General Interest

The 75-year-old – who’s not sure how he gets his sound – almost gave up playing when Gibson discontinued the ES-125. Now he says he’ll keep going until the guitar gives up on him

Sweetwater's 4th of July sale is here and sees up to 60% off a massive range of gear from the likes of Boss, Sire, Guild, Gretsch, and more

A series of high-profile guitar shops have permanently closed their shutters over the last couple of months – but one of the UK’s most well-known music stores, Andertons, is navigating the storm

Last month, eagle-eyed fans clocked something different when Mammoth’s latest single, The End, dropped with a noticeably shorter name. Gone were the initials WVH, leaving the group officially known as simply Mammoth.

As frontman Wolfgang Van Halen now confirms, that’s how he always wanted it – and the only thing standing in the way until now was a trademark issue.

• READ MORE: “I’m really just not interested in playing it anymore without dad”: Wolfgang reveals why he doesn’t listen to Van Halen anymore

“It’s what I’ve always wanted it to be,” the guitarist tells KOMP 92.3 [via Blabbermouth]. “It’s just we didn’t have the trademark. And so now that we do, we can finally be what I’ve always wanted to be.”

While the original Mammoth WVH moniker served its purpose, Wolfgang admits he was never a fan of the clunky title: “It’s a mouthful. You don’t need it,” he says.

“I mean, I always say ‘Mammoth’ at the shows anyway. Now it’s just official.”

For the uninitiated, Mammoth isn’t just a cool band name. It’s a direct nod to Wolfgang’s legendary dad, Eddie Van Halen, who played – alongside his brother Alex – in a short-lived band called Mammoth before changing their name to Van Halen.

Wolfgang previously revealed that he asked for his dad’s blessing to revive the name when he was just 15 and Eddie, ever supportive, gave it wholeheartedly.

The latest name change also underscores Wolfgang’s ongoing balancing act: embracing his musical legacy while forging his own creative path.

“Man, is it a fucking tight rope to walk,” said Wolfgang in a previous interview where he reflected on the weight of the Van Halen name. “With the shadow I’m under and the expectations… It’s, like, I wanna be able to have the opportunity to reference my lineage, but not copy it and just put a flag in it and sit there and play Panama for everybody every night. I wanna be able to be my own person.”

In related news, Wolfgang Van Halen recently confirmed that he will be pulling out of Black Sabbath’s farewell show next week due to scheduling conflicts.

“I, unfortunately, had to back out because the Creed tour starts the day after, and I wouldn’t be able to pull it off – unfortunately,” he said. “I’m very excited to watch it, but I unfortunately had to back out.”

The post “We can finally be what I’ve always wanted to be”: Wolfgang Van Halen on why Mammoth has officially dropped the ‘WVH’ from its name appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

The years 1974 to '78 were good times for Thin Lizzy creatively, with the twin-guitar dynamite of Robertson and Gorham in the engine room. But they weren't half volatile...

Eric Gales is set to release A Tribute To LJK, a new album dedicated to his late brother and blues guitar phenom Manuel Gales aka Little Jimmy King.

To mark the announcement, Gales has unveiled Somebody, a soulful new track that closes the record and finds him trading licks with the legendary Buddy Guy and ‘sacred steel’ guitarist Roosevelt Collier.

• READ MORE: “His future is as bright as his talent is undeniable”: Jason Becker applauds Matteo Mancuso after meet-up that “bridged generations of guitar greatness” 

“It’s just a really dope song, man, and I thought it was a great way to end the record. Buddy Guy is a legend,” says Gales, noting that the idea for the collaboration actually came from his wife LaDonna.

“She said, ‘I think you should see if Buddy is available. We don’t know how much time any of us has, so while you have the opportunity, you should give it a shot.’ So we went for it, and he said yeah. He knew my brother, and they played together, so I think it was easy for him to agree to do this song – and the rest is history.”

Of the song’s making, Gales explains that “Me and Buddy actually did our parts at separate times, but you wouldn’t know it: It seems like we’re in the same room at the same time. And that was the intention, to bridge the gap between semi-old and middle-aged, if you will.”

