• Duke Robillard – Lowdown

    Duke Robillard – Lowdown

    Vintage Guitar is happy to offer the premier of the new music video by Grammy nominee Duke Robillard. “Lowdown” is the  first single from his upcoming album, Blast Off!, set…

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  • Super PickupGiveaway 2025

    Super PickupGiveaway 2025

    Win Big! 11 Sets! 11 Winners! Win a set of pickups from one of these sponsors: Deadline is March 15, 2026. Complete the survey below to enter giveaway. One entry…

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First to Sunburst

The Origin of a Famous Finish

July 31, 2024 · Cliff Hall

Faced with anemic sales of its Les Paul Model in 1958, Gibson spiffed-up its goldtop with a sunburst finish in…

Christone “Kingfish” Ingram

Heart & Soul Blues

October 4, 2024 · Ward Meeker

Born and raised in Clarksdale, Mississippi – homeland of the Delta blues – Christone Ingram learned gospel music in the…

Dad’s Day 2017

VG’s Annual Ode to Fathers Who Inspire

June 13, 2017 · Vintage Guitar

This article originally appeared in VG August 2017 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized…

Dunlop Fuzz Face Mini Distortion Pedal

Dunlop Fuzz Face Mini Distortion Pedals

Face Lift

January 7, 2015 · Phil Feser

Dunlop’s Fuzz Face Mini Distortion Pedals Price: $129.99 (Germanium, street);$99.99 (Silicon and Jimi Hendrix, street) Contact: www.jimdunlop.com. When it comes…

Joe Stump

Professor Shred

September 8, 2022 · Pete Prown

Some musicians use grandiose nicknames like “the doctor” (Dr. John) or “the professor” (Rush’s Neil Peart) – but Boston shredder…

Bob Barry

Jazz Lenser, Guitar Lover

April 27, 2020 · Jim Carlton

Photographer/jazzographer Bob Barry is a busy man. Of course he enjoys frequent personal appearances at galleries and events showcasing his…

  • Carr Skylark Special 1×12

    Carr Skylark Special 1×12

    Take Flight

    Arriving a little more than 10 years after the original Skylark, Carr Amplifiers’ new Skylark Special adds versatility and enhanced tonal depths to squeeze a lot more into this diminutive…

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ARTISTS

Pop ’N Hiss: Taste

Breakout Blues

August 26, 2025 · Willie G. Moseley

The ’60s may have been the most musically significant decade in the history of popular music, but very few countries…

Fretprints: Johnny Meeks

Rock-and-Roll Guitar Pioneer

November 10, 2022 · Wolf Marshall

In the 1950s, “rock” music was a melange of blues, country, and hillbilly that also snared elements from boogie-woogie, gospel,…

John Oates

Rhythm-Minded

February 1, 2024 · Bret Adams

From 1975 through ’85, John Oates and Daryl Hall created a trove of era-defining R&B-influenced pop/rock hits on the way…

Eddie Cochran’s Gretsch 6120

Don’t Mean a Thing If It Ain’t Got that Twang

August 10, 2022 · Michael Dregni

One night in the late 1950s, Eddie Cochran set the world alight onstage in the City of Angels. Though the…


CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS

 VG Q&A: Harmony History

And an Archtop Mystery

January 15, 2026 · Michael Wright

I recently received two guitars as gifts and am trying to learn more about them. The first is a Harmony…

Steve Dawson and his Tricone, “Singin’ the Blues”

September 6, 2023 · Vintage Guitar

Roots Artists Expands the Genren The wildly talented Steve Dawson uses a modern National Tricone for this take on “Singin’…

Michael Bloomfield’s ’63 Telecaster

Michael Bloomfield’s ’63 Telecaster

This Guitar Killed Folk!

