Guitar player magazine crowned a new "Guitar Superstar" at San Francisco's Great American Music Hall. In the type of contest that attracts million-notes-per-second guitar shredmeisters, Vicki's playing stood out for its originality. The 49 year old New Jersey native coaxes, cajoles, slaps and hammers an amazing variety of sounds from her acoustic guitar. Master of ceremonies Andy Summers was joined by a distinguished panel of judges including Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Elliot Easton, Brendon Small and George Lynch. Vicki's style is physical, energetic and totally engaging Check out the video of Vicki playing "Atomic Reshuffle," the piece that got her the win.

The San Francisco Chronicle has more on the story.

Attention all guitar teachers. Next time a student comes to you and complains that their hands are too big, too small, their fingers are too fat, etc... Show them this:

Amazing One Armed Guitar Player

As reported earlier, Queen guitarist Brian May has always had an intellectual side to say the least. After receiving a doctorate in astrophysics last year, he has now published his thesis on the mysterious phenomenon of Zodiacal light.

A 1965 Fender Stratocaster that was set ablaze during one of the guitar legend's performances at London's Finsbury Astoria in March of 1967 is going up for auction in London later this year.

After the show, the guitarist had to be rushed to the hospital with burns on his hands. The injuries turned out to be minor, but the iconic value of the performance will never be forgotten.

Some great photos from a builder who creates guitars and banjos from ordinary household items. These aren't slapped together instruments. The builder is clearly a very skilled luthier who puts a lot of thought and planning into the build process. Now we just wish we could hear one!

As we reported earlier, the initial leg of Van Halen's most recent tour had to be postponed so that Ed could undergo treatment for an unspecified medical condition. We're happy to report that the tour resumed to largely favorable reviews and has now wrapped up with the closing show in Grand Rapids Michigan today.
Grand Rapids native, Tom Weber has had the tough, but enviable job of being Ed's lead guitar tech for the tour. In an article on MLive.com, Tom shares his experiences maintaining the legendary player's guitars. Says Tom:

The C.F. Martin guitar company in Nazareth, PA is a small guitar manufacturer of acoustic guitars. Perhaps you've heard of them?
This year they celebrate their 175th year of building guitars. To say the company is still going strong might be understating it just a little bit. Martin has been known as the choice manufacturer of acoustic guitars practically since they incorporated back in the 1830s.