• Classics: Marc Schoenberger’s Rickenbacker Combo 600

    Classic Instruments

    Classics: Marc Schoenberger’s Rickenbacker Combo 600

    Marc Schoenberger was part of the early-’70s vanguard on the Southern California guitar scene – not as a gigging musician, but among the crowd that raced the 101 freeway to check out old guitars every time a new issue of the Recycler hit the streets. He’d also been repairing guitars for friends and local shops

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  • Samantha Fish: Slide-Blues Fury!

    Samantha Fish: Slide-Blues Fury!

    “I’m Done Runnin’” on a D-18 VG readers know Samantha Fish is the real deal. Here, she uses a Martin D-18 Modern Deluxe on an unplugged arrangement of “I’m Done Runnin’,” the ripping lead track from her new album, “Paper Doll.” Catch our review in the May issue. Read Now!

  • Carvin DN440T

    Carvin DN440T

    One of the few family-owned guitar/amplifier manufacturing enterprises remaining in the industry, Carvin was founded by Lowell Kiesel in 1946 and started by making pickups, then transitioned to building lap steels and other stringed instruments. Some of the company’s early guitars and basses used parts from other guitar makers, but as its direct-to-consumer concept caught…

Eight-String Basses

Sonic Niche

May 2, 2024 · Willie G. Moseley

Emerging in ’60s catalogs from Hagström and Framus, eight-string basses occupy a distinct place among musical instruments – their potent,…

Tyler Morris and a 1953 Gibson Les Paul model

March 28, 2024 · Vintage Guitar

Tyler Morris and a 1953 Gibson Les Paul model Tyler Morris showcases his 1953 Gibson Les Paul goldtop and GA-70…

The Birth of Newman Guitars

September 29, 2022 · Vintage Guitar

  Newman Guitars was established in Austin, TX in 1977 by Ted Newman Jones. Ted was a pioneer of design…

Gibson Goldtops

Molten Mojo, Head-To-Head Vintage Versus Reissue

May 28, 2022 · Nathaniel Riverhorse Nakadate

In the good ol’ days of 1952, jazzmeister Les Paul strutted to the center of the world’s stage and proudly…


Sound City L/B 120 Mark IV

Sound City L/B 120 Mark IV

Preamp tubes: three ECC83 (12AX7), one ECC81 (12AT7, in the phase inverter) Output tubes: six EL34 Rectifier: solidstate Controls: Normal Volume, Brilliant Volume, Bass, Middle, Treble, Presence Output: approximately 120…

Gibson GA-CB Custom Built

Gibson GA-CB Preamp tubes: three 6SJ7, two SQ7, two Sj5 Output tubes: two 6L6 Rectifier: 5T4 Controls: Microphone Gain, Instrument Gain, tremolo Intensity and Frequency, Treble, Bass; four-position Jensen High…

Dan’s Guitar RX: Adding Master Volume to a Les Paul

Plus One

My friend Alex Aguilar recently asked me to do something most guitarists would consider sacrilegious – add a Master Volume pot to a Les Paul, and put it in easy…

Jimmy Bryant

Country-Jazz Virtuoso

When Leo Fender strode into a cowboy bar on the outskirts of Hollywood one day in 1950, he had no idea the contraption he was toting would become a central…

Beat Portraits: Burns Volume 2

The Black Bison Leads the Herd

In early 2009, VG columnist Peter Stuart Kohman turned his focus on Burns, the pioneering British guitar builder. We’ve compiled the first three installments for a special edition of VG…

  • Tyler Morris – 1963 Fender Stratocaster

    Tyler Morris – 1963 Fender Stratocaster

    Tyler Morris – 1963 Fender Stratocaster Tyler Morris guides us through his 1963 Fender Stratocaster in Fiesta Red. Follow Tyler at www.tylerdmorris.com!