January 22, 2025 · Ward Meeker

A silver-spoon teen who loved sneaking into Chicago’s southside blues clubs, Michael Bloomfield reveled in absorbing all he could from…

JOHNNYSMITH-HOME-MAIN-BIG

The Guild and Gibson Johnny Smith Models

December 3, 2013 · Jim Hilmar

The name “Johnny Smith” is synonymous with class, elegance, and style. Most guitar players are familiar, if not with the…


NEWSWIRE

APPROVED GEAR

Heritage Guitars’ H-155M

Best-Kept Secret

July 24, 2019 · Oscar Jordan

Heritage Guitars still builds instruments by hand… in Kalamazoo. Like its veteran brethren in the industry, it focuses on craftsmanship,…

EHX’s Bad Stone Phase Shifter, C9 Organ Machine, and Pitch Fork Polyphonic Pitch Shifter

Pedal Heaven

January 25, 2017 · Pete Prown

When it comes to stompboxes, there are the standard go-to effects that every guitarist, whether a gigging musician or a…

Jackson Jeff Loomis Soloist SL7

Seven Up

April 4, 2023 · Pete Prown

If you’ve at all followed crunchy guitar playing for the past 25 years, you know players often delve into ranges…

Delisle Island Carney/Drifter Amp-in-Case Combo

Delisle Island Carney/Drifter Amp-in-Case Combo

Econo Classic Reimagined

February 26, 2016 · Ray Wuolo

Delisle Island Carney/Drifter Amp-in-Case Combo Price: $4,000 (list) Contact: www.island-instruments.com A half-century ago, before Marshalls were stacked and ’Bursts dangled…

WHAT ELSE IS NEW

2021 October Issue on Spotify

November 2, 2021 · Doug Yellow Bird

This month we feature Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready, Blind Melon’s Christopher Thorn, ZZ Top, Brian May, Eric Clapton, Robben Ford,…

The Fender Showman

The Showman

September 23, 2013 · Dave Hunter

In addition to several significant shifts in style and presentation, for Fender, the transition of the late 1950s into the…

Tim Fitzgerald comps on a Wes solo

January 26, 2023 · Vintage Guitar

Jazz star interprets the work of a legend Tim Fitzgerald and his ’81 Gibson ES-175 go old-school with this display…

Gus G’s rippin’ “Demon Stomp”

January 21, 2022 · Vintage Guitar

Rock God on his signature Jackson Star Rock god Gus G – Ozzy vet and Firewind shredder – rips through…

Melissa Carper and Sad Daddy

May 2, 2017 · Rick Allen

With her bass making a dependable, rhythmic anchor, Melissa Carper sings like a bird soaring “where the wind blows high…

Cort’s Sunset I and II Feature

Cort’s Sunset I and II

Jonesin’ For Tone

December 28, 2015 · Phil Feser

When Cort isn’t busy making guitars and basses for major musical instrument companies, they’re hard at work building some pretty…

Cash Box Kings

Oscar’s Motel

February 9, 2024 · Rich Kienzle

For two decades, the Cash Box Kings have stood apart from the multitudes of “blues bands” that focus on bar-band…

Marah

The Kids Are Back in Philly

March 2, 2017 · Michael Dregni

The south-Philly band Marah, led by brothers Dave and Serge Bielanko, has always danced to the backbeat of its own…

Blooming, In Progress

Larkin Poe

September 8, 2025 · Oscar Jordan

Released in January of 2025, Larkin Poe’s Bloom has Rebecca and Megan Lovell weaving powerful philosophies into strong songwriting and…

BSM RM Majestic Treble Booster

December 6, 2021 · Oscar Jordan

Germany’s BSM is among the rare specialist among modern stompbox builders; their focus is one thing – making treble boosters…

Mark Sebastian

Mark Sebastian

Hometown Noir

December 29, 2015 · Willie G. Moseley

Mark Sebastian’s new album, The Real Story, is a paean to his musical roots in the Big Apple. “About a…

Marshall JMP50 “Plexi”

