• 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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Fender Custom Color Strat main

Custom-Color Stratocasters

The Stratocaster was born in 1954. A solidbody with three pickups, contoured back and top, vibrato, and bolt-on neck, it was different. And it changed the way people looked at,…

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…

Songbirds: Museum with a Mission

Treasures in Tennessee

Ask anyone who geeks out on vintage guitars, from the well-heeled collector to the dreamer whose prized possession is a relic’d reissue, and you’ll hear the stories… First sighting of…

Acoustic Amplifiers

Early Acoustic amplifiers

I’m not really an amp guy, but I have two early Acoustic catalogs, from early ’73 and ’74. We might as well document the amps therein, since you’re going to…

Ibanez Overdrives

Versatile tones from the TS line's progenitors

Before Ibanez made the fabled Tubescreamer, the company released two overdrive pedals designed to enhance sustain and distortion at lower volume. The first was simply called Overdrive, the second was…

Robin’s ’80s Import Basses

While the Robin guitar brand’s reverse “imported then domestic” chronology has been documented in this space, the basses shown here are the first import models marketed by the company (and…

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…

Gretsch 6119 Tennessean

Gretsch 6119 Tennessean

Chet Atkins was the most important endorser ever employed by the Gretsch company. When introduced in the 1950s, models bearing his name were admired and played by many artists including…

Fender “Wide-Panel” Twin

The Fender “Wide-Panel” Twin

While Fender’s high-powered 5F8-A Twin of 1958-’60 (VG, March ’09) has been much raved about in recent years, there’s a lot to be said for a Twin that’s closer to…

Cry, Baby!

The Story of the Vox Wah

Beyond being crowned “Album of the Century” by Time magazine, Marley and the Wailers’ 1977 LP Exodus is a wah-wah masterpiece thanks to Junior Marvin and his Thomas Organ Cry…

Vox Symphonic Bass

Fender Bender

Despite the way collectors and dealers freely apply the term “lawsuit guitars,” documented examples are few. One time it did happen was triggered by the Vox Symphonic Bass. A report…

Vintage Instruments and the Ban on Ivory Trade

Vintage Instruments and the Ban on Ivory Trade

A presidential executive order issued February 11 proposes a wide ban on trade in ivory has widespread implications for trade in vintage musical instruments as well as antique art, furniture,…

Barney Kessel’s ES-350 Rides Again

Return Of An Icon

Bruce Forman acquired Barney Kessel’s beloved Gibson ES-350 in mid 2021. In prep for recording Reunion!, he made the guitar his exclusive daily player. “All it needed was a little…

Tony Mottola

Mr. Big, Guitar Pioneer

Some argue that Tony Mottola was more legendary than famous. In a career spanning 50 years, the guitarist logged thousands of studio dates and made hundreds of concert and television…

Dano Redux

A Look at Everyone's First Electric Guitar

In his book, Neptune Bound: The Ultimate Danelectro Guide, author Doug Tulloch charts the adventures of Nat Daniel as he rode the electric guitar boom of the 1950s and ’60s…

The Marshall Major

Force Commander

Any player who shows up these days with a 200-watt guitar amp will elicit a hearty, “Are you out of your mind?” But when the Marshall Major came along 50…

Mossman Guitars

Triumph over Tragedy

The story of Mossman guitars is one of both tragedy and triumph. Often forgotten in the rejuvenated interest with acoustic guitars of the 1990s, Mossmans are best known for their…

The First “Mary Kaye” Stratocaster

The Fender “Mary Kaye” Stratocaster. A term guitar aficionados have come to associate with a ’50s Strat with blond finish with gold-plated hardware… Although Mary Kaye never owned one and…

Kangaroo Amp Covers

Anti-Aging for Amps

Kangaroo Amp Covers Once upon a time, Steve Purcell, proprietor of Kangaroo Amp Covers, grew weary of being the forgetful type. As a gigging guitarist, he never had a problem…

John Oates’ Prized Guild F-30

Roots Return

Most people know Hall & Oates as a pop-music hit machine that has sold millions of records. What you may not know is that John Oates is a lifetime student…

Zemaitis Acoustic Bass

1972 Zemaitis fretless acoustic. To say Tony Zemaitis made eye-catching instruments would mean uttering one of the great understatements in modern luthiery. A cabinetmaker of Lithuanian heritage, Antonio “Tony” Zemaitis…

Rosalie Allen’s SJ-200

Trophy Flat-Top

On the pages featuring the Super Jumbo 200, Gibson’s 1940 catalog trumpeted, “This king of the flat-top guitars was especially created for professional entertainers who want an instrument adaptable to…

Doitsch Hawaiian Guitar

1939 Doitsch Hawaiian Guitar. Photo: Michael Wright. If there’s a foundation for the enthusiasm for vintage guitars, it’s based on a somewhat arbitrary hierarchy of brand identity. That is to…

Gibson ES-300 Prototype

Les Paul and the First Gibson ES-300

When a guitar junkie hears the words “soapbar” and “P-90,” the mental image is usually that of a cream-colored rectangle seated deep in a sea of metallic gold, accentuating the…

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…

National Westwood and Glenwood

'60s alt-materials make short run

Westwood 75 While the mantra for 21st century “alternative material” guitars focuses on carbon fiber (i.e. Rainsong acoustics) and wood/glass/carbon fiber/epoxy composites (i.e. Ken Parker’s Fly line), electric guitars made…

Fender Mustang Bass

Truly Transitional

Ca. 1967 Fender Mustang Bass, serial number 219057. VG archive. Instrument courtesy of Rockahaulix. Fender’s short-scale Mustang Bass, introduced in 1966, was a transitional instrument in many ways. The company…

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…

B.C. Rich Stealth Bass

Electric guitar lore from the 1980s almost invariably includes (sometimes snide) references to hair bands, pointy headstocks, black hardware, and so on. But many of the asymmetrical/angular instruments from that…

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 something that looked like surrender; by the early ’60s, its…