  • Freddie Green

    Freddie Green

    Artistry in Rhythm

    Fellow musicians called him “Pep” or “Pepperhead.” He was also known as “Mr. Rhythm,” and he could drive a band like no other guitarist. His was a subtle yet unmistakable motivating and metronomic force. Others emulated his style and function, but Freddie Green was the archetype – the most famous rhythm guitarist in jazz. In…

Fender’s 1957 Precision Bass

Fender’s 1957 Precision Bass

January 5, 2016 · Willie G. Moseley

When an instrument maintains the same basic design and profile for more than a half-century, it’s safe to say that…

The Charvel Model 4

January 25, 2016 · Michael Wright

Certain guitar brands develop a mystique among aficionados – sometimes it’s even deserved! Somewhere on this continuum lie Charvel USA…

Rosewood Dobro

Rosewood Dobro

January 18, 2016 · George Gruhn

In the 1930s, the original Dobro company went through a series of ownership changes and licensing agreements. It did not…

Q&A With George Gruhn: A Strong Case

And When to Get an Appraisal

March 3, 2022 · George Gruhn

Some of my vintage guitar cases are very worn. One Martin case from the ’40s is missing a latch and…


Nat Talks Strings!

The Strings of Power Hey there! Nate Westgor from Willie’s American Guitars dives into the world of guitar strings, discussing the differences between flat tops, half rounds, and flatwound strings.…

Philip Sayce – Strat monster!

Post-SRV blues-rock wizard Godmonster beast on his (two) ’63 Fender Strats, Philip Sayce plays the one he calls Mother running through a Diaz Texas Ranger and KR Mega Vibe into…

NGM Visits Texas

Nearing Permanent Home, Museum Honors Raitt

“It was born at the junction of form and function,” country guitar ace Bill Kirchen sings in “Hammer Of The Honky Tonk Gods.” And though he was referring to the…

VG Q&A: A Gilded ’63 Jazz Bass

Plus, Swappable Pickups, Bartell Guitars, and a Mystery Lap Steel

I am the third owner of a 1963 Jazz Bass with a neck stamp “7Jan63A,” pots dated that May, and serial number from that spring. It also has original gold…

Park Model 1229

Half-Stack Heaven

Vintage Park amplifiers have long offered happy hunting for those seeking stealthy “Marshall in disguise” kicks. But the maker used the sister brand to try a few nifty circuit changes,…

The Gibson Starfire TR 1000 RVT

Trans-Galactic Toneway

Relatively unsung among early entrants to the field of solid-state guitar amplifiers, Gibson was the first high-output, high-quality manufacturer to bring one to market. And while it quickly proved the…

  • Ca. 1960 Custom Mosrite/Gretsch

    Ca. 1960 Custom Mosrite/Gretsch

    A Bakersfield/Brooklyn Cowboy

    In the history of vintage guitars, Gretsch and Mosrite are sometimes linked, and often associated with ’50s hot-country pickers and ’60s rockers. One guitar takes that connection to a new level. This custom Mosrite hollowbody has the chassis of an early Gretsch Country Gentleman and was likely built between 1959 and ’62 for a hotshot…

  • Hilary Gardner’s jazz/country connection

    Hilary Gardner’s jazz/country connection

    Classic sounds on “Silver on the Sage” Hilary Gardner and her band are devout fans of classic cowboy (and other types of) songs that they deliver with intimate arrangements. Here, they offer a take on the 1936 Leo Robin/Ralph Rainger track ,“Silver on the Sage,” just one of the fine tunes on her latest album,…

Blues guitarist Charlie Apicella’s “Booze and Blues” and “Just Like a Woman”

September 29, 2025 · Vintage Guitar

Honoring B.B., Rainey Being V.P. of the North Jersey Blues Society isn’t the only thing that separates Charlie Apicella from…

Gibson ES-300 Prototype

Les Paul and the First Gibson ES-300

April 20, 2010 · Lynn Wheelwright

When a guitar junkie hears the words “soapbar” and “P-90,” the mental image is usually that of a cream-colored rectangle…

100 Years of Boston’s MFA

Playable Exhibits

May 9, 2019 · Michael Wright

Musical instruments – guitars – present an interesting philosophical dichotomy. On one hand, they’re utilitarian objects whose very purpose –…

Gibson’s Depression-Era Exports

February 2, 2016 · L.B. Fred

Many aren’t aware that some of the archtop guitars Gibson produced during the Depression were marketed under different brand names,…