“That’s an anthological sort of tune, in how it starts off acoustically, blows up big, then comes back down again.”

Produced by Joe Bonamassa and Josh Smith, A Tribute To LJK features all original material by Little Jimmy King (save for one song), reinterpreted through Gales’ lens. Aside from Guy and Collier, the record also boasts appearances from a host of heavyweights, including Christone ‘Kingfish’ Ingram, Joe Bonamassa, and Josh Smith.

“This record has been a long time coming,” says Gales. “I wanted it to be the ultimate tribute to my late brother, Little Jimmy King, to keep his memory alive and make sure people remember who he was and still is.”

“I wanted to deliver his tunes to the world through my eyes. And I wanted it to be badass – and that’s exactly how it turned out.”

While he “foresaw a great record”, Gales admits he “didn’t foresee it turning out as amazing as this”: “My brother is there throughout this whole record – and I can’t wait for it to start turning people’s heads…”

A prodigy out of the Bluff City, Manuel Gales played with Albert King’s band in his teens before launching a solo career that earned him critical acclaim through the ‘90s. He died of a heart attack in 2002 at the age of 37.

A Tribute To LJK is now available to pre-order. The album will be released digitally on 29 August and physically (vinyl & CD) on 24 October. Listen to the first single Somebody below.

The post “I didn’t foresee it turning out as amazing as this”: Eric Gales and Buddy Guy trade licks in new album honouring his late brother Little Jimmy King appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

The British blues rock guitarist received Campbell’s seal of approval on social media

Pop icons with pointy metal guitars, oddball Masterbuilt Fenders, historic Martins and more – Glastonbury was a dream weekend for players, and here are the pictures to prove it

Tool guitarist Adam Jones explains how Tony Iommi's triumph over adversity was every bit as influential as his horror-influenced riffs – and what to expect from his Back to the Beginning collabs with Tom Morello and Billy Corgan

Glastonbury is the biggest and most iconic music festival on earth, and so it stands to reason that with over 3,000 performers stepping on stage at Worthy Farm every that there will be plenty of extremely cool and interesting guitars getting shown off to the world along with it.

• READ MORE: “I buy them from Sweetwater”: Vintage obsessive Joe Bonamassa’s pedalboard consists entirely of “standard-issue” modern effects

But some guitars stand out more than others, either for their uniqueness, rarity or sheer incongruity. With that in mind, here are the coolest guitars we saw at Glastonbury over the weekend.

Photo by Harry Durrant/Getty Images

Matty Healy’s Octave Fuzz Telecaster

The 1975 headlined the Pyramid Stage on Friday night, and while Adam Hann might do most of the guitar work for the band these days (often leaning on his trusty paint-spattered Music Man JP6), frontman Matty Healy’s guitar choice for the evening was definitely one of the most interesting.

The guitar itself caught my eye instantly because how many Teles do you see with see-through scratchplates for one? But then on closer inspection you can spot some very un-standard wiring inside too.

That’s for good reason – the guitar is a creation of one of the Fender Custom Shop’s most interesting builders, Levi Perry. Perry has rapidly earned a rep for loading his builds with built-in effects, and this Fuzz Brain ’67 Tele is no exception – sporting built in fuzz, octave and delay circuits.

Healy didn’t seem to use any of them in anger during Friday night’s set, but it’s still one of the cooler takes on a ‘Smuggler’ Tele out there.

Photo by Joseph Okpako/WireImage

Beabadoobee’s Fairlaine Zephyr

London boutique luthier Fairlane has been building a cult following among British and Irish artists over the last couple of years, with everyone from Radiohead’s Ed O’Brien and Mogwai’s Stuart Braithwaite, to Fontaines DC’s Conor Curley and of course, Beatrice Laus herself.

You may have heard of them under their previous monicker of Providence, which is the name still branded on the headstock of this custom pink Zephyr that has been Bea’s guitar of choice for a few years now.

