Guitars

The Un-Tele

By Pete Prown

The NF53 makes more sense once you stop asking it to be a Telecaster. Pete Prown spends time with the U.S.-built PRS and finds a guitar that borrows Leo’s bolt-on, 25.5-inch-scale vocabulary while heading elsewhere with a deep U-shaped maple neck, swamp ash body and Narrowfield DD humbuckers. At under seven pounds, it is comfortable and beautifully set up, delivering warm, punchy twang without the familiar Tele clank. The interest lies in what PRS does with those ingredients.

The ToneQuest Triple Lindy

By Riverhorse

The ToneQuest crew documents the building of three dream guitars — two Telecasters (Blue and Blondie) and a Stratocaster (Sunny) — using heavyweight parts from Allparts, MJT, Callaham, Pete Flynn, Jason Lollar, and Ron Ellis, culminating in Sunny's spectacular 1963 Fender rosewood neck once played by SRV.

Dann Huff - Heart, Hands and Heritage

By Gordon Kennedy

Grammy-winning guitarist and producer Gordon Kennedy sits down with his lifelong friend Dann Huff for a wide-ranging conversation covering tone, technique, gear, influences, and the legendary studio career that made Huff one of Nashville's most heralded players. The interview coincides with Huff's solo debut, When Words Aren't Enough, on Baked Alaska Records.

Music City Groove Master Telecaster Saddles

By Riverhorse

Music City's Groove Master brass saddles promise to solve the classic Telecaster "sitar" problem while improving string spacing and intonation. TQR's Riverhorse puts them to the test with TQR Advisory Board Member Clancey Compton — and the results surprised everyone.

Going To The Depths With Charlie Starr

By Scott Ulrichs

Blackberry Smoke frontman Charlie Starr goes deep on vintage Les Paul Juniors, a serious amp bender spanning Fender, Vox, Germino, and Matchless, tube swapping, pedal order, acoustics, and the enduring spirit of the late Brit Turner.

El Especial Supremo

By Riverhorse

A deep dive into the world of P90 pickups, tracing the journey of hunting vintage dogears, acquiring a TV Yellow Gibson Les Paul Special, and putting Ron Ellis Classic P90s and a vintage 1959 dogear through their paces — with interviews with pickup builders Ron Ellis and James Finnerty of ReWind.

The Nash Equation

By Scott Ulrichs

Bill Nash's patent-pending Nautilus Neck applies the Rule of 18 to fretboard radius, creating a conical taper that delivers consistent action and playability from the 1st fret to the 12th.

A Player’s Perspective

By Pete Prown

Pete Prown offers a hands-on evaluation of the PRS Silver Sky John Mayer Model, tracing its evolution from its controversial debut in 2018 through its U.S.A. and SE variants, and weighing it against vintage Fender Strat benchmarks.

My Journey To A Parts-Built Telecaster

By Jay Jay French

Twisted Sister co-founder Jay Jay French recounts a lifetime of guitar obsession — from buying his first Telecaster at Manny's Music on 48th Street in 1967 to hand-picking every part for a custom-built red Tele with help from Gleason Custom Necks, Warmoth, TonePros, DiMarzio, Seymour Duncan, and luthier Tom Crandall.

Justin Stabler

By Riverhorse

Justin Stabler is Trey Anastasio's trusted guitar tech — a Jersey-raised musician, luthier, and tone obsessive who has worked the road with Lauryn Hill, Bon Jovi, Hall & Oates, and Phish, honing his craft under mentors like Joe Glaser and Matt at 30th Street Guitars. In this wide-ranging conversation he shares hard-won wisdom on setups, NOS tubes, Trainwreck amps, vintage pickups, and the beautiful chaos of life in service to great music.

Elliot Easton - Electrifying The Cars

By Tom Guerra

Rock And Roll Hall of Famer Elliot Easton traces his journey from Long Island to Boston to The Cars, sharing the gear, influences, and studio stories behind some of the finest guitar work in popular music. Tom Guerra catches up with the founding Cars guitarist as he prepares to join The Immediate Family on tour.

