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Harp Legend Charlie Musselwhite

Harp legend Charlie Musselwhite has recorded and performed with a stunning array of guitarists in his band – Harvey Mandel, Luther Tucker, Robben Ford, Junior Watson, Charlie Sexton, Kid Anderson, and steeler Freddie Roulette to name but a few. Here, he takes the reins (strings?) himself, using his Gibson Nighthawk plugged into a Magnatone Varsity Deluxe to play a bit. In the May issue, we review his latest album, “Lookout Highway.” Here’s our review. Read Now!

Harp Legend Charlie Musselwhite

Harp legend Charlie Musselwhite has recorded and performed with a stunning array of guitarists in his band – Harvey Mandel, Luther Tucker, Robben Ford, Junior Watson, Charlie Sexton, Kid Anderson, and steeler Freddie Roulette to name but a few. Here, he takes the reins (strings?) himself, using his Gibson Nighthawk plugged into a Magnatone Varsity Deluxe to play a bit. In the May issue, we review his latest album, “Lookout Highway.” Here’s our review. Read Now!

Artists

This month, we feature The Meters’ George Porter, Tommy Emmanuel, Jedd Hughes, Dudley Taft, Lari Basilio, Ally Venable, The Police, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Dave Mason, Kenny Burrell, and more! Spotify is free or available without ads via a paid subscription. Go to www.spotify.com and search “Vintage Guitar magazine,” or if you already have an account […]

by Vintage Guitar
Classic Instruments

1905 Gibson F-2

In the opinion of most American mandolinists, Gibson brought mandolin design to a level of perfection in 1922, with the introduction of the Master Model F-5. It wasn’t much earlier – 25 years or so – that Orville Gibson created the F model as one of two mandolin body styles (the other being the symmetrical […]

by George Gruhn and Walter Carter
Artists

Dusty Hill

1949-2021

It didn’t take long for testimonials to pour in to VG following the death of ZZ Top bassist Dusty Hill. “Dusty Hill has the patent on the blues-rock groove!” said Muscle Shoals bassist David Hood. “No one did it better.” “He was a solid bass player and amazing performer,” added Harvey Brooks, bass man with […]

Classic Instruments

Dwight Twilley’s ’57 Fender Super

Cowboy Fringe

Plenty of vintage amps have made it into these pages on their own merits. But when a hallowed creation also has a fun artist-related history – like this road-worn 1957 Fender Super Amp formerly owned by Dwight Twilley and used by his lead guitarist, Bill Pitcock, IV – It adds a dimension to the tale. […]

Classic Instruments

Excelsior Americana

If you play any breed of twang, country, roots-rock or, well, “Americana,” could there possibly be a better amp than this? Okay, according to specs and tonal preferences, sure there could. But for sheer vintage-hip and all-out cool, you really can’t do better than dragging this 1966 Excelsior Americana to the next Gram Parsons tribute […]

VG Approved Gear

Mojotone ’58 Quiet Coil Strat Pickups

Quiet, Please

Players love that single-coil sound but hate the noise and hum that generally come with them. For the most part, “noiseless” pickups, whether stacked coils, side-by-side coils, or other designs, have meant something of a compromise between tone and hum-free operation. The new Mojotone ’58 Quiet Coil Strat Pickups use traditional side-by-side coils with blade […]

Classic Instruments

Dan’s Guitar RX: Mending Chuck Panozzo’s 1960 ES-125

Thinline Revival

Like you, I got a kick out of the February “Classics” feature on Chuck Panozzo being reunited with his Gibson ES-125TC, which had suffered water damage and was literally coming apart at the seams. The feature couldn’t dig into how the guitar was repaired, but the work was done by my good friends Doug and […]

Classic Instruments

Guild’s S-100/S-200 “Kickstand” Models

Much like several other well-known manufacturers, Guild has, through the years, changed ownership, locations, and identities. Guild was founded in 1952 by Alfred Dronge, a teacher and music-store owner in New York, and many of his first employees were former Epiphone workers hired after that company moved production to Philadelphia. Guild’s first guitars were shipped […]

George Gruhn and Sarah Rose Jones
Music

Kiss

Off the Soundboard: Poughkeepsie, NY

This 1984 concert is the only known soundboard recording with guitarist Mark St. John, whose tenure is one of the briefest chapters in Kisstory. St. John played on Animalize then developed a sudden case of arthritis and had to depart the group. On these live tracks, his style blends bursts of ’80s shredding, whammy bar […]

