down many an interesting path in the design and development of his own pickups.

His latest prototype, however, tells a particularly interesting story. While Gibson’s fabled Patent Applied For humbuckers of the late ’50s are endlessly discussed and copied, less light is shed on the earliest examples of the breed – the 1957 examples that, as Stuart explains, were built just a little differently from the ones that followed and had a sound all of their own – quirks that he has sought to faithfully emulate in his latest vintage-inspired humbucker. What’s the story?

“Well, they’re called the KZ 57 SB PAFs and they’re designed to mimic the winding pattern and coil structure of the coils produced by the very first machine that was used by Gibson in the ’50s. This machine was used to wind the majority of the of the 50s P-90s but also some of the earliest Patent Applied For pickups,” Stuart explains.

“The winding machine [used for 1957 Patent Applied For humbuckers] was made by Geo-Stevens – in fact, it was the earliest winding machine produced by that maker. Geo-Stevens carried on making winders that were quite similar looking for many years after.

“But the original one is a little bit janky – it’s early and it’s quite rattly and it’s got a specific lobeless cam set up on it. And, basically, that means the way that it lays wire backwards and forwards on the bobbin is quite specific in terms of the turns per layer and will fill the bobbin more for the same number of turns of wire that the later Leesona machine would do. So that just gives a specific character to the pickup.”

So what did that all mean for the sound of the earliest Patent Applied For humbuckers?

“They tend to be slightly airier,” Stuart argues. “They have more detail in the low-end, not necessarily more tightness but more transients, more harmonic content in the low-end than the coils off of the Leesonas tend to. And they just tend to be a little bit sweeter. So they’re more like a humbucking P-90 in character than the later Patent Applied For pickups tend to be,” he explains.

It’s A Wind-Up

While the output of Patent Applied For humbuckers wandered about between 1957 and 1962 when they transitioned into being ‘Patent Number’ humbuckers, Stuart adds that the first ones wound on the Geo-Stevens machines were restricted to a maximum ceiling in output more than later examples.

“People try to make generalisations, like, ‘Oh, I think the ones from ’59 are a bit hotter. But, honestly, you get ones in ’59 that are anything from the lowest to the highest outputs [that are considered typical]. What [the use of] that very early Geo-Stevens machine did mean, though, was that you really couldn’t get a hot Patent Applied For off of it.

“If you think about the spec of 10,000 turns on a P-90 being split to around 5,000 turns per coil on a Patent Applied For pickup, you would not get more than that onto the bobbin from the KZ 115 Geo-Stevens winder because the coils were effectively fluffier, looser and more naturally scattered by the way that the machine delivered the wire to the to the bobbin [compared with coils made on later Leesona winders] – so you you wouldn’t get one that was over 8.2k, generally speaking.

“And that’s part of their character as well – the fact that the coil is, frankly, a lot less tidy than the later coils are. So you won’t get a hot Patent Applied For humbucker out of it, but you will get up to the idealised 8k-ish range.”

It’s certainly an interesting little nook of Gibson pickup history – but what inspired Stuart to want to make his own take on the early ’57 style of Patent Applied For?

“I find them really interesting to make because it’s a very specific coil type that no-one really talks about,” he reflects.

“There’s lots of direction towards the Leesona-style coils [among modern makers of vintage-style humbuckers]. But people generally don’t talk about the actual coil build because to know about that, you either need to have the original machines – good luck! – or you need to be taking apart the original coils and lucky enough to be doing repair work on the originals.”

Fortunately, his own work in pickup design and repair has granted him the necessary insights, but he cautions against taking ‘handmade’ to mean better when it comes to vintage-correct Patent Applied For-style pickups.

“‘Scatter-wound’ is obviously a thing that people talk about in pickups – too much,” Stuart observes. “But all Patent Applied For humbuckers were machine-wound. So, the idea of a hand-wound Patent Applied For, which you see in the market all the time… if we’re being brutally honest, it’s not a thing. Because you can’t hand-wind a Patent Applied For with the kind of consistency that makes it sound like [a vintage original].”

Three to get ready

Sunbear Pickups KZ 57 SB PAFs

Hot off the winder at Sunbear Pickups is the subject of this article – a faithful recreation of 1957-spec Patent Applied For pickups. The prototype set of KZ 57 SB PAFs we examined here has an Alnico V bridge giving an output of 8.1k and an Alnico II neck pickup with a DC resistance of 7.3k, making this a touch-sensitive and classic set to savour.

Bare Knuckle Mule humbuckers

A well-liked take on the classic Patent Applied For sound by the thriving Cornish maker, the Mule is wound using “butyrate bobbins, maple spacers, nickel-plated slugs and Fillister no.5 pole screws... and Sand cast Alnico IV magnets”.

Output is similarly classic at 8.4k for the bridge and 7.3k for the neck. Output is similarly classic at 8.4k for the bridge and 7.3k for the neck. An old favourite for many players of maple-top single-cuts.

Dimarzio PAF 57

Wound on Alnico II magnets, DiMarzio says its PAF 57 pickups “paint an auditory masterpiece – creamy tones, flawless hum cancellation and a crystalline top-end”.

Available in a range of finishes (black, relic white or cream butyrate bobbins, or nickel covers), this major maker rarely disappoints, offering another window on early Patent Applied For tone to consider.

• Find out more at Sunbear Pickups.
• This article first appeared in Guitarist. Subscribe and save.

The Ibanez Tube Screamer is one of the most iconic pedals of all time. Now it's a stompbox you can set your watch to.

In a move that was unlikely to be on anyone’s bingo card, Ibanez has teamed up with Japanese watch brand Citizen for the Tsuno Chrono Custom Tube Screamer, which takes its cues from the green machine beloved by Stevie Ray Vaughan, John Mayer, and a gazillion other guitar players around the world.

Its green dial is an obvious reference, while its face is inspired by the TS808HWV2, a darker-colored re-imagining of the pedal. The $300 hand-wired version of the TS808 arrived in 2024, bringing new components to the flagship amp driver.

Its three auxiliary dials, meanwhile, nod to the pedal's famously simple controls. They're even labeled Drive, Tone and Volume for good measure.

“The green coloring is inspired by the finish of the latest flagship model, the TS808HWV2, and is a high-quality tone that blends seamlessly with any outfit or occasion,” Ibanez details.

“This playful design links the exhilaration of shaping guitar sounds to the everyday act of checking the time,” it adds. Who knew that's a combination we needed?

Only 500 units are being made, and it's exclusive to Japan, which, like some of its electric guitars – see the gorgeous, denim-clad HZK1 – is painfully unavailable to the wider world.

There has been a lot of moving and shaking at Ibanez this year, with Imnainla Jamir joining as its first-ever female Indian endorsee, while one of its most outrageous models yet has shown its designs can still surprise.

It's a collaboration not too dissimilar to Fender's 2024 tie-in with Bvlgari, which saw a watch and a very pretty Stratocaster drop as part of a limited-edition release. Fender has also expanded its lifestyle offerings with sunglasses and speakers through Fender Audio.

The Ibanez x Citizen Tsuno Chrono Custom Tube Screamer is available now for ￥44,000 (approx $277).

See Ibanez for more details.

Adam Hall Cables has just dropped the Flipjack, a simple but brilliant guitar cable that could be the solution to all your mid-gig guitar swapping woes.

Some guitars are naturally inclined to take a certain kind of cable. Strats, for example, tend to favor straight jack cables, while Les Pauls much prefer angled jacks because of the position of their output.

For those who gig with multiple guitars – changing for tonal, tuning, or aesthetic reasons throughout their set – this small design quirk can be a nuisance.

Cue Adam Hall to serve up an innovative, ‘Why hasn’t anyone thought of this before?’ solution with the Flipjack. As its name suggests, the Flipjack is a cable that can flip between straight and angled positions quickly and seamlessly, thanks to a handy hinge.

“The idea behind it is as simple as it is practical,” Adam Hall explains. “Instead of having to swap the right cable when changing instruments, the jack plug adapts to the instrument. This saves time, reduces stress during live performances, minimizes strain on the cable and socket, and ensures hassle-free handling on stage.”

The adjustable TS jack plug has been designed and engineered in Germany, and is fully patented, featuring a PVC (Polyvinyl chloride) cable jacket and gold-plated contacts.

Each cable also offers an extra-large inner conductor (0.50 mm² / AWG 20) for maximum conductivity, and a tinned copper-braided shield, which helps protect against interference. The Flipjack is available in 1.5m, 3m, 4.5m, 6m, and 9m lengths.

“As an active live musician and guitarist myself, Flipjack is something I’ve always needed – but has never existed, until now,” adds Oliver Bick, Team Lead Product Management at Adam Hall.

“For me, on stage, moving between a Strat and a Les Paul was always a huge pain, and I’ve even broken guitar inputs trying to put a straight peg in an angled hole, so to speak. Flipjack solves this problem in one simple, reliable, innovative flick of the wrist.”

Guitar cables are becoming something of a hot spot for engineering innovations. Last year, Ibanez and JTC claimed that their collaborative cable design was “the next step in cable technology”.

The Adam Hall Flipjack is available now.

See Adam Hall for more.

Renowned bluesman, guitar expert and all-round gear guru Joe Bonamassa has taken Guitar World down a deep-dive into the differences between P-90s and humbuckers – discussing what makes the former sing and how best to set them up.

P-90s were big players for the best part of a decade before humbuckers came along and became the most common choice, especially in Gibsons. But what’s the difference between the two?

On the sliding scale of pickup tones, P-90s are said to be dead center. Generally speaking, while single-coils have snap and bite, humbuckers offer more warmth and size. P-90s sit right between them.

But how does that translate in application? Well, in a new Guitar World video, Bonamassa delivers the answer.

He’s armed himself with two Gibson Les Pauls that are as close in makeup as possible, save for their pickups. There’s a ‘58 Goldtop Standard with PAF-style humbuckers, and a ‘56 with P-90s.

“The difference with P-90s is they're a little bit more sparkly when you roll the volume down,” he explains. “They’re more like single-coils, but they’re pretty woolly when you roll the volume up.” It covers all bases.

Speaking with Gibson last year, Joe Bonamassa claimed that “most people who are real dyed-in-the-wool Gibson people will say behind closed doors when the internet isn’t watching that their favorite pickup is a P-90.”

“They're cleaner,” he believes. “There's a sparkle on top that a humbucking pickup doesn't get.”

And that’s why his Copper Iridescent Epiphone model is, like Warren Haynes' new signature, loaded with them over usual humbuckers.

But the pickup height makes a big difference, too. There are two schools of thought when it comes to pickup heights: keep them close to the strings for maximum output, or move them further away and push the amp.

Bonamassa falls in the former category when it comes to humbuckers, but P-90s require a change of tact.

“[With P-90s], I try to get the front pickup as low as I possibly can, and the back pickup as high as possible,” he states. “It creates more of a balance. Sometimes you've gotta use popsicle sticks and put it on some low-budget, de facto scaffolding to get it to work.”

P-90s are having a bit of a moment. Haynes had them fitted into his recent signature Gibson after discovering the benefits they offer. Former Ozzy Osbourne shredder, Jake E. Lee, has also been talking about the lesser-loved pickups.

“Humbuckers are great, but, to me, the P-90s were always the best of both worlds,” he tells Guitar World. “They have that articulation, attack, and aggressiveness that single coils have, but they’re also kind of smooth and beefy-sounding, like humbuckers.

The only reason he didn't play them during his Ozzy days was “because they didn’t make humbucking P-90s, so you’d have to deal with all that noise that comes with them, and at the volume I played at, it just was untenable.”

Haynes has also explained why he’s defected from ‘buckers, as P-90s find themselves in vogue once more.

It’s that time of the year when the Amazon Big Spring Sale rolls around, and as with most Amazon sales, there isn’t all that much to shout about when it comes to guitar, pedals, or amps. If you feel like spring cleaning your guitar collection or stocking up on essential accessories, however, there are loads of great deals to get your hands on.

There’s no word on when the sale ends, and some items are limited to discounts until they sell through a certain amount, so it makes sense to strike while the iron is hot. Of course, there’s the usual consumer tech discounts on things like headphones, laptops, smart devices, so if you're in the market for something for you home it's well worth a browse of the wider sale.

To save you time sifting through the mostly cheap import gear on offer for guitarists, I’ve picked out 7 low-cost accessories starting from just $6.49.

Shop more sales

• Save up to 35% on live sound at Sweetwater
• Over 25,000 deals at Musician’s Friend
• Save 15% on Spark Neo at Positive Grid

Fender’s recent 75th Anniversary Telecaster launch bonanza spanned five new models across five product ranges – so you’d be forgiven for glossing over the spec. Anniversary guitars are typically new finishes, commemorative neck plates, shiny headstock decals… You know the drill. But one of these models plays host to one of the most significant developments for Fender Telecasters in decades.

The 75th Anniversary American Ultra II Telecaster has stealthily introduced Fender’s first-ever in-house rail humbucker, the Fastlane – ie, a single coil-sized humbucker that doesn’t change the look of the instrument.

“We’ve been experimenting with our own single-spaced humbucker design for quite some time,” says Allen Abbassi, Director of Product for Fender Electric Guitars.

“Over the last year and a half, we’ve been intensifying our efforts and finally hit upon a recipe that we loved. Serendipitously, this coincided with the development of our 75th Anniversary Telecaster collection and we thought it was the perfect opportunity.”

Named after their distinctive magnetic bars, high-output rail (or blade) pickups have been around for decades, and aim to deliver a more consistent string-to-string response compared with individual pole pieces.

Classics such as the DiMarzio Chopper and Seymour Duncan Hot Rails – as featured in Fender’s own Soul Power Stratocaster for Tom Morello – are ubiquitous in the modding scene. But as Abbassi tells it, Fender didn’t look to other manufacturers when it voiced its own design.

“We wanted to design a single-spaced humbucker that sounded great both clean and dirty, had fantastic note-to-note string clarity and was punchy enough to sound and feel like a great humbucker. We think we hit it out of the park.”

