1965 Epiphone Emperor
The Epiphone Emperor has a long, convoluted history. It first appeared in Epiphone's catalog in late 1935 as a response to Gibson's Super 400,...
Epiphone Riviera
The Epiphone Riviera helped reinvent Epiphone in the 1960s as a modern guitar company whose instruments sported such contemporary features as thinline, semi-hollow, double-cutaway...
Rickenbacker 325
Details
In 1962, the Ac’cent Vibrato replaced the original Rick’s standard Kauffman unit, which was derived from a nearly 30-year-old design – and notorious...
The Audiovox 736 Electric Bass and 936 Amp
Eight decades ago, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer revealed the story of Paul H. Tutmarc debuting his latest invention – a solidbody electric bass.
The 1935 article...
Eddie Cochran’s Gretsch 6120
One night in the late 1950s, Eddie Cochran set the world alight onstage in the City of Angels. Though the details are lost to...
Howard Leese
Guitarist/ producer/ entrepreneur Howard Leese has come a long way since his early days with Heart in the 1970s. He was onboard when the...
Slim Bryant
Thomas Hoyt Bryant, known to family and friends as "Slim," met Perry Bechtel in Atlanta 1929. "I heard your record, 'Wabash Blues,' and I...
Fender Palomino
Whether all collectors are as attached to nicknames as guitar enthusiasts is unclear. Do salt-and-pepper shaker collectors have fond shortcuts for, say, a Popeye...
First Guitar of Rock and Roll
Like a hound dog hit by lightning, the first notes of rock and roll blasted out of radios across the country in July of...
Gibson Goldtops
In the good ol' days of 1952, jazzmeister Les Paul strutted to the center of the world's stage and proudly whipped out his golden...