In a career spanning four decades, Tommy Castro has crafted a commendable catalog and built a devout following with his soul-infused music, informed by the blues, R&B, pop, and rock and delivered with conviction. Beloved for his guitar work and vocal style, he has carved his own niche. Born and raised in San Jose, California,…

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…

Masked Marshall
When is a Marshall not a Marshall? When it’s a Park, of course! Though it might not scream “classic rock tone” for the guitarist masses, in the eyes and ears…
“Meet George Jetson! And his boy Elroy!” The year was supposed to be 2062 AD, but it was really 1962 when the catchy theme song introducing the characters in the…
Tommy Castro has never been much for sitting with a guitar teacher, preferring instead to rely on good ol’ time in the saddle to hone his craft. But this 1966 Stratocaster has taught him a couple lessons. The guitar entered Castro’s universe in the hands of San Francisco music legend John Newton – known on…
As rock started hitting the big time in the mid ’60s, it became clear to guitar-amplifier manufacturers that 100 watts or more was the way to go. The best approach to big power, however, would follow several paths. The stories of the high-powered amps introduced by Fender, Marshall, and Vox through the ’60s have been…
The eternal question “Who invented the electric guitar?” has no single answer. By the late 1920s, many players, tinkerers, and inventors were exploring ways to get more volume from fretted instruments. Steel-string flat-tops from Martin, f-hole archtops from Gibson, and metal-bodied resonators from National were louder than their predecessors, but ran up against physical limits.…

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…

Billed as “the latest orchestral sensation… unparalleled for versatility,” Vega’s electric banjos – developed to compete with one being made by Gibson – were of little consequence in the market.…

The Art of Home Recording
The means to make high-quality home recordings are well within the grasp of every guitarists. But, they can only as good as what you put in. We dig into the…
1955 Epiphone Zephyr Emperor Regent. Instrument courtesy of Lloyd Chiate. Photo: Billy Mitchell, courtesy George Gruhn. Epiphone’s Zephyr Emperor Regent of the early 1950s represents not only the most deluxe…

Like so many Vintage Guitar readers, Steve Evans was propped in front of a TV that February night in 1964 when the Beatles first performed on “The Ed Sullivan Show.”…

Joe Moss is the archetypical blues “road dog,” regularly rolling out of his home base of Chicago to wail for crowds in venues ranging from clubs to festivals around the…
If you’re a fan of Cream, Zeppelin, and Rory Gallagher (who isn’t?), you’ll dig Zac Schulze Gang, a British power trio that’s carrying the torch with both hands; they’ve played Clapton’s Crossroads and the Rory Gallagher Tribute Fest. Here, Zac flies solo on “High Roller,” tearin’ it up on his ’54 Guild Aristocrat M75 through…
Jon Butcher tales his Olympic White ’63 Strat for a rip on “Jam,” a track from his new album, “Nuthin’ but Soul.” The disc is an homage to sounds of Motown, Stax, James Brown, and Sly Stone highlighted by Butcher’s mastery of Hendrix-style psychedelia. It was recorded using a ’63 Princeton, a Vibrolux, and a…
Flame-top guitars were fairly common during the 1970s “copy era,” but few reached the levels of figure we often see on modern high-end guitars. Then came the Electra Endorser X935CS, which set new standards for psychedelic woodgrain. “But it’s not a ’70s guitar,” you object. No, but arguably, the Endorser CS – which was only…
“Hillbilly Speedball” sample Since the mid ’80s, Webb Wilder has cranked out consistently fine roots-rock. His latest is “Hillbilly Speedball,” and here he grabs his ’61 Gibson ES-330TD plugged into a narrow-panel Fender Vibrolux to play a cover of Chuck Berry’s “Beautiful Delilah.” He’s joined by George Bradfute (on a ’50s Epiphone upright) and Bob…
Fresh takes on revered classics Joge Garcia’s “Still Crossing” is a collection of stellar instrumental performances of familiar tunes like “Kashmir,” “Little Wing,” and a classical spin through Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now.” Here, though, he shows us the title track, which is the only original tune. His ’87 Fender D’Aquisto is plugged into a…
In the November issue, we started to refurbish a doubleneck mandolin/guitar I made for Jerry Schafer in 1977. It needed a new wiring harness, tuners, binding repair, new frets, and a good setup. With teammates Ceil Thompson and Gene Imbody sharing the load, we continued the work. 1) Gene – our go-to guy for tough…
This fascinating instrument from the shop of Manuel Ramírez ca. 1909 is unusual in that the complete history of the instrument is known to us, there having been only two…
EH-100 and 125
“No longer is the electric Hawaiian Guitar restricted to professional players – here is a genuine Gibson instrument that costs only $100, complete with instrument, case, amplifier with slip cover,…

