Call it luck or serendipity, but growing up in Southwest Detroit alongside Jack White led Dominic Davis to an illustrious career playing bass on records by the crème de la crème of the pop world, including Pharrell Williams, Adele, and Beyoncé.

And, in what can only be described as a full-circle moment, over a decade ago, White invited his long-time friend to be the bassist for his solo band.

“I’d go to Jack’s house when we were 9 or 10, and we’d play in his attic with his brother Eddie,” Davis tells Bass Player.

“One day, since my guitar wouldn’t stay in tune, Eddie said, ‘You know what? I bet you’re a bass player.’ He put a bass in my hands, and that was the beginning of it all. I still play guitar, but I’ve always felt like a bass player.”

Growing up with White also came with a couple of, well, quirks. “He was into some things that kids our age weren’t. He was always making things, like cutting up Dr. Pepper cans and making trains, planes, or whatever.

He continues, “One time, he was listening to one of those big Lifetime classical music box sets. No one else was really listening to that. But when I moved to college, it took me forever to find people to play with, and that’s when it dawned on me that Jack had something special; he was motivated in a way that other people weren’t.”

All these decades later, White and Davis have a mutual understanding of how the other works and fits into the puzzle.

“In high school, Jack would call and say, ‘Hey, come over – I wanna record!’ and that’s how it still goes now. He’s pretty fearless in the studio. He doesn’t necessarily need a plan; he kind of chases it a lot. You just gotta trust him and know it’s gonna work, ’cause there’s a lot of experimentation.”

Bass Player’s full interview with Dominic Davis will be published in the coming weeks.

In more recent news, White spoke about why he always shied away from your typical Les Pauls and Strats – and how he found his own voice by seeking out a different kind of guitar.

• Correction July 8, 2026: an earlier version of this article and headline stated that it was Jack White, not Eddie, that suggested Davis should take up bass. Davis has since been in contact to clarify that it was indeed Eddie who offered this advice.

Charlene Kaye has won over plenty of fans on Instagram with her viral videos, and it turns out one of those fans is none other than Jack White. In fact, White is such a fan of her videos that he sent Kaye his insane signature guitar, the Triplecaster.

Among other things, Kaye has been posting videos of her butchering classic riffs in Guitar Center to her Instagram page, which has 333k followers. From Sweet Child O’ Mine to Stairway to Heaven – two forbidden guitar store songs – nothing is off the table, and it turns out White has been among those chortling at her videos.

“I don’t know how to say this without bragging, so I’m just gonna brag,” Kaye says in a new Instagram post. “Jack White sent me a guitar.

“I recently played a gig at Third Man Records in Nashville, which is his venue, and there I met his wonderful and talented wife, Olivia, who said that Jack is a fan and wanted to send me a guitar because he likes my Guitar Center videos,” she explains.

Kaye, who jokingly calls herself “America’s only Asian musical comedian,” has played the Edinburgh Fringe and Netflix is a Joke Fest, but now she’s kickstarting a new era of her career.

“It’s so dope, because not only does it mean that he is a feminist, he also has a sense of humor,” Kaye says of White’s love for her videos. “So, thank you, Jack, for this beautiful Triplecaster, and to honor your legacy, I have started an all-Asian White Stripes cover band called the Rice Stripes.”

Jack White has been in the spirit of gifting his signature Tele to those he admires, including Vernon Reid, Kirk Hammett, and his new favorite guitarist.

He’s also made a thinline version of the guitar at Kirk Hammett’s request, and has been helping champion bands like Die Spitz. All while remaining a guitar hero.

Guitar Word eagerly awaits tour dates from the Rice Stripes. We’ll be there.

Elizabeth “Connie” Converse may not be a household name, but the singer-songwriter who wrote the large majority of her songs in 1950s New York – the bedrock of the singer-songwriter movement later spearheaded by the likes of Bob Dylan and Joan Baez – was years ahead of her time.

Using a Crestwood 404 reel-to-reel tape recorder and a humble Regal acoustic guitar, Converse transformed into a guitar-based storyteller after moving to Greenwich Village, a world away from her small-town New Hampshire roots.

According to her brother, Phil, it was “an act of pure rebellion.”

“I think they [her parents] assumed she was running away from them,” Phil told The AWL in 2010. “And my guess is that maybe they were right."

Her strong DIY ethic spanned everything from recording herself on reel-to-reel to creating her own private Song-of-the-Month Club, of which her brother and his new wife, Jean, were members.

The club kicked off in 1950 with a recording of her first original song, Down This Road, and wound down in 1955 with Empty Pocket Waltz. All in all, she mailed roughly three dozen guitar-based songs, all recorded at her Greenwich Village apartment.

You could describe it as a precursor to the niche, direct-to-fan marketing of the internet age, or even the DIY punk/indie label movement of the 1970s – regardless, by luck or design, Converse was thinking decades ahead of her peers.

Over the years, Converse developed her own unique finger picking style – blending harmony and complex chord voicings that traversed genres, including blues, country, folk, hillbilly, parlor songs, and early jazz. Meanwhile, her lyrics reflected her complex inner life and narratives that were as equally opaque as they were brutally intimate.

In 1954, Converse’s burgeoning career took a public turn when she performed at a semi-regular music salon hosted by illustrator, animator, and film director Gene Deitch. While initially coming across as standoffish, Converse quickly proved herself and enthralled her audience.

“[She was a] plain Jane, wearing glasses, and not at all looking like she would fit in with our crowd,” wrote Deitch, as reported by The Times. “When she started to sing, she transformed us.”

Soon Converse was invited to perform on CBS’ Morning Show, hosted by the then-up-and-coming Walter Cronkite.

Unfortunately, no archival footage of the televised performance survives, save for a couple of stills. But even more unfortunate was the fact that the performance did little to launch her music career.

Two years later, as if to mark this period, Converse recorded an album of all her guitar songs and sent it to her brother Phil.

Musicks (Volumes I and II) served as a declaration of what she had crafted up until that point, and an indication of where her music was heading next: piano songs that revolved around the theme of unrequited love and culminating in her final form and output – an art song cycle inspired by the Cassandra myth.

Frustrated by the lack of support from audiences and the music industry, coupled with the news that she needed a hysterectomy, Converse left New York in 1961 and headed to Ann Arbor, Michigan, seeking a fresh start.

While she continued to work on her music – albeit at a slower pace – Converse took up other roles, including political activism, a stint as an editor of the Journal for Conflict Resolution, and a series of academic jobs.

Her life took a tragic turn when, thirteen years later and a week after her fiftieth birthday, she mailed a series of letters and cryptic notes to her loved ones, speaking about her need for a fresh start somewhere else, and saying that she struggled “to find a place to plug in.” She quietly drove away, never to be seen or heard from again.

What really happened to her remains a mystery. According to the definitive biography, To Anyone Who Ever Asks: The Life, Music and Mystery of Connie Converse, written by Howard Fishman, “some believed she drove her car off a cliff in Canada, while others had claimed she started a new life in Brazil” [as paraphrased by the BBC].

In the BBC piece, British musician Martin Carr commends her guitar work, noting: “Her playing reminds me of the way Paul Simon plays; orchestral arrangements for six strings. She was a true individual, an artist of no time.”

Truthfully, it took until the turn of the millennium before Converse’s avant-garde sensibilities found the audience that she had longed for.

In 2004, Gene Deitch debuted some of her songs on WYNC radio, leading to a surge of interest, so much so that the singer-songwriter somehow became a favorite among the likes of Karen O and Bill Callahan. More recently, Ratboys were inspired to pen the track A Vision. 2009 also saw the release of her official debut album, How Sad, How Lovely, via Lau Derette Recordings.

This March, Jack White’s Third Man Records reissued the album on vinyl. On making the announcement, White crowned her “one of the first singer-songwriters”. Indeed, 51 years after her disappearance, it seems Converse’s reputation is only growing stronger.

How Sad, How Lovely is out now on Third Man Records.

Speaking of other pioneers, Fanny’s June and Jean Millington recently spoke to Guitar World about their experience being in one of the world’s first “all-female” rock bands.

Back in March, Fender announced Tele Town, a star-studded concert at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Telecaster.

The vision of the show, which took place Monday night (May 4), was to bring Tele titans of every generation and genre together under one roof, with an emphasis – understandably, given the location – on the pioneering solidbody electric's massive role in the development of country music.

As announced, the lineup was already surely one of the greatest gatherings of country guitar virtuosity we've ever seen: Brad Paisley, Brent Mason, Brothers Osborne, Derek Wells, Guthrie Trapp, James Burton, Luke McQueary, Ricky Skaggs... Nashville Mount Rushmore, but you need room for a bunch more heads.

But the Tele has always been about much more than country, and the jaw-loosening caravan of special, unannounced guests that made their way onto the stage Monday night was a testament to that.

And most of these vaunted names all came together to close the show out with what we're confident in declaring as the greatest Tele jam of all time.

Of course, the concert made sure to highlight those who've been carrying the Tele torch for decades, but Fender also included on the bill a number of incendiary talents poised to bring the instrument into the future.

One of these, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, was reluctant to adopt the Tele at first, but now he's got two signature variations of the model. The reason he did take to the Telecaster at the end of the day was Prince, who he saluted with a funky cover of Cream.

First-call Nashville session titans like Guthrie Trapp and Brent Mason got some well-earned time in the spotlight during the show's middle section.

The household names in the building that were in the building that evening might have more Instagram followers, but it's players like Trapp and Mason whose Tele twang has reached the most ears – with appearances on thousands of records between the two of them – even if listeners didn't realize it.

Then came those marquee names. Billy Gibbons, for one, joined the sisters Lovell (Larkin Poe) to guide the proceedings into soulful territory with a salute to Steve Cropper in the form of a spirited take on Sam & Dave's classic shouter, Hold On, I'm Comin'.

Tommy Emmanuel, meanwhile, gave a lesson to those who didn't know already that he's just as much of a beast plugged in as he is on one of his signature Maton acoustics, with a stunningly lyrical version of his tune, Hearts Grow Fonder.

Jack White got a lot of attention, but country giga-star Brad Paisley was the show's anchor, reminding everyone that aside from his stadium-filling hooks, he's one of the greatest Tele slingers to ever walk the earth. He highlighted his brief solo set with some absolutely scorching, high-wire licks – just look at him go.

“75 years ago, Leo Fender had a pretty simple idea, and that idea was to build a guitar that worked for players – great tone, reliable, zero fuss,” Fender CEO Edward ‘Bud’ Cole said by way of an onstage introduction. “What came out of that was the Fender Telecaster, and it ended up shaping the sound of modern music.

“From James Burton to George Harrison to Sheryl Crow and to the incredible artists on this stage tonight, generations have picked it up and made it their own, and there's no better place to celebrate that than right here in Nashville. This city didn't just embrace the Telecaster. It helped define it.”

The concert is just the latest of the company's celebrations of the 75th birthday of its first marquee model. One of the most recent of these was the March release of five new Teles, including the return of a cult classic and some Tele firsts.

Jack White never wanted to be like all the other guitar players he knew or saw on the TV, players who gravitated to Fender or Gibson. Maybe it was a sense of teenaged orneriness, a non-conformist zeal that took hold in adolescence, but in the here and now it looks very much like vision.

His circumspection might have denied him the player-friendly features of the Stratocaster but it gave him something more important, a very particular sound – and a very particular look. Imagine the White Stripes but with White playing a Les Paul instead of a red bizarro red Airline with a white pickguard.

One of his most famous guitars, his early-'60s Kay K6533 archtop hollowbody – with that super-cool “cheese grater” single-coil pickup at the neck position – gave him his Seven Nation Army tone.

Speaking to Reverb, White explains how he arrived at his decision, and how he never looked back.

“Maybe late teens, I just had decidedly hated anything to do with Stratocasters, Les Pauls, any of the common instruments that you see everybody use,” he says.

[I] just thought it was just so overused and so indicative of – I don’t know – like, white-boy blues, if you had a Stratocaster, or heavy metal, if you use this kind of guitar, or whatever. I would rather try to find something that didn’t have any connotations already thrown on it, and so I was attracted to the Silvertones and Airlines, and things that you just didn’t see on TV, or on videos.”

Once upon a time, Silvertone guitars were very popular. That’s because they were cheap. They were produced for Sears, and were one of the original catalog guitars. Airline had a similar origin story, and were made by the retail giant Montgomery Ward. Neither had much cultural cachet to speak of. White says an older generation of players couldn’t believe that he would ever want to play one.

“You start talking to older people, it’s like, ‘Oh well, when I was a kid, that’s all anybody had, Silvertones. Nobody had enough money to pay for a real guitar,’” he says.

Thanks to White, Silvertones and Airline guitars are popular again. Indeed, Silvertone guitars are officially back as a brand, and at NAMM 2026 debuted the Silvertone 1446, a semi-hollowbodied electric guitar popularized by the likes of Hubert Sumlin’ and Elvis Costello, but is probably most famous for being the guitar Chris Isaak played in the early days. That Wicked Game tone? That was a Silvertone 1446.

In the 2000s, as the White Stripes got big, Eastwood Guitars bought the Airline name and revived the brand, and they have since been bought by a Chicago-based owner. They’re officially cool. When White started playing Silvertones in the ‘90s he was in a minority of one.

“In Detroit, I never saw anybody use that guitar,” he says. “I never saw anybody on TV, and definitely nobody I saw playing shows or anybody I knew that owned one. So when I was using it, it felt very unique.”

White says it was the making of him. And, now that he’s all grown up, has collaborated with Fender with his signature Triplecaster and Triplesonic signature guitars – not to mention his Pano Verb tube amp and accessories – he can see the appeal of the ubiquitous models. And when he picks one up he finds something different in them.

“It’s just trying to find a uniqueness, a new voice for yourself. I didn’t want to use the same tool that everyone else was using, he says.

“So I’m glad I did that. I’m glad I had that kind of desire to try to carve something out, because then, once you do that, then you can rewind, and you can take one of those more common guitars and get something out of it that I think I wouldn’t have got if I had just come up using that.”

White is not the only one to harbor such sentiments. St. Vincent admitted that she felt ill-disposed to using Stratocasters because there was too much cultural “baggage” around them – though she ultimately changed her mind when Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready lent her his Strat when recording 2024 studio album All Born Screaming.

Chris Buck expressed similar sentiments regarding the Strat – which is what first pushed him towards a fresh canvas in the form of Yamaha's Revstar models.

NAMM 2026: Third Man Hardware usually has a treat in-store for NAMM and this year it was Jack White’s NFL Lions Triplecaster, as used in his special NFL halftime show with Eminem during Thanksgiving.

The White Stripes founder was chosen to deliver a halftime show at the Detroit Lions and the Green Bay Packers game at Ford Field on November 27, 2025 – and marked the occasion with a surprise Eminem collaboration and a debut for this one-of-a-kind take on his gadget-decked signature guitar.

Speaking to Guitar World on the floor of NAMM 2026, Third Man Hardware’s Dan Mancini was happy to talk us through this wonderfully ludicrous axe and revealed that Fender’s pickup guru Tim Shaw, and Chip Ellis, who concocted White’s madcap ‘Ugly Stick’ last year, were both involved.

“Jack came up with the concept a couple of days before this Lions' halftime show, and we came up with this,” he says, explaining the electric guitar was inspired by the away helmet of the Lions.

“We got a Triplecaster, tore it down, got it over to the great Chip Ellis and Tim Shaw, and they did the most unbelievable little pin striping to make sure that it matched the helmet just right, with silver pin striping on the black, and a satin blue finish.”

The guitar’s makeover was dramatic, but it was also a little slapdash. It bears reminders of that.

“Honestly, we didn't have enough time to do a proper powder coating on the hardware,” Mancuini adds, noting that the pickups were still curing when the show took place, resulting in a ready-relic’d look.

“It's just such a striking combination,” Mancini believes. “It pays the respect, and it gets the influence from the Lion's helmet, but it also kind of stands by itself. I hope it comes on the road with us this year. It’s too cool not to!”

White’s Triplecaster was unveiled as part of a series of Fender Jack White signature gear drops in 2024, and, at NAMM 2025, we got a close look at his sparkling blue Custom Shop build.

Since its release, White's Triplecaster has ended up in the hands of Vernon Reid, Brad Paisley, and his new favorite guitar player, while Kirk Hammett's test drive led to the release of a thinline version.

Jack White stepped up for the halftime show as his home team Detroit Lions took on the Green Bay Packers during their Thanksgiving NFL fixture – and he roasted Ford Field like it was a turkey.

This was a set that gave us all we could have wanted from a stadium show, and all in a lean seven-and-a-half minutes. No messing. Here we are now, entertain us.