The Southern Jazzmaster Adventures

ToneQuest embarks on a dual Jazzmaster adventure — upgrading a Squier J. Mascis model and building a custom TQ Jazzmaster from the finest parts on earth — with deep dives into Mastery Bridge, luthier Cody Gleason's finishing artistry, and a wide-ranging conversation with John Woodland on guitars, history, and the birth of the Mastery Bridge.

Heavenly Pickup Truckin' Tailgate Party

By Riverhorse

A hands-on roundup of Jazzmaster pickups — from Fralin and Lollar standards to rare Fred Stuart customs and April 1964 vintage originals — with insights from legendary builders Jason Lollar and Lindy Fralin on what makes the JM pickup unique.

Daniel Donato - The Cosmic Countryman

By Scott Ulrichs

Daniel Donato — Nashville's Cosmic Country bandleader — sits down for a wide-ranging conversation about his years with the Don Kelley Band, his surf-green custom-shop Telecaster, Seymour Duncan-wound pickups, vintage Fender Pro amp, and the philosophy of tone, touch, and improvisation that drives his music.

Wariner Wisdom & Amplified Six-String Pursuits

By Scott Ulrichs

Nashville guitarist Ryan Wariner — son of Steve Wariner, now touring with Ann Wilson's band — sits down with TQR for a deep dive into his vintage Strats and Les Pauls, wah pedal obsession, and the amps and pedals that define his hard-won tone.

The Soul Behind Artisan Pickups

By Scott Ulrichs

Finnish guitar maker Juha Ruokangas takes ToneQuest through the painstaking, science-driven journey he and his team undertook to develop their Väinö and Aino PAF-inspired humbuckers — from chasing vintage tone references to solving the potting dilemma without wax.

Tales Of The Seventies Strat

By Pete Prown

The CBS-era Stratocaster has long carried an undeserved stigma, but as Pete Prown discovers through his own '75 hardtail purchase and the stories of players like Ed King, Jeff Beck, and Robin Trower, there are genuinely killer Strats hiding in the Me Decade.

Seeking Gold

By Riverhorse

A tribute to ToneQuest founder David Wilson, told through the assembly of his unfinished gold Stratocaster — a labor of love completed by friends and sent home to Georgia as part of his enduring legacy.

Revealed, Not Assembled

By Greg Talley

A golden sparkle Stratocaster conceived by the late David Wilson — complete with '59 sliders, Callaham bridge, and a soft-V maple neck — finally comes to life through Riverhorse, feeling revealed rather than assembled. Playing it is an emotional continuation of a close friend's unfinished vision.

Burnt Copper Journeyman Relic

By Scott Ulrichs

Fender's Custom Shop Limited Edition Hotshot blends Stratocaster and Telecaster DNA into one eyecatching hard-tail hybrid, with hand-wound Bricenda Pineda pickups, a brass-saddle Tele-style bridge, and a burnt copper journeyman relic finish that makes a compelling case for players who love both platforms.

Harmonically Round And Rich

By Scott Ulrichs

Larry Cragg's Hybrid Bridge Pins — combining Ebony for the bass strings and Water Buffalo Horn for the trebles — offer an affordable and immediately audible upgrade to acoustic guitar tone, improving balance, sustain, and projection.

Jonn Del Toro Richardson And The Tele Pickup Rambles

By Jonn Del Toro Richardson

Jonn Del Toro Richardson puts Pete A. Flynn's Telecaster pickups through their paces, finding clarity, open woodiness, and pure Tele tone across every position. A rave review capped with an open invitation to come play the guitar on the road.

Allparts Music Field Trip

By Riverhorse

A field trip to Allparts Music's Houston warehouse turns up stunning roasted-pine and roasted-ash guitar bodies, new Leo Quan Badass Telecaster bridges, and Tru Tune/True Lok tuning keys — all while fueled by killer tacos and fresh tortillas.

A Conversation With Rich Renken

By Scott Ulrichs

Rich Renken, General Manager of Tyler Guitars, traces the history of Jim Tyler's innovations — from modifying Dann Huff's legendary 1964 Stratocaster to the genesis of the Tyler Dann Huff Original Classic — in a deep-dive conversation covering electronics, wood, and the sonic secrets behind some of the most iconic session tones of the '80s.

