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Duke Levine, solo guitar on a ’70s country stalwart!

Boston native Duke Levine’s impressive career has included stints with Otis Rush, Del Fuegos, Mary Chapin Carpenter, and others. Now he’s backing Bonnie Raitt on her “Just Like That” tour through the western and southern U.S. before they go overseas next year. Here, Duke grabbed his ’60s Teisco SS2L to play a crazy-cool rendition of the 1975 Freddy Fender crossover smash “Before The Next Teardrop Falls” through a ’66 Princeton Reverb. Catch our interview with him in the September issue. Read Now!

Todd Sharpville – “God Loves a Loser”

In this exclusive premier, Vintage Guitar brings you Todd Sharpville’s new video, “God Loves a Loser.” Todd’s doing stellar work on an all-original ’57 Strat (that once belonged to Eric Johnson!) through a Vemuram Jan Ray overdrive pedal running into his all-original ’63 Super Reverb with Jensens. The Strat is strung with GHS nickel .011-.050 Sub Zero Boomers. Learn more at http://www.toddsharpville.com

Duke Levine, solo guitar on a ’70s country stalwart!

Boston native Duke Levine’s impressive career has included stints with Otis Rush, Del Fuegos, Mary Chapin Carpenter, and others. Now he’s backing Bonnie Raitt on her “Just Like That” tour through the western and southern U.S. before they go overseas next year. Here, Duke grabbed his ’60s Teisco SS2L to play a crazy-cool rendition of the 1975 Freddy Fender crossover smash “Before The Next Teardrop Falls” through a ’66 Princeton Reverb. Catch our interview with him in the September issue. Read Now!

Todd Sharpville – “God Loves a Loser”

In this exclusive premier, Vintage Guitar brings you Todd Sharpville’s new video, “God Loves a Loser.” Todd’s doing stellar work on an all-original ’57 Strat (that once belonged to Eric Johnson!) through a Vemuram Jan Ray overdrive pedal running into his all-original ’63 Super Reverb with Jensens. The Strat is strung with GHS nickel .011-.050 Sub Zero Boomers. Learn more at http://www.toddsharpville.com

Classic Instruments

The Birth of Newman Guitars

Newman Guitars was established in Austin, TX in 1977 by Ted Newman Jones. Ted was a pioneer of design and began working for Keith Richards exclusively in late 1971. Ted and Keith designed the first five string open “G” guitar during the 1972 Rolling Stones U.S. Tour for Exile on Mainstreet and he worked for […]

by Doug Yellow Bird
VG Approved Gear

Epiphone’s 75th Anniversary Electar “1939” Century

Little Heartthrob

Many vintage amp connoisseurs have a special place in their hearts for the early Epiphone Electar amplifiers. David Bromberg is one such fan; as he raved to VG recently about his 1938 Electar, “I’ve never had such a good amp. I’m just completely wild about it.” The art deco styling and the low-powered, warm-souled voice […]

by Michael Dregni
VG Approved Gear

DryBell Unit67

Balkan Boost

DryBell Musical Electronic Laboratory has been kicking out great pedals for a few year, with clients like Mike Landau, John Mayer, Steve Stevens, and Joe Perry, to name a few. Designed and made in Croatia, DryBell’s  Unit67 is an 1176-style compressor, EQ, and Rangemaster-style boost designed to help guitarists push their amplifiers to tonal splendor. […]

VG Approved Gear

Peavey Vypyr VIP2

Backline in a Box

Peavey Vypyr VIP2 Price: $199.99 Contact: www.peavey.com For more than 40 years Peavey’s ongoing evolution while building guitars, amps, and pro audio equipment has attracted some big names in the music industry. Adding to their substantial amp roster is their latest offering in the category of modeling amps. Peavey calls the Vypyr VIP 2 “The […]

VG Approved Gear

Musicvox Space Cadet 12

Chime Machine

Musicvox Space Cadet 12 Price: $899 (direct) Contact: musicvox.com As you may have read in Michael Wright’s profile of the Spaceranger guitar (September ’11), Musicvox started producing kooky, retro-styled solidbody guitars in the ’90s and was prominently featured in the comedy film Austin Powers. The company was on hiatus for a decade and recently returned […]

VG Approved Gear

PRS 25th Anniversary Swamp Ash Special NF

From Jimi to Eric to Angus

PRS 25th Anniversary Swamp Ash Special NF Price: $3,908 (retail)/$2,329 (street) Contact: PRSguitars.com. The PRS 25th Anniversary Swamp Ash Special NF is a guitar that attempts to thread many needles: depending on your pickup and amp selections, it can cover most tonal bases between Fender and Gibson, and then some. And that’s just for starters. […]

Artists

Joe Negri

Royal Handyman, Jazz Legend

Long before becoming Handyman Negri on “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” he had already been a teen guitar prodigy, first-generation bopper, and a peer of the giants of jazz guitar. Though New York beckoned, he stayed home and became a star, anyway.