For those who were there, this was 12 minutes well spent. Time to get a hot dog, visit the restroom, come back and watch White tear into That’s How I’m Feeling. Then, he welcomed fellow Detroiter Eminem onstage – like, from nowhere – to turn the sassy grind of Hello Operator into 'Till I Collapse. He used his Fender Triplecaster signature guitar in Detroit Lions blue, before swapping it out for his ‘50s Kay hollowbody for the MVP of garage-rock-meets-sports crossover jams, Seven Nation Army.

Just watching it on YouTube is surreal enough. Imagine being there. There were cheerleaders throwing themselves around. There was White’s band in coach jackets. There was a trio of Pano Verb tube amps (good luck finding one down your local store as no one can keep up with demand).

A note on White's slide playing: there are others who are more subtle with a tube of machined brass on their pinkie, more silky with the whole glissando thing, but White uses it for pure anarchy. It's like a manual workaround for when your DigiTech Whammy is on the fritz.

Deep in the bowels of the stadium, the players are chugging Gatorade and pounding trays of orange slices and Uncrustables, and up there, Jack White is all but turning into electricity itself.

Maybe, just maybe, he was making a point, too. A while back, people were criticising him for short sets, and, in a manner of speaking, accusing him of being work shy. Like, Coldplay are doing three hours… [Yikes!] White said they were missing the point.

It says something about our current pop-cultural moment when one of our latter-day greats has to explain what a rock ’n’ roll show is about but here we are.

“We’re living in a current era where people like to say ‘So and so played for three hours last night!’, and brag about it the next day,” wrote White. “You’re talking about an arena laser light show with pyro, huge screens with premade videos, singers flying over the crowd, [and] t-shirt cannons – that’s not the kind of shows we’re performing.

“I’ve seen a plethora of rock and roll gigs that lasted 45 minutes and blew my mind and inspired me beyond belief.”

And now we might have seen one that did that in a fifth of that time. There is always something gratifying about seeing White's gear, the spare Triplecasters, that beat-up old Kay, just waiting there behind him in reserve.

One YouTube commentator put it best: “It was nice of the Lions and Packers to have a football game at the Jack White concert”.

Hello, and welcome to Guitar World’s gear round-up, your one-stop-shop for keeping up to date with what’s been happening in the big wide world of guitar gear over the past seven days.

From new electric guitars to amp modeler updates, the guitar industry is never short of fresh releases, and it can sometimes be hard to stay abreast of every new launch that may be of interest to you.

To make things a little easier, we’ve put together an essential must-read guide that will cover the major releases, the boutique drops, and everything in between.

This week, Jacob Collier's ascension to the status of modern-day guitar hero reached new heights with two accessible signature five-string acoustics, Johnny Marr reinvented the Fender Jaguar once again, the original Tube Screamer designer returned with a new take on the classic overdrive, and more...

Taylor Jacob Collier GS Mini and Academy 22e

Last year, Jacob Collier kickstarted a five-string revolution. The revolution is now entering its second phase with the arrival of two new Taylor signatures, which help make the Grammy-winning multi-instrumentalists expansive new guitar language more accessible than ever before.

The first Collier Taylor from last year weighed in at $2,799. This new Academy 22e is $999. Its companion GS Mini is just $699. If you’ve ever been intrigued to dive into the waters of five-string guitars, there has never been a better time than now.

It’s got the ergonomics of a six-string, so there’s plenty of room to move about in, but only five strings tuned to DAEAD. It’s an accessible entry point to easy open chord shapes and expansive soundscapes, and encourages a whole new way of playing. Trust me, I’m speaking from experience. The five-string isn’t going anywhere. And we love it.

For more: Taylor Guitars

Fender Johnny Marr Jaguar

Johnny Marr’s guitar collection certainly isn’t short in variety, but there’s one model above all else that the Smiths legend is intrinsically linked to: the Fender Jaguar. It’s been by his side for much of his career, prompting Fender to release a highly acclaimed signature version that many believe to be the finest modern Jag of all time.

Well, that’s now got competition, because Marr has reinvented the Jag once again for his newest signature. It is an absolute corker of a guitar. That finish is stunning. The addition of those lipstick pickups? Utter genius. Of course, it sounds as good as it looks, and it also has a new not-so-secret switch to flick between wiring modes. Marr himself said he wanted to make a model that “pushes players to explore new tones and possibilities”. This does exactly that.

We also saw a prototype floating around on IG with a maple neck. It would be nice if Fender had plan to release that one as well…

For more: Fender

Marshall Spinal Tap Infinity amp

When Spinal Tap’s Nigel Tufnel revealed that he had asked Marshall to build an amp that went to Infinity for the band’s recent sequel, we began wondering whether the British amp brand had any plans in motion to make those available to the wider public.

After a few weeks of whispers and speculation, Marshall this week launched a special-edition JVM410H, which brings a 40-year collaboration in the making full circle. It’s been called ‘the loudest amp ever made’, and while that may not be strictly true in terms of output, it certainly is loud in style.

Two channels have been named after St. Hubbins and Tufnel. The bass knobs have been renamed ‘Smalls’. Each control goes to 11, a nod to that infamous scene from the first film. The Master Volume goes to Infinity. It is about as Spinal Tap as you could have hoped for.

“I think it's amazing that something so off-the-cuff has become an integral part of our company's history,” Marshall’s Steph Carter told Guitar World. “That one line has cemented itself as kind of a tagline for the company.”

For more: Marshall

Universal Audio UAFX 2.0

Universal Audio’s UAFX pedals have become a firm favorite among casual players and pros alike. The Edge ditched his tube amps for a UAFX amp modeler at The Sphere. John Mayer recommends them to all beginner guitar players. Guitar World has dished out plenty of rave reviews over the years.

They’ve not been without fault, though, with the V1 pedals all lacking MIDI compatibility, suffering from less-than-ideal app integration, and offering a limiting one-additional-preset function. That’s all been rectified with UAFX 2.0, though – a free-to-download software that addresses all those shortcomings.

As far as updates go, this is pretty major, and it spans across all dual switch effects pedals and amp modelers, so each and every UAFX stompbox is about to hit a new level.

For more: Universal Audio

Gibson Les Paul Junior / Special Double Cut

Gibson may have first developed its Les Paul Junior and Special guitars as entry level student models, but it didn’t take long before pros were harnessing their full potential and they both became rock ‘n’ roll staples beloved by everyone from Leslie West to Billie Joe Armstrong.

Fortunately, the double-cut versions – which, I’d argue, are infinitely cooler – are now back. They closely channel the spirit of those vintage models, and come complete with the P-90 pickups that made them such standout models. That LP Jr. DC in Cherry Red is calling my name. Woof.

For more: Gibson

Third Man Hardware x JHS Pedals Troika

Jack White’s Third Man Hardware effects company has announced its latest collaborative release – the Troika, a ‘horse-powered’ delay pedal made in partnership with JHS Pedals. It’s a spin-off of a rare Honda Sound Works Fab Delay pedal from Japan that White brought into early development discussions.

Funnily enough, JHS founder Josh Scott had apparently never come across it before (that’s how you know it must be rare). The Troika has been kitted out with three slider controls, and a bunch of I/Os to make it work with vocals and guitar. In fact, White used a prototype Troika all over his latest record, No Name, and now relies on it as an indispensable part of his live rig.

If you’re wondering about the ‘horse-powered’ bit, peep those horses on the front. Troika is, after all, the name for a Russian sleigh that gets pulled by three horses. Duh.

For more: Third Man Hardware

Sterling by Music Man Mike Herrera

Who even needs control knobs anyway? Well, I recently went on a spiritual journey of six-string self-discovery, so, I very much do. MxPx punk pioneer Mike Herrera certainly doesn’t, though – and his new Sterling by Music Man signature very much makes that clear.

It’s a stripped down version of his OG StingRay and an ode to both his DIY spirit and modded bass, with two dummy knobs that channel his frills-free playing philosophy. Oh, and it looks cool as hell, too.

For more: Sterling by Music Man

EHX Pico Atomic Cluster

EHX flipped the mini-pedal market on its head back in 2023 when it announced its “most ambitious pedal release” since Mike Matthews first opened up shop. The range's original aim was to downsize the firm's classic stompbox. It has since evolved, serving as a platform of experimentation. The Pico Atomic Cluster is a prime example of that. In EHX’s own words, it’s “unlike any effect Electro-Harmonix has made before”.

It’s a weird, lo-fi, synth, glitch-y, auto-arpeggio pint-sized package of sonic chaos that just sounds and behaves differently. It really needs to be heard to be believed; words don’t do it justice. It’s a mini pedal, so I’m sure I’ll be able to squeeze one into my ‘board somehow…

For more: EHX

TWA Source Code

No, this isn’t just another Tube Screamer. It might in fact be the Tube Screamer of all the Tube Screamers. One Tube Screamer to rule them all. See, the TWA Source Code isn’t a clone – it’s the ultimate evolution of the iconic overdrive pedal, designed by the original creator of the TS808 himself, Susumu Tamura.

It is a culmination of Tamura’s five decades of experience in overdrive design packaged into a single chassis. The next-gen TS has increased headroom, and multi-transistor input buffer for signal preservation, and ‘Magic IC’ op amp for improved amp-like feel, a new ‘Bite’ control, and +6dB of boost for increased output.

And it has a really, really cool ‘’ logo that lights up when the Source Code is switched on. And there I was thinking I don’t need another overdrive pedal…

For more: MaxonFX

Benson Portable Distortion 424 MKII

Let’s go over it again: over the last few years, the guitar world has witnessed something of a tone revolution thanks in part to Mk.gee – a maverick emerging guitar hero who shunned amps for a guitar rig that relied heavily on multi-track Tascam Portastudio for its preamp. It was everything modern players had been encouraged to avoid, but it’s back – and now blown-out, bit-crushy analog DI tones are all the rave.

JHS Pedals got in on the hype with the 424 Gain Stage, and now Benson – which has been developing its own solution to the Tascam pedal conundrum for some time – has also thrown its hat into the ring.

This limited release actually goes one step further though, expanding the versatility of the original circuit by adding a bypassable buffer that drastically alters the tone and character. In other words, it’s more of a pedal’s pedal, and will play nicely with the rest of your rig. Unfortunately, it’s already out of stock…

For more: Benson

Heather Brown Darlene

The pedal to level up your compressor game? Heather Brown Electronicals’ Darlene is an ultra-quite analog compressor designed with one goal in mind: to let players’ dynamics breathe and keep their sound pure.

It’s meant to solve some common compressor qualms, those being flattened tones, choked dynamics and unwanted noise. The Darlene has a low noise floor to combat the latter, the choice of either true or bypassed buffer, and three knobs (Sustain, Blend and Volume) to dial in the required compression.

It’s also said to be something of a Swiss army stompbox, capable of being an always-on polish, a transparent clean boost, and a thickener for drives.

For more: Heather Brown Electronicals

Fulltone Ultimate Octave

One of Fulltone’s most celebrated designs – and, indeed, one of the most well-known octave pedals full stop – is back on the market, with the effects firm announcing the return of the Ultimate Octave.

A firm favorite of Joe Satriani and something of a pedal cult classic, the pedal returns with a smaller footprint to make it more pedalboard friendly, but keeps the same capacity for tone-tweaking. Two footswitches; knobs for Volume, Fuzz and Tone; and a Bright/Fat switch is all you need to harness what Fulltone is calling “one of the most intense upper-octave circuits ever made”.

For more: Fulltone

Schecter John Browne Zenith

I’ll be the first to admit that “metal” guitars in their truest form aren’t my personal favorite, but while I was scoping out the show floor at Guitar Summit 2025 a few months back, I did do a double-take while strolling past the Schecter stand.

Why? Well, because it had its new John Browne Zenith signature on display, of course. That finish – dubbed Fracture White – is gnarly as hell. I love the matching headstock. The single pickup and hardtail bridge is up my street. Not quite enough to convert me, but I admire it for what it is: a ruddy cool metal guitar.

For more: Schecter

Vox Micro Superbeetle

Vox has aimed to reimagine portable amplification with the Micro Superbeetle – an authentic Vox amp capable of delivering the company’s singular sound in an, erm, micro-sized package. What’s neat is it’s a stack format – the head can be used as a standalone portable five watt amp. It offers three Vox tones – Clean, Drive and High Gain – plus Bluetooth connectivity for music streaming.

For more: Vox

JHS Pedals and Jack White’s gear brand, Third Man Hardware, have teamed up for a 'horse-powered' delay pedal that has already become an indispensable part White’s stage and studio rig.

The Troika Delay is designed for instruments and vocals. It was all over White’s latest LP, No Name, and has been a versatile part of his live rig ever since the prototype was shipped his way.

The studio-grade design is equipped with both XLR and 1/4" inputs with dedicated transformers, clearly built with the studio and stage in mind. The trio of slider controls certainly play into the studio spirit, and they're on hand to manipulate Repeats, Volume, and Distance. There's also a Mic Gain mini dial on the side.

For outputs, there’s a choice of Echo and Dry/Wet. It’s important to remember to flick the mini switch inside the pedal depending on if you’re going to be using it for vocals or instruments.

Characteristically, the tape delay leans into White’s love of “mechanical” sounds, but also eliminates the hum, hiss, and extra snarl that vintage units struggle with. The transformers are a key player there.

It's inspired by a rare Honda Sound Works Fab Delay that White sourced online. The Japanese boutique stompbox was news to JHS Pedal's Josh Scott, who'd never come across one before White brought it into discussions.

Here, the sliders have been switched to up-and-down movements – as opposed to side-to-side – allowing White to change parameters with his feet mid-song.

“We got the prototype right before working on No Name, and we used this a lot on vocals, guitars, guitar solos, and synths,” White confirms. “Once it's on the table next to your console, you just keep using it. The ease of use is so great. It's a pedal that's never existed before, no doubt about it.”

The pedal is named after a Russian sleigh that gets pulled by three horses, hence the very-badass skeletons in the background of the promo video – and the 'horse power' pun.

The Third Man Hardware x JHS Troika Delay is now available for $349. There’s also a limited edition yellow version available on Reverb for $369.

See Third Man Records for more.

Scott's firm is the latest to collaborate with White's brand, after Third Man Hardware worked with Eventide for a sub-octave fuzz and analog synth, Anasounds for a “soulful spring reverb”, and Donner for the Triple Threat.

Meanwhile, Scott recently suffered a serious cycling accident that saw John Mayer step in as JHS's de facto pedal demoer. Scott has also revealed how a trip to IKEA inspired his family-friendly DIY pedal range.

Unless you've lived in a cave for the last 22 years, odds are pretty damn good that you've heard the call-to-arms riff that opens the White Stripes' Seven Nation Army at least once.

A study last year revealed that it's the single most Googled guitar riff on the planet, and it ranks 30th on our own list of the greatest guitar riffs of all time.

Written at a soundcheck in Australia by riffmaster Jack White, one-half of the now-defunct band (who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last weekend, November 8), it's a sporting event standard – an earworm so ubiquitous it's almost become a (distorted 'n' loud) folk standard of sorts.

Though not a massive hit at the time of its release in 2003, per se, Seven Nation Army still cracked Billboard's Hot 100, and helped take the duo – Jack, with his ex-wife, Meg, on drums – up a step, from garage-rock critical darlings to true-blue rock A-listers.

It also earned them a Grammy nomination, for Best Rock Song.

What's interesting about that early 2000s era of rock is that, for all of their unique visual styles – the Strokes with their leather jackets, the Hives in their cocktail waiter get-ups, Interpol's suits, and, of course, the White Stripes' distinct red-and-white color scheme – the chic groups of the era were, usually, rock classicists when it came to gear.

White was a proud exception, though – wrestling with an obscure (color-matched, of course) Airline guitar for the overwhelming majority of the band's catalog. One notable exception was Seven Nation Army, for which he employed a Kay hollowbody, tuned to open A, which was then run through the low-octave setting on his DigiTech Whammy pedal.

Of course, the story of how White got the vintage Kay tracks with someone who has appeared not once, but twice, on a popular reality TV show about sifting through yard sales and antique shops.

“My brother's wife owned a St. Vincent de Paul thrift store,” White told Guitar World in a 2004 interview. “I moved a refrigerator for them and they said, ‘Here, take this guitar for gas money or whatever.’”

When the White Stripes took the stage for the biggest performance of their lives up to that point at the 2004 Grammys, it was that very guitar – not some made-for-the-occasion, two-months-of-pay custom job – that sat in White's hands.

Seven Nation Army would go on to win that Best Rock Song award at the ceremony, with the seminal album it led off, Elephant, also receiving a nod for Best Alternative Music Album.

Though the White Stripes officially disbanded in 2011, Elephant helped set White on a path to guitar-hero-for-life status, with all the reverence and magazine covers that come with it.

Neither time, status, nor partnerships with legacy brands have tamed the man's taste for the weird and wild, though – his Fender TripleCaster Telecaster is one of the most admirably wild signature guitars on the market.

Commenting earlier this year on a Thinline version of the Triplecaster that he made specifically for Metallica's Kirk Hammett, White neatly summarized his tastes in guitars. “I hope this pisses off some more Tele purists! We have enough ‘regular’ boring guitars out there, right folks?”

