Editor’s Note | January 2019

A New Year heralds all kinds of things: for some it’s a workout commitment, for others a vow to write the Great American Novel, for others, a pledge to do more to help others and make the world a better place. Here at the Stompbox Book HQ we pretty much just want to continue writing about and playing with cool guitar pedals—is that so terrible? I mean, 2018 was pretty damn good to us, and we think it does make the world a better place to be able to tell you we’ve recently confirmed even more of the baddest players in the world for Stompbox: A Visual Exploration of the Guitar Pedal, including 70s giant Robin Trower, Extreme’s Nuno Bettencourt, Thunderpussy’s Whitney Petty, and Scott Holiday of the brilliant neo-classic California rock band Rival Sons.

And though we may not be writing The Great American Novel here, I think we’ve got a pretty good shot at writing The Great Guitar Pedal Photo Book: and this website is where you’ll continue to see that book come alive and take shape. Whether it’s our The Making of Stompbox Book features—like Eilon’s amazing piece last month on Eric Johnson—or Dan Epstein’s hysterical Kicked by Santa in the Jingle Bells playlist, or our latest in-depth Stompbox Makers interviews and Behind the Counter profiles, this blog is where all the many players, makers, aficionados, purveyors and scholars of the mighty stompbox come together.

We’ve got a ton of exciting stuff ready to roll in this new year of 2019, and we’re awfully glad you’re with us. Let us know what you want to see, and drop us a line to stay in touch. And if you do decide to start hitting the gym more often, you could always start with doing ankle stretches on a nice old wah-wah pedal. I mean, you won’t build a ton of muscle, but you’ll definitely rock. And a commitment to rock more is always a damn fine New Years resolution.

—Roto