On the Ultra II Telecaster, the Fastlane is paired with a noiseless single coil and S-1 switching: a push button on the Volume control runs both pickups in series, while hitting the switch in the Tone control flips the Fastlane from series to parallel for “a bit of single coil flavor with more top-end and tighter lows” that still bucks the hum.

Life in the Fastlane

But if rail pickups have been around for an age, why does any of this matter? Because of what it means for the shape of Telecasters to come – and not just $2k+ anniversary models.

“This is just the beginning,” says Abbassi. “There will be lots more new Fastlane pickup designs in the future.”

Telecasters are the great equalizers. They find their way into every genre, and a humbucker in the bridge, paired with a single in the neck, all while keeping the classic aesthetic… Well, that would be a mighty versatile stock guitar – and perhaps the closest thing we get to a reissue of the Jonny Greenwood-favored HS model, the Telecaster Plus.

An off-the-shelf Fastlane configuration that spans multiple price points could push heavier crowds yet further towards the Telecaster – and be welcome news for Strat fans who don’t like a full-fat humbucker crowding up their scratchplate.

None of this is reinventing the wheel. But for a company steadfastly rooted in tradition, it’s a notable shift, particularly as Fender Japan innovator Edward ‘Bud’ Cole has taken the reins at the top of the company on a global level.

The Fastlane’s release also coincides with another significant Fender development – its own take on the B-Bender, debuted via John Osborne’s signature Telecaster. And there are more innovations coming down the pike very soon, says Abbassi.

“Nothing is off the table for future development as we are constantly looking for ways to innovate, create better tone and enhance playability – just like Leo – from bridges, to pickups, to electronics and more. We’ve got a bunch of new innovations cooking and several of them will launch this year…”

• For more information on the 75th Anniversary American Ultra II Telecaster, head to Fender.com.

A guitarist has created a wild 64-polyphonic pickup system for his master's thesis in electrical engineering, and if it were up to us, we’d give him top marks.

Traditionally, as is likely not news to anyone reading this, electric guitars have been built with one, two, or three pickups, with the Les Paul Junior, Telecaster, and Stratocaster (as well as Peter Frampton's triple-humbuckered Phenix and the occasional Black Beauty Les Paul) all being examples of that tradition.

But David Wieland of Dark Art Guitars is living up to his business's name with this eye-opening new approach to guitar pickup designs in a bid to ace his studies at ETH Zürich.

The PolyMap, a polyphonic guitar pickup system, “can record 64 individual pickups simultaneously,” and unlike the eight-coil D.U.M.Bucker, it isn’t a silly gimmick, and it doesn’t require protective headgear to play it.

“The basic idea was to build a guitar that doesn't record the finished mixed output signal, but instead a lot of information about each one of the strings,” he says. “This is a very fancy way of saying that instead of two or three pickups, we have a few dozen that are only picking up one string each.”

Wieland landed on the number 64 by dedicating eight individual pickups to each string on his Dark Arts Alchemist headless guitar, with the eight-string featuring a 26.5” scale length. The extended range aids low-end clarity, without making the neck uncomfortably wide.

It also has a swamp ash body with a maple burl top, for those curious, and a “giant hole” was made to house this ungodly amount of pickups. The pickup capsules themselves are from Cycfi Research and are mounted onto a control board. This takes the individual analog signals, buffers them, and sends them to 64 analog-to-digital converters.

“Because we want to record all 64 pickups simultaneously without mixing them, the only real choice was to digitize the inside of the guitar,” he expands. “This means that we essentially built a 64-channel audio interface integrated into the guitar that then sends out one single digital signal.

“Inside the computer, we can take those 64 audio channels and get them into a DAW, and in order to do anything useful with them, we wrote a VST plugin that allows you to mix all of these signals together, apply various effects, and then get a stereo output that you can listen to on just regular headphones.”

This approach means the raw data from the guitar is recorded, rather than a pre-mixed output, so that in post-production, full autonomy is granted over which pickups are heard and which have effects applied.

So Wieland could, in theory, opt for a middle pickup-position-like setup where all pickups are active, but only add a chorus pedal to the bridge pickups and leave the neck positions raw, or bestow them with a different effect. Furthermore, there are pan and phasing options, as well as all kinds of otherwise-impossible-to-get pickup combinations.

It also means that, if he wanted to change a part to be played exclusively on a specific part of the pickup system, there’s no need to re-record. “This makes it a really powerful recording tool,” Wieland adds. No kidding.

Granted, the custom-made plugin is a little overwhelming at first glance, but it has a raft of editing features, including all pickups featuring volume and pan options, as well as output options to contend with these pickups having a much flatter and wide frequency response compared to traditional designs.

This is another novel tweak to the guitar’s tried-and-tested formula, and it will be interesting to see how the guitar community responds to it. Indeed, feel free to let us know in the poll above...

There are some teething issues Wieland is still looking to fix, but as a feat of engineering, one can only stand and marvel at them. Either way, we want a go...

For information, head to Dark Arts Guitars.

Amazon has launched its Spring Deal Days sale in the UK, and this year I was very surprised to see that there are quite a few good bits of guitar gear available. Typically, Amazon is the home of cheap, lesser-known brand offerings when it comes to guitars, but I've already spotted deals on Boss, Squier, Ibanez, Laney, and more.

Accessories have always been the bread and butter of Amazon's sales offerings when it comes to music gear, and that's no different this year. It's the perfect time to spring clean your guitar collection with some big discounts on multi-packs of strings, a nice discount off a super handy Ibanez multi-tool, and plenty of handy accessories that will serve you well as we move into gigging and festival season.

I've had a look through the whole sale this morning to find where the very best deals are, picking out 10 top deals that are perfect for guitar players.

Metallica is helping EMG celebrate its 50th anniversary by dropping new special edition finish options for each of their signature pickup sets.

The thrash metal giants have been powered by the firm's high-output passive and active pickups since basically day one. Their relationship predates their 1983 debut album, Kill ‘Em All, with Kirk Hammett first loading three of its single-coils into his purple Fernandes.

Hetfield was quick to follow suit, and EMG founder Rob Turner has recently said that making Hetfield's signature pickups was his most challenging and exhausting build.

And so here, Hetfield's signature JH ‘Het’ humbuckers get a special Sandblasted finish, while Hammett's KH-BB set gets a purple Spectrum colorway, and bass player Robert Trujillo's RT ‘Rip Tide’ pickups get a gilded redressing.

The limited edition sets – which, under the hood, are the same pickups that have been fuelling Metallica’s riffwork over the past few decades – are available during 2026 only.

Hetfield's set, which went through a tireless prototyping process, is unique in its use of ceramic poles, which are taller and thinner than usual. Hammett's Bone Breakers, by comparison, utilize Alnico 5 magnets, while Trujillo's take on the EMG J bass pickups are now “truly metal” thanks to their fresh new look.

“The thing I love about EMGs is that they're so consistent,” Hetfield says. “I can put EMGs in every guitar, and it's gonna sound exactly like I need it to.”

In other Metallica news, the band has just announced a residency at the Las Vegas Sphere, and their existing gig rig means they won’t need to go to the lengths John Mayer did to work around the venue’s sound restrictions.

3rd Power has introduced the MagFRAG pickup system – a potentially game-changing new evolution that gives players unprecedented control over their gain staging.

The tube amp specialist, which has previously built amps for the likes of Joe Satriani, unveiled the latest edition of its proprietary system at NAMM last month. First launched back in 2017, the updated MagFRAG humbuckers and single-coils look to push the boundaries of modern pickup engineering and design.

It is true we are living in a golden age of guitar pickups. Over the past 10 years there has been a huge leap forward in pickup tech, which all started when Fishman launched its flagship Fluence Modern humbuckers back in 2014.

At the time, Guitar World hailed the Fluence system as “the first truly new electric guitar pickup system design in more than 80 years”. MagFRAG – an accessible passive pickup design – is aiming to be equally influential in the passive pickup sphere.

In essence, MagFRAG pickups use a multi-magnet platform design to give players intentional control over how and where gain is created. That means they utilize a string-specific magnet voicing – for example, alnico II, V and beyond – to improve “clarity, balance and dynamic response”, unlike conventional pickups, which use a single magnet bar at their core.

As 3rd Power puts it, MagFRAG isn’t about “chasing vintage replication”. It’s about pushing the boundary. It’s a new approach to the “modern tone ecosystem”, homing in on a player’s touch while preserving musical feel “across a wide range of gain structures”.

MagFRAG was originally designed as a high-resolution interface between a guitar and amp, but later became a pickup system that has since been rolled out through two distinct families: PraXIS and Drive.

The PraXIS Series is about transparency and dynamics. PraXIS Reveal, made from a low-mass coil architecture, prioritizes touch sensitivity and clarity over output, meaning gain can be shaped at the pedalboard or amp stages. It also means every nuance of the player’s hands and instrument remains intact.

Elsewhere, PraXIS Reference offers a more full-range voice said to be more suitable for “modern electric guitar”, while Reference+ offers increased output and ‘push’.

There’s also the MagFRAG Drive Series, made up of Drive and Drive Studio pickups. The first is voiced to engage the front end of an amp with responsive saturation and bumped mids without excessive compression, while the latter offers an unpotted configuration for more controlled microphonics, enhanced “harmonic bloom” and “studio-grade responsiveness”.

A pickup system that lets you intentionally and deliberately choose where your gain staging comes from sounds like a neat idea, and the multi-magnet design seemingly offers a fresh take on conventional passive pickup design.

In the provided diagrams, for example, there are three distinct types of magnet used in one pickup, which will no doubt have an interesting effect on overall tone and behaviour.

These are a new development and a significant departure from conventional passive pickup design.

“MagFRAG is about intent,” said Dylana Nova Scott, Founder and Chief Designer of 3rd Power Amplification. “Where you choose to shape gain should be a musical decision. The MagFRAG Pickup System gives players clear, purpose-built tools to decide whether that happens at the guitar, the pedalboard, or the amplifier.”

Like any new development, though, it will be interesting to see just how revolutionary the MagFRAGs can be when it rolls out. For example, how effective the MagFRAGs are at differentiating gain stages in practice – ie, whether the gain comes from a pedalboard or amplifier – remains to be seen.

No doubt we’ll see plenty of demo videos in the near future, though, so keep your eyes peeled on 3rd Power for future updates.

Fresh from launching his long-awaited signature PRS, DragonForce speed wizard Herman Li has returned with all-new Fishman Fluence pickups – and the Omniforce humbucker set is said to capture the full scope of Li’s musical evolution.

Ostensibly, these are the same pickups that feature in his eye-catching signature guitar, which comprises two humbuckers with a single-coil nestling between them. That configuration delivered 13 different tone voicings to Li’s fingertips, but the aftermarket release has, in a surprising move, done away with the single-coil pickup.

Consequently, the full suite remains exclusive to the PRS Chleo, with the Fluence Herman Li Omniforce twin ‘buckers instead offering three voices per pickup for a slightly more streamlined – but still generous – offering.

Li’s predilection for an aggressive, cutting neck pickup tone has been catered to, and the new Omniforce is said to be “sharp enough to unleash explosive pinch harmonics on demand.” Here, Voice 1 is about smooth, articulate lead tones with crisp warmth. Voice 2 is a passive-style with tighter frequency and more organic feel, and Voice 3 is a lively single-coil, inspired by vintage guitars from Li's collection.

The mission statement for the bridge ‘bucker was to be three things: powerful, precise, and capable of cutting through mixes with ease. So, expect a high-output humbucker character with three voices charting open-sounding passive-style tones, focused mid-range with “razor-sharp” articulation, and another helping of vintage-voiced single-coil magic.

The pickups are active, boasting 200 hours of playtime before they need recharging.

“Herman is fearless when it comes to innovation,” says Fishman Fluence Brand Manager, Ken Susi. “The Omniforce Signature Series reflects his entire tonal journey while showcasing what’s possible when cutting-edge Fluence technology meets world-class artistry.”

The sets are available in Black Plastic and Black Nickel finishes, meaning the Gold finish of the Chleo is another PRS exclusive. Individual pickups are not currently available.

The Fishman Fluence Herman Li Omniforce Signature Series pickups are available now.

Elsewhere, the SE version of Li’s signature PRS raised eyebrows over its price, and the guitarist recently reflected on how a video game turned DragonForce into a household name.

D’Addario has released a new product that promises to “shine your gear in seconds.” The oven-glove-coded Micro-Fiber Polishing Mitt might look a bit novel, but it provides a new (and creative) way to eliminate dust and dirt from our beloved instruments.

It’s designed to clean your guitars without needing added chemicals. Unlike regular cloths, D’Addario says this won’t leave any grubby marks behind, either.

If, like me, you own many guitars, have long hair and own two cats, you’ll know how quickly dust and grime can gather on your favorite guitars, so this looks like a welcome idea.

It fits, er, like a glove, allowing players to reach those tricky spots by sliding beneath the strings, around the pickups, and on the headstock and tuning pegs.

The mitt is made with ultrafine microscopic fibers to combat dust, dirt, oils, and smudges, for guitars of all shapes, sizes, and orientations. And when the mitt itself needs a scrub, soap and water are all it takes to restore it to its former glory.

It’s priced at a pretty wallet-friendly $7.99, a price that’s set to leave dust quaking. There’s no word that it can actually be used as an oven glove (we imagine not), so it’s best keep this in your studio rather than the kitchen.

The mitt’s release continues something of an accessory hot streak from D’Addario, which has so far released 360-degree pick storage solutions, a back-saving strap designed specifically for heavy guitars, and a tiny tool for prizing pedals from their ‘boards.

Meanwhile, the firm says it has been weathering the storm of Trump's tariffs and has given Guitar World a rare insight into its rigorous string testing process.

The D’Addario Micro-Fiber Polishing Mitt is out now.

Head over to D’Addario for more information.

