The new models include five new arched-back acoustics, Starfires, and more.
OM-240E
Five new affordable arched back models join Guild’s Westerly Collection. Guild’s first arched back model appeared in the mid-1950s, a feature that’s become synonymous with the Guild brand ever since. Guild’s newest arched back models are available in four classic body shapes: dreadnought (D-240E), concert (M-240E), orchestra (OM-240CE and OM-240E), and jumbo 12-string (F-2512E Maple). These five guitars feature Guild’s AP-1 pickup, bone nuts and saddles, rosewood bridges and fingerboards, tortoiseshell pickguards, fully bound bodies, mother-of- pearl appointments, and padded deluxe gig bags. As renowned for 12-strings as they are for arched back models, Guild offers the best of both worlds with the F-2512E Maple, built with a solid Sitka spruce top paired with an arched maple back. All other models feature solid Sitka spruce tops with arched mahogany backs. Guild’s signature arched back design allows for great volume and projection, long sustain, and a lush, full sound. Guild continues to play to its strengths, while upholding the same commitment to quality and sound the brand has always been known for.
$399-499 street
TOTO, CHRISTOPHER CROSS, and MEN AT WORK will embark on a North American tour in Summer 2025, produced by Live Nation. The tour kicks off on July 18 in West Palm Beach, FL, with tickets on sale December 13 at totoofficial.com. Citi cardmembers can access presale tickets starting December 11.
The run commences on July 18 in West Palm Beach, FL, and will stage several dozen appearances prior to the final event on August 30 in Ridgefield, WA. The general on-sale begins Friday, December 13 at 10AM local time here: totoofficial.com. Citi is the official card of this tour. Citi cardmembers will have access to presale tickets in the U.S. beginning December 11 at 10AM local time through the Citi Entertainment program. For complete presale details, visit citientertainment.com. Additional performances not cited below will be forthcoming shortly.
Steve Lukather shares, “I am thrilled about this tour. Christopher and Colin have been close friends of mine for a long time. This is a tour that musically works, and brings a fresh new Summer tour package to the circuit. I could not be more thrilled an idea that germinated months ago was able to take flight and become a reality.” Colin Hay offers, “The mix of Christopher, Steve with Toto, and Men At Work rings true to me. I think it will make for an exciting night of music for old and new fans alike. Let’s go!!” Christopher Cross states, “I’m honored to be sharing the stage during the summer of 2025 with my dear friends Toto and Men At Work.”
Toto has celebrated one accomplishment after the next throughout 2024. The song “Africa” has been certified DIAMOND for sales of TEN MILLION copies by the RIAA in The United States. Current cumulative sales now exceed 10.5M. Additionally, “Hold The Line” has been certified triple platinum for sales of three million copies, while “Rosanna” hit the milestone of double platinum with sales of two million copies. Both “Africa” and “Hold The Line” have reached the milestone of a BILLION streams on Spotify. Cumulative Toto album sales now exceed 50 MILLION copies, while the band’s repertoire is played more than THREE MILLION times daily on Spotify alone by an audience that continues to get younger month to month. Consistently, over 50% of the band’s streams are from those 34 years or younger. Total streams now exceed 4 BILLION at Spotify, and 6 BILLION across all platforms.
Individually and collectively the band’s family tree can be heard on countless Grammy Award winning albums across all genres. Toto are one of the few 70’s bands that have endured the changing trends and styles while continuing to remain relevant. Joining Steve Lukather (guitar/vocals) and Joseph Williams (vocals) are Greg Phillinganes (keyboards / vocals), Shannon Forrest (drums), John Pierce (bass), Warren Ham (horns / percussion / vocals), and Dennis Atlas (keyboards / vocals).
Grammy Award-winning rock band Men At Work formed in Melbourne, Australia in 1979 and are best known for the breakthrough hits that include the billion streamed "Down Under," alongside "Who Can It Be Now?," "Be Good Johnny," "Overkill," and "It's a Mistake." The band achieved a global success as a Grammy-winning, multi-platinum selling act before disbanding in 1985. Due to demand, members Colin Hay and Greg Ham reunited in 1996, and revived Men At Work, touring the world until 2002. Following the death of Greg Ham, and while touring Europe as part of Ringo Starr’s All Starr Band in 2018, Colin Hay again entertained the idea of touring once more as Men At Work and has continued to do so since 2019. The band’s current touring line-up features Jimmy Branly on drums, Yosmel Montejo on bass, and San Miguel on guitar, all originally hailing from Cuba. On sax, flute and keyboards is Scheila Gonzalez, and Cecilia Noël performs harmony vocals and percussion. Steve Lukather and Colin Hay are close friends who have wanted to tour together for a long time. They are both members of Ringo Starr’s All-Starr Band.
