• Thomas Custom Guitars

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    Thomas Custom Guitars

    Rarities from the Pacific Northwest

    Certain makes and models of electric guitars are rightfully prized for their elegant physical designs and superior craftsmanship. Even better are those also revered for their playability and particularly rich tonal qualities. Thomas guitars, on the other hand, are usually noted for their odd (sometimes controversial) shapes and zany features. Built by the late guitarist/machinist/luthier/and

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Daniele Gottardo plays “Spirals”

American rock guitar meets European classical Guitar virtuoso Daniele Gottardo used his Charvel Custom Shop guitar (with scalloped fretboard) to play this VG-exclusive take on “Spirals,” from latest album, “Inkblot.”…

Eric Bibb

Beyond the Blues

It’s almost a curse to categorize a musician a “blues artist,” as it implies someone who simply plays standard I-IV-V chord progressions and variations. Eric Bibb is well beyond that.…

Tim Scheerhorn

Dobro "New School"

The list of folks who use Tim Scheerhorn’s guitars reads like a who’s who of resonator and slide guitarists. Jerry Douglas, Mike Auldridge, Sally VanMeter, Rob Ickes, Ben Harper, Phil…

Nalle Colt

Keeping Old-School Alive

Vintage Trouble has emerged as one of the hardest working bands on the music scene. Laced with an ultra-cool visual style and a soulful vision, singer Ty Taylor and guitarist…

Glenn Phillips

Cult-Guitar Icon

For more than 40 years, Glenn Phillips has been an underground hero of the guitar. His solo albums, unusual choices of gear, radical effects usage, and wild live shows broke…

Buddy Whittington

Guitar-Lover’s Smorgasbord

Though his status as a member of John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers has changed since VG last talked to him, guitarist Buddy Whittington has forged ahead with a solo career. In ’07,…

Kim Simmonds

Kim Simmonds

Back to Basics with Savoy Brown

Under the aegis of founder Kim Simmonds, Savoy Brown has always been a band “subject to change.” Formed in 1965, some of its incarnations went on musical tangents, but the…

Warner Hodges

Ahead of His Time, Two Times

Photo: Rusty Russell. Jason and The Scorchers hit the stage with bombast, conveyed true rock-and-roll punch in the studio, and was massively influential. But it never attained superstardom. The band’s post-/neo-rockabilly…

Fretprints: John Abercrombie

Modern-Jazz Innovator

John Abercrombie operated in four dimensions. A guitarist of unbounded breadth and depth, he redefined space in long, improvised flights and bent time like a rubber band. Jazz is too-narrow…

Alex Masi

Alex Masi

Danger Zone

Grammy-nominated guitarist Alex Masi has been maneuvering his way through the shark-infested waters of the music industry since the 1980s. With an impressive catalog that includes everything from high-intensity instrumental…

Motörhead Bassist Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister Passes

1945-2015

Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister, founding bassist for the iconic heavy metal band Motörhead, died December 28, two days after reportedly being diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer and four days…

Freddie King’s Gibson ES-345 Keeps on Playin’

Family Ties

Watching her baby boy become rapt whenever his grandma played country blues on her guitar, Ella May King had a notion… So, as soon as his tiny hands could fret…

Howard Roberts

Howard Roberts and the Black Guitar

Webster’s Dictionary defines genius as “…a person gifted with extraordinary powers of intellect, imagination or invention.” The definition could as easily be applied to describe Howard Roberts – virtuoso guitarist,…

Eric Gales

Eric Gales

Makin’ Good

The wild and crazy life of Eric Gales has been well documented, but through it all, his guiding light has been a passion for music. From humble beginnings as a…

Nils Lofgren

The Secret Weapon

Guitar wizard Nils Lofgren has been an in-demand sideman for more than 50 years, working with Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, Neil Young & Crazy Horse, and solo…

Fretprints: Mick Ralphs

Delivering in Bad Company

Unabashedly British and irresistibly swaggering, Bad Company personified ’70s arena rock. Detractors denounced them as machismo, but fans have bought more than 40 million albums, 20 million in America alone.…

Rory Gallagher’s Photo-Finish

Legend’s Best

The year 1977 saw upheaval in rock and roll, from the death of Elvis Presley and Lynyrd Skynyrd’s plane crash to the emergence of new music styles including disco, new…

Alex Skolnick

Jazz-Box Paradox

The album starts off with “Detroit Rock City,” and includes other covers, like the Who’s “Pinball Wizard” and two Scorpions tunes, among others. The final track is a version of…

Southern Boogie from Chickasaw Mudd Puppies

Band jams on acoustic “Flatcar” take “The South is a complex and nuanced place,” says Ben Reynolds of his native Georgia. Geography and Southern bands have for decades influenced his…

Randy Bachman

Even More Business (to take care of)

Of the legendary rock guitarists who also have admirable guitar collections, it’s hard to imagine anyone who’s been more busy gathering than Randy Bachman. In the decade since his first…

Chris Bergson: Heartfelt Pandemic Picking

Chris Bergson: Heartfelt Pandemic Picking Chris Bergson used his ’60s Teisco to play a bit of his tune, “Hector and Donna,” one of the tracks from his new lockdown-inspired album,…

The Soul of John Black

Living In The Sunshine

I want to bring The Soul Of John Black a little bit closer to the root – me singing and playing acoustic guitar, and a couple of girls singing like…

Pepper Keenan

Down with CoC

It’s difficult enough to be a member of one metal band, let alone two. But Pepper Keenan is pulling double-duty as a member of both Corrosion of Conformity (as singer/guitarist)…

John McLaughlin

50 Years in Fusion

The name John McLaughlin is synonymous with jazz-rock fusion, the genre he helped invent and sustain for the past 50 years. At the end of 2017, the guitarist will be…

Paul Kossoff

The Story of the Back Street Crawler

For a scant few years beginning in the mid 1960s, Great Britain was responsible for producing arguably the finest crop of rock guitarists ever. It began with Eric Clapton, who…

Beat Portraits: Burns Volume 2

The Black Bison Leads the Herd

In early 2009, VG columnist Peter Stuart Kohman turned his focus on Burns, the pioneering British guitar builder. We’ve compiled the first three installments for a special edition of VG…

Dario Lorina

Black Label Soloist

Best known as Zakk Wylde’s right-hand man in Black Label Society, Dario Lorina is an accomplished shredder in his own right, as evidenced by his second solo/instrumental album, Death Grip…

BILL KIRCHEN

Bill Kirchen

Telemaster Offers A Word To The Wise

Trying to top 2006’s Hammer Of The Honky-Tonk Gods, Bill Kirchen’s eighth solo album, would seem a mighty tall order. Then again, he set what would have been a surprisingly…

Blues guitarist Charlie Apicella’s “Booze and Blues” and “Just Like a Woman”

Honoring B.B., Rainey Being V.P. of the North Jersey Blues Society isn’t the only thing that separates Charlie Apicella from the typical blues player. A devotee of B.B. King (and…

Wild Rabbit Salad’s “Postcard From Houston”

Eclectic sounds from Marietta and Bucky Roebuck Wild Rabbit Salad’s “Postcard From Houston” Bucky and Marietta Roebuck of Wild Rabbit Salad indulge us with an intimate run through the title…