Beyond the Parlor
Ed. Note: In this series, Tim Brookes attacks the common argument that the guitar in 19th-century America was small, quiet, and suitable only for...
Gibson EB-2
In the mid 1950s, Gibson president Ted McCarty was paying close attention to two new instruments impacting the musical-instruments market – the solidbody electric...
Ampeg VT-22
Preamp tubes: four 7025 (12AX7 types)
Output tubes: two 5881 (a more-rugged 6L6 type), fixed-bias
Rectifier: solidstate
Controls: Bass Instrument channel: Volume, Treble, Bass; Normal channel: Volume,...
1924 Martin 00-45
When trying to determine originality, guitar dealers and collectors have a tendency to study instruments with the care of a forensic pathologist. Still, modifications...
Watkins Rapier 33
If you were an American teenager in the late 1950s or early ’60s, and you wanted to play the new rock music, you likely...
The Fender “Korinacaster”
There’s irony in the fact that Leo Fender, creator of the first solidbody electric guitar to be mass-produced, wasn’t the adventurous sort. Rather, history...
Chordal Colorations
Though their colors are complementary, Brian May’s Red Special and Brian Setzer’s ’59 Gretsch 6120 couldn’t be more different in terms of their origin...
L-5 to Super 400
The archtop guitar is a uniquely American instrument which can be traced directly to the creative genius of one person – Orville Gibson.
In the...
The Mesa/Boogie Mark IIC+
Early Mesa/Boogie Mark Series amps were something of a sensation, but even with the line now having stretched all the way to the massively...
The Roland Space Echo
When Brian Setzer kickstarted the Stray Cats into action in 1979, his gear lineup was a hodgepodge of orthodox rockabilly ware along with the...