“i’m always looking for t hings to p*ss off metalheads!”

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

The ever-active session legend on his love for cheap guitars, Roland gear, and modding his pickups

DURING A DUAL Zoom interview with Guitar World, Billy Corgan remembers he has a bit of pressing musical business to go over with Kiki Wong. “Kiki,” I’m breaking down all these parts, so I’ve got to ca

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

IN 2001, ROBERT Keeley, a top-flight engineer out of Oklahoma City, founded Keeley Electronics. His goal was — and still is — simple, and he explains it like so: “If a player can become more expressiv