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YOU WONT BELIEVE: Custom shop - What They Never Told You

Gibson has just made a forensic Custom Shop replica of Billy Gibbons’ Pearly Gates Les Paul – and if you buy one you’ll be treated to an exclusive performance from the ZZ Top frontman

This Collector's Edition replica is limited to just 30 instruments worldwide and Gibbons is launching it himself with an exclusive event on October 16 at the Gibson Garage Nashville

MusicRadar

“These guitars are sacred things to me”: Guitar Center unveils its latest Eric Clapton charity collab, with the 2026 Exclusive Crossroads Guitar Collection featuring stunning Martin acoustics and the return of the Blind Faith Tele

Martin unveils a Brazilian rosewood $24,999 Custom 000-42, PRS paints the Silver Sky blue and more – all exclusive to Guitar Center with a portion of sales going to the Crossroads Centre

MusicRadar

"Surprisingly playable considering the monster string gauge": Jackson Pro Plus Series Signature Sleep Token IV Monarkh SC review

A 30-inch extended-scale guitar built for crushing, low-tuned modern metal riffs can't be versatile too, can it?

Guitar World

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Fender honors George Harrison’s legendary Beatles Bass VI with Custom Shop reissue: “It played a defining role in some of the most influential recordings ever made”

Harrison famously wielded the 1967 Bass VI in the promotional video for Hey Jude

Guitar World

"It gives the Custom Shop ‘54 pickups in my own Strat a run for their money": Fender Vintera III Late '50s Stratocaster review

Fender sends a love letter to the golden age of guitars with an accessible vintage-inspired instrument

Guitar World

Jake Bowen goes headless as Periphery guitarist officially swaps Ibanez for Strandberg – but what will his signature model look like and when might we see it?

The Periphery guitarist had been playing various Strandbergs of late, and now joins Plini, Per Nilsson and Jacob Collier on the artist roster

MusicRadar

“His dedication to Gibson’s quality and legacy is beyond reproach”: 5 ways Cesar Gueikian transformed Gibson – and proved to be a very different kind of guitar CEO

As he leaves the top job at one of the world’s biggest guitar companies, we look back at the Gibson leader’s legacy – and how he oversaw a renaissance for the Nashville guitar giant

Guitar World

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“I was gonna design a guitar that was for soloing specifically”: More frets equals more shred for Brandon Ellis as he unveils signature Jackson Kelly with 27 stainless steel frets and serious Seymour Duncan firepower

The Cannibal Corpse touring guitarist's Kelly is finished in Gold Crackle and comes loaded with his Dyad Parallel Axis humbucker and a Gotoh double-locking vibrato

MusicRadar

“The benchmark for vintage authenticity”: Gibson revisits the Golden Era of the original P-90 hollowbody with exquisite Custom Shop reissues of the ’59 and ’62 ES-330

Dog-ear P-90s, a super-resonant build, one with a fat neck, one with a slim neck, these are a welcome return to the Gibson Custom lineup

MusicRadar

“One night, Duane was sitting on the floor playing slide. I said, ‘You’ve got to show me how to do that’”: Don Felder on what he learned from Duane Allman, how many guitars are in his awe-inspiring collection and why he isn’t stopping any time soon

A little dehydration aside, there is nothing stopping the former Eagles man. Here he discusses his epic guitar collection and his new compilation, The Vault 1975-2025: Fifty Years of Music

Guitar World

“We need our community’s help”: California music store appealing for aid following the theft of four Fender Custom Shop Stratocasters

Wild West Guitars is pleading for help recovering the guitars, two of which were made to commemorate its 25th anniversary

Guitar World

“Some of these guitars have doubled in value between 2019 and now”: The best guitar bargains on Reverb – and how to get more for your old gear

Cyril Nigg, data science leader at Reverb, shares some tips for buying and selling online and discusses some of the trends shaping the used market

