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Classic Instruments
Slidemaster Rick Vito’s Homage to Peter Green
“‘Albatross’ has been a part of my musical life for almost 60 years,” says Rick Vito of this track from his new album, “Slidemaster.” “We chose to create this video both as an homage to Peter Green and as a celebration of the years I spent in Hawaii working with Mick in the Mick Fleetwood
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Classics: Arena-Rock Alternative Amps
Mad Maxed
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…
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Vivi-Tone “Skeleton
A Master’s Magnificent Misfire
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.…
Star Board: Elliot Easton
Elliot Easton’s “Pedalboard” Though Elliot Easton enjoys his loaded full-size Pedaltrain board, his new band, The Empty Hearts (with Clem…
Orange OR80 Combo
Sunshine State
Created when amps were huge and men were men – or at least had roadies to carry the gear –…
First ’Burst
In May of 1958, a worker at the Gibson factory pulled two Les Paul guitars – serial numbers 8 3087…
Fender’s 1957 Precision Bass
When an instrument maintains the same basic design and profile for more than a half-century, it’s safe to say that…
Beat Portraits: Burns Volume 6
1964: Nu-Sonics and Transistor Trials
In early 2009, VG columnist Peter Stuart Kohman turned his focus on Burns, the pioneering British guitar builder. We’ve compiled installments 4, 5, and 6 for this special edition of…
Gibson Johnny Smith
In 1961, Gibson’s Johnny Smith model not only associated Gibson with one of the most popular guitar stylists of the day, it also brought high-quality amplification and high-quality acoustic sound…
1964 Fender Bassman
1964 Fender 6G6-B Bassman 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:…
Tyler Morris – 1963 Fender Stratocaster
Tyler Morris – 1963 Fender Stratocaster Tyler Morris guides us through his 1963 Fender Stratocaster in Fiesta Red. Follow Tyler at www.tylerdmorris.com!
“Buy That Guitar” podcast with special guest Rick Hogue
“Buy That Guitar” podcast with special guest Rick Hogue Season 01 Episode 09 In Episode 9 of VG’s “Buy That Guitar” podcast, host Ram Tuli is joined by Rick Hogue…
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Phil Manzanera’s “Magdalena”
Roxy Music legend solo instrumental Roxy Music guitarist Phil Manzanera used his beloved ’64 Gibson Firebird VII to create this exclusive run through “Magdalena,” one of five new tunes on the companion CD to his autobiography, “Revolución to Roxy.” After the Fulltone OCD, Strymon TimeLine delay, and Catalinbred Topanga Spring Reverb, it’s going through a…
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Recording King Ray Whitley
As a maker of high-quality instruments, Gibson was hit hard by the onset of the Depression in the 1930s. Company president Guy Hart, a former accountant, recognized that Gibson could not survive by simply waiting for better times, and he took action, diverting some guitar production to wooden toys, creating the Kalamazoo line of budget-priced…
Ampeg R-12-R Reverberocket
1962 Ampeg R-12-R Reverberocket Preamp tubes: two 6SL7, two 6SN7 Output tubes: two 6V6, cathode-biased Rectifier: 5Y3 Controls: Volume, Tone,…
The Murph 12-String
Tugging At Your Heartstrings
Here’s a story that has “Hollywood blockbuster” written all over it. It’s got so many cinematic staples, you can almost…
Jorma Kaukonen – Folkie Flashback
Acoustic folkie and psychedelic-rock pioneer Jorma Kaukonen used his ’58 Gibson J-50 to play a bit of his signature instrumental,…
Tonk Brothers/Washburn 5241
From the late 1920s through the early ’40s, Gibson produced instruments under a variety of brand names for retailers like…
Ro-Pat-In’s First Electric Spanish
Granddaddy to the Stars!
