Colby Amplification Park 45 Price: $2,500 (list) Contact: www.colbyamps.com There are legends that gear fanatics all know, and then there are hidden treasures known to only a few. Park amps were designed by Jim Marshall and produced in limited quantities. More consistent in construction and design than the ever-evolving Marshalls, the Park line had the …

Aside from being in the Monkees, Mike Nesmith was a talented songwriter and key contributor to the birth of country-rock. His new autobiography, Infinite Tuesday, is accompanied by a 14-track CD retrospective and provides insight to the musician’s early career. An early Monkees track is “Papa Gene’s Blues,” a fun piece of folk-rock from the …

Dreadnought guitars originated as early as 1916 with instruments made by Martin and distributed by Ditson, followed in 1931 with guitars sold by Martin under its own brand. The first Martin dreadnoughts were 12-fret slot-heads with an extended slope-shouldered body; in early ’34, the company introduced a square-shouldered dread with a 14-fret neck. Gibson entered …

Few things scratch America’s cumulative itch for nostalgia like Route 66 – the famed wagon-trail-cum-highway that offered passage to those migrating west from Chicago in the mid 19th century, then later became known as Main Street America.  For decades, the road provided the means to a living for entrepreneurs who set up shop offering food, …

The Electro-Harmonix Epitome, Tone Tattoo Price: $491.84 list (Epitome) and $292.35 list (Tone Tattoo) Info: www.ehx.com The concept is smart yet so obvious it’s a wonder no one came up with it sooner. With both the Epitome and the Tone Tattoo, Electro-Harmonix manages to cram three effects into a single housing. Did life just get …

Canadian guitarist/guitar collector Randy Bachman is known worldwide for his classic licks in songs by the Guess Who and Bachman-Turner Overdrive, but he has also recorded jazz with the likes of Duke Robillard, J. Geils, and Gerry Beaudoin. “Those albums got great reviews, but I eventually realized I’m really a rockin’ blues guy,” Bachman reflected. …

Ed. Note: In part two of his series on the guitar in 19-century America, Tim Brookes addresses the common belief that the guitar was strictly a ladies’ parlor instrument by finding guitars being made – and played – by men. “Over the last century,” began a recent guitar history, parroting conventional wisdom, “the guitar has evolved from a …

Country’s first supergroup emerged from a 1984 Johnny Cash Christmas special taped in Switzerland. Along with Marty Stuart, the guests were longtime Cash pals friends Kris Kristofferson, Waylon Jennings, and Willie Nelson. The concept made sense to veteran Memphis producer Chips Moman, who supervised the music for the show. The quartet soon had an album …

VG staff was busy at this weekend’s Arlington Guitar Show (a.k.a. Guitarlington) and we’ve posted more fresh photos! Check ’em out at http://www.vintageguitar.com/arlington-guitar-show-11/

Prior to Gibson’s innovations, mandolins were bowl-back instruments with a lute-like back usually constructed with rosewood or maple back ribs and a bent spruce top with an oval sound hole. Earlier guitars typically had flat tops and backs, and were designed for gut strings. In 1898, he received a patent for the concept of constructing …

In addition to several significant shifts in style and presentation, for Fender, the transition of the late 1950s into the early ’60s represented a more concerted push into big-amp territory. Having introduced the 80-watt “high-powered” tweed 5F8 Twin (VG, March ’09) in ’58, this rapidly expanding Fullerton manufacturer sought another model to help take it …

Kenny Sultan is a best-selling author of music books and instructional videos covering blues guitar, and is the guitarist in a blues duo with Tom Bell. As a kid, Sultan’s older brother would take him to blues clubs like L.A.’s Ash Grove before he’d even reached his teens. An accomplished photographer, the elder Sultan built …

When it comes iconic guitar tone – especially “British” tone – Vox and its flagship AC30 are at the top of most players’ list. After all, the Vox AC30 is one of the most widely recorded amps, used by countless artists in nearly every genre, on both sides of the pond. Vox recently partnered with …

The Dirt Band celebrates five decades in style with a host of new releases. The ensemble’s Ryman Auditorium all-star show from March 2016 originally aired on PBS TV, lending the DVD and separate CD high quality visuals and sound. It’s almost easier to list who wasn’t at the show. Among the stars performing with the …

The market is flooded with previously unreleased albums and reissue CDs containing alternate takes. It must be simple to get something like that released, right? Guess again. It’s hard to imagine, but a major-label album by a popular San Francisco singer/songwriter languished in some warehouse more than 40 years after it was recorded – and …

Bergen Guitars ST and TL Price: $3,999 Info: www.gj2guitars.com. Grover Jackson is a name forever associated with classic metal and custom “superstrats,” thanks to Randy Rhoads and iconic bands like Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Def Leppard, and Anthrax. Grover has moved on from the original Jackson brand (now owned by Fender), and is producing his own …

Offering the heart and soul of those crystal-clear first-generation 1980s digital delays, California-based Strymon’s DIG Dual Digital Delay provides not only three classic digital voicings, but dual cascading or parallel delay times.  Housed in Strymon’s standard  4×4.5×1.17″ anodized aluminum chassis, the DIG features rear chassis-mounted ¼″ In/Out and Power jacks, including a single Mono/Stereo TRS input …