• Classics: Norman Harris

    Classic Instruments

    Classics: Norman Harris

    Rare Pioneer

    As a teenager who just wanted to play music, Norm Harris lived with the reality that he and his band weren’t going to be millionaires anytime soon. So he did what musicians do – side-hustled. But when most were manning the counter at a music shop or serving tables, Harris was up at the crack

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  • Yamaha SA-15

    Yamaha SA-15

    Our perception of Japanese guitars has evolved slowly. At one point, they were cheap toys, at other times imperfect copies, then startling innovations. Perspective encircles the truth. So, how should we perceive the Yamaha SA-15? Japan became interested in guitars in the early 1920s, as some musicians there began to perform what we’d today call…

  • Greg Koch: Gristly “Blues”

    Greg Koch: Gristly “Blues”

    Greg Koch: Gristly “Blues” Greg Koch fearlessly wrings the sort of vibrato that only a Tele will tolerate from his ’53 to play this exclusive version of Freddie King’s “The Stumble” flavored with a bit of delay and running into his Tone King Royalist. Inspired by fan requests, it’s just one of the tracks culled…

Freddie Green

Artistry in Rhythm

December 5, 2024 · Jim Carlton

Fellow musicians called him “Pep” or “Pepperhead.” He was also known as “Mr. Rhythm,” and he could drive a band…

National-Dobro Model C

December 21, 2021 · Dave Hunter

We’ve seen some pristine vintage pieces in these pages over the years, but as far as time-capsule amps go, when…

Watkins Scout

Merit Badge

July 9, 2019 · Dave Hunter

Watkins amps never landed big stars, or at least didn’t hold on to the endorsements of guitarists once they became…

Daion Headhunter HH-555

April 30, 2010 · Michael Wright

The trajectory of the Japanese guitar industry in many ways has mirrored that of the United States, though in a…


Fender’s 6G9 Tremolux

Fender’s 6G9 Tremolux

Preamp tubes: two 7025, two 12AX7 Output tubes: two 6BQ5/EL84 Rectifier: GZ34 Controls: Bright channel: Volume, Treble, Bass; Normal channel: Volume, Treble, Bass; tremolo Speed and Intensity for both channels…

The Supro “Model 24”

Okay, Zep police, sound the alarm and prepare to loose the hounds – we are finally about to lift the lid on the Jimmy Page amp. Well, maybe not the…

Dan’s Guitar RX: A 1955 Gibson Touch-up

Team Effort.

 To keep work flowing in my shop, repairs often become a group effort. Recently, Gene Imbody, T.K. Kelly, Paul Schmittauer, and I worked to repair a beautiful ’55 Les Paul…

Guild F-512

Iconic ’70s 12-String

Today, players typically equate the 12-string acoustic with Taylor and Martin. For its part, though, Guild’s F-512 remains one of the most revered, and this particular one veers off-spec with…

Dan’s Guitar RX: Rock-And-Roll High School(er)

Building a From-Scratch Class Project, the Conclusion

In my November ’22 column, Ceil Thompson’s class-project guitar was nearing completion – the lacquer coats were applied and, after it cured for two weeks, she was ready for final…

  • Hilary Gardner returns with a fresh take on a holiday classic!

    Hilary Gardner returns with a fresh take on a holiday classic!

    Hilary Gardner returns! Ready to set the tone for your holidays, Hilary Gardner and her band return for a fantastic take on the classic Elvis hit “Blue Christmas” (written by Billy Hayes and Jay W. Johnson) just for VG followers! Accompanied again by Justin Poindexter and Sasha Papernik, this time they’re joined by Jen Hodge on…

  • The (Way) Back Beat: Top O’ The Line, For Only $150!

    The (Way) Back Beat: Top O’ The Line, For Only $150!