The 40th Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony took place over the weekend (November 8), and as usual the event was filled with star-studded collaborations.

The White Stripes, Bad Company, Soundgarden, Carol Kaye, Cyndi Lauper, Joe Cocker, Outkast and Chubby Checker were all among the Rock Hall’s Class of 2025, along with Warren Zevon, Thom Bell, Nicky Hopkins, Lenny Waronker and Salt N Pepa.

Soundgarden were inducted by Jim Carrey, who paid tribute to the band’s late singer Chris Cornell, remembering the time they crossed paths on Saturday Night Live – and was gifted a prized electric guitar signed by all Soundgarden members.

“I met the band in 1996 when I was hosting Saturday Night Live for the very first time, and I insisted on Soundgarden as the musical guest,” Carrey remembered. “By then, the lineup was Chris [Cornell], Kim Thayil, Matt Cameron on drums, and Ben Shepherd on bass. They launched into the dark, epic beauty of Pretty Noose.

“I stood right in front of them, letting the waves of electricity wash over me, like an audio baptism. They pushed me under and when I came up I was free.

“After the show, they handed me what is to this day, one of my most prized possessions. The Fender Telecaster Chris played on the show, signed by the whole band.

“Tonight, we make sure that Chris Cornell, Kim Thayil, Hiro Yamamoto, Matt Cameron and Ben Shepherd go down in history as one of the most majestic, powerful and influential bands ever to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Long live Chris Cornell. Long live Soundgarden.”

Carrey’s tributes to Cornell and Soundgarden were accompanied by a performance from the surviving members of the band, who were fronted by Taylor Momsen and Brandi Carlile for covers of Rusty Cage and Black Hole Sun, respectively.

It was a heroic outing for grunge music. For Soundgarden’s set, Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready – wielding a Gibson Les Paul for the occasion – doubled up Thayil’s riffs on Rusty Cage, while Alice in Chains’ Jerry Cantrell layered up the leads for Black Hole Sun with his G&L Rampage.

It wasn’t the only performance dedicated to Soundgarden and Cornell. Toni, Chris’ daughter, was joined by Nancy Wilson for an acoustic rendition of Fell on Black Days, performed underneath an in memoriam photograph of the late vocalist.

Elsewhere on the docket, The White Stripes were honored by pop-rock duo twenty one pilots, who performed Seven Nation Army, and Olivia Rodrigo, who – fresh from her festival-stealing Glasto headline set – joined Feist with her acoustic guitar to sing We’re Going to Be Friends.

Flea also played bass for Stevie Wonder on a cover of Sly & The Family Stone’s Dance to the Music, and The Killers honored Warren Zevon with a performance of Lawyers, Guns and Money. Zevon was inducted by David Letterman, who, in his own speech, also recalled the time Zevon had gifted him a guitar.

Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi closed out the show with a cover of The Beatles’ With a Little Help From My Friends. Bryan Adams, Cyndi Lauper and Chris Robinson were among the song’s guest stars.

Trucks and his trusty Gibson SG were on guitar duty for the song, and though the spotlight was firmly on the singers, he still found room for some trademark fingerstyle licks sans slide.

You can catch up on the 40th Annual Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony and rewatch all the action at Disney+.

Jack White was a special guest during IDLES’ Riot Fest set on the weekend, fizzing through an animalistic Never Fight A Man With A Perm armed with Lee Kiernan's storied pink Fender Mustang.

Headlined by Blink-182, Weezer, and Green Day, the Chicago festival was, for rock fans of a certain age, a jaw-dropping nostalgia fest. But the fast-rising British noisemakers weren't going to let those at the top of the bill have all the fun at Douglass Park.

“It is with great honor, I’d like to welcome on stage Jack White the First,” vocalist Joe Talbot had bellowed before the carnage ensued.

Video footage shows White and Kiernan in aptly riotous form, with squealing guitars and angular licks galore – not to mention a dollop or two of Whammy pedal wails. It's glorious pandemonium on stage, with the band clearly savoring the chance to trade off with one of their (ahem) idols.

The band haven’t said much following the performance – it speaks for itself, in truth. But IDLES’ other guitarist, Mark Bowen, posted a picture of White on stage with the group with the caption, “IFKYK.”

Lately, White has been running amok with his signature Telecaster – a model that’s found its way into the hands of Kirk Hammett and Vernon Reid, and his favorite new guitarist – but it’s the Mustang that gets a run out here.

Kiernan only got the guitar after a score of IDLES' preferred Fenders were stolen in the band's early days. That got the band an invite to Fender HQ, where, after a key modification, the Mustang stole his heart. It has since become one of his main axes, and it has the wounds to prove it.

“This was the first guitar I bought for IDLES, and it's been there ever since, and I've smashed it up, reglued it, snapped it... I love growing with it,” he told Andertons earlier this year.

Speaking to Guitarist in 2024, Kiernan dismissed digital amp modelers as “wack” as he dissected the band’s love of “violent, dark tones” and the often hodgepodge electric guitars they use to achieve them.

The band’s guitar tandem was selected to be the poster boys for Fender’s new Player II Modified series as their rise to the top of the contemporary rock pile continues.

Meanwhile, White has shown off the crazy guitar/bass hybrid built for him by Eddie Van Halen's go-to master builder, and we've never seen anything quite like it.

He's also on the hunt for a guitar he regrets letting go of as a teenager, and recently issued a plea to his fans to help him track it down.

After bowling Jack White over with their patchwork blend of classic metal, ravenous punk, gritty indie and shoegaze, Die Spitz have risen fast. The Austin, Texas quartet formed when Ava Schrobilgen and Eleanor Livingston turned to the electric guitar to scratch creative itches during the pandemic.

A slew of singles, SXSW appearances and a spot in Audiotree's famed live room came after 2022 EP The Revenge of Evangeline. That convinced White to sign them to his diversified Third Man Records. They say he let the band “do whatever the fuck we wanted” as they created debut album Something to Consume.

Livingston worships at the altar of Tony Iommi and Randy Rhoads, arming herself with vintage Gibsons. Meanwhile, Schrobligen looks to Kurt Cobain and the Pixies, channelling them through Frankensteined Fenders. It’s a perfect blend for a band that mixes and matches styles and tones with free and authentic abandon. No wonder Jack White is hooked.

You both have very different approaches to the guitar. How would you describe your partnership?

Eleanor Livingston: “I think it’s pretty natural. Ava has all the capabilities to play everything I play and write everything I write, but she’s such a good rhythm guitar player. It just fell in line that way. There's a distinct sound to our guitars and they add together, but we never really talk about it.”

Ava Schrobilgen: “I think we learn from each other. I've been going through some of the songs on lead guitar, which is scary but fun. We’re kind of like sisters – we’ve been friends since we were three years old. It’s not like I have to be better than her.”

What are your main guitars?

Livingston: “I play a 1969 reissue Gibson SG because of Tony Iommi. I’m a big Gibson girl. I started playing on my dad’s 1960 reissue Les Paul. That's a really good blues guitar, but I tried to gig with it and it was so heavy. I can’t throw a $3,000 guitar around – that’s not what it’s meant for.”

Schrobilgen: “I really like Frankensteined Fenders. My main guitar is a Jaguar neck on a Squier Jazzmaster body with a Strat bridge. I think it sounds great. I love real Fenders too, but I can never find one that’s perfect out of the box. I love the creativity of the parts guitars, and the unique sounds you can get.

“I’m working on one with a Jazzmaster neck, a homemade Jazzmaster/Jaguar body and Strat pickups. It has this random empty space in the body. I could put a fuzz pedal in there, which would be super-sick – or hide drugs in there!”

Squiers often get a bad rep.

Livingston: “I think Squiers sound great; they get a bad rep because they're cheap. The guitar I play at every show is secretly a Squier. I replaced the neck plate on the back so that it doesn’t say ‘Squier.’ I was like, ‘I’m too big for this!’”

Eleanor, your Iommi influence is clear with your solos. They’re brilliantly scrappy.

Livingston: “With some of our songs, I don’t know if a polished sound would sound good. I like to stick in the same boxes and do what best serves the song. The Throw Yourself to the Sword solo is nothing crazy – it’s just playing along to the riff and dropping things in, but it sounds good to me.

“I’d like to get faster, though. I’ll never get this good, but I love Randy Rhoads’ Diary of a Madman solos.”

What are the secret weapons of tone on the album?

Schrobilgen: “Our producer, Will Yip, had the original green Sovtek Russian Big Muff with the bubble font and the reverse input/output. It sounds so damn good – you cannot get that tone from anything else.

“It’s on a lot of the record. We put it on the bass for some songs, too – it sounds incredible. It sucks because we can’t get that tone without one of those pedals. And they're really expensive.”

What’s on your pedalboards?

Schrobilgen: “Mine is made from plywood. I sawed and sanded it myself, and I wrote ‘Cheap Tones’ on it so people know I love cheap tones! I have the reissue green Big Muff – it’s not as good, but it still gets there – the Boss DS-1, a Walrus Audio Fundamental Reverb, a Boss tuner, and the Way Huge Fat Sandwich. It’s actually from the band The Sword; our attorney gave it to me, which is pretty cool!”

Livingston: “Mine is a pretty classic pedalboard. I really love the MXR Carbon Copy delay; it makes every solo sound really good. The Big Muff is a classic, and I got gifted a Ronsound Hairpie sustain pedal at a show. I fuck with that!”

Have you blagged any Third Man pedals?

Schrobilgen: “Not yet! When we were in London In July, we went to the Third Man store basement and played around with pedals. There's a really funny one that sounds like a bee [the Bumble Buzz]. It was so sick.”

What’s it like having Jack White’s backing?

Schrobilgen: “Third Man is a super-artist-friendly label. They let us do whatever the fuck we want; they’re super-open to everything. That helps us a lot, especially with a debut album. We’re setting the script for the band, and if you go off of that, people are going to get pissed off.

“So being able to make an album with so many different sounds, and to have creative freedom with it, takes a big weight off your chest.”

Livingston: “The first song we ever covered was the White Stripes’ Fell in Love With A Girl. We opened for Jack here in Austin, and we got to watch from the side of the stage. It was fucking insane. Jimmy Page said Jack’s one of the greatest guitar players ever. He’s super-inspiring, unique and creative.”

• Something to Consume is out now.

It's safe to describe Jack White's Triplecaster as “ever-evolving”. After its highly anticipated release last year, the signature guitar has been slung by a fair few guitarists, including players as diverse as Vernon Reid, Eddie Vedder, and Otoboke Beaver's Yoyoyoshie. What’s more, a fully spec’d-out Blue Sparkle Triplecaster was also unveiled earlier this year at NAMM.

Now, the Triplecaster is evolving even further, with White himself unveiling a freshly baked semi-hollow Thinline version on social media, requested specifically by Kirk Hammett.

“Notice something different about this here Fender Triplecaster that the Detroit style guitar slinger Olivia Jean is riffing on?” writes White.

“This was dropped off to me yesterday by the Fender Custom Shop in Nashville. Why? Because Kirk Hammett (another great Filipino American guitar player like Mz. Olivia here, you may have heard of him) asked them if they could make him a Thinline version of the Triplecaster and if they could also ‘Make one for Jack too.’

“Kirk asked me if I approved and I of course fully endorse ANY mods done to any of my designs, let alone from the great Hammett,” he quips, “and this one is especially cool because a lot of folks don't know that the Triplecaster is already chambered! Which I added to the design to reduce weight from all the other metal objects happening on it.

“So all that was needed at the custom shop was to get the patterns out for the F hole and voila. Cool mod, and thank you Kirk for getting me one too, a great match with the CuNiFe wide range pickup like the old ’72 tele.”

In typical White fashion, he concludes with, “I hope this pisses off some more Tele purists! We have enough ‘regular’ boring guitars out there right folks?”

Over the years, White's Fender Low Rider Telecaster – which was later spiritually launched as the Triplecaster – has captured the imagination of many a gearhead, with mods such as its custom trio of pickups, subtly scalloped fretboard, and its B-Bender continuing to push the envelope of Tele design and engineering.

Jack White recently celebrated his 50th birthday (or, as he puts it, “the big Hawaii 5-0”). and as part of the celebrations has received what he describes as an “over-the-top, custom-built axe”.

The ‘Ugly Stick’, as it’s dubbed, is a half-bass, half-guitar and the brainchild of Chip Ellis – best known as a master builder at Fender and, after Eddie Van Halen teamed up with him in 2006, a core part of the EVH brand.

Ellis has also worked with the White Stripes man before, having built Jack White's Triplecaster, and this latest build is as off-kilter as its custom predecessor.

“Chip has been working on this for 30 plus years on and off,” White explains in an Instagram post. “It’s called the ‘Ugly Stick’ and is half bass, half guitar. I have it tuned to open E on the low and open A on the high strings. But you could do what you want with it.”

Furthermore, White explains that the bass strings are recessed lower than the guitar strings, allowing the player to play them all at the same height and at the same time.

“I used a prototype of this axe on two songs on the NO NAME album [released in 2024] (Number One with a Bullet and Terminal Archenemy Endling) and haven’t been able to really perform them live yet, but now I can. Thank you so much Chip, this thing is out of this world I'm either wishing I had this back in the White Stripes or I am glad I didn’t!!!”

As for White’s Triplecaster – well, it’s safe to say that it’s been doing the rounds recently. Living Colour’s Vernon Reid was spotted wielding it on stage at the D’Addario 50th Anniversary party after the two randomly met at an airport, while the White Stripes guitarist has also gifted his signature to Otoboke Beaver’s Yoyoyoshie, Eddie Vedder, and even Kirk Hammett.

Was there ever an electric guitar that you sold and later felt like it was the one that got away? Jack White knows that feeling all too well, as his biggest gear regret is selling a Gibson ES-120T “as a teenager” – a decision that he still deeply regrets to this very day.

“I sold this model guitar as a teenager and have regretted it for many years now,” White writes alongside an Instagram video where he's holding the exact same model that he had sold back in the day.

“It was given to me by my cousin Paul Ossy (or maybe I bought it from him? I can't remember) who is a multi instrumentalist (who also played electric violin on the Stripes album De Stijl).

“I sold it at Gordy's guitar show in Detroit in the early 90's so I could buy a 2 pickup Silvertone amp in case model,” he details. “And it's not a red burst version, it's the black burst version like this one I'm holding over at Carter Vintage, Nashville.”

White goes on to say that, on his original guitar, there was something he etched under the truss rod cover, which he didn't reveal in the video, to make it distinct from other Gibson ES-120s.

“One day, I'm going to find it and turn this plate over [and] it's going to have what I etched on and I'll know it's the guitar.” As one fan aptly put it in the comment section, “I hope the internet works its magic and you can find your guitar.”

In more Jack White news, the legendary guitarist has recently gifted one of his signature guitars to his “new favorite guitar player” – after swapping signature models with Vernon Reid during a chance encounter at Memphis Airport back in December.

Multi-award-winning photographer Kane Hibberd will bring his intimate exploration of artists and their instruments of choice to London next week. Featuring over 100 life-size images of guitars steeped in history and import, his collection of photos, designed to feel like the subject is in the room with the viewer, will be displayed at Unlocked in Shoreditch.

All images are 1:1 scale, meaning shots of everything from Paul McCartney’s iconic Höfner bass to Dave Grohl’s Gibson Trini Lopez, Joan Jett’s embattled Melody Maker and Keith Urban’s Fender Broadcaster are all displayed in life size format, presenting them in exacting, like-for-like detail.

Hibberd wants attendees to witness the chips, dents and scratches on these guitars in painstaking detail – to get up close and personal with an instrument they’d otherwise never have the chance to see and inspect like this.

The Scale Exhibition also explores the stories behind the instruments, such as Nile Rogers’ time-beat Fender Stratocaster. He had accidentally left it on a New York Subway once with the guitarist “lost in the moment after a difficult phone call,” resulting in a race against the clock to get it back.

A psychedelic Rickenbacker that has forged a reputation as big the man who plays it, Tame Impala's trippy multi-instrumentalist Kevin Parker, and one of Ed Sheeran's acoustic guitars also feature.

Beyond that, you can see Jack White’s madcap and crazily customized Fender Triplecaster Tele, plus axes belonging to thrash metal god Kirk Hammett, and indie maestro Johnny Marr.

“It feels like a lot of photography is now created and consumed within a short amount of time,” says Hibberd. “I wanted to work on something that took years, rather than days or weeks, and keep it all offline.

“The people I’ve met, the stories I’ve heard, and the places I’ve wound up in have been an absolute odyssey and I’m so glad to be finally sharing it .”

Ready to reveal itself unto the world after 12 years of working away in secret, the Scale exhibition runs at Unlocked in Shoreditch from 12 June - 31 August.

Head to Scale Exhibition for more.

