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GALLERY: Healdsburg Guitar Festival 2011

Beautiful instruments from some of the world''s finest luthiers.

"Certainly one of the most unique and eye-catching instruments at the show this year was luthier Michihiro Matsudaуs stunning new take on a ukulele. Primarily mahogany, this is not your father's uke! The soundboard is a single piece of wood, while the wood piece in the back rests on the player's body."

The author, middle, with bassist Ross Valory (left) and Steve Smith (right) of Journey.

Do you know who’s hanging around your gigs? Our columnist shares a story about the time Journey’s bassist was in the audience during soundcheck.

I’ve always loved what I do for a living. Even long before it became a career, doing the work every day to get better was something I fell in love with right away. As a result, I’ve never had any issues with stage fright or nerves when it comes to performing—even if there are some mega-influential or important musical people in the room.

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The veteran Florida-born metalcore outfit proves that you don’t need humbuckers to pull off high gain.

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Kiesel Guitars has introduced their newest solid body electric guitar: the Kyber.

With its modern performance specs and competitive pricing, the Kyber is Kiesel's most forward-thinking design yet, engineered for comfort, quick playing, and precision with every note.

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The Sunset is a fully analog, zero latency bass amplifier simulator. It features a ¼” input, XLR and ¼” outputs, gain and volume controls and extensive equalization. It’s intended to replace your bass amp both live and in the studio.

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