• The story of the Martin F-50

    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!

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Heathkit TA-16 Starmaker

Basement Jams & Blown Speakers

1966 Heathkit TA-16 Starmaker Combo The days when a kid would break out the soldering iron and take on a serious electronics project just for fun are largely behind us.…

Kid Ramos’ Revelation!

West Coast legend melds blues with gospel Check out Kid Ramos using a ’56 Harmony H62 running through a vintage Fender reverb tank and a Pro Junior to play an…

Valco ‘Thunder stick’

Put your gut money on a dark horse every so often, and you might find the rest of the regurgitating bandwagon world awash in your taillights. Every sublime guitar collection…

Sound City L/B 120 Mark IV

Sound City L/B 120 Mark IV

Preamp tubes: three ECC83 (12AX7), one ECC81 (12AT7, in the phase inverter) Output tubes: six EL34 Rectifier: solidstate Controls: Normal Volume, Brilliant Volume, Bass, Middle, Treble, Presence Output: approximately 120…

Freddie Green

Artistry in Rhythm

Fellow musicians called him “Pep” or “Pepperhead.” He was also known as “Mr. Rhythm,” and he could drive a band like no other guitarist. His was a subtle yet unmistakable…

The Murph 12-String

Tugging At Your Heartstrings

Here’s a story that has “Hollywood blockbuster” written all over it. It’s got so many cinematic staples, you can almost hear “Oscar” murmured in hushed tones. There’s the Holy Grail…

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…

Westone Genesis

1987 Westone XA6520TBU Genesis. Photo: Bill Ingalls Jr. Instrument courtesy of Rudy Abbott. The relationship between Japanese instrument builders and domestic distributors was critical in the evolution of guitar sales…

The Gibson Starfire TR 1000 RVT

Trans-Galactic Toneway

Relatively unsung among early entrants to the field of solid-state guitar amplifiers, Gibson was the first high-output, high-quality manufacturer to bring one to market. And while it quickly proved the…

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…

Hagstrom Guitars

The Fastest Necks

Ca. ’73 Hagstrom Viking I N also known in the U.S. as the Scandia. Part 2 This month we continue the Hagstrom saga. To recap: the Hagstrom company was founded…

1924 Francisco Simplicio

1924 Francisco Simplicio Francisco Simplicio was one of the most highly regarded Spanish (to be precise, he was Catalan) makers of the first half of the 20th century, being the…

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 the solidbody EB-0/EB-3 and Thunderbirds, as well as the semi-hollow…

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…

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…

Ricky Phillips’ Fender Custom Shop five-string

Ricky Phillips with his Fender Custom Shop bass in 2008. Photo: Willie G. Moseley. Most professional guitarists or bassists, upon reaching a certain level of success, are seen as “Les…

Carvin DN440T

One of the few family-owned guitar/amplifier manufacturing enterprises remaining in the industry, Carvin was founded by Lowell Kiesel in 1946 and started by making pickups, then transitioned to building lap…

First to Sunburst

The Origin of a Famous Finish

Faced with anemic sales of its Les Paul Model in 1958, Gibson spiffed-up its goldtop with a sunburst finish in an attempt to outdo Fender’s two-toned Strat, rechristened it the…

Eleonora Strino’s old-school jazz

Italian jazzer lays it down on “It Don’t Mean a Thing” Eleonora Strino brings serious old-school jazz chops, put to great use on original compositions and interpretations like this take…

Hagstrom Guitars

The Fastest Necks

Ca. ’73 Hagstrom Viking I N also known in the U.S. as the Scandia. Part 2 This month we continue the Hagstrom saga. To recap: the Hagstrom company was founded…

Toys For Tots and Dreams Psychedelic Realized Vintage Guitar magazine Presents Greg Martin's Head Shop

Toys For Tots and Psychedelic Dreams

This is a regular series of exclusive Vintage Guitar online articles where The Kentucky Headhunters’ Greg Martin looks back on influential albums and other musical moments. As Christmas rapidly approaches,…

Ram Tuli Crunches Numbers for The Guide

Strats and Data

Combine a knack for numbers with a love of old guitars and you get… well, you might get any of a thousand babyboomer accountants/collectors. But one is a supercharged version…

Teisco Checkmate 30

Café Culture

In a world where the best riffs often come when one is lounging in the family room, sipping espresso and noodling on a favorite electric guitar, the Teisco Checkmate 30…

Ken Fischer

1945-2006

Although by most estimates he produced fewer than 100 Trainwreck amps, Ken Fischer – tech, designer, and amp-maker – will be remembered as one of the most authoritative and intuitive…

Gibson Trini Lopez

In the early 1960s, as Les Paul was leaving Gibson’s artist roster, the company recruited three of the most respected jazz guitarists to put their signatures on new “artist” model…

Gospel Guitars

Semie Moseley’s Venerated Brand

When he wasn’t crafting Mosrites, Semie Moseley could often be found on the road, providing music for evangelists. It makes sense that his aspirations and beliefs were manifested in these…

The Rogue VB-100 Violin Bass

Fab As It Looks?

The Rogue VB-100 Series II is an homage to the venerable Höfner 500/1 semi-hollowbody. Popularly known as the “Beatle bass,” this axe was used by Paul McCartney on many early/mid-’60s…

Easy Pickins

The Fine Art of Pick Collecting

You collect guitar picks? Is this a joke? Umm, no…and in a world where books are dedicated to the collectibility of happy meal toys, why should an interest in guitar…

Classics: November 2022

Vern Juran’s Harmony stratotone

Like many baby-boomer kids, 11-year-old Vern Juran was into slot-car racing and bikes with ape-hanger handlebars, banana seats, and sissy bars. He also loved guitars, and the second-hand Harmony Stratotone…

Gibson Top Tension Banjos

  Although most bluegrass banjo players consider Gibson’s Mastertone banjos with one-piece flange and flat-head tone ring – such as Earl Scruggs’ Granada and Don Reno’s Style 75 – to…