Artists

Lonnie Brooks

1933-2017

Blues guitarist/singer Lonnie Brooks died April 1 in Chicago. He was 83. Born Lee Baker, Jr., he was one of 12 children and left school after the seventh grade to work in sugar cane and cotton fields near their home in Dubuisson, Louisiana. He learned about music from his grandfather, who played banjo, and in […]

Artists

Jeff Waters

Canadian Thrash-Metal Veteran

Trends come and go, but Canadian rockers Annihilator always deliver crushing speed metal. Their newest release, Triple Threat, is aimed at the serious fan. We recently spoke with guitarist/vocalist Jeff Waters to learn more about it. Triple Threat is hefty. It’s an idea that came when we touring for our last studio record, Suicide Society. […]

Music

John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers

Live in 1967 Volume Two

The first volume of this set featured never-before-heard London performances, captured by Dutch fan Tom Huissen, who toted a monaural reel-to-reel recorder to various clubs. It offered new insights into the post-Clapton Bluesbreakers showcasing Peter Green, introduced on the album A Hard Road. The 17 performances (restored by Mayall himself) offered further evidence of Green […]

VG Approved Gear

Gibson’s 1941 SJ-100

Second Coming

Gibson 1941 SJ-100 Price: $3,868 (list)/$2,999 (street) Info: www.gibson.com Sporting a unique “stair step” headstock, the first Gibson SJ-100s began trickling out of the Kalamazoo factory in 1939. This original design lasted only two model years before it was replaced in 1941 with a second version that was itself soon discontinued, this time due to […]

Artists

Uli Jon Roth

Return to Tokyo

In the 1970s, rockers were cranking out now-classic live sets with stunning regularity – Jimi Hendrix’s Band of Gypsys in 1970, the Allman Brothers’ At Fillmore East in ’71, Deep Purple’s Made in Japan in ’73, Kiss’ Alive! in ’75, Led Zeppelin’s The Song Remains the Same, Peter Frampton’s Frampton Comes Alive! and Bob Seger’s […]

Classic Instruments

Vox AC100

Scream Machine

The history of Vox amplifiers’ evolution through the early/mid-’60s directly tracks with The Beatles’ increasing needs to be heard over the screams of fanatical audiences. Simultaneously, the arrival of the AC100 foretells a trend that would make the 100-Watter a must-have on large stages the world over. Even as the Vox AC30 was proving to […]

GizmoAudio’s Ripsaw and Sawmill Jr.
VG Approved Gear

GizmoAudio’s Ripsaw and Sawmill Jr.

Just Like the First Time

Durham Electronics’ ReddVerb Price: $180 each (list) Info: www.gizmoaudio.com Most guitar players’ first pedal was a distortion/OD, often acquired after enduring the taunts from friends and/or bandmates who whisper about how their tone was “thin” and “weak.” The experience takes them down the road to experimentation; the weeks and years that follow becoming a haze […]

Artists

Larry Coryell

1943-2017

Guitarist Larry Coryell died February 19 in New York City after performing the previous night at the Iridium. He was 73 and passed away in his sleep, from heart failure. A pioneer of jazz-rock, Coryell was noted for being comfortable in almost every style. Dubbed “the Godfather of Fusion” after introducing a new feel to […]

Classic Instruments

The Peoples’ Guitar

Gibson’s Depression-Era Exports

Many aren’t aware that some of the archtop guitars Gibson produced during the Depression were marketed under different brand names, including Kalamazoo, Recording King, Cromwell, Fascinator, and Kel Kroyden, among others. These shared similar features and construction techniques with the low-line Gibson-branded instruments such as the L-30 and L-50: a spruce top, mahogany body and […]

Keeley Engineering Compressor Pro
VG Approved Gear

Keeley Engineering Compressor Pro

Game Changer

Keeley Engineering Compressor Pro Price: $299 (list) Contact: www.robertkeeley.com Studio-quality dynamic control at your feet is a luxury that guitarists haven’t seen before. With the Compressor Pro, Keeley Engineering has managed the impressive feat (sorry) of stuffing a studio compressor’s performance and feature set into a stompbox. Thoughtful design choices make this ideal for guitarists […]

VG Approved Gear

Brown Guitar Factory Chambered Electric

Beast Mode

To use a slightly skewed metaphor, John Brown builds guitars to the beat of a different drummer. After all, who wants a custom builder without vision, churning out yet another version of a Strat or Les Paul? Brown heads Brown’s Guitar Factory in suburban Minneapolis-St. Paul. He’s a third-generation instrument builder and repairer, and his […]

Readers' Choice

Hall of Fame – Players

From 1994 to the present — read about each Readers’ Choice Awards Players.