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

It’s hard not to associate doubleneck electric guitars with images of Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page or fusion guru Mahavishnu John McLaughlin in the ’70s; however, the fact is that by the time the Big Js were stopping shows with these multi-headed beasts, they were already relics of the past. Doubleneck Spanish guitars got their first…

A silver-spoon teen who loved sneaking into Chicago’s southside blues clubs, Michael Bloomfield reveled in absorbing all he could from the many legendary players he saw perform in the city’s famed joints. The de facto lessons served Bloomfield well as he went on to contribute to the works of many famed performers while forging his…
The Gibson Super 400 Premiere cutaway acoustic first appeared in Gibson literature in the 1940 catalog, on a page showing…

Chris Leuzinger’s 1952 Gibson Les Paul
If your radio was tuned to a country station even for a few minutes anytime in the last 30 years,…

Lower-End Innovator
It’s been a long time comin’… Like his longtime bandmate, Rick Nielsen, Cheap Trick bassist/songwriter Tom Petersson collects classic stringed…

“A spectacular model in real he-man outdoor Western finish with powerful appeal for Hill-billy and Cowboy bands.” This is how…

In 1954, what could possibly be more “contemporary Western” than a Gretsch Round-Up? Introduced in 1954, the Round-Up (listed in Gretsch literature as model PX6130) and the Rancher (PX6022) were…

Part Three: Women
Ed. Note: In the final installment in his series on the guitar in 19-century America, Tim Brookes offers a study of several women who played the guitar, and what the instrument meant…

In the 1960s, the astronauts were bigger cultural icons than the Beatles. And no, that’s not the Colorado-based surf band that hit with songs like “Baja.” We’re talking real astronauts,…

Classic Shape That Filled Big Shoes
In 1961, Gibson replaced the single-cutaway Les Paul with a new line of lighter, thinner, mahogany double-cut solidbodies. Developed under the aegis of Ted McCarty and introduced as the “new…

Pretty Pairs
Steve Evans was just 12 years old in 1968, when he began to appreciate the sleek bodies of electric guitars in the brochures he collected through the mail – gazing…

To keep work flowing in my shop, repairs often become a group effort. Recently, Gene Imbody, T.K. Kelly, Paul Schmittauer, and I worked to repair a beautiful ’55 Les Paul Special and GA-30 amp belonging to Jake Curtis, who inherited the set from his grandfather, Vernon Benschoter. They’re both in very good condition, and Jake…

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…

The Electrifying Sounds of Post-War Guitar
Fans often mark the beginning of rock and roll as either Elvis Presley’s Sun Sessions or Bill Haley & the…

Round and Round She Goes
Since its beginnings in 1952, Guild has gone through many changes in ownership, location, marketing approach, and design philosophy. In…

It’s hard to imagine a more poorly “documented” guitar brand than Slinglerland. The company has been around since before World…

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…

Of DeArmonds and Details
(Ed. Note: Duane Eddy was featured in the June ’95 issue of VG, following the release of his Twang Thang box-set anthology, which included 40 songs he helped re-master and…

Treasures in Tennessee
Ask anyone who geeks out on vintage guitars, from the well-heeled collector to the dreamer whose prized possession is a relic’d reissue, and you’ll hear the stories… First sighting of…

Toneful Twosome
Supro amps from the late 1950s and early ’60s are some of the most stylish of the era, and boast circuits that generated classic tones at the hands of a…

Out of the Woods, Off the Wall
In the world of “guitarcheology,” it’s well-documented that the truly interesting stuff – prototypes, one-offs, custom instruments – usually surface close to the source. For instance, in the 1970s, Fender…

Missing Link
He may not be part of anthropological history like Dutch paleontologist Eugene Dubois, but Simon Adahl did have to dig a bit to discover this “missing link” – a first-version…

It’s hard not to associate doubleneck electric guitars with images of Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page or fusion guru Mahavishnu John McLaughlin in the ’70s; however, the fact is that by…
Jason Isbell’s powerful songs, compelling vocals, and formidable guitar skills have made him one of America’s most-respected singer/songwriters. A charismatic performer, his critically-lauded albums, solo and backed by the formidable 400 Unit, have earned six Grammys and nine Americana Music Awards. With an eclectic style melding country, blues, and Southern rock, his appeal transcends genres.
What do you do when the humble blackface Bandmaster you acquired sight-unseen turns out to harbor one of rock’s hottest lead circuits? Celebrate! And then go tracing its connection to California’s seminal high-gain guitar amplifier. Randall Smith’s legendary Boogie lead circuit started as a prank played on an unsuspecting client before he applied it as
Robert Johnson has been a fixture in the vintage-guitar community for more than a half-century. As a player and music producer, he has collected an assortment of instruments and music memorabilia, particularly related to his home town of Memphis. One of his guitars recently became part of a recording project that began at the renowned
My neighbor has an old parlor guitar that he asked me to clean up after years in storage. Inside the sound hole it reads “The American No. 5” and there is no other identifying script. The bridge is a pyramid-type. We’re curious about its age and manufacturer; I’m guessing Lyon and Healy from the 1920s.
Our friend Nate Westgor from Willie’s American Guitars shares the story of Martin’s first step into the booming 1960s electric guitar market. Enjoy, and have a wonderful holiday season from all of us at Vintage Guitar!
It’s not often a guitar can be said to have been inspired by a TV show, but that is the case with this 1982 Veillette-Citron Shark, which came about as a result of the success of the program “Welcome Back Kotter.” Well, in a pretty roundabout way, that is! Veillette-Citron guitars were the product of

Genuine Lone Star Jams Dallas guy Rocky Athas built a career playing blues in the vain of T-Bone and SRV, but his new album, “Livin’ My Best Life,” is more Houston/BFG-flavored. Here, he and his ’69 Gibson Les Paul Custom (running through an Ibanez TS-10 and a Fender Reverb tank going to a vintage Lab…

Gibson has produced two guitars bearing the “Crest” name. While both designs date to the 1960s, they’re very different instruments. The first incarnation was a single-cutaway with design ties to the L-5CT, while the second looked more like a fancy ES-335 with a shortened neck. In almost every way – size, construction materials, appointments, and…

Rolling on a Post-Pandemic Project
Five years ago, I started making a Tele-style guitar inspired by the Gretsch Roundup. When Covid hit, I was up…

Beginnings – The Early 1960s
In early 2009, VG columnist Peter Stuart Kohman turned his focus on Burns, the pioneering British guitar builder. We’ve compiled…

Rare Pair
Eight decades ago, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer revealed the story of Paul H. Tutmarc debuting his latest invention – a solidbody…

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…