Dann Huff Original Classic Review

By Scott Ulrichs

The James Tyler Dann Huff Original Classic is a supremely versatile instrument built with Ferrari-like attention to detail in San Fernando, California — capable of everything from funk and jazz to rock and pop. ToneQuest's Scott Ulrichs spent a month with the guitar and found himself reaching for it nearly every day.

Birth Of The Cool

By Oscar Jordan

Fender's American Vintage II 1965 Stratocaster captures the brief CBS-transition moment when small headstocks met a bold new gold logo, delivering chimey, quacky single-coil tones and top-tier craftsmanship at $2,299.99.

Two Guitars — One Sound

By Tom Guerra

When jazz/blues master Duke Robillard and reggae virtuoso Andy Bassford joined forces with Soulshot, the result was a seamless collision of ska, rock steady, and jazzy blues. TQ goes deep on the guitars, amps, and creative chemistry behind their new collaborative album.

6 Players Share Their Rig Tips

By Pete Prown

ToneQuest talks to six veterans of the classic rock era—including Chris Dreja, Cliff Goodwin, Adrian Smith, Adrian Belew, Bill Nelson, and Jeff Cease—about the guitars, amps, and pedals behind their iconic sounds. The reality, it turns out, is less about magic and mojo and more about sweat, experimentation, and simply good gear.

Jim Weider's Masters Of The Telecaster Camp 2025

By Scott Ulrichs

ToneQuest sits down with Jim Weider — longtime friend of the TQ family and former Band guitarist — to discuss his favorite Telecasters, his modified Bassman, and the Masters of the Telecaster Guitar Camp returning to the Catskills September 29–October 3, 2025.

The Northern Sunlight Strat

By Riverhorse

A deep dive into a Fender Custom Shop Stratocaster discovered at Guitar Riot in Cleveland, followed by the building of a stunning pine-body ToneQuest Strat with Stocktone Rude Mood pickups and a Smokey B's custom harness — plus interviews with Sherman Stockton and Brandon Ficquette.

Modified 1935 Gibson L-50

By Scott Ulrichs

A "left for dead" 1935 Gibson L-50 gets a second life at the hands of a skilled luthier — transformed with a new cutaway, a Mojotone hum-cancelling P-90, and a reshaped neck into a uniquely playable and sonically stunning instrument. Scott Ulrichs chronicles the serendipitous discovery and remarkable resurrection of this one-of-a-kind archtop.

Eastern String-Trigue

By Pete Prown

A look at the Coral Sitar's cult history and its most famous surviving example — Steve Howe's personal instrument, now preserved at the Electronic Music Education and Preservation Project — alongside modern alternatives for players chasing that exotic electric-sitar tone.

Tom Holmes

By Riverhorse

Legendary pickup maker Tom Holmes discusses his return to the bench after heart surgery, the rare vintage Gibson bobbin mold he now operates himself, and decades of craft that have made his humbuckers the choice of Keith Richards, John Fogerty, and Peter Frampton.

1937 Rickenbacker B6

By Riverhorse

A deep dive into a pristine 1937 Rickenbacker lap steel — the legendary pre-War horseshoe pickup instrument prized by Lindley and Cooder — paired with an equally enthusiastic survey of Rocky Mountain Slides tone bars.

Allen Collins 1977 Les Paul Special Limited Edition

By Scott Ulrichs

A deep dive into the restoration of Allen Collins's cherry red 1977 Gibson Les Paul Special Limited Edition — told through conversations with Jacksonville music historian Brandon Campbell, longtime tech Mikey Sparks, current owner Lloyd Beasley, drummer Steve Reynolds, and luthier Dale Roberts.

Brace It, Don’t Break It

By Scott Ulrichs

Patrick Geraghty, inventor of the BrownBox Input Voltage Attenuator, discusses his latest creation: the Atlas C-1, a stainless steel brace designed to protect the vulnerable headstock-neck junction of stringed instruments during travel and shipping.

The Serendipitous Swap: A Tale of Two P90s

By Edward Zawadzki

Las Vegas guitarist Edward Zawadzki recounts how a mislabeled Ellis pickup order turned into a happy accident, transforming his 2013 Collings DC290 into the guitar it was always meant to be.

