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Classic Instruments
Joey Molland
The word “underrated” is belabored in music journalism, but Joey Molland was just that. As co-guitarist in Badfinger, he was part of a quartet signed to the Beatles’ Apple Records, yielding glorious AM hits like “Come and Get It,” “Day After Day,” and “No Matter What.” The foursome fell into obscurity and tragedy a few
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Gibson EDS-1275 and EMS-1235
It’s hard not to associate doubleneck electric guitars with images of Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page or fusion guru Mahavishnu John McLaughlin in the ’70s; however, the fact is that by the time the Big Js were stopping shows with these multi-headed beasts, they were already relics of the past. Doubleneck Spanish guitars got their first…
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Michael Bloomfield’s ’63 Telecaster
This Guitar Killed Folk!
A silver-spoon teen who loved sneaking into Chicago’s southside blues clubs, Michael Bloomfield reveled in absorbing all he could from the many legendary players he saw perform in the city’s famed joints. The de facto lessons served Bloomfield well as he went on to contribute to the works of many famed performers while forging his…
First-Rate Second Fiddles
Jimi’s Gibsons at the Hard Rock Cafe
No two ways about it, as his career hit stride, Jimi Hendrix was a Strat guy. Not famously loyal to…
Martin D-28 and D-45
Definitive Flat-tops
Martin’s pre-WWII dreadnought guitars set the standard for the modern flat-top, and thus both have been inducted into the VG…
“Buy That Guitar” podcast with special guest Kevin Borden
“Buy That Guitar” podcast with special guest Kevin Borden Season 01 Episode 04 In Episode 4 of “Buy That Guitar,”…
The Norma EG 470-2 Deluxe
Everyone of a certain age – and no doubt some younger folks – remembers the sage career advice given young…
The (Way) Back Beat: Top O’ The Line, For Only $150!
The Immortal Danelectro Guitarlin
Having looked at the most expensive electric guitars offered in 1960s – over 50 years ago. Traditional makers – Gibson, Guild, and Gretsch – concentrated on flashy amplified archtops that…
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.…
The Gibson Les Paul Special
Gibson’s Les Paul Special was the last of the original Les Paul “family” of guitars introduced, and it was the first to lose the Les Paul name. But that has…
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…
The Duane Allman “Layla” Guitar?
A ’57 Gibson Les Paul Emerges To Tell a Story
Taken in trade by a music store in Florida, it was sold to a local recording studio in 1977. Shortly afterward, its new owner started to wonder if maybe it…
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Dan’s Guitar RX: A 1955 Gibson Touch-up
Team Effort.
To keep work flowing in my shop, repairs often become a group effort. Recently, Gene Imbody, T.K. Kelly, Paul Schmittauer, and I worked to repair a beautiful ’55 Les Paul Special and GA-30 amp belonging to Jake Curtis, who inherited the set from his grandfather, Vernon Benschoter. They’re both in very good condition, and Jake…
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McKinley James’ Blues
Family Barn Jam! With his ’82 Gibson 335 running into a Headstrong Corduroy (20-watt/6V6) amp, McKinley James shares a taste of his new album, “Working Class Blues,” with this run at “Call Me Lonesome.” In the October issue, he tells us how the album was made in the family barn with the only backing…
Realistic Entertainer-34
As prolific as the Radio Shack chain was in the ’60s, it’s surprising we don’t see more vintage Realistic guitar…
Robin Basses
A Photo Retrospective
Alamo Music Products holds a unique place in the history of electric guitars and basses. The Houston-based company began its…
Beat Portraits: Burns Volume 1
Beginnings – The Early 1960s
In early 2009, VG columnist Peter Stuart Kohman turned his focus on Burns, the pioneering British guitar builder. We’ve compiled…
Martin 00-18
They were days, before Kent State, when everywhere you looked, kids sat under trees, singin’ songs and swappin’ licks. Fresh-faced…
Epiphone’s Professional Guitar and Amp
Since the instrument was introduced, those who play the electric guitar have modified it to create new sounds and interesting effects. In the late 1940s and 1950s, amplifiers followed suit…
Brian Setzer
What a Dude Does
You can’t keep an iconic rocker down. Brian Setzer’s The Devil Always Collects is his first album in more than two years. Featuring the Grammy winner’s trademark rockabilly fire, it’s…
Freddie King’s ’73 ES-355
Thinline Crown
Influenced by Robert Johnson, T-Bone Walker, Lightnin’ Hopkins, John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, Sonny Boy Williamson, and others including jump-blues saxophonist Louis Jordan, Freddie King was an integral piece of…
Rick Derringer
Explore The Possibilities
Rick Derringer and his compadres in the McCoys smashed their way into the pantheon of rock and roll in the mid ’60s with the three-chord anthem “Hang On Sloopy,” a…
“Buy That Guitar” podcast with special guest Tony Nagy
Season 03 Episode 05 In Episode 3.5 of “Buy That Guitar,” host Ram Tuli is joined by Tony Nagy, manager of the repair shop at Gruhn Guitars. Vintage instruments, prized…
United They Stood, Part 2
Ghosts of Jersey City
In the history of guitars, the tale of United Guitar Corporation is a ghost story – little documented and lost in partially self-imposed obscurity. Operating from 1939 into the late…
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Jason Isbell
New Vistas, Old Gear
Jason Isbell’s powerful songs, compelling vocals, and formidable guitar skills have made him one of America’s most-respected singer/songwriters. A charismatic performer, his critically-lauded albums, solo and backed by the formidable 400 Unit, have earned six Grammys and nine Americana Music Awards. With an eclectic style melding country, blues, and Southern rock, his appeal transcends genres.
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“Boogie Mod” Dual Showman
What do you do when the humble blackface Bandmaster you acquired sight-unseen turns out to harbor one of rock’s hottest lead circuits? Celebrate! And then go tracing its connection to California’s seminal high-gain guitar amplifier. Randall Smith’s legendary Boogie lead circuit started as a prank played on an unsuspecting client before he applied it as
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Albert King’s THC Flying V
Coterie Complete
Robert Johnson has been a fixture in the vintage-guitar community for more than a half-century. As a player and music producer, he has collected an assortment of instruments and music memorabilia, particularly related to his home town of Memphis. One of his guitars recently became part of a recording project that began at the renowned
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VG Q&A: Parlor Mystery
Plus, a Pro’s List of Repair Glues
My neighbor has an old parlor guitar that he asked me to clean up after years in storage. Inside the sound hole it reads “The American No. 5” and there is no other identifying script. The bridge is a pyramid-type. We’re curious about its age and manufacturer; I’m guessing Lyon and Healy from the 1920s.
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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!
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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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Rocky Athas’ Texas ’Tude!
Genuine Lone Star Jams Dallas guy Rocky Athas built a career playing blues in the vain of T-Bone and SRV, but his new album, “Livin’ My Best Life,” is more Houston/BFG-flavored. Here, he and his ’69 Gibson Les Paul Custom (running through an Ibanez TS-10 and a Fender Reverb tank going to a vintage Lab…
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Gibson’s Crest Models
Gibson has produced two guitars bearing the “Crest” name. While both designs date to the 1960s, they’re very different instruments. The first incarnation was a single-cutaway with design ties to the L-5CT, while the second looked more like a fancy ES-335 with a shortened neck. In almost every way – size, construction materials, appointments, and…
Custom-Order Gibson B-45-12
The term “rare” is applied to guitars in far too many instances. Usually an appealing term, its overuse can be…
MXR Custom Shop GT-OD Overdrive
Snappy and Smooth
From its early days with the script-logo Distortion + to the modern Zack Wlyde overdrive, MXR has been a mainstay…
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…
Fender Deluxe Reverb
Vintage Guitar magazine Hall of Fame 2011 Instrument
In the June ’07 issue of VG, amp profiler extraordinaire Dave Hunter said of the Fender Deluxe Reverb, “If guitarists…
