Author Archives: Michael Wright

1980 Ovation UKII 1291 If there’s a Rodney Dangerfield of solidbody electric guitars, it would be named Ovation. For more than a decade, Ovation tried unsuccessfully to leverage its achievements with revolutionary Lyracord bowlbacks and pioneering pickup systems into a presence in the lucrative solidbody market. Despite real innovations, including radical shapes, FET preamps, and [...]

1967 Domino #80E2 Californian Rebel. Photo: Michael Wright. California. The Left Coast. It was probably home to North America’s earliest inhabitants, as emigrants from Asia crossed the Bering Strait and began their march toward South America. But California figured little in much of anything else until 1848, when the folks setting up a lumber mill [...]

Circa 1932 Stella Concert. Photo: Michael Wright. Had blues legend Huddie William Ledbetter (a.k.a. Leadbelly) not played a Stella 12-string, the brand might only have been remembered as the name on cheap, faux-finished birch acoustics that poured out of the Harmony factory in the 1960s. But, in fact, the brand as represented by this circa [...]

1938 Kay Violin-Style Guitar. One prominent thread in the story of the guitar is a quest for more volume – a search that was effectively achieved with the dominance of the electric guitar that began in the early 1950s. But it actually started in the 1890s when, influenced by the popularity of mandolin orchestras, guitarists [...]

1972 Gretsch Chet Atkins Nashville 7660. Photo: Michael Wright. In many ways, the storied past of Gretsch guitars is a microcosmic reflection of the many twists and turns of the American guitar industry, from early immigrant success story to classic American guitars to big corporate buy-out to looking for cheaper labor to foreign imports, with [...]

1985 Ibanez Destroyer II DT-250. Photo: Michael Wright. Back in 1958, when Gibson unleashed its now legendary trio – the Explorer, Flying V, and Moderne – its designers probably had no idea how big the shapes would become. Certainly, the response to these innovative guitars at the time gave no indication. They tanked pretty quickly. [...]

1965 Murph Squire 11-T We live in a golden age, with an incredible selection of guitars available in virtually any price range. But if there ever was another golden age, the 1960s are in line for the nomination. While the across-the-board quality may not have been as good as it is now, the variety of [...]

1963 EKO Model 500/3V. Photo: Michael Wright. However you say it, “echo” or “eek’-oh,” these Italian guitars from the early 1960s, along with Hagstrom from Sweden and Framus from Germany, represent the strongest European contenders for a share of the American guitar boom of that swingin’ decade. Indeed, there may have been a stronger connection [...]

1968 St. Moritz Stereo. Photo: Michael Wright. The notion of a stereo guitar became almost implicit when guitars started having two pickups. But it didn’t become a reality on an actual production guitar until the great tapping player Jimmie Webster persuaded Gretsch to come up with the legendary White Falcon in 1955. The stereo option [...]

1976 Hagstrom Jimmy, serial number 53 965024. Photo: Michael Wright. In the world of archtop guitarmaking, the legendary luthier James L. D’Aquisto (1935-’95) is considered one of the greats. A jazz guitarist, D’Aquisto was an apprentice to perhaps the greatest archtop maker of all time, New York’s John D’Angelico, from 1952 until the luthier’s death [...]