• Thomas Custom Guitars

    Classic Instruments

    Thomas Custom Guitars

    Rarities from the Pacific Northwest

    Certain makes and models of electric guitars are rightfully prized for their elegant physical designs and superior craftsmanship. Even better are those also revered for their playability and particularly rich tonal qualities. Thomas guitars, on the other hand, are usually noted for their odd (sometimes controversial) shapes and zany features. Built by the late guitarist/machinist/luthier/and

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  • Dan’s Guitar RX: A ’57 Strat Goes Under the Knife

    Dan’s Guitar RX: A ’57 Strat Goes Under the Knife

    Battle-Scarred

    B.K. Vaught recently walked into my shop with a vintage Strat that had been modified and refinished. While its changes represented a bit of American history, the guitar deserved to be restored. B.K. got it in the spring of 2022, while helping sort the estate of an uncle who had passed away. Among his belongings…

  • The Martin OM-28

    The Martin OM-28

    Although popular music of the 1920s featured the tenor banjo as the preferred rhythm instrument, the guitar’s popularity rose steadily through the decade, and by the ’30s, it had overtaken the banjo. As had been the case with tenor banjos, mandolins, and classical/minstrel banjos in earlier eras, the best-selling fretted instrument attracted the most attention…

Martin 0-42

The Martin 0-42

December 4, 2015 · George Gruhn

Through the years, Martin’s dreadnought, OM, and 000 guitars may have gained the most notoriety. But for the sweetest and…

Dave Gant’s Amp Collection

Key Collection: Nashville pro Dave Gant fosters an impressive gathering of amps

May 7, 2024 · Ward Meeker

Dave Gant grew up in Ada, Oklahoma, and while the city of 17,000 will never be confused with Memphis or…

Höfner’s Fledermaus Gitarre

A Bat By Any Other Name

May 1, 2022 · Ward Meeker

Much like the scant records of almost every large-scale American guitar manufacturer, production logs at Höfner’s headquarters in Hagenau, Germany,…

Arbiter Fuzz Face

January 14, 2016 · Michael Dregni

When Jimi Hendrix released his first album, 1967’s Are You Experienced, he launched a new level of guitar heroics as…


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…

Recording King Ray Whitley

As a maker of high-quality instruments, Gibson was hit hard by the onset of the Depression in the 1930s. Company president Guy Hart, a former accountant, recognized that Gibson could…

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…

“Buy That Guitar” podcast with special guest Larry Wexer

“Buy That Guitar” podcast with special guest Larry Wexer Season 01 Episode 07 In Episode 7 of “Buy That Guitar,” presented by Vintage Guitar mag, host Ram Tuli is joined…

Ibanez Tube Screamer

From the first notes of Stevie Ray Vaughan’s “Texas Flood,” you can hear it loud and clear; that snarly tone is not just pure Stratocaster and amplifier! To get that…

  • Classics: February 2024

    Classics: February 2024

    Sean Slade’s 1964 SG Junior

    They might not seem to have a ton in common aside from first names. J Mascis, Dinosaur Jr.’s co-founder and guitarist developed a style equal parts guitar heroics and left-side-of-the-dial insouciance. In Uncle Tupelo, Jay Farrar helped popularize the alt-country movement by merging influences from Doug Sahm to The Stooges. But that might be where…

  • ’72 Marshall “NARB” Tremolo 100

    ’72 Marshall “NARB” Tremolo 100

    Mirror Image

    When is a Marshall not a Marshall? When it’s a Narb, of course. Long a fascinating footnote to the company’s history, this alternative brand arose as something of a bet between colleagues. For all the undeniable classics produced by Jim Marshall and his right-hand men Ken Bran and Dudley Craven, it seems the company’s marketing…

Dave Gant’s Amp Collection

Key Collection: Nashville pro Dave Gant fosters an impressive gathering of amps

May 7, 2024 · Ward Meeker

Dave Gant grew up in Ada, Oklahoma, and while the city of 17,000 will never be confused with Memphis or…

