• Zac Schulze gets straight to it!

    Classic Instruments

    Zac Schulze gets straight to it!

    If you’re a fan of Cream, Zeppelin, and Rory Gallagher (who isn’t?), you’ll dig Zac Schulze Gang, a British power trio that’s carrying the torch with both hands; they’ve played Clapton’s Crossroads and the Rory Gallagher Tribute Fest. Here, Zac flies solo on “High Roller,” tearin’ it up on his ’54 Guild Aristocrat M75 through…

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Kawai MS-700 MoonSault

1982 Kawai MS-700 MoonSault. Photo: Michael Wright/The Different Strummer. Most of us tend to think of guitars made in Japan as dating to the 1960s, when Japanese manufacturers began supplying…

Guitar Picks

What's So Special About Guitar Picks

You may have one in your pocket. They only cost about 25 cents. But if you have always used one to play guitar, you are lost if you don’t have…

Rosalie Allen’s SJ-200

Trophy Flat-Top

On the pages featuring the Super Jumbo 200, Gibson’s 1940 catalog trumpeted, “This king of the flat-top guitars was especially created for professional entertainers who want an instrument adaptable to…

Hagstrom Guitars

The Fastest Necks

Ca. ’73 Hagstrom Viking I N also known in the U.S. as the Scandia. Part 2 This month we continue the Hagstrom saga. To recap: the Hagstrom company was founded…

Gibson’s Budget Redux

The SB Series Guitars and Basses

As the 1960s rolled into the ’70s, Gibson had established itself in the electric-bass market with front-line instruments such as the solidbody EB-0/EB-3 and Thunderbirds, as well as the semi-hollow…

Bill Gruggett

Still Buildin' em in Bakersfield

The agrarian area of California that includes such cities as Bakersfield and Tulare has a special significance to country music lovers and guitar lovers alike. The musical mystique, of course,…

Fender Telecaster, Part I

Go Tele It On the Mountain, Part I

Sometimes the most revolutionary ideas are simple. Certainly this was the case Leo Fender’s Telecaster guitar, which was revolutionary in its design and impact, and relatively simple, even elemental. Which…

Dan’s Guitar RX: Doubleneck Redux, Part 2

Full House: Transcendent Jazz Masterpiece

In the November issue, we started to refurbish a doubleneck mandolin/guitar I made for Jerry Schafer in 1977. It needed a new wiring harness, tuners, binding repair, new frets, and…

Baldwin Guitars and Amplifiers

Quest For Guitar Fortunes

Back in the Swinging ’60s, one of the coolest things hip companies could do was own a guitar company. After all, guitar-driven pop music was red hot, especially after the…

Ditson’s Style 11 and the Birth of the Dreadnought

Martin’s Big Step

In the early 20th century, any shopper who walked into the Charles H. Ditson & Company music stores in New York, Philadelphia, or Boston could have bought a guitar, bowl-back…

Classics: September 2023

Bill Fudge’s Micro-Frets Huntington

Several years before he became a luthier who deserves much greater recognition, Ralph Jones sold new Fender guitars and amps out of his home studio in Rockville, Maryland. One early…

Harp Legend Charlie Musselwhite

Stringin’ on “Blue Lounge” Harp legend Charlie Musselwhite has recorded and performed with a stunning array of guitarists in his band – Harvey Mandel, Luther Tucker, Robben Ford, Junior Watson,…

1965 Gibson Thunderbird

Cardinal Red Rarity

Looking to finally make a real dent in Fender’s solidbody bass market, in the mid ’60s Gibson launched a line of electric guitars and basses that emulate Fender’s latest designs.

First Guitar of Rock and Roll

Scotty Moore’s Gibson ES-295

Like a hound dog hit by lightning, the first notes of rock and roll blasted out of radios across the country in July of 1954, courtesy of Elvis Presley’s supercharged-hillbilly…

Supro Guitars and Amplifiers Part I

Supro Part 1

Some of the earliest electric guitars, amps-in-cases, pickups under the bridge, fiberglass guitars, built-in electronic vibratos. Sound curious enough for you? The subject of Supro guitars and amplifiers represents a…

Wandré Modele Karak

We all recognize that guitars are art, but rarely has the instrument been as consciously approached from this perspective by the maker as with the ’60s creations of Wandré Pioli.

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Gibson 1958-’60 Les Paul Standard

A ’Burst by Any Other Name…

One Thousand, Seven Hundred and Twelve. That’s the number of Les Paul Standards Gibson produced between 1958 and 1960. Amongst guitar collectors, it means there aren’t many seats in the “’Burst Club.”…

Dan’s Guitar RX: Creating the Iris DE-11

Something New From Something Old

In last month’s “Approved Gear,” VG reviewed the Iris Guitar Company DE-11. If you missed it, I’d suggest you grab the issue and check it out. This month, I’ll take…

Magnatone Amps

More Magnatone!

Non-MOTS Magnatones By the mid ’50s, mother of toilet seat (MOTS) had lost its appeal, as had Hawaiian music, so Magnatone discontinued its use on all the amplifiers and offered…

Round-Up Range

Rolling on a Post-Pandemic Project

Five years ago, I started making a Tele-style guitar inspired by the Gretsch Roundup. When Covid hit, I was up to my ears in repair work and lost my shop…

Supro S6651

Supro S6651 Big Star

Don’t we guitarists just love gear that looks like it was salvaged from our mom’s kitchen circa 1961? Give us something in high-gloss pastel, with Formica styling, gas-cooker knobs, plenty…

Tele of Two Legends

The Amazing Story of One Unique Fender

One day in the mid 1950s, up-and-coming thoroughbred jockey Bill Shoemaker was playing host to his friend, bandleader Hank Penny, who had come calling with a special gift in a…

Scott Sharrard’s fiery slide!

Little Feat ace plays outro from “You’ll Be Mine” In case you’re wondering how Scott Sharrard got the gig wearing the Little Feat slide shoes once filled by Lowell George…

2021 Readers’ Choice Awards

Each year, Vintage Guitar asks fans to select Readers’ Choice winners for Player of the Year in four categories, along with Album of the Year. Included are selections for the…

Wah-Wah Pedals

An Evaluation of Effects and Pedals

The idea for this article came about when I purchased a box of effects pedals from the owner of a music store which had closed in the late seventies. Most…

Eric Schulte Custom Guitars

1960 Schulte Custom Doubleneck, courtesy of Eric Schulte. You know the experience. You stop at your favorite music store, scan the axes hanging on the rack, and get a little…

Fender Precision Bass

The “Final” Configuration

The Fender Precision Bass was the first commercially successful solidbody electric bass. Played somewhat like a guitar and sporting a fretted neck, the “P-Bass” won over players in almost every…

Gibson Style U

Harp Guitar

Gibson Style U. Courtesy Gruhn Guitars. This Gibson Style U harp guitar, made in 1906 or ’07, represents the top level of the Gibson lineup in the company’s first quarter-century,…

Wes Beech

Life in The Plasmatics

From the moment he met Rod Swenson and Wendy O. Williams, things for Wes Beech were never really “normal.” Walking into the basement of their loft for an audition, Beech…

The Story of Silver Street Guitars

Building a 
Better…. Gibson?

In the late 1970s, trends combined to spawn several new guitar companies in the Chicago area motivated by a desire to “build a better Gibson.” The list included Dean and…