NAMM 2026: Seymour Duncan is taking a leaf out of Fishman’s book with its brand-new MortalCoil humbuckers, which pack three distinctive voices for catch-all tonality.

Sounding like a Tekken character, the MortalCoil Multiple-Voiced Active Humbuckers are loaded with three precision-engineered voices, inspired in part by its heritage pickups.

There’s the fast, controlled attack of its modern metal-minded MC1s in voice one, authentic JB tones in voice two – the pickup it made with Jeff Beck, but one that's taken on a life of its own since – and a clear, articulate single coil to round out the lot.

Beneath the hood, there’s some wiring wizardry going on, too. They’re precision-wound high-density copper coils with optimized resistance, which, in simple terms, means that they offer a faster response and stronger pick attack “than competing designs” – and it's a perk that it says will benefit users of all tunings.

Moreover, the humbuckers also boast new preamps, imbuing them with a more dynamic feel, even when the distortion is dialed back to its minimum. Their efficient circuitry, meanwhile, helps prolong battery life. Pair it with Ernie Ball’s rechargeable 9Vs – what a revelation! – and you could be on to a real winner.

In recent years, Fishman Fluence pickups, bolstered by their multi-voice system, have been appearing in guitars of all shapes and sizes, with widespread backing, including endorsements from Polyphia’s Tim Henson and Scott LePage, as well as Mick Thomson, and a continued presence in Strandberg guitars.

It seems, then, that Seymour Duncan, a company with a rich heritage, is looking to bite back with this three-in-one active pickup. By packing the “surgical precision” of the MC1, the genre-crossing JB, and a single coil sound made with modern rigs in mind – which is especially useful for guitars without a pre-wired split coil – the MortalCoil could prove a worthy adversary.

“Experience what happens when 50 years of pickup expertise meets modern active technology,” says Seymour Duncan. “MortalCoil installs easily as a drop-in upgrade for many existing active setups and includes all required pots and wiring.”

Some eagle-eyed folk have noticed that the MortalCoils play a big role in ESP's latest lineup, including the TH-1000 Evertune. Now they're available as aftermarket parts, ready to add more heat and versatility to six- and seven-string guitars.

The Seymour Duncan MortalCoil Multi-Voiced Active Pickups are available for $169.00 per pickup, or $279.00 for a set.

See Seymour Duncan for more.

It’s been a busy few months for the pickup brand, having released Slash’s Back to the Beginning pickups, which were custom-wound for his SG, earlier this month.

Without guitar strings, we guitarists wouldn’t be much. But what to do with our old strings has long been a dilemma for many. Fortunately, there may be an answer, besides throwing them in the garbage: the Fret12 String Thing.

The Chicago-based firm, headed up by Mark Tremonti’s brother, has unveiled a unique approach to reusing old strings to save them from landfill. In essence, the String Thing turns old strings into a figurine that looks like something Scooby Doo and co. would chase around a haunted mansion. That’s right, it’s “the world’s only guitar string upcycling mummy.”

This body-shaped piece of gear is a blank canvas, ready to have strings of all sizes wrapped around it. Like a slice of Swiss cheese, it's full of holes to make weaving the strings in and around a whole lot easier.

The little fella, made of black plastic, can have acoustic, electric, and bass guitar strings up to .90 gauge threaded through the perforations. Thicker strings they can be woven in and around the thinner strings.

The figure stands at 8.75" tall and 4.75" wide, and is designed to stop the 1,500,000 lbs of used guitar strings that get dumped into landfills each year.

Previously, D’Addario and Guitar Center teamed up to encourage guitar string recycling and more sustainable behaviors from guitar players, with D'Addario's string recycling program helping recycle over 13 million strings to date. But Fret12’s fresh take on it is certainly unique – and more creative.

The String Thing is available now and is priced at $44.

See Fret12 for more.

NAMM 2026: When Slash opted to wield a Gibson SG at Ozzy Osbourne's farewell show, he turned to pickup guru Maricela “MJ” Juarez for a purpose-built set of Seymour Duncan humbuckers that would be up for the job. Now, they’re available worldwide as the Slash 3.0 Signature Humbuckers.

As the name attests, the Seymour Duncan Slash 3.0 pickup set, comprising two Alnico V pups, is the third iteration of signature pickups for the top-hatted guitar hero. It's the first time, however, that he's stepped away from Alnico 2 magnets

This generation, built specifically for Slash’s SG, follows its older siblings in packing a little more heat than PAF-style pickups without being particularly high-gain, instead prioritizing clarity over power.

That being said, the 3.0s adds greater “punch and aggression” to his signature recipe, with rough-cast Alnico V magnets and a vintage-inspired construction coalescing for “players seeking extra cut without compromise.”

Those tweaks, ultimately, lead to an enhanced output with a tighter low-end. And though they were originally installed in his SG, they’ve become far more widespread across Slash’s electric guitar collection.

“The SG that I had at the Ozzy gig [Back to the Beginning] needed a louder pickup, but I still wanted that true-to-life guitar sound that I like in my guitars. That's where the idea for the 3.0 came from,” explains Slash.

“There's a little more oomph to it, but you still have the cleanliness and honesty of the guitar. It's raunchier than the 2.0; it gives me the extra boost I need in certain guitars.”

The Seymour Duncan Slash 3.0 pickup set is hand-built in Santa Barbara, California. The set starts at $258, with individual pickups priced at $129. There are a handful of color options, including Black, Nickel, Gold, and Zebra.

Visit Seymour Duncan for the full lowdown.

In related news, Seymour Duncan recently made its celebrated JB ‘buckers available for Telecasters and recreated Tommy Bolin’s legendary Les Paul pickups, with the help of Joe Bonamassa.

What is it?

Do you remember when amp pedals were a kind of niche concern? With the leaps made by amp modeling and players' embrace of the concept, things changed massively a few years ago. Even if guitarists weren't willing to replace their backline just yet, they were seeing the advantages of having an amp pedal for certain applications – and their neighbours were probably relieved too.

It means we now have a booming market for compact amp pedals – some fully digital, others even featuring tube technology. But things have moved so fast that there have been a few oversights that have now left gaps in the market and our signal chains. Strymon has noticed too.

The company was one of the big names that entered the amp pedal market in 2019, its Iridium boasted three different amp and IR cab choices with a headphone-out. Foo Fighter Chris Shiftlett was among the many players wowed by its charms. Other pedal amps followed from the likes of Walrus and Universal Audio. Some had headphone-outs and onboard effects loops, some did not. This presented a problem.

Players who wanted to place their delay and reverb after their amp pedal on the pedalboard could do so – it's just a matter of moving it in the chain but if they wanted to use that 'board at home with headphones plugging into the amp pedal, they'd lose the reverb and delay from their sound.

With effects loops rare on the smaller amp pedal units, there was no workaround. But some amp pedals don't even have headphone outs to start with (UA, we're looking at you). Clearly there was a gap in the market for something. It couldn't really just be a headphone amp because that wouldn't justify its place on the 'board when it came to gigging and recording. It had to be more than that – enter the PCH.

Specs

• Price: $279 | £259.99 | €299
• Type: Active direct Interface with headphone amplifier
• Origin: USA
• Connectivity and controls: Left and right XLR out, left and right 1/4-inch in, left and right 1/4-inch thru, ground left switch, mic and line level switch for XLR, switch for Sum Thru / Stereo mode.
• Features: Stereo and dual mono, internally converts to 24V for high headroom, defeatable ground lift for XLR outputs, defeatable sum for thru outputs
• Contact: Strymon

Build, usability and performance

The PCH is an active direct interface with a built-in headphone amp – and as far as I'm aware that's a unique combination on the market. It also won't fit under most pedalboards, so if you are committed to adding it to your rig, it will need to occupy a place usually reserved for an effect, or sit separately off the 'board. The latter isn't really a neat solution, especially as the PCH needs to be powered by an isolated output with a 500mA minimum current draw – I.E, your pedalboard power supply.

My experience with Strymon has been a company that doesn't release its products until they're ready, and when they're ready, they're road-ready. There's definitely a peace of mind in buying Strymon's premium products in build and operation. The PCH is no exception, though as a DI box it can't really match the company's pedals for stylish aesthetics.

If it's far from the most exciting looking pedalboard addition Strymon has put out, the PCH makes up for it to some degree with chassis strength; a 3mm thick extruded aluminium external shell framed with 5mm ribs. Yep, it's sturdy, alright. But with (L x W x H) 124mm (L) x (W) 76mm x (H) 50mm dimensions and the XLR line ports on the side with thru 1/4 inch jacks on the top, the end of your pedalboard really does make the most sense for the PCH in practical use. However, it's designed so it can be placed physically before your time-based effects if required. The challenge here will be making space for the XLR outputs if needed.

As Strymon points out, a pedalboard being connected to a DI presents a different set of challenges to a guitar going direct. Anyone who has used a chain of pedals will know; it gets loud. Drives and compressors can raise the noise floor further and with that, unwanted hum.

The PCH has an internal converter from 9VDC to 24V to make it "virtually unclippable" – good news when it comes to amp pedals being thrown into the mix, and for the PCH's unique feature; an onboard headphone amp. Clean headroom ahoy.

When it comes to dealing with unwanted noise, a defeatable ground lift can be switched on for the XLR outputs. Something that came in useful when I took the PCH into a band rehearsal with in-ear monitors, running the XLR out to a Zoom LiveTrak L-20R.

The option to run stereo or dual mono out will be much appreciated for some players; the Sum switch effevively allows stereo rig players to send their sound to the front of house, while having both channels via a dual mono monitor signal through a cab onstage if they wish. But with quality choice around for DIs elsewhere, the big sell here is the integrated headphone amp.

Testing with my Yamaha studio monitor headphones and a Universal Audio Dream '65 (a pedal that does not offer a headphone-out of its own) I found Strymon's claims of the PCH being virtually unclippable held true. Even with stacking two overdrives in front of it, the PCH's headphone amp proved unflappable. I really did get a sense of what my pedalboard actually sounded like.

Verdict

Verdict: ★★★★☆

The quality of Strymon's build is as undeniable as usual here, but I do feel that it's a shame the PCH won't clear the underside of most players' boards, forcing them to clear a space that might have been occupied for a pedal. In that respect the sense of flexibility is hamstrung to an extent, but if you're an amp pedal owner in need of headphone monitoring offstage, as well as more routing options onstage, that space will be justified. It's really the combination of both those utilities that makes the PCH a unique proposition.

Guitar World verdict: There really isn't anything else on the market quite like this that combines a high-quality stereo DI with an onboard headphone amp for your amp pedal, so if your needs fall into that Venn diagram, the PCH has you covered. Just be aware it's probably going to have to sit on top of your pedalboard.

Hands-on videos

Strymon

• Best pedalboard power supplies

NAMM 2026: For pedalboard users, hook-and-loop tape is both a blessing and a curse, which is why the ever-practical D’addario has come up with the XPND Pedal Pry Bar – a mini crowbar specifically designed to prize pedals from ultra-sticky ‘boards.

Joining the firm’s XPND range of player accessories, the tool is “designed to make pedal removal faster and easier than ever for musicians.” That means no more struggling to rip pedals off pedalboards when it’s time for a rejig (or a frivolous expansion).

It operates exactly as you'd expect. By wedging it under your stompboxes, it frees pedals that have been secured in place with hook-and-loop systems and other adhesives that would have He-Man breaking a sweat to best. More importantly, it won’t damage your gear in the process.

The XPND Pedal Pry Bar is compatible with any board and is made with pedalboard tinkerers in mind. In other words, you won’t need to think twice about rearranging the 'board – or swapping out that old overdrive pedal for a shiny new fuzz.

When you’re done prying to your heart’s content, its diminutive form makes it ideal for storing underneath the board itself, or wherever is most convenient.

It’s available today and is priced at $9.99.

See D’Addario for more.

For more pedalboard solutions from D’Addario, see its rechargeable power supply, its pedalboard-mounted mic stand – which looks to solve an age-old real estate battle – and the guitar strap designed especially for heavy guitars.

Fender has followed Marshall and Orange into the consumer electronics space by unveiling a new flagship line of speakers and headphones.

With the launch of Fender Audio, the Big F becomes the latest guitar and amp specialist to enter the personal audio and lifestyle markets, and lays down a statement of intent for the continued diversification of the company’s product portfolio.

There is, of course, strong precedent for amp companies making strong waves in the home speaker and headphone industries. That is, naturally, less so the case for guitar brands – but with its own heritage in the amp space, Fender is clearly keen to leverage its audio prowess and capitalize on its expertise.

In the past, Marshall, one of the UK’s most historic amp makers, made its own entry into the space around 2010, when it initially partnered with (and was later bought out by) Zound Industries for a run of speakers and headphones that have since gone on to become major players in the market.

Likewise, Orange committed to the home audio market around 2016, and as recently as 2023 unveiled its first Bluetooth speaker.

There are more examples out there. Vox has its own Bluetooth speaker range, and Orange also brought out a line of headphones in 2022. Heck, even Fender kinda dabbled in the speaker space with the RIFF – a Bluetooth speaker that could also function as a guitar amp.

The RIFF was quietly launched under the Fender Audio banner in 2023, but has since seemingly been pulled from production – so this is very much a fresh start for the Big F in the home audio space.

The new Fender Audio venture – which is being operated under license by Singaporean company Riffsound – is an entirely new phenomenon, though, and has been unveiled with the ELIE portable speaker series and MIX headphones.

Short for ‘Extremely Loud Infinitely Expressive’, the speakers look to create “a new benchmark in portable sound” by delivering a “powerful, distortion-free sound across a wide dynamic range”. Two models are available – E6 and E12 – with both promising to reinvent how digital signal processors are utilized in a speaker.

The result is said to be greater volume, improved acoustic clarity and more power at a higher efficiency compared to the competition. And, since this is a Fender speaker, there's an appropriate guitar-y twist: there's a 1/4" jack – as well as an XLR input – for plugging in guitars.

