• Zac Schulze gets straight to it!

    Classic Instruments

    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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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…

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…

The Roland Space Echo

Perfect Slap-Back

When Brian Setzer kickstarted the Stray Cats into action in 1979, his gear lineup was a hodgepodge of orthodox rockabilly ware along with the bizarre. His ’59 Gretsch 6120 and…

Roy Smeck’s Gibson L-5

One For the “Wizard”

Player endorsements are part of the tradition of guitarmaking going back to its earliest use for public performance. LeRoy G.A. Schmeck, a.k.a. Roy Smeck, may be history’s most-prolific endorser of…

G&L SC/SB Series

Matching Mojo

Early-’80s G&L SC-3. Bill Ingalls, Jr. Early-’80s G&L SB-1. During the “guitar boom” of the 1960s, one method of getting a band noticed was to equip it with matching instruments…

Doc Buffington’s ’48 Fender Pro Amp

Gold Bond

Ever plugged into a well-played vintage combo, run your hands over its road-worn tweed covering – scuffed to a cashmere-like texture – and thought, “If only this amp could talk”?…

VOXAC50-HOME-MAIN-BIG

Vox AC50

Vox AC50 Preamp tubes: one ECC82 (12AU7), three ECC83 (12AX7) Output tubes: two EL34s, fixed-biased Rectifier: solidstate Controls: Volume, Treble and Bass for each channel. Output: nominally 50 watts RMS,…

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…

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…

Pandemic Peak?

The Guitar Market’s “Covid Surge”

In the September ’20 issue, VG surveyed guitar dealers to learn how they’d been impacted by the early weeks of the Covid 19 pandemic. Times were uncertain, and by March…

Six-String Basses from the 1950s and ’60s

The Big Twang!

Electric bass, bass guitar, baritone guitar; four, five, or six strings – many varieties of low-tuned instruments are available today. In the 1950s, however, choices were fewer. Bassists played upright…

Classics: September 2023

Bill Fudge’s Micro-Frets Huntington

Several years before he became a luthier who deserves much greater recognition, Ralph Jones sold new Fender guitars and amps out of his home studio in Rockville, Maryland. One early…

Gretsch Chet Atkins Nashville 7660

1972 Gretsch Chet Atkins Nashville 7660. Photo: Michael Wright. In many ways, the storied past of Gretsch guitars is a microcosmic reflection of the many twists and turns of the…

Home Feature Image

Beyond the Parlor

Part Two: Man and Machine

Ed. Note: In part two of his series on the guitar in 19-century America, Tim Brookes addresses the common belief that the guitar was strictly a ladies’ parlor instrument by finding guitars being…

Watkins Joker

Beat-Gen Beaut

This could be just what every well-heeled young “Beat” guitarist and singer in Britain needed in the early 1960s – a guitar amp/PA with reverb, tremolo, mic stand, and tape…

Hanburt Electric Guitars

Rarities From the Pacific Northwest

As a brand of American electric instruments, the name “Hanburt” is about the furthest thing from being a household term. Nevertheless, the recently documented saga behind this obscure line of…

Pop ’N Hiss: Taste

Breakout Blues

The ’60s may have been the most musically significant decade in the history of popular music, but very few countries were represented then or in the years that followed. Fronted…

Alamo Guitars

Remember the Alamo, Part 1

Mention the Alamo and most of us conjure up a rich variety of images. Whether it’s Davy Crockett (Fess Parker, maybe John Wayne) swinging his flintlock rifle as General Santa…

Gibson’s Fabulous Florentines

Archtop Elite

The image of Elvis Presley on his 1968 NBC “comeback special” was, in a word, badass. Dressed in black leather and striking rock-and-roll poses, the King epitomized attitude while brandishing…

1843 Martin & Coupa

Retail Rarity

In 1833, C.F. Martin, Sr. and his family arrived in New York City. A trained luthier, Martin had studied under Johann Stauffer in Vienna and for more than five years…

John Oates’ Prized Guild F-30

Roots Return

Most people know Hall & Oates as a pop-music hit machine that has sold millions of records. What you may not know is that John Oates is a lifetime student…

Recording Electric Guitars

The Art of Home Recording

The process might seem simple – stick mic in front of amp, press "Record." Truth is, though, that even just one guitar and amp can render results that vary greatly.…

Dan’s Guitar RX: Mending Chuck Panozzo’s 1960 ES-125

Thinline Revival

Like you, I got a kick out of the February “Classics” feature on Chuck Panozzo being reunited with his Gibson ES-125TC, which had suffered water damage and was literally coming…

Doitsch Hawaiian Guitar

1939 Doitsch Hawaiian Guitar. Photo: Michael Wright. If there’s a foundation for the enthusiasm for vintage guitars, it’s based on a somewhat arbitrary hierarchy of brand identity. That is to…

The Gittler Guitar

A Talk With Builder Avraham Bar Rashi

One of the most intriguing instruments to appear on the amplified-music landscape was the starkly-minimalist Gittler. An electric guitar constructed with as few parts as needed to render it fully…

Gibson Electric Uke

By Request of Arthur Godfrey

Ted McCarty, Gibson’s president from 1948 to ’66, was responsible for some of Gibson’s greatest designs. While McCarty cites the Les Paul Model as his most important design, his other…

First ’Burst

In May of 1958, a worker at the Gibson factory pulled two Les Paul guitars – serial numbers 8 3087 and 8 3096 – off the line and sprayed their…

Jim Campilongo & Steve Cardenas

Mutual Musical Idiosyncrasies

Steve Cardenas and Jim Campilongo have been playing guitar together for a long time, though the constellations only recently aligned so they could record. Captured on three nights in September…

Delta Labs Concept 1

Delta Labs Concept 1

Preamp tubes: Two 6U8A, two 12FQ7, in addition to more-common types Output tubes: eight 33JV6 horizontal-output tubes Rectifier: solidstate Controls: Volume, Treble, Mid, Bass, Resonance, Distortion; Echo effect: Mix, Repeat,…

Gibson Wall-Board Guitar

Out of the Woods, Off the Wall

In the world of “guitarcheology,” it’s well-documented that the truly interesting stuff – prototypes, one-offs, custom instruments – usually surface close to the source. For instance, in the 1970s, Fender…