Classic Instruments
Hanburt Electric Guitars
As a brand of American electric instruments, the name “Hanburt” is about the furthest thing from being a household term. Nevertheless, the recently documented...
Classic Instruments
Italian Smorgasbord
American guitars made in the 1950s and ’60s constitute an almost-holy canon, yet most players in that era took their first steps on imported...
Classic Instruments
Quest for Volume
Revolutionary jazz demanded a revolutionary jazz guitar. In the summer of 1935, just as his Quintette du Hot Club de France was starting to...
Classic Instruments
The ’66 Vox UL 730
Despite the massive lust for early “copper-panel” Vox AC30 and AC15 amplifiers, one JMI-made line is far rarer – the 1966 “UL” series. More...
Classic Instruments
The Travis Bean TB1000S Standard
Guitar history is littered with “better ideas,” some of which stayed around, went nowhere, or went somewhere before landing in the boneyard to be...
Classic Instruments
NGM Visits Texas
“It was born at the junction of form and function,” country guitar ace Bill Kirchen sings in “Hammer Of The Honky Tonk Gods.” And...
Classic Instruments
’66 Epiphone Casino
In the Epiphone line of the 1960s, the Casino occupied middle ground. In appearance as well as electronics it ranked well below the semi-hollow...
Classic Instruments
Trainwreck Express “Nancy”
World’s most desirable amplifier? Aside from any “standard” vintage amps that have been elevated through their associations with major artists, the few original-design, made-by-hand...
Classic Instruments
The House of Stathopoulo Harp Guitar
One of the rarest Epiphone instruments in the world, the House of Stathopoulo harp guitar lends a glimpse into a transitional era prior to...
Classic Instruments
’68 Truetone by Kay/Valco
The year 1968 was not a good one for American manu-facturers of stringed instruments.M.C.A. closed the original Danelectro, and what was left of Kay...