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Classic Instruments
The story of the Martin F-50
Our friend Nate Westgor from Willie’s American Guitars shares the story of Martin’s first step into the booming 1960s electric guitar market. Enjoy, and have a wonderful holiday season from all of us at Vintage Guitar!
Gibson Mastertone GB-3
While five-string banjos are far more popular today than any other style, during the height of the Dixieland Era of the 1920s, when Gibson introduced its famous Mastertone banjos, four-string…
Holy Cripes!
The Story of Jerry Garcia’s Last Guitars
Steve Cripe left a unique legacy in the annals of music history. He was not a guitar player, not a songwriter. In fact, you may not even know his name.…
Fender Mustang
Truly Transitional
Despite its short scale, the Mustang has a potent sound, and as a result it was used by many notable players. Fender’s short-scale Mustang Bass, introduced in 1966, was a…
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Veillette-Citron Shark
It’s not often a guitar can be said to have been inspired by a TV show, but that is the case with this 1982 Veillette-Citron Shark, which came about as a result of the success of the program “Welcome Back Kotter.” Well, in a pretty roundabout way, that is! Veillette-Citron guitars were the product of…
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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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Classics: Tommy Castro’s ’66 Fender Stratocaster
Tommy Castro has never been much for sitting with a guitar teacher, preferring instead to rely on good ol’ time in the saddle to hone his craft. But this 1966 Stratocaster has taught him a couple lessons. The guitar entered Castro’s universe in the hands of San Francisco music legend John Newton – known on…
Robbie Robertson, 1943-2023
Lasting Legacy
It’s ironic that Robbie Robertson was famous mostly for his songwriting, because beneath the minimal, compositional style that marked his work with The Band hid a true guitar stylist and…
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…
Q&A With George Gruhn: Formica Pickguard on an Early Les Paul?
And Not-So-Strange Variations on an ’87 LP Standard
I’ve just completed restoring a very early Les Paul that was horribly damaged and poorly repaired, then painted black! I’m about to put it together, and am wondering if what…
Beat Portraits: Burns Volume 7
1965: Summer Of The Hollowbodies
The Way Back Beat survey of instruments designed by James Ormston Burns continues with the final products developed by his company before it was bought out by U.S. keyboard manufacturer…
Classics: Harold “Sonny” Wright’s 1965 Gibson J-45
Growing up 10 miles from Earl Scruggs’ birthplace in North Carolina with a music-loving father and two older sisters who could impress on the piano, it makes sense that Harold…
Robbie Robertson, 1943-2023
Lasting Legacy
It’s ironic that Robbie Robertson was famous mostly for his songwriting, because beneath the minimal, compositional style that marked his work with The Band hid a true guitar stylist and…
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Classics: Arena-Rock Alternative Amps
Mad Maxed
As rock started hitting the big time in the mid ’60s, it became clear to guitar-amplifier manufacturers that 100 watts or more was the way to go. The best approach to big power, however, would follow several paths. The stories of the high-powered amps introduced by Fender, Marshall, and Vox through the ’60s have been…
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Vivi-Tone “Skeleton
A Master’s Magnificent Misfire
The eternal question “Who invented the electric guitar?” has no single answer. By the late 1920s, many players, tinkerers, and inventors were exploring ways to get more volume from fretted instruments. Steel-string flat-tops from Martin, f-hole archtops from Gibson, and metal-bodied resonators from National were louder than their predecessors, but ran up against physical limits.…
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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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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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The Electra Endorser
