-
Classic Instruments
Veillette-Citron Shark
It’s not often a guitar can be said to have been inspired by a TV show, but that is the case with this 1982 Veillette-Citron Shark, which came about as a result of the success of the program “Welcome Back Kotter.” Well, in a pretty roundabout way, that is! Veillette-Citron guitars were the product of…
Gibson Custom Colors in the 1960s
Burning Embers, Chilled Whites
Unlike its rival from the West Coast, Gibson did not readily embrace the concept of offering custom-color finishes. It wasn’t averse to custom work or colorful finishes, but saw them…
Beat Portraits: Burns Volume 5
1964: Solid Heyday
In early 2009, VG columnist Peter Stuart Kohman turned his focus on Burns, the pioneering British guitar builder. We’ve compiled installments 4, 5, and 6 for this special edition of…
Gibson Kalamazoo Award
Designer's Dream Come True
In 1978, Gibson craftsman Wilbur Fuller produced the company’s first hand-carved, tuned-by-ear custom guitar. The instrument, which in a blind sound-off with some of the best instruments of its era,…
-
Tommy Castro
Circling Back
In a career spanning four decades, Tommy Castro has crafted a commendable catalog and built a devout following with his soul-infused music, informed by the blues, R&B, pop, and rock and delivered with conviction. Beloved for his guitar work and vocal style, he has carved his own niche. Born and raised in San Jose, California,…
-
Classics: Tommy Castro’s ’66 Fender Stratocaster
Tommy Castro has never been much for sitting with a guitar teacher, preferring instead to rely on good ol’ time in the saddle to hone his craft. But this 1966 Stratocaster has taught him a couple lessons. The guitar entered Castro’s universe in the hands of San Francisco music legend John Newton – known on…
-
Classics: Arena-Rock Alternative Amps
Mad Maxed
As rock started hitting the big time in the mid ’60s, it became clear to guitar-amplifier manufacturers that 100 watts or more was the way to go. The best approach to big power, however, would follow several paths. The stories of the high-powered amps introduced by Fender, Marshall, and Vox through the ’60s have been…
Classics: September 2023
Bill Fudge’s Micro-Frets Huntington
Several years before he became a luthier who deserves much greater recognition, Ralph Jones sold new Fender guitars and amps out of his home studio in Rockville, Maryland. One early…
Tech 21 Trademark 60
Incredible sound at a nice price
In the past six years we’ve focused mostly on used gear, but occasionally included new stuff that works so well it’s impossible to ignore. This month’s entree, the Trademark 60,…
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…
Furry Lewis’ 1968 Gibson B-25N
Heart In Hand
Born in the heart of Mississippi’s fabled Delta region – from where Robert Johnson emerged and a blues-music form was born, Walter “Furry” Lewis was seven years old when his…
National Style O
Industrial Art
National. The name is patriotic! And what else but American inventiveness could have brought about a metal-bodied guitar? The answer lies in the state of the guitar as a musical…
Dean DeLeo and Tom Bukovac unite on the trip the witch
Cosmic Convergence
At a glance, there’s little reason to connect a guitarist like Dean DeLeo to one like Tom Bukovac. One is ’90s-rock royalty, the other a modern-day Nashville studio legend. Strange…
-
Vivi-Tone “Skeleton
A Master’s Magnificent Misfire
The eternal question “Who invented the electric guitar?” has no single answer. By the late 1920s, many players, tinkerers, and inventors were exploring ways to get more volume from fretted instruments. Steel-string flat-tops from Martin, f-hole archtops from Gibson, and metal-bodied resonators from National were louder than their predecessors, but ran up against physical limits.…
-
Zac Schulze gets straight to it!
If you’re a fan of Cream, Zeppelin, and Rory Gallagher (who isn’t?), you’ll dig Zac Schulze Gang, a British power trio that’s carrying the torch with both hands; they’ve played Clapton’s Crossroads and the Rory Gallagher Tribute Fest. Here, Zac flies solo on “High Roller,” tearin’ it up on his ’54 Guild Aristocrat M75 through…
-
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 Motown, Stax, James Brown, and Sly Stone highlighted by Butcher’s mastery of Hendrix-style psychedelia. It was recorded using a ’63 Princeton, a Vibrolux, and a…
-
The Electra Endorser
Flame-top guitars were fairly common during the 1970s “copy era,” but few reached the levels of figure we often see on modern high-end guitars. Then came the Electra Endorser X935CS, which set new standards for psychedelic woodgrain. “But it’s not a ’70s guitar,” you object. No, but arguably, the Endorser CS – which was only…
-
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…
-
Jorge Garcia’s FM Anthems, in Jazz
Fresh takes on revered classics Joge Garcia’s “Still Crossing” is a collection of stellar instrumental performances of familiar tunes like “Kashmir,” “Little Wing,” and a classical spin through Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now.” Here, though, he shows us the title track, which is the only original tune. His ’87 Fender D’Aquisto is plugged into a…
The Valley Arts Custom Pro Bass
Keeping the Arts Alive
In 1969, when a North Hollywood guitar teacher named Duke Miller teamed up to start a music store with students Mike McGuire and Al Carness, the three likely didn’t envision…
Jim Marshall
Father of the Mighty Marshall Stack
When it comes to guitar amplifiers, two names stand tall beyond the others: Leo Fender and Jim Marshall. Even
Lakland Jerry Scheff Signature Model
Before and Beyond Elvis
Veteran bassist Jerry Scheff is best known for holding down the bottom-end in Elvis Presley’s fabled TCB Band. But he has also been a fixture in the national recording scene…
1968 Teisco May Queen
Perennial Classic, Made in Japan
While many Japanese guitars from the 1960s took their inspiration from American and European models, to the observant eye, there’s a strong undercurrent of Japanese design evident in many of…
Traditional, Temporary
Guild Basses in the Early 1980s
The early ’80s were a unique time in the history of American electric guitars. Fender and Gibson were both owned by corporate interests – the former CBS, the latter the…
The Birth of the Gretsch Duo Jet
Gretsch Gets With It!