Jim Campilongo & Steve Cardenas

Mutual Musical Idiosyncrasies

October 25, 2024 · Oscar Jordan

Steve Cardenas and Jim Campilongo have been playing guitar together for a long time, though the constellations only recently aligned…

Gibson Custom Colors in the 1960s

Burning Embers, Chilled Whites

January 11, 2017 · Andre R. Duchossoir

Unlike its rival from the West Coast, Gibson did not readily embrace the concept of offering custom-color finishes. It wasn’t…

Penco A-15-JD

July 29, 2023 · Michael Wright

The 1970s is often called “the Copy Era” for the dominating presence and spectacular success of Japanese “copies” of popular…


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…

Ampeg R-12-R Reverberocket

1962 Ampeg R-12-R Reverberocket Preamp tubes: two 6SL7, two 6SN7 Output tubes: two 6V6, cathode-biased Rectifier: 5Y3 Controls: Volume, Tone, Dimension (reverb), Speed, and Intensity (tremolo) Speakers: Jensen Special Design…

Dan’s Guitar RX: Finding An Old Friend, Part 2

What Goes Around…

In the September, issue I told the story of the ’58 ES-335 I sold to my friend, Al, for $225 in 1966. Al passed away earlier this year and left…

1985 Guild Nightbird Prototype Home Main Big

1985 Guild Nightbird Prototype

In early 1984, Mark Dronge, son of the Guild founder Alfred Dronge, was president of Guild. That year, Mark and I struck a deal to design six acoustic Guild guitars…

Gibson’s 1958-’62 ES-335TD

The Redoubtable “Dot-Neck” Early every guitar conceived or designed by Ted McCarty during his tenure as president of Gibson (1948-’66) is today seen as exemplary of the company’s best work.…

Dallas Shaftesbury 30

We mine the rich seam of obscure vintage American tube amps on a regular basis here in the pages of VG, but less often do we delve into the equally…

  • “Buy That Guitar” podcast with special guest Howie Statland

    “Buy That Guitar” podcast with special guest Howie Statland

    “Buy That Guitar” podcast with special guest Howie Statland Season 01 Episode 10 In Episode 10 of VG’s “Buy That Guitar” podcast, host Ram Tuli is joined by Howie Statland of Rivington Guitars, New York City. They discuss famous players and the effect they have on the value of collectible instruments. Guitarists are often influenced…

  • Hangin’ with Kid and Lisa “Little Baby” Andersen

    Hangin’ with Kid and Lisa “Little Baby” Andersen

    Smooth, Funky Blues With Soul Kid Andersen worked with Charlie Musselwhite and Elvin Bishop before scoring his current gig with Rick Estrin & the Nightcats. One of the best blues guitarists around, here, he’s joined by his wife, Lisa, and bandmate Endre Tarczy to play “Nobody’s Fault But Mine,” from his latest album, “Spirits.” Kid…

Guild Basses in the Early 1980s

Traditional, Temporary

Guild Basses in the Early 1980s

June 21, 2016 · Willie G. Moseley

The early ’80s were a unique time in the history of American electric guitars. Fender and Gibson were both owned…

The Valley Arts Custom Pro Bass

Keeping the Arts Alive

April 29, 2020 · Art Department

In 1969, when a North Hollywood guitar teacher named Duke Miller teamed up to start a music store with students…

Barney Kessel’s ES-350 Rides Again

Return Of An Icon

October 13, 2022 · Rusty Russell

Bruce Forman acquired Barney Kessel’s beloved Gibson ES-350 in mid 2021. In prep for recording Reunion!, he made the guitar…

“Buy That Guitar” podcast with special guest Willie G. Moseley

July 8, 2025 · Ram W. Tuli

Season 03 Episode 01 In Episode 3.1 of “Buy That Guitar,” host Ram Tuli is joined by longtime VG contributor…