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This month, we feature Jason Isbell, Steve Vai, Mark Sampson, Midge Ure, Michael Manring, Steve Hackett, The Outlaws, Larry Carlton, Albert King, B.B. King, Allen Hinds, Thin Lizzy, Tab Benoit, and more! Spotify is free or available without ads via a paid subscription. Go to www.spotify.com and search “Vintage Guitar magazine,” or if you already […]
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Season 02 Episode 9 The Gibson Les Paul. In Episode 2.9 of “Buy That Guitar,” host Ram Tuli is joined by Michael Slubowski, administrator of the Les Paul Forum. Michael has played and collected Les Pauls for most of his life, and together they dive into the beauty and history of Gibson’s most-revered guitar. Links: […]
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In this age of shrinking guitar rigs, Tech 21’s Fly Rig pedals show just how guitar-related technology is getting smaller but more powerful. Fly Rigs measure a mere 11.5 x 2.5″ and fit easily into a gig bag, yet are packed with useful effects for shows, recording, or practice. The Brit and Cali represent the […]
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VG Approved Gear
Orange VT1000 Valve Tester
Orange VT1000 Valve Tester Price: $499 Info: www.orangeamps.com. Many a Vintage Guitar reader has a stash of tubes lying about their music room/workshop or in a box in a closet. The problem is knowing which are trash and which are treasure. Orange Amps’ VT1000 valve tester promises to answer that question. The VT1000 is designed […]
Artists
Christopher Thorn
Alt-Rocker/Studio Guru
Best known as half of the guitar tandem in the ’90s alternative-rock band Blind Melon (that’s his rhythm on “No Rain,” using his Gibson J-30), Christopher Thorn has since recorded and toured with other acts including Live and Awolnation. For the past two decades, though, his work time has mostly been occupied producing other artists […]
Artists
Larry Mitchell
“Great Time To Be a Guitar Player”
Larry Mitchell’s guitar-centered “Ah ha!” moments run the gamut from Roy Clark, Van Halen, Prince, and Elvis. With a string of instrumental records, Mitchell is also a Grammy-winning producer and has toured as a guitarist with Billy Squier, Ric Ocasek, and Tracy Chapman. Whether he’s in the control room calling the shots, or onstage performing […]
Artists
Freddie Green
Artistry in Rhythm
Fellow musicians called him “Pep” or “Pepperhead.” He was also known as “Mr. Rhythm,” and he could drive a band like no other guitarist. His was a subtle yet unmistakable motivating and metronomic force. Others emulated his style and function, but Freddie Green was the archetype – the most famous rhythm guitarist in jazz. In […]
Classic Instruments
Holy Cripes!
The Story of Jerry Garcia’s Last Guitars
Steve Cripe left a unique legacy in the annals of music history. He was not a guitar player, not a songwriter. In fact, you may not even know his name. But the guitar builder became part of the fabric that makes up the story of the Grateful Dead when he built guitars for the legendary […]
Classic Instruments
Delta Labs Concept 1
Preamp tubes: Two 6U8A, two 12FQ7, in addition to more-common types Output tubes: eight 33JV6 horizontal-output tubes Rectifier: solidstate Controls: Volume, Treble, Mid, Bass, Resonance, Distortion; Echo effect: Mix, Repeat, Delay; Tremolo: Speed, Intensity. Pushbuttons for voicing. Output: 300 watts RMS +/- Speaker: two 12″ and four 10″ Eminence speakers You’d be forgiven for assuming […]
Classic Instruments
Domino Californian Rebel
Instrument Profile
California. The Left Coast. It was probably home to North America’s earliest inhabitants, as emigrants from Asia crossed the Bering Strait and began their march toward South America. But California figured little in much of anything else until 1848, when the folks setting up a lumber mill on John Sutter’s property near San Francisco noticed […]
VG Approved Gear
Setting Up Effects
