The black strat

Fender’s Custom Shop had a precarious start in the mid-1980s, but the story of its formative years is full of big ideas, some bizarre instruments, and a queue of famous guitarists

THERE ARE VARYING degrees of guitar hero, but Carlos Santana is a name you’d expect to find near the top of any list. Like Jimi Hendrix, Brian May or Slash, Santana has transcended guitar music and pe

Nearly 40 years on from the Custom Shop’s inception, its creations are more ambitious than ever. Find out how the team walks the tightrope between ‘canon’ and ‘cannot’, and where its guitars are heading next

Guitarist Vernon Reid Guitar Early Nineties HamerChaparral CustomGW Cover Date April 1993 This interview May 2025 Photographer Kristine Larsen BY ANDREW DALY How did you come upon this guitar? I think

Will we ever know the true story of this fabled guitar? For some it’s iconic, for others it was simply a cobbled together working tool for a master…

SHRED LEGEND ZAKK Wylde was grabbing some downtime when GW connected with him at his home in California not long after he appeared at Ozzy Osbourne’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction. Only hours b