Photo by Joseph Okpako/WireImage

Rhian Teasdale’s BC Rich Mockingbird Acrylic

Whisper it friends, but is BC Rich about to make a comeback as the ironically cool musician’s guitar of choice?

Phoebe Bridgers has been playing various BC Rich guitars on stage for a few years now (and memorably trashed one on stage during her SNL appearance in 2021), and now Wet Leg’s Rhian Teasdale seems to be taking it to another level with this super-rare Mockingbird Acrylic in Antifreeze yellow.

There’s a price to pay to look this cool however – the lucite-bodied Mockingbird are legendarily heavy… no wonder she didn’t play guitar much in her set.

Elsewhere in Wet Leg, lead guitarist Hester Chambers seems to have ditched her offsets for a Kramer Galaxie, leading me to wonder if the SuperStrat might be also prime for a crossover comeback?

With Turnstile’s Meg Mills and Olivia Rodrigo guitarist Daisy Spencer also rocking Jackson Super at Glasto this weekend, the evidence is mounting…

Photo by Samir Hussein/WireImage

Ron Wood’s Zemaitis ‘Disc Front’

The Rolling Stones guitarist Ron Wood joined his former Faces bandmate Rod Stewart on stage for Glasto’s Sunday afternoon legends slot, and it was fitting then that he did so sporting one of his most iconic guitars ever.

The Tony Zemaitis ‘Disc Front’ guitar was created for Ronnie around 1971, and he’s used the guitar throughout his time in both The Faces and The Stones. The UK luthier’s distinctive metal- and pearl-fronted guitars were used by pretty much everyone from that era – including Hendrix, Harrison and Wood’s bandmate Keith Richards – but Ronnie remains the brand’s most dedicated exponent.

Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images

Noah Kahan’s Fender Coronado

We’ve been used to seeing Noah Kahan playing a variety of Gibson semis and acoustics as he’s exploded into a global superstar over the last couple of years, but the Glastonbury set was notable for some interesting Fender semi-hollow diversions.

The most heavily featured was a vintage black Fender Starcaster, with those all-important Wide-Range humbuckers, but the most striking was undoubtedly a love-it-or-loathe-it Antigua Burst Coronado.

Photo by Harry Durrant/Getty Images

Ellie Rowsell’s 1970s Gretsch Super Chet

The Wolf Alice frontwoman has tended to lean on Fender Telecasters and Jazzmasters as live guitars over the London band’s first 15 years, but her current main guitar squeeze is an interesting Gretsch curio.

The Super Chet is an evolution of the Chet Atkins guitar and sports pickguard-mounted controls and some ornate pearl work on the fretboard and headstock. A very unusual Gretsch that was only made between 1973 and 1980.

Photo by Yui Mok/PA Images via Getty Images

Olivia Rodrigo’s modded vintage Mustang

The US pop sensation Olivia Rodrigo brought the curtain down on the festival on Sunday night, and while she played a custom purple Music Man St Vincent on tour last year, recently she’s switched it up to a bunch of red Fender offsets.

The pick of the bunch is this vintage Mustang, which from the looks of things appears to be a mid-60s example with suitably yellowed pearlescent pickguard and a fair few battle scars – but the most interesting thing from a guitar-nerd perspective is the tailpiece.

Rather than the classic Mustang tremolo system, Rodrigo’s example pairs a very non-vintage Mastery bridge with a unique hardtail tailpiece – I’ve never seen anything like this elsewhere, so I’ll assume it’s custom.

Photo by Jim Dyson/Redferns

Neil Young’s Old Black

Neil Young might have faced some stern competition from Charli XCX when he headlined Saturday night, but for a guitar connoisseur there really wasn’t any question where you’d want to be.

Young brought out some of his most iconic instruments, including Hank Williams’ 1941 D-28, his Bigsby-loaded ’54 Goldtop and of course, the most iconic and legendary of them all Old Black.

