The Guitar.com group was deeply saddened to study of the passing of Dave Burrluck, Guitarist journal’s longtime gear editor and one of the vital revered figures in guitar journalism.

Dave was enhancing Worldwide Musician and Recording World‘s Guitarcheck part within the late Nineteen Eighties when the journal’s writer determined it was time to create a competitor to the UK’s solely remaining month-to-month guitar journal, Guitarist.

Dave was the pure option to launch Guitar Journal – the print progenitor to Guitar.com – in 1991, and in that debut problem, Dave’s byline is seen throughout the evaluations part, together with an ahead-of-its-time examination of a classic 1952 Fender Telecaster.

Guitar Journal was a game-changing launch for the guitar trade within the UK – in an period when guitar journalism on either side of the Atlantic was within the thrall of hair steel and shred, it put a post-Smiths Johnny Marr on the primary cowl, and proudly championed a brand new era of guitar heroes.

However Guitar Journal’s actual innovation would come on the gear evaluations facet – and it could reshape the trade ceaselessly. The son of a violin maker, Dave introduced a degree of data and rigour to guitar reviewing that elevated the craft of guitar making within the eyes of readers and makers alike.

Dave approached every evaluate with the meticulous and discerning eye of a builder. Whether or not it was a mass-produced price range guitar or a luthier-crafted one-off, he believed every deserved to be appraised with depth and care, and judged by itself deserves – not influenced by any advertising spiel or hype marketing campaign.

Dave was additionally a stringent believer in testing these merchandise within the crucible of a real-world gig, and would not often think about a testing course of to be accomplished to his satisfaction till he’d taken it out and used it in anger.

The work that Dave and Mike Leonard did in these early years rapidly made Guitar Journal Britain’s best-selling guitar publication, and it’s maybe no shock that each could be headhunted by Guitarist within the ensuing years.

Dave would stay at Guitarist for the remainder of his profession, writing and commissioning hundreds of guitar, amp and pedal evaluations below a bunch of various editors, and imbuing his exacting requirements, in-depth method and open-minded viewpoint into generations of younger guitar writers.

Former Guitar.com Editor in Chief, Chris Vinnicombe discovered the craft of guitar reviewing from Dave as a employees author on Guitarist, whereas present Commissioning Editor, Josh Gardner was a manufacturing editor on the title for the primary 7 years of his profession.

“It’s exhausting to overstate the impression that Dave had on guitar journalism worldwide,” Gardner recollects. “Dave was a pressure of nature, and his title was revered all through the guitar trade. Makers knew if Dave was going to have a look at their product, that he could be exacting however truthful, and would level out any shortcomings he discovered as bluntly as potential. On the flipside, a superb evaluate from Dave might rework the fortunes of a model.

”On a private word, Dave had a large impression on me as a reviewer – subbing his evaluations each month was a priceless training in tips on how to successfully consider an instrument. All of us who labored on Guitarist on this interval discovered from the easiest.

“It was all the time a pleasure to meet up with Dave at occasions and commerce reveals. You might all the time depend on him for a dryly humorous and bullshit-free appraisal of the trade, and his knowledge and expertise was incomparable. He remained the gold customary for guitar evaluations, and a tireless champion for UK guitar making.”

All through his profession, Dave was a passionate advocate for smaller builders and new luthiers. He was one of many first guitar journalists to know and admire the iconoclastic excellence of Paul Reed Smith’s guitars, and he was all the time eager to present pages to up and coming builders from throughout the spectrum.

Away from being “Dave from Guitarist”, Burrluck continued to revel within the pleasure of enjoying stay – whether or not he was rocking out along with his beloved 1953 Les Paul Junior (all the time having fun with observing it was the identical age as him), or showcasing his spectacular nylon-string chops – and was a loyal father and grandfather.

Dave handed away following a brief sickness on 19 June 2026, the tributes that poured in from throughout the guitar world when information of his demise broke have been a testomony to his gargantuan impression, and the outlet he leaves in guitar journalism. Our ideas and sympathies exit to Dave’s household, pals and colleagues, and everybody whose life was touched by his work.