•  Joey Molland

    Classic Instruments

     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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  • Gibson EDS-1275 and EMS-1235

    Gibson EDS-1275 and EMS-1235

    It’s hard not to associate doubleneck electric guitars with images of Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page or fusion guru Mahavishnu John McLaughlin in the ’70s; however, the fact is that by the time the Big Js were stopping shows with these multi-headed beasts, they were already relics of the past. Doubleneck Spanish guitars got their first…

  • Michael Bloomfield’s ’63 Telecaster

    Michael Bloomfield’s ’63 Telecaster

    This Guitar Killed Folk!

    A silver-spoon teen who loved sneaking into Chicago’s southside blues clubs, Michael Bloomfield reveled in absorbing all he could from the many legendary players he saw perform in the city’s famed joints. The de facto lessons served Bloomfield well as he went on to contribute to the works of many famed performers while forging his…

Joe Long’s “stack-knob” Fender Jazz Bass

June 22, 2025 · Willie G. Moseley

If you’re a fan or aficionado of vintage instruments, odds are that any early-’60s Fender Jazz Bass catches your eye.…

Fall Philly 2014

November 13, 2014 · Lisa Sharken

[caption id="attachment_19277" align="alignleft" width="300"] We are here at the Philly show checking out all the killer guitars! Here's a '54…

Three Larsons

April 27, 2016 · George Gruhn

At first glance, these three guitars appear to be a straightforward collection of different sizes of the same model. A…

Diamond Rio’s Jimmy Olander

Sworn Gunslinger

July 31, 2024 · Ward Meeker

Grand Ole Opry member, CMA, ACM, and Grammy winner Jimmy Olander is one of the most-admired players in country music.…


Classics: February 2024

Sean Slade’s 1964 SG Junior

They might not seem to have a ton in common aside from first names. J Mascis, Dinosaur Jr.’s co-founder and guitarist developed a style equal parts guitar heroics and left-side-of-the-dial…

The Thompson Tremor Bender

Big Bend

Longtime musician and professional tool-and-die maker Don Thompson recently introduced the Tremor Bender, a retrofit stringbending device for most Fender- and Gibson-style instruments. Thompson’s goal was to make a stringbender…

Charlie Starr: Open-Tuning Magic on “Azalea”

Blackberry Smoke frontman on a vintage Gibson Enjoy a bit of the supremely tasty “Azalea,” played by Charlie Starr and his ’55 Gibson J-45.  It’s just one of the great…

Gibson J-185

The Gibson J-185

The J-185 is regarded by many players and collectors as the finest-sounding Gibson flat-top made after World War II. The only flat-top of its size and shape made by Gibson…

Classics: October 2023

Michael Bloomfield 1963 Fender Stratocaster

Antonio Mazzara’s passion for music started at age 10, when he started playing a nylon-string classical guitar before moving up to a sunburst ’72 Strat and a ’68 Princeton Reverb…

  • Dan’s Guitar RX: A 1955 Gibson Touch-up

    Dan’s Guitar RX: A 1955 Gibson Touch-up

    Team Effort.

     To keep work flowing in my shop, repairs often become a group effort. Recently, Gene Imbody, T.K. Kelly, Paul Schmittauer, and I worked to repair a beautiful ’55 Les Paul Special and GA-30 amp belonging to Jake Curtis, who inherited the set from his grandfather, Vernon Benschoter. They’re both in very good condition, and Jake…

  • McKinley James’ Blues

    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…

Tele Jimmy Bryant

Sixty Years of Tele-Kinetic Guitar Heroes

Flying Saucers! Tail Fins! Robots!

April 2, 2014 · Pete Prown

Taking a cue from the burgeoning world of television, in 1951, Leo Fender married the name “Telecaster” to his new…

Warwick Thumb Bass

Generational Innovation

April 15, 2019 · Willie G. Moseley

Founded in the early 1980s by Hans-Peter Wilfer, Warwick has a familial connection to another well-known German brand from a…

Fender Harvard

April 7, 2016 · Dave Hunter

Given the current craze for semi-small “home” and “recording” amps, Fender’s 5F10 Harvard of 1955-’60 could be the ideal tweed…

EKO 995

February 22, 2012 · Willie G. Moseley

The Beatles’ appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show” in February of 1964 is often referred to as the most important…


Javier Batiz

Mexican guitarist Javier Batiz, a teacher and inspiration to Carlos Santana and other musicians, passed away December 14 at his home in Tijuana, Baja California. He was 80. Known as…

Saga of Ted Newman Jones

A Guitar for Mr. Richards

The Saga of Ted Newman Jones

For anyone who visited the tiny workshop inhabited by guitar builder Ted Newman Jones in the 1970s and ’80s, two things were obvious – his appreciation for the fine tonewoods…

 VG Q&A: Harmony History

And an Archtop Mystery

I recently received two guitars as gifts and am trying to learn more about them. The first is a Harmony I believe is from the early ’70s. Its serial number…

Classics: April 2023

Kim Simmons’ 1973 Gibson Les Paul

For Gio da Silva and several million others in Generation X, the mid ’90s were an exciting time. Young adults when music was experiencing a blues revival spirit-guided by Stevie…

The “Conversion” Les Paul

The “Conversion” Les Paul

Myth, Magic – and Mojo!

One of the more intriguing topics in guitardom is the Gibson Les Paul “conversion.” What is it? Most of the time, it’s a reference to Les Pauls made from 1952…

1933 Gibson L-5 “Special”

Though many collectors focus on instruments in fine original condition, every so often one emerges that, regardless of condition, is no less exciting than a paleontologist finding the “missing link.”…

  • Rocky Athas’ Texas ’Tude!

    Rocky Athas’ Texas ’Tude!

    Genuine Lone Star Jams Dallas guy Rocky Athas built a career playing blues in the vain of T-Bone and SRV, but his new album, “Livin’ My Best Life,” is more Houston/BFG-flavored. Here, he and his ’69 Gibson Les Paul Custom (running through an Ibanez TS-10 and a Fender Reverb tank going to a vintage Lab…

  • Gibson’s Crest Models

    Gibson’s Crest Models

    Gibson has produced two guitars bearing the “Crest” name. While both designs date to the 1960s, they’re very different instruments. The first incarnation was a single-cutaway with design ties to the L-5CT, while the second looked more like a fancy ES-335 with a shortened neck. In almost every way – size, construction materials, appointments, and…

Danelectro Viscount

January 11, 2016 · Dave Hunter

1961 Danelectro Viscount Preamp tubes: two 12AX7, one 6AU6 Output tubes: two 6V6GT Rectifier: 6X5 Controls: Volume, Tone, Vibrato Strength,…

Vox Guitars Invade America

From Dartford to Sepulveda

December 18, 2014 · Peter Stuart Kohman

The Vox brand may be quintessentially English, but it made a huge impact in the U.S. Riding in with the…

Jerry Kennedy

A-Team Guitarist, A-List Producer

August 17, 2024 · Rich Kienzle

Jerry Glenn Kennedy, a 13-year-old who recorded for RCA Victor as “Jerry Glenn,” got the shock of his young life…

MIM Hosts Stephen Stills and Ushers in Dragons and Vines Exhibition

December 7, 2016 · Johnny Zapp

On November 5th, Phoenix, Arizona’s Musical Instrument Museum (MIM) celebrated the opening of their newest exhibition, “Dragons and Vines: Inlaid…