Rickenbacker Vintage Guitars
Written by vintage on December 2, 2011 – 11:39 am -Even though Adolph Rickenbacker is credited with being one of the co-creators of the first electric guitar in 1931, the company that bore his name would not really come into its own until he sold it in 1953. By then, Fender had already introduced the Telecaster, followed by Gibson with its Les Paul. The Rickenbacker catalog from that year showcased the A-22, using the same "frying pan" design of that original electric from 1931. Rickenbacker had a lot of catching up to do, but thanks to The Beatles, they quickly got there.
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1965 Epiphone Emperor
Written by vintage on December 2, 2011 – 10:51 am -By George Gruhn
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Richard Gere selling 110 of his guitars from vintage collection, with all proceeds going to charity
Written by vintage on August 30, 2011 – 12:59 pm -Richard Gere’s guitar collection is going up for sale. The legendary star of “Pretty Woman”, “Chicago” and “An Officer and A Gentleman”, has 110 vintage guitars that will be sold on October 11, through Christie’s auction house. Gere has accumulated the guitars for a period of not less than 20 years. The collection allegedly includes pieces once owned by renowned talents such the Jamaican reggae star Peter Tosh, blues instrumentalist Albert King and American luthier James D’Aquisto. It also includes instruments from major brand names such as C.F. Martin, Fender, Epiphone, Gibson and Gretsch. For this reason, the collection is considered by the auction house as a prestigious opportunity for fans and collectors alike.
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The Gibson Flying V: 20 Essential Facts
Written by vintage on July 16, 2011 – 10:20 am -by Michael Leonard
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The bluesy sound of Muddy Waters
Written by vintage on April 4, 2011 – 10:08 pm -By The cliché runs that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but trying to “flatter” the greatest of the great is no easy task. Especially when Muddy Waters, arguably the finest of the first generation of electric bluesmen, is the subject.
Muddy’s early hits for Chess Records like “I Can’t Be Satisfied,” “Rollin’ and Tumblin’,” “Louisiana Blues,” “Walkin’ Blues,” “Long Distance Call,” and “Honey Bee,” defined the recorded sound of early electric blues: dirty, gritty, stinging, growling, sweet and supremely emotive. It’s nearly impossible to get to that sound without vintage gear and a touch developed playing an acoustic guitar loud ‘n’ strong enough to cut the din of a Saturday night fish fry on a cotton plantation.
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Clapton Guitars Bring $2.5 million at Auction
Written by vintage on March 19, 2011 – 6:58 pm -By Ward Meeker
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Collecting Vintage Acoustic Guitars
Written by vintage on February 17, 2011 – 6:46 am -Collecting Vintage Acoustic Guitars
Acoustic Magazines Vintage Guitar expert, Paul Brett's talks about collecting vintage acoustic guitars. Paul is rated as one of the leading 12 string guitarists in the World.
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Vintage Gretsch Guitars
Written by vintage on February 16, 2011 – 6:34 pm -Founded in Brooklyn in 1883, Gretsch started out making banjos, tambourines, and drums. It didn’t really get into guitars until the 1930s, when the guitar began to overtake the banjo in popularity. Evidence of that shift could be seen in the success of the L-5, Gibson’s fast-selling acoustic archtop, with its trapeze tailpiece and a pickguard that seemed to float above the f-holes carved into the instrument’s body.
Gretsch answered in the mid-1930s with the American Orchestra line of acoustic guitars, which started at $25 each. These guitars had spruce tops, maple backs and sides, and either rosewood or ebony fingerboards. By all accounts, they did little to slow down Gibson.
In 1939, Gretsch came out with a true competitor, the Art Deco-styled Synchromatics. These acoustic archtops included the top-of-the-line 400, which was designed to do battle in the marketplace with Gibson’s 1935 Super 400. The Synchromatics were unique in that they had a stairstep bridge, a harp-shaped tailpiece, an asymmetrical neck, and cat’s-eye sound holes instead of the more traditional-looking f-holes.
Like the American Orchestra guitars, the Synchromatics failed to make a significant dent in Gibson’s dominance, but today, a vintage Gretsch Synchromatic 400 is every bit as collectible as Gibson Super 400, so perhaps the guitar was simply ahead of its time.
The other Gretsch introduction of 1939 was its first line of electric guitars. Called the Electromatics, they were offered in Hawaiian and Spanish models. After World War II, Gretsch came out with three flat top acoustics, model numbers 6007, 6021, and 6042. Instead of cat’s eyes or even f-holes, these big-bottomed guitars had triangular sound holes in their centers.
The 1950s were an outstanding decade for American electric guitars: Gibson debuted the Les Paul in 1952 and Fender launched the Stratocaster in 1954. For Gretsch, the 1950s was the decade when its guitars really started to come into their own. The Duo-Jet, made popular in the 1960s and 1970s by the likes of George Harrison and Jeff Beck, went into production in 1953, and the Electro II was introduced in 1954. That guitar evolved into the Country Club line, which lasted 27 years.
1954 was also the year the Electromatic became the Streamliner (although the Electromatic logo remained on the guitar until 1958) and when the first Chet Atkins hollow-body debuted—within a year, Gretsch was selling Chet Atkins guitars in both solid and hollow-body models, and by 1957 it was rebranded as the Country Gentleman. 1955 saw the introduction of a pair of gorgeous white guitars called the Falcon and its smaller sibling the Penguin. The Penguin was a total bomb with customers, but today it is one of the most collectible vintage Gretsch guitars around.
The other Gretsch trend of the 1950s was to jazz up its Duo Jets. In addition to the original black model, Gretsch added a sparkly silver version, the Western-themed Round-Up (complete with leather-tooled strap and a big G branded into its knotty-pine top), and the Jet Fire Bird, whose bright red top caught the eye of Bo Diddley.
In the 1960s, the continued association of Gretsch with George Harrison and The Beatles kept the company in the limelight. Harrison played a Country Gentleman on the Ed Sullivan show, so it shouldn’t have been too surprising when Chet Atkins repaid the favor by recording an album of Beatles covers. The Monkees, a made-for-TV group, played Gretsch instruments exclusively, albeit under marketing contract. Naturally Gretsch produced a Monkees signature guitar.
Gretsch was sold to Baldwin in 1967—for many Gretsch fans, this sale had the same negative effect as the 1965 sale of Fender to CBS. But Gretsch heir Fred W. Gretsch vowed to one day get the company back, which he did in 1985, coincidentally, the same year CBS let go of Fender.
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Gibson Byrdland is the 2010 Inductee to the Vintage Guitar Hall of Fame
Written by vintage on February 12, 2011 – 4:15 pm -It's a distinct few who have been immortalized in Vintage Guitar magazine's Hall of Fame. And the elite who are members owe the honor to you, faithful reader, because it is you who each year selects the people and instruments to enter the esteemed VG Hall of Fame.
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1961 Fender Stratocaster Guitar
Written by vintage on October 22, 2010 – 11:48 pm -The Fender Stratocaster guitar is probably the most popular solidbody electric guitar ever made. Early models (1954 to 1965, known as "pre-CBS" models, since CBS Broadcaster Company bought Fender in January 1965) are the most collectible. Originality and condition are the two most important features of a vintage Fender Stratocaster guitar, and Fender Strats do seem to have been easily modified (due to their "bolt together" nature).
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