Frequently Asked Questions

What is Equipboard?: Equipboard is where musicians discover and share the gear that makes great music. It's built by a community of artists, producers, and gearheads who know their stuff. Here’s what you can do on Equipboard:

Browse your favorite artists’ Equipboards to see the exact gear they use - from guitarists' guitars, amps, and pedals to the DAWs, headphones, and plugins favored by top electronic music producers. You can follow artists to get gear updates, and even contribute by adding missing items or correcting anything that’s off.

Create your own Equipboard to show off your setup, track the gear you want, and leave reviews to help other musicians make smart decisions. Every contribution helps the community.

Dig into our articles and buying guides, where we put gear to the test and break things down in plain English. From online guitar lessons to the best MIDI keyboards and looper pedals, we've got you covered. 🎧🎸🎹
How do I contribute to Equipboard?: Adding gear to your favorite artist's Equipboard is easy. Check out this 1 minute video to see how it's done.
How do I get started?: First, take a look around Equipboard—there's plenty to explore.

When you're ready, sign up (it's free, quick, and easy). Once you're part of the Equipboard community, you can:

Follow pro artists you look up to.

Add gear to artist pages and contribute your knowledge and detective skills. 🔍🎸

Build your own gear collection (aka your Equipboard).

Join the conversation in our forum with other music-loving gearheads. 💬
Who creates content on Equipboard?: Anyone can! Everything you see on Equipboard has been added by members of the community. Musicians and music fans from around the world are helping build the most comprehensive music gear resource on the internet.
What is GearIQ?: GearIQ is Equipboard’s point system that rewards members for meaningful contributions. The more GearIQ you earn, the more editing privileges and powers you unlock on the site. For a full breakdown, go here.
What is considered inappropriate behavior?: Malicious spam, hate speech, pornography, and trolling won’t be tolerated on Equipboard. Profanity is allowed, as long as it’s not mean-spirited or used outside the context of a direct artist quote.

If you’re unsure about something or want to report an issue, please post in the forum or message us.
How can I become an Equipboard moderator?: Moderators are trusted community members who help maintain the quality of content across the site. Before we consider anyone for mod status, we look for a consistent track record of thoughtful, accurate contributions over at least a few months.

If that sounds like you and you're interested, feel free to reach out!
How does Equipboard make money?: Equipboard earns revenue through affiliate partnerships and advertising. If you click a link on our site and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission (at no extra cost to you). This helps keep the site running and free to use. You can read more in our Affiliate Disclosure.
Where can I download brand assets to use on my site or article?: If you're writing about Equipboard and need logos or branding guidelines, just get in touch and we’ll hook you up.

And yep—it’s spelled Equipboard, not EquipBoard. 😏
Where can I find your Privacy Policy and Terms of Service?: Ah, a thrill seeker, eh? Here's our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.
How do I submit gear to an existing artist on Equipboard?: On any artist page, click the “Add Gear” button and fill in the details. Be sure to include:
1) the gear being used
2) a reliable source or proof
3) how the artist is using it

The more context you provide, the better. It helps keep Equipboard accurate and useful for everyone.
Should items be submitted if they are endorsements, advertisements, or demos?: Yes. If the artist actually used the item to make music and there’s credible proof, it’s eligible for inclusion on their Equipboard page.

Be sure to include as much context as possible in the submission notes so the community can assess its relevance. And remember to use the Demo/Promo usage tag—it's required for these types of submissions.
Should items used by a band or group be submitted to an individual artist?: If an item is clearly used by a group but it’s hard to tell which individual member uses it, you can still submit it to one or more artists in the group. Just make sure the notes explain the context of the gear’s usage and why it belongs on that artist’s Equipboard page.
Should individual components of a product be added to an artist’s page?: Individual components can be submitted if the artist specifically uses or highlights that component, and there’s something notable about it in relation to their sound.

For example, if an artist is known to use a particular pickup in their signature guitar, it’s fine to submit that pickup separately—provided there’s proof. However, it wouldn’t make sense to submit standard parts of a mass-produced instrument (like a Fender Telecaster’s stock neck or generic pickups) unless there’s a compelling reason to do so.
Can I submit non-music gear to artists?: We generally prefer that you don’t. The exception is when an artist uses a non-traditional item to make music in a creative or noteworthy way—and there’s solid proof to back it up.

For example, check out Tom Morello explaining how he uses a pencil to create a specific sound in his recordings.
Can submissions be edited?: Yes, submissions can be edited to improve the source, notes, or overall clarity. We encourage thoughtful edits that help make the info more accurate and useful.
What information in an artist submission is appropriate to edit?: You can edit submissions to correct or improve the following:

Source – This can be a photo you upload or a link to a YouTube video, social media post, interview, or article. Whatever the source, it should show direct proof that the artist uses the gear.