Special guest Christopher Cross and the members of Toto have been friends and collaborators for more than four decades. On September 1, they appeared with one another in front of a capacity crowd at Los Angeles’ Hollywood Bowl. In February, Cross will tour Europe with Toto on a run that will stage performances in front of a potential quarter million fans. Joining Cross are Francis Arnaud (drums), Kevin Reveyrand (bass), Jerry Leonide (piano), Andy Suzuki (winds & keys), and vocalists Lisbet Guldbeck, Chrissi Poland and Nicky Richards.
Christopher Cross burst onto the music scene with his 1980 self-titled debut album winning five Grammy Awards, including – for the first time in Grammy history – the “Big Four” most prestigious awards: Record of the Year (for the single “Sailing”), Album of the Year, Song of the Year (“Sailing”), and Best New Artist. In a career spanning more than four decades, Cross has sold more than 12 million albums. His music has garnered five Grammys, an Oscar, a Golden Globe, an Emmy nomination and five Top 10 singles.
For more information, please visit totoofficial.com.
- 7/18 West Palm Beach, FL iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre
- 7/19 Tampa, FL MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre
- 7/21 Birmingham, AL Coca-Cola Amphitheater
- 7/22 Alpharetta, GA Ameris Bank Amphitheatre
- 7/24 Burgettstown, PA The Pavilion at Star Lake
- 7/25 Holmdel, NJ PNC Bank Arts Center
- 7/26 Boston, MA Leader Bank Pavilion
- 7/28 Gilford, NH BankNH Pavilion
- 7/30 Bridgeport, CT Hartford HealthCare Amphitheater
- 8/01 Atlantic City, NJ Hard Rock Live at Etess Arena
- 8/03 Cincinnati, OH Riverbend Music Center
- 8/05 St. Louis, MO Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre
- 8/06 Noblesville, IN Ruoff Music Center
- 8/08 Cuyahoga Falls, OH Blossom Music Center
- 8/09 Tinley Park, IL Credit Union 1 Amphitheatre
- 8/11 Clarkston, MI Pine Knob Music Theatre
- 8/13 Bristow, VA Jiffy Lube Live
- 8/14 Charlotte, NC PNC Music Pavilion
- 8/15 Nashville, TN Ascend Amphitheater
- 8/17 Oklahoma City, OK The Zoo Amphitheatre
- 8/18 Irving, TX The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory
- 8/21 Phoenix, AZ Arizona Financial Theatre
- 8/23 Las Vegas, NV Fontainebleau
- 8/24 Inglewood, CA Kia Forum
- 8/25 Concord, CA Toyota Pavilion at Concord
- 8/27 Salt Lake City, UT Utah First Credit Union Amphitheatre
- 8/29 Puyallup, WA Washington State Fair (On-Sale Coming Soon)
- 8/30 Ridgefield, WA RV Inn Style Resorts Amphitheater
With internally adjustable midrange boost and versatile Voice 2, these pickups are designed to capture the killer tones of 80s & 90s high performance Strats.
Amid the screaming success of the Gristle-Tone signature Telecaster and P90 pickup sets, it was no surprise that Greg wanted to contribute to the Fluence single width line next.
Unlike the Gristle-Tone for Tele and P90, the Greg Koch Gristle-Tone Signature Series Single Width set represents a modern approach, extracting a wide variety of clean to high gain tones, from the pure, wide-open Voice 1, through the mid-forward vocabulary in Voice 2 with broad control over the midrange qualities to meet all of Greg’s single width needs.
For this set, Greg wanted to capture the killer tones of 80s & 90s high performance Strats, which deliver a wide-band Hi-Fi sound, with more dynamics and versatility. A resonant shift in the 2 & 4 positions can bring out those glassy, toothy in-between tones.
An internally adjustable set-and-forget midrange boost in Voice 2 offers everything from mild added “fatness” to full blown searing leads. Pull up on the Reactive Tone Control for a fat and sassy boost.
Greg Koch says, “These pickups provide the slice and the sinew without the razor blades on the high end and the flabbiness on the low end….Voice 2 brings the heat when you need to go in for the win!"
The pickups are available as a 6-string set and come in white or black. Street price in the U.S. is $269.95 for the set.+`
For more information, please visit fishman.com.
Greg Koch Single Width Pickups | Feature Highlight - YouTube
Nile Rodgers Put Rhythm Up Front (and Cory Wong Listened)
Funk-guitar wiz and Wong Notes host Cory Wong flips the script and sits in the 100 Guitarists guest chair.