Deep Dive On Potentiometers And Capacitors

By Scott Ulrichs

An in-depth conversation with Taylor of Nostalgic Guitars explores how vintage Centralab and Sprague pots and caps shaped the tone of late-'50s and 1960 Les Paul Standards — and how to get as close as possible in 2025.

The Proof Is In The Playing. Just Try It.

By Scott Ulrichs

The editors share their own hands-on findings swapping harnesses, cap values, and taper types in pursuit of maximum clarity.

Mission Accomplished

By Scott Ulrichs

ToneQuest puts the Nash T-63 through its paces and finds a Telecaster that can twang, rock, and do it all without choking out on big bends.

25th Anniversary Greatest Hits

ToneQuest marks 25 years of publication with a curated "Greatest Hits" drawn from past anniversary issues and recent features — celebrating the players, gear, and singular voices that have defined the Quest for Tone.

Vintage Guitars

Two guitar veterans share candid reflections on vintage instruments — from the murky world of relic refinishing and faked originals, to why a guitar's true worth lies in what it means to the player who loves it.

Guitar People

A collection of candid insights from legendary guitar people — including Neil Young's tech Larry Cragg, luthier Larry Pogreba, builder Fred Stuart, and Bill Collings — on neck setup, tone, acoustics, and the secrets inside great guitars.

Pickups

A roundup of insights from leading pickup designers and experts — including J.T. Ribiloff, Tom Holmes, Lindy Fralin, and Rick Holmstrom — on the history, materials, and craft behind great-sounding humbuckers and single-coils. From PAF archaeology to hand-wound coils to the role of wood, these voices reveal what really makes a pickup sing.

Our Most Intense Rants

A collection of ToneQuest Report's most memorable interviews, featuring candid recollections from César Díaz on Stevie Ray Vaughan's tone secrets, Tom Dowd on recording Cream and Derek & the Dominos, and Hubert Sumlin on his journey from an $8 guitar to playing with Howlin' Wolf.

More Greatest Hits

A curated collection of highlights from past ToneQuest Report interviews and gear features, revisiting conversations with Steve Wariner, Dick Boak, and deep dives into vintage Fender Jazzmasters, tweed Deluxes, and Lollar pickups.

Looking For The Scoop

By Pete Prown

Dana Sutcliffe, inventor of the Alvarez Dana Scoop solidbody and veteran luthier, recalls his path from wiring toy-car motors to building guitars for George Thorogood and Eddie Van Halen—and how a routing accident in 1986 became one of the most distinctive guitar designs of the era.

Ibanez In The Late '70s

By Pete Prown

Collector and writer Pete Prown traces his decades-long obsession with late-1970s Ibanez guitars—from his teenage purchase of an Iceman IC200 on Manhattan’s 48th Street to hunting down Professional, Destroyer, and triple-coil models—re-evaluating how these original Japanese designs hold up today. Along the way, Prown shares conversations with then-marketing director Jeff Hasselberger about models co-developed with Bob Weir, Randy Scruggs, and Steve Miller.

Aluminati Guitars

By Scott Ulrichs

James Little of Aluminati Guitars has been building instruments from aluminum, carbon fiber, and Lucite since 2009 — and the results are guitars that play and sound remarkably consistent, no matter the climate or string gauge. ToneQuest visits his Asheville, NC shop to find out how science, sustainability, and cycling-industry materials converged into a genuinely novel approach to electric guitar design.

Compensated Wraparound Tailpiece

By Riverhorse

Joe Glaser and Tom Bukovac's Music City Stud Finder is a compensated wraparound tailpiece designed to improve intonation and resonance on vintage Gibson wraparound-bridge guitars. ToneQuest puts it to the test on a pristine 1955 Les Paul Junior.

Cody Gleason’s Details On Jay Jay French’s Personalized Tele

By Cody Gleason

Guitar finishing specialist Cody Gleason walks through the custom parts build he assembled for Twisted Sister's Jay Jay French — a Warmoth-necked Telecaster spec'd with Les Paul-inspired playability and a lightly aged Candy Apple Red finish.

Masters Of The Telecaster Guitar Camp

By Oscar Jordan

Telecaster disciple Jim Weider discusses the Masters Of The Telecaster Guitar Camp, a four-day immersive event featuring instructors like G.E. Smith, Albert Lee, Bill Frisell, and Brent Mason. Weider shares his deep love of the Telecaster, his gear, and what students can expect from the camp.

