Master Guitar Luthier Phil Petillo Dead At 64

Phil Petillo, a master luthier, inventor, and true Renaissance man, died August 13, 2010 of a massive heart attack. Known to the world as a luthier, engineer, musician, draftsman, and scientist, Petillo is also known as the man who sold Bruce Springsteen’s famous 1953 Fender Esquire. Read more

History of Jackson Guitars

As many know, Jackson Guitars started when the heavy metal wave was on its peak. Grover Jackson first in-scripted his name on a guitar that was designed by the late Randy Rhoads in 1980, when he was still teamed up with Charvel guitars. The reason behind this was that Jackson thought that a guitar with such design would be too shocking for the regular Charvel customers. Read more

New ESP LTD Guitars For 2010

ESP is one of the O.G. Asian guitar companies and has a long reputation for producing excellent instruments. Even I, your ever-loving Gear-Vault correspondent who is dangerously obsessed with all things Fender, played a cool pink ESP Mirage Custom back in the 80’s and still longs for it at times. These days, ESP is producing a lot fewer pink axes and a lot more that suit the trends of the current guitar market. Read more

Godin LGXT Electric Acoustic Guitar Review

While the massive guitar superpowers engage in a high-profile battle for world domination, it’s easy to overlook the fact that there are hundreds of smaller manufactures making their own equally important contributions to the world of electric guitar. Perhaps because their products don’t have to sell by the gazillion, these companies can afford to create more specialized—and even quirky—instruments that incorporate usual materials and have far-out finishes and daring designs that speak to the needs of flashy individualists, vintage, zealots and hellbent rabble-rousers. Read more

Sherman Custom Guitars

Sherman Custom Guitars are manufactured in the U.S., Sherman Custom Guitars features bolt-on necks, 25.5-inch fingerboard. The guitars are available in a variety of body shapes and neck styles, and all feature the Sherman Tremolo System, each piece of which is machined from high-quality tool steel and hardened. Read more

EMG vs. Seymour Duncan Electric Guitar Pickups

Electric guitar pickups are a touchy and subjective topic. Most long-time players have gone through a number of different types before they work out what is the best sound for them. Sometimes they will even prefer different styles or brands of pickups for different applications. Today, we are doing a flyover comparison of two of the most popular makes of pickups on the market Read more

Carparelli Tele Guitars Now Available

Canadian luthier Mike Carparelli, always one to push quality and design as far as they can go, has again surprised the guitar world with the introduction of the all-Canadian-made Carparelli Telecaster. These guitars are built using only the finest woods and component parts and are available only by custom order. Read more

ESP LTD H-300 Guitar Review

ESP was one of the first large shops to cater to the “Super Strat” customer. By focusing on the features most beloved by headbangers and setting fire to “vintage values,” they quickly established themselves as a first-class custom shop with the ability to translate the needs of heavy metal-influenced players into solid, yet glitzy instruments. Read more

Learning to Play Guitar from Home Just Got a Lot Easier

Learning guitar at home, on the go or pretty much any where you have access to a laptop with a dvd drive just got a lot easier. Legacy Learn systems guitar lesson dvd programs, Learn & Master guitar has come out with a new expanded edition containing 20 dvds (that’s 10 more then the fist edition) as well as home school editions. Read more

Les Paul 1915-2009

Les Paul

–arguably the most influential and innovative guitarist and inventor of musical technology in history, passed away August 13th, 2009 from complications that resulted from a severe bout of pneumonia at White Plains Hospital in White Plains, New York. He was 94. Read more

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