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Classic Instruments
Classics: Norman Harris
Rare Pioneer
As a teenager who just wanted to play music, Norm Harris lived with the reality that he and his band weren’t going to be millionaires anytime soon. So he did what musicians do – side-hustled. But when most were manning the counter at a music shop or serving tables, Harris was up at the crack
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Yamaha SA-15
Our perception of Japanese guitars has evolved slowly. At one point, they were cheap toys, at other times imperfect copies, then startling innovations. Perspective encircles the truth. So, how should we perceive the Yamaha SA-15? Japan became interested in guitars in the early 1920s, as some musicians there began to perform what we’d today call…
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Greg Koch: Gristly “Blues”
Greg Koch: Gristly “Blues” Greg Koch fearlessly wrings the sort of vibrato that only a Tele will tolerate from his ’53 to play this exclusive version of Freddie King’s “The Stumble” flavored with a bit of delay and running into his Tone King Royalist. Inspired by fan requests, it’s just one of the tracks culled…
Domino Californian Rebel
Instrument Profile
California. The Left Coast. It was probably home to North America’s earliest inhabitants, as emigrants from Asia crossed the Bering…
VG Q&A: Parlor Mystery
Plus, a Pro’s List of Repair Glues
My neighbor has an old parlor guitar that he asked me to clean up after years in storage. Inside the…
D’Aquisto New Yorker Classic
During his 30-plus years as an independent guitarmaker, James L. D’Aquisto was acclaimed as the premier maker of archtop guitars.…
Rex Solidbody
Italian Connection
An internet search for “Rex guitars” will turn up a fair – if confusing – amount of information about the…
Dan’s Guitar RX: Building a From-Scratch Class Project, Part Two
Rock-And-Roll High School(er)
In the August issue, we introduced you to Ceil Thompson, a high-school intern in my shop who’s building a guitar from scratch for her senior project. She finished the neck…
Fender Custom Shop Marks 30 Years
Dream Makers
In “official” terms, the Fender Custom Shop opened in 1987. But its story actually began February 1, 1985 – the day CBS announced the sale of Fender Musical Instruments to…
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…
Adam Levy’s Wistful Elegance
Vintage ES-335 on “And They All Sang” Famous for supplying charismatic guitar parts while backing Nora Jones and Tracy Chapman, Adam Levy’s latest solo album, “Spry,” is music laden with…
The Airline GIM 9151A
After The Fall
1970 Montgomery Ward Airline GIM 9151A Preamp tubes: three 12AX7 Output tubes: four 6L6GC Rectifier: solid-state Controls: Volume, Treble, Bass on each of two channels Output: approximately 40…
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Hilary Gardner returns with a fresh take on a holiday classic!
Hilary Gardner returns! Ready to set the tone for your holidays, Hilary Gardner and her band return for a fantastic take on the classic Elvis hit “Blue Christmas” (written by Billy Hayes and Jay W. Johnson) just for VG followers! Accompanied again by Justin Poindexter and Sasha Papernik, this time they’re joined by Jen Hodge on…
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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 retailed up into the $700 to $800 range – beautiful instruments, but not representative of where the electric guitar was going. More forward-looking makers offered…
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,…
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.…
The Yosco No. 2
Tenor Banjo
The banjo and American music cross paths in a remarkably entangled web of complexity. The banjo was brought to the…
The Clark Gainster
Trick Your Tweed
Before he got into the effects pedal biz, Michael Clark had a reputation for building killer tweed-inspired amps. In 2001…
The Story of Jay Gower
Startup in Music City
In Nashville today, there are enough professional luthiers to meet the need for guitar repairs, modifications, and custom builds. In the 1950s, though, musicians typically returned broken instruments to the…
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…
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…
Supro Thunderbolt
Designed “…exclusively for the electric Bass guitar,” it was simplicity itself, with no “fancy extra circuits.” But much like with Fender’s Bassman, guitarists had other ideas!
Wes Beech
Life in The Plasmatics
From the moment he met Rod Swenson and Wendy O. Williams, things for Wes Beech were never really “normal.” Walking into the basement of their loft for an audition, Beech…
Martin’s “12-Fret” 000-42
Martin has never been a stranger to producing certain guitars in very limited quantities. But just how rare is the 12-frets-to-the-body 000-42? It has long been held that Martin has…
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Classics: Jeremy Graf’s 1961 Fender Stratocaster
A lifelong vintage-guitar nut who has had “a million guitars,” Jeremy Graf’s all-time favorite is this 1961 Stratocaster. A native of Knoxville, Tennessee, Graf was just seven when, for reasons he doesn’t remember, he asked for an Elvis Presley record. His mother obliged and brought home Elvis’ Golden Records, a compilation of ’50s hits. “That
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Rising Rockers
Five Alternative Club Classic Amps of the ’50s
In an era when the sub-20-watt combo is arguably the most popular guitar-amp format, it’s worth remembering that several classics of the category emanate from the ’50s. And just as interesting as the well-worn favorites, several lesser-known alternatives were also born in the decade of rock and roll. In the December ’24 issue, we examined
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Classics: Marc Schoenberger’s Rickenbacker Combo 600
Marc Schoenberger was part of the early-’70s vanguard on the Southern California guitar scene – not as a gigging musician, but among the crowd that raced the 101 freeway to check out old guitars every time a new issue of the Recycler hit the streets. He’d also been repairing guitars for friends and local shops
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The Supro Thunderbolt S6420
Lightning Strikes
Despite their catalog-grade status, Supro amps have been used by several noteworthy guitarists. For many, the sturdy Thunderbolt is the preferred workhorse. It’s been a long time since Supro amps were any kind of secret find or hidden gem; players have long recognized the eccentric splendors of certain mid-sized examples, with their thumping tremolo and
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Rickenbacker’s Electric 12-Strings
Double-bound for Glory
George Beauchamp and Adolph Rickenbacher founded Electro String in 1931 to manufacture what everyone would soon call “Rickenbacker” guitars. Success came early and their lap steels set standards of quality, performance, and tone. On the other hand, the company’s electric bass viols and violins excited segments of the industry but never sold well. Same for
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Joey Molland
The word “underrated” is belabored in music journalism, but Joey Molland was just that. As co-guitarist in Badfinger, he was part of a quartet signed to the Beatles’ Apple Records, yielding glorious AM hits like “Come and Get It,” “Day After Day,” and “No Matter What.” The foursome fell into obscurity and tragedy a few
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McKinley James’ Blues
Family Barn Jam! With his ’82 Gibson 335 running into a Headstrong Corduroy (20-watt/6V6) amp, McKinley James shares a taste of his new album, “Working Class Blues,” with this run at “Call Me Lonesome.” In the October issue, he tells us how the album was made in the family barn with the only backing…
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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 of 2022, New Year showcases harmonic personalities merging through atmosphere, reverb, and ancient acoustic guitars. It’s also a meditation on the beauty and strength of…
Round-Up Range
Rolling on a Post-Pandemic Project
Five years ago, I started making a Tele-style guitar inspired by the Gretsch Roundup. When Covid hit, I was up…
“Buy That Guitar” podcast with special guest Alan Greenwood
Season 02 Episode 1 VG’s “Buy That Guitar” podcast opens its second season with host Ram Tuli joined by Alan…
Gibson Grenada Five-string
The Gibson Granada five-string banjo is primarily known for being played by Earl Scruggs, who had an enormous impact on…
The Epiphone Devon Tremolo EA-35T Combo
Tonally TransAtlantic
After giving the upstart Fender a run for its money in the amplifier department throughout the 1950s, Gibson segued into…