Restoring The Radius Burst

By Tom Guerra

The story of Italy's most iconic vintage guitar — Alberto Radius's 1960 Les Paul Standard sunburst — and the international team of luthiers and finishers who brought it back from a troubled 1992 re-top to its former glory.

Hardtail Strat Evolutions & Revolutions

By Riverhorse

Rio Grande's Muy Grande single-coils and Dirty Harry P90s get a real-world workout in a hardtail Strat build, delivering Texas-sized punch, touch response, and a surprising tweed-like swagger that transformed a bright, thin-sounding guitar into a crusher.

Airport Runway Reverb & The Chrome Bigsby

By Riverhorse

Larry Pogreba's one-of-a-kind homegrown reverb unit — built around an actual airport runway landing light — arrives alongside a rare 1951 Bigsby Volume/Tone pedal, setting the stage for a sublime evening of cosmically charged tone in a Texas bungalow.

Jedd Hughes A Desert River

By Riverhorse

Australian guitarist Jedd Hughes has carved an improbable path from the outback to Nashville's inner circle, touring with Patty Loveless, Emmylou Harris, Vince Gill, and Rodney Crowell while building a reputation as one of the most soulful, technically gifted players in country and Americana music. ToneQuest sits down with Hughes for a wide-ranging conversation on his origins, gear, and the long road to finding his own voice.

A Player’s Perspective

By Pete Prown

Pete Prown offers a player's firsthand take on the Nash T-52 HN, a blackguard-style Telecaster loaded with Lollar pickups and finished in Nash's signature aged nitrocellulose lacquer. With input from builder Bill Nash himself, the review covers tone, playability, tonewood, and the philosophy behind Nash's celebrated relic process.

Surfin’ The Bebop

By Scott Ulrichs

A 1959 Fender Jazzmaster on loan from Music Villa in Bozeman, Montana gets a 24-hour home audition — revealing surprisingly addictive tones through a Benson Monarch and a '64 Vibrolux Reverb. Scott Ulrichs explores what makes this vintage offset tick, from its paper-thin frets and hand-shaped neck to its uniquely growling rhythm circuit.

Grading A ’61 Gibson Melody Maker & ’62 Junior

By Pete Prown

A hands-on comparison of two JFK-era Gibson "student" solidbodies — a '61 Melody Maker D and a '62 Les Paul/SG Junior — exploring how these once-affordable axes hold up as players and collectibles decades later.

The LSL CV Special Strat

By George Gomez

Guitarist Carl Verheyen traces the origins of his signature CV Special Strat built by LSL Instruments, detailing the specs, tone philosophy, and collaborative process behind one of the most player-focused boutique Stratocasters on the market.

Proprietor LSL Instruments

By George Gomez

Lance Lerman of LSL Instruments traces his unlikely path from California woodworker to China factory manager to boutique guitar builder, and shares the story behind the Carl Verheyen CV Special Strat.

My Custom LSL CV

By George Gomez

George Gomez shares his experience with a custom LSL CV Special guitar — a lightly reliced 3-tone sunburst Strat-style instrument built around the specs of Carl Verheyen's '61 Fender — and explores its tone through a range of amps and pedals.

The Vibrovox Connection with Rich Lasner

By Scott Ulrichs

Rich Lasner, Vice President of Development for VOX/KORG, shares a wide-ranging conversation spanning his decades-long career — from guitar lessons with Ted Greene and Eddie Van Halen on the couch, to signing Steve Vai and Paul Gilbert at Ibanez, to building the Flea bass at Modulus and steering VOX guitars into the modern era.

The Life of a Repairman and Luthier

By Riverhorse

ToneQuest sits down with Clancey Compton, a Texas-based guitar repairman and luthier, to hear how he went from tinkering with a Squier Strat in a cabin in the woods to building custom guitars and doing expert repairs at Houston's Rockin' Robin Guitar store.

Tennessee Smoke Signals - Corey Congilio

By Riverhorse

The Wolf's Strat

By Tom Guerra

The remarkable story of a well-worn 1963 Olympic white Fender Stratocaster that once belonged to Alex "Lil' Bill" Wallace — the Louisiana bluesman who helped shape B.B. King's style — and how it found a new home decades later.

