• Tommy Castro

    Classic Instruments

    Tommy Castro

    Circling Back

    In a career spanning four decades, Tommy Castro has crafted a commendable catalog and built a devout following with his soul-infused music, informed by the blues, R&B, pop, and rock and delivered with conviction. Beloved for his guitar work and vocal style, he has carved his own niche. Born and raised in San Jose, California,…

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New Lease on Life

The Sound of Rock Gets a Brush-Up

If restoring dusty, neglected old tube amps built more than half a century ago isn’t challenging enough, restoring amps with delicate built-in tape-echo units, no fixed schematic, and quirky hand-wired…

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…

The Leilani Lap Steel and Amplifier

You can receive more great articles like this in our twice-monthly e-mail newsletter, Vintage Guitar Overdrive, FREE from your friends at Vintage Guitar magazine. VG Overdrive also keeps you up-to-date…

EPIPHONEZEPHYR-HOME-MAIN-BIG

Epiphone Zephyr De Luxe Regent and Zephyr Amplifier

The Zephyr De Luxe Regent was Epiphone’s second-from-the-top electric guitar produced from the late 1940s through the mid ’50s. The instrument went through several name changes, from Zephyr De Luxe…

Fender Precision Bass

The “Final” Configuration

The Fender Precision Bass was the first commercially successful solidbody electric bass. Played somewhat like a guitar and sporting a fretted neck, the “P-Bass” won over players in almost every…

Beat Portraits: Burns Volume 3

Backbone Instruments 1962-’64

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…

Fender Precision Bass

The “Final” Configuration

The Fender Precision Bass was the first commercially successful solidbody electric bass. Played somewhat like a guitar and sporting a fretted neck, the “P-Bass” won over players in almost every…

Gibson’s “SG” Les Paul

Classic Shape That Filled Big Shoes

In 1961, Gibson replaced the single-cutaway Les Paul with a new line of lighter, thinner, mahogany double-cut solidbodies. Developed under the aegis of Ted McCarty and introduced as the “new…

The Birth of the Gretsch Duo Jet

Gretsch Gets With It!

In 1950, Leo Fender introduced the Broadcaster. The first solidbody electric Spanish guitar to bear his soon-to-be-famous name, its thin profile, light weight, and utilitarian dual-pickup configuration combined to make…

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…

Fender Super Reverbs from 1963 and ’68

First and Last

Among the many distinct eras of vintage-amp production, Fender’s so-called “blackface” models are legendary. Made from late 1963 until ’67, they’re loved for the elegant black control panel and their…

Hagstrom Guitars

The Fastest Necks

Ca. ’73 Hagstrom Viking I N also known in the U.S. as the Scandia. Part 2 This month we continue the Hagstrom saga. To recap: the Hagstrom company was founded…

Parsons/White StringBender

From the origins of country-rock to Jimmy Page, Metallica, and a slew of modern country-pickin’ wizards, the string bender lends unique sounds to any form of music by giving players…

1933 Gibson L-5 “Special”

Though many collectors focus on instruments in fine original condition, every so often one emerges that, regardless of condition, is no less exciting than a paleontologist finding the “missing link.”…

Gibson Mark 53

1978 Gibson Mark 53. Photo: Michael Wright. Part of the fallout from the guitar boom of the 1960s was an increased academic interest in guitars that manifested itself in the…

Beat Portraits: Burns Volume 1

Beginnings – The Early 1960s

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…

'39 Gibson EH-185

’39 Gibson EH-185

Preamp tubes: three 6J7, one 6N7 Output tubes: two 6L6 Rectifier: 5U4 Controls: Instrument Volume, Microphone Volume, Bass and Treble Speakers: one 12″ field-coil speaker Output: approximately 20 watts RMS…

Fender Telecaster Custom

Classic tones for little coin

Many players search for that one guitar that can “do it all.” You know what I’m talking about – the axe that covers both single-coil and humbucking tones, and sounds…

Ram Tuli Crunches Numbers for The Guide

Strats and Data

Combine a knack for numbers with a love of old guitars and you get… well, you might get any of a thousand babyboomer accountants/collectors. But one is a supercharged version…

1934 Martin D-28

12-Fret D-28

1934 Martin D-28 photo courtesy Daniel Salvo. The Martin D-28 was first issued in 1931. And all dreadnought Martins made from 1931 through ’33 featured a 12-fret (a reference to…

VG Q&A: ’71 Mahogany Precision?

Plus, a ’60s Conrad 12-String and Converting a ’65 ES-345TD-SV to Mono

I have a Fender Precision Bass with a 1971 neck date and serial number 296XXX, and I’ve always suspected the body was mahogany rather than the typical ash or alder.…

Kid Ramos’ Revelation!

West Coast legend melds blues with gospel Check out Kid Ramos using a ’56 Harmony H62 running through a vintage Fender reverb tank and a Pro Junior to play an…

Valco El Grande

Valco El Grande

Preamp tube: one 6SL7 Output tube: one 6V6GT Rectifier: 5Y3 Controls: Volume, Tone Speaker: 8″ Rola speaker Output: 5 watts RMS We dig old Valco-made amps wearing Supro, National, Airline,…

Mick Taylor’s ’58 Les Paul Standard

The Ya Ya’s Out!

Hard-edged face of the British Invasion, the Rolling Stones introduced the world to the implements, trappings, and accessories of rock-and-roll superstardom. With help from radio, television, and teen ’zines, the…

Family Feud

The Les Paul Junior Tone Showdown

What’s All This Excitement About Les Paul Juniors? First it was PAF-equipped Les Pauls, then dot-neck 335s. You know, all the really expensive, elitist “vehicles of tone.” I couldn’t be…

Mark Lettieri’s funky finesse

Virtuoso take on “Greenspace” Stepping out from his band, Snarky Puppy, Mark Lettieri exhibits the finesse, funk, and fury that make him such a great player. Here, he jams on…

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…

The City of Guitars

Git-Shopping in Paris

On your way to Paris for a romantic getaway? Wanting to see the sights in the City of Light? Then take this advice; forget Rick Steves, think Stevie Ray. Skip…

Bay State Parlor Guitar

Play It In Any Room!

The parlor guitar. Designed by Mr. Parlor? No. First manufactured by the Parlor, Inc? No. Endorsed by the well-known recording artist, Parlor? Now don’t be silly, of course not! Then…

Gibson’s Experimental Archtop

Orville Gibson invented the carved-top guitar in the 1890s, and his company refined the design with f-shaped sound holes in 1922, then brought the concept to full potential with larger-bodied…