A Brief History of the Ibanez Tubescreamer
What’s mean, green, and all over the scene? The Tubescreamer. This legendary pedal is a must-have for guitarists and should have a spot reserved for it on almost every pedalboard.
Fender American Ultra Series
Fender introduces its most performance-minded series yet: American Ultra. Designed for players who want the ultimate in technically advanced instruments, Fender’s American Ultra Series features Ultra Noiseless pickups, advanced wiring options, and “Modern D” necks with rolled, 10”-14” compound radius fingerboards, tapered heels, and medium jumbo frets for unfettered playability and unlimited tone to match.
Explore Fender Lefty Featuring Mdou Moctar
Chicago Music Exchange announces the release of an exclusive collection of left-handed Fender Made In Japan Traditional Series offsets. Each lefty ‘60s Jazzmaster, ‘60s Jaguar, and ‘60s Mustang features a real rosewood fretboard and one of seven unique and rarely seen colorways like Flamingo Pink, Daphne Blue, Surf Green, California Blue, Candy Apple Red, Sonic Blue, and Black. In "EXPLORE," Chicago Music Exchange puts their exclusive Fender MIJ lefties into the hands of one of their favorite left-handed guitar players, Mdou Moctar
Fender Master Built Electric XII Master Built By Carlos Lopez
Master Built by Carlos Lopez, this Fender Electric XII is the very first historically accurate reproduction of the 1960s original. Fender had no original schematics or blueprints for this model, so when they hired Lopez as their newest Master Builder, he analyzed a 1966 Fender Electric XII down to its smallest components and handmade this replica from scratch. It’s a thing of beauty, and Nathaniel is quite excited to share it.
Chicago Music Exchange Presents The Bursts
Right now, at this very moment, we have three authentic Bursts. We thought we'd take the time to tell you about them, and just what makes these beautiful guitars so important.
PAF Shootout with New PRS TCI-Tuned 58/15 Humbuckers
Recently, we were approached by one of our favorite builders, Paul Reed Smith Guitars, with an incredible opportunity. Paul reached out personally and asked if we would sit down with four of their guitars and do a rundown against some of our favorite pieces in the store.
CMEGiveaway
Win Exclusive Gear at Chicago Music Exchange this holiday season. We've got gear for the whole band—whether you're a guitar shredder, drum thumper, pedal tweaker, bass head, or left-handed ripper—there's something here for you!
Vintage Tours - Fort Worth
They never expected to see our faces ‘round these parts again, not after what we did in Dallas, and again in San Antonio. But you can’t keep axe-slingers like us away from a good day in the Texas sun. Not when it’s time for the “world’s largest consumer guitar event.” Not when it’s Amigos International. We could smell a Texas-sized standoff coming, and when we finally set our boots down in the home of the world’s largest honky-tonk, Fort Worth, Texas, we readied ourselves for a fight.
Paul Reed Smith 2020 Models at Chicago Music Exchange
PRS introduces six new models to the SE Series for 2020, expanding the lineup to include new designs and new looks on old favorites.
Labor of Love - Eric Skye
Steel-string guitarist and Santa Cruz Signature Artist Eric Skye stopped by our Lincoln Avenue showroom for his very first CME Session and told us about the importance of mindfulness, scale length, and pushing past “just good guitar playing” to an improvisational place where melody thrives.
Vintage Vibes - 1970 Fender Rosewood Telecaster
Shelby says there's something in the way this 1970 Rosewood Fender Telecaster moves. Most commonly associated with George Harrison of The Beatles and Traveling Wilburys fame, the Rosewood Telecaster was designed for Fender in the 1960s by former Rickenbacker luthier Roger Rossmeisl.
Gibson Custom Slash 1966 EDS 1275 Doubleneck Replica at Chicago Music Exchange
Welcome to epic Slash tone! The Gibson Custom Slash 1966 EDS 1275 Doubleneck Replica in Aged Ebony just arrived and looks like it came through the door fresh off the latest GNR tour—full of rock n' roll swag. Secure yours now, these are highly limited and supremely cool.
