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...
The First “Mary Kaye” Stratocaster
The Fender "Mary Kaye" Stratocaster. A term guitar aficionados have come to associate with a ’50s Strat with blond finish with gold-plated hardware...
Although Mary...
1976 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...
Höfner’s Fledermaus Gitarre
Much like the scant records of almost every large-scale American guitar manufacturer, production logs at Höfner's headquarters in Hagenau, Germany, aren't big on details....
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 first solidbody electric guitar,...