Guitar World

“A lot of people say, ‘I can draga guitar behind my car and then sell it for that price.’ It’s like, ‘OK, go do itthen!” In the court of the Master Builders – Fender’s Custom Shop gurus spill the secrets of their trade

With Fender’s Custom Shop nearing its 40th anniversary, we catch up with two of its most sought-after Master Builders, Austin MacNutt and Andy Hicks, to talk Teles, Jazzmasters, mods and more

Guitar World

“Deputies hit all the right notes bringing this case to a close”: Police officers in California recover $60,000 worth of stolen guitars – still with Guitar Center price tags on

The five high-value guitars were found in the suspect's car trunk

Guitar World

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MusicRadar

Misha Mansoor’s Evertune-equipped 8-string Juggernaut is here and it might be the heaviest signature guitar Jackson has ever made

“I think the Evertune was the final piece of the puzzle,” says the Periphery riff-master as this extended-range monster arrives in a Nardo Gray finish and Mansoor's signature humbuckers

MusicRadar

The Seymour Duncan Custom Shop just released a stunning hand-wound replica an OG humbucker from the dawn of the high-gain era

This 50th Anniversary release sees the Duncan Custom reverse-engineered and offered as a signed, limited edition set with a hand-wound '59 neck humbucker

Guitar World

“I wanted to be a little bit like Joe Strummer, a little bit Bruce Springsteen, a little bit punk”: A “hammer” with strings? Fender teams up with Brian Fallon for limited edition ’59 Telecaster Custom

It’ll cost you the best part of seven thousand bucks but this stunning Telecaster is the Fender Custom Shop doing Fender Custom Shop things again

Guitar World

“Gibson said, ‘We really can’t reproduce that wah effect,’ so they went to Chandler and bought all of the ones they had in stock”: Joe Perry on how Jimmy Page inspired his custom ‘90s Black Burst Les Paul Standard

A doozy from the Gibson Custom Shop that inspired the Aerosmith man's signature model, this single-cut is hot-wired for a tone that sets it apart from garden variety Les Pauls

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Guitar World

“For those who stand at the crossroads of Hell and rock ‘n’ roll”: Jackson’s Diablo crossover Kelly is inspired by the Lord of Hatred – but you’re still going to love it

Fans begged for the Diablo Kelly to make a return after Jackson dropped a Custom Shop version in 2023

Guitar World

“I’ve literally waited years for this to come out. It’s even nicer than I imagined it would be”: All the guitar gear that has caught my eye this week – including another potentially game-changing AI practice amp

Featuring new drops from Jackson, PRS, Wylde Audio, Charvel, and more

Guitar World

“I didn’t expect this to inspire me so much”: Jackson finally releases Misha Mansoor’s Surfcaster – one of the most anticipated offset guitar releases of the modern era

Almost two years after the Periphery maestro first showed off his baritone Surfcaster, Jackson has made it available as a limited-edition custom shop model

Guitar World

“Something you’ll hear a lot of is, ‘Oh, you didn’t earn that relicing.’ But people who like it aren't thinking of it like that”: The real reason why relicing is so popular, according to a Fender Custom Shop Masterbuilder

The pre-worn fad is sweeping the guitar community, but why do some deride the concept as ‘stolen valor’?

Guitar World

“I still think Johnny Christ is one of the most underrated bass players ever”: The story behind Intervals virtuoso Jacob Umansky’s signature bass – and why Avenged Sevenfold changed his life

The Intervals and Nita Strauss bassist’s personalized 6-string Dingwall was first made as a one-off artist build – only for it to turn into his first-ever signature model

Guitar World

“I was the only guy playing that guitar. It was their version of a semi-hollow”: How Robben Ford helped Fender design their short-lived answer to the ES-335

The short-lived build aimed to compete with one of Gibson's flagship models

Guitar World

“Even with their sub-$500 tickets, these guitars have been built with some degree of care and expertise”: Epiphone J-45 Studio and J-200 Studio review

A brace of familiar Gibson acoustic designs bearing the Epiphone brand name and a price tag of around one tenth of an original

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