After a surprise airport encounter led to Vernon Reid and Jack White swapping their signature guitars, the Living Color legend has now taken White’s wildcard Fender Telecaster to the stage.

He recently took the Triplecaster for a spin at the D'Addario 50th Anniversary party, and in footage from the event, he can be seen testing out its clean tones and its ability to hold up against some light wah pedal action. His playing transcends blues and soul flavors, and the guitar solo posted to Instagram by D'addario proves the guitar doesn't need a fuzz pedal to shine – Reid very much makes it his own.

There’s plenty of bite and snarl coming from White’s trio of custom-voiced pickups here – the guitar finds a single-coil flanked by two humbuckers for a range of versatile sounds.

White, who will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame later this year, released his triple threat Fender signature collection last September. Alongside the Triplecaster Tele, he launched a Pano Verb guitar amp loaded with some supercharged features, and the TripleSonic Acoustasonic Telecaster.

Reid’s signature axe, meanwhile, was announced by Reverend that same month and it comes in three variations – ‘The Totem Mystery Tramp’, ‘The Shaman’ and ‘The Talisman’. They became the first-ever Floyd Rose-equipped guitars the firm ever produced.

Curiously, the Mystery Tramp also features three googly eyes on its wild artwork. That’s more than likely another first for the guitar. And it's a feature White can get behind.

“What an honor to trade axes with such a virtuoso guitarist that I remember listening to on a Walkman cassette player while roaming the halls of my high school in Detroit,” White had said after his serendipitous hang with Reid.

He even had extra eyes sent “by request” and lined them up with the guitar’s three pickups “to stare down all enemies and future comrades.”

The White Stripes man has since continued to give his Triplecaster away to a host of players he loves, from an underrated Japanese punk star to Eddie Vedder, who used it for a Pearl Jam deep cut in Nashville, and Kirk Hammett.

The Metallica shredder has said that his infamous “Greeny” Les Paul has been getting jealous of the amount of love it’s been getting since. That's high praise indeed.

Not many pedal companies have the luxury of road-testing their products. Then again, not many guitar pedal companies are run by Jack White. The team at Third Man Hardware is – perhaps surprisingly – small. Of course, there’s White, the creative heartbeat of all things Third Man. Then there’s Christina Inman and Dan Mancini.

Inman, whose official job title is “The Wrangling Hellcat,” handles most of the business side of Third Man Hardware while also managing merchandise for Third Man Records. Mancini, who describes Inman as a “total badass,” has a Third Man business card that reads “Dan Mancini: Waste Management.”

Though these job titles might seem arbitrary, they actually reflect the many hats Third Man employees wear.

For instance, when Mancini isn’t repairing and maintaining gear at Third Man’s Nashville studio (as his job title suggests), he’s on the road as White’s guitar tech, crash-testing prototypes he’s helped develop for his day job at Third Man Hardware.

You’d been Jack’s tech for a number of years before you got started with Third Man Hardware, right? When did that happen?

“It was 2019, when we were still developing the Triplegraph with the Coppersound guys. Jack had already done one or two pedals with Third Man Hardware before. We were going out with the Raconteurs, and I started helping in the final stages of development with little odds and ends.

“Christina had been helping keep the project moving along, asking me lots of questions along the way. Slowly, everyone was realizing I was a pretty good fit to help make things happen. [Now] I help out with the development and the technicals and creative elements of the gear with Jack.”

How was the Triplegraph developed?

“That was four years in the making, and it was something Jack had cooked up with the fellas. Coppersound sent, like, a little Morse Code pedal, just a single little killswitch. They just sent it to him, thinking he’d get a kick out of it. He loved it.

“Visually, it’s really appealing and it’s fun. In the White Stripes and on his more current guitars, like the Triplecaster, he loves killswitches. But then he wanted to take a step further, and he said, ‘It’d be cool if we actually put on three of those, and there were two octaves on it, and the killswitch or a looper in the middle.’

“They just chipped away at it over the years. We crash tested it with the Raconteurs [in 2019]. We had a prototype on the board, and over that last year or so we kind of really honed it and got it past that finish line. That was a really wacky one to put out. I’m glad it landed like it did.”

The Knife Drop is another kind of “out there” or unique collaboration, like the Triplegraph. How did that come to fruition?

“At a couple points, Eventide had sent out a couple of pedals they wanted to try and develop with us. We couldn’t find a path with those immediately. They sent us another one later on, the H90 Harmonizer. It’s pretty funny. I get a little bit of digital anxiety with overly computery pedals. You get lost. You lose your settings.

“I’m always a little skeptical of those. But they sent the H90 over and I plugged it in at the studio and I started messing around. I found a couple settings and I was like, ‘Damn, this is some wild shit!’ I took it to Jack and said he needed to hear this ‘Knife Drop’ setting and he loved it.

“So we said to Eventide, ‘Hey, I don’t know that things are working out with this pedal, but what if we tried taking this Knife Drop sound and put it into one of your enclosures that you already make?’

“I think that one took about a year or so. We tried simplifying it as much as we could on our end. For instance, taking it from their six-knob enclosure and reducing it down to three. Those six knobs still exist, but you have to hold a button and dive down the rabbit hole.”

“Also, we really were fixated on the idea of always being able to get back to that core sound, so we ended up building in a cool little back door where you can hold the right toggle switch for, like, two or three seconds and it’ll always come back to Knife Drop. So no matter how much you mess with all these settings, or say, kick your knobs on stage, all you gotta do is hold that switch for a couple seconds and boom, you’re right [back] there.

“We had so much fun doing all the artwork, too. We did that with Rob Jones, who’s been a collaborator of Jack’s for years, all the way back to the White Stripes days. He’s done lots of posters and merch and all that stuff. That was a fun journey.”

With the small team and the way things are handled in-house, there’s definitely a DIY ethos to Third Man Hardware. Is that right?

“You’re totally right. I mean, the whole DIY element is why Third Man exists. Many of the people who work at Third Man are there because they all played in bands and put out their own records and made their own T-shirts. We do as many things in-house as possible. So that’s definitely a thread going through everything.”

How does that extend to the pedals you make? Is that why the Fuzz-a-Tron was developed, for example?

“Yeah. With the Fuzz-a-Tron, we really wanted to do something at a lower price point that also got people inspired. [We’ve done] a bunch of boutique American collaborative pedals that were fun, but obviously, a little on the pricier side because of the small companies, and they’re American made and all that.

“We really wanted to sow those seeds of creativity in people. You know, we’re all people who fix stuff and solder away. For the Fuzz-a-Tron, we wanted to empower people to think, ‘Oh, I can fix my input jack!’ or ‘Oh, yeah, I can fix that. It’s just, fix the battery lead.’”

‘Bill Skibbe, who does Third Man Mastering, has his own electronics company. Back in the late ’90s, he tried doing a kit with a company called Heathkit, who is a Michigan-based company. They have great instruction manuals and you put the stuff together yourself. [That project] never got off the ground.

“It was basically a Mosrite Fuzzrite clone. It sat in his garage for years. So a year and a half ago, we started kicking our own ideas of what to do next and how we want to start making more of our own stuff. Bill said, ‘Oh, maybe we could try and do this Fuzz-a-tron. It’s this Heathkit thing that I tried doing years ago that never took off. Maybe we can pump some life into it.’”

“Bill had 85 to 90 percent of it kind of cooked up, but then I ended up testing out a couple other things in the circuit. You know, you can’t find all those components anymore, so we had to adapt it a little bit. We tried out a bunch of stuff over at the warehouse and cooked up a nice manual. Some DIY kits can be kind of cold and uninspiring and too technical and everything.

“With the Fuzz-a-tron, we tried our best to make it inviting. We wanted a no-fail fuzz kit that people of any budget or experience can get excited about, and hopefully have a ‘win’ with electronics. Hopefully people think, ‘I could be a person that has a little tool bench and solders away in my garage and makes cool stuff.’

“It’s as basic and as fail proof as you can get in a pedal where it’s, like, four resistors of the same value, four capacitors. It gives you the opportunity to really imagine my little electrons are making their way in here, and we’re making them do this little dance through circuits and put it right out the back end. It really demystifies a lot of it.”

• “For players who want to get lairy, experiment with the interactions between stompboxes, and create auditory chaos”: Eventide x Third Man Hardware Knife Drop review
• This article first appeared in Guitar World. Subscribe and save.

Jack White is continuing to share his signature guitars with players he admires, recently gifting Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder one of his signature Fender Acoustasonics – which was used onstage in Nashville to play Green Disease.

The fuzz-loving White Stripes hero dropped a score of signature Fender gear last year, including the mod-heavy Triplecaster, an amp with plenty of tricks up its (metaphorical) sleeve, and a new take on Fender's intriguing electric-acoustic hybrid, the Acoustasonic.

Vedder was gifted the latter, and it was promptly given its live debut in front of an enthusiastic crowd in Music City on May 6.

“This is my new guitar, given to me by Mr. Jack White, another future Hall of Famer. He's such a great human,” Vedder told the crowd.

Discussing White's Third Man Hardware company, which has also put out some drool-inducing pedals like the Knife Drop, Vedder adds, “You wanna know the secret between having a quality product and making money? The secret is you won't make money, but you'll make people happy.

“That's what we've seen Jack do. I'm very proud to be his friend, and thank you Jack for my nice new guitar.”

The attitude and punk-powered Green Disease was a fitting song choice, with Vedder laying into the strings with plenty of vigor.

Vedder joins a growing list of players to have snagged a taste of White's latest signature gear. White made an impromptu signature swap with Living Color’s Vernon Reid after they bumped into one another at an airport, while Kirk Hammett has joked that “Greeny is getting a bit jealous” after his legendary Les Paul watched from the sidelines as he took the Triplecaster for a spin. White also got a Greeny production model in return and was once afforded the opportunity to play the original Greeny on stage.

White has also used his signature collection to shine a light on lesser-known talents: he gifted his favorite new guitarist, who is based out in Japan, a Triplecaster.

Jack White, as a member of the White Stripes, will follow Soundgarden and some other long-overdue talents into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame later this year. The guitarist is responsible for writing one of the most Googled guitar riffs, which came together almost by accident during a soundcheck in Australia.

He took to Instagram earlier this year for an impassioned rant about his approach to playing live and why you’ll never see him play a three-hour show. In November, he joined Paul McCartney on stage in Mexico to jam the Beatles.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation has revealed this year's inductees in an announcement delivered by Ryan Seacrest on the latest episode of American Idol – with a list that included some overdue names and omitted others who had an almost surefire shot at this year's class of inductees.

The guitar world is represented by The White Stripes, Soundgarden, and Bad Company in the Performer category. They are joined by Girls Just Wanna Have Fun icon Cyndi Lauper, gravel-voiced English singer Joe Cocker, Atlanta hip-hop duo Outkast, and Chubby Checker, who gets the nod nearly 40 years after he was first eligible for Hall of Fame recognition.

Bass legend Carol Kaye – who has played on more than 10,000 recordings over her six decade-plus career – is honored in the Musical Excellence Award category, alongside prolific R&B record producer, arranger, and songwriter Thom Bell, and English pianist and organist Nicky Hopkins.

Salt-N-Pepa, the first female rap act to achieve gold and platinum status from the Recording Industry Association of America, will also receive the Musical Influence Award, alongside Werewolves of London singer-songwriter Warren Zevon.

Meanwhile, record producer, former president of Warner Bros. Records, and co-founder and co-chair of DreamWorks Records, Lenny Waronker, is the recipient of this year's Ahmet Ertegun Award – reserved for non-performing industry professionals who have had a major influence on music and culture.

“Each of these inductees created their own sound and attitude that had a profound impact on culture and helped to change the course of Rock & Roll forever,” said John Sykes, Chairman of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. “Their music gave a voice to generations and influenced countless artists that followed in their footsteps.”

As is the case every year, there are a few high-profile snubs. Mariah Carey's omission, in particular, is a notable oversight, considering this is the second time she has been overlooked by the Rock Hall's voters. Britpop leaders Oasis were also given the cold shoulder, while jam band Phish – who topped the fan vote – didn't make the final cut.

This isn't the first time the winner of the fan ballot lost out on that year's induction. Dave Matthews Band, who won the 2020 fan vote, was ultimately not included in that year's final list – and had to wait four years before finally receiving their flowers.

The Class of 2025 will be inducted live on November 8 at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, California, with the ceremony streaming live on Disney+, a special airing on ABC at a later date, and available on Hulu the next day.

Kirk Hammett made headlines in January when he shared photos of himself playing Jack White’s Triplecaster. White commented that he was simply returning a favor: Hammett had previously gifted him one of his signature Gibson ‘Greeny’ replica Les Pauls.

Now, the Metallica electric guitar maestro reveals what prompted him to give the guitar to White. In a new interview with Guitar World’s Amit Sharma, Hammett says: “I sent him a Greeny. He’s played the original.”

Not only that, but White did a gig with the legendary Les Paul previously owned by Peter Green and Gary Moore.

“I turned up at one of his shows with Greeny and said ‘Bro, check it out, and play her on stage!’” Hammett admits gleefully. “He used that guitar for a few songs.”

This performance gave Metallica’s axeman an idea: “When the replicas came out, I sent him one because I knew he’d dig it,” Kirk says simply. “He was happy and wasn’t expecting anything. So a couple of months ago, I got a text from him saying, ‘You’re gonna get a package in the mail.’”

The package, of course, was one of Jack’s personal Triplecasters.

“Then a guitar case showed up, and when I opened it up, I was so happy,” smiles Hammett. It turns out the two have an established relationship of sharing gear.

“He occasionally sends me his Third Man pedals, which are totally psycho,” Kirk comments. “I love them.”

Somehow, no footage has emerged of Jack White performing with possibly the world’s most famous Les Paul. Rest assured Guitar World will be combing the web and will share it if we find it.

Hammett has also been discussing Polyphia's Tim Henson and giving his opinion on the 'boomer bends' controversy. Jack White's latest Third Man Hardware release is a collaboration with Eventide on a sub-octave fuzz and analog synth pedal.

Keep your eyes peeled on GuitarWorld.com for the full interview with Kirk Hammett.

Jack White has gifted one of his signature guitars to his “new favorite guitar player” – and eagle-eyed viewers may recognize her from a recent product launch.

The White Stripes legend worked with Fender on a three-pronged signature release last year, unveiling his wildly modded take on the Telecaster alongside a feature-rich combo amp and an Acoustasonic model. Now, visiting the firm’s Japanese HQ, he’s taken the chance to link up with an up-and-coming guitarist whose playing he can’t get enough of.

Yoyoyoshie, of Japanese punk outfit Otoboke Beaver, is the recipient of White's new Triplecaster. She was the star of Fender's recent promo video for the reissue of its adorably shred-tastic Hello Kitty Stratocaster, and featured in the video that saw her trading licks with the snow-white cat during a raw and energetic performance.

White has been a fan of Yoyoyoshie for some time now – in 2024, he wrote, “Yoyoyoshie is my new favorite guitar player. If you're coming up against an ambush, you want her in your battalion” – but now he's given her a very special gift.

“At Fender Guitars in Tokyo, Jack White gives a gift of a brand new Triplecaster guitar that he designed to his new favorite guitar player @yoyoyoshiechan from Otoboke Beaver!” the new post states, adding: “Eddie Vedder in the house trying to break in a new guitar strap, which every guitar player knows requires power tools to break the leather in the first time!”

Posting about her Fender x Hello Kitty experience last year, Yoyoyoshie revealed the opportunity provided her the chance to take White’s Triplecaster for a test drive – now she has one of her own.

“Before and after the shoot, I had a Fender field trip,” she said, “and I was able to touch the signature models of Jack White and Flea at the headquarters and factory, and I was able to feel the greatness of the respected musicians.”

The move comes after White and Vernon Reid enjoyed an impromptu guitar swap. Both players have recently released signature models – Reid via his Reverend Totem series – so it only felt right the pair swapped six strings during their spontaneous meet-up.

Kirk Hammett has also been on the receiving end of a Triplecaster gifting, with the Metallica guitarist joking that “Greeny is getting a bit jealous!” after he received White's generous offering.

In related Jack White news, the guitarist has announced that a Custom Shop version of the Triplecaster is in the works. He's also dropped an impassioned rant about how “rock and roll is a living breathing organism” when biting back at the critics of his short live shows.

Over the last year, when he wasn’t working with Fender on a white-hot signature gear collaboration, Jack White has spent his time plotting and performing a string of intimate surprise shows to support his new album, No Name.

These electric performances have been notable for their short 'n' sweet set lengths, with the guitarist sticking to the ‘leave them wanting more’ philosophy. Now he’s hit back at those who believe he should have stuck around for a little longer in an impassioned Instagram post.

“[I’ve] been hearing a lot of chatter throughout the year of this glorious electric touring about how long our sets are ‘supposed to be’ on stage. As if the length of a show determines how good it is,” writes White.

