Classic Instruments
Fender’s Musicmaster and Duo‑Sonic
Often forgotten, the diminutive student-grade duo went from concept to reality in short order to capitalize on teenagers taking up guitar to play along with “Rock Around the Clock.”
Classic Instruments
The Cost of Protection
Modern guitars are typically sold with a hard case. But that wasn’t always so. Here, we look at the history of the relationship between cases, guitars, and those who’ve bought them.
Classic Instruments
One of Two of a Kind
Making custom instruments has always been problematic for companies designed to manufacture in quantity. Though it had an unenforced policy against one-off projects, this guitar illustrates how the company did just that and demonstrates the struggle between accounting and public relations.
Classic Instruments
Intriguing Twosome
As the ’50s drew to a close, Gibson was locked in a heated battle with Fender for a share of the high-end electric-guitar market. But when it came to the six-string bass, the staid company from Kalamazoo managed a definite one-up.
Classic Instruments
Small Screen, Big Pickin’
It’s not often that prime-time network television captures an audience of working class, professional musicians. In 1968, players watched Elvis Presley and Scotty Moore...
Classic Instruments
The Watkins Clubman
The hokey, amphetamine-tempo’d folk music known as “skiffle” was all the rage with Britain’s youth in 1955, and rock and roll barely yet a...
Classic Instruments
Easy Pickins
You collect guitar picks? Is this a joke? Umm, no...and in a world where books are dedicated to the collectibility of happy meal toys, why should an interest in guitar picks be so far-fetched? Plus, Eric Shoaf asks, “What’s so special about guitar picks?”
Classic Instruments
’53 Gibson Les Paul Junior
Gibson records say the Les Paul Junior was introduced in 1954. But this instrument has tone and volume pot codes from ’53. It also differs in regard to other specifications, most notably that its neck joint is unlike that on any other Junior.
Classic Instruments
John Sebastian’s ’59 Gibson Les Paul Standard
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cB1YVc1j8ac&w=560&h=315]
This is a regular series of exclusive Vintage Guitar online features where The Kentucky Headhunters’ Greg Martin looks back on influential albums and...
Classic Instruments
The Fender Master Series
Dan Smith had an idea – a solidbody guitar with routed chambers that would provide unique resonant tonal characteristics. And he knew the shape...
VG Giveaways
Giveaway #169
Enter to win a Schertler Giulia acoustic amp valued at more than $600!
Equipped with a 1" dome tweeter and 5" woofer, GIULIA offers...