The MIX headphones, meanwhile, have equally hyperbolic claims attached to them, with Fender Audio writing they “push the boundaries of modern music-lifestyle audio”. Notable specs include a whopping 100 hours of battery life and modular components that can be swapped and customized over time.

As mentioned, there’s a solid track record of guitar and amp firms entering the home audio space and making a success story of it. For Fender Audio, the early challenge will be going up against the might of Marshall, which is undoubtedly the most established guitar-related company currently in the mix.

Having said that, Fender has a prestige all of its own, and appropriately branded speakers and headphones – with reputational ties to some of the most celebrated albums and names in guitar music – offer a clear and enticing allure for fans.

Plus, a modular design that allows for customization? That’s pretty cool. And we can’t help but be intrigued by some of the lofty verbiage and specifications deployed here. Here, you have the makings of a home audio venture that has serious potential.

“Fender Audio represents our commitment to building products that bring exceptional sound and intelligent design to everyday life. It was built to carry Fender’s sonic legacy into the future of listening,” says Mah Chernwei, CEO of Riffsound.

“ELIE and MIX are built for how people listen today – portable, flexible, and deeply personal. With ELIE and MIX, we’re bringing that same craftsmanship and tonal excellence to personal and portable audio, making iconic sound more accessible than ever.”

Visit Fender Audio to find out more.

As a guitarist I've had more than my fair share of disappointing gifts over the years. I appreciate that while well intentioned, many of the gifts I've received are as a result of people not really understanding what a guitarist really needs.

A few years ago however, I received something from a friend which completely blew me away. A guitarist himself, he'd put together a care package that consisted of essentials, none of which individually cost more than $10, but overall combined to make one of the most well-thought out and genuinely useful gifts I've ever received.

It made me realise that you don't need to spend loads on a new electric guitar or potentially waste your money buying a guitar pedal that's not to their tastes. By sticking to the simple things, you can put together an effective present that will tick all of the boxes for the guitarist in your life.

Below, you'll find all the same things my friend put into my care package for me, which will work for any guitarist no matter what their playing style or level.

D’Addario has added to its growing guitar strap line-up with the Neoprene Comfort Strap, which has been specifically designed for heavier guitars.

That's right: this strap is built for weighty payloads – think all-mahogany Les Pauls and bass guitars – as it prioritizes superior weight distribution, taking the strain off your back and shoulders.

The magic lies in its 3.5” wide padded neoprene band – a synthetic and flexible rubber – which evenly distributes the instrument's weight.

With that in mind, it provides maximum comfort and a possible solution for those suffering from back issues. Its ergonomic design marries with the breathable neoprene material, promising to make it an ideal companion for long gigs and more demanding performances.

D’Addario also says that the strap’s curved profile “promotes natural posture and stability, ensuring optimal back support whether standing or seated.”

There are two versions to choose from: a Leather End Version, which stretches between 45” and 55” long, and one with the firm's Auto Lock tech, measuring 43” to 55” long, and boasting secure, quick-release functionality. They are priced at $39.99 and $49.99, respectively.

As someone who has been using an Auto Lock strap for some time, this writer can swear by how easy they are to take on and off. There are plenty of strap locks on the market, but these are up there with the best – so it's nice to see them factory fitted here.

The strap's launch follows D'Addario's work with Joe Satriani to create a strap that eliminates the dreaded twisted strap problem.

The D’Addario Neoprene Comfort Strap is available now. See D’Addario for more.

For other nifty gear hacks from D'Addario, see its rechargeable pedalboard power supply, the XPND, and its 360-degree pick holder.

Cat lovers, rejoice. Team GW might have just found the perfect gift (for yourself, of course) just in time for the holidays. Everyone loves a funky pickguard – but how about one that marries your addiction to guitars with your dedication to your four-legged friend?

Well, a small business on Etsy, named ThreeStools, owned by engineer and bass player Julia, is doing just that – creating custom pickguards in the shape of your cat.

“It all started when I wanted my own bass to feel more unique – I hand-drew a design on its pickguard and instantly loved how it transformed my instrument,” Julia explains. “Friends noticed, asked me to make theirs special too, and soon I began taking local commissions here in Singapore.

“When I started sharing my designs on Reddit, the response was incredible. People encouraged me to open a shop, but it was the overwhelming reaction to my very first cat-themed pickguard – the Telecat – that gave me the final push to launch on Etsy.”

The Etsy shop eventually expanded into custom 3D-printed pickguards and knobs for guitarists and bassists, and you can even order one that’s the spitting image of your cat.

And if you're not really feeling felines, Julia is also taking inspiration from the rest of the animal kingdom, including this aptly-titled SharkRay pickguard for Stingray basses, and this stunning, glow-in-the-dark aquatic-themed design on a G&L L2500 bass.

As Julia notes, “Every piece I make carries that same spirit of creativity and individuality that inspired my very first design.” Well, it's definitely one way to stand out from the, ahem, litter.

Speaking of cats... and perhaps the most famous cat of them all, Fender's collaboration with Hello Kitty is still going strong. In fact, the brand debuted white- and black-finished options, limited-edition feline-themed fuzz, a guitar cable, and some apparel just last month.

EMG pickups founder Rob Turner has said that working with James Hetfield forced the firm to completely reinvent its methodology as the Metallica guitarist pushed its craft to the limit.

The thrash icons are one of the most notable bands to have adopted EMGs, and helped define their status as heavy metal pickups.

“Kirk [Hammett] was the first one to call up, but I had no idea who he was,” Turner says during a talk with Thomann at Guitar Summit 2025. “I don't think he knew who he was, actually. He was in a band and they were trying to get a record deal, and he had this purple Stratocaster with two single-coils and a humbucker in it.”

That first encounter between EMG and Metallica predated their debut album, Kill ‘Em All, which shows how integral the EMG’s high-output active pickups have been to their world-conquering sound across their entire discography.

“I think James [Hetfield] got a little jealous of what was going on,” Turner adds with a smile.

Before long, the guitarists worked with EMG on their own pickups, and some years later Hetfield’s exacting ways put Turner through the ringer.

“Hetfield was the toughest [to voice a pickup for],” he says. “We built 19 different models. He more or less changed what we were doing. Normally, we use a very narrow core in the pickup, and he wanted to have pole pieces.”

This created a domino effect of challenges, which forced Turner to rethink his approach.

“So then we're going to start with a larger core and a larger coil. That means [having] a larger aperture, which means there's going to be too much low-end,” Turner explains. “So then it's like, ‘Okay, we’ve got to change the dimensions of the coil. They need to be taller and thinner. We need to be able to space them accordingly.’

“The hardest one was the neck pickup,” he adds, “because it uses ceramic poles. Typically, nobody does that. They're too strong. So, we had to magnetize them to a certain extent.

“Then we showed him a tray of sample finishes, and he picked the hardest one to do, which is this black, shiny, stealth-like, and it's the hardest thing to prevent from getting scratches in production.”

Hetfield's official signature 'Het Set' ultimately reshaped what were, at their core, EMG and EMG81 humbuckers. In the firm’s promotion material for the set, Hetfield is quoted as wanting “something unique and historic.” He certainly got that.

In related news, Dave Mustaine has revealed that Megadeth will close out their last-ever album with a cover of Ride the Lightning, a song he co-wrote with Hetfield before he left Metallica.

What is it?

If there ever were a Lennon and McCartney in guitar pickup design, it would have to be the formidable duo of Bare Knuckle’s chief designer and founder, Tim Mills, and Adam 'Nolly' Getgood — whose extensive résumé, including work with Periphery, Animals as Leaders, and Devin Townsend, along with his role as a music software entrepreneur for GetGood Drums, is nothing short of impressive.

Both of these blokes’ collaborative efforts have already yielded the acclaimed Polymath and PolyPaf humbuckers, cementing their reputation for voicing exceptional pickups.

Not ones to rest on their laurels, Mills’ and Getgood’s work recently caught the attention of prog metal guitarist Mike Stringer of Spiritbox during a tour stop. From there, Stringer became deeply involved with this power couple to craft a signature pickup that can precisely enhance the low-end density of a 7-string guitar that’s being pummeled with gain, while also clearly detailing ambient and clean tones when both pickups are combined.

The result of this three-way collaboration is the rousing Halcyon humbucker, available in both bridge and neck models, which sounds even more monumental when you hear it in Stringer’s preferred drop F# tuning. If your musical proclivities span between metalcore chugging and taut cleans that slap and pop like Stringer’s, then the Halcyon humbucker could be the forceful sonic voice you've been seeking.

Specs

• Price: Starting at £195.60 per pickup (approx $247), or £376.80 for a set (approx $476)
• Type: Twin blade pole-design humbuckers
• Origin: U.K.
• DC Resistance: 17.9 kΩ (Bridge); 7.9 kΩ (Neck)
• Magnet: Ceramic (Bridge); isotropic Alnico V (Neck)
• Features: 4-conductor or braided 2-conductor wiring; short or short-triangular mounting legs; available in the full range of Bare Knuckle’s humbucker colors, custom finishes, blade colors, and covers.
• Potting: Yes
• Contact: Bare Knuckle Pickups

Usability and sounds

While it seems tempting to install the Halcyons in a set-neck, single-cut guitar, Bare Knuckle suggested that I try the Halcyons in a modern superstrat that’s more in line with how Stringer plays. Lucky for me, my Charvel Dinky DK24 is the perfect guitar to outfit these humbuckers because of the guitar’s five-way switching and coil tap switch that allows for multiple coil-splitting configurations to hear the Halcyon’s wide range of tones on tap.

Also, knowing that Stringer is a stalwart of the 7-string and I am not, I opted to hear how the Halcyons fare with a 6-string guitar, which I believe most players will want to know about.

I’ve never been a fan of rail pickups, and as good as some have sounded, I just never liked the way they looked. Nowadays, with the advent of more performance-driven shapes and sleeker contours on guitars, I’ve softened my position. Right now, the dual-bladed Halcyons look absolutely killer in my Charvel.

Speaking of “killer,” my guitar tech who installed the Halcyons informed me, “I’m just gonna warn you — these are the LOUDEST pickups I’ve ever heard in a guitar. Make sure you put the dogs and kids in another room before plugging it in.” Noted.

Just like the Ragnarok humbucker, the Halcyon is among the highest-output passive pickups Bare Knuckle produces. One look at the pickup resistances on the Halcyons shows the bridge measures at a gargantuan 17.9k ohms, but the neck reveals a more moderate 7.9k ohms.

Checking Bare Knuckle’s online chart, the EQ block graph displays a decreased bass with bumped-up mids and treble on equal footing. For this reason, PAF pickup partisans may want to look elsewhere since the powerful output of the Halcyon bridge is unapologetically voiced for modern aggression but also calibrated for balance.

Having a twin‑blade pole design (versus individual pole pieces) allows both pickups to maintain even string balance across various gauges and tunings — making these pickups particularly effective for drop tunings and in use on multi‑ or extended-scale instruments.

The Halcyon bridge is stacked with a trio of custom ceramic magnets to deliver a biting midrange, muscular output, and razor-sharp attack without being flabby in the lows. The neck pickup’s leaner wind around an Alnico V magnet provides ample headroom for a refined hybrid of cleaner and ambient textures. Surprisingly, despite that intentional contrast between the Halcyon’s individual builds, there is no discernible output drop as you switch between the neck and bridge, or engaging coil-tapping, which allows you to summon an array of dynamic tonal colors without sacrificing balance.

Finally, the Halcyon is available in several cosmetic options to match your axe. You can get it in traditional black, but Bare Knuckle also offers a variety of covers and radiators, blade colors, and certain custom finishes. This pickup typically comes with 4-conductor wiring, which allows for versatile coil-splitting options, but is also available in braided 2-conductor wiring.

Heeding my tech’s advice, I started on a clean channel of my Blackstar St. James head to catch the initial breath of these Halcyons. And yes, he’s right; the bridge pickup has a massive output unlike anything I’ve ever heard. You can hear a colossal wall of rounded lows and weighted mids, but thankfully, no excessive “boom” on its bottom end.

You can gather from this clean state that it’s the kind of humbucker primed for utmost saturation. After dropping my strings down to F♯ and pumping full-throttle gain from my EVH 5150 III head, it’s apparent that the Halcyon doesn’t possess a feral nature; instead, it captures pure brutality through controlled aggression. By chugging away on the wound strings, you can sense how well the Halcyon bridge handles low‑end with clarity and manages to preserve chordal articulation under the strain of increased gain from modelers and pedals, or in this case, a high-gain amp driven to its limits.

Sticking with the bridge pickup, I found it was great for injecting elements of Stringer's style. As I unleashed a barrage of rhythmic pick scrapes and thickly layered, low-end riffage, the Halcyon responded with surgical precision and presence. Moreover, I could hear how cleanly my rapid two-handed tapping solos sliced through the untamed red solo channel of my 5150. The pickup’s fast attack and measured aggressiveness are so convincing that it almost made me sound like a dyed-in-the-wool Hesher who’s been playing industrial metal for years.

Switching over to the neck, what’s immediately clear is which pickup is the Alpha and which is the Beta — and that’s not throwing shade at the neck. The Halcyon neck wastes no time pulling punches; it still hits hard, but it’s all about firmly detailing its crystalline voice that doesn’t clash with the bridge.

Any combination of splitting the coils allowed me to articulate taut, clean notes that sound like slap-bass on the low strings, or to introduce delicate volume swells drowned in ambient reverberation, to which I accentuated arpeggiated lines using a dotted-eighth note delay setting. What’s cool is that no matter the pickup configuration or coil-tapping I used between the neck and bridge, both consistently proved the Halcyons fuse precision with authority, allowing each riff and note to land with weight and vitality.

Verdict

Verdict: ★★★★½

Bare Knuckle consistently brings something unique to the table, and here, the Halcyon is a powerful humbucker imbued with an aggressive nature that doesn’t sacrifice clarity. The Halcyons are uncompromising, high-performance pickups specifically designed for modern, drop-tuned, progressive, and industrial metal genres.