Vintage Rarities from the Pacific Northwest
The obscure Coppock brand of electric guitars first surfaced in 1994, with the publication of Electric Guitars & Basses: A Photographic History, by guitar historians George Gruhn and Walter Carter.…

Tasty slide on a square-neck Oahu Singer/songwriter Jeff Plankenhorn’s music is a rootsy mix that embraces blues and pop while dodging categorization. Here, he and his vintage square-neck Oahu offer…

If you’re a fan of Cream, Zeppelin, and Rory Gallagher (who isn’t?), you’ll dig Zac Schulze Gang, a British power trio that’s carrying the torch with both hands; they’ve played…

This 1940 ES-250 with serial number 96385 left the Gibson factory bound for retailer New York Band on October 25, 1940 – the same day as the first ES-300, which…
At first glance, these three guitars appear to be a straightforward collection of different sizes of the same model. A comparable set of three Martins would be a 0-40, 00-40…
The term “rare” is applied to guitars in far too many instances. Usually an appealing term, its overuse can be attributed in part to the fact it’s particularly catchy to…
Black Widow Guitars
In the late ’60s, when Domino guitars were fading away, tube amplifiers were out of vogue. Old technology, man! Cool bands played through solidstate amps that delivered lots of clean…
“Signature” Gibsons from the Early Days of Cable
In 1984, Christian Roebling went from being just another guy watching TV to creating what was likely the first television program to focus on and feature guitar players and builders.…

Doomsayer
Best-known as Ozzy Osbourne’s longest-tenured guitarist, Zakk Wylde has also been the leader of Black Label Society since the late ’90s. With Ozzy off the road in 2021, Wylde has…
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…

A Tone-Spotter’s Arsenal To Cover It All
When it comes to classic guitar tones – whether it’s blues through a Dumble, country through a Fender, rock through a Marshall, or jazz through a Roland – every player…

Jack Jones Doubleneck
In November of 1954, 16-year-old Jack Jones walked into a Seattle pawn shop and noticed a strange doubleneck guitar. “It was like a magnet – I knew it was meant…

The Next Step
Introduced in 1982, Peavey’s T-20 was different from other basses in the Peavey lineup, the two-pickup T-40, and the single-pickup T-45. The T-40 (“Bass Space” October ’06) and its six-string…

Generational Innovation
Founded in the early 1980s by Hans-Peter Wilfer, Warwick has a familial connection to another well-known German brand from a time when that nation was divided following World War II.…

In the 1930s, the original Dobro company went through a series of ownership changes and licensing agreements. It did not regularly publish catalogs, and its model numbers were typically also…

Flatpicked English folk with an Appalachian touch Sparse and haunting, Thomm Jutz and his ’48 Martin D-18 share a solo take on “Come All You Fair And Tender Ladies,” from…

Metal-bodied guitars built by the National String Instrument Company before World War II represent a giant leap in guitar design and technology. When they debuted in 1926, they were startling…

Alt-Rocker/Studio Guru
Best known as half of the guitar tandem in the ’90s alternative-rock band Blind Melon (that’s his rhythm on “No Rain,” using his Gibson J-30), Christopher Thorn has since recorded…

Enticing Extras
A worthy vintage combo in all regards, there’s sad irony in the fact the Director Model A-60 is representative of the downward trajectory of Vega, the company founded in 1881…
