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Michael Wright
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, there is a certain spritual connection. Abstractions aside, however, there’s a more concrete connection between the two forms in the person of Bernie Rico, the…
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Michael Wright
The Misadventures of Temple of Doom
Indiana Wright
The steel jaws of the trap had snapped shut. But events had spun so wildly out of control. And now, as Indiana Wright slipped from consciousness, he was not quite sure exactly who’d been caught. Soon, dense smoke mixed with the smell of feral cats violently forced its way into his lungs. Wright’s eyes clicked…
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Michael Wright
Univox et al Merson/Unicord
Part 1
While most think of the history of American guitars in terms of American manufacturers, if you’ve followed this column you know the tradition is much richer. Among the major players in the American market were the many importers and distributors who enriched the guitar landscape with instruments – usually at the lower ends of the…
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Michael Wright
Gibson Guitars
The Experimental '70s
That guitar collectors are a conservative lot has always struck me as curious. You’d think that the instrument which “killed fascists,” in the immortal Woody Guthrie’s phrase, would inspire a more progressive attitude, at the very least. But no, most folks would like a ’50s Les Paul. Who could blame them? But some of us…
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Michael Wright
Gibson Guitars
The Experimental '70s
That guitar collectors are a conservative lot has always struck me as curious. You’d think that the instrument which “killed fascists,” in the immortal Woody Guthrie’s phrase, would inspire a more progressive attitude, at the very least. But no, most folks would like a ’50s Les Paul. Who could blame them? But some of us…
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Michael Wright
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 power with none of that awful tube distortion. Cool bands played through Standels and tuck-and-rolled Kustoms. Entire bands were run through a single 350-watt Mosrite…
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Michael Wright
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 power with none of that awful tube distortion. Cool bands played through Standels and tuck-and-rolled Kustoms. Entire bands were run through a single 350-watt Mosrite…
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Michael Wright
Fresher Guitars
Fresher Guitars
Epic poetry is great, but all these long treatises on the massive guitar pedigrees of Kay and Aria have made me feel a bit like a Milton scholar, a fate not to be wished anyone. The Fall was bad enough. So, how about a little lyric poetry, something fresh for a change, some lighter fare…
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Michael Wright
Fresher Guitars
Fresher Guitars
Epic poetry is great, but all these long treatises on the massive guitar pedigrees of Kay and Aria have made me feel a bit like a Milton scholar, a fate not to be wished anyone. The Fall was bad enough. So, how about a little lyric poetry, something fresh for a change, some lighter fare…
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Michael Wright
G&L F-100
1981 G&L F-100-I If guitars are in your blood – really in your blood – you can’t walk away from them. That was certainly the case with Clarence Leonidas Fender, born August 10, 1909 (100 years ago), in Fullerton, California. There’s no point in cataloging Leo Fender’s contributions here. If guitars are in your blood,…
