The Slingerland May Bell
It’s hard to imagine a more poorly “documented” guitar brand than Slinglerland. The company has been around since before World War I and made a lot of guitars and banjos until the start of World War...
View ArticleTokai Talbo
For aficionados of copy guitars – replicas of mostly American classics that give U.S. manufacturers apoplectic fits – perhaps no company is more respected than Tokai, whose 1970s and early-’80s Love...
View ArticleThe Modulus Graphite Flight 6 Monocoque
In guitar history, irony is almost always the result of circumstances. The market changes overnight or someone makes a mistake that proves successful, etc. Rarely is the irony planned by a guitar...
View Article1976 Hagstrom Jimmy
In the world of archtop guitarmaking, the legendary luthier James L. D’Aquisto (1935-’95) is considered one of the greats. A jazz guitarist, D’Aquisto was an apprentice to perhaps the greatest archtop...
View ArticleFender 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 and Olive Oyl set? “Spinach Special?”...
View ArticleThe Ovation Adamas II
What do you get when you cross a helicopter with a Martin dreadnought? Easy answer – Ovation guitars, perhaps the greatest champion of alternative materials in an age when traditional woods like...
View ArticleEpiphone by Gibson Firebird 500
Gibson will forever be celebrated for its heritage of innovation, including guitars that didn’t look like the common perception of guitars. And for all the influence some of its unusual creations have...
View ArticleFender Competition Mustang
So it’s no surprise that Fender built the Competition Mustang, a guitar marketed to players who might also be excited by the thrill of Monte Carlo and Formula One. Fender introduced its “student model”...
View ArticleThe España 6/12 Doubleneck
More is always better, right? Eleven is better than 10 on an amplifier, three pickups are better than two, and so on! That’s the promise of the seven-string. So when Jimmy Page showed up onstage in the...
View ArticleGibson Marauder M-1
Every once in awhile, someone in Gibson R&D gets a brainstorm like, “I know! Why don’t we make a bolt-neck guitar!” So they do. And the result is almost always interesting – and almost always a...
View ArticleMagnatone X-5 Zephyr
Ever since Lonnie Mack unleashed The Wham of That Memphis Man and Buddy Holly sang “Peggy Sue,” Magnatone amplifiers have been the stuff of legend. Magnatone guitars, on the other hand, are one of...
View ArticlePenco A-15-JD
The 1970s is often called “the Copy Era” for the dominating presence and spectacular success of Japanese “copies” of popular American guitars, most notably of the Gibson Les Paul. Indeed, it was with...
View ArticleB.C. Rich Acrylic Warlock
Most industries know a great idea when they see it and aren’t shy about jumping on a bandwagon. In 1969, an electric guitar made out of translucent acrylic proved it. The materials and processes that...
View ArticleRex Solidbody
An internet search for “Rex guitars” will turn up a fair – if confusing – amount of information about the brand used on budget guitars and banjos made by Gretsch beginning in the early 20th century. On...
View ArticleThe Höfner Model 485G
At the end of World War II, the town of Schönbach, in western Bohemia, became Luby, Czechoslovakia, and the people of German ethnicity were expelled. The changes affected the fortunes of more than...
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