Notes – Notes should give context for the source, explain how the gear is used, or include a quote from the artist. Write in complete sentences with proper grammar. Here’s an example of excellent submission notes.
How do I write good submission notes?: Here's an example of strong submission notes. Anything in [brackets] is a placeholder you'd replace with real info:
In this photo of [band name] performing at [venue or festival] on [date], [artist name] can be seen playing a 1978 Fender Telecaster Custom in a black finish. The [insert specific detail] confirms the guitar is from 1978. This photo was taken by [photographer name].

This works well because it adds clear context: the band, the individual artist, the time and place, and the specific visual detail that confirms the gear. It even credits the original photographer—always a nice touch.
How do I add an artist or band to Equipboard?: If you're adding a guitarist, bassist, drummer, or other individual member of a band, treat them as a solo artist. The same goes for electronic duos or trios who share gear in the studio or on stage—like Disclosure, The Chemical Brothers, or Daft Punk. You can add an individual artist here.

Bands and groups on Equipboard are simply collections of individual artist profiles. For example, Radiohead would be added as a band made up of Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, and the rest. You can add a band or group here.
What does Following an artist on Equipboard mean?: Click the Follow button on any artists page to receive email updates when that artist has new gear added to their Equipboard page.
What causes artists and submissions to be removed?: We don't like to remove items and artists added by the community, but if our moderators and admins spot something inappropriate, they reserve the right to remove it without notice. There's also a chance that the thing you added is legit, but is a duplicate of something that already exists and thus was merged.
What if I see a duplicate item on an artist's Equipboard?: Let us know about duplicate items here.
What is a submission's Quality Rating?: The possible Quality Ratings for a submission are:

Needs Review – Submission is new or has been recently edited by a community member and the edits have not been verified.

Correct – Submission has a good source, the correct item, and well-written notes.

Needs Improvement – Submission is partially correct and needs to be improved for one or more of the following reasons:
Item is Incorrect, Source Needs Improvement, Notes Need Improvement

Completely Incorrect – Submission is totally wrong, irrelevant, and/or spammy and should be marked for deletion.
How do I rate the quality of a submission?: If you are a signed in, click the Rate Quality link on the Details tab of any submission. Then select the appropriate quality rating from the dropdown menu on the comment section of a submission.
What happens when I rate the quality of a submission?: The quality rating for the submission will be updated to Needs Review and all previous contributors to a submission will receive an email notifying them of your quality rating. If you're rating a submission as Needs Improvement, please be sure to provide as much detail as possible so those notified can more easily make improvements.
How do I add an item to Equipboard?: Anyone in the community can add an item to Equipboard here. Please quickly do a search to make sure you are not adding a duplicate of an item that already exists.
Why can I only add items from specific stores?: While we realize this can initially seem restrictive, it greatly reduces the amount of duplicate items on Equipboard. Furthermore, it helps Equipboard show more accurate links where gear can be purchased, and track price fluctuations of gear more accurately.
How do I edit an Item on Equipboard?: If you have enough GearIQ, log into your Equipboard account, go to the item page and click "Edit gear details." From there, you are able to add item photos, improve an item's brand, category, description, and more. Your changes will be logged and reviewed by Equipboard moderators.
How do I save an item to my Equipboard page?: Anytime you're on an item page, you have the ability to save that gear to your own Equipboard by clicking the Save button.
What is a duplicate item?: A duplicate item is an item on Equipboard is any item that is not significantly different enough to warrant its own page. For example, the color of equipment and instruments does not affect sound, so if all that differs is color, please do not submit a new item, but you are welcome to specify the color of a specific item in the submission notes (in the case you are submitting the item to an artist) or your review (in the case it's an item you own and use). If you spot any duplicate items on Equipboard, please let us know here.
How do I rate and review an item?: Click on the "Rate it" or "Review it" links on any items page to rate and review the item. Please be as thorough as possible in your reviews to help others in the community discover the best gear for them.
Forgot your email address?: If you don’t remember the email address connected to your Equipboard account, contact us for help.
Forgot your password?: If you can’t remember your password, you can reset it.

Note: You'll need access to the email connected to your Equipboard account to reset your password.
Can't log in with Facebook, Google or Apple?: If you’re having trouble logging in with Facebook, Google or Apple, check your settings in your Facebook, Google, or Apple account to make sure Equipboard is connected. You may need to reauthorize access or update your login permissions.

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