“We’re living in a current era where people like to say ‘So and so played for three hours last night!’, and brag about it the next day,” he goes on. “You’re talking about an arena laser light show with pyro, huge screens with premade videos, singers flying over the crowd, [and] t-shirt cannons – that's not the kind of shows we're performing.”

White dropped his surprise sixth solo LP without warning in July, with the record initially only available via physical formats in a tie-in with his label, Third Man Records. A digital release followed two weeks later, but the supporting live shows stayed true to that traditional approach and sought inspiration from rock ’n’ roll heavyweights.

“I’ve seen a plethora of rock and roll gigs that lasted 45 minutes and blew my mind and inspired me beyond belief,” he underscores.

Those shows, he says, had no setlists, with a very casual on-the-fly approach dictating what he played with his band each night.

“It's not a Marvel movie or a Vegas residency,” White expands, “it’s rock and roll and it’s a living breathing organism.”

Many of White’s 2024 sets still contained around 18 or 19 songs – albeit with little time to catch a breath between them. However, as his songs last around three minutes apiece, his shows might typically only last about an hour, leaving some to feel shortchanged.

Indeed, there is something of an unwritten rule, or assumption, that a band playing shows in venues the size White can fill, should play for 90 minutes. But White has not exactly been stomping through arenas over the last 12 months.

His thoughts also open a conversation about artistic expression – with White’s name selling the tickets, he believes he has autonomy on how his shows unfurl.

“Read the room, leave everyone exhausted and inspired (hopefully) and most of all wanting more, without needing three hours to do it,” White says of his live show mantra.

Nonetheless, some of his recent shows have delivered 22-24 song set lists, meaning his playtime is crawling back towards more traditional lengths. However, while he’s thankful for the support of his fans, he’s showing no signs of bucking to the whims of his critics.

“Love to all of our fans,” his post concludes. “I see your faces every night and you can be assured I've never phoned it in in my life, whether its 20 minutes or two hours. I'm giving the room what the room is prompting me to do and share and that doesn't mean if people cheer louder it's going to be longer either!”

White’s new signature gear haul has been widely celebrated and it's also found its way into the hands of some famous players. He enjoyed an impromptu guitar swap with Vernon Reid after crossing paths at an airport. He also sent a Triplecaster to Metallica's Kirk Hammett – and it's threatening to steal Greeny's thunder.

The guitarist also revealed at NAMM 2025 that a Custom Shop version of his wildly modded Telecaster is in the works and will go far beyond Fender's typical luthiery lines.

NAMM 2025: When a version of Jack White’s Triplecaster was made available to the wider guitar world, it was big news: here was a Tele that was really pushing the boundaries of Fender lore. It retained most of what made White’s model so brilliantly bonkers, but part of us wondered: will we ever see a replica of the real thing?

Well, hold the phone, because the Custom Shop is making a fully spec’d-out Blue Sparkle Triplecaster a reality.

The news was confirmed to us by White’s tech Dan Mancini, who gave us the skinny on the forthcoming model, which was available to play at the Third Man Hardware booth at NAMM 2025.

There have been a host of changes since White first started road-testing the guitar, making constant tweaks and improvements, even since we saw the last incarnation at NAMM 2024.

The first thing you’ll notice is just how clean the guitar looks – there’s a complete absence of screws and polepieces around the pickups and, indeed, the pickguard. The former are rear-mounted – highly unusual for Fender – which hides the screws around the back, while the scratchplate is secured with adhesive. The end result is a little like if Apple had a hand in designing the Telecaster back in the ’50s.

White himself even showed us the guitar’s new neck shape – it’s less pronounced than the deep V of his previous incarnation, and gently contours towards the heel to allow better access to the upper frets.

Speaking of, the partial scallops of the previous model have returned, starting at the 7th fret. They’re subtle under the fingers, and give the fretboard an effortless playability on the upper three strings. The headstock has swapped from a Stratocaster-style to a Tele, too, to reduce weight.

The three pickups remain the same as the production Triplecaster: a CuNiFe Wide Range humbucker in the neck, JW-90 in the middle and a custom Jack White humbucker in the bridge. They’ve just been given custom covers and that rear-mounting for a cleaner look.

Like the production model, there’s the Hipshot Xtender drop-D tuner on the back of the headstock, as well as the Bigsby B-5 vibrato and three-saddle bridge, arcade-style stutter switch, and a knob that doubles as a three-way toggle to mute the signal or route pickups direct to the jack.

But the Custom Shop version also gives you the Glaser Bender – Nashville luthier Joe Glaser’s take on the B-Bender – for yet another form of expression.

White later announced the model on his Instagram account, sharing a photo of last year’s model and the forthcoming incarnation, so we can all play spot the difference.

“Wanted to show y'all a sneak peek of the first Fender Custom Shop Limited Edition Triplecaster (on the left),” he wrote.

“You can see all the subtle changes that have happened compared to the Franksteined model from all the years of road testing next to it on the right! Too many interesting features to mention at this moment, but this brand-new creation is at NAMM right now at the Third Man Hardware booth for you to play, it’s not for sale… yet.”

A release date and price tag have yet to be set for the new model, but we’ll bring you more as we have it.

Kirk Hammett recently gifted Jack White one of his Gibson Greeny Les Paul signature guitars, and received the White Stripes legend’s wild Fender Triplecaster in return.

White made headlines a few weeks ago when he swapped signatures with Living Color’s Vernon Reid, after the pair had bumped into each other at the airport.

Now, White has given away another one of his wild Fender Triplecasters to the Metallica guitar maestro, but this time it wasn’t as part of a random encounter in a public place – it was done “in the interest of reciprocity”.

In a post on social media, White – proudly posing alongside his new Gibson ‘Greeny’ Les Paul – explains that Hammett had kindly sent him his signature Gibson Les Paul, which immediately made an impression on the gear experimentalist.

“Guitar slaying maestro Kirk Hammett of Metallica was kind enough to send me one of his new remakes of the famous "Greeny" guitar the original of which now resides with him,” he writes.

“Owned by Peter Green, and Gary Moore, it is well known for its accidental out of phaseness from the neck pickup being upside down and wired "wrong" etc. You really can hear it up around the 15th fret in my opinion, that's where it sings.”

Now, a few different variants of the Greeny Les Paul have been reissued over the past few years, but it looks as though White is now the proud owner of the widely accessible Gibson Les Paul Standard version.

Unlike the $50k Collector's Edition or $20k Custom Shop Standard models, this particular example – which costs just shy of $3k – doesn’t come with any of the relic’ing or artificial aging that attempts to recreate the aesthetics of Hammett’s OG model. Instead, its Greeny Bust finish is entirely unblemished.

To say thanks for the gift, White parted ways with another of his own Fender Triplecasters, which was sent to Kirk Hammett – who now seemingly can’t put it down.

“Thanks so much @officialjackwhite for such a great cool innovative, fun Triplecaster guitar,” Hammett wrote in a reply post. “I love it so much Greeny is getting a bit jealous!!!”

The Triplecaster arrived last year as part of a bumper drop of Jack White signature Fender products. A spiritual remake of his Custom Shop Telecaster, the Triplecaster was one of 2024’s standout launches, with three different pickups and a host of curious specs.

Whether either guitarist will play their new instruments live on stage or in the studio any time soon remains to be seen…

What happens when two iconic guitarists meet at an airport? They trade signature guitars, of course. While it might sound like the plot of a movie, it’s exactly what Vernon Reid and Jack White recently did after crossing paths at an airport, on the way to their next tour stop.

“What do you say when you meet Vernon Reid by chance at the Memphis airport and he suggests you swap signature guitars? You say ‘Yes sir, coming right up,’” White posted on Instagram.

“What an honor to trade axes with such a virtuoso guitarist that I remember listening to on a Walkman cassette player while roaming the halls of my high school in Detroit.”

At the time, Jack White had partnered with Fender to launch the Jack White Collection, which included the off-kilter TripleCaster – a more accessible version of his wild custom TripleCaster Telecaster.

On his end, Reid had teamed up with Reverend Guitars for his visually striking Reverend Totem Series Vernon Reid signature models, which feature graphics on the guitar bodies inspired by the likes of Jean-Michel Basquiat and Romare Bearden, as well as Carl Jung’s Collective Unconscious Theory.

White showed off his new acquisition, the Vernon Reid signature guitar in a Mystery Tramp graphic finish, on social media, and revealed that he had requested a special mystic symbol to be added to the already symbol-laden guitar.

“This one has the amazing name of ‘Mystery Tramp’ complete with hobo secret language symbols on the neck inlays,” he wrote. “The eyes were sent by special request and I couldn't help putting my III three line signature above each pickup to stare down all enemies and future comrades.”

The TripleCaster, having arrived safely at Reid’s home just in time for Thanksgiving, received the unboxing video treatment – complete with some backstory.

“While on tour with Living Colour, we ran into Jack White in Memphis at the Memphis airport, and we started kicking it. So we started talking, and we decided to trade signature models, so I sent him a Mystery Tramp, one of the three of the Totem Series. And, I have in here [referring to the package] his signature instrument,” he explained, before proceeding to open it.

“Ho ho ho! Pretty awesome. Look at that case! It's fantastic,” he exclaimed. “Super cool tremolo alarm, crazy pickups. I love this thing right here. Very cool. So this is the Triplecaster and Jack has the Mystery Tramp. And this is a trade that came about from a chance meeting, and it's really cool!”

Speaking of Jack White, The White Stripes guitarist recently joined Paul McCartney and St. Vincent on stage for a raucous rendition of The Beatles’ The End at Mexico’s Corona Capital Festival.

Paul McCartney’s headlining set at Mexico City’s Corona Capital Festival this past weekend featured two special guests – Jack White and St. Vincent – who joined him for his show closer, a raucous rendition of The Beatles’ The End, in front of nearly 82,000 attendees.

The performance marked the ex-Beatle’s debut at a Latin American music festival and, according to promoter Ocesa (via Billboard), attracted the largest crowd the festival has seen in its 14-year history.

As fitting for two stellar guitarists, White and St. Vincent soloed their way through the song alongside McCartney – who was also wielding a guitar by this point – and his two guitarists, Rusty Anderson and Brian Ray.

Best of all, the historic moment seemed to double as an off-the-cuff jam session, with McCartney pointing to the different guitarists at random, prompting them to show off their soloing skills.

Gear-wise, White could be seen wielding a custom black, yellow and white Triple Caster Telecaster – a nod to the signature (and more accessible) Triple Caster he released this September with Fender – while St. Vincent played her Stealth Black signature guitar. McCartney, meanwhile, began the song on piano before switching to a left-handed Gibson Les Paul.

Earlier that night, St. Vincent joined a Hofner violin bass-playing McCartney on lead guitar duties for an equally high-octane rendition of Get Back.

While it was White’s first time ever sharing the stage with the former Beatle, St. Vincent had previously collaborated with him on Women and Wives from his 2021 remix album, McCartney III Imagined.

As expected, McCartney’s set list was packed with Beatles favorites, including A Hard Day’s Night (1964), Let It Be (1970), Hey Jude (1968), Blackbird (1968), and Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da (1968).

With his participation in Corona Capital, Macca wrapped up a busy week in Mexico as part of the South American leg of his Got Back tour, which kicked off in Uruguay on October 1.

In other Paul McCartney news, Richie Sambora recently revealed that The Beatles and Wings co-founder had a hand in mixing one of the tracks on Bon Jovi's One Wild Night live album.

Is there anything Jack White doesn’t have his hands in? The legendary musician, serial collaborator, and entrepreneur has been making hay for his Third Man Hardware company by partnering with select brands like Donner, Fender, and MXR to create musical gear aligned with his eclectic vision.

Now you can add French boutique pedal-maker Anasounds to the list. Nearly all these musical-product collaborations have sported contrasting yellows and blacks and symbolic pattern motifs that he’s adopted as his “Jack White-ish” signature.

Appearances aside, White has unveiled some seriously good and offbeat musical instruments and pedals that serve his idiosyncratic lo-fi style. His latest partnership with Anasounds introduces a fascinatingly great and pedalboard-friendly spring reverb stompbox (with an actual spring tank housed inside the pedal!) called La Grotte.

What is it?

For linguaphiles, La Grotte means “The Cave” in French, which makes perfect sense for this deep, grungy reverb.

A little background: White was so enamored with Anasounds’ Element Spring Reverb (a “two-part” pedal where the Element serves as the preamp that’s hooked into an external Anasounds spring tank offered in three sizes) that he wanted the La Grotte to be an all-in-one pedal where the spring tank is built into the pedal’s enclosure.

Even more challenging was that White demanded three springs instead of two for more authentic reverberation.

After many prototypes and modifications, the result is a ruggedly built, one-of-a-kind analog spring reverb with a visually striking, engraved surface and a plexiglass faceplate to observe its three springs actively vibrate.

Specs

Launch price: $300/€349
Type: Reverb pedal
Controls: Dry, Wet, Low, High
Features: Genuine mechanical spring reverb from three springs; preamp based on Tampco’s Tone Oven, internal gain controls,
Connectivity: 1/4" input/outputs, power supply input (top-mounted)
Bypass: Both (switchable)
Power:
Dimensions: 100x100x100 mm
Weight: 0.1kg
Options: Limited edition black-and-yellow swirl (exclusive to Reverb.com)
Contact Anasounds

Usability

Usability rating: ★★★★☆

The La Grotte is unlike most other analog reverb stompboxes because its built-in preamp (based on Tampco’s Tone Oven pedal) directly affects its splashy and saturated reverb sound.

Two knobs for Dry and Wet are dual volume knobs that govern the reverb mix and can increasingly boost or clip either signal into overdrive. The Low and High controls are a two-band EQ that only affects the tone of the reverb sound.

For added versatility, the pedal features an internal gain control, an internal bypass switch for selecting true or buffered bypass (preserves reverb tails), and an internal -10dB input level pad. Finally, you’ll need a 9V DC power supply to operate it.

One thing that’s clear to me is that the La Grotte is not your traditional spring reverb, which makes it engagingly absorbing and frustrating.

It’s sensitive to where you set the dual Wet/Dry volumes and, for that, you’ll want to tailor the EQ of the reverb accordingly. Incidentally, if you move the pedal, you’ll hear that reverb crashing sound (which is kinda cool).

Sounds

Sounds rating: ★★★★☆

Overall, it’s a saturated reverb with a boingy, surf-like character, and I believe many garage and lo-fi pedal junkies are going to flip over La Grotte’s seductively dark and grungy splash.

Even the onboard preamp is transparent and full, with a warmly overdriven tone as you turn it up. However, doing so impacts the reverb.

Those deep reverberations come with some cloudiness, so, to make it respond like a guitar amp’s reverb, boosting the Dry volume and dialing back the Wet puts the reverb in the background while adding a cavernous ambience to your tone.

However, increasing the Wet volume will saturate the reverb, making it slightly muddy, and for some players, there’s a certain charm here. Either way, the La Grotte allows you to find a reverberated middle ground or go to extremes. It’s gorgeous and ugly, and there’s beauty in that.

Verdict

Designed by Anasounds and Jack White, the La Grotte is a remarkable achievement as a fully analog spring reverb pedal with a built-in spring tank and a preamp for a dark and grungy reverb.

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Third Man Hardware

Third Man Hardware has joined forces with Eventide to release the Knife Drop – a new pedal that promises “aggressive octave fuzz” merged with “earth-shaking analog synth tones,” developed in collaboration with Jack White. As is typical of White, the pedal puts extreme experimentation at the forefront.

“Collaborating with Eventide on the Knife Drop has been an inspiring and exciting experience that expanded into some amazing sonic possibilities,” comments Dan Mancini from Third Man Hardware (who also happens to be White's guitar tech).

“We’re so excited to get the Knife Drop into people’s hands, to make their own sounds and feel the same excitement we had.”

So, what does this pedal, which boasts “sonic chaos,” include? It comes equipped with two footswitches: one for engaging the effect and the other for toggling the octaves on and off.

The three knobs control Synth, Drive, and Level – or Attack, Resonance, and Cutoff – with these alternate options accessible via the Alt LED button on the right-hand side.

Additionally, the Octaves LED button serves as a handy visual aid, toggling between Off (all octaves off), Green (upper octave only), and Red (upper and sub octaves).

There are also precise filtering options with pre/post distortion routing, and the envelope for filter attack can be adjusted between 0 and 1000ms for instantaneous or gradual filtering.

What's more, the pedal allows users to save five presets, with room for more via MIDI. In fact, presets crafted by White himself – named Knife Drop, Dub Drop, Chainsaw, Hard Bounce, and Obsidian – can be accessed right from the get-go.

And for extra oomph, the pedal’s dynamic capabilities can be amplified via an external expression pedal, with added stereo capabilities via the mono/stereo and line/guitar inputs.

The Knife Drop is now available at Third Man Records' storefronts for $299, while supplies last. It’s also available for preorder exclusively via Third Man Records’ website in the United States and internationally through Eventide’s authorized distributors.

