Robbie Robertson, 1943-2023
It’s ironic that Robbie Robertson was famous mostly for his songwriting, because beneath the minimal, compositional style that marked his work with The Band...
Freddie King’s ’73 ES-355
Influenced by Robert Johnson, T-Bone Walker, Lightnin’ Hopkins, John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, Sonny Boy Williamson, and others including jump-blues saxophonist Louis Jordan, Freddie...
Classics: October 2023
Antonio Mazzara’s passion for music started at age 10, when he started playing a nylon-string classical guitar before moving up to a sunburst ’72...
Roy Orbison’s Marshall Model 1961
One of the most-desirable vintage amplifiers ever made goes by a name it never officially had. Possibly the first Marshall brought to America, ownership...
Ray Benson’s Gibson ES-355
Anyone with a taste for real country music - in particular, Western swing - will recognize this guitar. Even though Asleep At The Wheel...
Jussi Jaakonaho’s beguiling “Beauty Box”
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w42mWDt8_NA?si=Sa81j3n-Vl-Mnh4k]
Masterful Tapestry
Soak it in as Jussi Jaakonaho and his 1970 Gibson SG Standard jam on ”Beauty Box” through a late-’60s Gibson Falcon amp...
George Gruhn
If you bumped into a bearded, corduroy-jacketed George Gruhn in a Nashville coffee shop, you might think you’d stumbled upon an avuncular college professor...
The Fender “High-Powered” Twin
1958-’59 Fender Twin
Preamp tubes: one 12AY7, two 12AX7
Output tubes: four 5881 (6L6 equivalents), fixed bias
Rectifier: GZ34 (5AR4) tube
Controls: Volume, Volume, Treble, Bass, Middle, Presence
Output:...
Dave Gant’s Amp Collection
Dave Gant grew up in Ada, Oklahoma, and while the city of 17,000 will never be confused with Memphis or Nashville in terms of...
Name that Twang
The fledgling Guild company scored a coup when it signed Johnny Smith to an endorsement deal in 1956. Perched atop the jazz-guitar scene at...