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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
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…
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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…
Dallas Rangemaster and Scala Combos
Texas Two Step
Fascinating also-rans, C-list classics, or both, the amps manufactured by London-based Dallas Music Ltd beginning in 1959 tie directly to…
Martin 00-42 Special
It has all the appoint-ments of a Martin 00-45, particularly the abalone pearl trim around all the borders of the…
Mark Erlewine’s 40 Years with Willie Nelson’s Trigger
Wooden Wonder
For a decade, Willie Nelson chased fame as a performer in the Nashville mold of the ’60s – hair coifed,…
Dan’s Guitar RX: A ’57 Strat Goes Under the Knife
Battle-Scarred
B.K. Vaught recently walked into my shop with a vintage Strat that had been modified and refinished. While its changes…
The Ray Butts EchoSonic
If you want to talk star-user ratio, the Ray Butts EchoSonic is near the top of the heap. Most accounts agree that fewer than 70 amps were ever made, yet…
Dan’s Guitar RX: Building a From-Scratch Class Project
Rock-And-Roll High School(er)
Students at Federal Hocking High School here in Athens County, Ohio, are given the opportunity to propose internships in work that interests them. Ceil Thompson, a 17-year-old junior who has been…
Alternative ’60s Club Classics
Amps Beyond the Everyday
The “club amp” has been a perpetual best-seller since the dawn of guitar amplification, and several big-name ’60s models are among the all-time classics. But what if you’re looking for…
Out-Stratting the Strat
The Story of the G&L S-500
It would be an understatement to say that Leo Fender, with the help of George Fullerton, was prolific in the years after he sold Fender Electric Instruments. The tag team…
Gibson Style J Mando-bass
Decades before Audiovox or Leo Fender dreamed of making a fretted electric bass, Gibson started manufacturing fretted acoustic mando-basses that were tuned the same as an upright bass. Joe Spann,…
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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…
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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…
Holy Cripes!
The Story of Jerry Garcia’s Last Guitars
Steve Cripe left a unique legacy in the annals of music history. He was not a guitar player, not a…
Ca. 1960 Custom Mosrite/Gretsch
A Bakersfield/Brooklyn Cowboy
In the history of vintage guitars, Gretsch and Mosrite are sometimes linked, and often associated with ’50s hot-country pickers and…
Stromberg Master 400
The Stromberg Master 400, measuring a gigantic 19″, is considered by many to be the ultimate orchestral rhythm guitar. The…
Supro Thunderbolt
Designed “…exclusively for the electric Bass guitar,” it was simplicity itself, with no “fancy extra circuits.” But much like with…
National Model N-720
Star of an Era's End
Most acoustic guitar players will likely show disdain for any instrument with a bolt-on neck. Even though there have been many great guitars – from Maccaferri (and before) to Seagull…
The ‘‘Blackburst’’
Les Paul Standard of a Different Shade
Among experienced (and often jaded) veteran guitar collectors, precious few things create an adrenaline rush – strange one-offs, oddball brands that never quite blossomed, guitars with non-standard parts/materials from the factory, or those once owned…
VG Q&A: Jimi Flip
Plus, Precision Bass rests and an odd Galliano
I’ve never read why Jimi Hendrix played and set up a right-hand Strat to play left-handed. Surely, he could’ve found a lefty model. Does anybody know? – Garry Curry The…
Fender Telecaster Thinline
Weight-Loss Trial
Born in turbulent times on the downslope of the “guitar boom,” Fender’s Telecaster Thinline has always existed in the shadow of its classic older sibling. But it does not lack…
KayKraft Style A
Almost any guitar can be viewed in terms of a confluence of influences that produced it, from the company history to the history of guitar evolution to the kind of…
Geddy Lee
Geddy Lee’s Big Beautiful Book of Bass: A Compendium of the Rare, Iconic, and Weird
Nearly two years in the making, Geddy Lee’s Big Beautiful Book of Bass: A Compendium of the Rare, Iconic, and Weird features players and collectors discussing their connection to iconic…
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Classics: Jeremy Graf’s 1961 Fender Stratocaster
A lifelong vintage-guitar nut who has had “a million guitars,” Jeremy Graf’s all-time favorite is this 1961 Stratocaster. A native of Knoxville, Tennessee, Graf was just seven when, for reasons he doesn’t remember, he asked for an Elvis Presley record. His mother obliged and brought home Elvis’ Golden Records, a compilation of ’50s hits. “That
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Rising Rockers
Five Alternative Club Classic Amps of the ’50s
In an era when the sub-20-watt combo is arguably the most popular guitar-amp format, it’s worth remembering that several classics of the category emanate from the ’50s. And just as interesting as the well-worn favorites, several lesser-known alternatives were also born in the decade of rock and roll. In the December ’24 issue, we examined
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Classics: Marc Schoenberger’s Rickenbacker Combo 600
Marc Schoenberger was part of the early-’70s vanguard on the Southern California guitar scene – not as a gigging musician, but among the crowd that raced the 101 freeway to check out old guitars every time a new issue of the Recycler hit the streets. He’d also been repairing guitars for friends and local shops
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The Supro Thunderbolt S6420
Lightning Strikes
Despite their catalog-grade status, Supro amps have been used by several noteworthy guitarists. For many, the sturdy Thunderbolt is the preferred workhorse. It’s been a long time since Supro amps were any kind of secret find or hidden gem; players have long recognized the eccentric splendors of certain mid-sized examples, with their thumping tremolo and
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Rickenbacker’s Electric 12-Strings
Double-bound for Glory
George Beauchamp and Adolph Rickenbacher founded Electro String in 1931 to manufacture what everyone would soon call “Rickenbacker” guitars. Success came early and their lap steels set standards of quality, performance, and tone. On the other hand, the company’s electric bass viols and violins excited segments of the industry but never sold well. Same for
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Joey Molland
The word “underrated” is belabored in music journalism, but Joey Molland was just that. As co-guitarist in Badfinger, he was part of a quartet signed to the Beatles’ Apple Records, yielding glorious AM hits like “Come and Get It,” “Day After Day,” and “No Matter What.” The foursome fell into obscurity and tragedy a few
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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…
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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…
Star Board: Rudy Jaramillo
Rudy Jaramillo is quick to mention that his effects setup is very simple. “I go into my 1) Boss tuner,…
Lyon and Healy
So what is it? Its original black-finished spruce top is simply ladder-braced from within, but its back and sides feature…
Kramer Pacer Deluxe
Superstrat or Bust
On rare occasions, the zeitgeist – not some lucky designer – creates a guitar that captures hearts and minds. Such…
Bob Spalding: Instrumental Legend
Ventures Guitarist plays “New Space” sampler With a catalog that extends more than 60 years, The Ventures just keep on…
