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GALLERY: Show Us Your Gear - DIY Builds

See the guitars, amps, and effects PG readers build.

"Ware assembled his dream Tele from a variety of sources. The body was lightly relic'd by MJT Custom Aged Finishes, the neck is a soft V 12-inch radius from Protocaster Guitars, the pickups are '67 Tele pickups from Klein Pickups, the controls are modern Tele from RS Guitarworks, and the pickguard and neck plate are both Fender. The hardware is Callaham guitar parts."

Stevie Van Zandt with ā€œNumber One,ā€ the ’80s reissue Stratocaster—with custom paisley pickguard from luthier Dave Petillo—that he’s been playing for the last quarter century or so.

Photo by Pamela Springsteen

With the E Street Band, he’s served as musical consigliere to Bruce Springsteen for most of his musical life. And although he stands next to the Boss onstage, guitar in hand, he’s remained mostly quiet about his work as a player—until now.

I’m stuck in Stevie Van Zandt’s elevator, and the New York City Fire Department has been summoned. It’s early March, and I am trapped on the top floor of a six-story office building in Greenwich Village. On the other side of this intransigent door is Van Zandt’s recording studio, his guitars, amps, and other instruments, his Wicked Cool Records offices, and his man cave. The latter is filled with so much day-glo baby boomer memorabilia that it’s like being dropped into a Milton Glaser-themed fantasy land—a bright, candy-colored chandelier swings into the room from the skylight.


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Lloyd Baggs has reemerged from the shadows of guitar design, for the first time since the late ’80s, with his innovative AEG-1 instrument.

Following the release of the AEG-1, the multi-dimensional creative and intuitive engine behind acoustic-guitar pickup manufacturer L.R. Baggs shares the fascinating story of how he’s always been a builder, too.

In Werner Herzog: A Guide for the Perplexed, the German filmmaker, opera director, actor, and author tells his colleague Paul Cronin, ā€œWalk on foot, learn languages and a craft or trade that has nothing to do with cinema. Filmmaking—like great literature—must have experience of life as its foundation.ā€ When applied to the story of Lloyd Baggs, founder and owner of the L.R. Baggs Corporation, who’s been a cellist, car mechanic, aspiring racecar driver, fine-art printmaker, photographer, and self-taught guitar builder and acoustic pickup engineer, Herzog’s sentiment grows legs.

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Two new acoustic models from Cort with solid red cedar tops and black satin finishes.

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The newest pedal in Supercool's lineup, designed to honor the classic RAT distortion pedal with more tone customization, a dead-quiet circuit response, and an eye-catching design.

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