The black-refinished 1953 Les Paul with a Firebird mini-humbucker in the bridge and a Bigsby vibrato has been Young’s constant companion since his Buffalo Springfield days, and it is without doubt the most iconic and special guitar to feature at Glastonbury 2025.

The post In pictures: the coolest guitars of Glastonbury 2025 appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

The headlining star’s set was filled with pyrotechnic guitar solos, crunching riffs and a guest spot from the Cure’s Robert Smith. It will inspire a generation of new guitarists

Sue Foley returns to help us navigate the I-IV-V changes and come up with some soloing ideas that enhance your melodic sensibility – and add a bit of fire along the way

With some exceptions – which can be replaced on a budget – the guitarist’s current pedalboard is surprisingly humble

The band trimmed Mammoth WVH to Mammoth earlier this year – and for the multi-instrumentalist, it’s a change he’s been desperate to make

Keyed in by their mentors-of-sorts, Led Zeppelin, the band recorded their enormously successful debut album at the legendary Headley Grange house, which certainly provided a certain vibe to the proceedings...

Guitars and groceries might both fit in your shopping cart, but for Lee Anderton, that’s where the similarity ends.

In a time where e-commerce dominates and the average consumer can get anything from a vintage fuzz pedal to a boutique tube amp delivered by drone, the Andertons Music CEO continues to invest in something many see as a relic of the past: an actual physical store. And it’s not just any store – the Guildford-based Andertons shop remains one of the UK’s most respected and recognisable musical instrument retailers, despite the immense pressure of online retail giants and shifting consumer habits post-pandemic.

• READ MORE: “We are heading towards a monopoly”: YouTuber predicts the future of UK music retail following PMT closure

Speaking in a new interview with Guitar.com, Anderton reflects on why he still believes in keeping the in-person experience alive, even as he acknowledges that the landscape has changed forever.

“Anybody who’s in the music business, we’re fundamentally trying to enable people to make music somehow,” the founder explains. “I’m still a complete sucker for getting a lump in my throat every time I see parents with their 10-year-old kid coming in and buying a starter guitar pack.”

It’s moments like that, he says, that no online transaction can replicate.

“We mustn’t take for granted what a profound moment that could be for that kid’s life… So I never want to lose that. And I suppose to a certain extent, I do think it’s slightly sad when you periodically see [UK supermarket giant] Tescos selling guitar packs at Christmas.”

“I do accept that if it reaches a wider audience and gets more people playing, it’s a good thing,” he adds. “But do I really think that the best way for you to start your guitar playing life is chucking it in with a half a chicken and a pound of potatoes in your shopping basket? No, I’m not about that.”

That said, Anderton isn’t oblivious to the realities of modern retail.

“People like the selection and the freedom to shop online that bricks and mortar retailers just can’t compete with,” he admits. “If I add up the number of guitar amp and pedal products that you could order today on the Andertons website – I’m not even counting strings and cables, just guitars, amps and pedals – there are 14,000 different products. And 10,000 of them are in stock! How on earth is your average bricks and mortar store gonna get close to that? It’s financially not possible to have that kind of operation in every major city.”

Still, he argues there’s value in shopping in-person with people who live and breathe the craft: “I buy lots from Amazon, and I don’t necessarily have a bad word to say about Amazon,” says Anderton. “But I don’t suppose Amazon is as passionate about music and instruments as we are.”

“I kind of feel it’s still nice to know that you are shopping with people who really care, you know?”

The post “I do think it’s slightly sad when you see Tescos selling guitar packs”: Lee Anderton on keeping his brick and mortar store alive in the Amazon age appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

$278, seymourduncan.com

Confession time. I play high-gain music without a noise gate. While this is the sort of sin that can get a chair thrown at you in certain circles, I do manage to make it work. I’m not doing chuggy modern metal, so I require very little of the stop/start percussiveness that a gate can afford. I just turn off my gain pedals with a looper if I want to change to a clean sound or stop the feedback.

