Custom Shop recreates Mike McCready’s extremely road-worn vintage Strat

Pearl Jam's Mike McCready is perhaps most associated with a Fender Stratocaster, and his vintage '59 model is his most prized. So it was this instrument that was chosen for a very limited Custom Shop replica run. But not all was as it seemed.

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Fender’s R&D chief: The Acoustasonic “is the transitional guitar”

Fender conceived the Acoustasonic as the "modern acoustic" guitar. Slim, lightweight and super easy to play, it's a digital twist on a familiar organic form. We spoke to Fender's VP of R&D about how this "transitional" guitar works and what it means.

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Fender Mustang Micro Review: 12 guitar amps in your pocket

This tiny, $100 gadget plugs into your guitar where the lead would normally go, and gives you instant access to 12 beautifully modeled amp sounds and a range of effects through headphones, for super-portable practice and recording. Very impressive!

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Astell&Kern offers an analog-to-digital bridge for legacy headphones

Many smartphone makers have recently turned their backs on the humble audio jack, meaning that your favorite earphones and headphones may need some help to get you plugged in. Luxury audio brand Astell&Kern has responded with a portable USB-C DAC.

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Acoustasonic Jazzmaster review: Fender walks the digital tightrope

10 guitars in one; that's the promise with Fender's groundbreaking digitally-enhanced Acoustasonic range, and the new Jazzmaster flavor pushes things further and harder than ever before. We've spent two weeks with Fender's brave leap into the future.

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AR Synth lets you play five classic synthesizers on your phone

Google's Arts & Culture platform and YouTube have launched a new online exhibition to celebrate the history of electronic music, part of which is an augmented reality experience where five classic synthesizers can be played online for free.

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Spark-O-Matic Jazzmaster completes Fender’s trip into a Parallel Universe

With the release of the "Spark-O-Matic" Jazzmaster, Fender has completed its Parallel Universe II line up, an eight model range of limited edition electric guitars that combine elements of different Fender icons to create some interesting oddities.

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AI tech reproduces realistic music from silent piano-playing videos

It's easy to imagine a program that could visually identify which pieces of music were being performed in silent piano-playing videos. A new AI system goes further, however, by reproducing the sound of that piano-playing in a realistic fashion.

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Vox puts a guitar/bass amp on your head with the VGH series headphones

Players looking to tap into the sweet sounds of a vintage AC30 amplifier while out and about might plug into an amPlug headphone amp and rock out. But now there's another option, with three Vox headphone variants that have guitar amps cooked in.

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Fender celebrates its 75th year with special edition guitars and basses

Fender is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, and is marking the occasion with special editions of its most popular models – the Telecaster, Stratocaster, Precision Bass and Jazz Bass.

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