• Classics: Norman Harris

    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

    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…

  • Greg Koch: Gristly “Blues”

    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…

Alternative ’60s Club Classics

Amps Beyond the Everyday

August 26, 2025 · Dave Hunter

The “club amp” has been a perpetual best-seller since the dawn of guitar amplification, and several big-name ’60s models are…

’53 Gibson Les Paul Junior

May 2, 2018 · George Gruhn

Gibson records say the Les Paul Junior was introduced in 1954. But this instrument has tone and volume pot codes…

B.C. Rich Eagle

April 28, 2020 · Michael Wright

When my son was young I used to do “guitar shows” for his classes, showing off 10 or so electric…

Classics: December 2022

Reid Farrell’s Fender Tele

August 8, 2023 · Ward Meeker

In 1964, high-school freshman Reid Farrell bought a Fiesta Red ’59 Telecaster with help from his guitar teacher, John Andrews.…


Dan’s Guitar RX: Creating the Iris DE-11

Something New From Something Old

In last month’s “Approved Gear,” VG reviewed the Iris Guitar Company DE-11. If you missed it, I’d suggest you grab the issue and check it out. This month, I’ll take…

Carvin DN640K

Doubleneck instruments have always been a unique niche in the guitar market, for good reason. They’ve also carried an air of superiority or the insinuation that they were intended for…

VG Q&A: Jimi Flip

Plus, Precision Bass rests and an odd Galliano

I’ve never read why Jimi Hendrix played and set up a right-hand Strat to play left-handed. Surely, he could’ve found a lefty model. Does anybody know? – Garry Curry The…

A Hero’s Gretsch 6117

In the 1960s, the astronauts were bigger cultural icons than the Beatles. And no, that’s not the Colorado-based surf band that hit with songs like “Baja.” We’re talking real astronauts,…

Fender Precision Bass

The “Final” Configuration

The Fender Precision Bass was the first commercially successful solidbody electric bass. Played somewhat like a guitar and sporting a fretted neck, the “P-Bass” won over players in almost every…

  • Hilary Gardner returns with a fresh take on a holiday classic!

    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…

  • The (Way) Back Beat: Top O’ The Line, For Only $150!

    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…

Nils Lofgren Shines Solo – Again

September 26, 2023 · Vintage Guitar

Star Grabs Vintage J-50 for “Ain’t the Truth Enough? An in-demand sideman for more than 50 years, guitar wizard Nils…

Coppock Guitars

Vintage Rarities from the Pacific Northwest

June 3, 2023 · Peter Blecha

The obscure Coppock brand of electric guitars first surfaced in 1994, with the publication of Electric Guitars & Basses: A…

Nioma Guitars

Rarities from a West Coast Music School

September 2, 2014 · Peter Blecha

NIOMA musical instruments from the 1930s and ’40s – with their vaguely Hawaiian-looking name – have mystified vintage-guitar enthusiasts over…

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The Guild and Gibson Johnny Smith Models

December 3, 2013 · Jim Hilmar

The name “Johnny Smith” is synonymous with class, elegance, and style. Most guitar players are familiar, if not with the…


Gibson Super 400

Much of America was still recovering from the Depression in 1934 when Gibson introduced a guitar at a price that was almost $100 higher than its current top-of-the-line model, the…

Last ’Burst?

Single-Cut Saga From the End of an Era

Certain instruments are nearly as famous as the heroes who play them – we know them as Blackie, Lucille, Greeny, Number One. And don’t forget E.C.’s colorful Crash Strats. But…

Raul Malo’s Instrumental Side

 Mavericks frontman with a vintage Jazzmaster Though he is renowned and beloved for his vocals in the Mavericks, Raul Malo’s new album, “Say Less,” is a showcase for his…

Danelectro’s Four-String Basses

The guitars and basses made by Danelectro in the ’60s epitomized “no frills.” And though they were considered the nadir of American-made electric instruments of their time, many a babyboomer…

“Buy That Guitar” podcast with special guest Tony Nagy

Season 03 Episode 05 In Episode 3.5 of “Buy That Guitar,” host Ram Tuli is joined by Tony Nagy, manager of the repair shop at Gruhn Guitars. Vintage instruments, prized…

George Gruhn

How a Zoologist Became a Guitar animal

If you bumped into a bearded, corduroy-jacketed George Gruhn in a Nashville coffee shop, you might think you’d stumbled upon an avuncular college professor – which is fitting, considering that…

  • 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…

  • Jim Campilongo & Steve Cardenas

    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…

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The Morley Rotating Wah

Chromed Tone

February 3, 2014 · Michael Dregni

There was a time in the mythic ’70s when guitarists were real men and lugged around 15-pound Morley Rotating Wah…

Dan’s Guitar RX: Finding An Old Friend

What Goes Around…

April 30, 2024 · Dan Erlewine

I grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where I learned to play guitar during the folk boom that, for me,…

The Schaffer-Vega Diversity System

Making Rock Roll

December 8, 2021 · Michael Dregni

“ The best thing I ever did in the beginning was not use effects,” AC/DC’s Angus Young told VG in…

Furry Lewis' 1968 Gibson B-25N

Furry Lewis’ 1968 Gibson B-25N

Heart In Hand

January 19, 2015 · Ward Meeker

Born in the heart of Mississippi’s fabled Delta region – from where Robert Johnson emerged and a blues-music form was…