Welcome to the Week In Guitar! Your weekly rundown of what’s been happenin’ in the last seven days of guitar news. This week: some hardware questions from Epiphone, an AI-restored Beatles track and some big shake ups in some big lineups.

Epiphone goes a little OEM

Epiphone’s new leaked multi-effects pedal sure looks like the old Joyo TC-1 Tone Chain! Sharing an enclosure layout and offering the same combination of effects, the new budget multi-effects pedal appears to not really be that new. This isn’t unheard of in budget effects, the explanation likely is that Epiphone have just ordered the same OEM unit as Joyo, but nonetheless, it’s a bit of a strange thing for the brand to be seen doing given its pedigree.

Jeff Schroeder leaves Smashing Pumpkins after 16 years

Guitarist Jeff Schroeder has announced his departure from the Smashing Pumpkins. He joined in 2007, but after his 16-year stint has left in order to “make some space to explore a slightly different path”. The split appears to be entirely amicable, with both Schroeder and the rest of the band thanking each other in heartfelt statements posted to the Pumpkins’ socials.

No replacement has been announced for Schroeder as of yet.

The Beatles announce the release of their final song, Now And Then

The Beatles have announced that their “final song”, Now And Then, will land next week. The track, written by John Lennon and partially worked on by the rest of the band, was recorded at home by Lennon as a demo tape in the late 1970s. In the 1990s, Harrison, Starr and McCartney had a crack at completing the song, but Lennon’s vocals proved too difficult to remove from the noisy tape.

But now, AI has been used to isolate those vocals. So we’re finally getting the last Beatles release to feature all four members. In addition to the track, a short documentary about its unique creation is being released next week.

Quick Riffs

• Rick Beato gives Rolling Stone a real Beato-ing, calling its updated list of the top 250 guitarists of all time a “shit list” in a video brimming with righteous anger.
• Jason Momoa has bought the first-ever Martin D-28 ever made
• Prog royalty Mike Portnoy has returned to Dream Theater, after leaving in 2010.

Quote Of The Week

“Don’t get me going on modern-day music. Push-button drums and everything synthesised. Digital recording is a one-way toilet.”

Keith Richards, from popular rock band the Rolling Stones (who’ve just released a new album with some modern-pop superstar features) has branded music that’s both popular and modern a “one-way toilet”. This is on here just because, well… what’s a one-way toilet, Keith? Isn’t that just… a toilet? Is your toilet two-way? Because it shouldn’t be. That is most likely a malfunctioning toilet.

The Encore

A guitar build that looks like some sort of futuristic weapon from the year 20,000? Sign us up. Doesn’t matter if you can play it or not, just look at it!