Guitar World verdict: For players focused on tight distortion, multiple coil-splitting options, extended range, and maintaining clarity at high gain, these pickups are a highly compelling choice. However you utilize them, Bare Knuckle’s Halcyon humbuckers provide a pugnacious foundation of intensity that demands your attention.

Hands-on videos

Bare Knuckle Pickups

Aristides Guitars

• How Spiritbox’s Mike Stringer went from reluctant hometown hero to metal’s new seven-string phenomenon

What is it?

The old adage goes, “If you want great, vintage bass tone, change your bass strings approximately half as regularly as you change your bank account”. Or something like that.

Indeed, Motown legend, James Jamerson was famous for rarely changing his strings, claiming “the gunk keeps the funk”, and he wasn’t alone.

Countless bassists prefer the sound of well-played strings that have long lost the high-end sizzle and bright attack of a pack-fresh set. Americana session player, Bonnie Whitmore told Guitar World in 2021, “I'm one of those bassists who never changes their strings, and when I do, I rub bacon fat on them to deaden them!”

But, what if you don’t have years of time or would prefer not to be reminded of cured meats every time you play, there is another way: flatwound strings.

Another player who has been a longterm convert to flatwounds is Pino Palladino, who you’re probably familiar with from his work with, well…everyone. Most recently, Pino announced that he's teamed-up with Ernie Ball to release a signature set of flatwounds: Ernie Ball Pino Palladino Smoothies. made of an outer wrap of cobalt-alloy ribbon over an inner core of steel, these strings aim to give you Pino's preferred starting point and feel straight out of the pack.

“I guess we could go back to the mid-90s” Pino tells Ernie Ball. “I’d been playing my fretless bass almost exclusively on lots of sessions, and there came a point where I was just getting a little jaded with it.

"I got myself a Fender Precision Bass and put some flatwound strings on it. That became a new thing for me.”

What are flatwound strings?

As with roundwound bass strings, flatwound strings consist of an outer winding, wrapped around a central core. However, where roundwound strings feature a (you guessed it) round-profiled outer wrap, flatwounds use a flat, ribbon-profiled wrap. This not only changes the feel of the string, but it also pretty much eliminates the friction-creating gaps between each wind. For a more detailed description, check out our guide to the differences between flatwound vs roundwound bass strings.

In Use

I tried the Pino Palladino Smoothie Flats in Medium gauge (43, 61, 76, 104) –– one of two gauges spec’d by Pino with Super Light also available –– on a couple of different basses. First was a Fender Player II Modified Precision Bass (an active P-Bass with a PJ pickup configuration) as well as a Squier Jazz Bass.

They come in standard packaging with cloth-wrapped ends to help reduce and prevent string slippage, and I’m pleased to say that (unlike the occasional experience from various other brands) they came out of the pack free of any oxidization.

Reviewing strings from ‘tonal memory’ is fraught with potential suggestion and subliminal observations, so, to aid with the sonic side of this review, I recorded a few simple basslines with the original roundwound strings and again with the flatwounds. However, the first thing that’s immediately obvious with flatwounds as much as the tonal difference, is the change in feel.

The first stop was an appointment with an allen key. Flatwound strings can add a little more tension relative to roundwounds, and while slight, I tweaked the truss rod in order to remove a little of the additional relief.

These strings are extremely forgiving, which makes playing them for extended periods a joy, without fatigue on your fingertips. The cobalt wrap has been highly-polished to produce a glassy feel, and it’s really noticeable when traversing the fretboard.

Of course, this isn’t unique to Pino’s signature Ernie Balls, and a good amount of the shift in comfort qualities come from the flatwound ribbon’s profile - helped along here by the finishing process. But if you haven’t ever tried flats instead of roundwounds and are looking for something a little less callous, you’re in for a treat.

Now, let’s talk about cobalt. As you might already be aware, Ernie Ball uses cobalt in place of steel for the outer wrap on a number of its strings, and the main characteristics of cobalt are a strong output, combined with heavier bass and a clarity-boosting lift in the treble end.

This might seem contrary to the ethos of flatwounds, and in a sense, it is. So, while there’s an audible difference in the tonality between the Smoothies and roundwounds, it’s more subtle.

The finger-noise is most definitely reduced by a long way, and the higher end is tamed too. Overall there’s less of the new-string zing too, which is something that you’ll either love or not, depending on where you stand on glossy-sounding new strings.

But the presence is still there, maintaining note definition. Tonally, the straight-through, unprocessed difference in sound place the Smoothies in the ‘vintage-inspired’ category rather than out-and-out old school tones. You get all the feel of flatwound strings, with a retro vibe that still has a modern twist to it, much like the man who they’re made for.

Final Thoughts

If you’re after the building blocks of ’60s-style rock and roll, R&B and funk/soul, these will certainly get you a long way towards them, without being wholly throwback straight out of the pack.

The tonality will dull over time, for sure, but in the weeks I’ve had them fitted to my bass they’ve held their tuning and intonation, with the tonal characteristics still intact.

The biggest change comes from the super-comfortable feel, aided by the high-sheen finishing. It’s been an interesting and inspiring start, but needless to say, my jazz Bass is going to remain strung with flats for the foreseeable future.

It’s no secret that the music industry – and especially the space we inhabit, i.e., the guitar world – runs on AA and 9V batteries, whether it’s pedals, active pickups, wireless systems, battery-powered amps... or anything in between.

In an effort to reduce disposable battery waste and make the industry more sustainable, Ernie Ball is rolling out a new line of USB-C rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, designed specifically for musical equipment.

Available in AA and 9V formats, Ernie Ball USB-C Rechargeable Batteries were developed in collaboration with Paleblue, an expert in the field, and guarantee “consistent, full-voltage performance across instruments, wireless packs, pedals, tuners, and more.”

Each battery features USB-C direct charging, along with LED charge indicators, a rugged reusable storage case, and a lithium-ion design that Ernie Ball states is rated for over 1,000 recharge cycles.

Moreover, with recharge times as quick as 75 minutes to 80%, these high-capacity batteries promise “continuous, reliable power,” while aiming to reduce waste and long-term costs.

“I think rechargeable batteries are the only way forward in this industry,” comments Red Hot Chili Peppers and Jerry Cantrell guitar tech, Henry Trejo.

“There’s too much waste when it comes to conventional batteries. You also have the added benefit of carrying less bulk, which also reduces weight, especially when touring on a budget.”

To test drive these new rechargeable batteries, Ernie Ball has already placed them in the hands of guitar techs for artists such as the Chili Peppers, Billie Eilish, Turnstile, and Nine Inch Nails for real-world performance feedback.

The Ernie Ball USB-C Rechargeable Battery line is available now through select retailers throughout North America.

For more information, visit Ernie Ball.

La Bella Strings has teamed up with funk and session ace Ella Feingold for a signature set of guitar strings that brings her favored expansive inverted guitar tuning to the masses.

Feingold, who made her name playing with the likes of Bruno Mars, Kanye West, and Jay Z, has become one of the foremost champions of a tuning that was first explored by Chris Weisman around 2008.

As its name suggests, the tuning flips the electric guitar on its headstock for a whole new world of harmony.

The set has a 46-11 gauge – .046W (low E), .032W (B), .017 (G), .026W (D), .016 (A) , .011 (high E). It is strung to mimic a standard six-string's tuning setup, though flips the pitch and gauge around the D and G string equator. In essence, the low E becomes the high E, while the A and B strings also have their pitch and gauge 'inverted'.

Notably, the D and G strings are not inverted, and keep the same orientation as standard. That also means that the high E is in the place where the low E is usually found – and Feingold has previously discussed how that helps combat strumming issues found with traditional guitar designs.

“What I love about playing upside down is the fact that there's all this real estate for your hand to go anywhere it wants to,” Feingold once told Rhett Shull, having first played a guitar that was quite literally flipped upside down in order to try inverted tuning. “You don't have to worry about hitting the pickup selector.”

The Grammy winner, who once auditioned for Prince, has made quite a name for herself with the tuning. This new signature set empowers others to experiment with it, although La Bella recommends getting a custom nut to aid fitment. Flipping the nut has worked a treat for some and is a lot cheaper.

“Inverted tuning is a treasure trove of undiscovered harmonies and colors waiting to be called upon,” says La Bella, which becomes the first big brand to make an official set for the tuning.

The Ella Feingold signature string set is available to order now and is priced at $9.59 per pack. They are made with American Wire and packaged using MAP Technology (Modified Atmosphere Packaging) to maximize freshness.

Head to La Bella to learn more.

Elsewhere, Feingold has explained why every up-and-coming guitarist should learn from this “gentle genius,” and has also revealed how her Prince and Bruno Mars auditions proved to be worlds apart.

A Polish gear firm has invented The Knobyfier – a nifty way for players to adjust their pedalboards without upsetting their knees.

Its flagship, patent-pending creation latches onto a pedal’s potentiometer shafts, replacing the outer covering and allowing players to increase or decrease settings – like the gain on an overdrive pedal, for instance – by rolling their foot up and down. The Knobyfier sports two rollers on its side, making it easy to tweak a pedal without having to stoop down and do it by hand.

“Guitarists, you know the drill: Aching knees from hunching, long hunting for tone with knobs, or no room for that crucial expression pedal,” says the firm. “It burns your flow. You deserve better.”

They’re small enough to accommodate multiple Knobifyers per pedal, and it’s feasible to adjust two pedals at once if placed close enough together. Especially if you have big feet.

Indeed, the firm also sees its invention as a handy alternative for those who can’t squeeze typically sizable expression pedals onto their ‘boards. In this case, attaching one to a pedal's Volume control can turn an analog or digital pedal into a more expressive stompbox without breaking the bank.

And for those who get a headache just thinking about MIDI programming, this is a far simpler and cheaper solution.

“The Knobyfier instantly transforms your standard guitar pedal knobs into responsive, foot-operated wheels, giving you precise, on-the-fly control over any parameter, without ever taking your hands off your guitar,” it says. “Get instant, precise control right under your foot.”

Available in Dirty Red and Cobalt Blue, the gizmos are priced at 106,00 zł PLN (approx. $30) apiece. There are variants specifically for a range of manufacturers’ pedals, including Boss, Strymon, and MXR, ensuring a tailored fit.

The Knobyfier ships worldwide with DHL. Head to Knobyfier for more.

It follows other handy inventions in recent months, including a similar device for controlling pedals with your breath, and a capo that unlocks alternate tunings without having to touch the tuning pegs.

A Japan-based luthier has leveraged his guitar-making expertise to fashion smartphone cases that look like they were cut from the bodies of vintage electric guitars – and the internet has gone mad for them.

T. Sato, the man behind Moonshine Craft & Custom, has stumbled upon a winning formula for making cases compatible with Androids and iPhones. They look ultra-realistic, with each one costing around £50 (approx $67).

Often complete with 'burst finishes and accented by the edges of pickguards, each one seems to be inspired by a specific guitar, with everything from relic’d Strats and Teles through to Gibson SGs and Les Pauls on the menu. There’s also a faded TV Yellow design, which just oozes vintage charm.

The attention to detail is exquisite, with rusted screws and flaking paint on many. It's all real, as opposed to a flat image superimposed onto plastic.

Unsurprisingly, they’ve proven hugely popular, with each listing on the firm's Mercari store currently sold out. The one-man production team is struggling to keep up with demand.

It all started a few months ago, when Sato’s old phone case bit the dust. He crafted himself a new one before posting the results on Instagram. It’s been a whirlwind since.

“I'm truly delighted to have received such an overwhelming response for these smartphone cases crafted by a guitar maker,” he writes on Instagram. “I handle guitar-making, repairs, and custom work all by myself. In my spare time, I strive to create smartphone cases with the same care and dedication, hoping to share the joy with everyone.”

The demand has lead to a 2-3 month lead time for each order, with Guitars Japan drafted in to handle requests.

This way, players can take the spirit of their favorite six-string with them, wherever they go.

Head to Moonshine Craft & Custom for more.

Seymour Duncan has retooled its famed JB humbucker for Telecasters, and it could be a game-changer for Telecaster players.

The pickup was first crafted in the 1970s in collaboration with Jeff Beck, hence its name. It was the firm's first-ever humbucker design and helped make the sound of his masterpiece record, Blow by Blow, so distinctive.

Since then, it's been introduced to a huge array of genres, with players adoring its high-output tones and ability to push tube amps harder for greater sustain and harmonics.

Of course, it’s proven a hit with metal guitar players, as evidenced by its inclusion in the new Jackson Soloist SL2DX, but it’s also won over blues players, too, for those wanting a little more spice and sizzle.

Now, Tele players can get in on the action with this new reimagining that, crucially, packs the heat and tonal charm of the famed pup into a single-coil-sized design. That’s the real kicker here. There’s no need to get drills and saws out to carve out a bigger hole in your beloved axe.

“With any replacement pickup, you’re constrained by the shape of the pickup that you’re trying to replace,” Seymour Duncan’s VP of engineering and new products, Kevin Beller, explains. “If you’re trying to replace a Tele [pickup], you can’t really deviate from a Tele shape very far. Basically, what we’re doing is we’re trying to fit two coils into the space where one big single coil used to occupy.”

It’s concocted with a ceramic magnet for “powerful and dynamic tones” and is vacuum wax-potted for squeal-free performance. Anyone who’s ever run a traditional Tele hot will know how susceptible to hum they can be.

Wired with four-conductor lead wire, the pickup enables series, parallel, and split coil wiring options for those not wanting to leave their single coil twang behind them.

Naturally, the JB Jr. for Tele is designed specifically for Telecaster bridge routs. Its “beloved punch, harmonic sparkle, and searing highs” will fit most standard Telecaster bridge single-coil routs – Fender or otherwise – but it’s always best to check the measurements before ordering.