New Wave Vintage

By Greg Talley

Oklahoma-raised guitarist and YouTuber Matthew Scott talks vintage gear hunting, building an audience of nearly 200,000 subscribers, and his journey from bedroom player to bandleader releasing original music.

To Get Out of a Stratocaster (Easily)

By David Boze

David Boze explains how a simple, reversible Fender S1 switch mod can add two entirely new tones to a Stratocaster — including that coveted Telecaster neck-and-bridge parallel sound — without drilling a single hole or sacrificing any of the original five positions.

Brandon Ficquette of Smokey Bs

By Riverhorse

Brandon Ficquette of Smokey Bs discusses guitar wiring, harness construction, and the art of matching capacitors, potentiometers, and switches to bring out the best in a Stratocaster's tone.

Asher-Irwin And The Story Of Wolf 2.0

By Scott Ulrichs

Bill Asher tells the story of his collaboration with Doug Irwin on Wolf 2.0, from his early days as a luthier to John Mayer taking the guitar onstage.

1957 Light Aged Goldtop

By Scott Ulrichs

Gibson's Murphy Lab 1957 Light Aged Goldtop gets a hands-on field test, pitting its unpotted Custombuckers and aged nitro lacquer against a 2002 R7 through a Tungsten Crema Wheat combo. The result is a close look at how well Tom Murphy's team captures the real-world vibe of a vintage Goldtop.

Tom Bukovac

By Scott Ulrichs

Nashville session legend Tom Bukovac — aka Uncle Larry — sits down to discuss his Duesenberg Session Man signature guitar, the philosophy of tone in the "knife fight" of a live gig, his love of tweed-and-blackface amp pairings, and the creative world behind his Homeskoolin' YouTube channel.

The English Gold Bar

By Riverhorse

A goldtop bender for the ages: ToneQuest tracks down a reliced Epiphone Les Paul goldtop aged by UK craftsman Jon Black, then goes deep on pickups, NOS wiring harnesses, and TonePros hardware upgrades — capped off by a Gibson Custom Shop R7 goldtop quest.

Greg Martin A 100-Watt Stack Of Sincerity

By Riverhorse

Kentucky Headhunters guitarist Greg Martin talks vintage Marshalls, 1958 Les Pauls, surviving the pandemic, and the blues-soaked philosophy that has kept him and his bandmates playing together for over five decades.

Larry Pogreba Gets Wild

By Larry Progreba

Master luthier Larry Pogreba describes two extraordinary new builds: an all-Belize-wood electric featuring "The Tree" mahogany and a fan-fret resonator with Mokume tailpiece, plus his long obsession with vintage Teisco pickups.

Doc Sigmier

By Riverhorse

Doc Sigmier's Rocky Mountain Slide Company crafts handmade glass, ceramic, and stone slides that evoke the deep roots of the blues — ToneQuest puts a full lineup through the paces and talks shop with Greg Martin about his RMSC Swamp Frog signature model.

The Pinecaster

By Riverhorse

Ignacio "Nacho" Baños, author of the landmark Blackguard book, spent eight years creating The Pinecaster — a four-volume limited-edition collection documenting early electric guitars from 1920–1955, complete with thousands of photos, specs, and over seventy video demos accessible via a dedicated app. ToneQuest sits down with Nacho, Redd Volkaert, Lynn Wheelwright, and Billy F Gibbons to get the full story.

Coaxing A Bit More Out Of A Telecaster

By Dave Boze

Guitarist Dave Boze shares a reversible wiring mod for the Telecaster that adds two new tones — pickups in series and a "Half-Out-Of-Phase" position — using a Super 5-Way switch to approximate the beloved Stratocaster cluck without sacrificing any original sounds.

The Oklahoma Barncaster

By Riverhorse

What started as a $70 eBay impulse buy — a Telecaster body hewn from the wood of a fallen Oklahoma barn — became the ToneQuest Barncaster: a folk-art guitar loaded with Lollar pickups, Callaham hardware, and custom Gleason necks that now travels the world seeking stages to conquer.

A Message to our ToneQuest Friends & Family

By Riverhorse

A heartfelt note from the ToneQuest team reflecting on recent issues and looking ahead to an ambitious stretch of guitar journalism still to come.