Flame-top guitars were fairly common during the 1970s “copy era,” but few reached the levels of figure we often see on modern high-end guitars. Then came the Electra Endorser X935CS, which set new standards for psychedelic woodgrain. “But it’s not a ’70s guitar,” you object. No, but arguably, the Endorser CS – which was only…
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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 a narrow-panel Fender Vibrolux to play a cover of Chuck Berry’s “Beautiful Delilah.” He’s joined by George Bradfute (on a ’50s Epiphone upright) and Bob…
The Beatles’ Casinos
Of all the guitars made famous by the Beatles, the only one that John, Paul, and George had in common was the Epiphone Casino. Each owned one and used it…
Late 1920s Gibson L-1 (Flattop)
Gibson "Florentine"
Because I don’t know what to call this Gibson guitar, I refer to it as a “Florentine,” for lack of a better name. Though the body decoration is unlike any…
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…
“Buy That Guitar” podcast with special guest Daniel Escauriza
“Buy That Guitar” podcast with special guest Daniel Escauriza Season 01 Episode 06 In Episode 8 of “Buy That Guitar,” presented by Vintage Guitar, host Ram Tuli is joined by…
Fender Prototypes
Gone… And Forgotten
Philip Kubicki has been active in the music industry for over 30 years. He began building acoustic guitars at age 15. At 19, he was one of the first employees…
John Sebastian’s ’59 Gibson Les Paul Standard
Vintage Guitar magazine Presents Greg Martin's Head Shop
This is a regular series of exclusive Vintage Guitar online features where The Kentucky Headhunters’ Greg Martin looks back on influential albums and other musical moments. On November 30, 1966,…
Vivi-Tone “Skeleton
A Master’s Magnificent Misfire
The eternal question “Who invented the electric guitar?” has no single answer. By the late 1920s, many players, tinkerers, and inventors were exploring ways to get more volume from fretted…
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…
National Westwood
Whether Valco – the company that made National guitars in the 1950s and ’60s – was actually inspired by U.S. geography when it created its legendary “map” guitars is unknown,…
Martin EB-18
Circa 1980 Martin EB-18, serial #3443. Photo: VG Archives. Instrument courtesy of The Music Shoppe. The musical instrument business is replete with examples of companies venturing into alternate and extraneous…
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…
Gibson’s Experimental Archtop
Orville Gibson invented the carved-top guitar in the 1890s, and his company refined the design with f-shaped sound holes in 1922, then brought the concept to full potential with larger-bodied…
Seth Lover
Seth Lover
The history of the musical instrument business is full of stories, from the drab to the miraculous. Some bean-counters will busily push their way to the forefront, grabbing for a…
Star Board: Rudy Jaramillo
Rudy Jaramillo is quick to mention that his effects setup is very simple. “I go into my 1) Boss tuner, then to a 2) Boss Blues Driver that has been…
Robin’s ’80s Import Basses
While the Robin guitar brand’s reverse “imported then domestic” chronology has been documented in this space, the basses shown here are the first import models marketed by the company (and…
1934 Gibson F-7
Prior to Gibson’s innovations, mandolins were bowl-back instruments with a lute-like back usually constructed with rosewood or maple back ribs and a bent spruce top with an oval sound hole.…
Fender’s V-Front 5B4 Super-Amp
Wonder Wedge
Though all tweed Fender amps of the late ’40s and ’50s are lauded and lusted after, the V-front Super might be the most iconic – and elusive. So, when a…
The Leilani Lap Steel and Amplifier
You can receive more great articles like this in our twice-monthly e-mail newsletter, Vintage Guitar Overdrive, FREE from your friends at Vintage Guitar magazine. VG Overdrive also keeps you up-to-date…
Martin D-1
Not Your Typical Martin
Over the years, I’ve tried to include instruments in this column that were functional and affordable. Occasionally, we’ve lucked out and found spectacular instruments that offer more than your money’s…
Rickenbacker Transonic
Rickenbacker Transonic TS100 Topology: Solid State Output: 100 watts RMS Controls: Volume, Treble, Bass controls and Hollow, Mellow and Pierce switches on each channel; Tremolo Speed and Depth, Reverb, and…
Renaissance T-200G
What is it about Plexiglas? It’s so cool. You can see through it onstage. It’s dense, yet resonant. You’d think it would be the perfect medium for a mean rock…
