Guitars guides & articles

With over 100 overdrive pedals listed on just one gear-shopping website, how does one choose the top five? The first order of business is to define the terms: An overdrive pedal should have enough vo…

Kurt Block knows electric guitars. He has been working on them for three decades. He started out working on guitars in the bands he was in, and nowadays maintains the guitar collection at Gibson’s en…

For many guitarists, the first thing that comes to mind when they hear the term “fuzz box” is the Big Muff Pi from Electro-Harmonix. With the new Deluxe Big Muff Pi, the company has added some cool a…

Andy Powers is Taylor's guitar design guru, tasked by company founder Bob Taylor to create new models, and in some cases, revise existing ones. In this video interview, Powers talks about how he rede…

Audiofanzine recently visited the Taylor Guitars complex in El Cajon, California, and we shot a lot of footage during a tour of the factory. We put together this video to give you an up close look at…

When you hear the name Vernon Reid, your first thought is probably of his work with Living Colour, featuring his speedy and inventive guitar playing. But Reid is also an accomplished composer, scorin…

Some people may just want to learn the basic guitar chords to impress girls (or boys) on the beach or to modestly accompany themselves when singing. Whatever your reasons, here are some basic chords …

Commonly used by electric guitar players, especially to liven things up, feedback is the worst enemy of acoustic musicians. In this series of articles we'll look into the solutions to play a relaxed …

In today’s digitally dominated world of music gear, one way to tell how highly a guitar amp is regarded is whether it’s been emulated in major amp-modeling software packages. One of the amps you'll f…

It's always a pleasure to review a Taylor, an American brand that stands for high quality among musicians.

Following in the footsteps of the AMPLIFi 150 and AMPLIFi 75 amplifiers, Line 6 has released the AMPLIFi FX100, a floor-based multi-effects pedal controlled by your iOS device. How does this concept …

The Tech 21 Fly Rig 5 is a multi-effects pedal small enough to fit in a backpack, or in the pocket of most guitar bags. Featuring Tech 21’s signature analog tone, it can be used either through an amp…

Fans of alternate tunings (especially metalheads) will often find themselves with overcooked noodles instead of strings, compromising their sound. Here are a couple of recipes to make sure your strin…

Electro Harmonix calls the B9 an “Organ Machine,” and indeed it is. Plug your guitar into this pedal and out comes a variety of authentic organ sounds. Read on to find out more.

This year, Boss has been releasing new stompboxes at a prodigious pace: two at Winter NAMM and three at Summer NAMM. All are reinventions of older Boss pedals. The DS-1X, released along with the OD-…

The musical instrument industry has chosen the best method for the internal cabling of electric instruments, namely soldering. But, as we will see in a moment, this way of connecting two conductors r…

For years, Boss has been one of the leading manufacturers of self-contained guitar multi-effects floor units, and the ME-80 is its latest effort. Less expensive than the flagship GT-100, it's neverth…

The use of a soldering iron is indispensable if you need to change the pickups, a jack or any other component of your guitar. While changing a string is no secret for most of us, it's a whole differe…

The Boss OD-1X OverDrive was one of two new stompboxes the company announced at NAMM 2014 (the DS-1X Distortion was the other). It features the company’s recently developed Multi-Dimensional Processi…

The guitar hasn't quite followed the evolution of its creator ─ the homo sapien ─ and still cannot stand up straight on its own. So, after having to break that news to you, let's look at the differen…

Most guitarists don't think too much about the pots (potentiometers) inside their guitars, unless they start going bad and making noise. But did you know there are different types of pots with differ…

Guitar necks come in different shapes, sizes and finishes. So, how can you pick the right one for you? In this article we'll explore the different neck options available, in order to understand their…

Since the days of the original Big Muff Pi, Electro-Harmonix has been building distortion pedals, and one of its latest entries is the EHX Tortion ($179). Way more than just a distortion effect, it a…

If you’ve ever recorded an acoustic instrument, you already know that there’s more involved than just sticking a mic in front of it. Factors that influence how the recording will come out — besides t…

Although most amp modeling is digital, Tech 21 has always created its amp emulations using analog circuitry. The Hot-Rod Plexi pedal ($179) is the latest example. It’s an effects processor that’s des…