• Tommy Castro

    Classic Instruments

    Tommy Castro

    Circling Back

    In a career spanning four decades, Tommy Castro has crafted a commendable catalog and built a devout following with his soul-infused music, informed by the blues, R&B, pop, and rock and delivered with conviction. Beloved for his guitar work and vocal style, he has carved his own niche. Born and raised in San Jose, California,…

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Boss MA-1

Spice Up a Small Amp

Normally, when you think of an effect pedal, an image of a stompbox comes to mind; one you step on, or one that performs a dramatic effect on the sound…

Alive! Guitar Revived

The Tale of Frampton’s ’54 Les Paul Custom

Gifted to Peter Frampton after a 1970 Humble Pie concert at Fillmore West in San Francisco, for years, this ’54 Les Paul Custom made famous on the gatefold cover of…

Christopher Thorn

Alt-Rocker/Studio Guru

Best known as half of the guitar tandem in the ’90s alternative-rock band Blind Melon (that’s his rhythm on “No Rain,” using his Gibson J-30), Christopher Thorn has since recorded…

LYON_HEALY-HOME-MAIN-BIG

Lyon and Healy

So what is it? Its original black-finished spruce top is simply ladder-braced from within, but its back and sides feature Brazilian rosewood with dramatic bookmatched figure. Its unbound 18-fret fingerboard…

Danelectro’s Four-String Basses

The guitars and basses made by Danelectro in the ’60s epitomized “no frills.” And though they were considered the nadir of American-made electric instruments of their time, many a babyboomer…

Fender Original Electric Bass Guitar

Fender Myth Debunked! (Part I)

Perhaps this essay should have been titled “Audiovox vs. The Piltdown Man,” due to the doubts had by myself and a number of others regarding the authenticity of this month’s…

Vox AC100

Scream Machine

The history of Vox amplifiers’ evolution through the early/mid-’60s directly tracks with The Beatles’ increasing needs to be heard over the screams of fanatical audiences. Simultaneously, the arrival of the…

Zemaitis Guitar

Tony Z and the Cult of the Zemaitis Guitar

While England has produced some notable guitar brands, such as Burns, Shergold and Eggle, it is rare for an individual maker to gain acceptance in a world where an “established…

Webb Wilder’s take on “Beautiful Delilah”

“Hillbilly Speedball” sample Since the mid ’80s, Webb Wilder has cranked out consistently fine roots-rock. His latest is “Hillbilly Speedball,” and here he grabs his ’61 Gibson ES-330TD plugged into…

Double Neck Triple Neck Vintage guitar magazine Home main

Doublenecks, Triplenecks…

And the California Weird Factor

If you mention doubleneck or multi-neck guitars to your average guitar player, the first thing they’ll likely think of is Jimmy Page playing his Gibson EDS-1275 with Led Zeppelin, or…

The Vox AC15

AMP-O-RAMA

The Vox AC30 grabbed most of the headlines for years, but many tonehounds have come to appreciate the sweet, juicy glories of the smaller AC15, particularly in the wake of…

The Roland Space Echo

Perfect Slap-Back

When Brian Setzer kickstarted the Stray Cats into action in 1979, his gear lineup was a hodgepodge of orthodox rockabilly ware along with the bizarre. His ’59 Gretsch 6120 and…

B.C. Rich Eagle

1981 B.C. Rich Eagle. Photo: Michael Wright. When my son was young I used to do “guitar shows” for his classes, showing off 10 or so electric guitars that started…

Rickenbacker A22

Frying Pan

The Rickenbacker model A22 lap steel was the first commercially available electric guitar. Although it bears the brand name “Rickenbacker,” it was actually the brainchild of George Beauchamp. In the…

Electro/Rickenbacher Amps

Pre-WWII Electro/ Rickenbacher Amps

Introduction Experiments at marketing electrified musical instruments and their accompanying amplifiers may have started in the late 1920s, but it wasn’t until the early ’30s that any long term commitments…

Gibson Nick Lucas

It’s a rare occasion when a star performer hooks up with a guitar company to create a classic signature instrument. Gibson’s Les Paul model comes to mind, as does Gretsch’s…

Fixing a faulty pickup selector lever

And a few oddball pickups from the Duncan archives

When I use the pickup  selector lever switch on my Fender Strato-caster, one of the pickups cuts out. What could be the problem? There could be a few problems with…

Gibson R&D Electric Guitar

Crude Beginnings

Alvino Rey and the prototype lapsteel he has kept for more than 61 years. Photos: Lynn Wheelwright Talk about skeletons in your closet!! Believe it or not, this is the…

John Pizzarelli Swings On A Vintage D’angelico

Jazz Ace on an Heirloom Guitar For this exclusive rendition of “Just In Time,” swing ace John Pizzarelli grabbed the D’Angelico Model B that was played by his late (and…

Gibson’s Experimental Archtop

Orville Gibson invented the carved-top guitar in the 1890s. The Gibson company refined the design with the addition of f-holes in 1922, and brought the concept to full potential in…

Bruce Kulick

Star Board: Bruce Kulick

Bruce Kulick played lead guitar in Kiss for more than a decade, and today stays busy as a solo performer and tours as a member of Grand Funk Railroad. Speaking…

Benson Model 300H

Wrecking Ball

Even with all the excellent guitar amps available by the late ’60s, nothing was quite good enough for jazz and studio great Howard Roberts – so he co-designed his own.…

Boss MA-1

Spice Up a Small Amp

Normally, when you think of an effect pedal, an image of a stompbox comes to mind; one you step on, or one that performs a dramatic effect on the sound…

Tele Jimmy Bryant

Sixty Years of Tele-Kinetic Guitar Heroes

Flying Saucers! Tail Fins! Robots!

Taking a cue from the burgeoning world of television, in 1951, Leo Fender married the name “Telecaster” to his new electric-solidbody guitar. Originally dubbed “Broadcaster” (which infringed on a Gretsch…

The Fender Showman

The Showman

In addition to several significant shifts in style and presentation, for Fender, the transition of the late 1950s into the early ’60s represented a more concerted push into big-amp territory.…

Stromberg Electro

Mid-’30s Stromberg/Kay Del Oro, with “resonator” containing the Stromberg electro unit. Without specifically mentioning it, an intriguing headline in The Mustic Trades, dated October 20, 1928, heralded the launch of…

Five Classic Amps

Five Classic Amps

A Tone-Spotter’s Arsenal To Cover It All

When it comes to classic guitar tones – whether it’s blues through a Dumble, country through a Fender, rock through a Marshall, or jazz through a Roland – every player…

1978 Dean Z

The mid 1970s were a turbulent time in guitar history. The American guitar establishment – at least Gibson and Fender – was owned by big corporations that tended to run…

Gibson Guitars

The Experimental '70s

That guitar collectors are a conser-vative lot has always struck me as curious. You’d think that the instrument which “killed fascists,” in the immortal Woody Guthrie’s phrase, would inspire a…

Movie Star, Rancher

Mid-’50s Muse of Wire and Wood

In the years immediately after World War II, Americans were settling into a new way of life, and plunging headlong toward an economic prosperity never before experienced by everyday people.…