“For decades, the Seymour Duncan JB humbucker has been the go-to pickup for guitarists across countless genres,” says Seymour Duncan. “The JB Jr. for Tele brings high output, tonal versatility, and signature harmonic richness to your Tele bridge, all in a single-coil-sized humbucker design.”

The Seymour Duncan JB Jr. for Tele bridge pickup is priced at $129 and is available to order now.

Visit Seymour Duncan for a closer look.

Seymour Duncan has been busy of late, dropping what it claims to be the ultimate Jazzmaster pickup and collaborating with Joe Bonamassa on two pickup sets that recreate the sounds of two unique axes in his collection: his obscure “Greenburst” Strat, and Tommy Bolin's legendary Les Paul.

Recognizing that we guitarists are terrible at keeping our guitar picks organized, D'Addario has unveiled a clever solution with the Pick Holder 360.

As its name attests, the cylindrical design rotates 360°, offering simple storage and easy access to those handy tools. There’s space for 12 picks to sit atop the unit, and ample space for more beneath.

It's been designed to accommodate picks of all shapes and sizes, and prizing a pick from its new home isn't a difficult task. The holder can be operated with one hand, so all a player needs to do is spin, grab, and play.

At $19.99, the firm views it as an ideal stocking filler for musicians this Christmas. It comes after D'Addario collaborated with Joe Satriani to design a guitar strap that aims to fix the dreaded twisted strap problem, and after it launched a mic stand that attaches directly to pedalboards to better aid the performances of singer-guitarists.

“The Pick Holder 360 is a sleek, fun new way to keep your favorite picks organized, visible, easy to reach, and ready to play,” says D'Addario. “It’s a quick, perfect buy for musicians, custom pick collectors, or anyone simply looking for the perfect stocking stuffer for the musician in their life.”

The Pick Holder 360 is priced at $19.99 and is available to order now.

Head to D’Addario for more.

Back in February, Guitar World sat down with the firm's founder, Jim D'addario, to celebrate 50 years of business and discuss the shape of its future. After half a century of experiments and innovation, he revealed that the firm is shifting its focus.

“I think we’re at a point where we’ve explored almost all the materials that are viable,” he says of its guitar string experiments. “Those ‘aha’ moments are few and far between now because we’ve all turned over almost every rock in the garden, looking for worms. So now our opportunities are about process.”

He also lifted the lid of its string testing processes, and hailed one jazz veteran for being better at putting them through their paces than anyone else.

Every time a fresh batch of Prime Day guitar deals it usually means that for guitarists it’s time to cash in on cheaper items like strings, picks, capos, cables, and other essentials. In my experience there’s a lot of dubious quality gear on sale though, so sifting through to find the genuinely good stuff is a time-consuming process. Luckily for you I’ve done exactly that, looking at all 280+ deals in the musical instruments section of Amazon so you don’t have to. With Prime Day ending at midnight tonight, you only have a matter of hours left to re-stock your supplies.

• Shop all Amazon Prime Day deals (US)
• Shop all Amazon Prime Day deals (UK)

I cover deals all year round in our Deals of the Week article and a weekly newsletter, plus I'm regularly reviewing gear and writing buyer's guides for the site, so it’s fair to say I’ve got a good eye for the best gear and the genuinely great deals out there in the guitar-sphere. While there’s little of worth in terms of exciting stuff like guitars, pedals, and amps in Amazon's sale, there’s actually quite a bit of choice when it comes to essential items that we guitarists use day in day out. Here’s five of the best for you to get stuck into:

Shop more Prime Day deals while you still can

• Fender: Paramount acoustics 10% off
• Guitar Center: Last chance for big savings
• GuitarTricks: 50% off annual
• Musician's Friend: 9,000+ discounts
• Reverb: B-Stock bargains
• Sweetwater: Up to 50% off recording
• Plugin Boutique: Save big on software
• Universal Audio: Huge plugin reductions
• Waves: Buy 2 get 2 free

Seymour Duncan and Joe Bonamassa have recreated the humbuckers from the blues maestro’s Bolin ’Burst – a famed 1960 Les Paul Standard that carries close ties to the late Tommy Bolin.

A few years ago, Bonamassa acquired the guitar under some extraordinary circumstances, going as far as to call it the strangest guitar deal he ever did. Now, he’s linked up with the US pickup manufacturer once again to analyze the Les Paul's two humbuckers in exacting detail, resulting in the signature "Bolin Burst" set.

Bolin himself made his name in Zephyr, the James Gang, and Billy Cobham – ultimately inspiring Steve Stevens to use toy ray guns in one of his most iconic guitar solos – before replacing Ritchie Blackmore in Deep Purple in 1975. He was driven to his intense audition by none other than David Bowie.

In the group, he helped reshape their sound on Come Taste the Band, before releasing his second album, Private Eyes, in 1976. He died at the age of 25 following a drug overdose in December that year.

The Bolin ’Burst actually belonged to Bolin's friend David Brown, who purchased it for $125 in 1966. It later became Bolin's main six-string after his Goldtop was swiped from a Zephyr gig, and Brown kindly lent him the Les Paul Standard as a replacement.

The pickups were never swapped out, and they – along with Bolin's touch – helped give the electric guitar its singular tone.

To harness that sound, the Bolin Burst pickups feature Alnico 2 magnets to “deliver authentic vintage tonality with dynamic bridge and warm neck pickup characteristics”, and they have been aged by the Seymour Duncan Custom Shop to match the time-worn vibe of the originals.

A portion of the proceeds from sales will support Bolin’s legacy “through dedicated endowment and memorial funds.”

Seymour Duncan says “the bridge pickup provides a dynamic and barky sound,” while the neck is all about “warmth and clarity” through an overdriven amp.

“It really is a special set,” Bonamassa says of his latest signature pickups. Production is limited to 500 sets. Each bottom plate is signed by Bonamassa and Seymour W. Duncan, and the pickups arrive in numbered packaging to the tune of $375 per set.

Visit Seymour Duncan for more.

The release comes as part of Seymour Duncan’s Joe Bonamassa collection, which includes pickups inspired by a 1950 Broadcaster, the most dynamic guitar he's ever played, and one of his personal favorites, an ES-335.

Ever since the likes of Taylor Swift, Phoebe Bridgers, and Wilco brought the intimate sounds of rubber bridge guitars to the masses, players have been desperately looking for ways to achieve the sound on a budget.

Oddly enough, one of the best DIY hacks came from the world of tennis, thanks to an unassuming $12 racket accessory that sent TikTok into a frenzy. Unfortunately for rubber bridge fans who were too slow to pick one up, that accessory has now been discontinued.

But fear not, because the guitar player who first championed the racket string dampener has made a purpose-built replacement that is even better.

Rubber bridge acoustic guitars were pioneered and popularized by Reuben Cox of Old Style Guitar Shop, who custom-built models for big-name players and casual players alike. The plinky plonk tones of the dampened, muted strings – caused by the presence of a rubber bridge – quickly took the indie (and, later, mainstream) music worlds by storm.

Naturally, the internet – and TikTok in particular – went nuts for rubber bridge guitars, and before long players turned to the Babolat Vibrakill string vibration dampener for a DIY shortcut.

Since that tonal discovery, the original version has sold out, and the next-gen iteration from the sporting goods firm simply no longer works on guitars. As such, popular gear guru AudioHaze has fashioned an alternative – one that is engineered specifically for guitars, not tennis rackets.

“You can't buy them anymore,” AudioHaze explains in a new Instagram video, referencing the Vibrakill. “The internet went crazy and sold out of the things. So when Babolat decided to cancel it, I decided to make one for the musician.”

His answer? Plunk. A small rubber strip with six indents to better sit against the strings of an acoustic. It works in a similar way to the tennis racket accessory, by dampening the strings and reducing vibrations, but the design also has a nifty added benefit.

“It's a softer, more resonant mute, and you can even put it in different spots to have a hybrid mute,” Cox explains.

So, for instance, you could only mute the bottom three strings to dull down the bass notes, and let the high notes ring out with greater chime and resonance. Better still, the instrument doesn’t have to be married to the rubber bridge sound indefinitely, as it can be removed and re-introduced at will.

Moving Plunk closer to the bridge increases the strength of the mute, while doing the opposite makes it more subtle. For $19.99, it could be something of a gateway tool for players wanting to experiment with the rubber bridge aesthetic, without needing a new guitar entirely. And it works on electric guitars, too.

The Plunk is available now. Head to Plunk for more.

In related rubber bridge news, Orangewood’s Juniper aimed to introduce a more budget-friendly option to the market, but later came under fire from some players. Cox has since addressed the controversy.

A mini bow for turning your acoustic guitar into a violin, guitar amps with touch screens, pedals that you can control with light itself… Whatever will they think of next? What about an urn that can inter your loved one or pet’s ashes inside an acoustic guitar?

That’s what KapSoul is offering: a full-sized urn that you can secret inside an acoustic guitar’s soundhole – and it looks like one of those soundhole plugs you use to tame feedback on loud stages.

This is a product that not only makes us think of guitar accessories from way out of left field, but also of unorthodox burial solutions, too. It’s certainly up there, an innovation that’s either poignant and beautiful or morbid and gross, and probably no in between.

And for anyone whose soul drains from their body at the sight of someone producing an acoustic guitar and a capo – always with the capo – at a house party, it could be a form of performative Hell.

But Mike Grande, the inventor of KapSoul, is deadly serious. While it is not quite full-size, holding 14 cubic inches of human or pet cremains, this isn’t a pretend urn. It’s fashioned from PPH, fits any 3” soundhole on guitars with a minimum body depth of 3”, and when sealed it stays sealed, protected from leakage or atmospheric moisture.

Though we would caution against lending the KapSoul-equipped acoustic to your neighbourhood Andy McKee, just in case.

“For countless souls who strummed the strings of their favorite acoustic guitar, or for those who cherished one who did, music is an inextinguishable passion upon hearts and spirits that will forever resonate through eternity keeping the memories of our departed loved one always alive and present,” says KapSoul.

“What is a more fitting tribute to honor your beloved departed, who conveyed their emotions through melodies played on their acoustic guitar, then memorialized interment in their favorite instrument?”

If you wanted to protect the dearly departed from ham-fisted renditions of Fire And Rain, you could always mount the guitar on the wall or behind a Perspex case, which might be the most tasteful way to do this, especially as the device naturally mutes the soundhole.

“Acoustic natural resonance, volume and fidelity will be somewhat dampened, unless the instrument is amplified,” notes KapSoul.

Many players might have different ideas for their acoustic, such as passing it down to their heirs, keeping the music going, but if not you can get the KapSoul urn for $149.

Visit KapSoul for more info.

Back in the late 1990s, Gibson joined forces with Black Sabbath rifflord Tony Iommi to create the brand's first ever signature pickup. Now – less than two months after Sabbath took their final onstage bow with the late Ozzy Osbourne – that pickup, the Tony Iommi Signature Humbucker, is back.

Featuring a distinct configuration of powerful ceramic and Alnico 2 magnets, and unique winding, the fully wax-potted and epoxied Iommi humbucker is designed to help guitarists emulate the mighty, distorted rumble of the metal godfather's tone, without descending into overcooked, blown-out mush.

The humbucker's 4-conductor wiring, meanwhile, allows for series, parallel, and split coil operation.

The Iommi 'bucker had become an increasingly rare sight in recent years, in turn fetching ever-bigger money on the secondhand market.

“I’m really excited that Gibson’s bringing back my signature humbucker, they were getting pretty hard to find!” Iommi himself said in a statement. “This pickup came about after a lot of time spent in Nashville, just experimenting with different setups to get that perfect tone and sustain from my favorite guitars.

“We had to make sure it worked with my light gauge strings and low tunings, but still pack a punch, and the result has got some serious output. They're on my signature guitars too, and I couldn’t be more pleased with how they turned out.”

“I’d personally installed these on one of my Gibson guitars 15 years ago, and I was blown away with the distinct Tony Iommi and Black Sabbath sound I was able to get out of them,” added Gibson President and CEO Cesar Gueikian.

“They have such a great, clean look with the unique pickup cover, and we are excited to bring the Rifflord’s signature humbucker back as we continue to pay tribute to Tony.”

The re-release of the Sabbath man's signature pickup continues his fruitful relationship with Gibson, which has also – in recent years – produced a signature SG Special, which for our money stands as one of the best Gibson SGs you can buy today.

The Gibson Tony Iommi Signature Humbucker is available now for $229.

For more info, visit Gibson.

If you have played guitar for more than five minutes, chances are someone has handed you a capo. Right after a guitar pick and a tuner, it is one of the first accessories most of us end up with. And if you're anything like me, you've probably bought (and lost) more guitar capos than you would like to admit. They seem to have a habit of vanishing into the void, only to reappear months later in a guitar case you haven’t used in ages.

At first, you probably used a capo for its most obvious job: shifting songs into a new key so you can sing along without blowing out your voice. And yes, that is a total lifesaver when you're fumbling through Wonderwall at an open mic. But here is the thing – a capo doesn't just have to be a crutch for your vocal range. With a little creativity, it can completely change the way you approach the guitar.

A simple move up the neck can open up new voicings, textures, and moods you would never get from standard open chords. Some capos allow you to create brand new tunings and can be a secret weapon in the studio. Honestly, some of my favorite riffs and song ideas came from just slapping a capo on and seeing what happens.

So, instead of treating it like that random bit of metal and plastic rattling around your gig bag, let's look at five fun and creative ways to use the humble capo – and maybe spark a few ideas you didn’t see coming.

1. Revoicing your guitar’s tone 

One of the simplest ways to unlock new sounds from your guitar is by slapping a capo high up the neck. Once you get past the 6th or 7th fret, your acoustic starts to take on a whole new personality. In fact, it stops sounding so much like a guitar and starts flirting with banjo or mandolin territory – bright, snappy, and full of treble sparkle.

I have always loved this trick for recording sessions. That thinner, less bass-heavy voice sits perfectly on top of a mix, or lets you carve out space when you're playing alongside other guitarists at a jam. Instead of competing for the same sonic real estate, you're adding a totally different texture.

