Star Stomps
Stompboxes inspire their own special mania. While the allure of guitars is obvious with their colorful, curvaceous looks, effects are (usually) basic boxes covered...
Vox AC100
The history of Vox amplifiers’ evolution through the early/mid-’60s directly tracks with The Beatles’ increasing needs to be heard over the screams of fanatical...
Classics – March 2021
Scarce and beautiful, Gibson’s Flying V was an ahead-of-its-time marketing failure when introduced in 1958. Made of exotic limba (a mahogany cousin from Africa...
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...
The Schaffer-Vega Diversity System
“ The best thing I ever did in the beginning was not use effects,” AC/DC’s Angus Young told VG in his feature interview for...
Gretsch 7680 Super Axe
Most of us are – or should be – aware of the enormous contributions of the late Chet Atkins, the Country Gentleman, to American...
1965 Epiphone Emperor
The Epiphone Emperor has a long, convoluted history. It first appeared in Epiphone's catalog in late 1935 as a response to Gibson's Super 400,...
An Odd Gibson EH-150
Lap-steel guitars were the first commercially available electrics – ancestors of the guitars we plug in today, regardless of their shape. The popularity of...
Ask Zac: Deep Dive on the Wide Range
I have collected several Fender Wide Range humbucking pickups from the early ’70s, and I’m curious about how to check whether they’re set to...
Fixing Tuner Holes in a Rare Gibson
I’ve worked on plenty of old Gibsons, but guitars like this 1939 J-55 are rare. It’s only the second one I’ve ever seen, and...