Certain Guidelines Apply to a Signal Chain, But Your Ears Are the Ultimate Judge
One question frequently asked by guitar players is how to set up effects and arrange them in a proper signal path. While there isn’t any “one and only” correct setup for effects, there are certain configurations that can produce better results in achieving specific types of sounds. Some work better than others, but anything is […]
Artists
Dick Taylor
From R&B Psychedelia With the Pretty Things
When the Pretty Things’ 50th anniversary was marked with Bouquets From A Cloudy Sky – a huge boxed set containing 11 CDs and other goodies – the cover of the 100-page, 12×12 hardcover book pictured lead singer Phil May and lead guitarist Dick Taylor. Of course, there were other band members, and May and Taylor […]
Artists
DaShawn Hickman
Glorious Gospel
Sacred steel is that unique vein of gospel music highlighting pedal-steel guitar and delivering a powerful sound that can shake the rafters. On his debut, Drums, Roots & Steel, DaShawn Hickman works with bassist/producer Charlie Hunter, two percussionists, and singer/wife Wendy Hickman to conjure music of staggering beauty and grace. VG checked in with DaShawn […]
Classic Instruments
Stromberg G-5
In the world of archtop guitars, the Stromberg name represents the ultimate instrument – in size, at least – in the big-band era of the late 1930s and ’40s. The huge 19″ Master 400 and Master 300 models are worthy of their flagship status as the best-known and most revered Strombergs. However, this smaller, short-scale […]
Classic Instruments
The BBE Soul Vibe
Taking Soul to New Levels
The original Shin-Ei Uni-vibe became hugely famous after Jimi Hendrix used it with Band of Gypsys (and at Woodstock). Later practitioners like Frank Marino and especially Robin Trower used the Univibe “rotating speaker” effect in a number of songs. Ask an experienced player to name the songs that typify the sound of the Univibe, they’ll […]
VG Approved Gear
Music Man’s JP13
Petrucci Pick
Music Man’s JP13 Price: $3,500 Info: www.music-man.com. Music Man has a knack for building blazing artist models for the likes of Steve Morse, Albert Lee, and John Petrucci – three artists known for their incendiary guitar styles. The latest Petrucci offering, the JP13, has a deceptively utilitarian appearance, but its neck, body, and electronics are […]
Artists
Noshir Mody’s Elegant Flow
Contemporary-jazzer sets the mood with “The Yards” Noshir Mody’s new album, “A Love Song,” is highlighted by his elegant lines and flowing compositions. Here he offers a sample with “The Yards,” played on his ’95 Gibson Howard Roberts Fusion III. Catch our review of the album in the November issue. Read Now!
Music
Rob Ickes & Trey Hensley
Living in a Song
Resonator-guitar whiz Ickes and singer/guitarist Hensley blend traditional and outside elements, sometimes on bare-bones acoustic. On others, they create an amalgam of bluegrass and the classic country of the ’80s and ’90s enhanced by rhythm sections, amplified instruments and B3 organ. Their harmonies are tight, the songs solid. Vocally, Hensley, inspired by Randy Travis and […]
VG Approved Gear
Dogu Custom Electric Guitars’ MOS-01
This Old Strat
Dogu Custom Electric Guitars’ MOS-01 Price: $2,200 (list) Contact: www.actionfigurestudios.com Improving upon classic designs is a consistent theme in the guitar-manufacturing community. While many companies take a pragmatic approach to updating older designs for better performance, Mehmet Dogu (pronounced “Dough”) took a wistful one. He was determined to replace the guitar that got away. The […]
VG Approved Gear
Danelectro ’59 Resonator
Book This Dano
While guitar enthusiasts expend a lot of brain power waxing poetic about tonewoods, for many VG readers of a certain vintage, that gateway experience with an electric guitar may very well have involved a fair amount of Masonite. Of course, Danelectro and any of its once-ubiquitous “catalog brands” made ample use of the pressure-molded fiberboard. […]