So next time you want your six-string to sound like it's gone undercover as another instrument, try capoing way up the neck. It's like discovering you had a secret weapon hiding inside your guitar all along.

Want to know more? Our very own Stuart Ryan walks you through this technique in the video below.

2. Create an alternate tuning

If you want to get creative and breathe new life into your guitar, alternate tunings are a fantastic way to do it. These days, there are capo products on the market that let you experiment with alternate tunings, heck, even invent your own, without touching a single tuning peg.

Take the Creative Tunings Universal Spider Capo, for example. With its six individually rotating teeth, you can choose which strings are fretted and which are left open. Sure, it only covers one fret, but you can build some surprisingly complex intervals and have a blast creating tunings that would normally put your strings at risk.

And the Spider is just one option in a whole world of partial capos designed to target specific strings. Don’t just take my word for it, players like Joni Mitchell, Rodrigo y Gabriela, and John Mayer have all used partial capos to great effect in their music. The opportunities here are exciting and endlessly inspiring.

3. Bass drone by leaving the 6th string open

This one is a personal favorite of mine. Some people call it a “bass drop.” By placing the capo upside down and leaving the low E string open, you create a bass note that acts like a drone whenever you hit it.

Of course, this only works if your low E is in the same key as the song, but you can always retune that string to match. It might take some trial and error to find the right tuning for the vibe you want, but honestly, that's part of the fun. Try leaving the bass string out until the second verse. When it comes in, it can hit hard and add a lot of weight. It's a great trick for singer-songwriters looking to layer their performances and keep things dynamically interesting.

4. Sharpen up your fingerpicking

I've always found that fingerpicking with a capo feels a bit more natural. Part of it comes down to your left hand; those shorter stretches make things easier. But it's also the tone: putting a capo higher up the neck brings out extra treble and attack, which gives your fingerpicked parts a sweeter, more defined sound.

For beginners, especially, this can be a real confidence boost. A capo helps you lock into patterns more comfortably while also opening the door to new textures and tones. It’s a simple way to make fingerpicking more enjoyable while sharpening your skills at the same time.

5. Use a capo as onboard storage

Okay, hear me out, this one is a little tongue-in-cheek, but it really works. Some guitarists have been known to use their capo as a bit of live “onboard storage.” Take something like the Kyser x Fender capo: that scroll-style trigger makes the perfect perch for a slide when you’re not using it. No need to risk dropping it on the floor (or worse, stepping on it mid-gig), just stick it on the trigger and carry on.

And it's not just slides. D’Addario even makes a capo with a built-in pick holder, which makes me think other players have had the same bright idea. Practical? Absolutely. Glamorous? Maybe not. But hey, sometimes it's the little hacks that save the day on stage.

My capo recommendations 

In the seventies, Larry DiMarzio and Seymour Duncan broadened the tonal horizons for the electric guitar community by developing their own pickups to be retrofitted onto instruments made by other companies.

To this day, they are still very much masters of their trade, with innovations to suit just about any kind of player, from low-output passives for purists to enhanced firepower for higher-gain thrill-seekers – and everything in between.

Over the last two decades, however, a company from England has risen from being a relative unknown to becoming arguably the world’s largest independent electric guitar pickup manufacturer, thanks to some highly customizable and award-winning bespoke creations that guarantee tonal excellence.

We are, of course, talking about Bare Knuckle Pickups – the business founded by session guitarist Tim Mills in 2003 with an emphasis on everything being hand-wound to order, giving customers complete control on how their pickups should look and sound.

As well as producing best-selling circuits like The Mule and The Nailbomb, the specialists also have collaborated with guitarists like Steve Stevens and Misha Mansoor to create signature sets that are tailor made to get the job done. It all happened very organically, Mills says when asked about his journey from hopeful newcomer to becoming the brains behind an internationally respected phenomenon.”

What made you want to get into building pickups?

“I came to it as a player because I don’t have a science background. In the Nineties, I was playing for Elkie Brooks, a blues star with a career spanning 65 years. Later on, some friends asked me to help out in their Ozzy Osbourne tribute band. I knew it would be fun, but I had to emulate lots of different tones.

“I started messing around with pickups just to see what worked. I got frustrated by the fact that nobody was describing what these things did. I felt like every pickup was marketed to say it was good at everything. The information was very generalized.

“I ended up pulling a pickup apart just to see what the hell was going on inside. I reverse-engineered one with a winding machine I’d cobbled together and then started experimenting with different permutations of magnets and wire.”

How did that end up becoming your full-time job?

“I put a website together with some designs, figuring it would be a nice way to earn [money] alongside teaching music and martial arts. I was looking for a name and realized there was a synergy between guitars and combat; it’s all hands-based. The penny dropped when I remembered that bare knuckle, the original form of fighting, was something we excelled at in this part of the world.

“It all felt quintessentially British. I wanted to prove we could make good stuff here. In my first year, I had two people with me; now there’s over 20 in the workshop plus all the IT, service and accounts teams. But it’s all done the same way. We use the same machines I put together back in the day. I think I’m now on the sixth motor for that winder.”

You must have done a lot of research to know exactly what you’re working with.

“I became obsessed with tone. I had a mentor who gave me original Fifties pickups. I wanted to learn about why they could sound three-dimensional, ultra dynamic and touch-sensitive. I went down the wormhole of plastics, metals and carbon content, looking at the strand count in the wire and all that stuff.

“I also wanted us to be making our own parts. I ran into an engineer at a guitar show and asked if he could make a base plate exactly like an old Gibson. We analyzed everything to the finest degree and didn’t cut any corners, even down to the direction of the grain on the nickel silver.

“The same went for the tooling and magnets, with X-ray spectra graphs analyzing aluminum, nickel and cobalt. When it comes to retrofit pickups, people tend to want something hotter, but I studied low- and medium-output designs as well.”

It’s interesting how you make pickups that vary in terms of output, though everything is passive.

“EMG have really got their game together when it comes to active stuff. I can’t see anyone chasing them down that path. Their pickups do exactly what they say. Sure, other companies have come along with their own permutations of actives, but EMG still hold their own in that world. I felt there was more scope to develop by staying passive.

“Active pickups have an in-built preamp that sculpts the tone. It’s based around creating a lot of compression. That’s the great thing about them; you can put an active pickup on any guitar and it will sound consistently great. But in the Ozzy tribute, I needed something that could do Tony Iommi’s rock sound as well as Zakk Wylde’s metal sound. And I could only do that using passives.”

Customers have full aesthetic control when ordering from you. How crucial is that to the business?

“I wanted to expand on what a pickup could look like, so we concentrated a lot on aesthetics. There are a lot of custom finishing, from colors to etching and so on. We were the first to come up with the camo or tiger finish pickup.

“These are all part of guitar language now, but they came first through us. We’d mess around with things like acid etch, blow torches, burnt chrome – which technically you can’t do, because chrome doesn’t burn. But if you do it with nickel, all these glorious colors come out.

So what’s next for Bare Knuckle?

“We’re doing something with Claudio Sanchez from Coheed and Cambria. And we’re working on a signature for Tracii Guns. We started talking online; it all happened organically. That’s way better than me chasing somebody. If you give an artist something for free, it’s totally unsolicited and will probably end up on the shelf.

“I remember one day getting an order from someone called Steve Stevens and didn’t question it. A bit later, he emailed again asking if I’d like to come to a show. We met backstage and he got me to watch from his backline.

“We then started talking about a signature, which started a chain of events; I’ve since worked with Misha Mansoor, Chris Robertson, Adam Getgood and, most recently, Mike Stringer [Spiritbox]. This latest one has been really successful; it’s the pickup equivalent of a bulldozer.”

Who would be your dream client?

“I’d love to make something for Jimmy Page. He actually sent his “Number One” 1959 Les Paul to my workshop because of a pickup issue just before the 2007 Led Zeppelin reunion. It was fantastic to analyze such a brilliant guitar. The back of the neck had this odd carve where it got thin from frets three to nine.

“Interestingly, the neck pickup was just shy of 9k. Normally that would be muddy and hot, but because the magnet had discharged so much and the coil windings were heavily asymmetrical, it was behaving more like a single-coil. That’s why it had this woody, almost SRV sound.

“The bridge was a symmetrically wound 8.2k Seymour Duncan installed around the late Seventies. It was nicely balanced with a good growl. Most of the tone came from how much timber had taken off the neck, almost to Ibanez levels of thinness. I was amazed the truss rod hadn’t popped out. Honestly, working on Jimmy Page’s guitar was bucket list stuff for me.”

• Best pickups for metal 2025: our guide to upgrading for high gain heaven
• Best humbucker pickups 2025: buck up your guitar with mellow lows and punchy mids
• This article first appeared in Guitar World. Subscribe and save.

If you're a guitarist looking to enhance your playing experience without breaking the bank, you're in the right place! We've scoured Amazon to find the best deals on affordable guitar accessories that every player should have in their gig bag.

From picks and strings to tuners and slides, these essentials not only elevate your sound but also ensure you're well-equipped for any jam session or performance.

Forget about spending a fortune on a glossy brand-new guitar or gig-worthy combo; with these budget-friendly options, you can focus on what really matters, simply making music.

So let’s dive into this roundup of great accessories that are all under $25! Of course, this is just a small cross-section of what's on offer, so I implore you to take a look for yourself and see what you can find - and if you are on the hunt for even more bargains, head over to our Prime Day guitar deals hub, where I've rounded up the best offers from Amazon and beyond.

• Shop all Prime Day guitar deals at Amazon
• Shop all the latest Prime Day deals at Amazon

Prime Day is generally a great time for getting tech like laptops and TVs but for guitarists? Well, there really isn’t all that much worth investing in when it comes to guitars, pedals, and amps.

That doesn’t mean there aren’t some great Prime Day guitar deals available; they’re just on the things we guitarists consider pretty boring. Things like strings, guitar picks, guitar straps, cable ties, and other guitar accessories are all available with some decent discounts, making it a great time to stock up on the essentials.

Today is day 4 of the Amazon sale extravaganza, and it's the final day of savings. Thankfully, you can still bag the Fender 12-pack sampler of picks that’s just $10.99. I also spied a pack of D’Addario XL electric guitar strings down to just $5.05, which is great value for money.

You’ll find more of my top-pick guitar accessories below, which may not be the most exciting things you’ll ever buy, but they’re definitely more useful than buying yet another overdrive pedal!

• Shop all Prime Day guitar deals at Amazon
• Shop all the latest Prime Day deals at Amazon

Top guitar accessory deals

DiMarzio has set out on a quest to make electric guitar players fall in love with Telecaster neck pickups by releasing a new set that looks to remedy a glaring issue that plagues most traditional units.

Hearing the cries of Tele players who hate the guitar’s traditional pickups owing to the perceived muddy and dull tones that lack clarity, DiMarzio has launched the Muscle T set, which “adds more of the glassy sparkle that Tele neck pickups always lacked” in a bid to save the day.

Hand-wound and tested at its New York facility, the Muscle T neck is joined by an accompanying bridge pickup. Utilizing a traditional magnet stagger, it takes inspiration from the firm’s favorite '60s Tele pickups but kicks “the output up a notch”.

The set also packs more sustain and has a warmer top end “to eliminate harshness.” Vintage-inspired but bestowed with a modern touch, the Muscle T offers “balanced lows, mid-range snarl and a clear top,” but doesn’t lose the positive aspects of those '60s pups.

That includes “dynamic response” in abundance, and it’s been “carefully calibrated with more volume and presence to keep up with the needs of modern players.” Finally, there’s the promise of a greater string-to-string balance.

The DiMarzio Muscle T pickups cost $89 apiece. The bridge is available in a traditional dress only – black with chrome pole pieces – while the neck comes in Chrome, Black, and Gold covers, and an unplated version.

It’s been joined by another new release, the Super PAF Ceramic, which puts a high-octane spin on the OG DiMarzio PAF ceramic humbucker design.

“The Super Distortion started a sound revolution,” DiMarzio says, with no room for humility. “Replacement pickups simply didn’t exist before the invention of the Super Distortion; it was the first pickup specifically designed to kick a tube amp into total overdrive and is still the standard by which all other high-output pickups are measured.”

Ace Frehley, Al Di Meola, and Phil Collen were early adopters of the pickups as hard rock roared to the top of the charts on both sides of the Atlantic, proving to be the secret weapon of countless players.

With increased power equating to “a wall of sound,” its invention redefined what pickups could do, and it's unlikely the likes of other tonal pros, including Seymour Duncan and Bareknuckle, could have existed without it.

The DiMarzio Super PAF Ceramic bridge pickup is available now for $106, and there’s a wealth of customization options, from vintage stylings to technicolour madness.

Head to DiMarzio for more.

Thanks to the appointment of Strings & Things Ltd as the new distributor, Cleartone Strings are now back in the UK and Ireland. With the company putting quality at the forefront, this collaboration means even more musicians can reap the benefits of Cleartone.

Founded in 1998 by Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Phil Everly of the Everly Brothers under the moniker Everly Strings, the company's main ethos was always to provide durable, high-quality guitar strings.

Fast forward to 2008, and after years of research, Everly and his team introduced a unique coating treatment that extends string life without sacrificing tone, which inspired the new name, Cleartone.

“We are thrilled to partner exclusively with Strings and Things UK, a company that shares our passion for innovation and quality in the music industry. This collaboration feels like a natural fit,” comments Cleartone’s General Manager, Michael Loscalzo.

Each string is expertly crafted in Salt Lake City, Utah, with the patented treatment, applied at just a 0.5-micron thickness, engineered to never flake or fray, no matter how hard you strum. What's more, Cleartone Strings guarantees that the coating can boost your guitar's volume “by up to 36% and sustain by up to 48%.”

There are different series under the Cleartone umbrella. First off is the Standard Series, the brand’s flagship electric set. These nickel-plated steel strings are manufactured in the U.S. in small batches to guarantee premium quality and are crafted with “only the highest grade steel.”

