Van Halen is Back: Guaranteed to Satisfy

All is forgiven. The cheesy keyboards on “Jump”. The parachute pants and bandanas. The entire Sammy Hagar experience. Gary Fucking Cherone.

All is forgotten. Steve Vai’s heart-shaped triple-neck guitar. The porno-flick soundtrack. Valerie Bertinelli. Chickenfoot. None of it matters now.

Van Halen is back, which you’ve heard before. Hold on, though – they’re back with singer David Lee Roth, which you’ve also heard before, but what you haven’t heard until now is a studio album from a reunited Van Halen. With the release of the first track and accompanying video, “Tattoo”, it’s official, even without original bassist Michael Anthony in the lineup (replaced by Eddie’s kid, Wolfgang, making Van Halen something of a family reality show). Read the story »

New Wah Pedal in store for Bonamassa Fans

The pedal isn’t currently listed on Dunlop’s site or available in shops yet, but we reckon the manufacturer’s holding out for January’s NAMM show, before it officially unveils the product.

As you can see the obvious aesthetic difference between the Bonamassa signature Cry Baby and its ‘stock’ sister is a rather attractive copper top finish, which we reckon could prove desirable enough to entice non-Bonamassa fans too. Read the story »

History of the Fender Telecaster

The Fender Telecaster is seen by many as the primordial electric guitar. Sure, one can argue that Paul Bigsby was also developing solid body instruments at the same time and in the same general area as Leo Fender but it is the Telecaster that is generally accepted as the first production solid guitar and the start of the modern guitar manufacturing business. Since its debut in 1952 Read the story »