Ernie Ball Music Man Mariposa Omar Rodriquez-Lopez Collaboration at Chicago Music Exchange
The latest and greatest from the folks at Ernie Ball Music Man and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez of Mars Volta / At the Drive-In for their artist series—The Mariposa! Featuring a radically laser-etched pickguard, separate volume controls for the humbucking pickups, and a great set of color-ways with matching headstocks to boot!
Chicago Music Exchange Garage Sale
Giving garage rock a whole new meaning with blowout sales on great gear as well as odds and ends for the whole band! Get great deals on overstock, odds and ends, and all kinds of stuff we need to move to make room for brand new CME Exclusives, custom builds, and vintage gems. Don’t delay. You know what they say. The early bird gets the Wurm!
Vintage Vibes - 1958 Fender Stratocaster Sunburst
Phil fills us in on this beautiful, one-owner 1958 Sunburst Fender Stratocaster. Dating back to the days of sock hops, malt shops, and one Buddy Holly, this '58 Fender sounds as youthful as ever and doesn't look a day over sixty.
Vintage Vibes - 1958 Gretsch 6122 Chet Atkins Country Gentleman Walnut
Edward tips his hat to the lasting legacy of one of country music's greatest with this 1958 Walnut Gretsch 6122 Chet Atkins Country Gentleman. One of the first artists to endorse a guitar company, Atkins changed more than just Gretsch history when he helped develop the Filter'Tron pickup, a noise-cancelling, dual-coil alternative to the classic single-coil.
Vintage Vibes - Fender Blackguard Guitars at Chicago Music Exchange
Vintage Fender Blackguard Esquire and Telecaster Guitars at Chicago Music Exchange. The Blackguard Telecaster is one of the most coveted guitars in history. Chicago Music Exchange details the guitar's development, its importance as a forerunner of the electrified solid-body, its defining components, and everything else that makes our three Blackguards–the '52 Fender Telecaster, '53 Fender Esquire, and '53 Fender Telecaster–so remarkable.
Ernie Ball Short Scale Bass
It’s the year of the short-scale at CME, and we’re celebrating with a brand new, short-scale StingRay Special from Ernie Ball Music Man. Available in Ultramarine Blue and Raspberry Pearl finishes, the StringRay Special short-scale features an ash body with rounded arm contour, specially designed single humbucking pickup with higher output neodymium magnets, 3-way rotary switch with single coil, series, and parallel settings, push-pull volume pot with 20dB boost, and a chrome-plated top-loading steel bridge with nickel-plated steel saddles.
Gretsch Custom Shop Korina Caddy Bo
Korina, korina! Masterbuilt by Stephen Stern in collaboration with our CEO Andrew Yonke, this wild Gretsch Custom Shop Caddy Bo is a team dream. From the mind of our CEO, Andrew Yonke, and the bench of Gretsch Custom Shop Masterbuilder Stephen Stern, comes this Custom Shop Korina Caddy Bo Relic, a handmade, vintage-inspired electric korina-ed to the bone.
Starter Guitars - Guitars for Beginners at Chicago Music Exchange
From your first guitar to your best guitar, Chicago Music Exchange has everything you need to get started playing guitar. As your playing evolves and improves we are here for you every step away as you move from basic chords to complex arrangements. Chicago Music Exchange carries entry level to advanced instruments from all of the best makers in the world and the amplifiers, effects and accessories that help you dial in your desired tone. Don't delay, start playing guitar today! Call 1-773-525-7773 to speak to a CME Musician. We will find the right fit for the first, next and last guitar you'll ever need.