Music

Hilary Gardner

On The Trail with The Lonesome Pines

Vocalist Gardner explores the association between jazz and country, the Great American Songbook, and cowboy movie stars. Similar territory was mined by Asleep At The Wheel and Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks, but it goes back decades earlier. “Cow Cow Boogie” dates to the 1942 recording by pianist Freddie Slack with singer Ella Mae […]

Have Guitar Will Travel

Have Guitar Will Travel 052 – Cesar Gueikian

Gibson’s newly appointed Brand President, Cesar Gueikian, returns to “Have Guitar Will Travel,” with host James Patrick Regan. Cesar is supremely passionate about Gibson and its guitars, and here he talks about the company’s acquisition of Mesa-Boogie, Gibson’s artist model program, their vision for Epiphone on its 150th anniversary, revived archtop construction at the Custom […]

Gibson’s Mastertone Banjos
Classic Instruments

Gibson’s Mastertone Banjos

This Gibson RB-3 five-string from 1925 is a rare piece, as is any five-string banjo from the era dominated by tenor banjos. But it’s more important as a representative of one of Gibson’s first steps in a desperate attempt to develop a competitive banjo. Gibson recognized the impending popularity of the tenor banjo as early […]

George Gruhn and Walter Carter
Jazz singer and bassist Esperanza Spalding performing at the North Sea Jazz festival 2012 in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Photo: JBreeschoten/Wikimedia.
Music

Esperanza Spalding

Emily’s D+Evolution

Popularly known as that cute female jazz bassist with the Afro who bogarted the Best New Artist Grammy away from Justin Bieber in 2012, Esperanza Spalding’s new album is soul-jazz surrealism at it’s finest. Spalding courageously sidesteps the acid chick jazz of her female contemporaries. In its place is theatricality, poetry, joy, and the progressive […]

VG Approved Gear

Soldano Astro-20 combo

Rock Machine

Mike Soldano is the man behind amp tones that influenced a generation of guitarists, his hot-rodded ideas having been used on countless albums by artists from Warren Haynes and George Lynch to Steve Lukather, Mark Knopfler, and Edward Van Halen. Soldano’s latest, the Astro-20, is a three-channel amp that combines classic tones with 21st-century features […]

Classic Instruments

Martin’s “12-Fret” 000-42

Martin has never been a stranger to producing certain guitars in very limited quantities. But just how rare is the 12-frets-to-the-body 000-42? It has long been held that Martin has done a yeoman’s job of tracking its production through the years (few manufacturers have been so meticulous, especially going back so far), but it has […]

VG Approved Gear

DoleSonic Half Back Stack

Tone Meets Crafts-manship

Shaw Audio Bass 130 Price: $1,350 Contact: www.tremcaster.com, phone: (330) 608-2043 In a day where gear companies often focus on utilitarian products, it’s nice when high-end craftsmanship rears its head. Ken Doles and the crew at DoleSonic Amplifiers are a good example with their latest offering, the Half Back Stack. A Class-A/10-watt offering, the amp […]

Peavey’s Razer, Mystic, and Foundation
Classic Instruments

Peavey’s Razer, Mystic, and Foundation

Contrasting Chronologies

Just a handful of years after Peavey turned the world of electric guitar upside-down with its T-60 guitar and T-40 bass, the company was feeling its oats. While the T series caught attention because their bodies were carved by computer numerical control (CNC) machinery that produced very consistent, durable, instruments, they also weren’t overly appealing, […]

Artists

Gregg Wright

King of the Rockin’ Blues

Gregg Wright is a force to be reckoned with. He took the top spot in the Southern California Blues Society’s annual Battle of the Blues Bands, and will move on to represent Southern California at the International Blues Challenge, in Memphis. He has opened for Albert and Freddy King, but is probably best remembered as […]

Artists

Rich Robinson

Back To The Future

The Black Crowes’ new six-song EP, 1972, shows the band exploring rock classics from that year – the seeds of which propelled them to superstardom. For more than 30 years, the band has been mining epic ’70s swagger, and they do it oh so well. Here, they cover songs by T-Rex, David Bowie, and The […]

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