In 1950, Leo Fender introduced the Broadcaster. The first solidbody electric Spanish guitar to bear his soon-to-be-famous name, its thin profile, light weight, and utilitarian dual-pickup configuration combined to make…
Vahdah Olcott-Bickford and the Martin Style 00-44G
Special Signature
Of the nearly 200 artists who have been granted a “signature” Martin guitar, only one was given their own style number. It wasn’t Clapton. It wasn’t Cash. Rather, it’s Vahdah…
The First Days of Fender Acoustics
One day in early June, 1963, I was sitting in the outer office of a deserted (maybe deserted isn’t the right word; it was an almost-empty building waiting to be…
Vintage Gibson Amplifiers
EH-100 and 125
“No longer is the electric Hawaiian Guitar restricted to professional players – here is a genuine Gibson instrument that costs only $100, complete with instrument, case, amplifier with slip cover,…
Philip Kubicki
The First Days of Fender Acoustics
One day in early June, 1963, I was sitting in the outer office of a deserted (maybe deserted isn’t the right word; it was an almost-empty building waiting to be…
Selmer Modele Jazz and Stimer M.10 Amp
Electricfying Early Jazz
In the 1930s, the quest for volume was the Holy Grail of guitar construction, as guitarists sought instruments to slice through the sound and fury of a jazz band. And…
Epiphone Zephyr De Luxe Regent and Zephyr Amplifier
The Zephyr De Luxe Regent was Epiphone’s second-from-the-top electric guitar produced from the late 1940s through the mid ’50s. The instrument went through several name changes, from Zephyr De Luxe…
B.C. Rich Guitars
From Flamenco to Heavy Metal
From one perspective, flamenco and heavy metal might seem as far apart as the sun and the moon, but if you think about the hyperbolic emotion involved in both genres,…
The Valley Arts Custom Pro Bass
Keeping the Arts Alive
In 1969, when a North Hollywood guitar teacher named Duke Miller teamed up to start a music store with students Mike McGuire and Al Carness, the three likely didn’t envision…
Guyatone LG-160T
The Secret's Out!
Like plants, Japanese guitars have an almost secret life of which few people outside are aware. While many Americans in the ’60s were seeing fairly low-end commodity guitars at the…
1973 Hayman 3030H
If England has a Leo Fender, his name is James Ormston Burns. Like Fender, Burns was a seminal influence on electric guitar design in the U.K., creating the guitars played…
Rosewood Dobro
In the 1930s, the original Dobro company went through a series of ownership changes and licensing agreements. It did not regularly publish catalogs, and its model numbers were typically also…
Classics: Tommy Castro’s ’66 Fender Stratocaster
Tommy Castro has never been much for sitting with a guitar teacher, preferring instead to rely on good ol’ time in the saddle to hone his craft. But this 1966…
Gibson J-185
Flat-top worthy of comparison
One of the most-fabled flat-top guitars Gibson ever produced is the Gibson J-185. Introduced in 1951, and discontinued in ’59, only 270 natural-finish and 648 sunburst J-185s were made. Guitarists…
Greg Martin’s ’53 Fender Telecaster
Vintage Guitar magazine Presents Greg Martin's Head Shop
This is a regular series of exclusive Vintage Guitar online features where The Kentucky Headhunters’ Greg Martin looks back on influential albums and other musical moments. Greetings from Kentucky, hope…
Paul Reed Smith Guitars
The World of Paul Reed Smith
Just after we entered the small, crowded office, the door burst open and an intruder blurted out, “Excuse me. Check this out. Is it right?” The company’s R&D chief handed…
-
VG Q&A: ’71 Mahogany Precision?
Plus, a ’60s Conrad 12-String and Converting a ’65 ES-345TD-SV to Mono