The story of George Beauchamp’s invention of what would become the first commercially successful electric guitar is shrouded in the mist of murky memory. But one critical element of the…
Fender Super Reverbs from 1963 and ’68
First and Last
Among the many distinct eras of vintage-amp production, Fender’s so-called “blackface” models are legendary. Made from late 1963 until ’67, they’re loved for the elegant black control panel and their…
The Collings SoCo Deluxe
Whether you’re a fan of the flat-top or simply appreciate a good archtop, chances are you’re familiar with Collings Guitars. The Texas-based builder is one of the most recognized and…
Classics: April 2023
Kim Simmons’ 1973 Gibson Les Paul
For Gio da Silva and several million others in Generation X, the mid ’90s were an exciting time. Young adults when music was experiencing a blues revival spirit-guided by Stevie…
Recording Acoustic Guitars
The Art of Home Recording
Recording an acoustic guitar is very different from recording an electric, employing different microphones, placement, and technique. Here are a few essential steps.
Gibson GA-83S Stereo-Vib
If you hung around the audio world’s collective R&D room long enough in the late 1950s and early ’60s, you’d have thought that, very soon, everything would be happening in…
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Crucianelli Élite Model 40V
Guitar… Or Accordion?
On the surface, guitars and accordions have little in common. However, the “guitar boom” forged an inseparable connection between the two, and many wanna-be rock stars of the late 1950s and early ’60s played an inexpensive electric guitar made by an accordion manufacturer. While antecedents go back to the Middle Ages, the first modern piano
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VG Q&A: Hag, Or Not?
Plus, Tube Charts in Late Fender Black-Panels
Welve years ago, I purchased a guitar from a small music store in California. On it at the time was a hand-written tag that said “Hagstrom” and a sticker that said “Viking.” The plate on the back said “VZ900” and it has a serial number – six zeroes. A few years after purchasing the guitar,
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Rick Derringer
1947-2025
Loping and easy to learn, The McCoys’ “Hang On Sloopy” was a three-chord singalong pop masterpiece recorded by a group of teenagers in Ohio then adopted by garage bands across America. In October of 1965, it hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. For lead guitarist Rick Derringer (nee Zehringer), it springboarded a career in
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The Jolana Diamant I
Following World War II, it didn’t take long for the Iron Curtain to shoot up, creating a nearly impenetrable veil between the West and culture within the Communist Eastern Bloc. Even after the dissolution of the Curtain and the Soviet Union, following the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989, information on guitars such as
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Classics: Binky Philips and Rick Derringer’s ’59 Les Paul
A fixture on the New York City music scene in the ’70s, Binky Philips damn near made it. His band, The Planets, shared bills with The New York Dolls, Kiss, The Ramones, Television, Blondie, and others. A record deal with Warner Brothers was right there on the table before being quashed by a dishonest and
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Dan’s Guitar RX: A ’64 D12-20 Returns to Glory
Hot-Trunk Blues, Part Two
In the June issue, I started restoring a ’68 Martin D12-20 (mistakenly identifed as a ’64). Along the way, it needed something unusual – replacement of the hollow, square truss rod that Martin used on some instruments from 1967 to ’85. These often fatigued under string tension and because they couldn’t be adjusted, the neck
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The Hagstrom EDP46 DeLuxe
World War II was responsible for an unbelievable amount of what we today know as the modern world, from computers to plastics. Even though there was a previous similarly named conflagration, WWII was our only truly “world” war, where virtually no part of the globe went untouched. It was the aftermath of WWII that gave…
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Tony Mottola
Mr. Big, Guitar Pioneer
Some argue that Tony Mottola was more legendary than famous. In a career spanning 50 years, the guitarist logged thousands of studio dates and made hundreds of concert and television appearances. A first call for dozens of artists including Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, Johnny Mathis, Rosemary Clooney, Billie Holiday, Connie Francis, and others, he was…
Tom Petty and Mike Campbell
Guitars at Heart for 30 Years
Remember the first time you strummed a D chord or fumbled your way oh-so-slowly through “Walk Don’t Run”? Chances are…
In Detail: Gibson’s 1954-’58 Les Paul Junior
In 1952, Gibson’s Les Paul model guitar was brand spanking new. But it wasn’t cutting-edge. True, it was the company’s…
The Fender “Korinacaster”
Double-Cut Kuriosity
There’s irony in the fact that Leo Fender, creator of the first solidbody electric guitar to be mass-produced, wasn’t the…
Epiphone Riviera
The Epiphone Riviera helped reinvent Epiphone in the 1960s as a modern guitar company whose instruments sported such contemporary features…