Vibrolux Deaux

By Riverhorse

Riverhorse tells the story of hunting down a pristine 1966 Fender Vibrolux Reverb and enlisting legendary amp tech Terry "Mr. Valco" Dobbs to restore it and add three reversible mods — a RAW control, a tremolo intensity lift, and a variable negative feedback switch — that unlock new voices without harming the vintage circuit.

Supro Rhythm Tone

By Riverhorse

A vintage 1958 Supro Rhythm Tone with its legendary, fire-breathing neck pickup proves to be a wooly, wild slide machine — and pickup wizard Jason Lollar weighs in on what makes the Supro's gonzo design so special.

The Beautiful Gift

By Riverhorse

A deeply personal tribute to a lost friend, told through the building and first playing of a lightweight sunburst Stratocaster assembled from parts David left behind — a guitar that rang out alive from the very first chord.

The Author of Tone

What a gift. A friendship that stands the test of time, if we are lucky enough to have them, is immeasurably life changing.

Head, Hands, Knees and Feet…

David Wilson traces the arc from Renaissance orchestras to the golden age of pedal steel guitar, documenting his own quest to acquire a vintage 1973 ShoBud and a matching Fender Vibrosonic amp. A tribute note from the ToneQuest family opens the issue, marking the passing of the magazine's beloved publisher and editor.

Korina

Considered by some experts a "super mahogany," Korina is the exotic African wood behind Gibson's legendary 1958 Flying V and Explorer — yet limited supply and the wood's notorious tendency to split and stain keep it rare in modern guitar-making.

120th Anniversary Flying V

Gibson's 2015 Flying V 120th Anniversary is a well-built, affordable limited edition that delivers exceptional resonance and versatile tone from a solid mahogany body and neck. At around 7 pounds and finished in nitrocellulose lacquer, it's a surprisingly comfortable and rewarding player that stands on its own merits.

Dan Erlewine On Lucy

In 1970 Dan Erlewine met Albert King at a Michigan festival and offered to build him a personalized Flying V from Michigan black walnut — giving birth to the legendary "Lucy." Here, Dan recalls that fateful encounter and brings us up to date on the Lucys being built today in collaboration with Bryan Galloup.

Rolling Thunder

A 2005 Gretsch 6120 DSW fitted with Lindy Fralin Hum-Cancelling DynaSonics meets a StewMac kit-built Marshall JTM45 — and the result is a revelation straight out of Pete Townshend's playbook. Along the way, Fralin shares deep insights on pickup design, Alnico magnets, and why clean tone will always win.

Who's Next

Inspired by Pete Townshend's Gretsch and a deep dive into classic gear, ToneQuest surveys the vintage amp, guitar, and effects landscape — asking what's really worth chasing next and what the market has done to those dreams.

Al Perkins – A Pedal Steel Legend

Pedal steel legend Al Perkins traces his journey from childhood lessons in Odessa, Texas, through stints with the Flying Burrito Brothers, Manassas, the Rolling Stones, and the Eagles, sharing memories of the gear, the sessions, and the artists that shaped one of country rock's most storied careers.

The Guild Starfire

A workout with a 1973 Guild Starfire IV reveals an outstanding semi-hollow electric with versatile tone that punches well above its price — a genuine sleeper that holds its own against any Gibson 335 from the '60s.

The Mother Hips

By Scott Ulrichs

ToneQuest sits down with Tim Bluhm and Greg Loiacono of The Mother Hips — California's best-kept rock secret — for a deep dive into their vintage Gibson 335s, Fender Strats, pedalboards, and thirty years of writing, touring, and recording together.

The Birth of a Custom Collings

By Riverhorse

A friend's custom-ordered Collings Traditional dreadnought — built to celebrate fifteen years cancer-free — proves a revelation, and the Collings craftsman behind it tells the full story of selecting the perfect German spruce top and Madagascar rosewood back.

R.J. Ronquillo

By Scott Ulrichs

Nashville-based guitarist R.J. Ronquillo has forged a modern career that blends touring credits with Stevie Wonder and Carlos Santana with a thriving YouTube presence, online guitar education, and a forthcoming instrumental record steeped in '80s LA session-player tone.