• 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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Gibson’s 17″ Pre-War Electrics

ES-300 of 1940-’43

Among musicians and collectors, Gibson’s pre-World-War-II ES-300 may be less popular today than the ES-250, but in terms of sheer numbers, it was Gibson’s most popular 17″ pre-war electric, despite…

A Guide to Vintage Dobros

John Dopyera left National in 1929 to begin work on a secret project – a single-cone resonator guitar he believed superior to the Triolian. His instrument became synonymous with resonator…

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Music Man HD-130 Reverb

Intended to be the masterpiece of a titan in guitar-amp design, Music Man amps of the mid/late ’70s are all too easily mistaken for copies or wannabes chasing a market…

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.”

D’Angelico Excel Plectrum Guitar

Superb Build, Sound Worthy of a Listen

John D’Angelico is widely regarded as one of the finest archtop guitar builders who ever lived. From 1932, when he started making guitars on his own, until his death in…

Dan’s Guitar RX: A New Tool Makes Luthiery Easier

With a Little Help…

I recently discovered a sturdy pedestal stand that holds a guitar by its neck and makes repair, builds, and setup jobs better, safer, and easier, especially for someone who doesn’t…

Epiphone Model M Steel

Misjudged Beauty

The Epiphone company already had a long history when it hit big with banjos in the early 20th century. And it was quick to change with the times as musical…

Martin 5K

ukulele

The braguinha, forerunner of the ukulele, was a small four-string instrument tuned in fifths. Named after the town of Braga in Portugal, the instrument arrived in Hawaii with the first…

Fender’s V-Front 5B4 Super-Amp

Wonder Wedge

Though all tweed Fender amps of the late ’40s and ’50s are lauded and lusted after, the V-front Super might be the most iconic – and elusive. So, when a…

Peter Green

Peter Green

A Guitar For Greeny

Establishing the provenance of a vintage guitar can be a daunting task, even for a seasoned pro. In the case of one particular 1960 Gibson Les Paul Standard, the investigation…

The Gibson ES-5

Instrument Profile

Gibson, like all American guitarmakers, had to shut down electric guitar production for three years during World War II. But when production resumed in 1946, Gibson made up for the…

Gibson’s First Cherry Red 335

It came from the Books

Gibson introduced the ES-335T in the spring of 1958 as the progenitor to its double-cutaway,semi-hollow body “thinline” series of guitars. Characterized by the maple block running down their centers, most…

Murph Squire 11-T

1965 Murph Squire 11-T We live in a golden age, with an incredible selection of guitars available in virtually any price range. But if there ever was another golden age,…

Robert Perine

How I helped Leo Fender

In all modesty, my role was small – especially in Leo’s eyes. Here was a man whose sole interest was making guitars and amps sound better, not worrying about the…

Model 2020

Like most things, the closer you look at certain phenomena, the more you find often subtle, unexpected surprises. A good example is this Ibanez Model 2020, which dates from around…

Audiovox #736

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…

Classics: January 2024

Bill Woodward's 1953 Gibson Les Paul

Gravitational heavyweights in our culture, beyond baseball, hot dogs, and apple pie, few things say “American” more than music and road trips. This guitar is symbolic of both. One of…

Acoustic Black Widow

Black Widow Guitars

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…

Kramer Pacer Deluxe

Superstrat or Bust

On rare occasions, the zeitgeist – not some lucky designer – creates a guitar that captures hearts and minds. Such was the case in 1982, when tastes in popular music…

Quest for Volume

Django Reinhardt's Selmer #503

Revolutionary jazz demanded a revolutionary jazz guitar. In the summer of 1935, just as his Quintette du Hot Club de France was starting to make waves, Django first began using…

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…

Kevin Keaton’s 1958 Esquire

Swamp Thing

June 10, 2020, was a summer night like most in the life of Kevin Keaton, a postal mail carrier and guitarist who gigs in an acoustic duo and an AC/DC…

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…

J.D. Simo

Playing for Elvis

Psych-blues guitar maestro J.D. Simo was the wizard behind the guitar work heard on Elvis, the new Baz Luhrmann film starring Tom Hanks and Austin Butler. Unlike the actors who…

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…

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…

Classics: March 2022

Chris Leuzinger’s 1952 Gibson Les Paul

If your radio was tuned to a country station even for a few minutes anytime in the last 30 years, odds are you’ve heard Chris Leuzinger’s 1952 Les Paul. A…

Jon Butcher’s psychedelia mastery

Jon Butcher tales his Olympic White ’63 Strat for a rip on “Jam,” a track from his new album, “Nuthin’ but Soul.” The disc is an homage to sounds of…

Epiphone C-10

A nylon-string good for beginners, experts alike

The sound of a nylon-string guitar has captivated musicians and listeners for decades. However, unless you're a classical guitar "artist," chances are your main axe isn't a nylon string. My…

1982 Gibson Victory Custom

When you consider their status as a last-gasp instrument made by Gibson in its waning days as a property of Norlin Industries, the ironically dubbed “Victory” series of guitars and…