Funk-guitar wiz and Wong Noteshost Cory Wong flips the script and sits in the 100 Guitarists guest chair. Wong cleared his schedule to talk about one Nile Rodgers’ work on the Halo 2 soundtrack. We were lucky that got him to return our call, but we did move on quickly.
Wong is a scholar of all things rhythm guitar—and that means all things Nile. We talk about how the Hitmaker voices his progressions—“You hear Nile play a chord progression … and it’s that song”—and the role of rhythm guitar in general. Cory delivers his list of best Nile performances, tips for direct guitar sounds, and most surprising Nile collabs.
Ever wonder what it would sound like if Nile Rodgers produced David Lee Roth covering Willie Nelson? Give a listen and drop us a know when you check it out for yourself.
This episode is sponsored by JAM Pedals.
More info: https://www.jampedals.com.
Joe Satriani and Steve Vai unite to form the SATCHVAI Band.
Kicking off on June 13, 2025, this monumental musical journey will feature stops in major cities like London, Paris, Copenhagen, and Amsterdam, and will also include performances at major European summer festivals including Hellfest, Umbria Jazz Festival and Guitares en Scene Fest. The tour is set to conclude in late July, with more dates to be announced soon.
The duo, along with each of their respective bands, initially joined forces for their first-ever tour together, outside of the G3 format, the past spring (2024) across select U.S. cities, and decided it was finally time to actually form a band together and bring that winning formula to the live stage, beginning in Europe.
Celebrating nearly five decades of musical friendship, Joe Satriani and Steve Vai made their first musical collaboration debut in March 2024. “The Sea of Emotion, Pt. 1” showcases the unmatched synergy between these two legendary guitarists as they seamlessly trade solo sections throughout the nearly six-minute opus. Their second collaboration is set to be released just before the European tour, adding even more anticipation for this epic run.
Pre-sale tickets for “The SATCHVAI Band Tour” will be available starting Wednesday and Thursday December 11 and 12, with general sales opening on Friday, December 13.
Satch and Vai’s musical careers have been intertwined since their very early days. Satriani served as Vai’s guitar teacher during their teenage years on Long Island, New York. Their connection has continued to evolve over the years, even sharing record labels, starting at Relativity Records in the late 80’s, to both calling Sony/Epic Records home for a significant portion of the 90’s. Together, they have also frequently teamed up with a third guitarist on multiple occasions throughout the span of three decades, participating in the semi-annual G3 Tours, both in the U.S. and abroad.
“The SATCHVAI Band Tour is happening! I’m so looking forward to sharing the stage with Steve again,” Satriani said. “Every time we play together, it takes me back to when we were teenagers, eating and breathing music every second of the day, pushing, challenging, and helping each other to be the best we could be. I guess we’ve never stopped!”
Vai added, “Touring with Joe is always a pleasure and an honor. He is my favorite guitarist to jam with, and now we have another opportunity to take it to the stage. I feel as though we are both at the top of our game, and the show will be a powerful celebration of the coolest instrument in the world, the electric guitar!”
Joe Satriani has had a packed schedule having recently concluded the Sammy Hagar-led Best of All Worlds Tour, which was met with much fanfare and critical acclaim. While Steve Vai has been playing shows across the U.S. as part of the BEAT tour following the conclusion of the Satch/Vai tour earlier this year.
Surfing with the Hydra Tour 2025 Itinerary:
June 13 York, UK Barbican
June 14 London, UK Eventim Apollo
June 17 Glasgow, SC Glasgow Royal Concert Hall
June 18 Wolverhampton, UK Civic Hall
June 19 Manchester, UK O2 Apollo
June 21 Clisson, FR Helfest
June 22 Paris, FR Palais Des Congres
June 23 Antwerp, BE Lotto Arena
June 24 Amsterdam, NL Amsterdam Afas
June 26 Copenhagen, DK Amager Bio
June 29 Helsinki, FI House of Culture
June 30 Tampere, FI Tampere Hall
July 2 Uppsala, SE Parksnackan
July 3 Oslo, NO Sentrum Scene
July 5 Warsaw, PL Torwar
July 8 Munich, DE Tollwood Festival
July 10 Dusseldorf, DE Mitsubishi Electric Hall
July 11 Frankfurt, DE Jahrhunderthalle
July 12 Zurich, CH Volkshaus Zürich
July 13 Milan, IT Comfort Festival @ Villa Casati Stampa
July 15 Pordenone, IT Parco San Valentino
July 16 Perugia, IT Umbria Jazz
July 17 Bologna, IT Sequoie Music Park
July 18 Saint-Julien, FR Guitares en Scene Festival
July 20 Prague, CZ Forum Karlin
July 22 Sofia, BG National Palace of Culture
More dates TBA