With that said, my lack of a noise gate does mean that my single-coil loaded Jazzmaster isn’t really ever played live. Very loud feedback is very much a part of the music I want to play – very loud mains hum, less so. But! Seymour Duncan may have the solution here – the Silencer Jazzmasters, a newly designed noiseless set of pickups designed as drop-in replacements for standard-sized Jazzmaster single-coils.

The new pickups use a three-coil design, flanking a main central coil with two smaller coils for hum-cancellation. The middle coil has, like regular Jazzmaster pickups, alnico pole-pieces – and so when installed, the Silencers have a totally traditional look. Can they breathe life back into my parts Jazzmaster build and put it back into live rotation?

Before installing the Seymour Duncan Hot Jazzmaster Silencers. Image: Cillian Breathnach

Install

The patient today is a parts Jazzmaster that I’ve Ship-Of-Theseus’d together over several years. The body is from a Squier Vintage Modified Jazzmaster, the hardware and the neck pickup are from a Classic Vibe Jazzmaster, and the bridge pickup is an aftermarket Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounder. Its most drastic departure from a ‘traditional’ Jazzmaster is the neck, which is an aluminium Baguley baritone conversion. So, this guitar’s ‘original sound’ doesn’t really exist – it’s a blank canvas of Jazzmastery experimentation, perhaps perfect for a new pickup install.

Installing the Jazzmaster Silencers is basically as complex as installing any set of humbuckers, as their lead houses four conductors as well as a bare shield wire. In a normal humbucker, this wiring would allow you to split the coils – presumably here the four conductors could also be used to isolate the outer coils from the main coil, and perhaps undo the whole point of the pickup. I’ll leave that experiment for another day.

There’s an included wiring scheme printout to make things easier, presuming you want to opt for a standard Jazzmaster layout. If you want something non-traditional, this wiring scheme does also indicate which leads are which, so you can adapt it into another scheme.

Installing the Hot Jazzmaster Silencers. Image: Cillian Breathnach

As I install the pickups, I’m very grateful for how the wiring includes a strain relief bracket – the pickup’s main lead isn’t just soldered on, it’s also bolted to the case with a sturdy bit of metal. If you’ve ever installed new pickups in a Jazzmaster, you’ll know it can be a bit of a dexterity test keeping the guard and the pickups under control as you get things positioned, so the added reassurance that I wasn’t going to break any wires off was very much appreciated.

The Jazzmaster Silencers are true drop-in replacements – to the point where they fit some well-worn cream pickup covers I have. This pleasingly allows me to match the plastics across the guitar. I was worried that their triple-coil design would ask for a bespoke cover style, or that they might even be glued in to keep their hum-cancelling design magic a secret. Not so – they’re easily switched! If you are ordering your own set, Seymour Duncan gives you the option of cream, white, parchment or black covers.

How’s the hum?

With a gain pedal engaged, I plug in the newly-wired Jazzmaster – and am struck by the sound of almost silence. I say almost silence as a totally quiet system is just unfeasible. However, A/Bing between the Silencers and some humbuckers, the Silencers are just as quiet – if not more so. The only hum is what I’d expect from a loud amp being boosted with a dirt pedal – compared to that same setup with the single-coils, it’s a huge improvement. So a success on the ‘noiseless’ front!

Installing the Hot Jazzmaster Silencers. Image: Cillian Breathnach

How’s the sound?

I’m looking at the Hot variant of the Silencer Jazzmasters – there’s also a vintage-output set available for those who want to keep things more old-school but still hum-free. For my high-gain purposes the Hot pickups are ideal – I’ve set most of my rig up to deal with higher-output humbuckers anyway, and so the Hot set should require less knob-twiddling.

I give things a tentative go into the overdrive channel of an Orange Super Crush 100. First observation – these things bark. They absolutely retain the character of true single-coil Jazzmaster pickups – the neck is warm, round and full-bodied, while the bridge pickup cuts like a scimitar – overall they’ve got a great balance between a full low-end, a slightly scooped midrange and a very present high-end that you really don’t get from any other kind of pickup.

