Philip Kubicki

The First Days of Fender Acoustics

One day in early June, 1963, I was sitting in the outer office of a deserted (maybe deserted isn’t the right word; it was an almost-empty building waiting to be…

Baldwin Guitars and Amplifiers

Quest For Guitar Fortunes

Back in the Swinging ’60s, one of the coolest things hip companies could do was own a guitar company. After all, guitar-driven pop music was red hot, especially after the…

Epiphone Deluxe Archtop

Webster’s latest defines the word “deluxe” as “…notably luxurious, elegant, or expensive.” The Epiphone Deluxe archtop guitar was certainly luxurious. When introduced in 1931, it sported a triple-bound top with…

Martin D-28 and D-45

Definitive Flat-tops

Martin’s pre-WWII dreadnought guitars set the standard for the modern flat-top, and thus both have been inducted into the VG Hall of Fame.

Wah-Wah Pedals

An Evaluation of Effects and Pedals

The idea for this article came about when I purchased a box of effects pedals from the owner of a music store which had closed in the late seventies. Most…

Andre Segovia’s Hauser

Built in 1937

While visiting the Spanish guitar exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City during the fall of 1991, I had the opportunity to measure and photograph, in…

Gibson’s First Reissue Les Pauls

On the Road to ’59

Strings and Things Les Paul Many articles have been written about how guitarists and dealers in the mid/late 1970s and early ’80s were asking Gibson to build a Les Paul…

Classics: November 2023

Al Caiola’s Gretsch Prototype

Robby Zolezzi has been a touring pro guitarist since he was 18 years old, having taken up the instrument at 11, spurred by TV and movie themes played by Al Caiola emanating from…

Daion Headhunter HH-555

The trajectory of the Japanese guitar industry in many ways has mirrored that of the United States, though in a slightly compressed timeframe on the front-end because America had a…

Ampeg Horizontal Basses

From Liden, NJ. to Linden Avenue, Burbank, CA.

The Ampeg Horizontal Bass, perhaps because of its rarity and odd beauty, has become quite a collector’s item. And because production records for Ampeg products were lost or destroyed after…

Maestro Fuzz-Tone

Fuzz. It’s the sound of fury, aggravation, indignation, and – considering the history of the most famous fuzzbox of all time, Maestro’s Fuzz-Tone – dissatisfaction. It’s also fitting as some…

In Detail: Gibson’s 1954-’58 Les Paul Junior

In 1952, Gibson’s Les Paul model guitar was brand spanking new.  But it wasn’t cutting-edge. True, it was the company’s first solidbody electric guitar, and thus earned a bit of…

Gibson Top Tension Banjos

  Although most bluegrass banjo players consider Gibson’s Mastertone banjos with one-piece flange and flat-head tone ring – such as Earl Scruggs’ Granada and Don Reno’s Style 75 – to…

A 5E3 Mystery

Readers of Vintage Guitar occasionally stumble on unique, prototype, or otherwise fascinatingly non-standard amps, and it’s a pleasure to share when they’re made available to us. In an upcoming issue,…

The Story of Albanus Guitars

Windy-City Wonders

“Art for art’s sake.” The expression is common. But how often is it practiced? In a basement studio on Chicago’s North Side, Carl Johnson epitomized the maxim while building archtop guitars…

National Westwood and Glenwood

'60s alt-materials make short run

Westwood 75 While the mantra for 21st century “alternative material” guitars focuses on carbon fiber (i.e. Rainsong acoustics) and wood/glass/carbon fiber/epoxy composites (i.e. Ken Parker’s Fly line), electric guitars made…

1968 Teisco May Queen

Perennial Classic, Made in Japan

While many Japanese guitars from the 1960s took their inspiration from American and European models, to the observant eye, there’s a strong undercurrent of Japanese design evident in many of…

1978 Dean Z

The mid 1970s were a turbulent time in guitar history. The American guitar establishment – at least Gibson and Fender – was owned by big corporations that tended to run…

Gibson Kalamazoo Award

Designer's Dream Come True

In 1978, Gibson craftsman Wilbur Fuller produced the company’s first hand-carved, tuned-by-ear custom guitar. The instrument, which in a blind sound-off with some of the best instruments of its era,…

Gretsch Model 40 Hawaiian

Short-Lived Flat-top

The Hawaiian guitar style came to the American mainland during the Pan Pacific Exposition of 1915. And while the popularity of Hawaiian music and playing faded in the ’40s, the…

Hofner 185

Have you heard the line, “If Hendrix had a Magnatone, Strats would be worth $200 now?” A highly debatable proposition, for sure! But if Paul McCartney had not used a…

Gibson ES-300 Prototype

Les Paul and the First Gibson ES-300

When a guitar junkie hears the words “soapbar” and “P-90,” the mental image is usually that of a cream-colored rectangle seated deep in a sea of metallic gold, accentuating the…

Dan’s Guitar RX: Adding Master Volume to a Les Paul

Plus One

My friend Alex Aguilar recently asked me to do something most guitarists would consider sacrilegious – add a Master Volume pot to a Les Paul, and put it in easy…

G&L Legacy

One Heckuva Guitar

I enjoy covering sleeper gear in this column. During the past 11 years, we’ve looked at bargains like the Gibson L-6S, Seagull S-6+, Martin D-1 and the Peavey Bandit, to…

Nat Talks Strings!

The Strings of Power Hey there! Nate Westgor from Willie’s American Guitars dives into the world of guitar strings, discussing the differences between flat tops, half rounds, and flatwound strings.…

Orville Gibson’s Handmade 1906 Artist Mandolin

Proving a Point

This instrument, bearing a handwritten label reading “Made by O.H. Gibson 1906 Kalamazoo Mich” is arguably the most elaborate scroll-model mandolin ever made by Orville Gibson. The 1906 date is…

Fender 5E3 Deluxe

Fender 5E3 Deluxe Preamp tubes: one 12AY7, 12AX7 PI Output tubes: two 6V6GT, cathode-bias Rectifier: 5Y3 tube Controls: Independent Volumes for each channel, shared Tone. Output: 15 watts RMS +/-…

Fender’s 1960 Bandmaster

Power of Three

The earliest renditions of our gear icons are often the most valuable, but on many occasions it’s the transition models – those that bridged one era to the next –…

Epiphone C-10

A nylon-string good for beginners, experts alike

The sound of a nylon-string guitar has captivated musicians and listeners for decades. However, unless you're a classical guitar "artist," chances are your main axe isn't a nylon string. My…

Guild S-200 Thunderbird

Back in 1958, when Gibson introduced its revolutionary Explorer, Flying V, and mysterious Moderne, the public – rather like Queen Victoria – was not amused. Although a few bold players…