• 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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Molly Miller – top-flight instrumental rock, jazz, and twang

Trio rips on “2 West” Instrumental guitar music is having a moment. Offering a stellar example, Molly Miller and her trio show us “2 West,” filmed during soundcheck on their…

Marty Friedman’s Melodic Grandeur

Vintage Strat, new style on “Illumination” A devout Jackson user with a longstanding signature model, Fender Strat that’s also heard on the record. Read our cover feature and a review…

The Acoustic

Black Widow

In the late ’60s, when Domino guitars were fading away, tube amplifiers were out of vogue. Old technology, man! Cool bands played through solidstate amps that delivered lots of clean…

Rickenbacker Electro Bass

Photo courtesy George Gruhn. When discussing the origins of the modern electric bass, most typically think of the Gibson Style J mando-bass of the 1910s and ’20s, the Audiovox electric…

Bob Spalding: Instrumental Legend

Ventures Guitarist plays “New Space” sampler With a catalog that extends more than 60 years, The Ventures just keep on rockin’. Longtime guitarist/bassist Bob Spalding indulged us by grabbing three…

Parsons-White String Bender

On September 20, 1983, Jimmy Page re-emerged into the public eye after the death of John Bonham and the breakup of Led Zeppelin with a thundering ovation at the Royal…

Wah-Wah Pedals

An Evaluation of Effects and Pedals

The idea for this article came about when I purchased a box of effects pedals from the owner of a music store which had closed in the late seventies. Most…

Gibson’s Depression-Era Exports

Many aren’t aware that some of the archtop guitars Gibson produced during the Depression were marketed under different brand names, including Kalamazoo, Recording King, Cromwell, Fascinator, and Kel Kroyden, among…

The Schaffer-Vega Diversity System

Making Rock Roll

“ The best thing I ever did in the beginning was not use effects,” AC/DC’s Angus Young told VG in his feature interview for the December ’20 issue. And in…

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…

The Martin 3K

The continuing appeal of Hawaiian music through the past 100 years is based in part on the music itself, which evokes exotic images of life on a Pacific island, and…

Rex Solidbody By Michael Wright

Circa 1959 Rex solidbody. While a lot of vintage-guitar enthusiasts are content to pursue well-known treasures, there are others who appreciate a good mystery. For me, it’s been a pleasure…

’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…

Vintage Dobros

A Guide

When John Dopyera stormed out of the National shop in January 1929, his resignation stemmed from more than a spur-of-the-moment tantrum. For months, the inventor of the resonator guitar spent…

The Strat in Transition

Leap Forward, Step Back

Believing the long-term survival of his company hinged on creating the world’s best electric guitar, in 1953, Leo Fender set out to improve on his own Telecaster before Gibson or…

Fender Headless Bass

Forgotten Prototype

Reflecting back through my years in the guitar industry, much of my time has been spent in product development, prototyping, and the making of specialty guitars. In recent years, quite…

Fender’s Tweed-to Tolex Transition

Best Face Forward

Through its 75 years, Fender has been responsible for myriad leaps forward in the history of guitar-amplifier design and manufacture. Arguably the most dramatic was the transition in 1959-’60 from…

The ’66 Vox UL 730

Beatle Juice

Despite the massive lust for early “copper-panel” Vox AC30 and AC15 amplifiers, one JMI-made line is far rarer – the 1966 “UL” series. More importantly, it represents a bridge between…

Fender’s Musicmaster and Duo‑Sonic

Little Brothers

Often forgotten, the diminutive student-grade duo went from concept to reality in short order to capitalize on teenagers taking up guitar to play along with “Rock Around the Clock.”

The Story of Silver Street Guitars

Building a 
Better…. Gibson?

In the late 1970s, trends combined to spawn several new guitar companies in the Chicago area motivated by a desire to “build a better Gibson.” The list included Dean and…

Beat Portraits: Burns Volume 3

Backbone Instruments 1962-’64

In early 2009, VG columnist Peter Stuart Kohman turned his focus on Burns, the pioneering British guitar builder. We’ve compiled the first three installments for a special edition of VG…

Rex Solidbody

Italian Connection

An internet search for “Rex guitars” will turn up a fair – if confusing – amount of information about the brand used on budget guitars and banjos made by Gretsch…

Reverend Freakchild – Surprises at Every Turn!

Pushing Boundaries of Blues, Folk, and Rock After a smash-and-grab from his car a few years ago, Reverend Freakchild made this National N-series his main squeeze. Here, they show us…

Dave Gant’s Amp Collection

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

Dave Gant grew up in Ada, Oklahoma, and while the city of 17,000 will never be confused with Memphis or Nashville in terms of musical impact, it is the birthplace…

Gibson Super 400 PN

The Gibson Super 400 Premiere cutaway acoustic first appeared in Gibson literature in the 1940 catalog, on a page showing it and the L-5 Premiere in clear “natural” finish. The…

Classics: August 2022

Billy Soutar’s custom-order 1936 Gibson L-7

While scanning an Elderly Instruments ad in Vintage Guitar one day in early 2009, Billy Soutar spotted the description of a 1936 Gibson L-7, “Custom… with factory Charlie Christian pickup.”…

Gibson Roy Smeck Electric Tenor Banjo

Photo by Julie Woods. At the dawn of electrical amplification, no one knew where the new technology would take stringed instruments (or keyboard instruments, for that matter). As the electric…

Recording Acoustic Guitars

The Art of Home Recording

Recording an acoustic guitar is very different from recording an electric, employing different microphones, placement, and technique. Here are a few essential steps.

Diamond Rio’s Jimmy Olander

Sworn Gunslinger

Grand Ole Opry member, CMA, ACM, and Grammy winner Jimmy Olander is one of the most-admired players in country music. As co-founder of Diamond Rio, his dedication has always been…

Gibson Humbucker

Crunchy, Clean Dirt

Gibson and Fender may be the longstanding heavyweight rivals of the electric guitar game, but they have one very important thing in common: they revolutionized the guitar industry. Fender took…