One thing that gives traditional Jazzmaster pickups their sound is the wide, flat coil – which more evenly senses a longer area of vibrating string. When I switch to a clean channel it’s also clear that those two flanking coils are filling out the sound in the same way, adding low-end thunk and high-end presence without ever focusing the response too hard in any one area. I have no idea what pickup-design magic Seymour Duncan is using to achieve this, but whatever it is, it’s clearly effective.

Those full-sized alnico pole-pieces are also definitely doing their job – the string separation is remarkable, and remains so as I switch to the rhythm circuit and engage a Big Muff-style fuzz. That’s an achievement, as for comparison the neck pickup that was in here before would immediately turn into a landslide’s worth of mud with any level of gain engaged.

The Hot Jazzmaster Silencer (bare). Image: Cillian Breathnach

Back to the bridge pickup on the lead circuit, and that level of punchy, high output is a great combination with the same Big Muff tone. It’s a sharp and aggressive sound, to the point where I’m legally obligated to turn on three delay pedals and refamiliarise myself with the Jazzmaster vibrato’s operational limits. Which is to say: it’s time for the Shoegaze Test.

The Silencers pass this test with flying colours – this is ultimately a baritone Jazzmaster running through a rig built for delay-soaked doom. With this many pedals on, the actual ‘voice’ of the pickups becomes somewhat academic. But there is a degree of clarity retained as things get heavy – the main problem the Silencers solve is that, rather than fading into a mix of feedback and over-amplified mains hum, the Silencers bloom into pure, loud, singing feedback when the limits of natural sustain are reached,.

As much as ‘chugging’ isn’t really the sort of metal that I personally need this guitar to do, it is also worth giving them a test with a more modern metal sound, and for that I break out the UAFX Anti set to a do-it-all gated chug. These pickups chug as much as any Jazzmaster-style single-coils can, noiseless or otherwise – the aggressive scoop of the bridge pickup means a much more biting sound than I would normally dial in, but it has its own gnarly appeal.

Should I buy a set of Jazzmaster Silencers?

So, up until now, everything has been pretty hunky dory for the Silencers. They sound great, their noise rejection is brilliant, they look the part and their construction is rock solid. However, all of that does not come cheap.

A set of Silencers will set you back $278 – a fair deal of dollarydoos for a set of pickups, even if they are pretty damn fantastic. Right now they’re also only sold as a set, so if you were hoping to save by only replacing one, then tough luck. It’s also worth noting that talking about the price of US-made music gear in June 2025 is akin to asking how much one of those lovely Titanic deck chairs will set you back just as the boat starts to tip. Depending on how some Supreme Court rulings shake out, the Silencers might well be a good deal pricier by the end of the year.

But the Silencers do ultimately deliver on the ultimate promise of noiseless single-coils: all of the tone, none of the buzz. For some, there’ll be no price too high for that.

Jazzmaster Silencer alternatives:

The Silencers are not the only noiseless Jazzmaster pickups out there – Fralin makes a well-regarded set with a stacked dual-coil design, and if you’re willing to go even more non-traditional, EMG’s active JMaster set is also an interesting option.

The post Seymour Duncan Hot Jazzmaster Silencer review: an awesome feat of pickup design appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

The newest member of the LAGQ reflects on his deep connection to classical and Brazilian music, his career as a seven-string guitarist, and his new role in the iconic quartet.

Having first met the Lone Star State guitar king during the sessions for David Bowie's 1983 blockbuster Let's Dance, Rodgers later produced Family Style, Stevie Ray's posthumously released collaboration with his brother, Jimmie

Up for sales is my Lightly used Veritas Large Router Plane. It has 2 blades, Allen wrench, blade sharpening holder, Veritas Router Plane Fence and Veritas Router Plane Box. The router sole has a few minor scratches on it. One knob has a spot that is missing a dime size area of finish, this is how it arrived from Lee Valley. One straight blade, one spear point blade, both have been sharpened and used. The Veritas Router Plane Box is in Near Mint condition. Selling as is, no refunds, no returns. SHIPPING TO THE USA ONLY! Link is below

Veritas Large Router Plane, etc.