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GALLERY: Riot Fest 2016

See what guitars and basses the punks, metalheads, and hardcore rockers used during the Windy City’s other 3-day festival.

Pepper’s Kaleo Wassman

If you’re going to tour with just two guitars, make them count. Kaleo brings a pair of Fender Custom Shop ’61 Strats that were put together by Master Builder John Cruz. This one is loaded with Seymour Duncan Custom Classic single-coils.

Here’s how 21 killer players from the past year of Rig Rundowns—including Justin Chancellor, Zakk Wylde, MonoNeon, Carmen Vandenberg, Sturgill Simpson, Jason Isbell, and Grace Bowers—use stomps to take their sounds outside the box.


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Each night of a G3 tour ends with an all-out jam and on Reunion Live, the trio hits classics by Cream, Hendrix, and Steppenwolf. “When you hear each guy solo, you can hear how we’ve changed through the years,” says Vai.

Photo by Steve Rose

Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, and Eric Johnson reflect on their groundbreaking tour with a fiery live album that took nearly 30 years to make.

“When you’re young, you’re attracted to all these [guitar] ideas—do this, do that,” says Eric Johnson. “You’re like a sponge. If you get yourself out of the way, get rid of the ego, and stay open, you remain a student your whole life. But at the same time, you get to the point where you’re like, ‘There’s only so much time, and I don’t need to learn this and that.’ There are things that Joe [Satriani] or Steve [Vai] do that I’ll never be able to do.”

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Meet Siccardi Number 28: a 5-ply, double-cut solidbody tribute to Paul Bigsby’s “Hezzy Hall” guitar.

Reader: Mark Huss
Hometown: Coatesville, PA
Guitar: Siccardi Number 28

May we all have friends like Ed Siccardi—along with a rare stash of tonewoods and inspiration to pay tribute to a legendary luthier.

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The Milwaukee-based “guitarist’s guitarist” doles out decades of midwest wisdom on this episode of Wong Notes.

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