• Webb Wilder’s take on “Beautiful Delilah”

    Classic Instruments

    Webb Wilder’s take on “Beautiful Delilah”

    “Hillbilly Speedball” sample Since the mid ’80s, Webb Wilder has cranked out consistently fine roots-rock. His latest is “Hillbilly Speedball,” and here he grabs his ’61 Gibson ES-330TD plugged into a narrow-panel Fender Vibrolux to play a cover of Chuck Berry’s “Beautiful Delilah.” He’s joined by George Bradfute (on a ’50s Epiphone upright) and Bob…

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Epiphone Empero1965 Main

1965 Epiphone Emperor

The Epiphone Emperor has a long, convoluted history. It first appeared in Epiphone’s catalog in late 1935 as a response to Gibson’s Super 400, which was introduced in late 1934.…

Audiovox Electronic Bass

Discovered! The World's First Electric Bass Guitar

While there have been lively debates raging in the rare instrument community for many years about any number of puzzling early guitars – not to mention the perennial issue of…

’66 Epiphone Casino

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Gibson’s 1966-’70 Flying V

In Detail

Body is two-piece mahogany. Pickguard mounts to body with 13 screws. Pickups are patent-number humbuckers with chrome-plated covers. Tune-O-Matic bridge with Gibson’s basic spring vibrato (a.k.a. Vibrola) tailpiece. Control pots…

The Gibson ES-5

Instrument Profile

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Diamond Rio’s Jimmy Olander

Sworn Gunslinger

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1949 Bigsby Tenor

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1965 Gibson Thunderbird

Cardinal Red Rarity

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Trans-Galactic Toneway

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Weymann Model 890 Jimmie Rodgers Special

Hey Hey, Tell ’Em About US

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Tyler Morris and a 1953 Gibson Les Paul model

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The Fender “Korinacaster”

Double-Cut Kuriosity

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Built to Survive

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Weymann Model 890 Jimmie Rodgers Special

Hey Hey, Tell ’Em About US

Jimmie Rodgers has been called many things; while active from 1927-’33 he was billed as “the Singing Brakeman” and ”America’s Blue Yodeler” but, in the decades since, the “Father of…

Gibson Les Paul Spotlight Special

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Gibson J-185

The Gibson J-185

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Guyatone Micro Effects

Little Boxes, Big Effects

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Spectrum 5

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Mossman Guitars

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Gibson J-200 Rosewood

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Danelectro Viscount

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Gibson Basses in The ’70s

Gibson Basses in The ’70s

Plucky Trio from the “Downer Decade”

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1904 José Ramírez I

Possibly no name is more associated with the classical guitar than that of José Ramírez (1858-1923), the founder of a long dynasty of Madrid makers dating from the late 19th…

Epiphone’s Professional Guitar and Amp

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…

Antique Guitar Amps 1928-1934

Which came first – electric guitar or amp?

The influence and restraints of technology on amplifying the guitar Let’s pretend for a moment that former Gibson historian Julius Bellson misinterpreted stories of Lloyd Loar’s experiments with electrified instruments…

The Sammick Viper

Some guitars hit the market at the perfect time to becom e classics – think Les Paul and Stratocaster. Some experience brief popularity, then slip into obscurity – think Bond…