For $333, there’s a limited edition yellow version available exclusively on the Third Man Hardware Reverb storefront.

The release of the mono synth/fuzz pedal follows that of the La Grotte spring reverb pedal, which Third Man Hardware launched in August in collaboration with Anasounds.

For all the latest drops, visit Third Man Hardware.

Fender has partnered with Jack White to release a fully fledged range of signature guitar products – including an accessible version of his wild custom TripleCaster Telecaster.

The sleek TripleCaster – which positions itself as the wildest Tele that Fender currently has on its books – is joined by White’s signature Pano Verb guitar amp, and the TripleSonic Acoustasonic Telecaster.

It’s a significant move from both Fender and the White Stripes hero, with the former taking the unusual decision to unveil its entire family of new White signature products in one go, rather than rolling the range out piece by piece across an extended period.

There are three items to get stuck into, but the TripleCaster obviously takes the headline. It is seemingly inspired by White’s very own Low Rider Telecaster – one of the wildest Teles ever created, which Guitar World’s Michael Astley-Brown took for a spin during NAMM.

It’s been a stalwart of White’s setup over the years, and features a bizarre spec sheet comprising a B-Bender, D-Tuna, custom trio of pickups, half-scalloped fretboard, and a whole host of electronic gizmos.

Of course, any signature replica would have to be significantly streamlined purely because of the finances and expertise involved in making such a wild instrument, but the TripleCaster does a valiant job of offering the highlights.

That means the Piano Black-finished model offers a Jack White humbucker, JW-90 single-coil and White-voiced CuNiFe Wide-Range humbucker, as well as a Bigsby vibrato, a Hipshot Xtender DropTuner and a kill switch.

So, you’re not exactly getting the Low Rider, but the TripleCaster looks to be a nice middle ground between White’s wild custom model and a stripped-back signature.

It also sets a rather tantalizing precedent. Could we see similar recreations of White's other custom Fenders – such as his pitch-shifting Jazzmaster – down the line?

The TripleCaster is joined by the TripleSonic – a Satin Black/Arctic White Acoustasonic that offers specs such as a Soft V neck shape (as opposed to the standard model’s Deep C Profile), a uniquely shaped pickguard and pickup voicings curated by White.

This model also looks to be based on another guitar that has become a key player in White’s arsenal, namely the black burst Acoustasonic that he’s been spotted playing on various occasions – including a 2022 set in Paris.

Fender’s final offering from its Jack White signature collection is the Pano Verb. A combination of White’s Vintage Vibrasonic and Vibroverb amps, the Pano Verb offers “enhanced stereo reverb and tremolo effects”, and a unique 15” / 10” speaker combo.

The amp itself is the result of four years of development between Fender and White, with the latter describing the Pano Verb as his vision of “the ultimate amplifier”. It is, apparently, unlike anything Fender has ever done before.

These are all high-end products, so they’re priced accordingly. The Pano Verb and TripleCaster are available for $2,999, while the TripleSonic will have a price tag of $2,499.

“We found the best of the old with the best of the new, and mixed innovation with the history of Fender, and did something we think maybe Leo Fender would be very proud of,” says White of his new collection.

“Jack is regarded as a true visionary in the music world, and it has been an incredible journey working with him on developing these products,” adds Fender’s Justin Norvell. “This collection embodies the essence of what makes Jack White an icon, and we're proud to bring his vision to life for fans and musicians alike.”

Visit Fender for more information.

This is White's first official drop with Fender, but it's by no means the first time he's worked with an outside company to produce some signature gear. Over the years, he and his Third Man Hardware brand have partnered with Donner for the Triple Threat, and more recently worked with Anasounds to produced his ideal spring reverb pedal.

Jack White’s Third Man Hardware has partnered with fellow effects firm Anasounds to produce the La Grotte spring reverb pedal, which will let players “benefit from the added soul of an analog spring”.

Over the years, Third Man Hardware has developed a reputation for masterminding some eccentric and unique stompboxes, many of which have been designed as part of cross-brand collaborations.

In 2019, Third Man and Gamechanger Audio released the Plasma Coil Distortion/Octave pedal. More recently, White’s firm took a budget-friendly turn by creating the Triple Threat multi-effects pedal with Donner.

Now, Third Man has put out a new analog spring reverb that has been designed in conjunction with Anasounds – another firm that matches White’s penchant for out-there pedal designs, as evidenced by the modular Full Story fuzz and Spinner expression pedal.

As such, a humble spring reverb might at first seem like a fairly tame attempt from the two firms. However, this isn’t your standard spring reverb pedal.

As Anasounds explains, the La Grotte is the result of almost four years of collaboration between the two parties, which first began when White got his hands on an Anasounds Elements reverb.

From there, the prospect of a signature pedal that could both solve some problems associated with standard spring reverbs and deliver some extra sonic features was discussed. By NAMM 2024, the final version was approved.

The final La Grotte features three genuine springs that provide the reverb tones, as well as a specifically engineered built-in preamp that offers plenty of headroom but can still tap into the grit and dirt of White’s typical sound.

Though the preamp was fine-tuned by White in the studio, an internal trimpot can further crank or dial down the gain for greater flexibility. Other controls to tweak the tone include Low and High parameters for adjusting the frequencies, and Dry and Wet knobs for controlling the preamp gain.

As for the springs, three shorter units have been used as opposed to one long spring, which is usually required for similar reverb effects pedals. This means the pedal is a bit more pedalboard-friendly, but can still deliver those authentic mechanical reverbs.

“It’s been a lifetime of searching for a small real spring reverb effect unit that could be used as a stompbox on stage or in the studio,” White says. “The hang up is that you normally have to use really long springs to get good sound, making the unit too large.

“With the La Grotte pedal, it was the addition of the third spring that really brought this sounds alive and gave us the ability to have that long decay from a real spring in a small box.

“In addition the built in drive/boost features you get is very impressive in how it elevates the signal you are sending to the springs.”

The standard La Grotte will be available for $299, while a limited-edition version that arrives in a different finish will go for $349 exclusively from Third Man's Reverb shop.

Head over to Anasounds and Third Man Hardware to find out more.

Though Conan O’Brien is widely recognized as one of America’s most decorated late-night talk show hosts, he’s also a seasoned electric guitar player.

To that end, O’Brien is as much a guitar performer as he is a successful chat show host, with a long history of incorporating the instrument into various comedy skits, live guitar shows with his A-list collaborators, and a handful of rather notable run-ins with some high-profile gear.

O’Brien took that sentiment to new heights over the weekend, when he performed a 13-song setlist at the legendary Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island over the weekend.

For the occasion, the television industry veteran clearly leafed through his phonebook of famous friends, and ended up sharing the stage with the likes of Nathaniel Rateliff, Brittany Howard, Langhorne Slim, and more.

Perhaps the most notable guest star, though, was Jack White, who joined O’Brien to cover The White Stripes and Eddie Cochran classics towards the end of the set.

While O’Brien locked in with his Fender Stratocaster and Gibson SJ-200 for the two tracks, White brought some of his own eye-catching instruments to the party, taking up position behind what looked to be a black-finished version of his infamous Fender Low Rider Telecaster and a new custom Telecaster Acoustasonic.

The pair started on their respective acoustics to tackle We’re Going to Be Friends, before kicking things up a notch with a grizzled cover of Twenty Flight Rock, which O’Brien looked to White to kick off: “You tell me, Professor, when you’re ready to go!” he says by way of an introduction

Now, White is no stranger to custom Acoustasonics – he debuted a Silverburst-style one at Glastonbury in 2022 – but the piece he used for Newport was different, and instead flashed an all-black finish.

A black finish could also be spotted on the latest iteration of his Low Rider Telecaster, which appeared to be as bonkers as ever, complete with three different pickups, a Bigsby vibrato, and all sorts of onboard controls.

Whether it’s quite as bonkers as the OG model – which has a half-scalloped fretboard and a B-Bender – remains to be seen. Regardless, White used it to typical White effect, supercharging Conan’s set with a suitably untethered solo and some swampy rhythms to boot.

O’Brien, who spends a lot of the time in the rhythm pocket, also indulges with some lead lines of his own, locking fretboards with both White and co-guitarist Jimmy Vivino for some show-stopping three-way soloing.

What better way to feel like you're actually on stage with your favorite guitarist, than to duet with them from the comfort of your home?

A young guitarist from Detroit did just that. She played Jack White's iconic Seven Nation Army riff on her acoustic guitar from her bedroom window, several streets away from the stage where White was soundchecking.

The guitarist was caught on film by her proud dad, Stephen McGee, who wrote, “Detroit in her blood. @officialjackwhite @resurgofilm thank you for the incredible show and representing and reflecting the love for our city.

“Born while detroit was declaring bankruptcy, she wanted an 818 when she turned 11, she plays a @martinguitar and can talk to our local hawk family, connected to nature, seven nation and smoke on the water are her first two songs, I love her so much.”

Jack White came across the video and endorsed the young guitarist by reposting her dad's video on Instagram.

Last week, the Detroit native returned to his hometown to perform at a concert organized by Eminem in celebration of the reopening of Michigan Central Station. It was his first public performance since February 2023. 

In addition to Seven Nation Army, White performed Hotel Yorba – within eyesight of Detroit's actual Hotel Yorba – and the aptly-titled Here My Train A Comin. For this special occasion, White brandished a black and white version of his custom Fender Low Rider Telecaster.

As fitting for his final, and most requested song, he also brought out his early-'60s Kay K6533 archtop hollowbody, the guitar forever associated with the infectious Seven Nation Army riff. 

Given Jack White’s slightly elusive and incredibly hip reputation, when it comes time for a partnership between his Third Man Hardware brand and another pedal company, you’d be forgiven for expecting him to team up with an underground builder for something equally exclusive.

Not so. Because for the Triple Threat, Mr W has thrown his hat into the ring with Donner, a Chinese brand specialising in affordable gear.

The Triple Threat houses three analogue pedals in a single aluminium chassis. These circuits are based on Donner’s own effects pedals, including the Pearl Tremor phaser and Yellow Fall delay, with the form factor borrowed from its Alpha Cruncher multi-effects, and White and Third Man beefing up the components to ensure better sound and sturdier build quality.

Our review model comes in the limited-edition Yellow finish, but the standard Black edition costs $99/£95, with the finish being the only difference.

It’s a simple affair. The three ‘pedals’ are arranged in a fixed order from input to output, starting with the distortion, then the phaser and finally the echo.

Each circuit comes equipped with a metal footswitch, complete with an LED to indicate when the pedal is engaged, and around the parameter control mini-pots are protective bumpers to keep them safe. Aside from that, there’s an input, output and connection for the included PSU.

You’ll quickly notice that the Triple Threat is pretty small at 25mm x 195mm x 60mm, making this a great grab ’n’ go pedal if you’re in need of a simple set of effects. Each effect has three controls – gain, tone and volume for the distortion, rate, depth and level for the phaser and level, feedback and time for the delay.

The distortion starts off at a crunchy overdrive, and with the gain control bumped up you’re into heavy overdrive that’s thick and harmonically rich, while also being surprisingly dynamic. The phaser can do swirling, Van Halen-style modulation at the slower speeds, and, with the rate control increased, we get watery, almost chorus sounds.

With the distortion engaged before it, the sweep of the phase becomes incredibly accented, to the point where you may need to dial back the depth settings, but this is a good thing, rather than not being able to have the effect as intense as you might like.

Finally there’s the echo, and if you don’t have an analogue delay in your setup, this one is a delight. Slower delay times with fewer repeats may not quite reveal the degrading grit that analogue delays are known for, but crank up the feedback control and you’ll hear how it begins to thin out with each pass.

Push it all the way and it’ll go into self-oscillation, allowing you to bend the time control for some cool noises to boot.

There’s no way of rearranging the effect order, and the preset/mixed pedal nature of the Triple Threat means that using it in an effects loop might not be ideal. But, it’s a fun, affordable way of adding extra sounds, or possibly even getting to grips with three of the major pedal food groups.

Specs

• PRICE: $99 / £95
• TYPE: Analogue multi-effects unit
• EFFECTS: Distortion, phaser, echo
• SOCKETS: Input, output, power supply (included)
• BYPASS: Buffered
• POWER: 9v psu (included)
• CONTACT: Third Man Records

A new study has identified The White Stripes’ Seven Nation Army as the world’s most Googled guitar riff.

For Wood and Fire Studio’s statistics, the studio analyzed a total of 271 songs and 2,314,336 Google searches to discover the world’s most-played riffs, and Jack White’s iconic 2003 foot-stomper has claimed the crown. The rest of the list is rather predictable, too.

“This is where the famous ‘forbidden riff’ joke on the guitar comes from,” the studio observes. “The first 4 songs are played so often that the staff in the guitar departments of music stores can no longer hear them.”

The White Stripes song, which sees a Kay K6533 archtop put through an octave-down DigiTech Whammy pedal, racks up 39,750 Google searches every month, scoring higher than guitar store staples Stairway to Heaven (30,375), which comes in second, and Smoke on the Water (15,750), which sits in 10th.  

Interestingly, Nirvana claims the third spot, with Come As You Are (28,750) out-Googling Heart Shaped Box (14,000) and Smells Like Teen Spirit (13,625), which come in 11th and 12th, respectively.

Metallica prove to be the most popular riffmeisters collectively, with four tracks – Nothing Else Matters (4th), Enter Sandman (7th), Master of Puppets (9th), and Fade to Black (20th) – ranking in the top 20, more than any other artist. 

When it comes to players wanting to strum along to their favorite chord progressions, Jeff Buckley's version of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah outranks the rest. 

The cut, covered by everyone from Buckley to Michael Bolton, tops the Google search charts for songs in the USA, Australia, France, and Sweden with 163,453 searches per month. The fact it's been covered so often no doubt had a big impact here. 

Ed Sheeran's Perfect (147,479) ironically has to settle for second best, while Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here makes it onto the podium with 135,979 searches.

The study has highlighted that nearly all the songs share a similarly romantic theme, arguing that love songs are the most universally appealing.

The Beatles’ classic Let It Be tops the UK (21,877) and German (24,026) listings, but has to settle for 4th place on the global scoreboard with 131,336 searches per month.

Elvis Presley, meanwhile, has proven to be a force to be reckoned with in South America. Can’t Help Falling In Love is the most-played song in 12 countries, including Mexico, Argentina, and Colombia. 

Head to Wood and Fire Studio to dissect the full survey results.

NAMM 2024: Third Man Hardware’s newest pedal, the Triple Threat – a collaborative multi-effects created in partnership with affordable gear champ Donner – was one of the hottest pieces of new gear heading into this year’s NAMM show.

As such, many of those who flocked to the Anaheim Convention Center over the weekend made a beeline towards the boutique effects pedal brand’s stand, where they were met with a surprise guest appearance from another notable piece of guitar gear.

Said piece of gear was none other than Jack White’s very own Fender Low Rider Telecaster – an absolutely wild, custom-modded Tele model that the White Stripes legend has taken on tour with him over the past few years.

We’ve been made privy to some of the electric guitar’s more eyebrow-raising specs in the past, but GuitarWorld.com’s Michael Astley-Brown was on hand at the show to get an even closer look at arguably the most insane Telecaster currently on the circuit.

Taking him through the nitty gritty of the six-string’s spec sheet was White’s guitar tech Dan Mancini, who explained some of the Low Rider’s more intriguing appointments – from its custom trio of pickups and subtly scalloped fretboard to its B-Bender.

“What’s super cool about this guitar is that, this [are] all things that were developed throughout the tour,” Mancini explains. “It’s gotten Jack excited, to be inspired and look at it in a new way. Not every guitar has all these functions on it.”

Some of the more modest mods include its triplet of Tim Shaw-designed pickups – a Filter’Tron bridge, P-90 middle and neck Wide-Range humbucker – which are wired to a none-more-White control layout, comprising a kill switch and peculiar parameter panel.

Specifically, one of the knobs doubles as a three-way toggle switch, which works as both a signal-killer in the up position and a parameter-bypasser when flicked down.

This, according to Mancini, lends itself to some choice tonal experimentation and sonic control: 

“Depending on what amp and what rig you’re playing through,” he says, “you can end up with quite a jump in treble and dynamic response by taking that load away from potentiometers.”

Elsewhere, the Chip Ellis-made monster features a V-profile neck inspired by White’s own vintage Gibson collection, a D-Tuna for swift drop D tunes, a B-Bender (because why not) and a Bigsby vibrato tremolo.

As for the scalloped fretboard, that wasn’t part of the original blueprint: “That was another fun thing that evolved on the tour. The first version didn’t have it but then [White] thought it’d be a fun idea to try that out. It’s not a full scallop in the traditional shredder sense. It’s been super fun to try. 

“This has seen a lot of life, seen a lot of shows. I’ve never played any other guitars like that. It’s been really fun seeing it all evolve throughout the tour.”