    The Immortal Danelectro Guitarlin

    Having looked at the most expensive electric guitars offered in 1960s – over 50 years ago. Traditional makers – Gibson, Guild, and Gretsch – concentrated on flashy amplified archtops that retailed up into the $700 to $800 range – beautiful instruments, but not representative of where the electric guitar was going. More forward-looking makers offered…

Gibson’s 17″ Pre-War Electrics

ES-300 of 1940-’43

December 1, 2014 · Andre R. Duchossoir

Among musicians and collectors, Gibson’s pre-World-War-II ES-300 may be less popular today than the ES-250, but in terms of sheer…

The Murph 12-String

Tugging At Your Heartstrings

March 1, 2021 · Teisco Del Rey

Here’s a story that has “Hollywood blockbuster” written all over it. It’s got so many cinematic staples, you can almost…

The Clark Gainster

Trick Your Tweed

June 10, 2020 · Art Department

Before he got into the effects pedal biz, Michael Clark had a reputation for building killer tweed-inspired amps. In 2001…

Jabo, Vince, and Broadcaster 0048

Special Addition

September 9, 2022 · Rich Kienzle

It’s routine for Vince Gill, as one of Nashville’s true connoisseurs of electric and acoustic gear, to receive tips about…


Peavey RJ-IV

Peavey RJ-IV bass, serial number 04938996. Photo: Bill Ingalls Jr. Instrument courtesy of Naffaz Skota. Americans by the millions “know” Randy Jackson. But not many realize that his gig as…

Realistic Entertainer-34

As prolific as the Radio Shack chain was in the ’60s, it’s surprising we don’t see more vintage Realistic guitar amps today. Maybe they were never valued enough to be…

The Micro-Frets Saga

Genius in MD

Had fate been just a notch kinder, Ralph Jones might today be a ’60s counterculture icon alongside Bob Dylan, Muhammad Ali, and Steve McQueen. Hyperbole? Perhaps. But at the very…

St. Moritz Stereo

The notion of a stereo guitar became almost implicit when guitars started having two pickups. But it didn’t become a reality on an actual production guitar until the great tapping…

Martin 000-30

When a guitar maker introduces an innovative new feature at the same time an appealing, existing feature is being discontinued, the result can be a rare configuration of specifications. Although…

Fender 6G6-C Bassman

Brown Sound

There are several revered classics amid the ever-evolving circuits in the amplifier known as the Bassman, but one of the best-sounding might be a brief iteration that few have realized…

  • McKinley James’ Blues

    McKinley James’ Blues

     Family Barn Jam! With his ’82 Gibson 335 running into a Headstrong Corduroy (20-watt/6V6) amp, McKinley James shares a taste of his new album, “Working Class Blues,” with this run at “Call Me Lonesome.” In the October issue, he tells us how the album was made in the family barn with the only backing…

  • Jim Campilongo & Steve Cardenas

    Jim Campilongo & Steve Cardenas

    Mutual Musical Idiosyncrasies

    Steve Cardenas and Jim Campilongo have been playing guitar together for a long time, though the constellations only recently aligned so they could record. Captured on three nights in September of 2022, New Year showcases harmonic personalities merging through atmosphere, reverb, and ancient acoustic guitars. It’s also a meditation on the beauty and strength of…

The Fender “Korinacaster”

Double-Cut Kuriosity

October 5, 2015 · Ward Meeker

There’s irony in the fact that Leo Fender, creator of the first solidbody electric guitar to be mass-produced, wasn’t the…

Jersey Boys

Horray For Hollywood

The Guitars and Amps of Jersey Boys

May 9, 2016 · Jim Elyea

Movies made in the 1950s and ’60s that included rock-and-roll music acts typically showed them performing in segments using their…

Rickenbacker’s Electric 12-Strings

Double-bound for Glory

January 27, 2026 · Richard R. Smith

George Beauchamp and Adolph Rickenbacher founded Electro String in 1931 to manufacture what everyone would soon call “Rickenbacker” guitars. Success…

The Supro 1600R Supreme and 600 Reverb

Toneful Twosome

March 27, 2019 · Dave Hunter

Supro amps from the late 1950s and early ’60s are some of the most stylish of the era, and boast…