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Why the guitar gear status quo is there to be challenged
Some pieces of gear are timeless, but players shouldn’t limit themselves to tried and tested formulas During a recent interview with Reverb, Jack White explained why his early playing days were defined by oddball guitar gear picks, saying that swimming upstream was fundamental to his growth as an artist. He had the peculiar 1964 Montgomery Ward Airline Res-O-Glas, a guitar with a fibreglass body, his own in the White Stripes, while it was a 1950s Kay hollow-body that he used
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Is Polyend's open-source effects generator, Endless good or bad news for the guitar industry?
The ChatGPT-inspired stompbox can create effects and simulate amps from prompts without any coding required – but is it ethical? Over an exhaustive seven days, I was on Gutiar World’s frontline, covering all the biggest stories from NAMM 2026. And there were plenty of them. But few left me as conflicted as Polyend’s new pedal, Endless. There’s a part of me that ‘s dying to get one in my hands to put through its paces, because it’s potential at least is staggering. But the
Philip Weller
Jan 30
Exploring the Ibanez Alpha and guitar body trademarks
The new guitar’s similarities to two existing models have caused controversy, but what does the history of guitar design tell us about trademarks and body shapes? When Ibanez launched its brand-new electric guitar, the Alpha, earlier this month, Animals As Leaders guitarist Javier Reyes was seen in the comments section of the firm’s Instagram asking: “What Japanese for shameless?” It’s clear what markets Ibanez is aiming to seduce with the Alpha – a guitar we reported on
Philip Weller
Jan 23
Why 2026 is a big year for Fender
New products, new markets, and bold ambitions – a new era of Fender has arrived It feels like the crackle and pop and the New Year’s fireworks had only just dissipated when Fender, one of the guitar world’s most historic and prestigious brands, began to chime in a new era. After closing out 2025 by topping Reverb’s best-selling guitar charts, with the American Professional II Strat moving up two places from 2024 to stand atop the podium, it launched a new range of product
Philip Weller
Jan 16
AI music is out to destroy the bands you love
...and yet they can’t survive without them One of the very first blogs I wrote for Modern Metal Academy was about how, in the face of the exponential rise of amp modellers, real amps will never die , because modelers need them to survive. Modellers are great for their portability and versatility, but their tonal DNA lies in real amps; the tones they produce are copies of real amps. AI works in a very similar way. If you ask ChatGPT how to cook potatoes, what it essentially
Philip Weller
Jan 9
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