Our man on the ground gave the guitar a quick spin, and noted: “The scalloping is so subtle I didn't notice it at first, but the neck shape feels really unusual for a Telecaster. The tonal possibilities are wild, too...”

Head over to our NAMM 2024 news guide to find out more about all the best new gear releases from this year’s show.

NAMM 2024: This year’s NAMM show is packed with eye-wateringly beautiful gear and, as ever, much of it carries similarly eye-watering price tags. One of the most pleasant surprises of this year’s show, then, has been the unexpected alliance of Jack White’s uber-cool Third Man Hardware with affordable effects champions Donner. 

The result of the collaboration is a three-in-one multi-effects pedal – the excellently-titled Triple Threat – which is launching at a headline-grabbing street price of $99.

It’s predominantly aimed at the beginner guitar player, but we suspect it will also attract an interesting combination of White fans, tonal bargain hunters and anyone else in the market for a clean, clear analog multi-effects setup that can cause some sonic havoc.

Guitar World’s Paul Riario is on the floor at this year’s NAMM and made a beeline to the Donner booth to check it out – with a little help from Jack White’s trusted guitar tech Dan Mancini.

“For this pedal, we were really excited, and our main thought and concern was to get this out to entry level musicians and guitar players who are just starting out,” explains Mancini, in the clip. 

“You know what it’s like when we were teenagers and you wanted to go mow the lawn or shovel snow and save up to get your first guitar, your first effects pedal. We wanted to be able to do that and get people excited.”

White has reportedly been a fan of Donner’s Alpha FX series (which provides the basis for the unit) since its launch and we note, that its previously-issued black and yellow Cruncher unit practically looks like a Third Man product already. 

“It started out just excited about Donner products and [the sense that] these guys were doing something special here,” says Mancini. 

“[We wanted] to get something at a price point that was manageable for any level of musician. It was great to be able to take what Donner had already started and custom tailor it – and get something that is really exciting for everyone.”

Later, Mancini (armed with a Donner HUSH Series travel electric guitar) is good enough to give us a demo of the unit and, despite offering the caveat that he’s “no shredder”, certainly gets more than a few convincing Jack White-esque tones out of the unit. 

There are some wild combinations on tap, too – particularly once all-three effects are engaged and that crackling distortion base starts to bounce around the phaser and echo.

In addition to the standard black Triple Threat, a limited edition all-yellow variant is also heading to online store Reverb as an exclusive listing.

“We like doing special little runs, just to get people fired up,” says Mancini. “That’s going for $129 – and they’ll be going fast!”

We agree. Check out the full clip above and for more information on the Triple Threat, head to Third Man Hardware.

NAMM 2024: Earlier this month, Jack White teased an imminent collaboration between his pedal company, Third Man Hardware, and budget gear builder, Donner.

A cryptic silhouetted Instagram post hinted that the fruits of their collective efforts would be a stompbox of some sort, though concrete details regarding the elusive effects pedal were practically nonexistent.

That was until now: meet the Triple Threat – a three-in-one analog multi-effects pedal that puts distortion, phaser and echo effects under the roof of one relatively compact chassis.

In hindsight, that the two parties would partner to produce a pedal comes as no surprise – Third Man Hardware is celebrated for its various wild and wacky stompbox collaborations – but the Triple Threat’s price tag is definitely a talking point.

As would be expected from anything with Donner’s name on it, it’s pretty darn affordable: only $99 for a triumvirate of Jack White-approved tones.

Indeed, this makes it the most affordable Third Man Hardware-produced pedal to date, comfortably undercutting the $169 price tag of the Double Down. Heck, even the Reverb exclusive variant – which arrives with a yellow lick of paint – is only $129.

It’s certainly an enticing price point, and one that will no doubt fit well within the reach of the Triple Threat’s target market: beginner guitar players. Sure, strictly speaking it might not be the cheapest entry-level three-fer pedal out there, but it's still less than $100. Plus, how many of its competitors can boast having Jack White in its corner?

In practice, the three effects each get a portion of the pedal’s topography and have their own control sets comprising a sole footswitch and three parameters. Distortion is given Volume, Gain and Tone; Echo offers Level, Feedback and Time; and Phaser has Level, Rate and Depth.

Officially, the Triple Threat project began after White took interest in Donner's Alpha Series of effects from 2017, but the White Stripes legend's desire to build a budget-friendly pedal goes back even further.

“It has been my hope for a while to make an affordable pedal for beginning musicians,” White said in a statement. “When I approached Donner they knew what I was aiming for and we were able to make something very cool that was also not going to break the bank for a beginning musician.

“All three effects: the distortion, phaser and echo are all heavy duty. I was very impressed with them the first time I plugged into the prototype version that Donner had sent. This set of effects is for all kinds of music, all genres. Maybe not opera, though. The Triple Threat will fit very comfortably on my pedalboard.”

After collaborating with MXR, Coppersound, Gamechanger Audio and Mantic Flex for a series of high-end offerings over the past few years, White’s partnership with Donner makes for a surprising, yet very welcome, turn.

Whether this sets a precedent for future collaborations between Third Man Hardware and Donner – or any other budget brand, for that matter – remains to be seen. The thought of some more affordable Jack White effects pedals in the offing makes for a tantalizing thought, though.

As mentioned, two versions of the Triple Threat are available: the standard black-finished variant ($99), and the limited-edition Reverb-exclusive yellow unit ($129).

Head over to Donner and Third Man Hardware to find out more.

To keep up to date with all the new gear releases, head over to our guide to the latest NAMM 2024 news.

NAMM 2024: DIY effects pedal kits are having a bit of a “thing” at the moment, and now Jack White’s boutique pedal brand, Third Man Hardware, has joined by the hype train by debuting its own build-it-at-home fuzz pedal, the Fuzz-a-Tron.

Though not a new concept, the popularity of pedal kits reached unprecedented heights in late 2023 following the release of the JHS Pedals Notaklön. 

At only $99, the solderless Klon clone was one of the most affordable kits on the market, and was met with rave reviews from across the guitar world. Indeed, we tested one ourselves, and found the hype to be fully justified.

Catalinbread Effects quickly got in on the action with the Knight School Overdrive, and now Third Man Hardware – an elite pedal maker known for its premium releases and high-profile collaborations – has issued its own attempt at helping players become pedal makers with a kit of its very own.

While the Fuzz-a-Tron would be noteworthy in of itself, the price tag makes this release even more significant: it’s only $75.

At that price, not only is it poised to be one of the most affordable fuzz units out there, it’s also comfortably more affordable than its DIY pedal kit competitors, undercutting both the $99 JHS Notaklön and $85 Knight School Overdrive.

To that end, Third Man Hardware has made a serious statement with the Fuzz-a-Tron, and while it might not have the same social media exposure that JHS Pedals offerings enjoy, its DIY fuzz looks, on paper, like it could be extremely popular.

Sure, it’s a completely different beast to the Notaklön and Knight School, but when you think of White’s tone, you usually think of fuzz, and so a White-approved option effect (that you can build yourself) – for only $75 – makes for a seriously enticing prospect.

Unlike the Notaklön, the Fuzz-a-Tron requires some soldering, but Third Man Hardware says it has been designed with “the beginner in mind” and requires “little or no soldering experience”.

A QR code for online instructions is included for making sense of the various circuit board and electronic components, with the pedal also offering a Third Man sticker pack for cosmetic customization.

With a design eerily similar to the pioneering Maestro Fuzz-Tone, the Fuzz-a-Tron looks to be as easy to operate as supposedly is to assemble. 

Once assembled, there will be just two parameters – the self-explanatory Tone and Volume – as well as a sole bypass footswitch. In practice, it is said to provide an ambiguous “classic sounding fuzz” effect.

This is the latest notable release from Third Man Hardware this NAMM week, after it finally revealed the result of its collaboration with Donner: an affordable, three-in-one multi-effects pedal.

As for DIY pedals, it looks as though they weren’t part of a fleeting trend: all signs point towards their continued resurgence into this year and beyond.

To find out more, head over to Third Man Hardware.

To keep up to date with all gear releases ahead of NAMM 2024, head over to our guide to the latest NAMM 2024 news.

NAMM 2024: In a cryptic Instagram post (January 4), Jack White has teased a new collaboration between his pedal company, Third Man Hardware, and budget instrument brand, Donner.

The post includes a silhouetted picture of what, we’re guessing by the visible dials, is a pedal of some sort. It’s accompanied by the caption: “Something cool this way comes: Third Man Hardware THREATens a new collaboration.”

Jack White was quick to jump into the comments as fans started theorising what he was teasing. @allthinkingcat joked: "All right I looked up Donner. And it's either going to be a piano, a guitar, or the most unlikely a ski resort," to which Jack White responded, "It could be a bowling alley, a fella up in Terre Haute won a bowling alley." 

From our own research, we don't think it's any form of entertainment complex. But we may be wrong.

Donner, which makes budget-friendly guitars and pedals, as well as electronic drums and keyboards, was founded in 2012. It’s best known for its headless and “silent” travel guitar, the Hush-X, which was unveiled at NAMM in April ’23.   

Pedal-wise, Donner currently has a three-strong roster: a multi-effects unit, a looper and drum machine, and a chorus pedal.

Third Man Hardware is an extension of Jack White’s label, Third Man Records. The brand is well accustomed to collaborations, having already worked with MXR on its boost/signal splitting pedal, Double Down, Gamechanger Audio for the Plasma Coil distortion pedal and Union Tube & Transistor for its Bumble Buzz fuzz amongst others.  

Those pedals vary in price, with the Double Down coming in at $169, whilst the Third Man Triplegraph octave pedal, a collaboration with Coppersound Pedals, can fetch up to $449.

While there are no further details about White’s collaboration with Donner at the moment, it’s expected their creation will be one of his most affordable offerings yet, considering Donner’s commitment to accessible price points.  

Jack White released two studio albums in 2022, the folky Entering Heaven Alive and Fear of the Dawn, which finds the guitarist at his most erratic, fuzz-ravaged best. He followed that up last year with a deluxe edition of The White Stripes’ seminal album, Elephant to celebrate its 20th anniversary.

For future developments, keep your eye on Donner and Third Man Records.

On August 9, we lost Robbie Robertson, a true electric guitar legend and a masterful songwriter.

Though the group he led, The Band, never quite achieved the mammoth commercial success of some of classic rock's other top-tier acts, they were loved and respected by the members of just about all of those stadium-packing bands. 

Many of The Band's best-known songs – such as Up on Cripple Creek, The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, and It Makes No Difference – were penned by Robertson, who also, with his bandmates, backed Bob Dylan on-and-off for a number of years. 

Perhaps Robertson's most timeless composition, though, is The Weight, which appeared on The Band's 1968 debut album, Music From Big Pink, and was later immortalized as a hippie generation classic by its prominent inclusion in the film Easy Rider. 

An example of the song's impact and influence can be found in the guitar-themed 2008 documentary It Might Get Loud, which closes with Jimmy Page, The Edge, and Jack White – superstars from three generations, three very distinct bands, and with three very different approaches to the guitar – coming together for a campfire-esque cover The Weight that can be seen above. 

Each wielding a beautiful acoustic, the three play the song – while the film's credits roll – with the loose and relaxed air of an informal jam between friends. 

Said credits also feature – among other footage – White detailing the acoustic guitar he uses for the jam, a Gretsch Rancher adorned with unique, Western-themed artwork courtesy of tattoo artist Kore Flatmo. The most prominent aspect of that artwork is an etching of actress Claudette Colbert, from which the guitar gets its nickname, “Claudette.”

While – unlike White and The Edge – never taking a turn on lead vocals, Page gets his time in the spotlight too, unleashing some smokin', almost mandolin-like leads on his vintage Martin guitar.

In a 2009 interview with Entertainment Weekly, White cited the trio’s cover of The Weight as one of his favorite moments from the making of It Might Get Loud.

“I’m glad that The Edge picked that song because it was a song that none of us knew how to play,” White recalled. “So, the three of us showed each other how to play it. You hear bands do things that your bands cover, or write a new song. And you don’t get to see the genesis of it, and that was one of those times. It was the perfect thing to film. It was like, 'Oh, happily, let’s film this. This is the good stuff'.”

“I remember we had no idea we were going to do it,” added Page in the same interview, “and Edge proposed it and we said 'Yeah, ok, cool, let’s have a go.' 

“He was showing us the chords, and we were just about getting it together, when he said, 'Oh, actually the chords are not right.' (Laughs). It’s a lovely moment. It was really intimate when we were just sitting down, with the guitars, and just playing. It was quite amazing.”

‘Speed’ can be a dirty word for some guitarists. Invoke the term and you risk triggering a lengthy rant about shred, mocking comments about spandex before it all simmers to a mumble about “David Gilmour” and “finger tone”. 

Nashville’s Snõõper are an exception, in being both cool enough to be signed by Jack White’s Third Man Records and fast enough to leave you panting between licks.

Their live show is a whirling amalgam of papier maché, puppetry, whistles, onstage props, video art, audio samples and airborne bodies. 

Somehow, in between this chaos, guitarists Conner Cummins and Ian Teeple weave in unfathomably fast downstrokes and lightning quick lead work that flits in and out of your ears like passing insects (indeed, human flies tend to appear at their shows).

“It goes spectacularly wrong about one-third of the time,” observes Cummins. “People typically stage dive, then our guitarists will also be in the crowd getting unplugged, et cetera. At one of our Melbourne shows [on tour in Australia] someone was thrown full force at us sideways and just fell on to all our gear.”

Regardless, for the other two-thirds of the time it works spectacularly well. Nashville punk stalwart Cummins formed the group with vocalist Blair Tramel (“an early education teacher with a sideline in wickedly funny animation and art”) guided by a determination to do something different – and they are doing just that.

By accident or design, their frantic performances have won them a lot of fans, including their aforementioned label head honcho White, and hardcore icon Henry Rollins. Central to it all is Cummins’ blistering, downstroked playing style. 

“The guitars in Snõõper are the glue of the band in the ‘middle school’ way,” he jokes. “The rhythm holds everything together, but then you get it all over your hands.”

Cummins hails the influence of players like Johnny Ramone, Devo’s Bob 1 and late Poison Idea guitarist Pig Champion on his development – and his fundamental need for speed.

“There are fast solos in the music,” says Cummins. “But it’s different than shred players. The Fix, Koro, early Poison Idea and Die Kreuzen are big influences. I try to downstroke almost all the songs on the LP and live for maximum effect.”

There’s a lot more than simple pace going on, too. The complexity of the ideas, the smartly-timed pauses and the bouncing exchanges between Cummins and Teeple on tracks like Fitness – all 1.55 of it, below – showcase a an understanding of structure, pacing and melody that goes way beyond the usual Ramones-style ‘1-2-3-4’. 

The result has been described with some authority by Rollins as “a band who, in a 33 1/3 rpm world, make 45 rpm music they play at 78 – and it completely works.”

The band have just completed the challenge of trying to capture all this on their debut album, Super Snõõper. The record is packed with the same frenetic energy and tones from their shows – with Cummins using a new wave-favorite, the Roland Jazz Chorus, as a cornerstone for his lush, overdriven sound.

“My rig for the album is the same as our live setup: a JC-120 with no distortion or reverb with a MXR Micro Amp and Boss DD-7,” explains Cummins. “I use a ‘94 AVRI [American Vintage Reissue] Fender Jaguar with Curtis Novak Jag-V bridge pickup and Mastery bridge/vibrato. I never play the neck pickup.

“Most guitar heads scoff at the use of the Jazz Chorus for my tone, but I think it’s because they rely on onboard distortion. I have five different JC combos and two JC-120H heads. To me, they are so clean that you can truly hear the guitar playing and model your sound from the ground up.”

It’s not the only aspect of Cummins‘ approach to the guitar to go against the grain. Most of his playing career has been about developing a sound and a playing style that he can truly call his own, whether or not other players appreciate it. We ask him if he has any advice for other players in a similar situation.

“When I started playing guitar, I was bullied by people I was in bands with for my technique  – the downstrokes, speed, and style,” responds Cummins. 

“Instead of getting upset about it I just used that as motivation to become the absolute best player I could be. So don’t let anyone put you down – just keep playing until you smoke the haters!”

• Super Snõõper is out now. Head over to Instagram to keep up to date with the band’s live plans.

Jack White’s Third Man Records has announced a new online auction, which will see the organization sell-off numerous curios from the guitarist’s haul. 

The most eye-catching items for guitar players include a Framus 5/59 Sorella Archtop that featured on the White Stripes’s White Blood Cells promo shots and the Ernie Ball Music Man St. Vincent signature guitar that was played extensively on his 2018 Boarding House Reach tour. 

Unlike a lot of ‘celebrity’ auctions, the Third Man sale benefits from the direct provenance of White’s ownership and the fact that the organization has an in-house archivist, Ben Blackwell, who is tasked with keeping tabs on all of the weird and wonderful gear (guitar-based or not) that enters its Nashville premises. 