Moreover, each string is wound around a high-carbon hex core, ensuring “exceptional tuning stability, bright and articulate tone, and enhanced output” – essentially, engineered for players who need a set of strings they can truly bet on day in day out.

Up next is the Electric Heavy Series: each string is crafted with a thicker core wire to ensure “beefier tones” and “high-volume play.” As the name suggests, it's designed to withstand intense playing styles without sacrificing exceptional playability and tone.

For acoustic players, Cleartone’s Acoustic Strings are available in both 80/20 Bronze for a brighter tone and a sparkling top end, and Phosphor Bronze for those who prefer a richer and more rounded sound.

With the EQ Hybrid Metal Acoustic, Cleatone boasts “the world's first materially tuned acoustic strings,” carefully crafted to produce “an even response across all strings and frequencies.”

The wound strings of an EQ set are also manufactured using various alloys to emphasize each string's natural voice. For instance, the lower E's are made out of copper due to its increased bass response, while the A and D are made using the purest Phosphor Bronze to highlight that mid-range fullness.

And for those guitarists who have a penchant for nylon strings, you'll be pleased to know that Cleartone's Sevilla Classical Nylon Strings promise a smooth and comfortable feel, coupled with a distinct and resonant tone that accentuates the richness of the traditional classical guitar sound.

All Cleartone products are now available from guitar shops across the UK and Ireland.

Head to Cleartone Strings and Strings & Things Ltd to learn more about each Cleartone product.

What are they?

One of the things that makes the guitar such an interesting instrument to play and write about is the amount of personal preference around how a person approaches it. The variety here is always good fun to discuss in sometimes overly passionate debates, with guitar strings and their gauge, type, and brand, often being a sometimes overlooked source of guitar-geekery (a phrase I use with utmost respect).

Strings are a vital part of how a guitar can feel to play, as well as sound, but are also one of the most accessible ways to make a change. There are plenty of brands to fuel discussions about the best electric guitar strings for your needs, Cleartone being one with some interesting strings in its arsenal.

Launched in 2008 and founded by musician Phil Everly of The Everly Brothers fame, Cleartone’s strings are “100% made in the USA” and are noted as ‘treated’. My usual strings are an uncoated set, so having never tried treated strings before, and with Cleartone claiming benefits of protection against “sweat, dirt, and humidity”, I was intrigued and set them loose on my PJD Carey and see what they are all about.

Road Testing

Interestingly, the first thing I notice upon restringing the guitar with a set of Light 10-46 treated Cleartone strings is a lack of that new string ‘snap’. This is a sound that usually dissipates within a day or two of playing, so I am a little concerned that these strings may sound a bit dull once they are played in and lose some of that high-end brightness.

Alas, after spending quality playing time with them I can happily report that this is not the case. At the point of writing, the strings have been on the guitar for two weeks and have been tasked with a fair bit of riff writing for Guitar World demos, general playing, and practicing.

The tone has remained pretty much as it was in the first minute of restringing, so they may not have that new string sound of some untreated strings to my ears, but the payoff is that they don’t seem to degrade to sounding duller as quickly as some other strings I’ve tried.

This seems to be evidence that the "micron-thin, multi-patented treatment"’ of these strings is doing its job, but what about the feel? Particularly coming from uncoated strings to this ‘treated’ set, I am surprised that I don’t notice any discernible difference in feel between the two. It certainly gives weight to Cleartone's "no-feel coating" claim that could appeal to players previously put off by the texture of some coated strings they've tried before.

As the point of contact between the music in our minds and the guitar, any small differences under our fingertips have the potential to be highly consequential, so the lack of change here is only a good thing.

The overall tone compared to my usual set is slightly more mellow. This is not a criticism in any way, but noticeable as a point of reference. When it comes to premium strings, these differences are subtle and mostly down to preference, so as long as you have strings from a reputable brand, it’s a case of experimenting and finding out what you prefer.

Final Thoughts

When it comes to choosing guitar strings, it is often difficult to discern what may be better from the blurb alone. Brands make quite similar claims of "better" and "longer" despite their differences in string construction and materials, so there is no substitute for getting your hands on some and giving them a go. I can't recommend the value of trying different brands and gauges with guitar strings, and even plectrums, enough.

From my experience with this Cleartone set, the consistency between the tone I got from the moment I put the strings on, to the tone present two weeks later, is the highlight here. Couple that with a feel that isn’t any different from a set of ‘normal’ strings, and it makes these worth a try if you're in the mood for some experimentation.

As a young man in New York City, Larry DiMarzio was a guitar repairman with a big vision.

“What I was after was really making a better rock ’n’ roll pickup,” DiMarzio tells Guitarist. While that may sound simple in theory, it wasn’t in reality. From DiMarzio’s perspective – which was gleaned through years of repairing used guitars, which he found to be of increasingly poor quality – major brands that he grew up loving had lost the “process for building the pyramids”.

Essentially, by DiMarzio’s estimation, the halcyon years of the 1950s and early ’60s, which produced some of the most prized Les Pauls, Stratocasters and Telecasters ever produced, were a distant memory. In their place were quality control and tonal issues. The concerns with the build quality were one thing, and not necessarily DiMarzio’s priority. But the tonal needs were another matter entirely.

First came DiMarzio’s FS-1 pickup, which essentially replaced the stock Fender Strat bridge pickup. Early adopters were David Gilmour, which was fantastic, of course, but this was only the beginning.

Players such as Earl Slick, Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley, Al DiMeola and Joe Perry hipped themselves to DiMarzio, who, in addition to the FS-1, had developed the iconic Super Distortion humbucker, changing the face and sound of rock ’n’ roll in the 1970s.

Slick specifically was one of DiMarzio’s earliest supporters as DiMarzio modded his guitars. “If you listen to early Aerosmith records, you can tell between Joe and Brad Whitford’s stuff,” Slick says. “The sound was coming out of Joe’s pickups. They added punch. They weren’t just louder, they were sonically different, with more midrange.”

Larry DiMarzio chuckles when he looks back on the inherent differences between his product and what was available at the time, saying: “It’s the difference between supermarket-baked bread and a good bakery. That’s not what guitar players need. They need a good, honest product built from the ground up.”

To that end, DiMarzio’s product reshaped hard-rock guitar in the 1970s and kept on doing so into the ’80s and ’90s. His pickups can be found in guitars of all shapes and sizes, making their way under the hands of everyone from Randy Rhoads and Paul Gilbert, to Kurt Cobain, Dimebag Darrell, Nita Strauss and Matteo Mancuso.

Now in his mid-70s, Larry DiMarzio no longer needs to work. And he certainly doesn’t need to invent any more iconic pickups – but that’s not stopping him. It’s not his style to sit back, and it’s definitely not his style to sell out, regardless of how many legacy brands are scooped up by major players around him.

Moreover, he’s certainly not about to start believing his own hype, no matter how many iconic players champion his creations. “I’ve never asked those questions directly,” he says. “My attitude was that I’m crew. I’m happy to do the job, you know? I’m the guy who walks in and fixes the problem.”

What led you to become a guitar repairman in New York City in the early ’70s?

“Maybe we should start with fantasy versus reality. I grew up having teachers who had interesting guitars. One of my earliest teachers – and I must have been 15 – had an original mid-’50s Strat with the V-shaped neck and stock Strat pickups.

“That guitar was very special; it was better than anything I could afford and was available to me. Having said that, some of the early guitars that I owned were broken or falling apart, so I wound up fixing those guitars.”

Once you got rolling, what were your observations of guitars in the ’60s and ’70s?

“In my mind, there were always the famous… it was really a matter of there was something different between the guitars that my teacher had, and the new guitars that were being produced through that period of time. Does that make sense?

“So the reason that I refer to ‘fantasy’ is that you have an idea in your mind, which may not be true and very often isn’t. Coming at it from the point of view that there were things that stood out because you didn’t own them, you had a fantasy about them.”

How did that fantasy merge with your reality?

“I started working at the Guitar Lab around ’71 or ’72. I was going to work at a professional guitar shop around the corner of 48th Street [in New York City] and I suddenly had access to tons of guitars that were coming through the shop for repair. Or I’d go down to Manny’s, pick up a Stratocaster and say, ‘This is like a dead tuna,’ you know?”

And pickups were the way you compensated for that?

“Yeah, pickups seemed to be the way to compensate for the shortcomings of new guitars. When I first started working on pickups, the first pickup that got built was a Strat pickup just because I had Strats at the time.”

That was the FS-1, right? What went into putting that together?

“I had this fabulous old Telecaster. It was very acoustic and it rang beautifully. But it wasn’t the sound that I was hearing on Eric Clapton records. Being in the city with a lot of professional players, you quickly learn that – like the pros did – you could figure out hardware that worked in certain ways.”

David Gilmour was an early adopter of the FS-1 pickups in his Strats. That must have been a big boost for you.

“I had no direct relationship with David; that was something that he just bought. But again, the idea was, how can I get this overdriven sound that I’m hearing from Clapton, Beck and Page, without destroying the environment in terms of small clubs and places that are serving drinks?”

How did the FS-1 do that as an alternative to Fender’s typically shrill bridge pickups?

“The first solution that I came up with was, of course, to increase the output of the Stratocaster pickup. But I also EQ’d it in a different way.

“If you’re playing in clubs, there are common problems, so what rapidly happened was – and as you said, which was spot on, I was a guitar repairman – people came in and wanted them, which eventually led to me opening my own shop.”

On the Super Distortion side of things, how important was it for you to have young players like Joe Perry, Ace Frehley and Paul Stanley equip their guitars with DiMarzio pickups as an alternative to using early fuzz pedals?

“Everybody is different. All your clients have requirements and needs, and sometimes you get friendly. A lot of what we did was in an effort to try to show people that there were obvious differences. Gibson had lost the recipe, not only for guitar building but for pickup making based on their original designs. What I was after was really making a rock ’n’ roll pickup.”

With such young stars as Earl Slick and Al Di Meola also using your pickups, was it apparent that you were making a dent in the market?

“I didn’t look at it like I was suddenly making an impact, you know? I try not to believe my own publicity [laughs]. During that period of time, we were trying to make everything better, right? But it became obvious to me that a lot of people liked what I was doing, and that was really nice.”

Is it true that Ace Frehley and the guys in KISS started using your pickups because you grew up with Gene Simmons?

“Ace found out about me because of Gene. I went to school with Gene and I went to college with Gene. And, oddly enough, I was invited to be the guitar player in Wicked Lester, the pre-KISS band. But I wanted to be in a Top 40 band, so I was like, ‘I gotta work,’ you know? I wanted to be working.”

In many ways, DiMarzio reshaped the sound of rock guitar in the ’70s, and that kept up in the ’80s, with players like Randy Rhoads and Paul Gilbert championing your pickups.

“As the guitar playing changed, you know, the pickups were very good and applicable for what was going on. It had a lot to do with the fact that everybody started building multiple gain stage amplifiers.”

How did Randy end up using DiMarzio pickups?

“I was called up by Karl Sandoval [who built Randy Rhoads’s Polka Dot V], and I didn’t know Karl at the time. But Karl has always been a fan of the pickups; he liked the way they sound. He’s a guitar player and he recommended them. A lot of people were recommending the product because they liked it and used the product themselves.”

You also contributed to the evolution of shred guitars by redesigning the Strat bridge in the ’80s – how did you do that?

“Yes, around that time I redesigned the Fender bridge. Fender decided to start casting Stratocaster bridges and I remember thinking, ‘Wow… that’s how you screw up a really good product.’ So I redesigned the Stratocaster bridge, and guess what? The first thing I did was reduce the string spacing.

“I went from 2 ¼-inch to 2 ¹/8-inch. So I literally made the change that Eddie [Van Halen was known for and] was thinking about. He twisted the pickup to try to get the string balance right because, of course, the polepieces don’t line up properly with a 2 ¼-inch bridge.”

How is what DiMarzio did different, aside from not twisting the pickup?

“The solution is to change the outside string alignment, which also makes the strings go up the neck better. It’s more of a straight line from the bridge to the tuning pegs and, of course, through the nut. So the entire bridge works better.

“And we put tracks on the original DiMarzio bridges so that bridge saddles didn’t slide around, so when you use the tremolo, the guitar would come back into tune. Needless to say, Floyd Rose’s solution worked way better, but it also changed the sound of the guitar, which I didn’t like.”

In recent years, you worked with Steve Vai’s Ibanez PIA guitar, which features a beautifully engraved set of DiMarzio UtoPIA pickups.

“Everyone can get their own thing – and way. I’m not locked into any particular thing. When we worked on the Steve Vai project, for example, the most recent PIA project, we knew that we could get the sound that Steve wanted, but I also wanted to do something very different cosmetically to the pickup.

“We wanted to integrate the cosmetics of the pickup to the overall look of the guitar, you know? And since I do a lot of photos, I can think of a way to begin that and add to the overall look of what we’re doing.”

In an age where there’s no shortage of replacement pickups on the market, what continues to set DiMarzio apart from the pack?

“We’re always making little improvements. I continue to introduce things that I think will make a better product. And again, the goal is to never skimp: the goal is to build something where the guitar players can rely on it.”

Have you gotten to the point where you can reflect on the legacy of DiMarzio?

“Good question. You have to be very careful with who owns a brand, and I would rather just continue doing what I’m doing. I don’t have to work, but I have a commitment to the company and my clients. The legacy of building high-quality guitars is an American art form.

“You’re always dealing with skimping, penny-pinching and manipulation, and that destroys the integrity of the product. People want to play a product that is designed with integrity and intent.”

Is steering away from those sorts of things what you’re most proud of?

“It’s tough. I would probably say [it’s] the fact that I haven’t sold out, you know? I’ve always just tried to stick with what I did well. I get up every morning and I just try to figure out what I’m doing today.”

• Find out more at DiMarzio
• This article first appeared in Guitarist. Subscribe and save.