• Jon Butcher’s psychedelia mastery

    Classic Instruments

    Jon Butcher’s psychedelia mastery

    Jon Butcher tales his Olympic White ’63 Strat for a rip on “Jam,” a track from his new album, “Nuthin’ but Soul.” The disc is an homage to sounds of Motown, Stax, James Brown, and Sly Stone highlighted by Butcher’s mastery of Hendrix-style psychedelia. It was recorded using a ’63 Princeton, a Vibrolux, and a…

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Jake Andrews’ video encore: “Eyes On The Prize”

Austin Great Goes Full Steam for “Eyes On The Prize” Jake Andrews’ video encore: “Eyes On The Prize” Jake Andrews makes a VG-social-media curtain call by playing “Eyes On The…

Gibson Roy Smeck Electric Tenor Banjo

Photo by Julie Woods. At the dawn of electrical amplification, no one knew where the new technology would take stringed instruments (or keyboard instruments, for that matter). As the electric…

National-Dobro Model C

We’ve seen some pristine vintage pieces in these pages over the years, but as far as time-capsule amps go, when you consider age-to-condition ratio, this National-Dobro Model C might very…

Last ’Burst?

Single-Cut Saga From the End of an Era

Certain instruments are nearly as famous as the heroes who play them – we know them as Blackie, Lucille, Greeny, Number One. And don’t forget E.C.’s colorful Crash Strats. But…

Andre Segovia’s Hauser

Built in 1937

While visiting the Spanish guitar exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City during the fall of 1991, I had the opportunity to measure and photograph, in…

The House of Stathopoulo Harp Guitar

Surreal Missing Link

One of the rarest Epiphone instruments in the world, the House of Stathopoulo harp guitar lends a glimpse into a transitional era prior to the formation of what would become…

National-Dobro Model C

We’ve seen some pristine vintage pieces in these pages over the years, but as far as time-capsule amps go, when you consider age-to-condition ratio, this National-Dobro Model C might very…

Gibson EB-4L

Right Ideas, Wrong Era

The antennae of many guitar collectors/enthusiasts pop up when they encounter a Gibson-made instrument bearing a six-digit serial number with “Made In The USA” embossed on the back of its…

Instro-Meister Eric Penna

Blues Switch-Up in Trabants Eric Penna’s main gig is playing bass for the garage/surf band Insect Surfers, but he side-hustles playing guitar in the blues-instrumental band Trabants. After corralling bassist…

Furry Lewis' 1968 Gibson B-25N

Furry Lewis’ 1968 Gibson B-25N

Heart In Hand

Born in the heart of Mississippi’s fabled Delta region – from where Robert Johnson emerged and a blues-music form was born, Walter “Furry” Lewis was seven years old when his…

Whooooo Wal You?

John Entwistle’s fretless ’78 Wal

Wal began building electric basses in the early 1970s as a collaboration between Englishmen Pete Stevens and Ian Waller. Their efforts evolved into a company known as Electric Wood, and…

Walter Becker’s Bogner Ecstasy 100B

In 1993, when Bogner was fast becoming the hippest name on the high-gain-amp scene, star guitarists were clamoring for that hot new tone. One who missed out recently brought “his”…

Delta Labs Concept 1

Delta Labs Concept 1

Preamp tubes: Two 6U8A, two 12FQ7, in addition to more-common types Output tubes: eight 33JV6 horizontal-output tubes Rectifier: solidstate Controls: Volume, Treble, Mid, Bass, Resonance, Distortion; Echo effect: Mix, Repeat,…

Acoustic Amplifiers

Early Acoustic amplifiers

I’m not really an amp guy, but I have two early Acoustic catalogs, from early ’73 and ’74. We might as well document the amps therein, since you’re going to…

Epiphone Riviera

The Epiphone Riviera helped reinvent Epiphone in the 1960s as a modern guitar company whose instruments sported such contemporary features as thinline, semi-hollow, double-cutaway bodies and humbucking pickups. In the…

G&L SC-2

A Tele That's Not…

When is a Tele not a Tele? Well, when it’s a Leo Fender-made SC-2, among other things. This is a neat guitar my favorite repairman, Doug Lawrance, found here in…

Last ’Burst?

Single-Cut Saga From the End of an Era

Certain instruments are nearly as famous as the heroes who play them – we know them as Blackie, Lucille, Greeny, Number One. And don’t forget E.C.’s colorful Crash Strats. But…

O’Hagan Guitars

Jaws Invades the Upper Mississippi

By the shores of Gitche Gumee, Minnehaha gives a little yelp of surprise. There, just behind Mary Tyler Moore, cutting the murky waters of Old Muddy with its triangular fin…

The Höfner Model 485G

At the end of World War II, the town of Schönbach, in western Bohemia, became Luby, Czechoslovakia, and the people of German ethnicity were expelled. The changes affected the fortunes…

'62 Les Paul Rarity

’62 Les Paul Rarity

In its early years, the Gibson Les Paul Custom evolved through several body-style and spec changes and was the earliest Gibson solidbody to have a Tune-O-Matic bridge and stop tailpiece;…

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…

Westone Genesis

1987 Westone XA6520TBU Genesis. Photo: Bill Ingalls Jr. Instrument courtesy of Rudy Abbott. The relationship between Japanese instrument builders and domestic distributors was critical in the evolution of guitar sales…

Martin 000-30

When a guitar maker introduces an innovative new feature at the same time an appealing, existing feature is being discontinued, the result can be a rare configuration of specifications. Although…

The Roots of Echo

Pre-Echoplex Devices, Part I

Post-WWII advances in recording techniques, including the use of artificial reverberation and delay enhanced music as opposed to merely capturing it. The sound became almost as important as the material…

Epiphone 1968 Les Paul Prototype

Fraternal Twin

Ted McCarty’s leadership at Gibson was highlighted by the introduction of top-shelf instruments created by knowledgable, intuitive designers and builders. Another brilliant move was his guiding the purchase of foundering…

Bay State Parlor Guitar

The Parlor Guitar

The parlor guitar. Designed by Mr. Parlor? No. First manufactured by the Parlor, Inc? No. Endorsed by the well-known recording artist, Parlor? Now don’t be silly, of course not! Then…

Recording Acoustic Guitars

The Art of Home Recording

Recording an acoustic guitar is very different from recording an electric, employing different microphones, placement, and technique. Here are a few essential steps.

EKO 995

The Beatles’ appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show” in February of 1964 is often referred to as the most important event in the history of rock music, having inspired thousands…

Fresher Guitars

Fresher Guitars

Epic poetry is great, but all these long treatises on the massive guitar pedigrees of Kay and Aria have made me feel a bit like a Milton scholar, a fate…

Supro Thunderbolt

Supro Thunderbolt

Designed “…exclusively for the electric Bass guitar,” it was simplicity itself, with no “fancy extra circuits.” But much like with Fender’s Bassman, guitarists had other ideas!