Vintage Vibes - Roland GR-700 Guitar Synthesizer
Much like the infinite nature of space and the cosmos, so is there an infinite number of tones that you can get from the Roland GR-700. The footswitch has eight banks, and in each bank there are eight sounds. You can edit those as much as you’d like, but you don't need to because there's an infinite number of sounds built into those eight specific banks that have eight sounds per bank. Count it. Eight times eight. That’s infinity. It’s math.
Chicago Music Exchange Exclusive Harbor Blue ES-335
This beautiful, blue semi-hollow body is our exclusive Harbor Blue Gibson ES-335 Dot, one of 17 ever made and only available here at the Chicago Music Exchange. It’s a product of the very last production run of the Gibson Memphis factory and this very stunning Harbor Blue color has never been offered in the Gibson catalog before. It was mixed and made exclusively for us here at the Chicago Music Exchange and based off a vintage Chevy car color, as a lot of the guitar colors of the 50s, 60s, and 70s were. It also comes with VOS aged nickel hardware, which is typically found only on custom shop or historic models, so you're getting some really high quality components and appointments on this model for a lower price point.
Gretsch Nick 13 Tiger Army Jet Only Available at Chicago Music Exchange
The Tiger Army frontman unveils his new limited edition signature Jet–available only at Chicago Music Exchange! Join us in our Lincoln Avenue showroom on Saturday, September 7th, when Nick 13 and the rest of Tiger Army will be here to celebrate the release of the brand new Gretsch G6128T-N13 Limited Edition Nick 13 Signature Jet!
The Taylor Guitars Experience at Chicago Music Exchange
Spanning an entire wall of our new acoustic room, the Taylor Experience puts the full palette of Taylor’s tonal variations right at your fingertips. With detailed descriptions and visual examples of different body shapes, tonewoods, and the effect they have on sound, you have a broadly printed, à la carte menu to help you sample all that Taylor has to offer. Pair your dream model to your dream tonewood and pull it right off the wall. Put it back and try another. Try every single one, if you like. That’s the Taylor Experience, and there’s nothing else like it in the entire world.
Inside Mayones Guitars & Basses
Mayones makes guitars and basses by hand. This may seem like a common enough selling point for most boutique manufacturers, but for brothers Dawid and Tom Dziewulski this isn’t a marketing claim. It’s their heritage. Learn all about Mayones Guitars and Basses in this Chicago Music Exchange Q&A.
Inside Mule Guitars
“It's not about the guitar–it's big, fun, human stories.” Building a career is a lot like building a guitar. In the words of Mule Resonators’ Matt Eich, it takes “a thousand tiny steps.” You start with a big idea and make it smaller, reduce it into pieces, each a manageable task you finish and build on, and then you put it all together. If you’re lucky, what you have is something even greater than what you expected. Discover Mule guitars in this Chicago Music Exchange Q&A.
Empress ZOIA: Queen of Modular Synths
The Empress ZOIA can do anything, because it is everything. If that sounds complicated, it is–and it isn’t. Fitting the effects capabilities of a modular synth into a modestly sized pedal enclosure, the brand new ZOIA is a complete effects laboratory loaded with all the modules you need to build a custom delay, reverb, phaser, or something entirely your own. Discover the Empress ZOIA at Chicago Music Exchange.
Heritage Hollow Body Electric Guitars at Chicago Music Exchange
Heritage Hollow Body Electric Guitars At Chicago Music Exchange, the H-530 and H-575 hollow body models are designed for pure tone and maximum natural resonance. The double-cut H-530 features scatter-wound Lollar P90s with Alnico 5 bar magnets on the neck and bridge and a laminate maple rim set. The florentine-cut H-575 figured maple archtop is equipped with dual Seymour Duncan Seth Lover humbucking pickups, a genuine mahogany neck, and an Indian rosewood fingerboard.
Suhr Classic and Antique Series Guitars at Chicago Music Exchange
Available at Chicago Music Exchange, Suhr’s Classic and Classic Antique Series pair classic looks and feel with proprietary technology for a playing experience all their own.