April 28, 2020 · Dave Hunter

Kids wanna rock? Plug into your plexi and bow to the mighty crunch. Marshall amps of the company’s first 10…

J.D. Simo

Psychedelia and Satan

December 2, 2022 · Oscar Jordan

Psychedelic bluesman J.D. Simo deploys impressive wah skill, blistering fuzz tones, and hypnotic grooves that will expand your consciousness. His…

Harmony H27

Fancier Than You May Think

July 1, 2020 · Willie G. Moseley

“The H27 was fanciest semi-hollow bass ever offered by Harmony.” During the guitar boom of the 1960s, the Chicago-based Harmony…

Ian Lemmy Kilmister. Moterhead

Lemmy Kilmister

December 29, 2015 · Willie G. Moseley

In the 25-plus years that Motorhead has been purveying its fast, furious, high-decibel entertainment, there have been changes and there…

Fender’s 60th Anniversary Jazz Bass

Golden-Era Glory

February 7, 2022 · Michael Shirek

Though it looks to be straight from a ’60s catalog, Fender’s 60th Anniversary Jazz Bass isn’t a true reissue. Rather,…

Jimmy Olander’s D-Bender Baritone

December 4, 2023 · Vintage Guitar

 Big-string licks galore! In the mood to play a bit, December cover guy Jimmy Olander grabbed a guitar he…

Fretprints: Roy Lanham

Hillbilly Jazz Takes Hollywood

September 18, 2023 · Wolf Marshall

Woefully under-recognized guitarist Roy Lanham was a favorite of leading country and jazz pickers and rock innovators; Merle Travis extolled…

Ted Greene Remembered

November 10, 2020 · Jim Carlton

You know what happened: discretionary income for the first time and the rise of the indies with things that the…

Charles Moothart

Fuzz: Sons of Sabbath

November 24, 2021 · Oscar Jordan

While ’80s metal is past its heyday, the proto-metal of the late 1960s and early ’70s is making a huge…

The Fender Master Series

April 16, 2018 · Gary Koehler

Dan Smith had an idea – a solidbody guitar with routed chambers that would provide unique resonant tonal characteristics. And…

Tom Petersson’s Gretsch 12-string Basses

Tricked-Out Trio

December 26, 2017 · Willie G. Moseley

Cheap Trick fans are aware of his contribution to the band’s songs, but few know he actually invented the 12-string…

The Bad Cat Era 30

Retro-Great

December 5, 2025 · Dave Hunter

So often has the phrase “Mark Sampson era” been applied to pre-2000 Matchless amps or early examples of the Bad…

John Osborne

Feelin’ Fearless

October 25, 2024 · Ward Meeker

 Brothers Osborne play a distinctive version of 21-century country music. Rising above trendy themes and sounds like tailgate anthems and…

Höfner’s Fledermaus Gitarre

A Bat By Any Other Name

May 1, 2022 · Ward Meeker

Much like the scant records of almost every large-scale American guitar manufacturer, production logs at Höfner’s headquarters in Hagenau, Germany,…

1961 Fender Bassman

Blond Ambition

November 16, 2022 · Dave Hunter

1961 Fender 6G6(A) Bassman • Preamp tubes: four 7025 (12AX7) • Output tubes: two 5881 (6L6GC) • Rectifier: GZ34 tube…

Guild’s S-200 T-Bird

Cult-Fave Phoenix

July 9, 2018 · Bob Cianci

Sometimes admired, often maligned, the cult classic Guild S-200 T-Bird has enjoyed a rebirth in the hands of Black Keys…

Billy Bauer

Jazz Guitar’s Hidden Giant

July 7, 2014 · Jim Carlton

Billy Bauer’s career was so steeped in tradition that he is often thought of as one of the first jazz…

Mark Lettieri

Baritone Funk

June 30, 2023 · Oscar Jordan

Snarky Puppy’s Empire Central was recorded in front of a live audience and pays homage to the city of Dallas.…