Indeed, Blackwell himself features in the Framus’ history, as he notes it was him that put it out of action for a while around 2001, after catching it on a door jamb. 

“I put a decent crack into the thing,” writes Blackwell. “I’d goofed, big time. Jack looked at me and said, ‘Well, guess who’s not getting paid for this weekend?’”

The guitar was repaired and just as well, as it held some meaning for White. The songwriter reportedly picked it up on The White Stripes’ first international tour dates in 2000 from a shop in Auckland, New Zealand. 

“Jack had his eyes on the guitar, but with the asking price of eight-hundred New Zealand dollars, he left the store without pulling the trigger,” says Blackwell. 

“John Baker, promoter of the tour (and soon-to-become long-time White Stripes tour manager) said ‘The New Zealand dollar is really weak right now. You should go and offer him $600 for that guitar.’ 

“With nothing to lose, Jack did just that and walked out the happy owner of this beautiful, redburst Framus Sorella model guitar with removable pickguard outfitted with pickups for electrification.”

The hollow-body German-built electric guitar is thought to date to the ’60s and featured most notably in the We’re Going To Be Friends video, as well as on the iconic red and white promo shots in the White Stripes’ White Blood Cells era.

Also in the sale is White’s Ernie Ball Music Man St Vincent signature model, which he used throughout his 2018 Boarding House Reach tour and was refinished in a custom blue, with a stripped neck, in keeping with the tour’s blue-obsessed aesthetic. White used the instrument in his Saturday Night Live appearance on April 14, 2018 to perform Connected By Love.

“The St. Vincent guitar looks great and sounds great,” White told Guitar World in 2018. “She gave me that guitar. She sent it to me as a present. That was really kind of her. I put these blue aluminum Lace sensor pickups on it, and an interrupter switch so I can turn the whole guitar on and off and get the kind of effects that I try to accomplish. And I put a black neck on it.”

The final notable guitar-y lot is a Sears Silvertone guitar amp that formerly belonged to Mick Collins of the Gories – a Detroit garage rock group that White much admired.

It’s a lovely-looking solid-state head with a built-in reverb and tremolo circuits, two channels (with dual inputs) and independent two-band EQs – though, it must be noted it comes with a warning. 

“[It’s] a quintessential piece of important Detroit rock and roll history,” notes Blackwell. “Sold as-is, we honestly can’t remember if it works or not. IT BELONGS IN A MUSEUM!!”

Elsewhere, the extensive and varied sale includes an iconic swirl-headed Ludwig drum kit from the White Stripes’ Hardest Button To Button video, an 1970s electric car, arcade machines, White’s 2013 Tesla vehicle, furniture and, perhaps most weirdly, a cast iron autopsy table from the mid-20th Century. 

“I remember when this one showed up at Third Man about a decade ago,” comments Blackwell. “We’d heard murmurs that it came from Oak Ridge, Tennessee. That’s where a bunch of top secret US government shit went down, specifically enriching the uranium used in the Little Boy atomic bomb. You know, lighthearted stuff. 

“As the rumor went, a lot of people autopsied on this table showed signs of radiation exposure. I think it’s probably like 99% bullshit, but I don’t even know how we’d fact check that… [But there’s a] super-small chance that it’s irradiated and possibly haunted by the ghosts of long-deceased Manhattan Project scientists. No big deal.”

Jack White has always had very unique tastes, but we’ll, er, probably stick to the guitars on this one, thanks very much…

Head to auction site, Everything But The House for the full Third Man Garage Sale collection.

Bob Rock has said that both Jimmy Page and Jack White told him that they loved St. Anger – Metallica’s much-maligned eighth studio album, released in 2003. 

The producer was speaking on Chris Jericho’s Talk Is Jericho podcast, where he was asked about his role in St. Anger. Though he acknowledged the album's less-than-enthusiastic reception, Rock largely defended the band's creative decisions, in addition to sharing anecdotes of praise from the two electric guitar heroes.

“Two guys in the whole world [told me they liked that record]," Rock tells Jericho in the interview. "Jack White, when It Might Get Loud [came out], at the premiere – I happened to be in Toronto when it happened – came up to me from across the room and he says, ‘By the way, I love St. Anger. It’s an amazing album.’ Then he left.“

In a way, it's not entirely surprising that White – whose love of raw, no-bells-and-whistles music runs deep – was a fan of the record, which remains infamous for its lack of guitar solos and clanging snare sound. 

The praise from Page, though, is definitely eyebrow-raising.

“Jimmy Page – not to drop names but he’s kind of a friend – was at the Sunset Marquis, eating breakfast on the other side of the pool," Rock recalls. "Someone walked by and said, ‘I’m here to see Bob Rock.’ He said, ‘Oh, Bob’s here?’ And he came over and talked to me, which blew my mind, coming from Winnipeg! That Jimmy Page even knows my name, you know? He said, ‘By the way, I loved St. Anger. It’s a great album.’”

Kind words from figures as titanic in the guitar and music universe as those two, Rock feels, somewhat balances out – for him – the harsh criticism of the LP from other listeners.

“I’m okay," Rock says. "Those two guys bought the album. With those two [liking it] I’m fine, right?”

The stories sprung from Jericho's question about St. Anger's two famous quirks – the aforementioned snare sound and lack of solos. 

Of the former, Rock recounts, “We went to Oakland with the fan club, to the house where they practiced with [late Metallica bassist] Cliff Burton. When we got back to their studio, I asked the drum tech to drag out the drum kit from that. He dragged out the kit, this Tama set, and it just sat there in the studio for probably two months.

“Lars [Ulrich], when he started to play, said, ‘Give me a snare drum’ and I just bought that snare drum at a local music store. For whatever reason, he says, ‘Let’s just use this!’ And I put up four microphones, one on each kick, one on top of kit and one on the snare, and he said, ‘That’s it!’ I said, ‘What do you mean that’s it?’ He said, ‘This is the sound we’re gonna do.’ 

“All I can say is there’s this great album by Iggy [Pop] and The Stooges called Raw Power, and if you think about it, St. Anger sounds like the band in that house. There was no harmonies, no fixing anything, it’s just raw.”

As for the solos, Rock maintains, “That was a rule that I didn’t make, by the way. I’m not going to say what happened there. There was a band called The Fucking Champs from San Francisco and all they did was put riffs together, so that was the basis of that.” 

In one of the Jericho interview's other eyebrow-raising anecdotes, Rock said that Mötley Crüe's Nikki Sixx approached him during the sessions for the band's Dr. Feelgood album and alleged that someone had replaced his bass parts on early Mötley Crüe albums.

Jack White took to the Saturday Night Live stage this past weekend (February 25) to perform a total of three tracks from his two 2022 records, Fear of the Dawn and Entering Heaven Alive.

White, who recently completed his monumental Supply Chain Issues tour in support of the above records, selected some of his most prized acoustic and electric guitars for the televised outing, opting for his blue Fender Three-Wheel Motion Low Rider Telecaster and one-off silver burst-esque Acoustasonic Telecaster for the occasion.

No doubt White would have been spoilt for six-string choice going into the performance – his suite of stellar, custom-made guitars was put on display during a recent pro-shot Paris concert – but he used his chosen examples to devastating effect for performances of A Tip From You to Me and Taking Me Back/Fear of the Dawn.

For that first track, it’s the Acoustasonic that got put through its paces, accommodating White’s swaggering strums with a crystal clean tone.

However, it’s White’s mash-up of Taking Me Back and Fear of the Dawn that will really get guitar fans salivating, with the White Stripes legend calling upon his crazy Telecaster and famously well-equipped pedalboard for a five minute tour-de-tone.

From fuzz tones that sound like they’ve been drip-fed through a high speed blender to off-the-chain pitch shifting sounds that catapult the track into another tonal dimension, it’s White at his captivating best, with a no-holds-barred guitar solo putting the full-stop – nay, the exclamation mark – at the end of a truly wild rendition.

The fact that White’s performance looks so well-drilled is not only down to the fact he’s one his generation’s standout performers, but he’s also just come off the back of a rigorous tour, for which the same energy would’ve been required on a nightly basis.

Highlights from White’s Supply Chain Issues tour – of which there are many – include a performance of Nirvana’s Heart-Shaped Box, and a rendition of The Hardest Button to Button for which White recruited his 16-year-old daughter to assume bass duties.

Another highlight from White’s whirlwind trek was a secret set at the UK’s Glastonbury festival, which saw one of the first filmed live outings for White’s Acoustasonic axes.

On Monday, Jack White took to the stage at Third Man Records in Nashville, Tennessee, for the latest installment of his sprawling Supply Chain Issues tour – an evening that featured a special guest on bass guitar.

Upon returning for the set’s encore, White called upon his daughter, Scarlett White, to join him, with the 16-year-old musician holding down the low-end for a rendition of the White Stripes’ The Hardest Button to Button.

Wielding a white Fender Precision Bass, as opposed to her father’s custom-made Fender Telecaster Bass, Scarlett White made light work of the track’s thumping bassline while Jack went to town on his wild, three-pickup blue sparkle Fender Telecaster.

On Instagram, Scarlett’s mother – Karen Nelson – wrote, “Miss Scarlett Teresa White. My beautiful, kind, never wants to be the center of attention with a heart of solid gold daughter. What a sweet moment with [Jack White].”

White returned to the same venue a day later for another Supply Chain Issues show, though The Hardest Button to Button – and, by extension, Scarlett White – had been dropped from the running order.

Nevertheless, it’s clear that musical talent runs throughout the White family, and if Scarlett should ever decide to pursue her own career in music, she’s already shown she’s got the basic practical chops to get her started.

White’s final Supply Chain Issues show is penciled in for February 24, and we imagine it’s unlikely Scarlett will get another run-out before the curtain comes down on what has been a mammoth touring effort from the White Stripes man.

Next time the pair team up on stage, though, we reckon she should be upgraded to that crazy Chip Ellis-built Telecaster bass we mentioned – highlights of which include a fretless design and Blue Sparkle design.

The Telecaster bass is just one of a number of wild instruments White has showcased throughout the Supply Chain Issues tour, with his live arsenal including the likes of a pitch-shifting Fender Jazzmaster, a one-off Acoustasonic Jazzmaster and a custom Acoustasonic Telecaster of a similar ilk.

In other White news, the prolific songwriter recently paid tribute to the late Jeff Beck, who passed away earlier this year, by sharing footage of the two jamming at the Royal Festival Hall in London on September 13, 2002.

The White Stripes icon also released the latest addition to his ever-growing collection of Third Man Hardware custom effects, the Double Down, which was created in collaboration with MXR.

On Wednesday (January 11), Jeff Beck – one of the greatest and most influential electric guitar players of all time – passed away at the age of 78.

Beck's death prompted an outpouring of tributes from across the guitar world, including one from Jack White, who cited him as a "guitar innovator extraordinaire."

As part of his salute to Beck, White also shared a clip of him jamming with the Strat-toting legend, White Stripes drummer Meg White and future Raconteurs bass guitar player Jack Lawrence at the Royal Festival Hall in London on September 13, 2002. 

Beck was the headlining act on this particular evening, and chose The White Stripes to act, as White put it, as "The Yardbirds" for a rollicking set of Yardbirds tunes. You can see fan-filmed footage of all seven songs the supergroup-of-sorts played together below.

Though Beck's tenure with The Yardbirds was brief – less than two years in total – its impact on the development of rock guitar playing was incalculable. 

The snarl and bite of Beck's tone on the band's cover of Train Kept a Rollin’, in particular, was hugely formative in the development of the aggressive, distorted garage- and blues-rock guitar sounds that would dominate rock in the years to come, and – decades later – shape the driving sound of the White Stripes.

Indeed, Train Kept a Rollin’ was the first song the trio played together that September 2002 evening. Beck looks right at home on the stage, matching the young duo's intensity beat-for-beat – a testament to both his restless creative spirit and the timelessness of his sharp-edged and lyrical guitar sound.

“Jeff Beck, guitar innovator extraordinaire has moved to the next realm," White wrote on Instagram. "I wrote to him a couple of years ago to show him that I was standing where he once stood inside Sam Phillips studio in Memphis some 50 odd years before. He was amazingly kind and instructional to me over the years. 

"Many shows that I’ve played began moments after listening to his song Led Boots backstage. This bootleg clip that I’m posting is when I had one of the greatest thrills of my life – along with Meg White and Jack Lawrence of the Greenhornes, we were 'The Yardbirds' for one night backing up Jeff at the Royal Festival Hall in London. 

"In our rehearsals he plugged straight into an amp, no effects pedals," White continued. "He was changing the sound of the guitar and doing things people didn’t know were possible from his earliest days on stage. God bless you Jeff, you must already be chatting with Cliff Gallup somewhere.”

Jack White’s Third Man Hardware pedal company has unveiled its newest effects pedal – the Double Down, which was made in partnership with MXR.

Available in a standard and Reverb-exclusive iteration, the humble functional unit was inspired by the MXR Micro Amp – a favorite of White’s – and has been dubbed effectively two Micro Amp pedals in one unit.

Specifically, the Double Down is loaded with a pair of Micro Amp circuits, which grants users two independent channels of “classic MXR preamp gain”.

In an in-depth demo video, which also charts White’s previous Third Man Hardware exploits, the White Stripes legend says the Double Down was crafted in an effort to give musicians of all types a stereo version of the prized pedal.

“We want to make things that appeal to people from all kinds of genres, and a Micro Amp like that has a vast appeal to people for all kinds of applications," White noted. ”You could see people using this for vocals or some kind of stereo effect for instruments.”

The Double Down was also born out of White's own personal affinity for the original Micro Amp, which he estimates he switched to in 1997 after a hardware update meant the DigiTech Whammy pedal he'd been using as a de facto boost pedal no longer granted him his go-to sound.

In practice, the Double Down features two outputs to connect the pedal to two separate amps, as well as two individual controls that can be used to dial in amp-specific levels of gain. There’s also a Phase switch for a stereophonic effect and a Buffer switch to select between true and buffered bypass.

The Double Down is quite literally two Micro Amps in one, with the original featuring a sole output, gain level control and single bypass footswitch. Interestingly, the Double Down hasn’t doubled up on the footswitches, meaning the gain boost is either applied to two amps or it isn’t: there’s no option to boost one amp while the other stays neutral.

Ever the effects craftsman, White puts the pedal through various test rigs in the demo video, in which he can be heard sending one signal through a Bumble Buzz and Triplegraph to a Fender Vibroverb, and the second through a Plasma Coil and Flex to a Silvertone.

In another clip, White keeps one amp clean while boosting another through the Bumble Fuzz pedal. The results, as you can imagine, are quintessential White.

“I'm not big on the, 'This is the Jack White distortion pedal: get that Jack White sound,’” White went on to say. “I don't really want to sell that concept. I'd rather try to make something useful that other people can get their sound out of.”

Two different iterations of the Double Down are available. The standard version will be joined by a limited-edition yellow variant, which is exclusive to Third Man Hardware’s official Reverb store.

To find out more, head over to Reverb.

Despite kicking things off over 10 months ago, Jack White has only just completed his mammoth Supply Chain Issues world tour, and recently capped off the tour’s Asian leg with a performance at the Zepp Kuala Lumpur Stadium in Malaysia.

Though the concert contained many of White’s 2022 setlist stalwarts – including tracks from his two new albums, Fear of the Dawn and Entering Heaven Alive – the White Stripes legend also took the opportunity to pay tribute to grunge trailblazers Nirvana with a cover of their 1993 track, Heart-Shaped Box.

It featured fairly early on the setlist and followed two White Stripes cuts – Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground and When I Hear My Name – with White opting for his crazy custom blue Fender Jazzmaster for the occasion.

Captured via fan footage, White wielded his unique offset for a swampy take on the Nirvana number, and layered on a healthy amount of gain to deliver the chorus’s speaker-smashing sucker punches.

Despite using his unique Jazzmaster, White decided against using the guitar’s built-in pitch-shifting powers, instead keeping things sonically streamlined and relatively faithful to Cobain and co’s original cut.

For those wishing to see the wild six-string in action, White has already demonstrated its tonal capabilities on many occasions. The experimental gear hero first took to Instagram in an effort to make Tom Morello jealous, before putting the guitar through its paces during his Glastonbury Festival secret set.

The Jazzmaster is just one of a number of crazy instruments White has taken on the road with him. Also making up White’s guitar arsenal is a custom blue sparkle Telecaster, a one-off Acoustasonic Jazzmaster, a fretless Tele bass and a unique Acoustasonic Telecaster. All of these guitars could be seen in action during White’s set at the Olympia in Paris earlier this year.

White’s rendition of Heart-Shaped Box wasn’t the only cover on the setlist. Shortly after, he treated attendees to a version of U2’s Love is Blindness. The guitar star also took a trip down his extended repertoire, delivering performances of tracks from his other groups, The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather.