• The Electra Endorser

    Classic Instruments

    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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GA-20’s Matt Stubbs and Pat Faherty

FlashBack Sounds, Forward Steps

Musical gateways opened by Jimi Hendrix and the Doors led Matt Stubbs to become a disciple of Johnny “Guitar” Watson, Earl Hooker, and the guitar Kings – Albert, Freddie, and…

“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…

Epiphone Crestwood

’60s Un-Gibson Solidbody

Gibson’s acquisition of Epiphone in 1957 presented a tremendous challenge to guitar designers and marketers at the company. One challenge was to design a new solidbody instrument that could be…

Tele of Two Legends

The Amazing Story of One Unique Fender

One day in the mid 1950s, up-and-coming thoroughbred jockey Bill Shoemaker was playing host to his friend, bandleader Hank Penny, who had come calling with a special gift in a…

Soul-jazz legend Calvin Keys

Exclusive spin on “Six to Seven” Calvin Keys has worked with Jimmy Smith, Ahmad Jamal, and Ray Charles. Here, he and his ’72 Gibson Johnny Smith play “Six to Seven,”…

Dan’s Guitar RX: Doubleneck Redux

A Return to Glory for “Jerry”

In 1977, I was doing guitar repair in Big Rapids, Michigan, and my services included picking up and delivering repair instruments for several stores. One was Schafer Music, in Mount…

Star Stomps

Famous Sounds Abound in New Book

Stompboxes inspire their own special mania. While the allure of guitars is obvious with their colorful, curvaceous looks, effects are (usually) basic boxes covered in a toad’s load of warty…

Dan Armstrong Design

The Pinnacle of Modern Design

This installment will focus on the famous Dan Armstrong line of guitars and basses. These instruments were introduced to the market in 1960 as the “Dan Armstrong See Through” Guitar…

Gibson EB-0F

Circa 1964 Gibson EB-0F, serial #234684. Photo: VG archive. Instrument courtesy of Guitar Center Hollywood. “Fuzztone.” The term conjures memories of the buzzing, snarling, barely-musical sound from the 1960s that…

Philip Kubicki

The First Days of Fender Acoustics

One day in early June, 1963, I was sitting in the outer office of a deserted (maybe deserted isn’t the right word; it was an almost-empty building waiting to be…

Model 2020

Like most things, the closer you look at certain phenomena, the more you find often subtle, unexpected surprises. A good example is this Ibanez Model 2020, which dates from around…

VG Q&A: A Gilded ’63 Jazz Bass

Plus, Swappable Pickups, Bartell Guitars, and a Mystery Lap Steel

I am the third owner of a 1963 Jazz Bass with a neck stamp “7Jan63A,” pots dated that May, and serial number from that spring. It also has original gold…

Rick Vito’s Tale Of Two Grails

Find of a Lifetime

Whether it was by watching “Bandstand” on TV or learning the licks of Duane Eddy, Chuck Berry, or the Ventures, Philadelphia native Rick Vito’s inspirations are all legendary. And as…

Classics: April 2023

Kim Simmons’ 1973 Gibson Les Paul

For Gio da Silva and several million others in Generation X, the mid ’90s were an exciting time. Young adults when music was experiencing a blues revival spirit-guided by Stevie…

Classics: February 2022

Chuck Panozzo’s Gibson ES-125

For nearly five decades, Chuck Panozzo has been the bassist in Styx, enjoying the ride as it went from playing garage parties in suburban Chicago through its heyday as AOR-radio…

The (Way) Back Beat: A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody

Fretted cheesecake advertising through the years, Part One

There are many ways for an advertiser to attract attention, and in the history of 19th- and 20th-century print hucksterisim there have been few stones left unturned in the battle…

Sovtek MIG-50

Curtain Call

Given their development in the twilight years of the U.S.S.R. and arrival at the fall of the Iron Curtain, it was a gutsy move to name an amp after a…

Cole Eclipse Pro Special

Straight-from-the-catalog instruments are fun – and reassuring – because you know exactly what you’ve got. But there’s another kind of thrill – and satisfaction – when you find something that’s…

St. Moritz Stereo

The notion of a stereo guitar became almost implicit when guitars started having two pickups. But it didn’t become a reality on an actual production guitar until the great tapping…

Martin Bodies in the 19th Century

Size matters

Exactly when did C.F. Martin begin formally using the two-part system indicating size and level of ornamentation on his instruments? Nobody knows for certain. Martin was thinking along these lines…

GIBSONTALFARLOW-HOME-MAIN-BIG

Gibson Tal Farlow

The Tal Farlow is one guitar in a quartet of full-depth Gibson Artists models first cataloged in the early 1960s. Introduced in ’62, it was based on the ES-350 – the…

Audiovox and Serenader Amps

An Interview with Bud Tutmarc

We dedicate this month’s column to the “legendary” Seattle line. Having never had the opportunity to play through one or take one apart, we’ll have to let catalog descriptions suffice…

B.C. Rich Stealth

1983 B.C. Stealth Bass prototype, serial number 001-87984. Photo courtesy Richie King. Electric guitar lore from the 1980s almost invariably includes (sometimes snide) references to hair bands, pointy headstocks, black…

Magnatone Amps

More Magnatone!

Introduction Part I What started out as a one-time pictorial on mother of toilet seat (MOTS) covered amplifiers has turned into a running Dickerson/Magnatone history, covering both the amps and…

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…

1973 Hayman 3030H

If England has a Leo Fender, his name is James Ormston Burns. Like Fender, Burns was a seminal influence on electric guitar design in the U.K., creating the guitars played…

Maccaferri History

The Guitars of Mario Maccaferri

Drop the name “Maccaferri” to most guitar buffs and more than likely the response will involve plastic guitars and, if you’re lucky, something about Django Reinhardt. For a lifetime’s devotion…

The Fender Bass V

Innovation in the Opposite Direction

Like any other group of gearheads, bassists love to rap with peers about their stuff. One classic debate compares five-string electric basses to standard four-string instruments. The bottom line in…

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…

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…